Blade-bound PrC (PEACH)-zolga

[zolga]

Well I was thinking the other day about making a class that fulfills all of these concepts:
-high hit rating
-supernatural connection to its weapon
-good mobility in any type of armor
-dependency on Wisdom as a combat stat
-use of concentration as a an actual tool.
First I tried an base class with some over the top magic related abilities and some of these presented here.
I came to the conclusion that i was unable to make the concept work without the class being much stronger than expected.
So i decided that i will remove those overpowered abilities and make it a prestige class all about hitting all the time for some nice damage.
The class has no actual utility but is pretty self reliable with a very high AC and a good hit die can pretty much soak the damage for the whole group.
Also it will hit like a truck on level 10 and will do so for about 3 round without any actual problem.
It is probably accessible by a level 6 fighter easily.
Also it has a lot to offer to that fighter
He is going to hit a lot stronger and even more often and will have the ability to wear heavy armor with no actual penalty(on the contrary, with a bonus).
Also a ranger is the second class that can benefit from this PrC.
I decided that i will not make it so that the ranger can't choose both of his swords as his chosen weapon but also that i will not make him remove the second weapon.
His biggest benefit in the class is using his wisdom even more efficiently.
and the ability to do something similar to rage in medium armor.

So yeah here it goes: the Blade-bound
Blade-bound

Hit die:
d8

RequirementsTo qualify to become a blade-bound, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment
Any non-chaotic.

BAB
+6/+1

Skills
Concentration 3 ranks.

Special
The blade-bound must choose one bladed weapon and name it as his chosen weapon. This requires one full week of meditation and an arcane spell caster to perform the incantation.
Blade-bond
Transmutation
Effective Level: 6th
Skill Check: Knowledge (arcana) DC 20, 6 successes
Failure: No effect
Components: M,V,S,XP
Casting Time: Oone full week of eight hours of meditation per day
Target: See text
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

After the spell is cast the bond is cast the bond between the weapon and the blade-bound is created and the blade-bound can take levels of the blade-bound prestige class if he fulfills the requirements. The bond is for purpose of all spell effects and rules treated as a supernatural ability and not a magical one. Only weapons that have bonuses from these feat combinations applied qualify to be chosen weapons:
1. Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization
2. Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus
3. Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization
Material component:
Amount of platinum worth no less than 5000 gp.
XP component:
600 XP

Class SkillsThe blade-bound’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str) and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Additional Level
4 + Int modifier.

NAME OF CLASS
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|AC bonus

1st|
+0|
+1|
+0|
+2|Chosen weapon, blade connection|
+0

2nd|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+3|Might lv1|
+0

3rd|
+2|
+2|
+1|
+3||
+1

4th|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+4|Haste|
+1

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4||
+1

6th|
+4|
+4|
+2|
+5|Might lv2|
+2

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5||
+2

8th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+3|
+6|Mind over body|
+2

9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+3|
+6||
+3

10th|
+7/+2|
+6|
+4|
+7|Might lv3, focus|
+3
[/table]

Class FeaturesAll of the following are class features of the blade-bound prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A blade-bound is proficient all armor (heavy, medium, and light).
Wisdom is golden (Su)
The blade-bound can use the WIS modifier instead of the CON modifier on his concentration checks for purpose of his class abilities.
AC bonus
The blade-bound also gains a bonus to his AC if he is wearing medium or heavy armor and is wielding his chosen weapon. This bonus is a natural armor bonus. He also gains half his wisdom mdifier as a bonus if wearing any type of armor.
Chosen weapon (Su)
The blade-bound is supernaturally attuned to his weapon of choice. The blade-bound on level 5 also gains low-light vision with 30 ft. range. This functions only while he is holding his chosen weapon. Also the blade-bound is aware of the current position of his weapon all the time but he can only sense the direction in which it is located and not its actual position. The blade-bound also gains a circumstance bonus of 1 on all CHA, WIS and CON based skill checks but only when in near proximity of his weapon (wielding it or touching it with any body part). When the blade-bound is not in near proximity of his weapon for more than 1 day+1 day per point of his WIS modifier, he loses all of his class features , for every following day without touching his weapon the blade-bound loses one health point permanently. If the weapon is destroyed it is considered as if the 1 day+1 day per point of his WIS modifier have already passed (the blade-bound doesn’t have to see the weapon being destroyed, he simply feels it). The blade-bound can try to break the bond with his chosen weapon once per day (even if the weapon is destroyed he still must break the bond to make a new one), that requires a successful wisdom check with a DC 20. If at any moment the blade-bound successfully chooses a new weapon for his chosen weapon he retroactively gains all the feats as if he has used that weapon from the first level, he also gains any hit points he lost because of being separated from his weapon and also he gains all his class features back.
Blade connection (Su)
By concentrating on his blade the blade-bound can further improve his fighting ability. As a move action or a standard action the blade-bound can attempt a concentration check with a DC 15. A bonus on this check is equal to the current class level. If he succeeds he is considered blade connected and he also gains a +2 circumstance bonus on attack rolls and a +1 bonus on damage rolls but only with his chosen weapon. His next attack after becoming blade connected automatically hits and also has a 5+WIS modifier percent chance to crit. Every 2 class levels he gains one percent bonus chance. If at any moment during the blade connected period the blade-bound takes damage equal or bigger the one forth of his maximum hit points rounded-down he must attempt a concentration check with a DC 25-class level-WIS modifier. He can also attempt a will save with the same DC instead. If the blade-bound fails the check/save he loses his blade connection and is winded for one round. This also happens if the weapon is destroyed. The blade-bound can attempt a blade connection the number of times per encounter equal to the his WIS modifier.
Might (Ex)
The blade-bound can because of his supernatural connection to his chosen weapon, tap into a reservoir of adrenaline to increase his strength by two for a number of rounds equal to 4 + the character's con modifier if he is in medium or light armor. Once the effect of this ability wears off, the blade-bound is winded for 1d4+1 rounds, taking a -2 penalty to attack, damage, and save rolls and also takes a -15 penalty on concentration checks. The blade-bound can use this ability only once per encounter. At 8th level, the blade-bound's might ability is improved, giving a +4 instead of +2 strength bonus, but the winded penalty increases to -3. He also gains another use per encounter, making it 2 uses per encounter. At 16th level, the blade-bound's might ability improves again, the +6 becoming a +10, the penalty increasing by another point, becoming -4, and the use allowance increasing by one, making that 3 times per encounter. While might’s effect is active the blade-bound has a -15 penalty on his concentration checks. The blade-bound can attempt to shorten the winded state duration the moment it starts by succeeding in a concentration check DC 15+2 per level of might. If he succeeds the number of rounds is reduced by d2+1 rounds.
Haste (Su)
The blade-bound can boost his mobility through pure focus. If the blade-bound succeeds in a concentration check DC 20-class level (swift action) he can move at full speed under any type of armor during the duration. Also his initiative is increased by his WIS modifier. The duration is as long as the blade-bound isn’t winded with a maximum duration of one minute.
Mind over body (Su)
While wielding his chosen weapon the blade-bound can continue fighting after damage that would kill a normal person. Once the blade-bound is at 0 hit points he can chose to continue fighting. If he doesn’t he is treated as dying and normal rules apply. If he does he makes a concentration check each combat round after he has been reduced to -1. The DC of the save is equal to 10+1 per hit point below 0. Success allows him to keep fighting, while failure causes him to fall dead. He falls dead if he is at any moment reduced to -10.
Focus (Su)
By completely focusing on his weapon the blade-bound peaks his fighting ability. The blade-bound can attempt to focus only if he is blade connected. If he succeeds in a concentration check DC 20-WIS modifier (this requires a swift action or half a move action (moving half speed)), the blade-bound becomes focused. While focused the blade-bound has his attack rolls increased by WIS modifier and damage dealt with normal attacks increased by his WIS modifier. Every turn of focused state the blade-bound must make a concentration check with DC 10+1 per point of damage taken from the start of the state+3 every round of the state. Once the state ends the blade-bound loses all bonuses on his attacks for one round (except for his BAB). The blade-bound can use focus only once per encounter and up to the number equal to his WIS modifier per day.

[zolga]

reserved for something

[zolga]

also reserved but for something else probably

[zolga]

anyone? please!

[ShiningStarling]

Seems alright in concept, but there are some areas I would adress.

1. Those are steep prereqs. I mean, really steep. Bump the concentration up to 4 or 6, but knock the BAB down to 6.
2. Make the Blade Binding spell an Incantation instead (see Unearthed Arcana) so the party spell caster doesn't have to learn a spell so he can cast it all of 1 time. It seems more like an incantation than a spell anyway.
3. Wisdom is a weird stat to require for this class, because it doesn't use it enough. Make it sub in for Concentration checks. Make every class ability use the Blade Connection mechanic. Give him insight to AC equal to WIS modifier instead of the Natural Armor thing. Remember, if a fighter type is gonna have to devote ability points for Wisdom, its gonna hurt before getting to this class, so give him EVERYTHING from Wisdom.
4. Sorry to be picky, but make your decriptions shorter if you can. Liberal use of the Blade Connection mechanc and the removal of the other mechanics should do it.

Its a good idea, just needed some spit and polish. :smallsmile:

[zolga]

Seems alright in concept, but there are some areas I would adress.

1. Those are steep prereqs. I mean, really steep. Bump the concentration up to 4 or 6, but knock the BAB down to 6.
2. Make the Blade Binding spell an Incantation instead (see Unearthed Arcana) so the party spell caster doesn't have to learn a spell so he can cast it all of 1 time. It seems more like an incantation than a spell anyway.
3. Wisdom is a weird stat to require for this class, because it doesn't use it enough. Make it sub in for Concentration checks. Make every class ability use the Blade Connection mechanic. Give him insight to AC equal to WIS modifier instead of the Natural Armor thing. Remember, if a fighter type is gonna have to devote ability points for Wisdom, its gonna hurt before getting to this class, so give him EVERYTHING from Wisdom.
4. Sorry to be picky, but make your decriptions shorter if you can. Liberal use of the Blade Connection mechanc and the removal of the other mechanics should do it.

Its a good idea, just needed some spit and polish. :smallsmile:

I tried to make him have to put poins in wisdom just for the class features
every ability uses a certain mechanic for a reason
i may however shorten the tooltips
thank you for posting man

[zolga]

give me more people

bump

[jiriku]

OP needs fewer spoilers. Spoilers should be used only for text that you think some people won't want to read.

Your class needs some work. I will suggest some specific changes, highlight some areas you may wish to revise, and give you some general advice on designing homebrew material for 3.5. I'm very, very thorough when I give class reviews, so hopefully this will be useful to you, but it might seem a bit overwhelming at first because, frankly, even constructive criticism is still criticism. Take heart! You've got some great ideas in this class; you merely need to perfect your execution of those ideas.

1. The weapon bond is overly punitive. It requires too much xp, gold, and time to bond and the penalties if the weapon is lost or destroyed are too great. You could take your first level in this class, have your weapon immediately destroyed by a rust monster, and then you're right back to square one. And in this situation, you're out two weeks of game time, 10,000 gp, 1,200 xp, and for what? Just the ability to use your class features.

2. Most of the mechanics in your class are gratuitous. By this I mean, you're forcing a calculation or a roll, but the calculation or roll doesn't create an interesting result. It just sucks up time. Examples include:

The complicated rules involving the loss or destruction of the blade. It seems to be an attempt to motivate the character to recover or replace the blade, but since half the class features key off the blade, the inability to use those features by itself will be sufficient motivation.
You also seem to want to make it difficult to recover from loss of the blade, which doesn't really serve a constructive purpose, since fighters throwing their cool weapons away isn't a problem in the game and doesn't need to be discouraged.
All of the Concentration checks. Really, all of them. The DCs are so low that any character with a decent Concentration skill will auto-pass them. At which point, you might as well make the the ability work automatically and not waste time rolling the dice.

3. Game mechanics exist for a reason. Fundamental progressions like good, medium, and poor base attack bonus, good and poor saves, and the d20-based critical threat system exist to organize the game, give it structure, and create a common set of expectations for everyone playing the game. You should never discard this structures unless you have to, and should always look for a way to use the existing mechanics as a means to your end. For example:
Your irregular Fort and Will save progressions don't differ enough from the standard progressions to justify not using the standard progressions. If you want something that resembles a "medium" save progression, try using the Poor progression and granting a small bonus to certain saves as a class feature.
Your percentile-based critical hit chance when using blade connection again have a miniscule impact on the game, not enough to justify the rules burden they impose. Instead, take advantage of existing game mechanics by having the attack simply automatically hit and threaten a critical, and grant +Wis to hit when rolling to confirm the critical threat.
The idea of spending "a move action or a standard action", "a swift action or half a move action" or making a roll either "a skill check or a saving throw" doesn't square well with existing rules, and since one of the options will almost always be better than the other, the choice doesn't generally produce an interesting result. Again, don't add complexity to the system unless you're going to make the game more interesting by doing so.

4. Your concept of a risk-reward balance for the class abilities is slanted too heavily towards risk. Several abilities carries a tremendous likelihood of causing the PC some grief when used (consider the penalties for having your weapon sundered, or the serious debuff you inflict on yourself when you become winded). However, the benefits gained are pitifully small, usually not enough to be worth the cost. For example:

The benefits of having a bonded weapon, which are essentially +2 to hit, +1 damage, low-light vision that doesn't work, and the ability to give up your full attack once to automatically make a single hit, could be obtained through magic items for 10-15k gold (the cost of one or two blade binding rituals, when you consider the value of the lost xp).
The +2 bonus to Strength from might grants +1 to hit and damage, but the winded condition imposes -2 (or worse) on a variety of rolls -- a penalty far greater than the benefit that was gained.

5. There are some inconsistencies in the rules you present. For example:
You offer low-light vision with a range of 30 feet. However, low-light vision doesn't have a set range. Perhaps you meant to offer darkvision instead?
You mention a Might benefit that becomes available at 16th level, but your class only has 10 levels. This is probably leftover text from when you originally wrote this out as a 20-level class.
You seem to have inconsistent expectations as to what armor the PC should wear. Part of AC bonus works in medium or heavy armor. Part of it works in any type of armor. Might works in medium or light armor. Haste benefits those in medium or heavy armor, but can be used by those in light armor even though it offers them no benefit.

6. The class overall is very, very weak. Your intended entry class is obviously fighter, and you offer very small bonuses to things that the fighter was already good at (like attack bonus and AC), while not really filling in any of many, many weaknesses that fighters have (fighter is one of the weakest and least capable classes in the game). Moreover, many of the abilities come with "gotcha" clauses that makes using them or even having levels in the class at all a risky proposition. Even if your class provided the same set of abilities in only 5 levels, instead of 10, i'm not sure it would be a good move for a PC to take it.

If you can get your hands on the Tome of Battle, I'd recommend that you take a look at the warblade, which is a strong fighter-type class that makes good use of its Int score and can use several maneuvers that make use of the Concentration skill. You might find that a Wisdom-substituted warblade would fill your need, or if not, you could probably steal a couple good ideas from the warblade and its maneuvers. If you still want to homebrew something from scratch after seeing warblade, or if you don't have Tome of Battle, try distilling this class down to its essential ideas and rebuilding it from scratch with the feedback received here. I'd suggest that you base the class more on the cleric or druid, which are strong models for a melee class, rather than the fighter, which is really the wrong place to look if you're wanting to do melee well in D&D.