[3.5] The Forge Hammer, for the evolving warforged [PrC, ToB]

[ErrantX]

The Forge Hammer

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/foe_gallery/99877.jpg

“I’ll never forget the sight of that lone warforged standing tall against that hoard of aberrations. His body seemed to shine like pure silver and he stood his ground as wave after wave of horrendous monsters assaulted him.”
- Gareth of Breland, Adventurer

Warforged are creatures born of war and conflict, more suited to the battlefield life than that of peace. Many warforged choose to shun this destiny, but some embrace it fully. Their manufactured bodies have little need for physicians or priests, and instead require the need of skilled artificers and mechanics to maintain them and their gear. Thus the birth of the forge hammers, warforged who consider themselves born, quite literally, upon war’s anvil and seek to find their perfect path to personal evolution and growth through skill at arms and knowledge of their form to unlock the destiny that exists for them.

Most forge hammers start their careers as either warblades or crusaders multiclassed with artificer. The one thing most forge hammers have in common is strength of mind and strength of body forged from long years of battle and an indifferent society. The path to the life of a forge hammer is usually a personal journey, though some elder forge hammers have begun training promising warforged in order to keep the newly formed brotherhood strong.
Hit Die: d10

Prerequisites:
Race: Warforged
Alignment: Any non-chaotic
Feats: Adamantine Body or Mithral Body, any other warforged feat
Skills: Craft (Armorer) 7 ranks, Knowledge (Arcana) 2 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks
Infusions: Ability to use 2nd level infusions
Maneuvers: Ability to initiate 1st level maneuvers of the Stone Dragon discipline.
Special: Ability to retain essence as class feature (see the artificer class, Eberron Campaign Setting).

The Forge Hammer
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Infusions per Day

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Attune magic weapon, personal craft reserve|

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Hammer on anvil strike, acute awareness|+1 level of infusing-using class

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Improved damage reduction|+1 level of infusing-using class

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Weapon familiar|+1 level of infusing-using class

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Personal improvement|+1 level of infusing-using class

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+5|Improved damage reduction|+1 level of infusing-using class

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+5|Unmaking the anvil|+1 level of infusing-using class

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+6|Shining steel|+1 level of infusing-using class

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+6|Improved damage reduction|+1 level of infusing-using class

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+7|Personal evolution|[/table]

Maneuvers
{table=head]Level|Known|Readied|Stances
1st|
1|
0|
0

2nd|
0|
0|
0

3rd|
1|
1|
1

4th|
0|
0|
0

5th|
1|
0|
0

6th|
0|
1|
0

7th|
1|
0|
0

8th|
0|
0|
1

9th|
1|
1|
0

10th|
0|
0|
0[/table]

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Appraise (Int), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Engineering) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Class Features
The following class features reflect the forge hammer’s strength of body and mind as well as his aptitude with the basic workings of magic.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Forge hammers gain no proficiency in any weapon or armor.

Infusions: At every level but 1st and 10th level, the forge hammer gains infusions as if he raised his effective artificer level. He does not gain bonus feats or class features, but does gain more infusions per day.

Maneuvers Known and Readied: At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level, a forge hammer gains new maneuvers known from the Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, and Stone Dragon disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full forge hammer levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At levels 3rd, 6th and 9th, you gain additional maneuvers readied per day.

Stances Known: At 3rd and 8th level, you learn a new martial stance from the Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, and Stone Dragon disciplines. You must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.

Attune Magic Weapon (Ex): At 1st level, the forge hammer learns the secret of attune magic weapons, granting some of his melee weapons additional power. The forge hammer gains Attune Magic Weapon as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites.

Personal Craft Reserve (Su): The forge hammer has a craft reserve from which he may store experience points for making magical items and wares. This functions exactly as the artificer class feature using his level in forge hammer as his effective artificer level for this ability and it may only be used to augment his composite plating through Craft Magic Arms and Armor or Craft Wondrous Item (for imbedded components).

Hammer on Anvil Strike (Ex): With a practiced strike that only a warrior-smith could have, the forge hammer brings his weapon down with the precision and force of a smith’s hammer and the knowledge of a soul who is one with their weapon. This is a specialized strike of 4th level belonging to the Stone Dragon discipline and may be readied as such (if the character is incapable of using 4th level strikes, he gains this strike as soon as he is capable of initiating 3rd level strikes). The character gains the following strike:


Hammer on Anvil Strike
Stone Dragon (Strike)
Level: 4
Prerequisites: 1 Stone Dragon maneuver
Initiating Action: 1 standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: Instant
Saving Throw: Fortitude (partial)

By striking with a forge hammer’s strength, the initiator may crush his foe’s body with a resounding “clang”. The character makes a melee attack against a target creature; if successful this attack inflicts an additional 8d6 points of damage, and the entire attack is treated as half weapon damage, half sonic. The target must also make a Fortitude save to avoid being knocked prone due to the vibrations inherent in this strike (DC 14 + Strength modifier negates being knocked prone).

Acute Awareness (Su): The forge hammer has nearly spent countless months and years fully alert simply observing the world around him. At 2nd level, the forge hammer gains darkvision out to 60 feet and a +2 bonus on all Listen and Spot checks.

Improved Damage Reduction (Ex): At 3rd level, the forge hammer gains Improved Damage Reduction as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites. The forge hammer is considered to have the Adamantine Body feat for the purposes of determining how many times he can take Improved Damage Reduction. He gains improved damage reduction as a bonus feat again at 6th and 9th level.

Weapon Familiar (Su): The forge hammer gains a weapon familiar as per the warforged artificer racial alternate levels class feature in Races of Eberron. The weapon familiar must be the weapon he has as his attuned weapon per the Attune Magic Weapon feat.

Personal Improvement (Ex): As the forge hammer continues to gain experience, his body grows to match the size of his thoughts and determination through personal modifications to his body and composite plating. At 5th level, whenever the forge hammer is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the forge hammer is treated as if one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. However, his space and reach remain those of his actual size. The benefits of this ability stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subjects size. Add +1d4 to the forge hammer’s height and +4d12 to the forge hammer’s weight. Lastly, due to his increased physical bulk and thicker plating, the forge hammer increases his composite plating's armor bonus to his AC by +2 and a +2 bonus to his Constitution score.

Unmaking the Anvil (Su): Elder forge hammers know that while they may be born of magic, may wield tools of magic, they also possess the knowledge and ability to destroy magic and the tools of others. By adopting this stance, the forge hammer may wreak great destruction upon magic-using foes. This is a specialized Stone Dragon stance of 6th level. If the character is incapable of initiating and using a 6th level stance, he gains this stance immediately upon gaining an initiator level that would allow him access. The character gains the following stance:


Unmaking the Anvil
Stone Dragon (Stance)
Level: 6
Prerequisites: 2 Stone Dragon maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance

As the creator creates, so can he become a destroyer and destroy. While in this stance, the character may make sunder attempts against weapons or objects held in a target’s hands without provoking attacks of opportunity. Any magical item sundered in this way is destroyed as normal, but the forge hammer may make a Spellcraft check (DC equal to 10 + the caster level of the item) to be able to make use of his retain essence class feature as a free action (as part of the successful sundering attempt). Additionally, targets that have spellcasting or infusion using ability struck by the forge hammer in this stance suffer an additional 2d6 points of damage from his melee attacks.

Shining Steel (Ex): As the forge hammer continues to grow and learn his body begins to gradually take on a bright silver sheen. At 8th level, the forge hammer’s composite plating takes on a pure silver sheen that seems to sparkle and flash in bright light, granting the forge hammer immunity to all rust-based attacks and spells, as well as adding his Charisma modifier to saving throws to resist gaze attacks or spell and effects with the [Light] descriptor (due to his mirror like shine). In addition the chest plate of the forge hammer manifests a unique arcane rune or sigil that best exemplifies the personal code of the forge hammer, which allows him to use an infusion with the range of personal or touch upon himself as a standard action a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier.

Personal Evolution (Ex): As the forge hammer continues to gain experience, his body grows with his upgrades and tinkering once again to match his utter determination in the face of an indifferent world. At 10th level, is considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A forge hammer can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of his actual size. The benefits of this ability stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subjects size. Add +1d4 to the forge hammer’s height and +4d12 to the forge hammer’s weight. Lastly, due to this increased durability, power, and strength of form, the forge hammer gains a +2 racial bonus to his Strength score and immunity to critical hits.


===

Made this a while back for someone as a request, but for the life of me I can't remember who it was for or why. If anyone has any comments on it or what have you, fire away! :smallsmile:

-X

[Conor77]

Only one thing to say: OH YEAAAHH! *smashes through the wall Kool-Aid man style* I think that this is a great prestige class! Only thing is, it takes up half your class progression if you take it for the full 10 levels, but I guess it gives you some pretty stellar abilities for that.

[Veklim]

Only thing is, it takes up half your class progression if you take it for the full 10 levels, but I guess it gives you some pretty stellar abilities for that.

You get full BAB, 2 good saves, stacking for initiator level, 8 of 10 levels worth of infusions, powerful build and a select range of snacky and unique abilities (Unmaking the Anvil ftw!). Not to mention there is FINALLY a way for a Warforged Artificer having both Retain Essence and Weapon Familiar (this has been a bugbear of mine for a long time, hence me offering Retain Essence as a feat for any Warforged Artificer in my campaigns who has attained their Weapon Familiar).

It's a lovely looking PrC, and I've not spotted any obvious flaws in the design (but I shall peruse again later if I find the time), it's damned powerful for a combat build, mainly due to having both infusions and manoeuvres at reasonable progressions, but it doesn't offer that much for out-of-combat options since infusions and manoeuvres are both combat/buff oriented on the whole. I'm also surprised there's no form of Craft and/or Appraise bonus attached, would have expected a class like this to offer at least 1/2 class levels as a bonus to these 2 skills.

Aside from this, I really like it. Might even plug them in to the setting I'm using my Sagacious Defenders in. This class would provide the perfect gaurdians for the Order of the Forge, and wouldn't even need much re-fluffing to do so good job ErrantX! :smallcool:

[ErrantX]

Only one thing to say: OH YEAAAHH! *smashes through the wall Kool-Aid man style* I think that this is a great prestige class! Only thing is, it takes up half your class progression if you take it for the full 10 levels, but I guess it gives you some pretty stellar abilities for that.

*laughs* Oh Kool-Aid Man, you so crazy!

Thank you for your kindness, but I'm not sure what you mean by "takes up half of you progression" if you take the whole class. Do you mean because its a 10 level class, you only have 10 other levels to work with? If that's the case, that's actually pretty standard, I thought. But nothing stops you from jumping out early. I think that abilities are strong and give you a potent, up front melee character who's capable of self-supporting himself through a lot of punishment. Thank you for commenting!


You get full BAB, 2 good saves, stacking for initiator level, 8 of 10 levels worth of infusions, powerful build and a select range of snacky and unique abilities (Unmaking the Anvil ftw!). Not to mention there is FINALLY a way for a Warforged Artificer having both Retain Essence and Weapon Familiar (this has been a bugbear of mine for a long time, hence me offering Retain Essence as a feat for any Warforged Artificer in my campaigns who has attained their Weapon Familiar).

Yeah, it is kinda... buff. I was thinking about dropping the good Will save and making good Fort only as a balance factor. But yes, I had to include Weapon Familiar for warforged artificer because its awesome but not worth losing retain essence for, so I was like, ya know? Heck with it, let's include it because it makes sense.


It's a lovely looking PrC, and I've not spotted any obvious flaws in the design (but I shall peruse again later if I find the time), it's damned powerful for a combat build, mainly due to having both infusions and manoeuvres at reasonable progressions, but it doesn't offer that much for out-of-combat options since infusions and manoeuvres are both combat/buff oriented on the whole. I'm also surprised there's no form of Craft and/or Appraise bonus attached, would have expected a class like this to offer at least 1/2 class levels as a bonus to these 2 skills.

This is definitely made for the warforged on the front line, and made to be in your face strong in that capacity. I'm just not sure if it would push it into the realm of "too strong" as an artificer-gish. I think at the end of the day, since infusions usually are before combat or really sometimes difficult to use in combat without blowing out action points or having some other way to speed up infusion time, they're mostly going to be really durable warriors and a great alternative to Warforged Juggernaut for those who don't want to become soulless construct murder-machines.


Aside from this, I really like it. Might even plug them in to the setting I'm using my Sagacious Defenders in. This class would provide the perfect gaurdians for the Order of the Forge, and wouldn't even need much re-fluffing to do so good job ErrantX! :smallcool:

Thank you, and you're welcome to use them. Thanks for commenting!

-X

[DaTedinator]

I love the concept, and think it's done very well. I echo your sentiments on Weapon Familiar, and I'm glad to see it get a little love.

That said, on to the criticism!

I question the decision to fully advance the craft reserve along with the class. I mean, that and retain essence are pretty powerful features, and you help retain essence out, too. Plus there's the fact that currently, to my knowledge, no other prestige class advances the craft reserve (I think that's a little silly, and there are some that definitely should, but it's a fact worth noting). I'm not saying it's a bad idea, or that you should take it out, or even that you should change it. But that's a pretty big gift that you've given them.

Lesser Powerful Build seems better, to me, than Powerful Build, maybe even a little too good to get at 5th level. Also, improving a warforged's natural Armor seems like a better fit that granting them Natural Armor. Why not just improve their composite plating by +2? But yeah, that and +2 Con and be treated as a size bigger for most things? That's a pretty solid level, right there. I might give the Con or the Natural armor to Powerful Build, because...

Powerful Build strikes me as a little underwhelming a capstone. +2 Strength, and you can use bigger weapons? I'd rather just go back to Artificer after 9 and get more infusions.

Unmaking the Anvil is an awesome, awesome idea for a strike; I don't really see it as a stance, though.

Shining Steel is a little confusing. So you get extra 1st-level infusion slots that can only be filled with personal-target infusions, and take a standard action to use? Or you can choose one infusion that you can use only on yourself as a standard action?

So that's the criticism. But the concept is amazing, and despite my criticism, the implementation is actually solid, too; I'd definitely let one of my players use it as-is. I love anything artificer, and it's nice to see Stone Dragon get some love. They really do complement each other, conceptually.

Also, I really do need to point out how great an idea Unmaking the Anvil is again. Because it's great. Sunder is another underused concept, largely because it only hurts you in the long run to destroy your own loot. But this actually makes Sunder a reasonable strategy! In fact, with it as a stance, you could even have a character built around sundering for once... which, I realize now, is probably what you were going for? Hm. Maybe it's okay to leave it as a stance.

Or really, does it have to be a stance? Would it be so unbalanced to let it be just a class feature?

[ErrantX]

I love the concept, and think it's done very well. I echo your sentiments on Weapon Familiar, and I'm glad to see it get a little love.

That said, on to the criticism!

I question the decision to fully advance the craft reserve along with the class. I mean, that and retain essence are pretty powerful features, and you help retain essence out, too. Plus there's the fact that currently, to my knowledge, no other prestige class advances the craft reserve (I think that's a little silly, and there are some that definitely should, but it's a fact worth noting). I'm not saying it's a bad idea, or that you should take it out, or even that you should change it. But that's a pretty big gift that you've given them.

Lesser Powerful Build seems better, to me, than Powerful Build, maybe even a little too good to get at 5th level. Also, improving a warforged's natural Armor seems like a better fit that granting them Natural Armor. Why not just improve their composite plating by +2? But yeah, that and +2 Con and be treated as a size bigger for most things? That's a pretty solid level, right there. I might give the Con or the Natural armor to Powerful Build, because...

Powerful Build strikes me as a little underwhelming a capstone. +2 Strength, and you can use bigger weapons? I'd rather just go back to Artificer after 9 and get more infusions.

Unmaking the Anvil is an awesome, awesome idea for a strike; I don't really see it as a stance, though.

Shining Steel is a little confusing. So you get extra 1st-level infusion slots that can only be filled with personal-target infusions, and take a standard action to use? Or you can choose one infusion that you can use only on yourself as a standard action?

So that's the criticism. But the concept is amazing, and despite my criticism, the implementation is actually solid, too; I'd definitely let one of my players use it as-is. I love anything artificer, and it's nice to see Stone Dragon get some love. They really do complement each other, conceptually.

Also, I really do need to point out how great an idea Unmaking the Anvil is again. Because it's great. Sunder is another underused concept, largely because it only hurts you in the long run to destroy your own loot. But this actually makes Sunder a reasonable strategy! In fact, with it as a stance, you could even have a character built around sundering for once... which, I realize now, is probably what you were going for? Hm. Maybe it's okay to leave it as a stance.

Or really, does it have to be a stance? Would it be so unbalanced to let it be just a class feature?

I did some tweaks to the Craft Reserve, made it so it only would work for personal improvements to his composite plating. Changed some stuff with Lesser Powerful Build and Powerful Build and renamed them. Made capstone make you immune to crits as well and the lesser version changed from natural armor to improving the armor bonus for composite plating as you suggested.

I really like Unmaking the Anvil as a stance, as it gives it a distinctly ToB feel as a bonus class specific stance. I see where you're coming from, but I think it fits more in line as a class stance.

Shining Steel's infusion thing is more like a quickening. Any infusion you have that you can use on yourself can be hastened to a standard action a few times per day. I clarified it a touch as well. Thoughts on the changes?

Thank you for your review!

-X

[DaTedinator]

Perfect change to craft reserve, that was a great idea; fits the flavor of the class even better, and removes all the really abusable options. Capstone seems solid now, too.

I do understand your reasoning for Unmaking the Anvil, and the idea of it has grown on me. I would still probably do it differently, but there are good fluff and crunch reasons to leave it as a stance, so I think it's fine.

Shining Steel makes more sense now, yes, and looks good.

Great job as always, ErrantX!

[ErrantX]

Perfect change to craft reserve, that was a great idea; fits the flavor of the class even better, and removes all the really abusable options. Capstone seems solid now, too.

I do understand your reasoning for Unmaking the Anvil, and the idea of it has grown on me. I would still probably do it differently, but there are good fluff and crunch reasons to leave it as a stance, so I think it's fine.

Shining Steel makes more sense now, yes, and looks good.

Great job as always, ErrantX!

Awesome, I'm glad you like it. Thank you for your help!

-X