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Hyudra
2011-12-11, 03:11 PM
Chronomancer
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/iLetxFfyLnEmP671VRGRSiTuJZ9Ls8Ea5cX9HpOnEc92ikK5G7 _1HirujaCGTmoNsuBTbcfC4JwqXG1whGwWf4mqviQALJHfyTjk f37kuT0rv6Bl_tk


In an age before humans walked the earth, there were scholars of the older races who considered Chronomancy a field of arcane study on par with Divination and Necromancy. Academies included towers for the time mages, rife with timepieces and often topped with observatories. Pilgrimages were made to Mechanus to study the workings of the multiverse and discern the underpinnings of the Prime Material, to alter both time and space on a fundamental level.

Then, for reasons unspoken, the field of study was dropped. What is known is very simple: On a particular date, scholars of time magic who had before boasted the greatness of their work withdrew into a quiet seclusion, with a small remainder staying to invest years of wisdom and experience into the creation of the first Quaruts - Inevitables that would tirelessly work to stop the learning and practice of Chronomancy by any means necessary. Books were burned and wall etchings were defaced. No reason was given, and the only record of these events are vague, making it clear that there was only a look of quiet horror on the faces of the ex-Chronomancers. No mortal with the details on that fateful day has survived to the present, and there are few, if any, immortal beings with both the knowledge of the events and the willingness to speak on them.

And an age passed.

It was impossible, after all, to destroy every record of the practice, and for something as fundamental as a school of magic, it is unreasonable to expect that intelligent individuals wouldn't stumble onto it on their own, through study and simple reasoning. In this manner, Chronomancers have popped up here and there in history. Sometimes a small academy or guild will form, a group of individuals sharing in their excitement and knowledge over this art. Sometimes it is a lone individual, an apprentice helping his master explore a ruin, who stumbles onto an old wall etching or piece of statuary inscribed with formulae. Inevitably, work with Chronomancy results in something rougher than traditional magics, but nonetheless powerful.

Those who grow too grandiose or foolhardy in their use of Chronomancy risk the attention of the Quaruts, implacable constructs who would methodically erase them from existence. In a fashion, these individuals are playing with fire much in the same way as a diabolist does when bargaining with devils. Great power to be had, but perhaps at an even greater risk than when one consorts with evil. Some would argue an eternity of suffering in the afterlife is better than to risk never having existed at all.

But, the Chronomancers would tell you, it is worth it. Time is the greatest power in the multiverse. Given time, even Death may die.

Adventures: Chronomancers can be divided into two loose groups; those that settle down in a workshop and labor on their work, and those that seek to study destiny, time, fate and material space as it applies to the outside world. Those who fall into the latter group are often hungry individuals, with insatiable appetites not just for knowledge of their art, but for the chance to observe and have a hand in events and the rippling expansion of cause-and-effect.

Characteristics: Chronomancers wield their power in a raw form, drawing from one piece of knowledge they found or developed in a eureka moment and applying that knowledge in as versatile a fashion as they can. Chronomancy is vast in scope, however, and it is deceptively easy for one learning the art to reach out to all four corners of existence, or to touch on time as it was in the very beginning and will be in the very end. Actually practicing their art, by contrast, requires that they draw from this obscenely vast reservoir of resources and make use of only a fragment, as one might use a greataxe to manage a single grain of sand on a beach.

To these ends, Chronomancers do not cast magic in a traditional manner, and instead draw from a small selection of versatile powers.

Alignment: Most Chronomancers are neutral, tending towards lawful neutral, a consequence of seeing people, objects and actions through a lens of formulas, cause-and-effect and patterns. Any Chronomancer with an extreme alignment (be it chaotic, good or evil, especially an alignment with no neutral tendencies) may well be a driven individual, seeking to write some event into or out of history. Most eventually discover that actually altering history is not only a difficult task on par with battling a god, but that the Quaruts wait like vultures overhead. But having started on this road, they often feel they may well continue on, for the power and efficacy of it is undeniable.

Religion: Some Chronomancers pay homage to Boccob (SRD), Ioun ( or Cyndor (Complete Divine). Good Chronomancers may well worship Pelor, for the sun was one of the earliest and most fundamental measures of time. Evil Chronomancers driven by a hunger for knowledge might worship Vecna.

Background: Initiation into Chronomancy usually begins with a discovery. This might be a finding, such as the discovery of a formula in an ancient engraving, it might be a secret shared by a meddling outsider, traded to an excommunicated priest by an imp, in exchange for a favor to be later decided. For others, it is the result of accident, a sage stumbling upon the basest concepts of Chronomancy in a eureka moment, and discovering she can leverage that knowledge to influence the flows of time.

Races: Humans and Elves are the most common Chronomancers. Humans have the hunger for knowledge, the taste for destiny, and the sense of exploration that often leads one to Chronomancy. Elves, by contrast, have the innate intelligence and the cultural foundation for the study - elves were among the first users of Chronomancy, the ones who ultimately abandoned it, and it is oftentimes in the oldest relics of elf culture that one would stumble upon clues to the magics that were once practiced. Unintelligent races are unlikely to pursue Chronomancy.

Other Classes: Chronomancers enjoy the company of the intelligent and the quick witted, including wizards, factotums and rogues, as well as worldly individuals with a sense of the big picture, including clerics and druids. They dislike those with a simple perspective, and oftentimes dismiss martial combatants and the like for this.

Role: The Chronomancer is capable of being a devastating damage dealer, a durable individual, a controller of the battlefield or a supporter of her allies, oftentimes two of these things at the same time, depending on the powers she picks and how she chooses to use them.

Class:

HD: d6

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Class Feature|Powers

1|
ľ|Low|Max|Max|Timestream 1d4, Least Powers|
1|

2| | | | |Detect Magic, Time Capsule|
2|

3| | | | |Timestream 2d4, Horological Shell|
3|

4| | | | |Adjournment|
4|

5| | | | |Timestream 3d4, Timeline|
4|

6| | | | |Lesser Powers|
5[/table]
Skill Points: (4 + Int modifier) per level, x4 at first level.
Class Skills: The Chronomancer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Any, Int), Decipher Script (Int), Forgery (Int), Knowledge (Arcana, History, The Planes, taken individually, Int), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha).

Proficiencies: The Chronomancer is proficient with only simple weapons and light armor. She is not proficient in shields.

Class Features:


Timestream: The Chronomancer can use a standard action to make a line attack extending any length up to 60’, dealing 1d4 force damage to each foe caught in the line. This is a spell-like ability with a spell level equal to half the Chronomancer’s class level, rounded down.

In addition to damage done, the Timestream saturates the area it passes through with time magic. Until the start of the Chronomancer’s next turn, the ground (or 5’ squares) beneath the line is affected by the Timestream; enemies treat that ground as difficult terrain, except this difficult terrain does hamper flying and incorporeal foes. Further, allies treat each square moved through as only 2.5’ or a half-square of movement (rounding down).

Powers:

As Warlock Invocations, except save DCs are Int based and the Chronomancer selects abilities from the lists below.

Least:
Age - Target must make a Will save (DC 10 + ˝ Chronomancer ECL + Chronomancer’s Int modifier) or be aged by decades over the course of seconds. Subjects sustain 1d6 points of ability score damage to their highest physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity or Constitution) and have their base movement speed reduced by 5’ (to a minimum of 5’). This recurs each round for a number of rounds equal to the Chronomancer’s Intelligence modifier and the effects persist for one minute after the effect ends. The highest ability score is determined anew each round as the damage is dealt. Effects of multiple castings of Age are not cumulative.

.
Clockwork Step - The Chronomancer has attuned herself to the intrinsic flows of the universe, giving her an uncanny ability to move in the same instants her enemies do. This lends her movements an odd jerkiness and construct-like mannerism, but nonetheless renders her capable of avoiding attacks by mere millimeters. She gains an untyped bonus to her AC equal to her Dexterity modifier. She may relinquish this bonus until the start of her next turn to 5’ step as a swift action. This 5’ step is made in addition to her normal allotment for the round, and can only be used if she could otherwise make a 5’ step.

.
Clockwork Strike - The Chronomancer has connected to the ebbs and flows of time, space, and destiny. She uses these flows to better attune her attacks to those moments when the Prime Material is ready to accomodate change. Every third attack delivered by the Chronomancer forces subjects to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ˝ Chronomancer ECL + Chronomancer’s Int modifier) or be Dazed for one round. This carries over from combat to combat and one foe to another, but only attacks against foes sufficient to grant experience to the Chronomancer suffice. Further, while levitating, as the spell, the Chronomancer gains a cumulative bonus, rather than a penalty, to attack, for each subsequent round spent before stabilizing.

.
Give Pause - The target, which must be alive and have a Charisma score, must make a Reflex save (DC 10 + ˝ Chronomancer ECL + Chronomancer’s Int modifier) or be removed from the timestream. The individual or object remains physically there to all appearances, but is immobile, unmovable and untouchable. Attacks do no damage, spells do not take effect, and ongoing spells on the target do not count down in duration or trigger. This lasts until the end of the Chronomancer’s next turn, at which point all effects and vulnerabilities resume.

.
Inevitable Mantle - The Chronomancer has tapped into the underlying mechanisms of the prime material and fashioned them into charms, bracelets, rings and other accessories, each connected to or relating to the others in the same manner as stars in a constellation. The mantle lends a certain irresistible force to the Chronomancer’s actions, and an eerie conservation of momentum to her movements. Attacks made against her have a 20% chance to miss. She may use a standard action to relinquish this bonus for 1d4 rounds to gain one of the following effects: Feather Fall until the bonus resumes, Expeditious Retreat until she attacks or Mantle’s bonus resumes, True Strike on her next attack, or if she makes a full attack before the bonus resumes, she makes an additional attack with her mainhand weapon at a -20 penalty to hit at the conclusion of that full attack.

.
Inevitable Weapon - The Chronomancer calls forth a weapon of energy anchored to the four corners of the prime material. Though just a sliver, the smallest fragment of time and space made physical, the weapon can no more be dodged, evaded or parried than the target could hope to escape the motive force of the Prime Material striking at them. The Inevitable Weapon deals 2 damage for every level the Chronomancer has in the class, plus one point of damage for every two points of intelligence modifier the Chronomancer has. While the Inevitable Weapon is wielded in one hand, anytime the Chronomancer would attack, the Inevitable Weapon instead deals the aforementioned damage without the need for an attack roll. This damage cannot be avoided, dodged, blocked, reduced or increased in any manner. As it is not technically an attack, this does not trigger effects from maneuvers, magic items or other class features that rely on successful hits.

.
Temporal Burden - The Chronomancer can bestow a temporal burden on a target foe with no save and a maximum of one target affected at any given time. Doing so is a standard action. Any time a foe affected by Temporal Burden performs a standard action, they must choose one of the following penalties: They become fatigued (or exhausted if already fatigued, unconscious if already exhausted), they sustain 1d6 points of Strength damage, they sustain 1d8 points of Dexterity damage, they sustain 1d4 points of Constitution damage, or they cannot perform a standard action on their next turn. Foes cannot choose an option they are immune to (that is, subjects immune to fatigue cannot elect to be fatigued, and subjects with no Constitution score cannot choose Constitution damage). Should a foe perform a full-round action, they must pick two options from the above list.

The effect and any penalties bestowed, including ability damage, are removed if and when the Chronomancer takes no actions for one round or longer (including circumstances where the Chronomancer is incapacitated, dying or dead).

.
Unwind - The Chronomancer may strip a foe of their ties to time and space, weakening their ability to impact the Prime Material. A ranged touch attack extending 15’ +5’ for every two levels in the Chronomancer class. The target sustains 1d6 damage plus an additional 1d6 damage for every three level the Chronomancer has in the class, and the target must make a Will save (DC 10 + ˝ Chronomancer ECL + Chronomancer’s Int modifier) or their standard and full-round actions have a 25% chance to fail. Once an action has failed in this manner, the effect ends.

.
Well of Entropy - Create a well at a location within 25’ + 5’ per Chronomancer level. The Well is an outpouring of energy that can be up to 15’ across, plus 5’ across for every power the Chronomancer knows without ‘inevitable’ or ‘clockwork’ in the name. This persists for one round per Chronomancer level. Foes that are within the Well of Entropy that are struck by melee or ranged attacks also sustain 1d4 points of damage to their armor class, as steel, scale and stone crumble away. This damage cannot reduce a foe’s armor below 0, and can be repaired at a blacksmith at a cost of up to half the armor’s base cost (not counting enchantments or other modifiers). Natural armor heals like ability score damage, healing one point when a point of ability score damage would be healed.

.
Well of Years - Create a well at a location within 25’ + 5’ per Chronomancer level. The Well is an outpouring of energy that can be up to 15’ across, plus 5’ across for every power the Chronomancer knows without ‘inevitable’ or ‘clockwork’ in the name. This persists for one round per Chronomancer level. Individuals beginning and/or ending their turns within the Well of Years are fatigued, exhausted if already fatigued, and rendered unconscious if already exhausted. Foes immune to these effects are nonetheless vulnerable while in the Well of Years (and persist should they exit thereafter).

Detect Magic: As the spell, at will.

Time Capsule: When using Timestream, the Chronomancer may choose to make the effect a ranged touch attack instead of a line effect, and forgo the difficult/augmented terrain effect. If she does, she can cause the ray to Entangle struck foes, as the condition.

Horological Shell: The third level Chronomancer gains Spell Resistance equal to 11 + her class level. In order to affect the chronomancer with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the Chronomancer’s spell resistance.

Adjournment: The Chronomancer has the option of choosing to delay or accelerate a magical effect on her as it takes effect. When she is the target of a magical effect that would last three rounds or more, she may choose to either reduce the duration of that effect by one round or prolong it by one round. Doing so is an immediate action.

Timeline: When using Timestream, the Chronomancer has two additional options:
She may forgo the Timestream’s difficult/augmented terrain effect. In doing so, she may cast Haste, as the spell, on one ally falling in the ability’s area of effect. This Haste effect lasts one round for every three levels she has in this class.
She may forgo the Timestream’s difficult/augmented terrain effect. In doing so, she may cast Slow, as the spell, on one foe falling in the ability’s area of effect. This Slow effect lasts one round for every three levels she has in this class.

Powers:

Lesser:
Clockwork Defense - The Chronomancer has gained the ability to perceive patterns and mathematics in the actions of others. Turning this to the purposes of defense, she has gained the ability to force the next attack made against her to be treated as a miss. After this occurs, the ability must recharge with further observation on the Chronomancer's part; the Chronomancer must be the recipient of three attacks (successful or otherwise, from legitimate opponents) before it activates again.

.
Clockwork Weapon - The Chronomancer can transform a held weapon into a clockwork weapon, augmenting it with temporal energy and myriad gears and measures, to attune it to the flows of the universe. Every fourth successful hit with the weapon is an unconfirmed critical hit, and any damage dealt on this attack, including any precision damage or critical damage, is treated as though she rolled the highest result possible. Only strikes against a legitimate opponent (that is, one that poses her harm and that could grant her experience on a kill) count for the purposes of accumulating charges on a Clockwork Weapon.

.
Euclidean Binding - The Chronomancer can fix a target in space, marking their current location. At the end of the target’s next turn, they return to that space, regardless of their new location. This may affect the Chronomancer herself, allies or objects. Should the Chronomancer target an enemy with this effect, the target is entitled to a Reflex save (DC 10 + ˝ Chronomancer ECL + Chronomancer’s Int modifier), but is subjected to a Hold Monster effect if they fail. They may choose to cooperate with the effect and voluntarily fail the save to avoid the secondary effect.

.
Hourglass Sands - The Chronomancer can create a cloud effect with an outpouring of sand that follows the same rules as an Obscuring Mist spell with a caster level equal to her Chronomancer level. In addition, for allies within the cloud, beneficial effects last twice as long (count each 2 rounds spent in the cloud as one round for the purpose of remaining duration) and negative effects persist only half as long. The opposite is true for enemies within the cloud. Effects that count down to a negative consequence (such as Poison or the Time Bomb power) are considered beneficial for the purposes of the Hourglass Sands.

.
Inevitable Heart - The Chronomancer has discovered the metrics by which her existence in the universe is measured, and has fashioned a device to contain a facsimile of her existence as a safeguard. On being brought to 0 hp or below, or when failing a saving throw, may elect to enter a form of stasis. In doing so, she loses the ability to take actions for 1d3+1 rounds, and is temporarily transformed into an immobile, non-acting simalcrum of herself, which has 3 hitpoints for every HD she has. If this simalcrum is destroyed, she perishes as though she had dropped failed to stabilize. If it is not destroyed before the duration expires, the Chronomancer appears at its location with full health and all ongoing magical effects (that have a duration of less than one day) and ailments removed from herself. She may do this once a day for every 5 HD she has.

.
Inevitable Tread - The Chronomancer has bound her legs and feet in a material fashioned of the forces that drive the Prime Material, made material. As an immediate action, when moving 10’ or more of her own volition, she may make a d6 roll. If the roll exceeds the number of squares (or every 5’ of distance) to her destination, she teleports to that location, ignoring any intervening obstacles. For every other Inevitable power she already possesses, she adds +1 to her rolls. Failure to make the roll means the movement fails and she remains where she is.

The Chronomancer may also use Inevitable Tread when falling or otherwise finding herself airborne by means other than her own (such as being thrown). In such a case, as an immediate action made at the outset of the falling or other movement, she may attempt to teleport to her destination unharmed. In a similar manner to the effect described above, she must simply roll a d6 and exceed the number of 5’ squares she would fall or be moved. Successfully doing so places her at the destination unharmed and firmly on her feet. Static, unmoving dangers (such as spikes) at her destination, do not damage her upon appearance, as she places herself safely in their midst. Continuous or triggered/hidden dangers (such as fire or a pressure plate activating a rockfall) can, however, cause her harm upon arrival. Failure to make the roll results in her treating the fall or throw as normal.

.
Time Bomb - A cluster of time energy manifests over the target’s head in the shape of an intricate, orb-shaped clock. The timer on the clock initially displays a number determined by rolling 1d4+1, and counts down by one at the end of each of the subject’s turns, when they perform a standard action and when they perform a move action (it counts down by two should they perform a full round action).

On detonation, the subject takes 1d6 force damage for every level the Chronomancer has in the class, and the Chronomancer may, as an immediate action, affect that target with a Chronomancy spell that requires a saving throw, as though that target had failed their save. The detonation is averted if the Chronomancer is not conscious when the timer passes.

.
Timekeeping - The Chronomancer can store time energy. With a move action, she may store one action, up to a maximum number equal to her Chronomancer level or her Int modifier, whichever is less. With a standard action, so long as she retains at least one move action, she may grant any ally besides herself a move action, which is performed immediately.

.
Well of Halted Time - Create a well at a location within 25’ + 5’ per Chronomancer level. The Well is an outpouring of energy that can be up to 15’ across, plus 5’ across for every power the Chronomancer knows without ‘inevitable’ or ‘clockwork’ in the name. This persists for one round per Chronomancer level. Terrain and unattended objects within the Well of Halted Time are frozen in time, remaining utterly motionless and exceedingly difficult to move. Dropped or falling objects within the area freeze after falling 10’. Foliage, cobwebs and curtains that one could normally walk past become obstacles. Scattered leaves or papers (scattering such is a move action) can be walked on (including into the air), but are treated as difficult terrain. The surface of any liquid in the area is solid if the individual standing on them or swimming beneath them wish to treat it as such. Creatures can swim through those liquids as though they were swimming through difficult terrain. A falling or tripped creature treats the surface as a standard liquid (and thus falls through).

Moving, picking up or catching an object within the Well requires a Strength check opposed by the Chronomancer’s Intelligence check. This is in addition to any other checks or rolls needed.

Comments:

So, the Chronomancer. I started it not long ago and left it unfinished, but Agent 0042's Wakfu homebrew thread gave me an excuse to do something more with it. This is just the preliminary 6 levels, and it would function as an e6 class, I think (no experience with e6, here). If there's interest, I could finish it.

So, it's essentially an invocation caster with the ability to support allies. While powerful, has a lot of delayed effects and effects that take place over time. In the 3.5 combat environment, where fast action and immediacy are all crucial, this is something of a drawback.

I know some abilities are missing durations and ranges, I've still got to do HD and skills, but just wanted to get this down first. Feedback appreciated.

Changelog

Dec 11, 2011:
Added flavor text below picture.
Just past Midnight, Dec 12, 2011:
Added class details/fluff below flavor text, HD, skills, proficiencies.
Skill changes, clarification and rebalancing to come later.

Nanoblack
2011-12-11, 08:51 PM
I suppose I'll be the first to say that what you have here is wonderful and flavorful. It saddens me that there are 14 additional levels attached to the end of this, but in an E6 game... oh boy. This is what I'll be playing once you get the HD and skills posted. My specific thoughts are below.



Timestream:
First off, you may want to state that this is an at will ability, because people will be asking. Second, I think it might be wise to trade the line version of this ability with the single target version you get later(Minus the entangle for now). AOE abilities are rare at low levels due to how easy it is to cut down a swath of enemies with them. While this does only do 1d4, you can just shoot and move back while leaving your enemies struggling through the terrain.

Compare it with some of the lower level warlock invocations and see if you can find a sweet spot.

Age -
I'm not entirely sure what the goal was with this ability, but it is quite strong. Compare it to ray of enfeeblement or feeblemind for some perspective. Also, I'm not sure if you meant ability damage, or just a penalty. It is substantially stronger if it is considered damage, as it makes them much more susceptible to other ability damage effects.

Clockwork Step -
Interesting ability that makes Dex seem like an odd choice, but makes sense at the same time. I'm assuming the swift 5ft step is to avoid AoO?

Clockwork Strike -
Neat ability, though not much to say about it.

Give Pause -
This is another ability that would concern me at lower levels, but I am uncertain of how powerful this would be. Might want to list a range for the effect.

Inevitable Mantle -
I really like the inevitable abilities, but this one seems to have a lot rolled up into one ability. I might change the action to activate one of the secondary abilities to a move action so as to make it feel less clunky. Also, the -20 penalty seems like a bit much. Considering that this class will have a BAB of +4 at 6th, you're looking at a -16 to hit before strength comes into play. Maybe drop it to -10?

Inevitable Weapon -
I can't quite tell if this ability is as strong as my initial reaction would lead me to believe. For some reason I keep wanting to suggest to make it a melee touch, but that would defeat the purpose of the ability in the first place.

Temporal Burden -
The penalties seem a little strong considering that there's no save, though I love giving the target a choice between crippling himself or sitting on his hands. :smallbiggrin: You may want to give it a definite duration as well, as I can just see a Warforged Chronomancer running in circles while the temporal energies wreck someone. (Also include a clause stating that all penalties disappear when the effect ends.)

Unwind -
Interesting, but something is nagging me about the 25% failure chance. Seems like it should be higher.

Well of Entropy -
An ability tailored to anger the rest of the party. No one likes stuff that destroys their loot.

Well of Years -
May want to add the distinction as to whether you or your allies are affected by this ability. Also, seems a little powerful once you realize that you can take anything down in 3 rounds.

Detect Magic:
Not sure what flavor reasons for this ability. Might make sense to upgrade ot arcane sight at later levels.

Time Capsule:
Overall neat ability, though my comments for Timestream still apply.

Horological Shell:
This one is tough to justify considering the only other base class with this ability doesn't get spell resistance until level 13 and his is one point less. Also might want to add the clause stating that SR can be lowered to allow friendly spells.

Adjournment:
I really like this ability, though I'm not sure if it is able to be activated each round for the same ability or not.

Timeline:
For a class revolving around manipulation of time, I'm surprised to see haste and slow show up this late. May also want to state if you can target yourself with the haste effect. Haste makes this class much better.

Clockwork Defense -
Once again, very interesting ability.

Clockwork Weapon -
May want to designate what type of action it takes ot augment such a weapon as well as whether or not this is compatible with your Inevitable Weapon ability. This could lead to some interesting ability interaction.

Euclidean Binding -
Mean ability, but not as devastating as failing the save for a hold person spell would be.

Hourglass Sands -
Another flavorful ability.

Inevitable Heart -
You may want to state if this ability works if the damage would have killed her.

Inevitable Tread -
May want to rephrase the clause regarding the bonus to the roll for every Inevitable power to: "For every other Inevitable power she already possesses, she adds +1 to this roll" to prevent people from thinking that Inevitable powers give you +1 to everything. I can see the teleportation part leading many Chronomancers to a habit of running face first into walls. Otherwise, awesome ability.

Time Bomb
A bit more damage that I'd like to see on an At-Will ability. The addition of the removal of the saving throw for a second ability is a little much. Also might want to state if you can stack bombs or not and. Do these bombs only damage the target?

Timekeeping -
You haven't stated what you can do with these stored actions. Also how many can you store of each action? Or are they all in one action pool?

Well of Halted Time -
This one kind of confuses me. Is this intelligence check from the Chronomance one that she can choose to fail? Are smaller objects such as grains of sand equally effected?

Comments:
I missed this spoiler in my first read through, so ignore any comments regarding HD, skills, actions, or ranges. :smallbiggrin: I love how this class feels and how... nonstandard most of the abilities are.

Hyudra
2011-12-11, 10:22 PM
I suppose I'll be the first to say that what you have here is wonderful and flavorful. It saddens me that there are 14 additional levels attached to the end of this, but in an E6 game... oh boy. This is what I'll be playing once you get the HD and skills posted. My specific thoughts are below.

Much appreciated!


Timestream:
First off, you may want to state that this is an at will ability, because people will be asking. Second, I think it might be wise to trade the line version of this ability with the single target version you get later(Minus the entangle for now). AOE abilities are rare at low levels due to how easy it is to cut down a swath of enemies with them. While this does only do 1d4, you can just shoot and move back while leaving your enemies struggling through the terrain.

Compare it with some of the lower level warlock invocations and see if you can find a sweet spot.

Fair enough.


Age -
I'm not entirely sure what the goal was with this ability, but it is quite strong. Compare it to ray of enfeeblement or feeblemind for some perspective. Also, I'm not sure if you meant ability damage, or just a penalty. It is substantially stronger if it is considered damage, as it makes them much more susceptible to other ability damage effects.

I think a penalty would probably be more fitting.


Inevitable Mantle -
I really like the inevitable abilities, but this one seems to have a lot rolled up into one ability. I might change the action to activate one of the secondary abilities to a move action so as to make it feel less clunky. Also, the -20 penalty seems like a bit much. Considering that this class will have a BAB of +4 at 6th, you're looking at a -16 to hit before strength comes into play. Maybe drop it to -10?

The intent is mainly to remove any non-synergy with Inevitable Weapon. Having one of the abilities (true strike) rendered irrelevant is kinda lame if you're hitting automatically. Getting another attack off at a -20 penalty, if you're already hitting, though?


Temporal Burden -
The penalties seem a little strong considering that there's no save, though I love giving the target a choice between crippling himself or sitting on his hands. :smallbiggrin: You may want to give it a definite duration as well, as I can just see a Warforged Chronomancer running in circles while the temporal energies wreck someone. (Also include a clause stating that all penalties disappear when the effect ends.)

Noted.


Unwind -
Interesting, but something is nagging me about the 25% failure chance. Seems like it should be higher.

Anything higher and I feel like it becomes more of a counterspell counter-anything.


Well of Entropy -
An ability tailored to anger the rest of the party. No one likes stuff that destroys their loot.

I guess I should state it doesn't destroy the loot, just damages it.


Well of Years -
May want to add the distinction as to whether you or your allies are affected by this ability. Also, seems a little powerful once you realize that you can take anything down in 3 rounds.

Provided they stay in the area, mind you.

And I'm working on many of these abilities with the basic assumption that 3 rounds is a medium to long combat, depending on your level. By round 3, a given character should have the capacity to end combat.

An analogue is Magic the Gathering. A spell that costs 7 mana, generally, means we're needing a game-ender. The same applies to D&D.


Detect Magic:
Not sure what flavor reasons for this ability. Might make sense to upgrade ot arcane sight at later levels.

I'll add flavor text.


Horological Shell:
This one is tough to justify considering the only other base class with this ability doesn't get spell resistance until level 13 and his is one point less. Also might want to add the clause stating that SR can be lowered to allow friendly spells.

I'll add the clause.

Considering the tier of the other base class, I'm not terribly concerned with the fact that this is a little stronger.


Adjournment:
I really like this ability, though I'm not sure if it is able to be activated each round for the same ability or not.

It wouldn't be. When I get around to making adjustments, I'll add clarification.


Timeline:
For a class revolving around manipulation of time, I'm surprised to see haste and slow show up this late. May also want to state if you can target yourself with the haste effect. Haste makes this class much better.

You wouldn't be able to, no.

Part of my self imposed challenge with this class was to not immediately go for the obvious and to not break the action economy. Ergo, why this shows up late.


Clockwork Weapon -
May want to designate what type of action it takes ot augment such a weapon as well as whether or not this is compatible with your Inevitable Weapon ability. This could lead to some interesting ability interaction.

This doesn't interact with Inevitable Weapon, as written; Inevitable Weapon, IIRC, has a clause that says you're not actually hitting your foe. Or something like that. So on-hit effects wouldn't apply. (This is a balancing point for the automatic damage of the Inevitable Weapon power).


Inevitable Heart -
You may want to state if this ability works if the damage would have killed her.

Fair enough.


Inevitable Tread -
May want to rephrase the clause regarding the bonus to the roll for every Inevitable power to: "For every other Inevitable power she already possesses, she adds +1 to this roll" to prevent people from thinking that Inevitable powers give you +1 to everything. I can see the teleportation part leading many Chronomancers to a habit of running face first into walls. Otherwise, awesome ability.

Wasn't sure what you meant about the running face first into walls bit. I'll add clarification that states that if the ability fails, you don't move from where you stand, period.


Time Bomb
A bit more damage that I'd like to see on an At-Will ability. The addition of the removal of the saving throw for a second ability is a little much. Also might want to state if you can stack bombs or not and. Do these bombs only damage the target?

Again, reiterating an earlier comment, delayed damage is tricky. If you cast this on the first round of combat, keep in mind, there's a possibility that combat could end before it even does anything, a balancing point.


Timekeeping -
You haven't stated what you can do with these stored actions. Also how many can you store of each action? Or are they all in one action pool?

Didn't I? You can store move actions and spend them to grant an ally a free, instant move action.


Well of Halted Time -
This one kind of confuses me. Is this intelligence check from the Chronomance one that she can choose to fail? Are smaller objects such as grains of sand equally effected?

I'll have to think on this.

BelGareth
2011-12-11, 10:28 PM
First off this sounds and looks like a great class and I will be monitoring it's progress eagerly.

Timestream, awesome ability and not overpowered, great fluff and mechanically sound. The extra abilities are awesome and ass before add to fluff and general image/concept of the class. Also great options for a debuffer/buffer. Maybe add in the text that the damage increase with every other level?

Time Capsule, Great options, as above. Maybe add clarifying text saying it lasts as long as the regular Timestream (until the start of your next turn?)

Horological shell, great concept and goes with the fluff. But I just think it's given too early, maybe give a weaker SR at this level and increase it over time. Level +5, Level +8 and then Level +11.

Adjournment, this seems like it should be granted before the SR, allowing it to be used more often. It's a great ability and has great fluff to it, not broken at all, I would just like it to be useful more often.

Least Invocations

Age,I agree, I think Age is too powerful, You could keep it and make it a greater? or reduce the damage to 1d4. Am I right in saying that the damage jumps to the highest stat every round? A little confusing....

Clockwork Step, does this last 24 hours? If so then I think its a little too powerful, double dex to AC? maybe reduce the bonus or reduce the duration.

Clockwork Strike, Love it.

Give Pause, Great. A little picky but you might want to replace 'make a save' with 'attempt a save', players are always attempting saves...:smallbiggrin:

Inevitable Mantle, Wonderful, great options.

Inevitable Weapon, Interesting, I can't see this as being OP at all, keeps with the fluff, kinda strange...but cool.

Temporal Burden, WAAAAYY to powerful, BBEG fight you slap this on and sit back. Either make it a save or suck, reduce the affects to stats (lower dice damage) and/or make it require concentration and/or increase it to the Lesser invocations. Otherwise great fluff wise.

Unwind, LOVE it, a little wordy, maybe needs to be rewritten, but great job on this one.

Well of Entropy, is this damaging the actual AC or the armor HP? if it's the armor HP you can't damage natural armor, as it has no HP. Otherwise interesting, if not a little OP...Maybe make it only reduced in the well (if reducing AC).

Well of Years, AWESOME, great battlefield control. Great fluff.

Lesser Invocations

ClockWork Defense, Good, maybe a Least invocation?

ClockWork Weapon, Great!

Euclidean Binding, I love this for some reason I cannot explain. Good fluff too!

Hourglass Sands, Love it, however it reeks of Prince of Persia, but that is hard to do with this class.

Inevitable Heart, Interesting, not sure it would be used as the Simulacrum (that's how you spell it) will most likely get destroyed.

Inevitable Tread, this is awesome, reeks of the Inevitables (as the whole class does) yet is Random! oh the irony!

Time Bomb, Does it follow them or is it stationary? Is the bonus Chronomancy spell a 'spell' or an invocation from the class? Otherwise, cool :smallcool:

Timekeeping, Love it.

Well of Halted Time This..this is beautiful. I love it. At first I was like...wha? and then I realized what you were going for. Again reeks of Prince of persia, but meh its good enough for me.

Summary

Great job, Love the fluff your instilling into the class.

My suggestion for HD would be D8 and skills 4 + int (even with Int as main stat).

EDIT: I didn't see you response to the first response and have not read any of those comments....So this may repeat several things, sorrY!

Hyudra
2011-12-11, 10:50 PM
Horological shell, great concept and goes with the fluff. But I just think it's given too early, maybe give a weaker SR at this level and increase it over time. Level +5, Level +8 and then Level +11.

Adjournment, this seems like it should be granted before the SR, allowing it to be used more often. It's a great ability and has great fluff to it, not broken at all, I would just like it to be useful more often.

Alright, could be convinced on this front.

Will probably swap the two around and then scale the SR.


Age,I agree, I think Age is too powerful, You could keep it and make it a greater? or reduce the damage to 1d4. Am I right in saying that the damage jumps to the highest stat every round? A little confusing....

The damage does jump to the highest stat.

This does mean, note, that you probably wouldn't drop a foe to 0 in any stat with this. I could reduce the damage, though.


Clockwork Step, does this last 24 hours? If so then I think its a little too powerful, double dex to AC? maybe reduce the bonus or reduce the duration.

Hrmm. Will think on it. This doesn't jump out to me as a problem, but I'll consider the numbers.


Temporal Burden, WAAAAYY to powerful, BBEG fight you slap this on and sit back. Either make it a save or suck, reduce the affects to stats (lower dice damage) and/or make it require concentration and/or increase it to the Lesser invocations. Otherwise great fluff wise.

I might make it concentration. A possibility.


Well of Entropy, is this damaging the actual AC or the armor HP? if it's the armor HP you can't damage natural armor, as it has no HP. Otherwise interesting, if not a little OP...Maybe make it only reduced in the well (if reducing AC).

It would actually damage the foe's AC.

I reiterate above thoughts - I feel that the fact that you're essentially using a standard action and not getting immediate results (rather, you're setting others up to crack the enemy armor, which in itself has delayed results) and it's a limited area makes it so that the ability isn't quite as overwhelming as it might appear at first glance.

I mean, you cast Well of Entropy in the cave bear. Your ally attacks it and reduces its AC by 2 (and damages it). Anyone who attacks it thereafter can do 4 additional points of damage on average... but only one or two more attacks occur before it drops dead. How much of an impact did that really have?

That's my line of thinking, anyways.


Hourglass Sands, Love it, however it reeks of Prince of Persia, but that is hard to do with this class.

Hard to avoid, you mean?


Inevitable Heart, Interesting, not sure it would be used as the Simulacrum (that's how you spell it) will most likely get destroyed.

The idea is to keep that Inevitable flavor while allowing for some tactical calls. It buys your allies time to cover you or distract your foe, and if you've set up an effect that will kill your foe before they can get around to coup de gracing your simulacrum, then you get to walk away from the fight unharmed.

It's also useful in a mage duel where you're fighting another caster and they do something like petrify you, and you think you can get away with triggering Inevitable Heart & respawning before they can close in and coup de grace, or fire off a spell, or whatever.

I may tweak it, though.


Time Bomb, Does it follow them or is it stationary? Is the bonus Chronomancy spell a 'spell' or an invocation from the class? Otherwise, cool :smallcool:

It would follow them, and it'd be a Chronomancy Power. I'll clarify.

Eleven
2011-12-12, 11:40 AM
Hyudra, I respect this project so far and I respect you as a homebrewer. I tell you that, because this is going to be a tricky request.

I am intrigued by the concept of chronomancy-based classes, but usually they ignore the most archetypal ability that we'd desire from such a creation - the actual ability to travel in time. Sure, jumping around in time (short-term) is cool, and forcing time-effects on others is pretty neat. If you ask anyone what they would do with the power over time, though, and there are two types of response - I'd travel x years into the past or x years into the future.

I understand the difficulties involved. Travelling to the future seems to involve some type of prescience. Travelling to the past involves huge consequences for the present and the possibility of paradox.

That said, I consider time-travel to be an archetypal and necessary characteristic of chronomancy. What do you think?

Hyudra
2011-12-12, 12:48 PM
If I got enough interest, and wound up expanding this to 20 levels, I'd try something like that.

But going that far into the future or the past isn't something you can balance easily. Going into the past to change events is a huge deal, when it essentially lets your party take a story arc that's gone badly & rewrite events to suit themselves. You can't balance that from a designer's perspective, because it's hugely dependent on the nature & the status of the campaign you're playing in.

And going into the future is essentially top tier divination material, with a similar (if not quite so imbalanced) end result. You go into the future, see the outcome of your actions, and then return to the present to adjust.

In short, this is Wish level spellcasting.

And giving Wish to an invocation based spellcaster? Who can theoretically do that sort of thing every day?

It's not easy.

So it wouldn't show up until 18th to 20th level, and it would have heavy requirements. At the very least, summoning an enemy Quarut (and/or a hugely augmented magic immune Construct, to avoid players needing Fiend Folio) to come after you, tear you to shreds, and fix whatever you were attempting.

zegram 33
2011-12-12, 02:56 PM
yes, as i see it, there are a few options
one is that you can atempt travelling backwards in time to fix mistakes, but can only attempt to travel to each decade (say) once, and have some kind of formulae involving level, int, and probably a number at the dm's discretion (between 1 and 20) for how difficult he wanted it to be, so a high level semi optimised one could may overurn the dm, but otherwise he can shut it off if he so chooses.

the other option (maybe combined with this) would be to have it as an expensive ritual which requires the "heart" or central component of one of these quarat thingies, making the party hunt down an extremely powerful automaton that can counter and possibly even use time abilities itself.

as another take on it, what about being able to "store" positions, stats and all, and then rewind back to them at any time within 1 day, week, month, whatever.
also roll a d10 for each person, with a one being reroll and the other numbers assigned to the 5ft squares in a 9x9 grid to represent quantumness or something?
then to make sure it isnt abused, have it spawn a quarat hunter which will track your party, attack at inoportune moments, and when killed erase itself and one attempted target in melee range from all timelines.
something like that?
just my attempts though