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Draxar
2011-06-30, 06:20 PM
The first two things I thought when I saw the Sythesist Archetype for summoners (summon your eidolon around yourself, then act as it) were some kind of totem warrior calling the power of his totem spirit around him, and Mumm Ra the Everliving (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umU8vKRNnRw).

And what other class fits best with that? Barbarian. Also, from a mechanical point of view, Eidolon attacks + Rage = awesome.

So here's a dual progression class for Summoner and Barbarian, that lets you fuse an outsider with yourself, then get angry and beat stuff up.

Prerequisites:
Knowledge: The Planes 5
Rage
Lesser Spirit Totem (Rage Power)
Fused Eidolon

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spells

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Spirit Rage. Totem Synthesis|—

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|– |+1 existing

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Rage-Buff I | —

4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4| Spirit Totem |+1 existing

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|– | —

6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Rage-Buff II |+1 existing

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|– | —

8th|
+6|
+6|
+2|
+6|Greater Spirit Totem| +1 existing

9th|
+6|
+6|
+3|
+6|Rage-Buff III | —

10th|
+7|
+6|
+3|
+6| Greater Rage and/or Pinacle ability |+1 existing [/table]

Spirit Rage: Your levels in Vessel of the Totem count as levels of Barbarian for the purpose of how many rounds of rage you have, and for the effect of Rage powers you have. They do not count as barbarian levels for any other purposes such as gaining Damage Resistance or additional rage powers. However, you can only use the additional rounds gained from this class whilst fused with your eidolon.

Totem Synthesis: Your levels in Vessel of the Totem count as levels of Summoner for the purpose of working out the characteristics, abilities and evolutions of your Fused Eidolon. They do not count for any other purposes such as Shielded Meld , Maker’s Jump or spellcasting (which is covered seperately later). As a side effect of the totemic influence upon the Vessel of the Totem's fused eidolon, he becomes unable to use weapons other than his natural weapons when fused with his eidolon.

Spellcasting: At every even class level, a Vessel of the Totem gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in summoner. He does not, however, gain other benefits a character of that class would have gained, except for additional spells per day, spells known, and an increased effective level of spellcasting.

Rage-Buff I: At level 3, when a Vessel of the Spirit rages, he may call upon the power of the spirits to empower himself. As a swift action he may cast a single spell upon himself (that he is a valid target for). Also valid are spells that would be cast on his eidolon, such as Rejuvenate Eidolon or Evolution Surge. However, any spells cast in this manner that have a non-Instantaneous duration will end when his current rage ends, or their normal duration ends, whichever comes first. At level 6 he may cast two such spells with one swift action, and at level 9, three.

Spirit Totem: At 4th level the Vessel of the Totem gains the Spirit Totem rage power. At 8th level, they also gain the Greater Spirit Totem power.

Greater Rage At 10th level, the intensity of the Vessel of the Spirit's rage increases. This is identical to the Barbarian class feature of the same name.

***

So, what do people think? It's quite powerful, for the fact you're getting both rage rounds and buffed eidolon, but you're not gaining the various benefits of the Summoner/Eidolon bond (such as +4 shield, +4 save bonus), and only two specific Rage Powers, rather than five of your choice, as well as no Damage resistance and other Barbarian class features.

It could use a couple more abilities to put in the dead levels, but I'm not sure exactly what.

The reason for removing the option to use manufactured weapon is that the Kali and her 8 arms build is already overpowered for Eidolons, and that's without the benefits of a Barbarians weapon proficiencies and rage. Plus it makes the results look more thematically appropriate and awesome.

Rage Buff needs a better name. I'm also not sure if the duration truncation is needed, but then again, I'm worried about the nastiness of getting Bulls Strength + Haste + Something else + Rage all at once, for a free and a swift action. Thus the limitation balances that someone

The class needs a pinacle ability, but I have no idea what that should be.

Draxar
2011-06-30, 07:13 PM
Now with actual class feature descriptions! I accidentally posted it before I intended to, and couldn't see a way to delete it, so had to write up the content via an edit.

Curious
2011-06-30, 07:26 PM
Looks pretty solid, although I don't think it offers enough benefits to justify a 5/10 spell advancement. 7/10 would be more fitting, I think.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-30, 07:31 PM
Your saves table is off. The formula for good save progression is level/2 +2, (starts at 2, +1 every even level), and the formula for poor saves is 1/3 level (Starts at +0, increases by +1 at 3rd, 6th, and 9th)

Suggested names for Rage Buff-
Inner Demon, Inner Spirit, Empowered Rage, Ferocious Rage, Rage of the Summoner, Fusion of the Body and Soul, Might of the Eidolon, Champion of the Eidolon

Draxar
2011-06-30, 07:42 PM
Looks pretty solid, although I don't think it offers enough benefits to justify a 5/10 spell advancement. 7/10 would be more fitting, I think.
Hmmm… given that Summoner spellcasting isn't all that great, and this guy won't want to be doing too much slowing down to cast, I'd be tempted to give him more abilities than more spellcasting. I I can come up with such.

Your saves table is off. The formula for good save progression is level/2 +2, (starts at 2, +1 every even level), and the formula for poor saves is 1/3 level (Starts at +0, increases by +1 at 3rd, 6th, and 9th)

Whups. I'll admit those were a copypasta from the place I grabbed the table notation from


Suggested names for Rage Buff-
Inner Demon, Inner Spirit, Empowered Rage, Ferocious Rage, Rage of the Summoner, Fusion of the Body and Soul, Might of the Eidolon, Champion of the Eidolon

Might of the Totem could work. I'd rather play up 'Totem' than 'Eidolon', name-wise, as there are many Eidolons, but only some of them are Totems.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-30, 09:17 PM
You're welcome. And that sounds well-argued. I cannot claim to know anything about the Eidolons or the homebrew base class you seem to be merging with barbarians, so I apologize for my limited expertise.

Curious
2011-07-01, 01:48 AM
You're welcome. And that sounds well-argued. I cannot claim to know anything about the Eidolons or the homebrew base class you seem to be merging with barbarians, so I apologize for my limited expertise.

Not homebrew; Pathfinder.

Draxar
2011-07-01, 12:08 PM
You're welcome. And that sounds well-argued. I cannot claim to know anything about the Eidolons or the homebrew base class you seem to be merging with barbarians, so I apologize for my limited expertise.

It's a Summoner, a Pathfinder class introduced in the Advanced Players guide, and the Synthesist is an Archetype (set of linked alternate class features) of such introduced in Ultimate Magic.

All of the rules for the Summoner are available here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner), with the Synthesist archetype towards the bottom of the page.

Their spellcasting (at a bard-ish rate of increase) is basically a mix of some buffs (though not so many of the great Cleric ones) and then other stuff that fits the idea of summoning it from elsewhere; grease, glitterdust, black tentacles, etc.

So, does anyone have any ideas for more abilities that would fit this class?