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DragonRook13
2010-10-23, 10:01 PM
Spirit Detective

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"Got demons and undead? I'll take care of them for you.

You're kind of an anomaly. You're dead, but there isn't a place for you yet in the Underworld. But instead of waiting thousands of years for your rightful place in hell, you've been given a second chance, in exchange for one thing: devoting all your time to dispelling, killing, and otherwise destroying any and all rogue undead you happen to be on the same plane as. Hey, life's tough.

Making a Spirit Detective
Spirit Detectives tend to naturally be lone wolves, but being in a team never hurts. Especially when facing that one really tough demon.
Ability Scores: For a Spirit Detective, your most important score is Strength. It's used for main class feature, used for all the time you'll be spending in close combat, and used for a few other class features. After Strength comes Charisma. Charisma is used mainly for your skills, and a couple other class features. And let's face it, having a good Constitution never hurt anyone either.
Races: Any race can become a Spirit Detective. Humans, however, are the most common race, due to their abundance, and spontaneous behavior getting them into unexpected trouble.
Alignment: Due to the pact they made with their god, all Spirit Detectives are Lawful.

Class Features
Hit Die: d8

Class Skills: Spirit Detective class skills (and their respective stats) are: Bluff(CHA), Craft(INT), Diplomacy(CHA), Disguise(CHA), Forgery(INT), Gather Information(CHA), Intimidate(CHA), Knowledge*(INT), Listen(WIS), Search(INT), Sense Motive(WIS), Spot(WIS).

*: Knowledge refers to Knowledge(Dungeoneering), Knowledge(Geography), Knowledge(Religion), and Knowledge(The Planes).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Intelligence Modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier

Base Attack Bonus (BAB): +0, +1, +2, +3, +3, +4, +5, +6/+1. +6/+1, +7/+2, +8/+3, +9/+4, +9/+4, +10/+5, +11/+6/+1, +12/+7/+2, +12/+7/+2, +13/+8/+3, +14/+9/+4, +15/+10/+5

Fortitude Save: +2, +3, +3, +4, +4, +5, +5, +6, +6, +7, +7, +8, +8, +9, +9, +10, +10, +11, +11, +12

Reflex Save: +2, +3, +3, +4, +4, +5, +5, +6, +6, +7, +7, +8, +8, +9, +9, +10, +10, +11, +11, +12

Will Save: +0, +0, +1, +1, +1,+2, +2, +2, +3, +3, +3, +4, +4, +4, +5, +5, +5, +6, +6, +6

Special: 1. Spirit Gun 1/day, Detect Undead, Undead Aura
2. Spirit Gun 2/day, Aura Combat
3. Aura Senses
4. Undead Endurance
5. Spirit Gun 3/day
6. Aura Sword
7. Shotgun
8. Spirit Gun 4/day, Fast Movement
9. Aura Compression
10. Empowered Spirit Gun, Spirit Sword 1/day
11. Spirit Gun 5/day
12. Aura Burst
13. Spirit Rapid-Fire
14. Spirit Gun 6/day, Spirit Sword 2/day
15. Battle Aura
16. Spirit Sniper
17. Spirit Gun 7/day
18. Spirit Sword 3/day
19. Undying Aura
20. Spirit Gun 8/day, All-Mighty Spirit Gun

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
Spirit Detectives are proficient with all simple weapons and light armor. They do, however, prefer to use their spirit attacks.

Spirit Gun (Su): The main weapon for any Spirit Detective. Attacking with the Spirit Gun is a Standard Action, and is a Ranged Touch attack (ranged 50 feet + 10 feet/2 Spirit Detective Levels). For the attack you use you Strength Modifier. Damage for the Spirit Gun is 1d8/ Spirit Detective Level (Max 20) + Strength Modifier. On a critical hit, add your Charisma modifier + 1d4/Spirit Detective Level(Max 10) to the damage roll.

At 2nd Level, and every three levels thereafter, you may use the Spirit Gun one additional time per day, to a maximum of 8 times per day at 20th level.

Detect Undead (Sp): At will, a Spirit Detective may be able to cast Detect Undead. It functions like the spell Detect Evil, except targeting Undead.

Undead Aura (Su): Because you are technically dead, you can be quite similar to Undead. If you are within the range of someone else's Detect Undead, you will be sensed, even if there are no other undead around. You gain a +2 bonus to any save that you are allowed when being targeted by a negative energy spell, or spell-like ability. When being targeted by a positive energy spell or spell-like ability that would normally heal, make the appropriate save. If you pass, the spell works normally. If you fail, you are healed half the amount. If the spell or spell-like ability is not meant to heal, you take a -2 penalty to the save required. You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff checks and Disguise checks to make people believe that you are undead. You can also, once per day, channel one Spirit attack you make with negative energy.

Aura Combat (Su): As a Full-Round Action, make one Melee Attack against an adjacent target with your full BAB. If the attack hits, the target is pushed back one square, takes 1d4 damage, and takes 1d4 extra damage from all your Spirit Attacks until it makes a successful Will Save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma Modifier)

Aura Senses (Su): You gain a +1 bonus to all initiative checks, Spot and Listen checks, and the range of your Detect Undead increases by 10 feet.

Undead Endurance (Su): The DC for Running does not increase after a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution Modifier.

Aura Sword (Su): You can now craft your Aura into a pseudo-sword. In order to do so, you must already be wielding a one-handed sword. The damage die for the sword decreases by one, but the weapon ignores damage reductions up to your Charisma modifier. It's reach also increases by five feet.

Shotgun (Su): Continual Aura training has made your Spirit Gun more powerful. As a Full-Round action, you can forgo two uses of your Spirit Gun to make a melee touch attack against all adjacent targets using your highest base attack bonus. The damage is 1d8/(Spirit Detective Level - 6) (Max 10). You can also push each target back a number of squares equal to 1/2 your Charisma modifier.

Fast Movement (Ex): Training with your aura has made you faster than normal. You can move an extra 10 feet while not wearing medium or heavier armor, and when not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the Spirit Detective's speed because of any load carried.

Aura Compression (Su): You are no longer detectible by Detect Undead. You also do 1 point of extra damage with your Spirit attacks.

Empowered Spirit Gun (Su): At the cost of three of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, you can make one Spirit Gun attack at 1d10/Spirit Detective Level (Max 20) + Strength Modifier + Charisma Modifier damage.

Spirit Sword (Su): Your aura can now completely manifest itself into a sword. Though you can only make a certain number of attacks per day with this weapon, you may manifest it whenever you choose, and then attack with it whenever you choose. When manifesting the Spirit Sword, you can choose to make it look like any one-handed simple or martial slashing weapon. When attacking with it, act as if you were wielding the actual weapon, and had proficiency with it. By decreasing you weapon die by one size, you may also increase your reach with the Spirit Sword by five feat. You may do the same to increase the Spirit Sword's critical range by one. When attacking and doing damage with the Spirit Sword, use your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength modifier. If you take a feat that would alter your ability with the real version of the weapon you are manifesting (like Weapon Focus), it does not effect the Spirit Sword.

Aura Burst (Su): Once per day, as a Full-Round Action, all Undead, Aberrant, and Outsider type monsters within a 50 feet + 5 feet/Spirit Detective level radius of you must make a will save against a DC = 10 + 1/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma modifier. Any creature who fails the save takes 1d6/2 Spirit Detective Level + 1/4 Spirit Detective level damage, and must make another save. Any creature who fails the second save takes 1d4/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma modifier damage, and falls prone.

Spirit Rapid-Fire (Su): At the cost of at least 4 daily uses of your Spirit Gun, make a ranged touch attack against one target within 50 feet for 10d6 + 6d4 damage + 1d4/additional daily use of Spirit gun. On a critical hit, roll for damage like normal, and then double it.

Battle Aura (Su): Once per day, while you are wearing light or no armor, your aura manifests itself into an extra layer of protection, giving you a +3 bonus to AC. You also move 5 extra feet, and can add twice your Constitution modifier to all damage dealt while this is active. This armor lasts for 10 minutes/2 Spirit Detective levels after 10th level (Max 10).

Spirit Sniper (Su): At the cost of 4 of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, you can make a ranged touch attack at twice the normal range of your Spirit Gun. The damage die is decreases to d4, but is otherwise normal. Also, your critical range for this attack is increased by 1/(Spirit Detective Level-12).

Undying Aura (Su): At the cost of 6 of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, when you would normally fall unconscious from being in negative hit points, you are completely healed, but are unable to take any actions except for free and swift actions on your turn for a number of rounds equal to 10 - your Constitution modifier.

All-Mighty Spirit Gun (Su): At the cost of all of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, as a Full-Round Action, make a ranged touch attack at your full BAB against all creatures within a 500 foot radius of you for 1d12/Spirit Detective Level + Strength Modifier + Charisma Modifier + Constitution
Modifier + 1/5 Spirit Detective Levels damage. Any creature that was hit by the attack that is not dead or unconscious drops prone, and is dazed until it can pass a Will save (DC 10 +1/2 Spirit Detective levels + 1/2 Wisdom Modifier + Charisma Modifier). You are fatigued until you pass a Fortitude save (DC =10 + Spirit Detective Level)



This was my first actual attempt at 3.5 Homebrew. Let me know what you guys think. Also, if someone could tell me how to do that chart, it'd be great.

DracoDei
2010-10-24, 05:29 PM
How to do tables:
Sticky thread at the top of the homebrew forum.
Click link on "How to Homebrew" by Fax C. (Not the Philosophy thing).
Scroll down to find the noparsed stuff for a character class.

BlackLamb
2010-10-24, 06:52 PM
I love the flavor of this class! That said, I do have some thoughts for improvement / requests for clarification.


Spirit Gun (Su): The main weapon for any Spirit Detective. Attacking with the Spirit Gun is a Standard Action, and is a Ranged Touch attack (ranged 50 feet + 10 feet/2 Spirit Detective Levels). For the attack you use you Strength Modifier. Damage for the Spirit Gun is 1d8/ Spirit Detective Level (Max 20) + Strength Modifier. On a critical hit, add your Charisma modifier + 1d4/Spirit Detective Level(Max 10) to the damage roll.

Why is there strength modifier included in this? It's a ranged touch attack (usually dexterity) and does damage from a non-physical source (pick a mental stat).
I think there should be some line in here about being able to hit incorporeal and/or do critical damage to undead. To better match the awesome flavor.


Aura Combat (Su): As a Full-Round Action, make one Melee Attack against an adjacent target with your full BAB. If the attack hits, the target is pushed back one square, takes 1d4 damage, and takes 1d4 extra damage from all your Spirit Attacks until it makes a successful Will Save (DC = 10 + 1/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma Modifier)

Knockback strikes me as something that should be a Ref Save, but ymmv.


Undead Endurance (Su): The DC for Running does not increase after a number of rounds equal to your Constitution score for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution Modifier.


Flavorful, but too weak to be the only power gained.


Aura Sword (Su): You can now craft your Aura into a pseudo-sword. In order to do so, you must already be wielding a one-handed sword. The damage die for the sword decreases by one, but the weapon ignores damage reductions up to your Charisma modifier. It's reach also increases by five feet.

Gut reaction, this seems too late to gain this ability.
Do you mean that the sword ignores a number of Damage Reduction types per points of your charisma modifier? It got a little confusing there. I think it might be easier to just have it ignore damage reduction, but I don't know if that's too powerful.


Shotgun (Su): Continual Aura training has made your Spirit Gun more powerful. As a Full-Round action, you can forgo two uses of your Spirit Gun to make a melee touch attack against all adjacent targets using your highest base attack bonus. The damage is 1d8/(Spirit Detective Level - 6) (Max 10). You can also push each target back a number of squares equal to 1/2 your Charisma modifier.

Love it!


Empowered Spirit Gun (Su): At the cost of three of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, you can make one Spirit Gun attack at 1d10/Spirit Detective Level (Max 20) + Strength Modifier + Charisma Modifier damage.

Caveats about Spirit Gun still apply.
I don't think this version is worth three uses of your Spirit Gun ability, it might work better as just a general upgrade to how your Spirit Gun works.


Spirit Sword (Su): Your aura can now completely manifest itself into a sword. Though you can only make a certain number of attacks per day with this weapon, you may manifest it whenever you choose, and then attack with it whenever you choose. When manifesting the Spirit Sword, you can choose to make it look like any one-handed simple or martial slashing weapon. When attacking with it, act as if you were wielding the actual weapon, and had proficiency with it. By decreasing you weapon die by one size, you may also increase your reach with the Spirit Sword by five feat. You may do the same to increase the Spirit Sword's critical range by one. When attacking and doing damage with the Spirit Sword, use your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength modifier. If you take a feat that would alter your ability with the real version of the weapon you are manifesting (like Weapon Focus), it does not effect the Spirit Sword.

Again, feels like this is coming online too late.


Aura Burst (Su): Once per day, as a Full-Round Action, all Undead, Aberrant, and Outsider type monsters within a 50 feet + 5 feet/Spirit Detective level radius of you must make a will save against a DC = 10 + 1/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma modifier. Any creature who fails the save takes 1d6/2 Spirit Detective Level + 1/4 Spirit Detective level damage, and must make another save. Any creature who fails the second save takes 1d4/2 Spirit Detective level + Charisma modifier damage, and falls prone.

I don't know what phlebetonium you're using to justify this blast, but my gut says these should be Fort saves.


Spirit Rapid-Fire (Su): At the cost of at least 4 daily uses of your Spirit Gun, make a ranged touch attack against one target within 50 feet for 10d6 + 6d4 damage + 1d4/additional daily use of Spirit gun. On a critical hit, roll for damage like normal, and then double it.

The buy in for this should 2 uses, not 4. 4 is not worth it.


Spirit Sniper (Su): At the cost of 4 of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, you can make a ranged touch attack at twice the normal range of your Spirit Gun. The damage die is decreases to d4, but is otherwise normal. Also, your critical range for this attack is increased by 1/(Spirit Detective Level-12).

This is pretty tough, might be worth 3 uses.


Undying Aura (Su): At the cost of 6 of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, when you would normally fall unconscious from being in negative hit points, you are completely healed, but are unable to take any actions except for free and swift actions on your turn for a number of rounds equal to 10 - your Constitution modifier.

Just make it once a day.


All-Mighty Spirit Gun (Su): At the cost of all of your daily uses of Spirit Gun, as a Full-Round Action, make a ranged touch attack at your full BAB against all creatures within a 500 foot radius of you for 1d12/Spirit Detective Level + Strength Modifier + Charisma Modifier + Constitution
Modifier + 1/5 Spirit Detective Levels damage. Any creature that was hit by the attack that is not dead or unconscious drops prone, and is dazed until it can pass a Will save (DC 10 +1/2 Spirit Detective levels + 1/2 Wisdom Modifier + Charisma Modifier). You are fatigued until you pass a Fortitude save (DC =10 + Spirit Detective Level)

Again, once a day is better. All my previous caveats about spirit gun and saving throws apply.
Why 1/2 Wisdom modifier? Just for more math? Let it use full Wisdom modifier.

Over all I like the idea and think it works better than the Soulknife, but is still so narrowly focused that it might work better as a feat or series of feats than a class. Maybe take some stuff from the Spirit Shaman. Or give it some fear based powers. Something to do when not Spirit Gunning.

Thanks for the fun read.

Tanuki Tales
2010-10-24, 07:07 PM
Though you're trying to keep to the source material, a limited Spirit Gun makes this kind of less than the Warlock at doing what it does best.

It works for Yusuke in the show but won't work for PCs.

DracoDei
2010-10-24, 07:27 PM
Though you're trying to keep to the source material, a limited Spirit Gun makes this kind of less than the Warlock at doing what it does best.

It works for Yusuke in the show but won't work for PCs.
Well, the higher damage helps... but it is only 1 more point at 1st level... after that though, it starts to get somewhat competitive since more damage at once is always nice for ending fights quickly.


I would make it either (1+Class level)d8 damage, or give it 2 uses per day at level 1.

Consider making it Force damage so it can hit incorporeal stuff (which a good percentage of undead in D&D are).

EdroGrimshell
2010-10-25, 11:37 PM
Yu Yu Hakusho reference, awesome. But what about Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, i believe they count as spirit detectives. Maybe give them spirit powers they can choose or something. Makes more sense than all spirit detectives having the exact same powers.

mrcarter11
2010-10-26, 11:00 PM
I like the class flavor a good bit, but you really need a table. As for the other 3 being detectives, it isn't so. The former is simply a friend of the main character, he is never induced as a true detective. The latter two are both demons, which means they can't be detectives.. Pacifier says so himself in one of the earliest episodes..

Tanuki Tales
2010-10-26, 11:05 PM
Yu Yu Hakusho reference, awesome. But what about Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, i believe they count as spirit detectives. Maybe give them spirit powers they can choose or something. Makes more sense than all spirit detectives having the exact same powers.

The problem is that Spirit Detective was just a title in the show. Kuwabara was the only one with latent psychic/spiritual abilities while Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama were demons.

EdroGrimshell
2010-10-26, 11:50 PM
The problem is that Spirit Detective was just a title in the show. Kuwabara was the only one with latent psychic/spiritual abilities while Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama were demons.

Yusuke became a demon later on, he wasn't one at the beginning.

Tanuki Tales
2010-10-27, 12:15 AM
Yusuke became a demon later on, he wasn't one at the beginning.

He was always a demon, just the vast bulk of his demonically inherited power wasn't unleashed until the Sensui arc. It retroactively explained why Yusuke could pull off the generic Shojo power ups.

mrcarter11
2010-10-27, 12:13 PM
Well.. He was always part demon.. He was never a full demon like the other two.. In any case, I'd like to see a class that uses the abilities demonstrated in the show, letting you pick and choose as you go.

DracoDei
2010-10-27, 09:32 PM
Well.. He was always part demon.. He was never a full demon like the other two.. In any case, I'd like to see a class that uses the abilities demonstrated in the show, letting you pick and choose as you go.

Can you present any arguements that that would work better than seperate classes for each character that got a developed enough style that you would want to see it as an option for your proposed single class solution? I wouldn't know either way, I am just saying that SOMEONE should be thinking these things through. If you wanted to use pre-existing stuf, Kuabara (probably mis-spelled), would be an upgraded Soulknife, with some feats homebrewed for the purpose I think... Heie (again, not going to bother with the spelling), would probably be a modified quickling with a blast-ier version of Psychic Warrior... or maybe a Warmage. The Kitsune... probably some ranger varient that trades in animal companion and most spellcasting for really powerful stuff with plants (including the rose-whip, which might actually get into Soulknife territory... perhaps even with a Vorpal capability).

mrcarter11
2010-10-27, 10:08 PM
My only argument would be that, making a class for every character would take quite a bit of time imho. I figured it would be less time consuming to make a single class that allows the person to pick a signature ability and upgrade as they go, or pick a new ability all together.. It isn't just those four though, you could likely make a class for most of the villains..