[3.5/PF Base Class] The Contender (PEACH)

[starwoof]

(My thoughts are at the end of this post)


The Contender
"I'm here to fight."- The motto of the contender

Within every society there exist those that crave conflict. The contender is a type of warrior who can go toe to toe with any foe and come out on top. Cotender's practice a style of combat that focuses on mobility and the speed of their weapon. They even train in ways to block magical attacks.

Adventures: Contenders adventure to test themselves against stronger foes. Though they may (and probably will) have other goals, their primary drive is almost always self improvement. Contenders look for the strongest thing they can find and challenge it to fight.

Alignment: The way of the contender does not advocate proper planning or caution, they recklessly plow forward as a general rule. Therefore, most contenders are chaotic. There is no predilection between good and evil for contenders. A contender may be of any alignment.

Characteristics: Contenders are not subtle or graceful (usually). They are lightning bruisers with small weapons and big personalities.

Religion: Most contenders worship gods of battle. Kord is the most popular of the DnD gods. In my setting, most contenders worship Setoc or Aoxido (the gods of destruction and protection respectively).

Background: Contenders usually grow up second best. This sort of powerful drive to succeed doesn't come from a person who was always first as a child. Most contenders know a person who grew up to become a hero/villain, and wish to top them.

Races: Most contenders are human. Interestingly, halflings and gnomes often turn to the path of the contender as the fighting style is complemented by their small size (and as small races, they are usually forgotten about, which sometimes leads to a huge need to fight for attention). Elven contenders are few, but among the most powerful.

Other Classes: Contenders get along best with classes who excel at dishing out punishment, but can't take a hit. Rogues, casters, and rangers all benefit from having a contender to aggravate all of the enemies. For the most part, contenders don't care who they adventure with (though a healer is always welcome to patch them up after battle).

Role: The contender is a nontraditional tank. They rely more on speed and their unique defenses to keep them from being harmed rather than hit points. Most of their class abilities are designed to make them look like the biggest threat on the field. The most important ability scores for the contender are dex and cha.

Alignment: Any

Hit Dice: d8

Class Skills: The contender's class skills are Perception, Climb, Swim, Acrobatics, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Religion), and Knowledge (Local).

Skill Points: 3+int per level

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

1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Combat Reflexes, Contention

2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Sidestep Charge, Strike to Kill

3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Strike Under Guard, Heart of Heroes

4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Uncanny Dodge, Armor Training

5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Perfect Defense

6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+2|Double Slice

7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+2|Whirlwind Dash

8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+2|Improved Uncanny Dodge, Laugh at Danger

9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+3|Follow the Heart

10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+3|Improved Contention, Die Hard

11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+3|Triple Slice

12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+4|Deadly Criticals

13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+4|Ray Reflection

14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+4|Wide Stance, Tornado Dash

15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+5|Legendary Technique

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+5|Ultimate Slice

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

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

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+6|Legendary Technique

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+6|Master Contention, Until it's Over

[/table]

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A contender is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and with shields (but not tower shields). In addition, the contender is proficient with all one-handed exotic weapons.

Combat Reflexes (Ex): The contender gains combat reflexes as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

Contention (Su): As combat continues, the contender becomes the primary focus. At the start of each of his turns the contender gains a contention point. He also earns a contention point whenever he scores a critical hit, hits with an attack of opportunity, completely blocks all damage with damage reduction, or stops a spell with his spell resistance. Each contention point grants the contender a +2 bonus to damage rolls and a +1 bonus to attack rolls. Contention bonuses are reset to 0 if the contender is knocked unconscious, stunned, panicked, paralyzed, petrified, nauseated, or similarly put out of action. The contender cannot benefit from contention if wearing heavy armor. When combat is over the contender's contention bonuses are set to 0.

When the contender earns Improved Contention at 10th level, this bonus increases to +4 to damage rolls.

When the contender earns Master Contention at 20th level, this bonus increases to +6 to damage rolls.

Sidestep Charge (Ex): Starting at second level the contender no longer needs to charge in a straight line.

Strike to Kill (Ex): At second level the contender learns how to best place his blows for maximum damage. The contender rolls two dice for his first attack roll each round and takes the highest.

Strike Under Guard (Ex): At 3rd level a contender learns that the best time to strike a foe is when they let their guard down to attack. Once per round an opponent making a melee attack within the reach of a contender provokes an attack of opportunity from the contender.

Heart of Heroes (Su): Starting at third level the contender believes so strongly in his own abilities that he gains a bonus to all of his saving throws equal to his charisma modifier.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 4th level, a contender can react to danger before his senses would normally allow her to do so. He retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses her Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

If a contender already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Armor Training (Ex): At 4th level the contender gains a small amount of skill in the art of wearing armor. Medium armor no longer slows his movement speed. In addition, he increases the max dex bonus of all armor by 1.

Perfect Defense (Su): At 5th level the contender learns the perfect defense style. As long as he has the ability to defend himself he gains spell resistance equal to 10+contender level. He also gains DR equal to his class level -5 (minimum 1/-). The contender loses his SR and DR whenever he loses his dex bonus to AC.

Double Slice (Ex): At 6th level the contender learns how to do a double slice attack. Scoring a hit in melee grants him another attack with the same weapon and base attack bonus, but at a -5 penalty. If he hits with the second attack it deals damage normally, but also deals an additional +2d10 damage. Double Slice can only be used once per round, and only after the first hit. This ability can only be used if the contender is wielding a one-handed weapon in one hand.

Whirlwind Dash (Ex): At 7th level the contender can move across a battlefield in the blink of an eye. As a swift action he may make a normal move. Whirlwind dash can be used a number of times per day equal to 1+cha modifier.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A contender of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked.

This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does.

If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Laugh at Danger (Ex): At 8th level the contender becomes immune to fear effects. If he is ever the target of a fear effect he gains a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls for one round.

Follow the Heart (Ex): A 9th level contender lets his heart guide his weapon... into his target's heart. He adds his one to his weapon's threat range as long as he is wielding a one-handed weapon in one hand. This ability is not doubled by keen, imrpoved critical, or other effects that double crit range. It is instead added on after doubling. Example: A keen battleaxe has a crit range of 19-20, but when the contender is using it the crit range is expanded to 18-20.

Die Hard: At 10th level the contender gains Die Hard as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

Triple Slice (Ex): At 11th level the contender learns how to make a fearsome triple slice combo. This works exactly like double slice, but if the second attack hits then the contender gains another attack at a -10 modifier. For every attack that hits after the first the contender deals an additional +2d10 damage.

Deadly Criticals (Ex): At 12th level the contender increases the critical modifier for any one-handed weapon he wields by 1 (so a longsword would go from being a x2 weapon to being a x3 weapon).

Ray Reflection (Su): At level 13 the contender learns one of the most feared techniques of his class: ray reflection. As long as he is wielding a one-handed weapon he can choose to deflect any ray based spell that targets him onto another target. If the ray hits the contender then the contender may choose to redirect it at another target in range (count the range between the caster and the contender, then the contender at the new target). The contender must succeed on a ranged touch attack to strike the new target. Treat the original caster as the caster for the reflected ray. This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to 1+cha modifier.

Wide Stance [Ex]: At 14th level the contender takes up a stance that greatly promotes lunges and small jumps. His reach is doubled.

Tornado Dash [Su]: At level 14 the contender's whirlwind dash improves and is replaced with tornado dash. As a swift action he may teleport his normal movement. He need not land on the ground. Whirlwind dash can be used a number of times per day equal to 1+cha modifier.

Legendary Technique: At 15th, 17th, and 19th levels the contender unlocks a legendary technique passed down from the heroes of legend. He may choose one of the following abilities:
Back for Round Two [Su]: Once per day the contender can use a standard action to gain the effects of a heal spell. The caster level is equal to his class level.
Radical Assertion [Ex]: You make an especially daring or threatening move. You may declare you are making a radical assertion attack 1+your charisma modifier times per day. If your next attack hits then your contention counter increases by four.
Counter Stun [Ex]: When you make an attack of opportunity your opponent must make a fortitude save equal to 10 + half of your character level + your dexterity modifier or be stunned for 1 round.
Unstoppable [Su]: Once per day the contender may use this ability to gain fast healing equal to one half his contention bonus. This ability stops working when the contender's contention bonus is zero.
Fighting Spirit [Ex]: Damaging the contender doesn't slow him down, it only eggs him on. For every 10 points of damage the contender takes in a single attack his contention counter increases by one.

Ultimate Slice [Ex]: At 16th level the contender perfects his combo striking technique. This works exactly like triple slice, but if the third attack hits then the contender gains another attack at a -15 modifier. For every attack that hits after the first the contender deals an additional +2d10 damage.

Arcane Vortex [Su]: At 18th level the contender learns how to forcibly channel magical energy into himself. Any time a spell is cast on an ally or enemy within 15 feet of the contender, he may choose to make himself the target of that spell instead. Despite the name this ability also affects divine spells. This ability functions a number of times per day equal to the contender's charisma modifier.

Until It's Over [Ex]: At 20th level the contender makes sure he is always the last to die. Until all of his allies in the combat are dead, unconscious, or similarly put out of action, the contender cannot be killed. He stays fully functional and alive no matter how low his hit points are or how many death effects he is subject to. If his hit points are below -10 when his last ally falls then the contender dies immediately.

When the contender has negative hit points he gets a +2 morale bonus to saving throws, attack rolls, and armor class.

In addition, the contender is also immune to stunning, nausea, paralysis, fatigue, and petrification at all times.



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This is my first base class! I actually finished it...

I didn't base this on anyone in particular (which is why theres no art, sadly). The basic goals of this class were to have a frontline warrior capable of battlefield mobility, to be able to go toe to toe with other warriors and even spellcasters, and to be a tank focused in cha and dex. Another goal was to be flexible in armor/weapon/shield choices, but I think every contender ever, everywhere, will be using an elven thinblade.

Restricting some of their abilities to only being used with one handed weapons is specifically because I'm sick of two handed weapons. Contenders are intended to use one weapon and a shield, two weapons, or just one weapon if they are feeling bold.

Well hopefully thats enough of my rambling and the class speaks for itself. Whats good, what sucks, whats stupid about it? Would you play one?

Cheers.

[Steward]

This class could've been somebody! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzBgR0UoYo)
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I really like the idea behind this class.Tanking is something that's hard to do in 3.5 -- most 'traditional tank' classes don't have anyway to force or even encourage enemies to go after them. This class also benefits from drawing out combat since they actually get stronger during the fight and can move quickly enough to outrun most non-teleporters. The 'contention point' mechanic seems especially interesting. One almost-irrelevant nitpick:


When the contender earns Master Contention at 10th level, this bonus increases to +6 to damage rolls.

10th should probably be 20th, right? This creates some incentive for players to stick with this class up til level 20.

Quick question -- do the additional bonuses from Improved Contention and Master Contention only apply to damage rolls?

[starwoof]

Heh, yeah it was supposed to be 20. I guess I missed something in my proofreading.

The bonuses from improved and master contention only apply to damage rolls. I briefly thought about improving the attack bonus along the same lines, but it seemed a little over the top to me. A +1 attack bonus every round isn't bad, fighters have spent feats on less. :smallbiggrin: In playtesting it could potentially be proved to not be enough, in which case I would improve it, but I really think it's enough.

[PEACH]

If this class is intended to be pretty solidly in Tier 3, I think it could work there, though the mechanical bonuses it grabs may be a bit too over the top with how easy it is to grab attacks of opportunity and gain tons of contention, and thus damage bonuses. It's got solid mobility, possibly exceedingly solid offense, and possibly exceedingly solid defensive abilities. It definitely doesn't play nice with anything short of mid-high Tier 3, though.

EDIT: Also, I'd nix the "Charisma bonus to critical range" ability, since that just adds an excessive amount of damage (on a 4x crit weapon, every point of charisma mod is an additional 20% damage, excluding any bonuses you can take for crits). While plenty of stuff is immune to critical hits, that just feels kind of absurd and out of place anyway, since nothing else affects the crit range of weapons like that.

[starwoof]

EDIT: Also, I'd nix the "Charisma bonus to critical range" ability, since that just adds an excessive amount of damage (on a 4x crit weapon, every point of charisma mod is an additional 20% damage, excluding any bonuses you can take for crits). While plenty of stuff is immune to critical hits, that just feels kind of absurd and out of place anyway, since nothing else affects the crit range of weapons like that.

I agree, that's way over the top. I'll make it improve the crit range by one, but allow stacking with things that double crit.

EDIT: It is intended to be a tier three class. A few of the abilities might be a little over the top, but I'm not adverse to toning it down a little (but not too much).

[T.G. Oskar]

There's a few things that bother me a bit regarding the class, particularly on where are those abilities located.

For example: Diehard is a phenomenal feat...on the first few levels, where damage is not that brutal. Come...say, 7th level or so, where a spellcaster using a 1dX/level spell deals a minimum of 7 points of damage (if ALL dice end up being a 1), having 10 "extra" HP is not that strong. I'd advice placing Diehard at 2nd level, if only because that's the usual good range. You can make Strike to Kill a bit higher, since at 2nd level rolling 2d20 for all your attacks is a bit off. 6th level is a nice place to work that, when you can start using two attacks instead of one.

Perfect Defense is a tad too early. Which is really saying "quite too soon". At first, you'd get SR 15 and DR 1/-, which is basically what a drow barbarian of that level might get, but wait at, say, 10th level, and you get SR 20 and DR 5/-. whereas the same drow barbarian would get DR 2/-. By now, the contender has better DR than lots of people. Come, say, 15th level, the contender now has SR 25 and DR 10/-; by that point, you have a solid SR (perhaps not as powerful for your typical caster), but reducing 10 points of damage per hit and having NO counter gets a bit off. It's mostly the way the DR scales, considering it's essentially unbeatable (barring stuff that eats DR like popcorn or Mountain Hammer), so I'd make it DR equal to half your class level (that way, it scales slower), though I'd make it a bit more complex (make it [class level -5]/2, minimum 1/-, even though that means you get DR 1/- for about 7 levels before it starts scaling).

Contention is a nice ability, but it scales a tad oddly: it gets better as the battle drags on, which is never a good idea, but at latter levels waiting just two rounds grants a massive bonus to damage, which is the opposite. However, it DOES has some nice things in allowing Contention to stack with critical hits, since you'll definitely be fishing crits here and there (with a rapier or scimitar in one hand, you'll be increasing your damage pretty soon; with Blood in the Water stance, even more!).

The biggest qualm, though, is that it feels much like a Monk, or rather like the CW Samurai: lots of abilities, but it feels more like a build than a class. As it stands, the only thing in which you can differ is on the choice of weapon, and by 15th level where the legendary techniques allow for some difference; meanwhile, the first 15 levels will have many similar contenders, with little thing to make them differ. I see this class, and what I see mostly is a class that has too many things: tries to be mobile, tries to be resilient, tries to deal some solid damage...but in the end, every other individual that chooses this class will do the same. Plus, the options seem to lack some synergy (the Monk problem): for example, the class needs Strength to deal damage, Dexterity to take advantage of AC and Reflex (and Initiative), Constitution for HP and Fortitude, and Charisma for many of the class abilities. You can't use medium armor without too much hassle until 4th level, so you have your first 3 levels requiring light armor, which means making Dex more important...and after 4th level, medium armor starts hurting high Dex builds, making Strength a more obvious choice (barring mithral armor)...but you still need Dex for Combat Reflexes. Regardless of what you mention about being a "non-traditional tank", you still need some Constitution to work out. Thus, it has a degree of MAD roaming around.

Then, you get roughly three mobility options (Armor Defense, Sidestep Charge, Whirlwind/Tornado Dash), some "tank" options (Diehard, Perfect Defense, Ray Deflection, to an extent Armor Defense; Combat Reflexes and Strike Under Guard exist as a lure for a lockdown build), and a plethora of attack options (Contention, Strike to Kill, Double/Triple Slice, Follow the Heart + Deadly Criticals), and some sparse immunities (Laugh at Danger, Imp. Uncanny Dodge). Attack and mobility have some synergy, but not much: I can see Strike to Kill and Sidestep Charge, maaaaybe Double/Triple Strike (but limited only to einhander builds), but if you wish to tank, you can't take advantage of your mobility. Increased reach comes a bit too late, and you can't take advantage of it unless you have good Dex...which, once again, works oddly with the allowance of medium armor.

All in all, it could use some more polishing. Find ways to provide a bit more synergies, maybe add something to increase AC a bit further (maybe further increase max Dex bonus with Armor Defense as you gain levels), and specify which will be your main ability scores? I can see Dex and Cha being important, but without Weapon Finesse (the class screams for Weapon Finesse!) and a way to add Dex to damage, you'll still be depending on Strength.

A minor perk, to finish: 3+Int modifier? You always give even-numbered skill points, unless you're a human. 4+Int gives just as much skill points, and don''t hurt the contender a bit.

[starwoof]

There's a few things that bother me a bit regarding the class, particularly on where are those abilities located.

For example: Diehard is a phenomenal feat...on the first few levels, where damage is not that brutal. Come...say, 7th level or so, where a spellcaster using a 1dX/level spell deals a minimum of 7 points of damage (if ALL dice end up being a 1), having 10 "extra" HP is not that strong. I'd advice placing Diehard at 2nd level, if only because that's the usual good range. You can make Strike to Kill a bit higher, since at 2nd level rolling 2d20 for all your attacks is a bit off. 6th level is a nice place to work that, when you can start using two attacks instead of one.
Those are very good points. I put diehard at level 10 because I felt that I needed something else for level 10, and diehard fit the class. I think I'll swap diehard to 2 for now.


Perfect Defense is a tad too early. Which is really saying "quite too soon". At first, you'd get SR 15 and DR 1/-, which is basically what a drow barbarian of that level might get, but wait at, say, 10th level, and you get SR 20 and DR 5/-. whereas the same drow barbarian would get DR 2/-. By now, the contender has better DR than lots of people. Come, say, 15th level, the contender now has SR 25 and DR 10/-; by that point, you have a solid SR (perhaps not as powerful for your typical caster), but reducing 10 points of damage per hit and having NO counter gets a bit off. It's mostly the way the DR scales, considering it's essentially unbeatable (barring stuff that eats DR like popcorn or Mountain Hammer), so I'd make it DR equal to half your class level (that way, it scales slower), though I'd make it a bit more complex (make it [class level -5]/2, minimum 1/-, even though that means you get DR 1/- for about 7 levels before it starts scaling).
My idea behind the good Dr was that it somewhat mitigates the low hit die and alleviates the need for a few points of con. Lowering the DR to level/2 seems like an effective way to reduce the power of the contender somewhat. I may end up moving Perfect defense to level 8 or 10.


Contention is a nice ability, but it scales a tad oddly: it gets better as the battle drags on, which is never a good idea, but at latter levels waiting just two rounds grants a massive bonus to damage, which is the opposite. However, it DOES has some nice things in allowing Contention to stack with critical hits, since you'll definitely be fishing crits here and there (with a rapier or scimitar in one hand, you'll be increasing your damage pretty soon; with Blood in the Water stance, even more!).
Contention, along with double/triple slice, is intended to replace strength as a way to add damage. I don't want anyone to be waiting any number of rounds for their contention bonus to go up though... maybe I'll replace the gain of contention points over time with another easy to hit condition. My thought is when you make an attack, but it can only activate once per round. So attacking at all increases your contention, but the number of attacks won't matter.


The biggest qualm, though, is that it feels much like a Monk, or rather like the CW Samurai: lots of abilities, but it feels more like a build than a class. As it stands, the only thing in which you can differ is on the choice of weapon, and by 15th level where the legendary techniques allow for some difference; meanwhile, the first 15 levels will have many similar contenders, with little thing to make them differ. I see this class, and what I see mostly is a class that has too many things: tries to be mobile, tries to be resilient, tries to deal some solid damage...but in the end, every other individual that chooses this class will do the same. Plus, the options seem to lack some synergy (the Monk problem): for example, the class needs Strength to deal damage, Dexterity to take advantage of AC and Reflex (and Initiative), Constitution for HP and Fortitude, and Charisma for many of the class abilities. You can't use medium armor without too much hassle until 4th level, so you have your first 3 levels requiring light armor, which means making Dex more important...and after 4th level, medium armor starts hurting high Dex builds, making Strength a more obvious choice (barring mithral armor)...but you still need Dex for Combat Reflexes. Regardless of what you mention about being a "non-traditional tank", you still need some Constitution to work out. Thus, it has a degree of MAD roaming around.
I agree that they will all feel a little 'samey'. My immediate thought is to do something similar to the legendary techniques, but much earlier. So the idea would be that instead of getting, say, double slice at 6th level, you can choose between double slice and some other ability.

As for the MAD, I feel that strength is mostly unnecessary for the contender due to contention and double/triple slice. Heart of Heroes lets them add cha to saves, so I don't envision having low saves.

The medium armor/dex issue is a problem. I may drop uncanny dodge completely (so that they are vulnerable to alpha strikes) and replace it with more armor training.


Then, you get roughly three mobility options (Armor Defense, Sidestep Charge, Whirlwind/Tornado Dash), some "tank" options (Diehard, Perfect Defense, Ray Deflection, to an extent Armor Defense; Combat Reflexes and Strike Under Guard exist as a lure for a lockdown build), and a plethora of attack options (Contention, Strike to Kill, Double/Triple Slice, Follow the Heart + Deadly Criticals), and some sparse immunities (Laugh at Danger, Imp. Uncanny Dodge). Attack and mobility have some synergy, but not much: I can see Strike to Kill and Sidestep Charge, maaaaybe Double/Triple Strike (but limited only to einhander builds), but if you wish to tank, you can't take advantage of your mobility. Increased reach comes a bit too late, and you can't take advantage of it unless you have good Dex...which, once again, works oddly with the allowance of medium armor.
I see the contender's mobility as more of a way to engage or switch targets quickly. A tank should be mobile enough to switch his targets on the fly based on battlefield conditions. I agree that the increased reach should come lower as it really helps the contender's tanking game if nobody wants to leave his large threatened area.


All in all, it could use some more polishing. Find ways to provide a bit more synergies, maybe add something to increase AC a bit further (maybe further increase max Dex bonus with Armor Defense as you gain levels), and specify which will be your main ability scores? I can see Dex and Cha being important, but without Weapon Finesse (the class screams for Weapon Finesse!) and a way to add Dex to damage, you'll still be depending on Strength.

A minor perk, to finish: 3+Int modifier? You always give even-numbered skill points, unless you're a human. 4+Int gives just as much skill points, and don''t hurt the contender a bit.

I didn't give it weapon finesse because it felt like I was giving away the secret to the class, but now that I think about it charging a feat to get dex to attacks is really stupid. Since I want to encourage strength as a dump stat I am going to find a way to give finesse at level one, probably by moving combat reflexes.

Thanks for the very detailed criticism! Now its time to get to work again...

EDIT: Huh, you're right, I never noticed that every class has even numbered skill points. I guess I always think of the barbarian as having 3+int because that's what they had in 3.0. :smallbiggrin: