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Phosphate
2011-06-30, 02:57 PM
The Astre


http://images.sixrevisions.com/2009/09/03-17_angry_mage.jpg
The greatness of celestial bodies. Billions of shimmering lights in the sky, radiating down on us with their ancient memories, knowledge, and valor. Making us seek them, making us thirst of their power. But in the end, the stars themselves choose their own champions, as is fit. As it is of those champion's duty to make the world...a little more alike to the sky. - Dranast, Senior Astre

Whenever a meteor falls and crumbles to nothing, whenever a star dies out, whenever, for whatever reason, a planet is destroyed, its spirit descends to mark the path and destiny of a generation. Certain individuals, born at the exact same moment a celestial body ceases to be, receive their entire power, and so, an Astre is created.

Astres have been greatly influential throughout history, largely aware that their purpose is to leave a deep mark on the world, for better or worse. They have been kings, queens, renown champions of justice, accomplished researchers, cunning archmages and generals commanding legions of troops.

But there is one thing all Astres have in common, a distinguished characteristic symbolic for the blinding light of the celestial body's demise that created them: they don't have a shadow.

Adventuring: Astres adventure to change things, people, the order of the world. They want to travel far and wide, and nothing hurts them more than anonymity. For them, knowledge, power and wealth are only means to the end of reshaping the world, which is not selfish, nor selfless, but the very reason they breathe.

Race: Any mortal intelligent race can produce an Astre, as starlight does not discriminate. However, undead of any kind cannot become Astres, as they are too much alike the dying celestial bodies that give such powers, and lose their Astre abilities if they had them while alive. Also, Outsiders can't become Astres, as they're fundamentally separated from the cycle of life and death, even on a cosmic scale.

Alignment: Any, except True Neutral and Lawful Neutral. An Astre may not seek to preserve the balance of the world, or refuse to interfere in events of major importance. Also, an Astre may not try to kill himself, ever. If an Astre does such things, he may lose his class features until he Atones. Atonement can't be granted within 5 days of losing the features.

Age: as sorcerer
HD: d4
Gold: as wizard

{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th| 9th

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Searing Blast 2/day, Solar Feat|3|1+0

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|-|4|2+0

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Astral Glimmer|4|2+0|1+0

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|-|4|3+0|2+0

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Searing Blast 4/day, Solar Feat|4|3+0|2+0|1+0

6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5||4|3+0|3+0|2+0

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Radiance|4|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Astral Glow|4|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|-|4|4+2|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Searing blast 6/day, Solar Feat|4|4+3|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

11th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Charge Up|4|4+3|4+2|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

12th|
+6/1|
+4|
+4|
+8|-|4|4+3|4+3|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

13th|
+6/1|
+4|
+4|
+8|Improved Radiance|4|4+4|4+3|4+2|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

14th|
+7/2|
+4|
+4|
+9|Inner Source: Structure, Astral Aura|4|4+4|4+3|4+3|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

15th|
+7/2|
+5|
+5|
+9|Inner Source: Cohesion, Searing Blast 8/day, Solar Feat|4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+2|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

16th|
+8/3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Inner Source: Expression|4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+3|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

17th|
+8/3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Inner Source: Belief|4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+2|4+1|3+0|2+0|1+0

18th|
+9/4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Inner Source: Perfection|4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+3|4+2|3+0|3+0|2+0

19th|
+9/4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Greater Radiance|4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+2|4+1|3+0|3+0

20th|
+10/5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Searing Blast 10/day, Solar Feat, Ascension, Join the Stars|4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+4|4+3|4+3|4+2|4+0|4+0[/table]

Weapon and armor proficiencies: An Astre is proficient with all simple weapons and the short sword, no armor, and no shields. Weight of armor imposes arcane spell failure, as normal.

Skills per level: 4+int mod (x4 at first level)
Class Skills: Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Control Shape (Wis), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all)(Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (Celestial), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), UMD (Cha)

Class Features

Shadowless (Su): Lacking a shadow, Astres cannot use spells/techniques/enter classes that would require one.

Spellcasting: Astres, due to their source of power, have a dual nature: on one hand, and most importantly, they seize the energy of cosmic bodies as their own, capable to channel it through their words and gestures. On the other hand, they are touched by the universal sanctity of the forces that they dwell in.

As such, they have two kinds of spellcasting available to them: one arcane, and one divine. They are both Wisdom-based, so in both the Astre needs to have a Wisdom of 10+spell level to cast appropriate spells. An Astre also gains 1 spellcaster level per level for both.

The arcane spellcasting is spontaneous, and its spells per day are limited as shown in the class table, left numbers. For this, the Astre automatically learns all 0th level spells (cantrips) and all Evocation spells, once a spell slot of the appropriate level is acquired. Applying metamagic feats works just like for a sorcerer, increasing the time of casting. Having a high wisdom DOES NOT give additional spells per day.

The divine spellcasting is prepared, and the Astre does not need to have a patron deity to use it, and its spells per day are limited as shown in the class table, right numbers. To prepare his daily allotment of spells, an Astre must contemplate the night sky for 1 hour. He must be under the open sky, and the stars must be visible (if he is inside a building, or clouds cover the sky completely, he cannot prepare his spells). Also, he cannot use the contemplation more than once during the same night. An Astre can prepare his divine spells this way even if he did not rest. Having a high Wisdom DOES give additional spells per day. When preparing his Divine Spells, an Astre chooses spells from the Sun Domain, plus the domains of his alignment (so, for instance, a Chaotic Good Astre also has access to the Chaos and Good domains).

For both methods of casting, the DC for saves is 10+class level+Wis modifier

Searing Blast (Sp): Standard action. The Astre channels the energy of a star and throws it at an opponent, dealing 1dx damage to the target per caster level. Here, x is equal to the racial hd of the creature (so d8 for a humanoid, d10 for an ooze, etc). If no racial hd exists, the hd type that creature has the most of is used (so in case of 4d10+5d4, for instance, use d4. If he has equal values in two different hd, the one that would deal higher damage is chosen). This spell has a small range (25 ft+ 5 ft/2 levels) and is a ray, so it must succeed on a ranged touch attack to strike your target. This spell cannot deal more damage than half the maximum hp of the target.

Additionally, if there are multiple targets in the way of this ability, they each take damage equal to 1dx per caster level/2, where x is again the hd of each individual creature.

An Astre may, if his daily allotment of Searing Blasts is depleted, convert 1 arcane spell slot of at least level 4 into a use of Searing Blast. This conversion can be used once per day for every 5 class levels he has. This is done instantaneously.

Solar Feat: At levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 an Astre may learn a feat from the Solar Feat list. He must meet all the prerequisites. These can't be taken as general feats.


Will of the Continuum
Prerequisites: Astre, Spot 4 ranks
Bonus: When being attacked, an Astre may roll a Will Save. If his AC (do not add dexterity bonus) is lower than the rolled Will Save by less than 5, use the Will Save instead, and add dexterity bonus to it (EVEN IF the Astre is flat-footed, running, or helpless). If his AC is lower than the Will Save by more than five, he will use AC+5 instead, and add dexterity bonus (again, even if he would be denied it). If his AC is higher than the Will Save, do nothing.

Nightly Flow
Prerequisites: Astre, Control Shape 4 ranks
Bonus: When threatened by a critical hit, you can make a Will Save against it, with a DC equal to the initial attack - your class level/3. If you succeed, the critical hit fails. If you fail, the opponent must still roll for attack again to see if the critical is scored.

Lunar Vitality
Prerequisites: Astre, Will of the Continuum, Nightly Flow
Bonus: Once per night, and only if the moon is visible, the Astre may completely heal all lethal and nonlethal damage dealt to him (except nonlethal damage cause by weather, thirst, and other such things) as a Free Action.

Searing Power
Prerequisites: Astre, Spellcraft 4 ranks
Bonus: When using an offensive spell, the Astre may accompany it with a Searing Blast at the same time. To do so, he must lose a use of Searing Blast for that day and the spell slot of the accompanied spell is increased by 1. This is not considered a metamagic feat, so the casting time of the accompanied spell does not change.

Searing Touch
Prerequisites: Astre, any Knowledge 4 ranks
Bonus: The Astre can use Searing Blast as a touch spell instead of a ray. If he does so, the damage is no longer capped. It is still affected normally by Radiance, Improved Radiance and Greater Radiance.

Heated
Prerequisites: Searing Power, Searing Touch
Bonus: The Astre permanently gains a bonus of 1 Searing Blast per day, and after using Searing Blast all opponents that use a melee ability on him for 2 rounds take 1d10 damage.

Suppressed Presence
Prerequisites: Astre, Concentration 4 ranks
Bonus: Decreases the attack bonus Astral Glimmer, Astral Glow and Astral Aura give to opponents by 2. You can dismiss your Radiance (normal, improved or greater) by making a Will Save against your own average Will Save (take 10 on it) as a full round action. If you succeed, you must do this again over 1 hour. If you fail, you cannot try this again for 1 hour. If you fail twice in a row, you get a +5 bonus for all subsequent tries that day, and if you succeed twice in a row, you get a -5 penalty for all subsequent tries that day.

Improved Suppressed Presence
Prerequisites: Suppressed Presence, Concentration 6 ranks
Bonus: Decreases the attack bonus Astral Glimmer, Astral Glow and Astral Aura give to opponents by 2, stacks with Suppressed Presence. You can dismiss your Radiance (normal, improved or greater) by making a Will Save against your own average Will Save (take 10 on it) as a full round action. If you succeed, you must do this again over 2 hour. If you fail, you cannot try this again for 30 minutes. If you fail twice in a row, you get a +4 bonus for all subsequent tries that day, and if you succeed twice in a row, you get a -4 penalty for all subsequent tries that day.

Suppressed Soul
Prerequisites: Suppressed Presence taken twice
Bonus: Your opponents gain no attack bonus from any of Astral Glimmer, Astral Glow or Astral Aura, you can dismiss and activate Radiances (and choose which one to activate) as a Standard Action, and you Gain the Slippery Mind rogue ability.

Star Knowledge
Prerequisites: Astre
Bonus: You automatically learn any 2 spells from the Knowledge Domain. Can be taken multiple times. These must still be prepared.

Star Sight
Prerequisites: Astre
Bonus:You automatically learn any 2 Divination spells. Can be taken multiple times.

Astral Glimmer (Sp): The Astre can make his soul seep out of his body. Triggering this ability and dismissing it are both swift actions. As long as this ability is active, the Astre has Fast Healing 1 and opponents using melee skills on him take 1d4 damage ignoring DR, but the Astre cannot Hide, cannot gain any form of concealment or invisibility and opponents gain a +4 to attack against him.

Radiance (Su): An Astre radiates with celestial power. Anyone using a spell that detects alignment on him will have to make a Will Save against a DC of 10 + his Class Level or get the result Good, regardless of reality.

Also, in an area with a 20 feet radius centered on him, the Astre generates dim light, or if he already is in dim light, bright light. All the Astre's spells that normally had a Touch range now have a range equal to this area.

This ability is not active when the Astre is asleep or unconscious, but cannot be dismissed otherwise.

Astral Glow (Sp): The Astre can manipulate the astral nature of his soul even further. Triggering this ability and dismissing it are both swift actions. As long as this ability is active, the Astre has Fast Healing 2 and everything in a 10 feet area around him, friend or foe, alive or object, attacking or inactive, takes 1d8 damage per turn, ignoring DR but not hardness. However, the Astre cannot Hide, cannot gain any form of concealment or invisibility and opponents gain a +6 to attack against him.

Charge Up (Sp): The Astre can both create and absorb energy. Once per day per class level, an Astre can give up 1 of his spell slots (divine or arcane), absorb the energy of a building-sized (at least 10 feet tall and wide) natural fire, draw energy from a magical item, except an artifact (flip a coin, if the result is tails the item loses its magical properties), or concentrate at the night sky for 60 minutes (can't be used at the same time with the contemplating for divine spells) to gain 1 charge. The maximum number of charges an Astre can have is equal to his Class Level.

Expending charges is a Free Action that can be used once per turn. You can expend 1 charge:
- instead of sleeping for 2 hours
- instead of breathing for 2d4 minutes
- instead of eating half a pound of food
- instead of drinking a gallon of water
- to ignore cold weather for 2 hours
- to ignore extremely cold weather for 30 minutes
- to remove the fatigued status

Improved Radiance (Su): An Astre of level 13 radiates even more. His moral alignment is always detected as Good.

Also, now he generates bright light in a 10 feet radius area around him, and dim light for another 20 feet. Spells that have a Touch range instead have a 30 feet range, and the range of all other Astre's spells, except self range spells, is increased by 10 feet.

This ability is not active when the Astre is asleep or unconscious, but cannot be dismissed otherwise.

Astral Aura (Sp):The Astre has a permanent and destructive presence outside of his body. Triggering this ability and dismissing it are both swift actions. As long as this ability is active, the Astre has Fast Healing 4 and everything in a 20 feet area around him takes 2d4 damage per turn, ignoring DR but not hardness. Also, every opponent using a melee skill on him takes 1d6 damage. However, the Astre cannot Hide, cannot gain concealment, cannot become invisible and attacks made against him have a bonus of +8.

Inner Source, Structure: The Astre can maintain the intensity of his spells in the most dire of situations. If one of his spells fails against the spell resistance of a creature, he can retry the check once. Also, he can make a Will Save against a DC of 10 + the spellcaster level of the caster to use spells normally inside an antimagic field (he still cannot Dispel it). This save must be done for every single spell cast inside the antimagic field

Inner Source, Cohesion: The Astre is able to channel magic by thought alone, and no longer needs a somatic component for spells that have a casting time of 1 standard action or less.

Inner Source, Expression: The Astre does not need to call to the mystical forces, his will being enough to manipulate energy. He no longer needs verbal and divine focus components for spells that have a casting time of 1 standard action or less.

Inner Source, Perfection: The spells of an Astre defy the laws of the universe. He will ignore material components that have a cost of 1000 gold or less.

Greater Radiance (Su): An Astre of level 19 reaches the peak of his radiance. Abilities that involve alignment (not only those that detect, even damage dealing ones) do not work on him anymore.

Also, he generates a 25 feet radius area of bright light around him, and dim light for another 50 feet. All spells that have a range of under 75 feet change their range to that, and all spells that have a higher range increase it by 20 feet.

Join the Stars (Su):Two hours per night, an Astre may choose to Join the Stars. If he does so, he will instantly disappear and reappear in the same spot over 2 hours, these two hours will be treated as concentration, contemplation and actual sleep all at the same time. Join the Stars cannot be dismissed, it always lasts exactly 2 hours.


Ascension: At level 20, the Astre's soul becomes a shining star in itself. If he is Neutral on any of the two axis, he must choose a side now. He gains immunity to electricity and fire damage and spell immunity to evocation spells not cast by himself. He stops aging, and will not die from old age, but will still gain +1 to his mental stats once every 100 years. He must still eat, breathe, drink and sleep, though.

He gains a Fly speed of 50 feet (perfect), this is floating so he doesn't grow anything, and his land speed increases to 50 feet, if it wasn't already higher. Also, he may cast Greater Teleport at will, with two notable differences. Firstly, he cannot carry ANYTHING but himself. Not even equipment. Secondly, he can teleport freely in and out of antimagic fields, without needing to use the will save imposed by Structure.

Finally, an Astral that has Ascended is a hoarder of celestial energy. As such, should he ever die in battle, his corpse will generate the spell-like ability Astral Aura around it, centered on his skull. This lasts for 10 years or until his skull is completely disintegrated, whichever is longer. Cannot be dispelled.

DracoDei
2011-06-30, 04:40 PM
Technical point: it is apparently
[CENTER]
Not [align=center]

HD should be "d4" not "4".
Skill points should be listed near class skills.

Fluff looks reasonable, might benefit from some boilerplate/fluff about not being able to become shadowcasters since part of the semi-fluff is that shadowcasting involves your shadow performing slightly different somatic components than you do, but maybe that sort of odd contrast the sort of thing that does well as a PC?

Dryad
2011-07-01, 06:19 AM
Ehm.. I see a completely filled out table, with abilities, times/day, an intriguing-looking spell table..

But no explanation other than: To be continued.

Sure; if you've got it all worked out, you could copy-paste some?

If you haven't got it all worked out, then I think you might want to re-consider your building order. Starting at level one, ask yourself what some of the pivotal themes are, grant your first level a few minor (but extremely obvious) abilities, and then start thinking about level 2. Continue like that, as if you were building something from the bottom up.
After that, you can start fleshing out your class by editing, re-balancing, and maybe even deleting or adding.

I'm curious as to your casting mechanic. It looks interesting, but can easily be very over-the-top (as full casting tends to be), especially when combined with a vast multitude of class features.

Morph Bark
2011-07-01, 06:29 AM
From the class table, it seems that it is incredibly back-loaded, which is generally worse than a front-loaded class.

DracoDei
2011-07-01, 10:13 AM
If you haven't got it all worked out, then I think you might want to re-consider your building order. Starting at level one, ask yourself what some of the pivotal themes are, grant your first level a few minor (but extremely obvious) abilities, and then start thinking about level 2. Continue like that, as if you were building something from the bottom up.
After that, you can start fleshing out your class by editing, re-balancing, and maybe even deleting or adding.
For the record I don't do it like that at all... then again, I have only made one Base class and it was for NPCs. I have done a good few PrCs though.

Phosphate
2011-07-01, 03:35 PM
@Draco: Yeah, thanks.

@Dryad: My mind is a weird thing. That's how I ALWAYS do it.

@Morph: What did you say?

So features will be added in 30 minutes or so.

Morph Bark
2011-07-01, 03:37 PM
@Morph: What did you say?

I said the following:


From the class table, it seems that it is incredibly back-loaded, which is generally worse than a front-loaded class.

Phosphate
2011-07-01, 06:00 PM
It is actually evenly spread. Well, completed most of it.

DracoDei
2011-07-01, 11:24 PM
d4 HD, no armor, and the best AC granting spells available are Shield of Faith and Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law for a +2 deflection bonus... assuming they don't have spell-failure for armor with their divine spells? This guy is better off wearing armor anyway at lower levels and risking the arcane spell failure chance for his 2nd and higher level spells (save the 0th ones for utility casting when in a defensible position). The same would go for the 1st level spells, except that one can cast Floating Disk a few times a day and call it better than a sharp stick in the eye.... Tiny Hut for your 1st 3rd level arcane spell slot at level 5... about level 6 you might start having the AC spells and items to risk going armor-less (Bracers of Armor +1, which I THINK you can stack with Magic Vestment, but I am not sure... Amulet of Natural Armor maybe... and use Shield of Faith at the start of significant fights).

Of course, all this goes out the window if you have a wizard or sorcerer in the party who recognizes a superior beat-stick when they see one and spares you a Mage Armor when necessary (probably at least once an adventuring day).

And now I notice the all-poor saves... err... yeah, that is going to hurt, especially at higher levels.



If you feel like doing my brain a favor, you smooth out the Searing Blast progression by adding the following steps:
Searing Blast 3/day at 4th level (or 3rd and move Astral Glimmer to 4th)
Searing Blast 5/day at 9th level (or 8th and move Astral Glow to 9th)
Searing Blast 7/day at 12th level
Searing Blast 9/day at 18th level
Epic progression recommended: Every even level after hitting Epic: 22nd, 24th, 26th, etc, etc


Astral Glimmer (Sp): The Astre can make his soul seep out of his body. Triggering this ability and closing it are both swift actions. As long as this ability is active, the Astre has Fast Healing 1 and opponents using melee skills on him take 1d4 damage, but the Astre cannot Hide, cannot gain any form of concealment or invisibility and opponents gain a +4 to attack against him.
change "closing" to "dismissing".
Well, the 1d4 damage is a joke, but this is pretty good for out of combat healing.


Radiance MAY need an off switch... but given the flavor, maybe not. Don't know how many Evocations are Touch, but, if nothing else, it is nice for handing out Buffs in combat to your allies without drawing AoOs.


Astral Glow currently is halfway decent for causing property damage to wooden and softer objects over a period of time... might want to specifically exclude their equipment or they are going to end up naked a lot. You also repeated the "closing"/"dismissing" error. It still isn't a good idea to activate in combat, so the twice as fast thing isn't a particularly big deal.


Charge Up :is a nice grab-bag of abilities that are useful in odd cases... on clear nights expect them to stargaze to avoid needing to sleep.


Improved Radiance needs to be clarified that it doesn't allow you to target people 10 feet away with "Range: Self" spells... unless you really meant it to, in which case you need to clarify THAT. It wouldn't be overwhelming since they would mostly be using their cleric spells since there are very few Evocation buffs.

Astral Aura is much too dangerous to use for the benefits it provides over Astral Glow in almost all circumstances. One attacker who knows enough to max out their Power Attack and you will regret using this. Sure you can use when you think you are safe, but in most such cases you aren't in so much of a hurry you can't use Astral Glow instead.

Inner Source, Structure: would be Hax on a Batman wizard, or even a Sorcerer. As it is, evocation and buffing need the love. I would even suggest moving some of these "Inner Source" features to earlier levels rather than grouping them so closely. Not sure if Structure is the one you want to give first... actually, yes, I think it is, because it overcomes some very basic problems... at least the SR part. Maybe keep the AMF countering part at this level, but even that requires a will save and if you really meant to keep them at Poor for that then it is probably fine, even with Wisdom as their primary stat.

Inner Source, Cohesion/Inner Source, Expression It is technically "verbal" not "vocal". Again, this is completely Hax... if it weren't for the fact that Evocation is weak.

Inner Source, Perfection: This MIGHT have some cheese, but I don't know what they would be using it for in a major way, since they are limited to cleric spells (say of 8th level or lower in some cases, depending on starting rolls?), arcane Evocations, and 0th level arcane spells. Most cleric spells don't have expensive material components AFAIK.

Greater Radiance Good ability, but I have nothing to say about in especial.

EDIT: I just figured out what to do about the lower levels! Give him Wis to AC as an ARMOR bonus, capped at twice class level. 1st level might still get spent in studded leather or even Hide, but after that they should be good.

Phosphate
2011-07-02, 05:18 AM
d4 HD, no armor, and the best AC granting spells available are Shield of Faith and Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law for a +2 deflection bonus... assuming they don't have spell-failure for armor with their divine spells? This guy is better off wearing armor anyway at lower levels and risking the arcane spell failure chance for his 2nd and higher level spells (save the 0th ones for utility casting when in a defensible position). The same would go for the 1st level spells, except that one can cast Floating Disk a few times a day and call it better than a sharp stick in the eye.... Tiny Hut for your 1st 3rd level arcane spell slot at level 5... about level 6 you might start having the AC spells and items to risk going armor-less (Bracers of Armor +1, which I THINK you can stack with Magic Vestment, but I am not sure... Amulet of Natural Armor maybe... and use Shield of Faith at the start of significant fights).

I will solve this problem with some of the Solar Feats.


And now I notice the all-poor saves... err... yeah, that is going to hurt, especially at higher levels.

I did this for balance reasons at first, but now that I look at it again...yeah, **** it, I'm giving him good Will.


If you feel like doing my brain a favor, you smooth out the Searing Blast progression by adding the following steps:
Searing Blast 3/day at 4th level (or 3rd and move Astral Glimmer to 4th)
Searing Blast 5/day at 9th level (or 8th and move Astral Glow to 9th)
Searing Blast 7/day at 12th level
Searing Blast 9/day at 18th level
Epic progression recommended: Every even level after hitting Epic: 22nd, 24th, 26th, etc, etc

1. 2 by 2 progression is as good as 1 by 1...so I'm keeping it as is.
2. I think I will cap Searing Blast (both damage AND uses per day) at level 20. You know, cause it's overpowered as hell.


change "closing" to "dismissing".
Well, the 1d4 damage is a joke, but this is pretty good for out of combat healing.

Ok, will change. The damage is low, but the level at which you get it is also low.



Radiance MAY need an off switch... but given the flavor, maybe not. Don't know how many Evocations are Touch, but, if nothing else, it is nice for handing out Buffs in combat to your allies without drawing AoOs.

Yeah, it sure is nice. But you are right about one thing: Radiance must definitely close if the Astre is unconscious or asleep. Will change.


Astral Glow currently is halfway decent for causing property damage to wooden and softer objects over a period of time... might want to specifically exclude their equipment or they are going to end up naked a lot. You also repeated the "closing"/"dismissing" error. It still isn't a good idea to activate in combat, so the twice as fast thing isn't a particularly big deal.

Actually, it DOES deal damage to equipment, just not the equipment of the Astre. It's not that bad if you ask me, but I can devise some Solar Feats that would make it better. A boost to the ability itself just seems too much, if you ask me.


Improved Radiance needs to be clarified that it doesn't allow you to target people 10 feet away with "Range: Self" spells...

Ok, thanks, changed.


Astral Aura is much too dangerous to use for the benefits it provides over Astral Glow in almost all circumstances. One attacker who knows enough to max out their Power Attack and you will regret using this. Sure you can use when you think you are safe, but in most such cases you aren't in so much of a hurry you can't use Astral Glow instead.

Yeah, I agree. Changed it to +8 attack.



Most cleric spells don't have expensive material components AFAIK.

I know.

Phosphate
2011-07-02, 08:41 AM
Ok, most of the feats were added.

DracoDei
2011-07-02, 10:21 AM
Control Shape only serves as a pre-requisite and gives you a head-start if you ever become a were-creature?

Why would anyone take Suppressed Presence a second time when they could take the very powerful Suppressed Soul instead?

Can Radiance make Searing Touch into a ranged attack again? Spell vs Spell-like ability... not sure, and it might be nice to clarify.

I will say that while I LOVE Searing Blast's mechanics, other people are going to whine about having to roll the damage for one attack two or three times due to HD types and do math with max hp and such.

Which brings up a question... let us say that we have someone who, due to multiclassing has the following hitdice: 12d12+3d6+3d4 (I actually know of a situation where this is plausible). What happens if a 20th level Astre uses their Searing Blast on them? What about a 10th level Astre?

Phosphate
2011-07-02, 11:11 AM
Control Shape only serves as a pre-requisite and gives you a head-start if you ever become a were-creature?

Yeah.


Why would anyone take Suppressed Presence a second time when they could take the very powerful Suppressed Soul instead?

Because initially the prerequisite of Suppressed Soul was to take Suppressed Presence twice. Except I forgot to write x2. Sorry, will change.


Can Radiance make Searing Touch into a ranged attack again?

Yes, it can. But if you think I should clarify, I will.


I will say that while I LOVE Searing Blast's mechanics, other people are going to whine about having to roll the damage for one attack two or three times due to HD types and do math with max hp and such.

Which brings up a question... let us say that we have someone who, due to multiclassing has the following hitdice: 12d12+3d6+3d4 (I actually know of a situation where this is plausible). What happens if a 20th level Astre uses their Searing Blast on them? What about a 10th level Astre?

Yeah, I should clarify that as well. Searing Blast deals damage according to the value of the racial hit dice. If no racial hit dice exists, he uses the hd type the opponent has the most of. So in your case, it is 20d12 for a level 20 Astre, and 10d12 for a level 10.

EDIT: Basically, if you want the Astre to be very very screwed, you should make him fight a level 20 Fae Warblade.

DracoDei
2011-07-02, 12:29 PM
Yeah.


Because initially the prerequisite of Suppressed Soul was to take Suppressed Presence twice. Except I forgot to write x2. Sorry, will change.
For clarity I would turn the second "Suppressed Presence" into a seperate "Improved Suppressed Presence" feat.

Yes, it can. But if you think I should clarify, I will.
I do, and you probably should.


Yeah, I should clarify that as well. Searing Blast deals damage according to the value of the racial hit dice. If no racial hit dice exists, he uses the hd type the opponent has the most of. So in your case, it is 20d12 for a level 20 Astre, and 10d12 for a level 10.
Yeah, clarification, perhaps with an example, would be good. Incidently, the d12's in my example would have been racial hitdice in the specific case I was thinking of.

EDIT: Basically, if you want the Astre to be very very screwed, you should make him fight a level 20 Fae Warblade.
Well, by that point they may have better offensive options than the Blast.

Phosphate
2011-07-03, 08:43 AM
From the class table, it seems that it is incredibly back-loaded, which is generally worse than a front-loaded class.

Consider you are a level 3 Astre fighting an undead. You took Searing Power as a Solar Feat at level 1.

Using Magic Missile, you can deal 3d12+2d4+2 damage of 2 different types with a single standard action. Again, this is level 3.

So yeah, the front load is pretty fine if you ask me.


For clarity I would turn the second "Suppressed Presence" into a seperate "Improved Suppressed Presence" feat.

Yeah, will do.


I do, and you probably should.

Meh, ok.


Yeah, clarification, perhaps with an example, would be good.

Already given.


Well, by that point they may have better offensive options than the Blast.

Well, that's pretty much why Searing Power exists.


Anyway, what do you think about the capstone?

DracoDei
2011-07-03, 11:27 AM
Regarding Capstone:
+1 to ability scores per 100 years could lead to something that some would call cheesy... but I would ignore that, the GM can work around that.

I would CONSIDER having it undo any aging penalties gained to that point.

The Teleport, Greater will almost never get used, since, unfortunately, may players value equipment over life.

Your skull radiating damage and injuring those who try to dismember your corpse with melee attacks is weird, nearly pointless from a purely mechanical point of view, and very very flavorful. Definitely keep that.

Is the "concentration" portion of Join the Stars supposed to be for concentrating on spells, or what?

The fly speed makes sure they can get above cloud-cover to get their spells, but I think Join the Stars already does that.

MIGHT be clearer if you split Join the Stars out into its own ability, still gained at 20th level.

The forced alignment change thing is very flavorful, but sorta hijacking the character. Then again, a character coming just to the point of ascension then turning away is a common thing in fiction, although there the reason is usually that they have unfinished business on THIS plane of existence, rather than worries about if the butterfly will be the same person as the catapillar (although that happens too). All that to say that stopping at level 19 and multi-classing out makes good sense from a RP perspective. Perhaps give them the ability, at level 19 to not count Astre when determining multi-classing penalties? That would give the concept the last little bit of mechanical support it needs.

Phosphate
2011-07-03, 01:41 PM
Regarding Capstone:
+1 to ability scores per 100 years could lead to something that some would call cheesy... but I would ignore that, the GM can work around that.

It just make sense for someone to continually learn and become smarter, no matter if he is mortal or not.


I would CONSIDER having it undo any aging penalties gained to that point.

The Monk doesn't do that. I have also seen capstones on this forum that don't do that. But meh, I'll think about it.


The Teleport, Greater will almost never get used, since, unfortunately, may players value equipment over life.

This is just the alternative given to a decent flying speed. They either use Teleport and Astral Aura, or the flight and superior armor. Cause, you know, equipment damage.


Is the "concentration" portion of Join the Stars supposed to be for concentrating on spells, or what?

Yes.


The fly speed makes sure they can get above cloud-cover to get their spells, but I think Join the Stars already does that.

The fly speed was added because I like things that fly. Also flavor-related.


MIGHT be clearer if you split Join the Stars out into its own ability, still gained at 20th level.

I'll think about it. Probably yes.


The forced alignment change thing is very flavorful, but sorta hijacking the character. Then again, a character coming just to the point of ascension then turning away is a common thing in fiction, although there the reason is usually that they have unfinished business on THIS plane of existence, rather than worries about if the butterfly will be the same person as the catapillar (although that happens too). All that to say that stopping at level 19 and multi-classing out makes good sense from a RP perspective. Perhaps give them the ability, at level 19 to not count Astre when determining multi-classing penalties? That would give the concept the last little bit of mechanical support it needs.

That wouldn't be very smart mechanic-wise. This is what a level 20 Astre has over a level 19 Astre:

- 1 more to his caster level
- 1 more to his will
- 1 more to his BaB
- 1 additional 8th level spell slot (remember, Astres DON'T gain additional spell slots from a high casting stat)
- 1 additional 9th level spell slot (remember, Astres DON'T gain additional spell slots from a high casting stat)
- 1 more Searing Blast
- 1 more Solar Feat. Needless to say, those feats are quite strong.
- immortality
- immunity to fire and electricity
- immunity to Evocation
- flight
- can prepare his divine spells EVERY night, not being dependent on weather
- receives 1 more divine Domain (provided he is affected by the alignment thing)

Now, if you really wanted to multiclass well with this, you would do Astre 10/Warlock 10. But once you get to 13 or so, you kind of have to take it to the end.

Phosphate
2011-07-05, 04:22 PM
Bumps.........

Glimbur
2011-07-05, 05:22 PM
PEACH!

Alignment requirements... I don't understand why they exist, or the prohibition on suicide. It might become clearer as I read the class.

It's nice to actually see starting age and wealth on a homebrew class. Kudos. d4 hit die, 1/2 BAB, and good Will suggest someone similar to a wizard.

4+ skills is more than a wizard, but this class is Wis instead of Int. It's probably fine. The skill list is wider than expected... it reads like a cross between rogue and wizard. Why is that?

They spontaneously cast Evocation spells as an arcane caster. Does this mean only spells which normally Arcane casters get, or can I cast Helping Hand, Invisibility Purge, Divine Power, and other useful cleric Evocation spells? It is unfortunate that something as trivial as a cloudy night can significantly reduce the power of this class by preventing preparation of Divine spells. There are very few spells in 2-3 domains... not many choices to make. You also don't specify how save DC's are calculated (probably 10+spell level+Wis mod). Overall, the spells are useful but not enough to hang a class on. Let's see what else they have.

Searing Blast... it seems like it should be a ranged touch attack, but you talk about what happens if more than one foe is hit with it. It would be nice to call it a ranged touch attack earlier in the description. It doesn't happen very often per day, and there's a hard cap so it can't do more than 1/2 of a foe's maximum hp, so honestly this isn't great. It is a nifty trick, but again not enough to make or break a class.

Solar Feats! Can I take these as regular feats, or do are they only available as class features? If the latter, you shouldn't call them feats. Call them instead boons or blessings or something.
-Will of the Continuum should specify what kind of action it is. It's also not terribly useful, but at low levels a +5 to AC can be nice.
-Nightly Flow... having ranks in Control Shape is questionable. Will saves are generally smaller than to-hit rolls. Not very useful.
-Lunar Vitality... free action healing is useful, but it requires two sub-par abilities to get here.
-Searing Power is useful. It would be an obvious choice if it didn't require a higher level spell slot in addition to the Searing Blast use.
-Searing Touch... with arcane spell failure, 1/2 BAB, and a d4 hit die I really wouldn't want to be in melee. Due to con bonuses the cap on damage from Searing Blast won't often come up, so I would give this a miss too. Maybe if I could use it to make two touch attacks when I had enough BAB...
-Heated would be fine as an ability with no pre-reqs and which could be taken multiple times. The conditional damage is pretty ignorable, if it was "opponents who make attacks against the Astre take damage" and the damage scaled it could be useful.
-Suppressed Presence et al... I haven't met the class feature which these interact with yet.
-Star Knowledge/Sight: useful stuff. Do I learn them as arcane or divine spells?

Astral Glimmer... how long does it last? Because it seems to just be unlimited out of combat healing, which isn't a big deal.

Radiance... why are stars Good? Glowing and making touch spells ranged is flavor only and pretty powerful, respectively.

Astral Glow... does the damage ignore hardness and DR? It's still mostly an out of combat thing, as a +6 to be hit is pretty awful. Can I use Astral Glimmer instead in case I don't want a radius of damage around me?

Charge Up is kind of useful. It mostly solves mundane problems though, and if you still worry about cold at level 11 you have issues.

Improved Radiance: see Radiance.

Astral Aura: 2d4 damage is only a half point better, on average, than 1d8. It's still not worth the cost in combat.

Inner Source!
-Structure is powerful, but in an "increases versatility" kind of way.
-Cohesion is nice but not powerful.
-Expression, again, is convenient.
-Perfection... at this level, 1000 gp is not a big deal so this is, again, convenient.

Greater Radiance is unclear: "Abilities that involve alignment (not only those that detect, even damage dealing ones) do not work on him anymore."

Join the Stars is cool.

Ascension is mostly flavor. Interesting flavor, but flavor. Immunity to two elements is pretty nice, and immunity to evocation is pretty strong also.

Over all... a few times per day I can shoot lasers. I can also cast Evocation spells, which are often reviled but better than nothing, and also some domain spells which are low to moderately useful. Create Undead from Evil domain stands out as the strongest option, but it has limits. With BAB and armor choices, about all I have are class features. It's... I don't see a compelling reason to play this class. The fluff is interesting but the mechanics are mostly "limited spellcaster" with a dash of "laser". I'm not sure offhand how to fix it, sorry.

Phosphate
2011-07-07, 06:47 AM
PEACH!

Alignment requirements... I don't understand why they exist, or the prohibition on suicide. It might become clearer as I read the class.

The very POINT of this class is that the people having it are destined to change the world. So yeah.


4+ skills is more than a wizard, but this class is Wis instead of Int. It's probably fine. The skill list is wider than expected... it reads like a cross between rogue and wizard. Why is that?

It pretty much goes with the flavor of having knowledge from the stars.


They spontaneously cast Evocation spells as an arcane caster. Does this mean only spells which normally Arcane casters get, or can I cast Helping Hand, Invisibility Purge, Divine Power, and other useful cleric Evocation spells?

Obviously not. It's Arcane casting for a reason.


You also don't specify how save DC's are calculated (probably 10+spell level+Wis mod).

Yeah, thought it was obvious. Will add.


Searing Blast... it seems like it should be a ranged touch attack, but you talk about what happens if more than one foe is hit with it. It would be nice to call it a ranged touch attack earlier in the description. It doesn't happen very often per day, and there's a hard cap so it can't do more than 1/2 of a foe's maximum hp, so honestly this isn't great. It is a nifty trick, but again not enough to make or break a class.

It is a ray, not a ranged touch, I think I explained that at the beginning. It does have limited uses per day, yes, but with other abilities from the class you can sacrifice spell slots to get additional uses. And come on, this is VERY strong for the level you get it at: 1.



Solar Feats! Can I take these as regular feats, or do are they only available as class features?

Since they have Astre as prerequisite, obviously not.


If the latter, you shouldn't call them feats. Call them instead boons or blessings or something.

I saw a lot of classes calling them feats, so I don't understand this.


-Will of the Continuum should specify what kind of action it is. It's also not terribly useful, but at low levels a +5 to AC can be nice.

Any action where you may use AC. Also, considering that:
1. You have no proficiency with armor
2. You can apply dexterity bonus even if you are helpless or flat-footed
....yeah, it is quite useful.


-Nightly Flow... having ranks in Control Shape is questionable. Will saves are generally smaller than to-hit rolls. Not very useful.

Here....I will have to agree. Should I add a bonus of + class level/3 ?


-Searing Power is useful. It would be an obvious choice if it didn't require a higher level spell slot in addition to the Searing Blast use.

Requiring a spell slot only 1 step higher while adding a rather huge bonus to damage? Hmm, maybe an example should clarify.

Let's say a level 12 Astre is fighting an Elder Black Pudding. This means Searing Blast deals 12d10 damage, which is lower than half its health so doesn't cap.

You can either simultaneously use the Level 5 Cone of Cold and Searing Blast with the help of Searing power to deal 12d10+12d6 damage as a Level 6 spell.

Or you can deal only 12d6 damage with the level 6 spell Chain Lightning.

Now tell me the higher spell slot isn't worth it.


-Searing Touch... with arcane spell failure, 1/2 BAB, and a d4 hit die I really wouldn't want to be in melee. Due to con bonuses the cap on damage from Searing Blast won't often come up, so I would give this a miss too. Maybe if I could use it to make two touch attacks when I had enough BAB...

This is the reason why Radiance and its other forms exist. Did you read them?


-Star Knowledge/Sight: useful stuff. Do I learn them as arcane or divine spells?

The arcane ones as arcane, and the divine ones as divine.


Astral Glimmer... how long does it last? Because it seems to just be unlimited out of combat healing, which isn't a big deal.

It is unlimited.


Radiance... why are stars Good? Glowing and making touch spells ranged is flavor only and pretty powerful, respectively.

Glowing helps with not letting opponents get concealment. Also they make you good cause that is usually what you get from "dude with shining aura".


Astral Glow... does the damage ignore hardness and DR? It's still mostly an out of combat thing, as a +6 to be hit is pretty awful. Can I use Astral Glimmer instead in case I don't want a radius of damage around me?

It ignores DR, but not hardness. I will specify. Yes, you can use Glimmer instead.



Astral Aura: 2d4 damage is only a half point better, on average, than 1d8. It's still not worth the cost in combat.

Did you read suppressed presence and suppressed soul?


Greater Radiance is unclear: "Abilities that involve alignment (not only those that detect, even damage dealing ones) do not work on him anymore."

detect evil, detect good, all smites, circle of magic against evil etc. they all fail

Join the Stars is cool.


Ascension is mostly flavor. Interesting flavor, but flavor. Immunity to two elements is pretty nice, and immunity to evocation is pretty strong also.

Wait, so it is just flavor that you get a 50 feet perfect fly speed and greater teleport at will and immortality?


Over all... a few times per day I can shoot lasers. I can also cast Evocation spells, which are often reviled but better than nothing, and also some domain spells which are low to moderately useful. Create Undead from Evil domain stands out as the strongest option, but it has limits. With BAB and armor choices, about all I have are class features. It's... I don't see a compelling reason to play this class. The fluff is interesting but the mechanics are mostly "limited spellcaster" with a dash of "laser". I'm not sure offhand how to fix it, sorry.

It is not supposed to be Tier 1.

DracoDei
2011-07-07, 10:19 AM
Due to the way that the question was phrased (A or B?) it is still a bit ambiguous if the Astre feats can be taken as regular feats by an Astre (IE the feats they get every three character levels).

Phosphate
2011-07-07, 10:35 AM
Ok, will clarify. Can't be taken as general feats.

SamBurke
2011-07-07, 10:47 AM
Ooh. Going to follow this. I have a friend who always complains that there isn't enough wisdom based casting in homebrew.

Phosphate
2011-07-07, 11:10 AM
Ooh. Going to follow this. I have a friend who always complains that there isn't enough wisdom based casting in homebrew.

You can comment on it...now?

SamBurke
2011-07-07, 11:14 AM
Well, some of the feats are absolutely incomprehensibile to me. (Nightly Flow, the repeated mention of "skills", etc). Could you explain at least those two?

Phosphate
2011-07-07, 11:17 AM
Do you want an example?

SamBurke
2011-07-07, 11:21 AM
Examples are always nice in my opinion.

Phosphate
2011-07-07, 11:45 AM
Ok. A level 9 Medium Astre fights a level 9 Large Fighter. The Astre has a will mod of +4. The Fighter has a Str mod of +2 and doesn't multiclass, so has a BaB of +9.

The fighter rolls a 20 on attack and threatens with a critical. His total attack roll is 20+9-1+2=30

The save DC given by Nightly Flow is attack roll - class level/3 = 30 - 3 = 27

So the Astre rolls his Will Save, and if it is higher than 27, he is no longer hit by the critical.

DracoDei
2011-07-07, 05:51 PM
So the Astre rolls his Will Save, and if it is higher than 27, he is no longer hit by the critical.
Meaning, I assume, that it is a normal hit?

Phosphate
2011-07-08, 02:46 AM
Meaning, I assume, that it is a normal hit?

Well naturally.