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LOTRfan
2011-02-27, 09:54 PM
The Firstborn of Moradin
http://pds10.egloos.com/pds/200905/29/66/d0056766_4a1fc8e7e7e0e.png

According to the ancient texts of the Morndinsamman, Moradin created the humanoid races at the beginning of time. His firstborn children were the dwarves. These original dwarves had bones cut from bedrock, souls of iron, and hearts cut from the most valuable of diamonds. Despite Moradin’s attempts when creating the other races, none were quite as perfect as the first generation dwarves.

The next generations of dwarves were never as good as the first, but they still had the potential running through their blood. According to legend, the giants stole and enslaved the first dwarves, who were worked to death. This led to a long and terrible war between the giants and the dwarves. Today, relations between dwarves and giants remain hostile. To honor their ancestors of legend, many dwarven nations have elite units of troops that specialize in slaying giants. Many go even a step further, specializing in slaying all threats to the Dwarf race. These soldiers are referred to as the Firstborn of Moradin, for their attempts to emulate and avenge the first dwarves.

Firstborns of Moradin attempt to forge a connection with the earth, for if the myths are true, that is what they originated as. A Firstborn of Moradin stands as strong and unmoving as a mountain, tough as rock, and as resistant to damage as diamonds. The Firstborns of Moradin are living legends, protectors of the dwarven way of life from threats of all kinds.

Prerequisites:
To become a Firstborn of Moradin, a character must fulfill the following prerequisites:
Race: Dwarf
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) 8 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 4 ranks
Feats: Mountain Warrior*
*Races of Stone

Hit Dice: d12

The Firstborn of Moradin
{table=head]Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Dwarven Resistance
2 | +2 | +3 | +0 | +2 | Favored Enemy, Damage Reduction 1/---
3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Fortification
4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Tremorsense, Damage Reduction 2/---
5 | +5 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Charge of the Firstborn
6 | +6 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Favored Enemy, Damage Reduction 3/---
7 | +7 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Sure-footed, Giant-bane
8 | +8 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Protector, Damage Reduction 4/---
9 | +9 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Foe-bane
10 | +10 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Favored Enemy, Damage Reduction 5/---[/table]


Skills: Firstborns of Moradin have the following skills as class skills: Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis). Firstborns of Moradin gain a number of skill points equal to (4 + INT modifier).

Class Features
Firstborns of Moradin have the following class features.

Weapons and Armor Proficiencies: Firstborns of Moradin are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and are proficient with exotic dwarven armor (see Races of Stone for more details).

Dwarven Resistance (Ex): Firstborns of Moradin can use their Constitution modifier for all Reflex and Will saves instead of their Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers, if doing so would increase the saves.

Favored Enemy (Ex): At 2nd level, the Firstborn of Moradin treats creatures of the Giant type as a favored enemy. The Firstborn gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of the Giant type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. At 6th level level, the Firstborn may choose either Humanoid (Goblinoid) or Humanoid (Orc) as their second Favored Enemy, while advancing in Giant. At 10th level, the Firstborn of Moradin gains the choice he didn't choose last level as his third Favored Enemy, and once more advances in Giant.

Damage Reduction: After intense training to learn to ignore pain, Firstborns of Moradin gain Damage Reduction 1/--- at 2nd level. At 4th level, and every even level thereafter, this damage reduction increases by 1 (to a maximum of Damage Reduction 5/--- at 10th level).

Fortification (Ex): At 3rd level, the Firstborn of Moradin’s training has allowed him to master the art of battle while wearing heavy armor. When wearing heavy armor (whether standard or exotic), it becomes harder to critically harm a Firstborn of Moradin. All heavy armor the Firstborn wears is treated as though it has the Fortification enhancement. This does not stack magical armor that has this property.

Tremorsense (Ex): At 4th level, the Firstborns gain a great connection with the earth. When standing firmly on flat ground or in mountainous terrain, the Firstborn of Moradin gains tremorsense 20 ft.

Charge of the Firstborn (Ex): At 5th level, when charging a larger foe, Firstborns do not take the -2 penalty to Armor Class. Axes and hammers (along with any variants) deal double damage during a charge when wielded by a Firstborn (mounted or unmounted). When bull rushing a larger opponent, the opponent loses any benefits it has due to size and the Firstborn gains a +4 bonus to the check for every size smaller the Firstborn is compared to the opponent.

Sure-footed (Ex): At 7th level, Firstborns gain a +8 bonus to all ability checks to avoid being bull rushed, tripped, or knocked prone while in mountainous terrain. This stacks with their Stability racial trait.

Giant-bane (Ex): At 7th level, when fighting creatures at least one size category larger (regardless of whether or not they actually have the Giant type), the Firstborn gains a +4 dodge bonus to his Armor Class. This stacks with the racial dodge bonus against Giants. In addition, all creatures the Firstborn of Moradin attacks that are at least two size categories larger than him are treated as flatfooted.

Protector (Ex): At 8th level, when a Firstborn adjacent to an ally being bull rushed, the ally gain the benefits of the Firstborn's Sure-footed class feature. If the bull rushing creature provokes an attack of opportunity from the Firstborn of Moradin, he ignores the 25% chance of accidentally hitting the defender.

Foe-bane (Ex): At 9th level, Firstborns of Moradin fully awaken their racial enmity against the Giants, Orcs, and Goblinoids. When attacking a creature with the Giant type, or Humanoids with either the Orc or Goblinoid subtypes, the Firstborn deals an extra 2d6 damage. Firstborns gain a +4 bonus to attack against such creatures (this does not stack with the Dwarven attack bonus against Goblinoids and Orcs).

Zaydos
2011-02-27, 11:53 PM
Can't say I like Heavy Armor only abilities on a class meant to be entered via Ranger (as their combat style is lost in medium or heavy armor).

Other than that... I can't see me taking more than 5 levels in this unless it was a really Giant Centric campaign (and I'd never allow this as a DM in a giant centric campaign). Maybe improve Light Fortification to Moderate Fortification at higher levels and some more non-giant specific abilities, maybe coupled with reducing the number of times you get Favored Enemy (Giant)?

Edit: Looked over the paragon path. None of its stuff is at all targeted towards giants (which makes sense if the original dwarves lost to giants). I might expand the Favored Enemy bonus to also apply to Orcs and Goblins reduce it to a mere 3 favored enemy bonuses, add Orcs and Goblins to the bane ability. Give them Tremorsense (like the Paragon Path), some anti-charge ability (maybe an ability to switch positions with an adjacent ally if that ally would get charged) and some AC bonus stance similar to Dwarven Defenders. What power level are you aiming at?

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 04:55 PM
Can't say I like Heavy Armor only abilities on a class meant to be entered via Ranger (as their combat style is lost in medium or heavy armor).

I saw this mainly as a fighter PrC that required a one level dip in ranger, but you are right. The prerequisite does make it seem like it is aimed at ranger. Perhaps I should remove that prerequisite altogether, and just keep it as a class feature?


Other than that... I can't see me taking more than 5 levels in this unless it was a really Giant Centric campaign (and I'd never allow this as a DM in a giant centric campaign). Maybe improve Light Fortification to Moderate Fortification at higher levels and some more non-giant specific abilities, maybe coupled with reducing the number of times you get Favored Enemy (Giant)?

Fair enough. I'll use your suggestions below to make this class better. I'd prefer it if this class would still be a viable option at higher levels.


Edit: Looked over the paragon path. None of its stuff is at all targeted towards giants (which makes sense if the original dwarves lost to giants). I might expand the Favored Enemy bonus to also apply to Orcs and Goblins reduce it to a mere 3 favored enemy bonuses, add Orcs and Goblins to the bane ability. Give them Tremorsense (like the Paragon Path), some anti-charge ability (maybe an ability to switch positions with an adjacent ally if that ally would get charged) and some AC bonus stance similar to Dwarven Defenders. What power level are you aiming at?

It will require a very minor change in the fluff I posted, but I think that it's worth it. I was originally aiming this as a dwarven giantslayer prestige class, but it makes sense for it to include all racial enemies. I'll have the changes complete in an hour or two. As for power level.... I hadn't really thought of that. I definitely want it better than Dwarven Defender, but I hadn't put much thought into anything else.

Thanks for the honest PEACH, I want to make this PrC the best I can (as you can tell, I'm new to the whole developing character options thing).

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 07:04 PM
I made several changes. Any comments/complaints?

Zaydos
2011-02-28, 07:54 PM
Looks better, although now I must find a melee class with Knowledge (Nature) and Knowledge (Religion). Might want to add the latter to their class skill list since they require it to enter.

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 08:01 PM
... That could be a problem. I included Knowledge (Nature) because it is linked to the Giant type. Perhaps I should get rid of the Knowledge (Nature) prerequisite?

Zaydos
2011-02-28, 08:24 PM
... That could be a problem. I included Knowledge (Nature) because it is linked to the Giant type. Perhaps I should get rid of the Knowledge (Nature) prerequisite?

I might just lower the ranks requirement to 4 or maybe even just 2. Might want a Knowledge (history) requirement as well, although with 3 at 4/8/4 you are forcing an Int of 12+ on would be Firstborns so be careful.

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 08:27 PM
I'll reduce it to +4.

Overall, though, do any more improvements have to be made?

EDIT: Is d10 Hit Dice alright, or should I up it to d12, like Dwarven Defender?

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 09:14 PM
Okay, I added in the d12 Hit Dice. I'll remove it if there are any objections.

Zaydos
2011-02-28, 09:18 PM
You'll want to add some requirement that does force them to be 5th level (as is they could get in at Lv 2 if their first level was Duskblade, Cleric with Knowledge Domain, Wizard, Factotum, Druid, etc). I had meant reduce Knowledge (nature) to 4 so they only needed Knowledge (Religion) at 8 ranks, although another option is BAB (+5 or better), a save could be gotten around. Another option would be Craft (Weapons or Armor) 8 ranks.

Also they still don't have Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill yet need it to get into the class... Also maybe add Search and Survival to their class skill list. Search because it works with Stonecunning and Survival because it helps them survive in caverns. Would probably add Knowledge (History), and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) as well.

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 09:24 PM
I changed Knowledge (Nature) back to 8 ranks. I added a BAB +5 prerequisite, as well.

I added Search, Knowledge (Dungeoneering), Knowledge (Religion), and Survival as class skills. I'll be adding Knowledge (History) right now.

Zaydos
2011-02-28, 09:30 PM
And I figured out non-ranger entry for the class. Plus the fluff matches as well as the crunch :smallsmile:


Knowledge (Nature) is not a class skill for Dwarf Paragons.

LOTRfan
2011-02-28, 09:53 PM
Ah, well... I guess crossclass skills couldn't hurt too bad, right?