Work in Progress: Avenger

[x2wolf]

Within the massive body of works of 3.5 books, there is one concept that Wizards of the Coast never correctly pulled off: holy assassin. Sure, there is the avenger class available online and Slayer of Domiel from Exalted Deeds, but from what I understand both have problems. The one time the concept was done right was the Shadowbane Stalker from Complete Adventurer, but I am looking to make a base class that covers this concept, not a prestige class.





Warning: as the title says, this is very much a work in progress. While it may be playable as is simple because as of right now all of its concepts are ported over from other classes, it probably is not balanced yet and definitely still has dead levels and a finalized skill list.

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |1st|2nd|3rd|4th

1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Bonus feat: Stealthy, Sneak Attack 1d6|—|—|—|—

2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Combat Style|—|—|—|—

3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Sneak Attack 2d6|—|—|—|—

4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|1st lvl Assassin Spells known|0|—|—|—

5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Improved Stealth (extra +2, total +4), Sneak Attack 3d6|1|—|—|—

6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+5|Improved Combat Style|1|0|—|—

7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+5|Sneak Attack 4d6|2|1|—|—

8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+6|2nd lvl Assaasin Spells known|2|1|—|—

9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+6|Sneak Attack 5d6|2|2|0|—

10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+7|Hide in Plain Sight (shadow version), Superior Stealth (extra +2, total +6) |3|2|1|—

11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+7|Combat Style Mastery, Sneak Attack 6d6|3|2|1|—

12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+8|3rd lvl Assassin Spells known|3|3|2|0

13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+8|Sneak Attack 7d6|3|3|2|1

14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+9||3|3|2|1

15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+9|Sneak Attack 8d6|3|3|3|2

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+10|4th lvl Assassin Spells known|3|3|3|2

17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Sneak Attack 9d6|3|3|3|2

18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11||3|3|3|3

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|Sneak Attack 10d6|3|3|3|3

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12||3|3|3|3

[/table]
Alignment: Non-evil and can't be true neutral.
Hit Die: 1d8

Class Skills:
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge: the Planes (Int), Knowledge: Religion (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier


Class fluff: well known are those called by the gods to serve and protect all that is holy and innocent. However, for every ten warriors called to protect others from Evil, one is called to destroy Evil from the very shadows it hides in. These are the avengers.


Proficient in simple and martial weapons, and medium armor but no shields.


Class comments:


Sneak attack follows same rules as rogue feature, and same applies to combat style from the ranger.

Spell list is Paladin's, and at 4th, 8th, and 12th, and 16th adds spells from Assassin's spell list to Avenger's list. As always, an Avenger cannot cast alignment spells that are opposed to own alignment. An Avenger also prepares spells like a Paladin.

I am very tempted to give the Avenger spontanous casting, but that would bump up the power significantly (as the combined Paladin and Assassin spell lists include many good spells). I could also bump up the spells per day to be closer to a bard than a Ranger/Paladin, but not quite sure on that one.


That is all for now. Comments, questions, or just ideas for a better name?

[x2wolf]

Idea dump post. Basically where I spoiler all the random crap I even slightly consider giving this class.



Plane shift once a week (once a day fine/no?) from/to Material plane and plane Avenger is allied to (examples would be the Plane of Law, Celestia, etc; this would be very much at the discretion of the DM on what the Divine powers of each plane think of the PC. Gained at level 10 or later depending on how the chart looked. Medium chance of me putting this in, especially if I find a way to put rogue like special abilities in. Just depends on how much work I decided to put into this. Also, if divine powers give PC mission to other planes, this ability would allow PC travel to and from said planes as long as needed. Focus component of said spell unnecessary as it has other built in limitations.


Divine sneak attack/favoured enemy. Not hard to put into a regular character with DM approval. So many different ways I could pull this off though. Full sneak attack on undead and a bonus against evil outsiders, half against normal evil and neutral that DM rules is working against the Powers of good (ex: neutral mercanaries working for the diabolical Red Mage of the province counts; xenophobic nomads who are protecting their encampment do not).


Death attack: idea stolen from Slayer of Domiel, though the problem with that is how limited it was. Role a d6 for every class level (10 max). So a character with 10 levels of Slayer can, with a perfect role everytime, can one shot 60 hp creatures a few times a day. However, at that point you are facing at least CR 15 monsters, if not higher. Tbh, not exactly sure how one could pull off a power enough roll by d6's without making it too powerful. For an Avenger, bump it up to 2d6 a level and you are talking about being able to allow the player to, at any level, possible get lucky enough to kill any (evil/chaotic) creature with a lucky roll. However, possible not too unbalanced.
Another thought: starting around lvl 5+, give Avenger the ability to do a death attack via will save using holy/orderly power. Need to give the numbers of that more thought when I am more awake.

Trade sneak attack for a ranger like favoured enemy ability. Again, need sleepz to work this out more, but I would mostly need input on how much a ranger's ability sucks and needs changed. The big benefit is that this would apply to much larger groups of creatures (evil, chaotic, a certain organizations that plays a part in your campaign, non-good spellcasters, etc). Though for this I would be looking more for damage bonus and possible hide/move-silently and bluff than all that a ranger gets.



Alternative Ranger combat styles. For example, throwing weapons is an underlooked option that could be addressed pretty easily. Also, possility of letting player trade xd6 of sneak attack for feats? Though tbh that would be somewhat wonky, so probably not going to bother, but at least it is a thought so someone else can be inspired.

[x2wolf]

Post Reserved just in case also.

[kalminos]

What stuck me as odd was how their hit dice was a d4- Only the squishiest of full casters have a d4.. Why isn't it a d6 at the least, or even a d8 while rangers are a d10 class, paladins are a d10 class, (All classes this seems to take elements from to me) and rogues are still as high as d6?

[x2wolf]

What stuck me as odd was how their hit dice was a d4- Only the squishiest of full casters have a d4.. Why isn't it a d6 at the least, or even a d8 while rangers are a d10 class, paladins are a d10 class, (All classes this seems to take elements from to me) and rogues are still as high as d6?
1d8 intended, and fixed. "Broke" the table at one point without a more accurate version saved, and I missed that part, and fixed. Though if I am doing 1d8 and people say it is balanced, might see how much I can bump up spellcasting.

Again, thanks on catch.

[DaTedinator]

Why link to the table? Why not just post it?

EDIT: Answer: You probably don't know how. In which case:
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |1st|2nd|3rd|4th

1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Bonus feat: Stealthy, Sneak Attack 1d6|—|—|—|—

2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Combat Style|—|—|—|—

3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Sneak Attack 2d6|—|—|—|—

4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|1st lvl Assassin Spells known|0|—|—|—

5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Improved Stealth (extra +2, total +4), Sneak Attack 3d6|1|—|—|—

6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+5|Improved Combat Style|1|0|—|—

7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+5|Sneak Attack 4d6|2|1|—|—

8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+6|2nd lvl Assaasin Spells known|2|1|—|—

9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+6|Sneak Attack 5d6|2|2|0|—

10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+7|Hide in Plain Sight (shadow version), Superior Stealth (extra +2, total +6) |3|2|1|—

11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+7|Combat Style Mastery, Sneak Attack 6d6|3|2|1|—

12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+8|3rd lvl Assassin Spells known|3|3|2|0

13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+8|Sneak Attack 7d6|3|3|2|1

14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+9||3|3|2|1

15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+9|Sneak Attack 8d6|3|3|3|2

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+10|4th lvl Assassin Spells known|3|3|3|2

17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Sneak Attack 9d6|3|3|3|2

18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11||3|3|3|3

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|Sneak Attack 10d6|3|3|3|3

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12||3|3|3|3

[/table]
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d8

Class Skills:
Class Skills
Skill Points at 1st Level: (8 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 8 + Int modifier

Just post that.

If, however, you did know how to do it, I apologize for assuming you didn't.

[x2wolf]

Why link to the table? Why not just post it?

EDIT: Answer: You probably don't know how. In which case:


Just post that.

If, however, you did know how to do it, I apologize for assuming you didn't.
Did not, but now I do and added. Thanks.

And I am trying to get in lower Tier 3 power (would link to the tier list I use, but the forum it is hosted on, brilliantgameologist is down, so "broken" link for now). I am not positive on what tier this would fall into at this point, so feel free to make an estimate if you wish.