Poppy Appletree
2011-05-09, 03:03 AM
So, I'd like some comment on a prestige class I designed a few years ago for a character I was playing, though in the end it never saw use. While constructing the class, I built upon some of the ideas presented by the shugenja class, such as their obvious connection to the elemental planes; the overall concept is that the elementalist is a shugenja who deepens their relationship to the elements by constructing an elemental familiar, from which they learn more about their favoured element.
I originally shared the elementalist here (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Elementalist_(3.5e_Prestige_Class)), so that others could use and modify it if they wanted to, because frankly, the shugenja is rather crappy, and should have some decent options provided to make it a better choice for a player to take.
Entry:
Due to the requirement that the character have the element focus, they must have at least one level of shugenja; in addition, the skill point requirement is fairly hefty, taking up 20 out of 32 of the skill points available to a non-human level 5 shugenja with 10 intelligence.
The class experiences some frontloading of abilities, but these abilities are rather ineffective at the early stages; in addition to the fact that the class explicitly requires the character to hold levels in shugenja, there is very little risk of this class being "dipped" into for easy features.
The 10th level of this class is, hopefully, powerful enough to present an incentive to carry on advancing in the class until its completion.
Feature discussion:
The class is designed with two major features, with a third being notable: These are the elemental familiar, elemental aspect, and advanced learning. Each of these features follow a defined progression.
The elemental familiar follows a progression that may not be immediately apparent: The difference between each category is a doubling series, Tiny being present at level 1, Small at level 2, Medium at level 4, and Large at level 8. In this way, it takes progressively more elementalist levels (and therefore commitment) to turn the elemental familiar into a viable combatant.
The elemental aspect feature is much more predictable, adding an extra usage and improving the ability's power every three levels. In the interests of feature spread, it may be worthwhile to split the progressions of the uses per day, possibly increasing the number of uses to five and adding an additional use at each odd level; in this way, the features are much more spread out, and the extra uses only overlap with the elemental aspect upgrades at 7th level.
Three of the remaining gaps are filled with advanced learning, taken from the specialist sorcerers (e.g. warmage), for the purpose of making the shugenja's restrictive spell list a bit more bearable.
Finally, greater element focus was thrown in to address the dead level at 5th level by providing a minor thematic ability.
The elementalist continues to advance the sense elements feature of the shugenja, as this ability is incredibly minor and is thematically appropriate.
Design notes:
When creating the class's features, I erred on the side of the overpowered, as I figure if this class is a bit overpowered, then it simply serves to compensate them for having started with a class that was very weak and had a poor and restricted spell list. At the point at which the elementalist completes their class, other classes are becoming insanely powerful, which should mean that the shugenja player is given a chance to catch up.
Each level of the class provides a boost in casting in addition to its other features, but this casting boost is only available for the shugenja class, which is weak anyway. The advanced learning feature doesn't impact heavily, but it does make the elementalist's lacklustre shugenja list a bit better.
The elemental familiar serves as a bodyguard to the shugenja, creating a pretty nifty tag team once the elemental familiar reaches an appropriate size; the party's warriors should not be made obsolete, however, as placing the familiar in frontline combat incurs the risk that the elementalist will lose their class features until constructing a new familiar, a process which presents an obvious inconvenience, but isn't so punishing that the elementalist is prevented from making effective usage of their class features.
The elemental familiar's traits were heavily based on that of the wizard's, and as such, it may be the case that they are a bit too powerful; the improved evasion and spell resistance features appear to be completely arbitrarily copied from the wizard's familiar, and removing them would not take anything away from the class's theme.
Should it be the case that the elementalist still appears too powerful after making any alterations mentioned above, the elemental aspect feature could be weakened, or the prestige class could be extended to 15 levels and spread out accordingly.
The name is, of course, not very original. Suggestions would be nice in that regard. Additionally, three years after its creation, the fluff is still empty, which is something that might want to be rectified.
So, with all that said, what are your thoughts?
I originally shared the elementalist here (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Elementalist_(3.5e_Prestige_Class)), so that others could use and modify it if they wanted to, because frankly, the shugenja is rather crappy, and should have some decent options provided to make it a better choice for a player to take.
Entry:
Due to the requirement that the character have the element focus, they must have at least one level of shugenja; in addition, the skill point requirement is fairly hefty, taking up 20 out of 32 of the skill points available to a non-human level 5 shugenja with 10 intelligence.
The class experiences some frontloading of abilities, but these abilities are rather ineffective at the early stages; in addition to the fact that the class explicitly requires the character to hold levels in shugenja, there is very little risk of this class being "dipped" into for easy features.
The 10th level of this class is, hopefully, powerful enough to present an incentive to carry on advancing in the class until its completion.
Feature discussion:
The class is designed with two major features, with a third being notable: These are the elemental familiar, elemental aspect, and advanced learning. Each of these features follow a defined progression.
The elemental familiar follows a progression that may not be immediately apparent: The difference between each category is a doubling series, Tiny being present at level 1, Small at level 2, Medium at level 4, and Large at level 8. In this way, it takes progressively more elementalist levels (and therefore commitment) to turn the elemental familiar into a viable combatant.
The elemental aspect feature is much more predictable, adding an extra usage and improving the ability's power every three levels. In the interests of feature spread, it may be worthwhile to split the progressions of the uses per day, possibly increasing the number of uses to five and adding an additional use at each odd level; in this way, the features are much more spread out, and the extra uses only overlap with the elemental aspect upgrades at 7th level.
Three of the remaining gaps are filled with advanced learning, taken from the specialist sorcerers (e.g. warmage), for the purpose of making the shugenja's restrictive spell list a bit more bearable.
Finally, greater element focus was thrown in to address the dead level at 5th level by providing a minor thematic ability.
The elementalist continues to advance the sense elements feature of the shugenja, as this ability is incredibly minor and is thematically appropriate.
Design notes:
When creating the class's features, I erred on the side of the overpowered, as I figure if this class is a bit overpowered, then it simply serves to compensate them for having started with a class that was very weak and had a poor and restricted spell list. At the point at which the elementalist completes their class, other classes are becoming insanely powerful, which should mean that the shugenja player is given a chance to catch up.
Each level of the class provides a boost in casting in addition to its other features, but this casting boost is only available for the shugenja class, which is weak anyway. The advanced learning feature doesn't impact heavily, but it does make the elementalist's lacklustre shugenja list a bit better.
The elemental familiar serves as a bodyguard to the shugenja, creating a pretty nifty tag team once the elemental familiar reaches an appropriate size; the party's warriors should not be made obsolete, however, as placing the familiar in frontline combat incurs the risk that the elementalist will lose their class features until constructing a new familiar, a process which presents an obvious inconvenience, but isn't so punishing that the elementalist is prevented from making effective usage of their class features.
The elemental familiar's traits were heavily based on that of the wizard's, and as such, it may be the case that they are a bit too powerful; the improved evasion and spell resistance features appear to be completely arbitrarily copied from the wizard's familiar, and removing them would not take anything away from the class's theme.
Should it be the case that the elementalist still appears too powerful after making any alterations mentioned above, the elemental aspect feature could be weakened, or the prestige class could be extended to 15 levels and spread out accordingly.
The name is, of course, not very original. Suggestions would be nice in that regard. Additionally, three years after its creation, the fluff is still empty, which is something that might want to be rectified.
So, with all that said, what are your thoughts?