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enderlord99
2012-01-21, 02:06 PM
Soul-linked

Whether siblings, lovers, or just close friends, these characters have formed a very tight bond.

prerequisites:

Skills: Sense Motive 8 ranks
Alignment: same as partner (see special)
Special: must not have a companion granted as a class feature (animal companion, familiar, psycrystal, etc.)
Special: must choose a partner who also meets these prerequisites, and who gains his/her first level in Soul Linked at the same time you do.


{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Close Bond, Companionship, support +1

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|

3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3|support +2

4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|

5th|+3|+1|+1|+4|support +3

6th|+4|+2|+2|+5|

7th|+5|+2|+2|+5|support +4

8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+6|

9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+6|support +5

10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+7|

11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+7|support +6

12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|

13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|support +7

14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+9|

15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+9|Eternal Bond, support +8[/table]


Class Features

Close Bond: Upon taking their first level in soul-linked, the partners are linked to each other at the very soul. They may not gain levels unless they both have enough experience to reach the next level, and they may not take levels in classes other than soul-linked.

Companionship: Despite being humanoids, the partners are treated as animal companions, familiars, and psycrystals for each other for all purposes, gain all benefits for being any of those of their effective hit-dice. Their hit dice for the purpose of this class feature is equal to their class level in soul-linked, rather than their actual hit dice.

Support: At each 1st level, the soul-linked gain a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class and to all d20 rolls whenever they are within 5 squares of their partner and in their line of sight. At each further odd-numbered level, this bonus increases by one.

Eternal Bond: Upon reaching 15th level in soul-linked, the partners are closer than ever, and will always have each other in their hearts. They may now take levels in other classes (because there ARE no more in this one), and level up independently of each other. In addition, the partners' hit dice for the purpose of Companionship are now equal to the lower character level between the two partners. Finally, if one of the partners should die, the other can perform a ritual that takes one hour and acts as True Resurrection on the dead partner, except that there are no material components, and the partner being raised suffers no level loss.

Vulaas
2012-01-21, 02:22 PM
The wording on the Companionship ability is rather confusing to me. Does this mean that if their Companion was a Druid 1/Wizard 1/Psion 1/XXX 2/Soul-linked 15 that they would be gaining benefit as per being a Familiar/Animal Companion/Psi Crystal for a 16th level character?

Or does it mean that it doesn't matter how they enter, but still gain benefits equal to their Soul-linked level?

Beyond that, though, I would say that instead of such an admittedly large scaling bonus to all D20 rolls (which is huge) that maybe there should be more varied class features, because while powerful the current incarnation of this is frankly boring. Maybe give them some ability to sense their bonded individual, or give a permanent Shield Other between the two of them, so they act with a single hit point pool while within X radius. Let them use one another's save bonus. Just...Something.

Tavor
2012-01-21, 03:33 PM
Why don't you condense this PrC into a single feat instead?

enderlord99
2012-01-21, 04:19 PM
The wording on the Companionship ability is rather confusing to me. Does this mean that if their Companion was a Druid 1/Wizard 1/Psion 1/XXX 2/Soul-linked 15 that they would be gaining benefit as per being a Familiar/Animal Companion/Psi Crystal for a 16th level character?

Or does it mean that it doesn't matter how they enter, but still gain benefits equal to their Soul-linked level?

If you pay closer attention to the prerequisites, that situation wouldn't actually happen.


Beyond that, though, I would say that instead of such an admittedly large scaling bonus to all D20 rolls (which is huge) that maybe there should be more varied class features, because while powerful the current incarnation of this is frankly boring. Maybe give them some ability to sense their bonded individual, or give a permanent Shield Other between the two of them, so they act with a single hit point pool while within X radius. Let them use one another's save bonus. Just...Something.

I would add more, but I can't decide what that "more" should be. Besides which, I want to keep all the current class features, and I'm afraid adding more on top of that would make it O.P.


Why don't you condense this PrC into a single feat instead?

How would that work?

Grod_The_Giant
2012-01-21, 05:40 PM
If you want some inspiration, NeoSeraphi did a PrC along similar lines (albeit in a jokier manner): http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216305

Tavor
2012-01-21, 06:07 PM
How would that work?

Well, since it consists of three strong features and one drawback, I'd split it into more than one.

Soul-linked [Partner]
Whether siblings, lovers, or just close friends, these characters have formed a very tight bond.

Prerequisites: May not have a companion granted as a class feature (animal companion, familiar, psycrystal, etc.). If they already have such a companion, they must abandon said companion. However, they do not suffer any consequences for doing so (e.g. XP loss for abandoning your familiar).
Must choose a partner who takes Soul-linked at the same time you do.
Partners must share the same alignment.
Benefits: The soul-linked gain a +1 morale bonus to their Armor Class and to all d20 rolls whenever they are within 5 squares of their partner and in their line of sight. This bonus increases by 1 for every [Partner] feat they have.
Special: Upon taking Soul-linked, the partners are linked to each other at the very soul. They may not gain levels unless they both have enough experience to reach the next level.

Spell-linked [Partner]
Because Magic is Love. And by the power invested in me by Charm Person I just made you my Familiar.

Prerequisites: Soul-linked
Benefits: The partners are treated as animal companions, familiars, and psycrystals for each other for all purposes, gain all benefits for being any of those of their effective hit-dice. They retain their original Type.
See notes below on limiting this.


Eternal Bond [Partner]
Because I just can't live without you.

Prerequisites: Soul-linked, character level 20
Benefits:
The partners are closer than ever, and will always have each other in their hearts. If one of the partners should die, the other can perform a ritual that takes one hour and acts as True Resurrection on the dead partner, except that there are no material components, and the partner being raised suffers no level loss.


notes:
Soul-linked:
Alright, so if they take all feats it is +3 to AC and every roll. You might want to increase the bonus to +2/feat, depending on what other feats are usually taken.

Eternal Bond is nice for fluff. Feel free to adjust the level requirement. Anything Level 15+ seems fine to me.

Spell-linked obviously needs some work, as it is incredibly strong, if it gives all those abilities. It probably also needs a level requirement.
My suggestions:
a) Stick to Familiar abilities. I'd avoid psycristals, mainly because they are inheritantly broken.
b) only grant share spells, emphathic link, deliver touch spells and scry on familiar. Should probably rename that last one though.

it could look like this:

modified Spell-linked [Partner]
Because Magic is Love. And by the power invested in me by Charm Person I just made you my Familiar.

Prerequisites: Soul-linked, character level 3
Benefits: The partners have developed an intimate bond to each other similar to that to an animal companion or familiar. They gain the following abilities based on their character level:
CL3: Empathic Link(Ex), Share Spells I share your feelings!
CL5: Deliver Touch Spells(Su) could you please scratch me there
CL13: Scry on Partner(Sp) trust is fine, control is better


Why do this with feats instead of a PrC? Because I think a PrC would be to restrictive.
Love should be free and partners should not suffocate each other for the next 15 levels. Three feats total are still a steep tax, but each of them is more than worth it.
Feel free to rewrite my fluff :smallamused: