PEACH: Small changes to 3.5 Core

[Ceaon]

Homebrew ahoy!

For an upcoming game, I made several changes to the 3.5 core classes, skills and feats. I know these changes do not close the tiers, but do they create new problems?

CLASSES I

Barbarian
+ Barbarians can be of any alignment, although they are more often chaotic.
– Illiteracy can not be bought of by two skill points. Instead, it requires a feat (Literacy, see the feat changes). You do not automatically become literate when you multiclass.

Bard
+ Bards can be of any alignment.
+ Bards gain a d8 Hit Die.
+ Bards may choose to change Bardic Music into Support Allies (Diplomacy) or Command Allies (Intimidate).
+ Bards add Intimidate to their class skill list.
– Bards that choose to change Bardic Music into Support Allies or Command Allies lose the Countersong class feature.

Cleric
+ Clerics can be of any alignment.
* Clerics of St. Elimine gain access to the Healing Domain and one additional domain.
* Clerics of the ancient gods gain access to the War Domain and one additional domain.
– Clerics can not revere a cause or the natural spirits.

Druid
+ Druids can be of any alignment. Druids can still fall if they cease to revere nature or teach the Druidic language to any non-Druid.
+ At 1st level, druids gain access to one of the following domains: Air, Earth, Fire or Water.
– Druids gain an animal companion at 4th level instead of 1st level. Moreover, a druid's effective druid level regarding his animal companion is his druid level -3 instead of his druid level.
– Druids are Illiterate (see Barbarian).

Fighter
+ A fighter adds Perception to his class skill list.
+ A fighter gains the Bravery class feature (see the Spoiler Box Classes II).
+ A fighter gains the Improved Combat Maneouver class feature (see page 11).
– A fighter only gains bonus feats at levels 1, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20.

Monk
+ Monks gain a d12 Hit Die.
+ Flurry of Blows has been changed (see spoiler box Classes II).
+ Monks may subsitute wisdom for strength when making attack and damage rolls with unarmed attacks or special monk weapons.
– A monk must still be of lawful alignment and can fall if she changes alignments.

Paladin
+ Smite Evil can be used a number of times per day equal to half your paladin level (rounded down, minimum 1).
+ Paladin spell casting is now based on Charisma instead of Wisdom.
+ Paladins still gain Turn Undead at level 4, but their effective cleric level is now equal to their paladin level.
+ Paladins do not fall for breaking their code of conduct if they genuinely repent the same day.
– Paladins lose the Special Mount class feature.
– A paladin must still be of lawful good alignment and can fall if she changes alignment or unrepentently breaks her code of conduct.

Ranger
+ Rangers gain an animal companion at first level. The ranger's effective druid level regarding his animal companion is still half his ranger level, but this can be improved by selecting the Hunter Combat Style (see spoiler box Classes II).
+ Favored Enemy works differently (see spoiler box Classes II).
+ Rangers gain their Combat Style class feature at level 1. The class feature has been changed as well (see spoiler box Classes II).
– Rangers are Illiterate (see Barbarian).

Rogue
+ Rogues gain a d8 Hit Die.

Sorcerer
+ Sorcerers gain the Eschew Materials feat as a bonus feat at 1st level.
+ Sorcerers add the Diplomacy, Gather Information and Intimidate skills to their class skill list.

Wizard
* Wizards must specialize in a school.

NPC Classes
+ Warriors add Perception to their class skill list.
– Commoners are Illiterate.
– Aristocrats do not add Arcana to their class skill list.
– Commoners do not add Thievery to their class skill list.
– Experts add only eight skills to their class skill list instead of ten.

CLASSES II

Fighter

Bravery (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a fighter gains a +2 bonus on Will saves against fear. This bonus increases by +1 for every two class levels beyond 2nd.

Improved Combat Maneouver (Ex)
Starting at 6th level, once per round, when a fighter hits a target with a melee attack, he may immediately bull rush, disarm, feint or trip the opponent as a move action, without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to disarm or trip the fighter. At 10th level, this ability can be used as a immediate action (and thus can also be used after an attack of opportunity). At 14th level, this ability can be used as a free action. At 18th level, this ability can be used more than once per round.

Monk

Flurry of Blows (Ex)
Whenever she makes an attack roll while unarmored, a monk may declare that she is striking with a flurry of blows. When doing so, she may roll the attack roll twice, taking the highest result. These attack rolls both take a -2 penalty. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Monk on page 40 of the PHB. The rerolls and the penalty apply for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears.
When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1½ or ×½) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.
In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

Greater Flurry (Ex)
When a monk reaches 11th level, her flurry of blows ability improves. When rolling two attack rolls, if both attack rolls hit the target's AC, the attack deals double damage.

Ranger

Favored Enemy (Ex)
As a move action, a ranger can designate one creature as his target. The ranger must either see or hear this creature, or have seen or heard this creature before. A ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Nature, Perception and Sense Motive checks when using these skills against his target. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures.
At 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th level, these bonuses increase by +2.
A ranger can only designate one creature as his target at a time. If the target dies, or the ranger voluntarily gives up his designation (a move action), he can select another creature as his target (which is still a move action).

Combat Style (Ex)
At 1st level, a ranger must select one of three combat styles to pursue: archery, hunter or two-weapon combat. This choice affects the character’s class features but does not restrict his selection of feats or special abilities in any way. To select a combat style, a ranger's dexterity must be of sufficient level.
Any ranger can select hunter combat. His effective druid level regarding his animal companion is equal to his ranger level -3.
A ranger can select archery if his dexterity is at least 13. If the ranger selects archery, he is treated as having the Capable Archer feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
A ranger can select two-weapon combat if his dexterity is at least 15. If the ranger selects two-weapon combat, he is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
The benefits of the ranger’s chosen style apply only when he wears light or no armor. He loses all benefits of his combat style when wearing medium or heavy armor.

Improved Combat Style (Ex)
At 6th level, a ranger’s aptitude in his chosen combat style (archery or two-weapon combat) improves.
If he selected archery at 1st level, he is treated as having the Manyshot feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
If he selected hunter combat at 1st level, his effective druid level regarding his animal companion becomes equal to his ranger level.
If he selected two-weapon combat at 1st level, he is treated as having the Two-Weapon Charge feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
If a ranger already has the feat he would gain, he may select another feat, for which he must meet the prerequisites.
As before, the benefits of the ranger’s chosen style apply only when he wears light or no armor. He loses all benefits of his combat style when wearing medium or heavy armor.

Greater Combat Style (Ex)
At 11th level, a ranger’s aptitude in his chosen combat style (archery or two-weapon combat) improves again.
If he selected archery at 1st level, he is treated as having the Master Archer feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
If he selected hunter combat at 1st level, the ranger gains a second animal companion. The ranger's effective druid level for this second animal companion is half his ranger level.
If he selected two-weapon combat at 1st level, he is treated as having the Reaver Strike, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
If a ranger already has the feat he would gain, he may select another feat, for which he must meet the prerequisites.
As before, the benefits of the ranger’s chosen style apply only when he wears light or no armor. He loses all benefits of his combat style when wearing medium or heavy armor.

SKILLS
1. Each character gains an additional 2 skill points per level (8 at first level) that can be spend on any three skills (even skills that are not class skills) selected at character creation.
2. The skill list has been changed. The new skill list is as below. If a class has any of the folded skills on his class list, he now has acces to the combined skill. Skills marked with an * are modified by armor check penalty.

Acrobatics* (Dexterity): Combines Balance, Escape Artist and Tumble.
Arcana (Intelligence): Combines Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft.
Athletics* (Strength): Combines Climb, Jump and Swim. (1)
Bluff (Charisma)
Concentration (Constitution)
Culture (Intelligence): Combines Knowledge (architecture), (history), (local) and (nobility and royalty).
Diplomacy (Charisma)
Gather Information (Charisma)
Handle Animal (Charisma): Combines Handle Animal and Ride. (2)
Heal (Wisdom) (3)
Intimidate (Charisma)
Linguistics (Intelligence): Combines Decipher Script, Forgery and Speak Language. (4)
Nature (Intelligence) :Combines Knowledge (dungeoneering), (nature), (geography) and Survival.
Perception (Wisdom): Combines Listen and Spot.
Perform (Charisma): Combines Disguise and Perform.
Profession (Depends): Combines Craft and Profession. (5)
Religion (Intelligence): Combines Knowledge (religion) and Knowledge (the planes).
Search (Intelligence): Combines Appraise and Search.
Sense Motive (Wisdom)
Stealth* (Dexterity): Combines Hide and Move Silently.
Thievery (Dexterity): Combines Disable Device, Open Lock, Sleight of Hand and Use Rope.
Use Magic Device (Charisma)

1 = Note that this skills can now be used to climb or jump on larger enemies to gain automatic flanking.
2 = You may select to use your dexterity modifier instead of your charisma modifier to ride a creature.
3 = Note that this skill now allows a heal check, DC 10 + 2x spell level, which maximizes the amount of hit points you heal with a cure spell.
4 = For each two ranks you take in this skill, you may select one additional language. You can not put ranks in this skill if you are illiterate.
5 = Depending on which profession you choose, this skill may be based on Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma.

Class skills

Barbarian Athletics, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Nature and Perception.
Bard Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Bluff, Concentration, Culture, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Heal, Linguistics, Nature, Perform, Profession, Religion, Search, Stealth, Thievery and Use Magic Device.
Cleric Arcana, Concentration, Culture, Diplomacy, Profession and Religion.
Cleric Domains The Animal, Plant and Travel domains add Nature to the class skill list. The Knowledge domain adds both Linguistics and Nature to the class skill list. The Trickery domains adds Bluff, Perform and Stealth to the class skill list.
Druid Arcana, Athletics, Concentration, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Nature, Perception and Profession.
Fighter Athletics, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Perception and Profession.
Monk Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Concentration, Diplomacy, Perception, Perform, Profession, Religion, Sense Motive and Stealth.
Paladin Concentration, Culture, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Profession, Religion and Sense Motive.
Ranger Athletics, Concentration, Handle Animal, Heal, Nature, Perception, Profession, Search, Stealth and Thievery.
Rogue Athletics, Acrobatics, Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Linguistics, Perception, Perform, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Stealth, Thievery and Use Magic Device.
Sorcerer Arcana, Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate and Profession.
Wizard Arcana, Concentration, Culture, Linguistics, Nature, Profession and Religion.

Adept Arcana, Concentration, Culture, Handle Animal, Heal, Nature, Profession and Religion.
Aristocrat Athletics, Bluff, Culture, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Linguistics, Nature, Perception, Perform, Religion, Search and Sense Motive.
Commoner Athletics, Handle Animal,Perception and Profession.
Expert Any eight skills.
Warrior Athletics, Handle Animal, Intimidate and Perception.

FEATS
Characters gain a feat at levels 1, 2, 3, 5 and each odd level after that. Characters can select feats from the PHB freely, and the feats from the PHB II and Complete books are allowed on a case-by-case basis.

The following feat has been added: Literacy.

The following feats have been adjusted: Cleave, Dodge, Endurance, Improved Feint, Mobility, the Point Blank Shot line, Quick Draw, Toughness, the Two-Weapon Fighting line, Weapon Finesse, and the Weapon Focus line.

The following feats have been removed: Acrobatic, Agile, Altertness, Animal Affinity, Athletic, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Die-Hard, Diligent, Great Cleave, Investigator, Leadership, Magical Aptitude, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers, Persuasive, Run, Self-Sufficient and Stealthy.

Cleave Now also includes the effects of Great Cleave.
Dodge You gain the Dodge progression as if all your classes had a high Reflex save. (See spoiler box Further Changes) If this is already the case, gain an additional +2 dodge bonus to AC instead.
Endurance Now also includes the effects of Die-Hard and Run.
Improved Feint You can feint as a move action. You gain a +4 bonus to your bluff check to feint an enemy.
Mobility You can make Acrobatics checks in order to Tumble even if your speed is slowed by armor or encumberance. Gain a +4 dodge bonus to AC against attacks of opportunity.
Literacy Your character becomes literate.
Quick Draw As the feat, and you gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks.
Toughness You gain a number of hit points equal to your current Hit Dice. Each time you gain a Hit Die (such as by gaining a level), you gain 1 additional hit point. If you lose a Hit Die (such as by losing a level), you lose 1 hit point permanently.
Weapon Finesse Change prerequisites to Dex 13 instead of BAB +1. As the feat, plus you may substiture your dexterity for strength on damage rolls as well as attack rolls with the weapons designated in the feat.

Capable Archer, is as Precise Shot, except it does not require Point Blank Shot (which has been removed).
Rapid Shot now requires Capable Archer instead of Point Blank Shot.
Manyshot now requires Capable Archer and Rapid Shot.
Master Archer is as Improved Precise Shot, but requires Capable Archer.
Shot on the Run now requires Capable Archer instead of Point Blank Shot.
Deadly Shot, which requires Dex 13, BAB +1, allows a character to, on their action, before making attack rolls for a round, subtract a number from all ranged attack rolls and add the same number to all ranged damage rolls. This number may not exceed a character's base attack bonus. The penalty on attacks and bonus on damage apply until your next turn. You can only use this feat if you are within 30 feet of your target(s).

Two-Weapon Fighting also includes the effects of Improved and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting if the requisite BAB is reached. You gain an extra fourth attack with your off-hand weapon if you reach a BAB of +16.

Two-Weapon Charge, which requires Dex 15, Two-Weapon Fighting and BAB +4, allows you to attack once with your main-hand and once with your off-hand weapon when you charge.

Two-Weapon Defense, which requires Dex 15 and Two-Weapon Fighting, grants a +1 shield bonus to AC when wielding two weapons, which increases by +1 when your BAB reaches +6, +11 and +16.

Weapon Focus grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with the selected weapon. The bonus improves to +2 at level 5, +3 at level 10, +4 at level 15 and +5 at level 20.
(Greater Weapon Focus no longer exists).

Weapon Specialization grants a +2 bonus to damage rolls with the selected weapon. This bonus improves to 4 at fighter level 8, +6 at fighter level 12, +8 at fighter level 16 and +10 at fighter level 20.
(Greater Weapon Specialization no longer exists.)


FURTHER CHANGES
Armor
Armor now also grants Damage Reduction that stacks with any other source of Damage Reduction. Medium armor provides DR 1/-. the feat Armor Proficiency (Medium) increases this to DR 2/-. Heavy armor grants DR 2/-. The feat Armor Proficiency (heavy) increases this to DR 3/-.

Dodge bonus
Each class gains a dodge bonus to AC depending on class level. Classes with a high Reflex progresssion gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC for each level. Classes with a high Fortitude and low Reflex progression gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC at all levels except 1, 5, 9, 13 and 17 (similar to the cleric BAB progression). Classes with neither a high Fortitude nor a high Reflex progression gain a +1 dodge bonus on every even level (similar to the wizard BAB progression).

(Magic items like rings of protection and amulets of natural armor will not be available).

[Hiro Protagonest]

First thing I see:

BARBARIAN
+ Any Alignment
- Being literate is impractical

So... you're allowing more character types, than enforcing the stereotype of dumb brute?

[Steward]

I'm not a huge fan of having to spend a feat to become literate. Barbarians still don't get that many of them with your system and it seems kind of unfair that they have to pour a valuable resource like a feat slot just so that they're on par with every other character (including the Fighter) in that regard. You do a good job of increasing the number of feats granted as well as the quality of the feats themselves, but that just makes the Literacy look even worse since it would be crummy even before you improved everything else.


+ Smite Evil can be used a number of times per day equal to half your paladin level (rounded down, minimum 1).
+ Paladin spell casting is now based on Charisma instead of Wisdom.
+ Paladins still gain Turn Undead at level 4, but their effective cleric level is now equal to their paladin level.

Excellent choices. Paladins struggle with requiring multiple ability scores to use all of their powers, and I never really got why they had delayed progression on undead turning like that.

I'm a huge fan of your monk improvements.

[Ceaon]

@ Jade Dragon: Yes, I see your point. However, the Commoner, Druid and Ranger are also illiterate. It is not so much "dumb brute" as "warrior that has not enjoyed official education". Literacy in the campaign setting is rarer than in standard 3.5 settings.

@ Steward. Thanks for your compliments. Maybe a whole feat to become literate is a bad idea. Perhaps a character can become literate in another way besides feats or skill points?

[erikun]

Just a few notes:

If Druids are illiterate and the only ones who speak Druidic, then would Druidic logically have a written form? Although note that Druidic is (canonically) used to leave messages for one another, and without a written form (or Druids who can read) there is no purpose for the language beyond a funny thieves' cant.

A spellcaster who cannot read does provoke some strange reactions with scrolls.

You might consider giving the Druid access to Animal, Plant, and Sun domains as well. They fit thematically for most Druids.

Why is a Ranger illiterate? They are frequently woodsmen, not wild beastmen raised by wolves. Illiterate Rangers make as much sense as illiterate Fighters or illiterate Rogues.

Experts gaining 10 skill points are virtually the only reason to play one; Rogues already gain 8 skill points along with everything else they have.

Improved Combat Maneouver - I assume you want to add "on your turn" to the ability granted at 6th level; it seems you want to delay tripping opponents with AoO until 10th level. I'm not quite sure what the 14th level benefit is supposed to be, as it is (apparently) already a free action to use.

[Morph Bark]

Spending a near-negligible amount of XP and several weeks to train to become literate?

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

How does literacy work for characters who multiclass into barbarian? The same as core? What if I take a level of Wizard?

The bard skill change is interesting. Take a more useful skill for your class abilities but lose countersong. I like it.

Clerics could always be of any alignment. Or did you mean that they can have an alignment different from their deity's? Eberron does that, and explores the ramifications (they still have to follow their religion's code of conduct to the letter, and they don't detect under their true alignment as long as they do). Not being able to have a deity is fine, it goes a long way towards forcing cleric players to write their own moral code (I'm sad that there's no sample moral code for the four extreme alignments in the core rules).

You say that druids get access to a domain. Does that include domain slots, or do they just add the spells to their spell list? Otherwise it looks good.

The way fighters get free combat maneuvers every round is interesting, but I think that the slower feat progression from levels 2-5 (before they get the free combat manuevers) is extremely harmful. After that point it's probably fine, since the fighter is going to get multiple actions per round and be generally more effective at crowd control than a spellcaster. I also don't see the point of the free action at 14th level (what's the point of making it not an immediate action when you're still limited to once per round?) and you don't specify how often they can do it at 18th level. I understand that feats aren't as necessary with the way you've done Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, but if that's the case I would tweak those two feats to scale with Fighter levels (so a level 20 Barbarian with Weapon Focus gets a +1 bonus, but a level 20 Fighter with Weapon Focus gets a +5 bonus).

I think the monk's flurry of blows fix is too complicated (too many dice to roll). Why not do what Pathfinder does? In Pathfinder the monk gets to fight at full BAB when using flurry (with the -2 penalty at first level which they gradually lose).

Is the ranger's initial marking of a target a free action? I like the fighting style that makes the ranger's animal companion awesome.

Die Hard is a relatively powerful feat, perhaps you should stack Endurance and Run but leave Die hard with its prerequisites as it is.

Why doesn't light armor grant DR 1/-? Otherwise, this is a relatively minor change (because of the massive amounts of damage thrown around at high level and the fact that it doesn't protect from energy damage) which generally benefits non-casters but still benefits clerics (though with the class dodge bonus to AC it should balance out).

The class dodge bonus is restricted by armor's maximum Dexterity bonus, correct?

Anyways, nice tweaks. Have you considered using a hit point variant like Wound/Vitality Points?

[Ceaon]

Barbarians, Rangers and Druids all hail from a wild part of the setting, where there is no civilization, only tribes of hunter-gatherers. Illiteracy might be changed to a racial feature or something, but I still think this works fine.


Just a few notes:

If Druids are illiterate and the only ones who speak Druidic, then would Druidic logically have a written form? Although note that Druidic is (canonically) used to leave messages for one another, and without a written form (or Druids who can read) there is no purpose for the language beyond a funny thieves' cant.

Hm. How about the original inventors of Druidic have been lost, with only its spoken variant surviving until today?


A spellcaster who cannot read does provoke some strange reactions with scrolls.

Good point. So Druids can't use scrolls. I had not considered this, but I think Druids can take the hit.


You might consider giving the Druid access to Animal, Plant, and Sun domains as well. They fit thematically for most Druids.

I had considered this, but the domain ability don't fit (druids already have access to nature and speak with animals and greater turning seems odd on a non-cleric). On top of that, the four elemental domains gives each druid a specific feel.


Why is a Ranger illiterate? They are frequently woodsmen, not wild beastmen raised by wolves. Illiterate Rangers make as much sense as illiterate Fighters or illiterate Rogues.

Normally yes. In this setting, I think it works. However, it is a fluff restriction, I agree.


Experts gaining 10 skill points are virtually the only reason to play one; Rogues already gain 8 skill points along with everything else they have.

Selecting 10 skills of a very small list leads to very similar Experts.


Improved Combat Maneouver - I assume you want to add "on your turn" to the ability granted at 6th level; it seems you want to delay tripping opponents with AoO until 10th level. I'm not quite sure what the 14th level benefit is supposed to be, as it is (apparently) already a free action to use.

I see what you mean and will edit this asap.


Spending a near-negligible amount of XP and several weeks to train to become literate?

This might work, but I don't like spending XP. I might not even award XP if the players don't select Item creation feats, just tell the players when they level up.


How does literacy work for characters who multiclass into barbarian? The same as core? What if I take a level of Wizard?

They remain literate. I will make this more clear.


The bard skill change is interesting. Take a more useful skill for your class abilities but lose countersong. I like it.

Some of my players have said the like the bard frame, but dislike the fluff. This small change can make bard players feel like generals.


Clerics could always be of any alignment. Or did you mean that they can have an alignment different from their deity's? Eberron does that, and explores the ramifications (they still have to follow their religion's code of conduct to the letter, and they don't detect under their true alignment as long as they do). Not being able to have a deity is fine, it goes a long way towards forcing cleric players to write their own moral code (I'm sad that there's no sample moral code for the four extreme alignments in the core rules).

The primary goddess, the one most clerics will follow, is St. Elimine, who has an unknown alignment. That's the reason clerics can be of any alignment.
'Clerics of the ancient gods' was an easy way to say: players can make up deities of they want.


You say that druids get access to a domain. Does that include domain slots, or do they just add the spells to their spell list? Otherwise it looks good.
This includes domain slots and the domain power.


The way fighters get free combat maneuvers every round is interesting, but I think that the slower feat progression from levels 2-5 (before they get the free combat manuevers) is extremely harmful. After that point it's probably fine, since the fighter is going to get multiple actions per round and be generally more effective at crowd control than a spellcaster. I also don't see the point of the free action at 14th level (what's the point of making it not an immediate action when you're still limited to once per round?) and you don't specify how often they can do it at 18th level. I understand that feats aren't as necessary with the way you've done Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, but if that's the case I would tweak those two feats to scale with Fighter levels (so a level 20 Barbarian with Weapon Focus gets a +1 bonus, but a level 20 Fighter with Weapon Focus gets a +5 bonus)..

Fighters get a feat at each level besides the leveles 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20, since they get either Bravery or Combat Maneouvers. However, I think giving them a bonus feat at 2 and maybe 4 would not make them overpowered.


I think the monk's flurry of blows fix is too complicated (too many dice to roll). Why not do what Pathfinder does? In Pathfinder the monk gets to fight at full BAB when using flurry (with the -2 penalty at first level which they gradually lose).

Both this and the ranger's Favored Enemy ability are inspired by the mechanics of the 4E Avenger and the 4E Ranger. It didn't feel to complicated then. You roll the same or less dice then the normal Flurry of Blows.

I dislike giving Monks full BAB because they would become too good a dip then.


Is the ranger's initial marking of a target a free action? I like the fighting style that makes the ranger's animal companion awesome.

Move action.


Die Hard is a relatively powerful feat, perhaps you should stack Endurance and Run but leave Die hard with its prerequisites as it is.

It is relatively powerful, but defensive in nature and helps prevents player deaths, which are never fun. However, I may consider this.


Why doesn't light armor grant DR 1/-? Otherwise, this is a relatively minor change (because of the massive amounts of damage thrown around at high level and the fact that it doesn't protect from energy damage) which generally benefits non-casters but still benefits clerics (though with the class dodge bonus to AC it should balance out).

Because this change was mostly to fix Medium Armor's underpoweredness.


The class dodge bonus is restricted by armor's maximum Dexterity bonus, correct?

No, since at level 20, some characters gain a +20 dodge bonus to AC.
This bonus replaces magic item bonuses to AC, except for enhancement bonuses. Is it too powerful?


Anyways, nice tweaks. Have you considered using a hit point variant like Wound/Vitality Points?

Do you have a link?

[Quellian-dyrae]

It looks good overall. I don't think I see anything particularly unbalancing. Since fighters become fairly heavily dependent on combat maneuvers, it might make sense to give them some ability to ensure they can reliably use them on the larger monsters they'll be expected to fight at high levels. And give them Bluff as a class skill, since Feint is on the list.

Monk flurry actually is a bit more complicated, if I'm reading it right, since you're rolling twice for every attack you make. That can get to a lot of die rolls at higher levels, especially with a TWF monk. Still, it's an interesting improvement and a solid ability.

[toapat]

Paladin
+ Smite Evil can be used a number of times per day equal to half your paladin level (rounded down, minimum 1).
+ Paladin spell casting is now based on Charisma instead of Wisdom.
+ Paladins still gain Turn Undead at level 4, but their effective cleric level is now equal to their paladin level.
+ Paladins do not fall for breaking their code of conduct if they genuinely repent the same day.
– Paladins lose the Special Mount class feature.
– A paladin must still be of lawful good alignment and can fall if she changes alignment or unrepentently breaks her code of conduct.

Smite Change: Good, although i personally feel this cheapens smite.

Spellcaster: No, you have to split this up. STR+Cha would be better, because between the extra smites and the now incredible focus on charisma, you have a Melee warSorc

Goody and Goody pro

pulling this out completely is bad, if you feel the mount should go, arcweld Divine Spirit from Dungeonscape in.

[ericgrau]

Classes, Skills:
I don't see anything terribly unbalancing, but a lot of it seems needlessly complicated. I could tolerate it as a player since I don't need to remember rules for other classes, so it's fine. Except the monk is a particular pain. That's a lot of dice to roll and track. Statistically giving a +4 to hit is almost the same as rolling twice and taking the higher. Giving double attacks is absolutely identical to doing single damage if one roll hits and double damage if two rolls hits. Both are unbalancing (see below on weapon focus), but OTOH I've seen a lot of very poor monk players and less splatbook options in higher optimization settings, so it may be fine for your group.

Feats:
Two weapon defense makes shields obsolete, even before animated shields.
Weapon Focus: People vastly underestimate numerical bonuses. At high levels this is something like +50% damage. That is either unbalancing or the DM switches to enemies that can't be hit in melee and negates entire classes.

Further Changes:
Dodge Bonus: Likewise that much AC is obscene. Light armor classes take roughly half damage at mid levels and heavy armor classes will only get hit on a 20. Ya you removed 10 AC, but you added 20. Plus 6-8 of that 10 AC remove tends to come later rather than earlier (expensive items tend to get delayed) so basically AC is crazy high at levels 5 and up. Unless you mean armor enhancement and shield enhancement is gone too. Then it's 20 for 20 and it might work, but it's a little risky and hurts fighters/paladins/barbarians. Plus gives a touch AC of 30 later.



Basically simplify the monk, ditch or reduce TWD (or maybe you group hates shields anyway and doesn't care?), ditch WF, ditch the wonky AC rules and you're good to go.

Both huge errors revolve around a critical point: untyped bonuses should not scale. A +1 to hit AC 11 is absolutely identical to a +21 to hit AC 31. Your d20 doesn't get bigger so neither should untyped bonuses that stack on top of the normal modifiers and DCs. When chances are already 5-15 out of 20, +5 at a minor cost is ridiculous. If I wanted to break things at level 13+ (but it works ok earlier too) I'd be a TWF + TWD + WF monk who does triple damage, can't be hit by physical attacks, can't be hit by ray spells and has good saves and SR. From there I'd probably focus on pumping my saves further plus getting utility things like flight and teleport in case the DM solution is to pull magic that simply shuts all melee down and makes the game unplayable for them. But at that point the game has already devolved into instant-win or instant-lose rocket tag so whether I succeed or fail, either way it's a loss for fun.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Do you have a link?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/vitalityAndWoundPoints.htm