Witchblade (3.5 base class)

[boomwolf]

currently only crunch is up. fluff will come later, but please do reply on the crunch for now.

Hit Die: 1d8
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th

1st|+1|+0|+0|+2|Armored Mage (light), Detect Magic|2|—|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|+2|+0|+0|+3|Imbue Strike 1st Attack|3|0|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|+3|+1|+1|+3|Spell Resistance 11|4|1|—|—|—|—|—

4th|+4|+1|+1|+4|Spell Power +1|5|2|0|—|—|—|—

5th|+5|+1|+1|+4|Deceive Item|6|3|1|—|—|—|—

6th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+5|Enchanted Strike +1|7|4|2|—|—|—|—

7th|+7/+2|+2|+2|+5|Mettle/Evasion|8|5|3|0|—|—|—

8th|+8/+3|+2|+2|+6|Spell Power +2|9|6|4|1|—|—|—

9th|+9/+4|+3|+3|+6|Imbue Strike 2nd Attack|10|7|5|2|—|—|—

10th|+10/+5|+3|+3|+7|Enchanted Strike +2|10|8|6|3|0|—|—

11th|+11/+6/+1|+3|+3|+7|Spell Resistance 18|10|9|7|4|1|—|—

12th|+12/+7/+2|+4|+4|+8|Spell Power +3|10|10|8|5|2|—|—

13th|+13/+8/+3|+4|+4|+8|Armored Mage (medium)|10|10|9|6|3|0|—

14th|+14/+9/+4|+4|+4|+9|Enchanted Strike +3|10|10|10|7|4|1|—

15th|+15/+10/+5|+5|+5|+9|Imbue Item|10|10|10|8|5|2|—

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+10|Spell Power +4, Imbue Strike 3rd Attack|10|10|10|9|6|3|0

17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10|Mettle/Evasion|10|10|10|10|7|4|1

18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11|Enchanted Strike +4|10|10|10|10|8|5|2

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Spell Resistance 25|10|10|10|10|9|6|3

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Perfect Imbue Strike, Spell Power +5|10|10|10|10|10|7|4

[/table]

Class Skills:
The Witchblade’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha) Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Taunt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7613406&postcount=15) (Cha) Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Spells Known
{table]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th

1st|5|—|—|—|—|—|—

2nd|6|3|—|—|—|—|—

3rd|6|3|—|—|—|—|—

4th|7|4|2|—|—|—|—

5th|7|4|3|—|—|—|—

6th|8|5|3|—|—|—|—

7th|8|5|4|2|—|—|—

8th|9|6|4|3|—|—|—

9th|9|6|5|3|—|—|—

10th|10|6|5|4|2|—|—

11th|10|6|6|4|3|—|—

12th|10|6|6|5|3|—|—

13th|10|6|6|5|4|2|—

14th|10|6|6|5|4|3|—

15th|10|6|6|5|5|3|—

16th|10|6|6|5|5|4|2

17th|10|6|6|5|5|4|3

18th|10|6|6|5|5|5|3

19th|10|6|6|5|5|5|4

20th|10|6|6|5|5|5|4[/table]

Spell List:
Level 0: Resistance, Read Magic, Daze, Detect Poison, Touch of Fatigue, Mage Hand, Mending, Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation, Cure Minor Wounds, Inflict Minor Wounds.

Level 1: Mage's Armor, Cure Light Wounds, Inflict Light Wounds, True Strike, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Disguise Self, Shield, Feather Fall, Expeditious Retreat, Expeditious Retreat, Magic Weapon, Critical Strike (CAd)

Level 2: Glitterdust, See Invisibility, Gust of Wind, Blur, Ghoul Touch, Levitate, Cure Moderate Wounds, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Hold Person, deflect (PHB2), Sure Strike (PHB2), Invisibility.

Level 3: Dispel Magic, Ray of Exhaustion, Vampiric Touch, Blink, Haste, Greater Magic Weapon, Keen Edge, Slow, Cure Serious Wounds, Inflict Serious Wounds, Contagion.

Level 4: Remove Curse, Bestow Curse, Confusion, Shout, Enervation, Cure Critical Wounds, Inflict Critical Wounds, Crushing Despair, Poison, Neutralize Poison, Freedom of Movement, Death Ward, Orb of Force (CAr)

Level 5: Break Enchantment, Feeblemind, Hold Monster, Telekinesis, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Mass Inflict Light Wounds, True Seeing, Slay Living, Wall of Force.

Level 6: Mass Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass Inflict Moderate Wounds, Greater Dispel Magic, Eyebite, Disintegrate, Harm, Heal, Banishment, Insanity.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Witchblade is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, sap, short sword, shortbow, and whip. Witchblades are proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields).


Spellcasting
A Witchblade casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the Witchblade spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a Witchblade must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Witchblade’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Withcblade’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a Withblade can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Withcblade. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. When Table: The Witchblade indicates that the Witchblade gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.

Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third Witchblade level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a Witchblade can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the Witchblade "loses" the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level Withcblade spell the Witchblade can cast. A Withcblade may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

As noted above, a Witchblade need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

Armored Mage (Ex)
A Witchblade can cast spells in light armor without taking spell failure chances, at level 13 this extends to medium armor as well.

Detect Magic (Su)
A Witchblade can use detect magic as a spell like ability at will, using his caster level.

Imbue Strike (Su)
When a second level Witchblade attacks with a melee weapon for the first time this round he may imbue the attack with one spell he knows that targets a single target to affect the target of the attack as if it was cast normally. however, if the attack misses the spell is wasted.
At ninth level he can do so with his second attack for the round as well, at level sixteen he can do it three times, and at level 20 he can do it with any attack he makes.

Spell Resistance (Su)
A third level Witchblade has spell resistance 11. this improves to 18 at level 11 and 25 at level 19.

Spell Power (Ex)
Whenever a Witchblade of a forth or higher level successfully attacks a foe with a melee attack he learns about his, gaining a (non-stacking) bonus of the DC of spells cast upon that foe that round or the following.
The bonus is +1 for every four levels of Witchblade.

Deceive Item (Ex)
At 5th level and higher, a Witchblade has the ability to more easily commandeer magic items made for the use of other characters. When making a Use Magic Device check, a Witchblade can take 10 even if distracted or threatened.

Enchanted Strike (Su)
Any attack made by a Witchblade of sixth or higher level gains a +1 enchantment bonus to attack and damage rolls. this grows to +2 at tenth level, +3 at level fourteen and +4 at level eighteen.


Mettle/Evasion (Ex)
At seventh level he Witchblade chooses either Mettle or Evasion. at level 17 he gains the other.

Imbue Item (Su):
A Witchblade of 17th level or higher can use his supernatural power to create magic items, even if he does not know the spells required to make an item (although he must know the appropriate item creation feat). He can substitute a Use Magic Device check (DC 15 + spell level for arcane spells or 25 + spell level for divine spells) in place of a required spell he doesn’t know or can’t cast. If the check succeeds, the Withcblade can create the item as if he had cast the required spell. If it fails, he cannot complete the item. He does not expend the XP or gp costs for making the item; his progress is simply arrested. He cannot retry this Use Magic Device check for that spell until he gains a new level.

[Siosilvar]

Scale your Spell Resistance better; SR 5 + class level is a good number.

As-is, it gradually becomes worthless... until it suddenly jumps at level 11, and it does the same thing again at 19.


10 spells per day? Never a good idea. A partial caster like this... look at the Bard for your spells per day and spells known.


Enchanted Strike isn't a class feature... it's a nice fall-back for if your normal weapon gets destroyed, though.


Spell Power is an interesting ability. I like it.


EDIT: Have you looked at the Duskblade class from PHB2?

[AustontheGreat1]

By no means am I the authority that decides what is and what is not a quality homebrew; but I am a little disappointed. Just another Gish. I was hoping for something that tasted a little more like this

http://popculturezoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tpb7.jpg

:smallsigh: That was the least suggestive picture I could find

[Milskidasith]

Imbue strike is pretty powerful; four spells per round that get a (nonstacking, I hope) bonus to the DC when you actually hit; adding a disintegrate to each strike is a pretty good thing, I'd think.

[lightningcat]

By no means am I the authority that decides what is and what is not a quality homebrew; but I am a little disappointed. Just another Gish. I was hoping for something that tasted a little more like this

http://popculturezoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tpb7.jpg

:smallsigh: That was the least suggestive picture I could find

I was likewise looking for something along those lines. Looks like I need to revisit an old idea to see if I can make it work.

[boomwolf]

Scale your Spell Resistance better; SR 5 + class level is a good number.

As-is, it gradually becomes worthless... until it suddenly jumps at level 11, and it does the same thing again at 19.

Well, it is kina a filler, and I didn't want it to be actually powerful. its only useful against caster mooks, with an off-chance that it actually workes against worthy opponent. might scale it anyways.



10 spells per day? Never a good idea. A partial caster like this... look at the Bard for your spells per day and spells known.

Really, cause bard is a really bad caster, and a duskblade already HAS 10 spells per day. I INTENTIONALLY improved on the bard list. alot. its a hybridiezed list with the benefit of bard list and duskblade list combined.
And seriuosly, a bard does not have enough spells known.

Youknow, because both can be called "gish", yet are so bad nobody ever plays them through, maybe just dipping them.



Enchanted Strike isn't a class feature... it's a nice fall-back for if your normal weapon gets destroyed, though.

Or, you can have your weapon have other enchantments instead of the basic one.
plus, isn't a "auto back-up" a handy thing to have?


Spell Power is an interesting ability. I like it.

EDIT: Have you looked at the Duskblade class from PHB2?

Naturally. spell power is a variant of the same ability of the duskblade himself.



Imbue strike is pretty powerful; four spells per round that get a (nonstacking, I hope) bonus to the DC when you actually hit; adding a disintegrate to each strike is a pretty good thing, I'd think.

Naturally nonstacking.(stacking would make the DC's skyrocket too quickly.)

BTW-you frogot that it can be alot more then 4. Combat Reflexs and high dex. I did say EVERY attack. (screw action economy a bit too much?)

[Siosilvar]

Well, it is kina a filler, and I didn't want it to be actually powerful. its only useful against caster mooks, with an off-chance that it actually workes against worthy opponent. might scale it anyways.5+Class level is not that powerful; it gives you a 25% chance to block a targeted spell against an equivalent-level opponent. Most spells that are useful are not targeted, though some are.


Really, cause bard is a really bad caster, and a duskblade already HAS 10 spells per day. I INTENTIONALLY improved on the bard list. alot. its a hybridiezed list with the benefit of bard list and duskblade list combined.
And seriuosly, a bard does not have enough spells known.I didn't mean your spell list. I meant number known. And 4-5 spells known per level is a good number. If you wanted more, you'd take a prepared casting class.

Duskblades also have a maximum spell level of 5th and a slightly worse list, given that you've improved upon it...


Youknow, because both can be called "gish", yet are so bad nobody ever plays them through, maybe just dipping them.I disagree. "Nobody" is an overgeneralization. Plenty of people play bards, at least, especially with spells like Sonic Weapon and other things like Snowflake Wardance, Dragonfire Inspiration... their "bad"ness is really only because they have few class features.


Or, you can have your weapon have other enchantments instead of the basic one.
plus, isn't a "auto back-up" a handy thing to have?Yes, it is. In case it wasn't clear, I was changing my opinion halfway through... it still isn't a class feature worthy of a level on its own, but


Naturally nonstacking.(stacking would make the DC's skyrocket too quickly.)

BTW-you frogot that it can be alot more then 4. Combat Reflexs and high dex. I did say EVERY attack. (screw action economy a bit too much?)Yes, you did screw action economy too much. You'll be casting a spell every attack (due to the insane number of spells per day you can cast). Even at level 20, I think that's a little bit much, even with a limit to targeted spells and actual melee attack rolls.

[Analytica]

Not to be cheeky, but the way this looks to me is that you've really taken the Duskblade and made it more powerful. It has more skills, wider spell variety and the Warlock crafting abilities. While I like the class as written, this would in no way be balanced when compared to the basic Duskblade. If regarded as a tier-raising fix, then this is fine.

[Melayl]

I was likewise looking for something along those lines. Looks like I need to revisit an old idea to see if I can make it work.

Please do. I was looking for something like that when I checked this thread, too.

And in regard to the OP, I'd agree with Analysis's analysis.

[Analytica]

Not to be cheeky, but the way this looks to me is that you've really taken the Duskblade and made it more powerful. It has more skills, wider spell variety and the Warlock crafting abilities. While I like the class as written, this would in no way be balanced when compared to the basic Duskblade. If regarded as a tier-raising fix, then this is fine.

Having said that; I might play this class, but I probably would not play a Duskblade. So I like it.