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View Full Version : [feedback] Phase Adept (3.5 PrC)



A_S
2011-10-04, 10:50 PM
Hey, y'all.

I'm working on a prestige class for my campaign world, and I'd like some feedback on it. The basic premise of the class is that it specializes in teleporting around the battlefield, making quick strikes and then teleporting along to another engagement, or away to safety. Basically, a heavy focus on mobility, with an eye toward using it to attack or otherwise mess with an enemy who expects you to stay in one place.

So, without further ado, the class:

Phase Adept (Prestige Class)

Hit Die: d6

Requirements
To qualify to become a phase adept, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), or Tumble 10 ranks.
Spells: Ability to cast at least one spell of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool, or a spell-like ability that mimics such a spell and is useable at least 1/day.

Class Skills
The phase adept's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the phase adept prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Phase adepts are proficient with all simple weapons, but no type of armor or shield.

Phase (Su): The phase adept gains the ability to instantly teleport short distances at will. As a standard action, she may teleport to any location within one half of her land speed. She must be able to see the location she wishes to teleport to.

Teleportation Expert (Ex): The phase adept is exceptionally familiar with teleportation spells. She receives a +2 competence bonus on Spellcraft checks to identify spells of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool, and a +2 competence bonus on caster level checks made to counter or dispel any such spell. Furthermore, her caster level on spells of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool is increased by +2. These bonuses increase as the phase adept gains levels, until they reach +5 at level 10. The Spellcraft bonus stacks with that from school specialization as a wizard.

Magical Advancement: At each even-numbered level, a phase adept advances in magical ability. If she is able to cast at least one spell of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool, she gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in the spellcasting class which allows her to cast it. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she has a spell-like ability that duplicates the effect of a Conjuration (Teleportation) spell, she may instead gain one additional use per day of each of her spell-like abilities (excluding those which cannot be used at least once per day). If this causes any spell-like ability to be useable more than five times per day, it instead becomes useable at will. These benefits are applied retroactively to any subsequently gained spell-like abilities. If the phase adept has more than one qualifying class, or can cast a Conjuration (Teleportation) spell as both a spell and a spell-like ability, then she must choose to apply this feature to either a single qualifying spellcasting class or to her spell-like abilities; she cannot advance in both.

Fast Phase (Su): At 3rd level and higher, the phase adept learns to phase more quickly in the heat of battle. She may use her Phase ability as a move action, rather than a standard action.

Phase Strike (Su): At 5th level and higher, the phase adept becomes skilled at phasing directly into close combat. As a full-round action similar to a charge, she may phase up to her land speed to a space adjacent to an opponent she can see and then make a single melee attack. She must phase at least 10 feet (2 squares) into the closest space from which she can attack her opponent, and she receives a +2 bonus on her attack roll. She may not take a 5-foot step in the same round as a phase strike. Unlike a charge, however, the phase adept receives no penalty to AC and no bonus on Strength checks to bull rush or overrun, and lances and readied weapons do not deal double damage.

Quicken Teleportation (Su): At 5th level and higher, the phase adept learns to cast teleportation spells with great haste when necessary. If she is able to cast at least one spell of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool, this feature duplicates the effects of the Sudden Quicken feat, except that the phase adept may only use it to quicken a spell of the Conjuration (Teleportation) subschool. If she has a spell-like ability that duplicates the effect of such a spell, then this feature instead duplicates the effects of the Quicken Spell-Like Ability feat, except that it is useable only once per day instead of three times, and it must be applied to the teleportation ability. If the phase adept has more than one such spell-like ability, or has both a teleportation ability and the ability to cast a teleportation spell, she must choose to apply this feature to either a single spell-like ability or to her spellcasting; she cannot gain the ability to quicken both.

Improved Phase (Su): At 7th level and higher, the phase adept learns to phase across greater distances. Using her Phase ability, she may now teleport to any location within her full land speed which she can see as a move action. Using her Phase Strike ability, she may teleport to any location which she can see within twice her full land speed and attack as a full-round action.

Phase Phantom (Su): At 9th level and higher, the phase adept learns to phase right where her enemies least expect her. When using the Phase Strike ability, she no longer needs to phase into the closest space from which she can attack her opponent; instead, she can phase into any space she can see from which she can attack the opponent. Furthermore, her opponent is considered flat footed against the attack made as part of the phase strike action.

Phase Mastery (Su): At 10th level, the phase adept becomes a true master of phasing. This has several effects: First, when using the Phase and Phase Strike abilities, the phase adept does not need to see the target location, but can instead phase to specific spatial coordinates (though when using Phase Strike, she must know that there is a target present, and if the target is not at the coordinates to which she phases, no attack is made). If she arrives in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, she takes damage and is shunted aside, as per the Dimension Door spell description. Second, the phase adept may ready a move action to attempt to phase aside in order to dodge incoming missiles. If she is the target of a ranged attack or a ranged touch attack while this action is ready, then she makes a Reflex save (DC = modified attack roll on the incoming attack). If the save succeeds, then the attack misses and the phase adept takes no damage; if it fails, resolve the attack normally. Regardless of the result of the save, she phases 5 feet (1 square) in a direction of her choice. She may use this single readied action to attempt to dodge any number of incoming ranged attacks per round, phasing 5 feet with each attempt; however, the total distance phased in this way can never exceed her land speed. If she runs out of phase distance, resolve any remaining attacks as normal. Finally, when using the Phase and Phase Strike abilities, the phase adept gains the ability to split up the distance phased into multiple teleportations while still expending a single action of the appropriate type. These teleportations need not occur consecutively within her turn, but can be distributed as desired, as long as the total distance phased does not exceed the phase adept's land speed (or twice her land speed, in the case of Phase Strike). For example, a 10th level phase adept with a land speed of 30 feet could take a move action to phase 15 feet, cast a spell as a standard action, and then phase another 15 feet as the rest of her initial move action. Alternatively, she could use Phase Strike to phase into position next to an opponent 30 feet away, make a melee attack as part of the full round action, and then phase another 30 feet back to her original position.

Table: The Phase Adept
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Magical Advancement
1|+0|+0|+2|+2|Phase, Teleportation Expert +2|
2|+1|+0|+3|+3| |+1 level of existing class or +1 use/day
3|+2|+1|+3|+3|Fast Phase|
4|+3|+1|+4|+4|Teleportation Expert +3|+1 level of existing class or +1 use/day
5|+3|+1|+4|+4|Phase Strike, Quicken Teleportation|
6|+4|+2|+5|+5| |+1 level of existing class or +1 use/day
7|+5|+2|+5|+5|Improved Phase, Teleportation Expert +4|
8|+6|+2|+6|+6| |+1 level of existing class or +1 use/day
9|+6|+3|+6|+6|Phase Phantom|
10|+7|+3|+7|+7|Phase Mastery, Teleportation Expert +5|+1 level of existing class or +1 use/day
[/table]

Now, I've got a few specific things I'm wondering about: I want the class to be viable as a dip for main casters looking to get a little mobility (4 levels gets you most of the cool teleporting stuff as long as you don't care about attacking while you do it, and only costs two caster levels). But I also want more combat-oriented types, especially those who qualify with a SLA (like a Githyanki PC), to be able to take all 10 levels and end up as viable combatants, with a combat style focused on darting around combat doing damage and running away again. Do both of these styles seem viable with the class set up the way it is, or is one of them going to be too underpowered? Obviously one of them will be an 18th level caster and the other one won't, but I meant beyond that.
That "knowledge or tumble" skill requirement feels goofy, but I want a way to fix the level requirement (if there's a race I've forgotten about that gets Dimension Door at level 1, I don't want people maxing out this class at level 11) without keeping out rogue-likes, and rogue doesn't get any knowledge skills that would really work with the "focus on teleporting" fluff. So, I figured tumble = mobility = teleporting, but like I said, feels goofy. Can anybody think of a better way to fix a relatively inflexible minimum level to the class without excluding either casters or rogue-likes?
Are the level 10 abilities overpowered? I mean, it's a big investment, and there are certainly other ways of making sure you're really hard to engage in close combat, but still, I'm a little worried that the third item might make characters frustratingly hard to pin down. Which is sort of the point, but I don't want to go too far.
The way Magical Advancement is set up, at 10th level you can use any SLA you could normally use at least 1/day as an at will ability. Is that too good? If I take out that clause, am I woefully underpowering the version of the class that qualifies through an SLA?
Can anybody think of a less stupid name for the Phase Phantom ability?
...but I'd also like just general feedback and thoughts. So, whaddaya think?

Cheers.

shadow_archmagi
2011-10-05, 07:04 AM
This belongs under homebrew, I think.

A_S
2011-10-05, 07:18 AM
You're right, sorry. Reporting.