Critque My Homebrew PRSC?: Grill Master

[PangolinPie]

Came up with this one for a far older D&D campaign involving a character named Angus who was a dwarf barbarian chef, basically a barbecue pit master into hunting down and killing only the most dangerous ingredients for his meals...so hardly a refined chef of kings LOL. Now that I'm on here I was curious what people thought of the class.

https://www.box.com/s/5cgrz0a36r09jnhtzror

And for those curious; here's a sketch I did of Angus; his weapon is supposed to be based on a combination of a meat cleaver and a tenderizing mallet...on steroids LOL: https://www.box.com/s/yaw2k7ga5bvrxj2vca5t

[mistformsquirrl]

I like it... I'm not sure how good it is power-wise; that's not really my bag... but none of the abilities scream "imbalanced" to me really, and the concept is quite amusing.

I only really have two points of critique:

1) Why BAB +8 to enter the class? That seems exceptionally high all told. Wouldn't +5-6 be more typical for a melee prestige class?

2) Why does it require Rage? It seems to me that only one of the class features involves Rage, and that feature could easily be turned into a non-Rage requiring ability and be just as balanced.

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Overall, I like the idea - I've been in a couple campaigns where we had battle-chefs in the party, so this kind of prestige class is honestly something I could see getting used in the right kind of gaming group >_>

[HunterOfJello]

1. This belongs on the homebrew forums.

2. You should find a way to post that information as a jpeg. You can use Print Screen and paste it all into Paint, then save it online using photobucket or some other photo storage website. Asking people to download something of yours off a site like that is both unreasonable and unsafe.

[PangolinPie]

I like it... I'm not sure how good it is power-wise; that's not really my bag... but none of the abilities scream "imbalanced" to me really, and the concept is quite amusing.

I only really have two points of critique:

1) Why BAB +8 to enter the class? That seems exceptionally high all told. Wouldn't +5-6 be more typical for a melee prestige class?

2) Why does it require Rage? It seems to me that only one of the class features involves Rage, and that feature could easily be turned into a non-Rage requiring ability and be just as balanced.

===

Overall, I like the idea - I've been in a couple campaigns where we had battle-chefs in the party, so this kind of prestige class is honestly something I could see getting used in the right kind of gaming group >_>

Dually noted on the +8...that was my GM's verdict based on his own preferences. And the Rage requirement is linked to the "Spicy Meatball" ability which is fueled by burning anger to the point where it becomes heat and then eventually fire. Overall it was built more thematically to reach a particular visual or character aesthetic than maximizing stats. More fun than anything else basically :P


1. This belongs on the homebrew forums.

2. You should find a way to post that information as a jpeg. You can use Print Screen and paste it all into Paint, then save it online using photobucket or some other photo storage website. Asking people to download something of yours off a site like that is both unreasonable and unsafe.

Sorry about it being in the wrong section...but its not a download. Box.com displays it for you to view right on the website.

[HunterOfJello]

Sorry about it being in the wrong section...but its not a download. Box.com displays it for you to view right on the website.

Ah, I use NoScript and didn't see it. I normally don't ever allow scripts to open on websites like that, but I'll make an exception this one time.


1. Is this Pathfinder or 3.5 based?

2. "Cooking" should be something like Craft (Foodstuffs),Profession (Cook), or Profession (Housewife) or something like that. There are plenty of made up skills put into prestige classes all over the place, but they usually fit into the chasis of skills that already exist. For instance: Crystal Master has Craft (gemcutting) which didn't exist prior to that entry (that I'm aware of at least).

3. Improved weapons stuff should be a class feature

4. I'm not sure if Pathfinder does medium save progressions. If they do, that's fine. The 3.5 edition does not, while the 3rd edition did.

5. Nutritious Meal is cool. Is the meal maximized? If not, then Lesser Vigor, Vigor, and Greater Vigor might be better candidates for this. They would heal a lot more, but they only work really well outside of combat, which I take it is the intention anyway. That, or maybe you're hinting at them cooking lots of food for people. That's cool too.

6. Butcher's Anatomy is very cool and deliciously favorful. That's a very strong ability and one worth going into this class for. The high BAB and melee feat requirements (and rage) mean that only melee classes would consider this and would gain the nice benefits from it. I'd love to see a Cook running around a battlefield dual wielding kukris and ripping people apart to later use as food.

7. Spicy Meatball! should have a boost to the DC if you're already forcing one into the Where is mantle of unassailable flame located? I couldn't find it. I would include any melee attacks within 5ft. At least include natural weapons to the list.

8. A good capstone would be Fire Immunity. It's not a huge deal, but would be very nice and helpful.

9. The "smashing enemy with meat" part of the final entry doesn't really match up. I'm guessing that you changed the names around a bit. You might want to replace that with "Tenderizing Strike" for the sake of continuity, if that's the ability you're refering to.

10. The idea that you give both abilities to bludgeoning weapons and keen properties to slashing weapons is interesting. I'm not sure what I think about it. That could gimp the PrC quite a bit because it forces them to choose between one or the other. There's only 1 weapon that uses both as far as I remember. Bite attacks also work I suppose.

11. You might want to consider how many times Tenderizing Strike can effect a single enemy. Limiting at stacking up to 5 times could be good. Otherwise people are just going to go crazy with lightning maces. It's worth noting that Tenderizing Strikes would work on any enemy and would ignore the vast majority of immunities that most super powerful monsters have. ...perhaps it is a good idea that you don't apply the keen stuff to bludgeoning weapons after all.