DnD 3.5, Original Base Class, The Myrmidon--Because everybody loves criticals (PEACH)

[desmond1323]

Yet another bit of homebrew that's kind of been sitting around, not looked at in a few months. This was another inspired by Fire Emblem, and also my ideas/desires to make a class centered (somewhat) around criticals as well as using Int in combat effectively (before the OotS comic, too).

I've got most of it complete, but a few dead levels which are bothering me heavily...but I'm kind of out of ideas. Help would be appreciated greatly.




The Myrmidon

Any man can pick up a sword and use it. Few can truly become one with the blade, unlocking every last aspect of its potential. The Myrmidons are an especially dedicated group of sword wielders. They train themselves to peak physical form and mastery of the blade. Choosing offense over defense, they avoid heavy armors that knights and fighters usually wear. Instead, they rely on their speed and intelligence to strike swiftly at a man’s most vulnerable areas. Myrmidons work as mercenaries, kingsguards, or simply travel to improve their own skills. Wielding incredibly well made blades with edges honed to razor sharp perfection, any who know of them fear the skill of the Myrmidon.

Limits: None. Myrmidons come from all walks of life and all races, though most typically those who are naturally light on their feet.

HD: d8 (I may reduce to a d6, upon further thought)
Proficiencies: All swords, knives, and other bladed weapons. Light armor. Bucklers and Light Shields.
Skills: Balance, Hide, Knowledge (all, taken individually), Tumble (the rest will come in time)
Skill Points: (4 + Int) x 4 at 1st. 4 + Int otherwise.


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

1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+0|Sword Expertise, Weapon Finesse

2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+0|Evasion

3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+1|Deft Swordplay

4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+1|Combat Weaver (+1 AC)

5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+1|Swift Fighter

6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+2|Intelligent Strike

7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+2|Unusual Anatomy (1 type), Fast Movement (+10 ft)

8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+2|Anatomy Expertise (1d6), Combat Weaver (+2 AC)

9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+3|Razor Skill

10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+3|Sonic Slash (30 ft)

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+3|
+7|
+3|Improved Evasion

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+4|
+8|
+4|Terrifying Critical, Sonic Slash (60 ft), Anatomy Expertise (2d6), Combat Weaver (+3 AC)

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+4|
+8|
+4|Battle Sense, Unusual Anatomy (2 types)

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+4|
+9|
+4|Sonic Slash (line), Fast Movement (+20 ft)

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+5|
+9|
+5|Master Critical

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+10|
+5|Sonic Slash (cone), Anatomy Expertise (3d6), Combat Weaver (+4 AC)

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+5|

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

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+6|Unusual Anatomy (3 types)

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+6|Sword of the Wind, Anatomy Expertise (4d6), Combat Weaver (+5 AC)[/table]


Abilities=

(A ~ next to an ability name indicates that ability can not be used if the Myrmidon is wearing Medium or Heavy armor or carrying a Heavy load.)

* Sword Expertise…A Myrmidon has trained to use all one-handed sword and sword-like weapons, including but not limited to longswords, scimitars, rapiers, knives, daggers, short swords, etc. Furthermore, he has trained to wield them with the utmost precision in combat. He gains Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat and can apply it to any one-handed sword and sword-like weapons, provided he is wearing light or no armor and not carrying a heavy load.

~* Evasion…at 2nd level, the Myrmidon gains Evasion, such as the Rogue ability.

~* Deft Swordplay…At 3rd level, the Myrmidon’s focus on swift and accurate strikes allows him to add his Dexterity modifier to all weapon damage rolls.

~* Combat Weaver…At 4th level, where most rely on heavy armor to keep them safe, the Myrmidon relies on his natural quickness. He gains a +1 Dodge bonus to his AC, which increases by one every 4 levels, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

~* Swift Fighter…At 5th level, the Myrmidon begins mastering moving at near mystical speeds. At a number of times equal to his Dexterity modifier per day, the Myrmidon can take an immediate action to move up to 15 ft away from an enemy attacking him. He still provokes attacks of opportunity from other enemies. At 15th level, he no longer provokes attacks of opportunities with this ability.

* Intelligent Strike…At 6th level at a number of times equal to his Intelligence modifier + 3 per day, the Myrmidon can add his Intelligence modifier to all attack rolls for one round.

* Unusual Anatomy…At 7th level, the Myrmidon begins studying creatures whose anatomies normally grant them immunity to critical strikes. Pick one: Constructs, Elementals, Oozes, Plants, or Undead. Whenever he scores a critical hit, the Myrmidon rolls a Knowledge check, depending on the type chosen (Constructs—Arcana, Elementals—Planes, Oozes—Dungeoneering, Plants—Nature, Undead—Religion). If he beats a DC (10 + HD of creature), he can roll to confirm a critical. He may pick another type at level 13, and a third at level 19.

~* Fast Movement…The Myrmidon’s base land speed increases by 10 feet at 7th level. At 14th level, he gains another 10 feet.

* Anatomy Expertise…At 8th level, the Myrmidon’s study of anatomy is complete. At a number of times equal to his Intelligence modifier per day, he can roll an additional 1d6 points of damage. This increases by 1d6 for every 4 Myrmidon levels, to a maximum of 4d6 at 20th level. This ability does not work on creatures immune to critical hits, save those the Myrmidon has chosen for his Unusual Anatomy ability.

* Razor Skill…At 9th level, the Myrmidon’s connection and experience with his blade increases to such a point that he treats any blade he wields as being Keen. This doubles a weapon’s threat range, so as an example, a longsword’s 19-20 becomes 17-20. This does not stack with any other source of critical threat range increase.

* Sonic Slash…The Myrmidon can wield his blade with such speed he cuts the very air. At a number of times equal to his Dexterity modifier per day, the Myrmidon can make a ranged melee touch attack to any enemy he has a clear line of sight to, within 30 feet. This allows him his full attack bonus and damage plus sonic damage equal to his Myrmidon level. At 12th level, he can hit any enemy within 60 feet. At 14th level this attack becomes a line, able to cut through enemies. At 16th level, this attack becomes a cone.

~* Improved Evasion…At 11th level, the Myrmidon gains the Improved Evasion ability, as the Rogue ability.

* Terrifying Critical…At 12th level, whenever a Myrmidon successfully lands a damaging critical hit, all enemies within sight of him must make a will save (DC 15 + # the critical succeeded by) or be frightened for 1d4 + 3 rounds.

~* Battle Sense…At 13th level, the Myrmidon’s senses have become fine tuned and heightened to danger in combat, allowing the Myrmidon even greater defense against his enemies. He gains Improved Uncanny Dodge, as the Rogue ability. Enemies of four levels higher than the Myrmidon can still flank him.

* Master Critical…At 15th level, a Myrmidon’s blows become increasingly deadly. He can now stack his Razor Skill with one other source of critical threat range increase, such as the Keen weapon enchantment or spells. A 15th level Myrmidon wielding a Keen longsword, for example, has a critical threat range of 13-20.

*

* Sword of the Wind (Max)…At the peak of his skill, the Myrmidon is a legend with blade in hand, moving faster and more deftly than the eye can see. As a full round action, at a number of times equal to his Dexterity modifier per day, the Myrmidon can unlock the hidden prowess of the Sword of the Wind. Against a single enemy within the Myrmidon’s move speed (a human Myrmidon would move at 50 feet), the Myrmidon makes all his attacks; any attacks which threaten a critical hit automatically confirm. This does not actually move the Myrmidon and provokes no attacks of opportunity, as others only see a ghostly visage of the Myrmidons make his strikes and yet appear as if he never moved.

[Eledragon]

Under Sword Expertise:

(A ~ next to an ability name indicates that ability can not be used if the Myrmidon is wearing Medium or Heavy armor or carrying a Heavy load.)

wearing light armor and not carrying a heavy load.
I know this is a strange nitpick, but which do you want? Light armor, or nothing heavier than light armor? What if the character wants to only be clad in an outfit?

[desmond1323]

Under Sword Expertise:

I know this is a strange nitpick, but which do you want? Light armor, or nothing heavier than light armor? What if the character wants to only be clad in an outfit?

Nothing heavier than light armor. If he doesn't want to wear light armor, that's fine.

I'm actually confused as to what the exact problem...after a bit, I think it was a wording issue? Which I hopefully fixed. Um...if not, well, what's the issue?

[Hyudra]

I don't really see an emphasis on criticals here. I think the class is borderline weak.

A few concerns/questions:
It seems the class does better ignoring weapon finesse. RAW, you could use strength based weapons and add strength and dexterity to damage done.
Combat Weaver's flavor text suggests you're supposed to stick to light armor, but you could get the bonus with heavy armor.
Swift Fighter - RAW, it's very very very weak, since it doesn't say 'times a day/hour/encounter', but just times. So you use it 2-4 times and that's it?
Ditto for intelligent strike, sword of the wind.
Unusual anatomy isn't very good. Were I to ballpark it, I'd say it's something that would only come up maybe once every 15 or so encounters (where you're facing a foe of the chosen type and you roll a crit and the crit damage affects the outcome of the encounter.
Razor skill could be clearer. It's confusing as written. "By double".
Fast Movement is, RAW, useless. Since it's implying that your maximum base land speed is 20', which it probably is anyways.
Sonic Slash seems like a ToB maneuver, only somewhat worse, and you express a lack of interest in ToB and presumably its flavor. I'm curious about this.
The projected numbers on Terrifying Critical's DC tell me that most enemies are going to fail regardless of their having good will saves or not.
Master Critical comes really late.
Two dead levels.
Sword of the Wind is very poor for a capstone. By the time you're level 20, you're going to be automatically hitting anyways, so the confirm thing hardly matters. So it's just a full round action sonic slash

Overarching problems:
Same general balance problems as the fighter, albeit this guy has more class features. You don't get any ranged weapon proficiency, so a person who's taken all his levels in Myrmidon without any dips is unable to do more than scream and run around like a chicken with its head cut off if he's against, say, a dragon that keeps to the air and makes strafing runs. Even sonic slash isn't liable to reach against most threats who could/would use this tactic.
Even in melee, he's weak. The damage he seems likely to put out there seems like it would scale poorly. Look at how, as enemies rise in CR, they tend to have more and more HD relative to that CR. A CR3 ogre has 4HD. A CR 4 minotaur has 6. One CR higher, 2 more HD? This trend continues as you gain levels, so if you're a guy that hits/blasts/shoots stuff, you need to be able to do exponentially more damage as you reach mid/high levels if you want to stay relevant. Doing 2d6+25 damage with a greatsword with a 25% chance of a crit is fairly abysmal, even on a crit, when the enemies you're facing have 150 health. By the time you've whittled their HP down, another party member is liable to have offed the enemy with a Save or Lose or Save or Die effect, which means the damage you'd dealt was effectively pointless.

...And you're not using a greatsword, since you don't have proficiency with it. You're using a one handed weapon... so that damage isn't even 75% of what I suggested.
Building off of the last point, you've got the class geared out as a sword and board combatant, which is weak. Sword and board isn't great compared to a lot of other options, and no class features really compensate for this.
The class seems to be geared off of critical hits, but, well, everything comes very late, and those features you do get are rather underwhelming.

Suggestions:
Give him something like:

Epic Strike: Starting at first level, a number of times a day equal to the number of levels you have in the Myrmidon class or your Dexterity modifier, whichever is lower, you may make a successful hit into a critical threat. Roll to confirm as normal. Any time you deliver a strike to an enemy that drops them below 0 hitpoints, you refresh one of your daily uses of this ability.
Later, you could give him:

Legendary Strike: Starting at ninth level, whenever you deliver a critical strike, you also force your opponent to make a Fortitude save (DC equal to 10 + ½ the Myrmidon's HD + the Myrmidon's choice of Strength or Dexterity modifier) or die.
Offer more proficiencies, then give abilities that encourage the use of shield and onehanded blades, such as:

Aegis: So long as you are holding a shield in one hand, you have a 25% chance to deflect incoming spells, spell like abilities or other supernatural abilities your opponents possess. You may elect to double this chance as an immediate action, or double your AC against an incoming attack, before attack rolls or saving throws are made. If you do, you lose all benefits of this class feature for 1d3 rounds.

Einhander: You strike with surety and undeniable strength. Your onehanded weapons are considered twohanded weapons for the purposes of calculating damage and power attack bonuses.

Those abilities may seem strong, but they really aren't that over the top, considering the hurdles a melee character has to overcome. Compare the Myrmidon to any tier 2-3 class and chances are those classes also have a save or die, or the sheer capacity to end an encounter in 2-3 rounds.

[desmond1323]

Oh, finally a real response to some of my homebrew.



I don't really see an emphasis on criticals here. I think the class is borderline weak.

Well, that's the problem when I'm still new to homebrew and I don't get a lot of feedback typically.

Now for the bit by bit.


A few concerns/questions:
It seems the class does better ignoring weapon finesse. RAW, you could use strength based weapons and add strength and dexterity to damage done.

There's a few things...but most that I've seen replace Str, are ranged only, ACFs, there's one ToB bit, and a couple from Arms & Equipment. This ability (Deft Swordplay) allows him to add his Dex to any bladed weapon in addition to his Str, with no cost to feats or need for equipment. I'll go over it again, but I think this ability is fine.


Combat Weaver's flavor text suggests you're supposed to stick to light armor, but you could get the bonus with heavy armor.

Do you mean he could get that much AC by just wearing heavy armor? Or that he could get Combat Weaver's Dodge bonus to AC while wearing heavy armor? Because if he's wearing heavy armor, the myrmidon loses that bonus (as well as many of his class features). I've got that marked.


Swift Fighter - RAW, it's very very very weak, since it doesn't say 'times a day/hour/encounter', but just times. So you use it 2-4 times and that's it?

Well, that was just my bad for not writing it correctly...I meant per day. Fixed. That certainly would suck pretty badly if that was it, period.


Ditto for intelligent strike, sword of the wind.

Same, just forgot to put that bit. My mind assumed it automatically and my fingers didn't type it out.


Unusual anatomy isn't very good. Were I to ballpark it, I'd say it's something that would only come up maybe once every 15 or so encounters (where you're facing a foe of the chosen type and you roll a crit and the crit damage affects the outcome of the encounter.

*shrug* Comes up pretty often in my own group that we're often rolling 20's on things that can't be crit'ed. The first bit (rate of fighting creatures it would apply to) seems trivial to me...yeah, it's not always useful, but when you fight undead, you often fight a bunch. The second bit (rolling a crit) is as you say, dependent on the natural chances of that roll. Can't help that. The third bit (crit damage affecting outcome) also seems trivial. Sure, not every little bit makes or breaks the match, but that seems a silly thing to think about.

So it's weak...how do I make it stronger? I like the idea and flavor of this class crit'ing things that most can't--so how do I build on that if what I got doesn't work?


Razor skill could be clearer. It's confusing as written. "By double".

I'll fix that, you're right, it is kind of clunky.


Fast Movement is, RAW, useless. Since it's implying that your maximum base land speed is 20', which it probably is anyways.

I don't see how. I believe you're once again talking about poor wording, so I'll fix that.


Sonic Slash seems like a ToB maneuver, only somewhat worse, and you express a lack of interest in ToB and presumably its flavor. I'm curious about this.

Well, I didn't necessarily mean that nothing was going to sound like ToB at all. I mean, that happens. I just meant in relation to the few replies I ever get often saying, "Oh, add an ability like this maneuver!". Which may seem like arguing semantics, I guess. Anyways, if it is like one, it's purely coincidental.

edit: OK, I've been throwing it around, and I'm editing this ability....gonna give it a longer range, more options and shapes etc., and stuff like that.


The projected numbers on Terrifying Critical's DC tell me that most enemies are going to fail regardless of their having good will saves or not.

Welp, that's why I ask the board about it...balancing DC checks is always kind of difficult for me. I'll lessen them up then.


Master Critical comes really late.

I kinda thought so too. I'll move it around then. Any suggestions as to when would be better? Ten, perhaps?


Two dead levels.

Yes, I specifically mentioned this in the post. That I was out of ideas offhand and wanted help filling them. I had no intention of leaving them dead.


Sword of the Wind is very poor for a capstone. By the time you're level 20, you're going to be automatically hitting anyways, so the confirm thing hardly matters. So it's just a full round action sonic slash[/list]

OK, so I'm thinkin' I change it to any enemy he can see, no matter where they are. And I don't see how it hardly matters. At that point, you should be threatening on a roll of 13 or higher, which then auto-crit, no numbers needed, no AC coming in to play 40% of the time.



[Same general balance problems as the fighter, albeit this guy has more class features. You don't get any ranged weapon proficiency, so a person who's taken all his levels in Myrmidon without any dips is unable to do more than scream and run around like a chicken with its head cut off if he's against, say, a dragon that keeps to the air and makes strafing runs. Even sonic slash isn't liable to reach against most threats who could/would use this tactic.

A definite problem I had been mulling over, actually. I haven't come up with a solution yet, but I'll figure something out.


Even in melee, he's weak. The damage he seems likely to put out there seems like it would scale poorly. Look at how, as enemies rise in CR, they tend to have more and more HD relative to that CR. A CR3 ogre has 4HD. A CR 4 minotaur has 6. One CR higher, 2 more HD? This trend continues as you gain levels, so if you're a guy that hits/blasts/shoots stuff, you need to be able to do exponentially more damage as you reach mid/high levels if you want to stay relevant. Doing 2d6+25 damage with a greatsword with a 25% chance of a crit is fairly abysmal, even on a crit, when the enemies you're facing have 150 health. By the time you've whittled their HP down, another party member is liable to have offed the enemy with a Save or Lose or Save or Die effect, which means the damage you'd dealt was effectively pointless.

The low crit chance is apparent to me, and will be fixed (see my mentionings below).

I'm a bit conflicted on the other....OK, yeah, he's not particularly optimized. But neither do I think he falls on the other side of the spectrum and is terribly weak. However, I do have a few ideas for increasing his damage level...because 'OK damage' is, yes, kind of meh, I agree. I'll put those in soon-ish.


...And you're not using a greatsword, since you don't have proficiency with it. You're using a one handed weapon... so that damage isn't even 75% of what I suggested.

Whoops, this is the old file then...seem to have lost the updated one that changed it to all bladed weapons. Fixed.


Building off of the last point, you've got the class geared out as a sword and board combatant, which is weak. Sword and board isn't great compared to a lot of other options, and no class features really compensate for this.

Maybe so, but this is a preference. Doesn't phase me, or my group (and frankly, who else is going to use this?). Many of us play sword and board, and have fun with it. *shrug* We're not an optimizing group, I don't care about tiers and the like...only that, in and of itself, does the class work and feel solid and well themed.


The class seems to be geared off of critical hits, but, well, everything comes very late, and those features you do get are rather underwhelming.[/list]

*nods* I understand. This is only a second draft after all, and one I've not touched in a few months.

Suggestions:

Give him something like:

Epic Strike: Starting at first level, a number of times a day equal to the number of levels you have in the Myrmidon class or your Dexterity modifier, whichever is lower, you may make a successful hit into a critical threat. Roll to confirm as normal. Any time you deliver a strike to an enemy that drops them below 0 hitpoints, you refresh one of your daily uses of this ability.

Well this seems like a no brainer, but I didn't think of it. Definitely going to add something of the sort to the class. Thank you much.



Later, you could give him:

Legendary Strike: Starting at ninth level, whenever you deliver a critical strike, you also force your opponent to make a Fortitude save (DC equal to 10 + ½ the Myrmidon's HD + the Myrmidon's choice of Strength or Dexterity modifier) or die.

I had wavered about a Save or Die crit strike...sometimes I left it and sometimes I took it off. With this suggestion, I'll add it back. Thanks.


Offer more proficiencies

I don't like it for flavor purposes, but I'm going to add buckler and light shield proficiency. The weapon ones have already been fixed, just an oversight on my part.



then give abilities that encourage the use of shield and onehanded blades, such as:

Aegis: So long as you are holding a shield in one hand, you have a 25% chance to deflect incoming spells, spell like abilities or other supernatural abilities your opponents possess. You may elect to double this chance as an immediate action, or double your AC against an incoming attack, before attack rolls or saving throws are made. If you do, you lose all benefits of this class feature for 1d3 rounds.

I'll think about this one, but I don't like it for the flavor. *ponders* I dunno, we'll see I guess.


Einhander: You strike with surety and undeniable strength. Your onehanded weapons are considered twohanded weapons for the purposes of calculating damage and power attack bonuses.

Another one I should have thought of, but didn't. I'ma change the flavor some, but it's a good idea. Thanks much.



Wow, quite a bit...thank you much for everything, you've given me much to think about (not the least the need for a little more careful proofreading). Changes will be forthcoming. I appreciate your input heavily, lass.

[Hyudra]

I'm a bit conflicted on the other....OK, yeah, he's not particularly optimized. But neither do I think he falls on the other side of the spectrum and is terribly weak. However, I do have a few ideas for increasing his damage level...because 'OK damage' is, yes, kind of meh, I agree. I'll put those in soon-ish.

Look at it this way.

At level 3, you might be fighting an ogre. Ogre has 4d8 hp.
At level 4, you might encounter a minotaur. Minotaur has 6d8 hp.
At level 5? Large elemental. 8d8 hp.
Level 7? Hill Giant. 12d8 hp.
Level 20? Tarrasque. 48d10 hp.

You see how fast the HP is scaling up as you gain levels? That's not even getting into the influence of Constitution. Ogres have 15 con. Tarrasques have 35.

Now I ask you... how fast is your damage increasing? I'd go so far as to suggest it's only increasing by one to five points a level on average, as you swap out a masterwork sword for a +1 one, or add +1 to your strength. Or give you a class feature that gives you a 5% higher chance to threaten a crit.

Damage is scaling linearly, but HP is scaling exponentially. By the time you're level 10-14, your damage just isn't cutting it. By level 11, you're hacking at that 189 hp dragon for 6+ rounds to kill it. You won't last those full 6-8 rounds. That dragon will murder your 11HD self.

That's not 'ok' damage. That's fairly abysmal. You simply won't be pulling your own weight. ToB classes can cope with their maneuvers and utility. Barbarian can stack massive strength bonuses with pounce. Rogues can use shenanigans and sneak attack die to rack up sufficient damage. Casters in general will just bypass HD and end combat with Save or Lose effects. Generally speaking, especially as you get higher level, combats are getting shorter, and you need to be able to answer the question "How will I contribute in this context where others are ending combat in 2-3 rounds?" to be able to call your class viable.

[DeAnno]

This is much worse than even a fighter, if you want to build a class on crits you need to give it powerful abilities which let it 1)make crits and 2)have crits be meaningful. Most of the class features you have now range from worthless to mediocre, so feel free to cut some out if the class gets a bit cluttered. Here's a quick bullet point list of stuff that might help:

1) Roll 2d20 and take the greater whenever attacking with a Myrmidon weapon, preferably from extremely early on (level 2ish maybe?). This gives a nice accuracy boost and nearly doubles crit range in a fun way (similar to 4e Avengers).

2) Scaling bonus damage on top of all crits as a class scaling ability. +1d12 per two levels probably wouldn't be bad (+1d12 at level 1, +2d12 at level 3 etc). This really won't amount to all that much but will be a nice source of fun damage and help get the totals up there with a little less effort. If you want to be nice and flavorful, make this Sonic damage, especially since that way you still get it against stuff that's immune to crits.

3) Double the natural crit threat range, but don't let it stack with Keen etc at any point (if it stacked all members of this class would be hedged into using Keen). A doubled 17-20 rolled on 2d20 has a 64% chance of critting (1-0.6^2), which is often enough that it should be happening pretty much every turn.

4) If you insist on knowledge checks to ignore precision damage, base them off CR and not HD.

5) You probably want to give them some natural ability to full attack from not 5' away before level 20, or else they'll all need to steal it from ToB or Barbarian with dips anyway. Something like Dervish Dance (maybe even exactly like it) from Dervish in Complete Warrior would probably help here.

6) Add more and more ridiculous effects to crits as you level, maybe from some sort of list of choices with level requirements; some ideas might be
6a) Constitution, Dexterity, or Strength damage
6b) Save or Die (Fort vs 10+CL/2+Int mod)
6c) Free healing for yourself (temp hp?)
6d) Daze or Stun (Fort (or possibly Will) vs 10+CL/2+Int mod)
6e) Fear, like you had with terrifying, but (Will vs 10+CL/2+Int mod)

7) If you want them to use a shield and not just TWF, give them some cool stuff for the shield. Maybe tie some class abilities into holding one (or only wielding one weapon). +Int to AC while using one wouldn't be out of line as a early-to-mid ability. Even +Int to various saves as you level, possibly all of them, wouldn't really be out of line.

8) Sonic Slash is currently his only way of dealing with Ranged, and not all that great at that, so limiting it per day is probably unwise. For the line and cone forms you may want to clear up that you make an attack roll against each enemy, and maybe add some Dragon Breath like cooldown period of 1+1d4 rounds if you don't want him spamming them all the time.

Of course you may not want to use some or all of this, but these are the kind of things this class needs to even get up to Tier 4 sorts of levels where he can at least be a good beatstick. Feel free to implement any of it, and generally you should worry less about being too strong and more about being too weak.

[absolmorph]

Look at it this way.

At level 3, you might be fighting an ogre. Ogre has 4d8 hp.
At level 4, you might encounter a minotaur. Minotaur has 6d8 hp.
At level 5? Large elemental. 8d8 hp.
Level 7? Hill Giant. 12d8 hp.
Level 20? Tarrasque. 48d10 hp.

You see how fast the HP is scaling up as you gain levels? That's not even getting into the influence of Constitution. Ogres have 15 con. Tarrasques have 35.

Now I ask you... how fast is your damage increasing? I'd go so far as to suggest it's only increasing by one to five points a level on average, as you swap out a masterwork sword for a +1 one, or add +1 to your strength. Or give you a class feature that gives you a 5% higher chance to threaten a crit.

Damage is scaling linearly, but HP is scaling exponentially. By the time you're level 10-14, your damage just isn't cutting it. By level 11, you're hacking at that 189 hp dragon for 6+ rounds to kill it. You won't last those full 6-8 rounds. That dragon will murder your 11HD self.

That's not 'ok' damage. That's fairly abysmal. You simply won't be pulling your own weight. ToB classes can cope with their maneuvers and utility. Barbarian can stack massive strength bonuses with pounce. Rogues can use shenanigans and sneak attack die to rack up sufficient damage. Casters in general will just bypass HD and end combat with Save or Lose effects. Generally speaking, especially as you get higher level, combats are getting shorter, and you need to be able to answer the question "How will I contribute in this context where others are ending combat in 2-3 rounds?" to be able to call your class viable.
Hm... I think this class could take on a Tarrasque. It may not do spectacular, but I think I can pull something out.

Alright, so. Let's put this in a spoiler, for the sake of everyone else.

Now, to start, I'm assuming 32 point-buy.
Race: Human
Starting stats:
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10
Stats without items at level 20:
Str 21, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10
Stats with items at level 20:
Str 32, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10

Notable magic items:
Scabbard of keen edges
Greatsword +1, magical beast fiercebane, collision, slow burst
Oil of Greater Magical Weapon +5
Manual of Gainful Exercise +5
Belt of Giant's Strength +6 combined with Belt of Battle
Gloves of Dexterity +6
Amulet of Health +4
Cloak of Resistance +5
Ring of Spell Storing (containing 2 castings of Wraithstrike)
Boots of Speed

Feats:
Power Attack
Improved Bull Rush
Shock Trooper
Knowledge Devotion

Skills:
Knowledge (Arcana) +24 (ranks 23+Int bonus 1)

Prior to the fight, the myrmidon applies the Oil of Greater Magic Weapon to their sword.
On the first round, xe uses two charges of the Belt of Battle to gain an extra standard action, which they use to cast Wraithstrike from xer ring, and activates the Boots of Speed. Xe then uses Sword of the Winds.
Knowledge Devotion is almost guaranteed to grant a +3 bonus.
To-hit: +27/+27/+22/+17/+12 touch attack, so 5% chance of missing.
Damage: 2d6+73+6d6, losing 15 per attack to DR
Critical hit chance: 40%
Average damage: 115.15*5, for a total of 575.75

It might not OHKO the tarrasque, but it certainly puts a nice little dent in it. And I know there's a few more ways to add damage onto that; I'm not very good at melee damage. Admittedly, it can't do the full routine again for a full day, but it's still not something to brush off.

Of course, damage is the only thing the class is gonna be contributing a notable amount of.
I must admit, I do think the Sword of Winds ability is pretty nifty, but the class doesn't seem like it would be interesting to play. Its only interesting abilities come at level 10 and 20, and it's basically a vanilla fighter with a couple unusual bonuses to damage (and no bonus feats) when those aren't being used.

Hyudra's suggestion of Epic Strike is definitely a good candidate for this class. Also, since crits are the focus of this class, you could let them treat immunity to critical hits as a level of fortification (instead of Unusual Anatomy, which is just kind of clunky-feeling).
Legendary Strike could make a good capstone, or at least high-level ability. Most creatures in the mid- to high-teen CRs will make the save on everything but a 1, if you make the save based on Int (since that's one of the secondary ability scores of the class).
Possibly toss in an ability that expands the critical hit range at a penalty on to-hit, and it'll be a much more interesting class to play.
Oh, getting rid of the use limit on Sonic Slash (possibly at level 12 or 14) would help.
Finally, instead of Razor Skill letting the myrmidon treat any blade as Keen, just say the crit range of any blade the myrmidon wields is doubled so long as the myrmidon wields it.

Also, just on a balance note, the DC for Terrifying Critical shouldn't be so variable. As Hyudra said, it's not going to be high enough, generally, for it to be a useful ability in combats where it might actually seriously contribute.

[desmond1323]

And this is why I put this up here....welp, the current idea is to take all these fine suggestions and rebuild the class from the ground up.

*bows* I appreciate all the suggestions...I'll put it back up here when I've redone it.

Also, thanks especially, absolmorph, for that example. As well, to note, my own group's characters are usually stronger than your point buy example.

Anyways, off to lick my wounds and build something a little more worthy for the name and idea!