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Yakk
2013-01-30, 11:21 PM
The idea is that nothing that the "standard melee" classes get would be unreasonable to get by level 10. Heck, it probably might be not enough...

So I'm playing around with the melee classes, and seeing what happens if I both compress them down to 10 level classes and provide them all with a few new mechanics.

Fighter
Alignment Any

Hit Die d10

Class Skills Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Ride, Swim, Profession, Knowledge (Strategy and Tactics)

Skill Points: 4+Int modifier per level

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, all armor, light and heavy shields. The Fighter gains proficiency in one exotic weapon, armor, shield (including tower shields) each level of her choice.



Fort Ref Will Combat Style Weapon
Level BaB Save Save Save Number Feats Mastery
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 2 1 -
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 2 2 2d
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 3 3 2d
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 3 4 3d
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 4 5 3d
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 4 6 4d
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 5 7 4d
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 5 8 5d
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 5 9 5d
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 5 10 10x


Combat Styles: The Fighter has a number of combat styles. Each combat style has one Fighter bonus feat per Fighter class level. Each combat style feat can only be used as a prequisite for other feats in the same combat style.

The Fighter is in one combat style at a time, and is always in a combat style.

A level 1 Fighter has two combat styles, and the Fighter learns a new combat style at level 3 5 and 7. Switching between combat styles is a free action at the start or end of the Fighter's turn. If the Fighter gains or loses max HP due to changing styles, her current HP are also changed by the same amount.

At level 9, the Fighter can be in 2 combat styles at once. Each

Weapon Mastery: Starting at level 2, once per round when a Fighter hits a target with a weapon, the Fighter gains additional weapon damage dice equal to half her Fighter level. This only applies to the weapon damage dice, and not to any extra damage dice you roll, or any bonuses on said damage dice. At level 10, instead the Fighter multiplies her weapon damage dice by 10.

So a level 3 Fighter using a +1 flaming longsword with 18 strength deals 2d8+4+1d6 fire damage on her first hit on a round.

Base Attack Bonus: +1 per level
Fort Save: Good
Ref Save: Poor
Will Save: Poor
Paladin
Alignment: LG
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (nobility & royalty), Knowledge (religion), Profession, Ride, Sense Motive
Skill Points per Level: 2+Int mod

Weapon Proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, heavy medium and light armor, small and large shields.



Fort Ref Will Spells per Day
Level BaB Save Save Save Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil - - - -
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Divine grace, lay on hands 0 - - -
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Aura of courage, Divine Health 1 - - -
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Turn undead, Holy Weapon 1 0 - -
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Special mount 1 1 - -
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Lesser Purify 1/week 1 1 0 -
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Divine Health (Poison) 1 1 1 -
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Purify 2/week 1 1 1 0
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Aura of Courage (perfect) 1 1 1 1
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Greater Purify 3/week 2 2 2 2


As standard Paladin, except:
Smite Evil: Once per day per Paladin level, the Paladin may smite evil. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll, and deals 2 extra points of damage per Paladin level. If smite evil is used on a creature that is not evil, no extra damage is done, and the Paladin knows this.

Spells (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a Paladin gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the Paladin spell list.

The Paladin may prepare up to her Paladin level plus her Wisdom modifier spells, and all must be of a level that the Paladin can cast.

To prepare or cast a spell, a Paladin must have a Charisma score of at least 10 plus the spell level, and her spell DCs are equal to 10 plus the spell level plus her charisma modifier. She recieves bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score (and at many levels, can only cast spells of a certain level if she gains a bonus spell this way).

A Paladin can prepare any spell on the Paladin spell list during her daily meditation. She casts spells as a Cleric would, but does not have access to Domain spells nor can she spontaneously cast cure spells.

A Paladin's caster level is equal to her Paladin class level starting at level 2.

Aura of Courage (Su): A third level Paladin is immune to fear, and each ally within 10 feet per Paladin level gains a morale bonus equal to her paladin level on saving throws against fear effects. At level 9, allies within 10 feet of the Paladin are completely immune to fear effects.

Divine Health (Ex) A 3rd level Paladin is immune to all Diseases. A 7th level paladin is immune to all Poisons.

Special Mount (Sp) A 5th level Paladin can summon an unusually intelligent, strong and loyal seed to serve her. This mount is usually a heavy warhorse (for medium sized paladins) or a warpony (for small paladins), with the Celestial template. The Paladin may summon this mount as a full round action, and dismiss it at any time as a free action. The first time it is summoned in a day it has full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously, and it is carrying and wearing any gear it had when it was last dismissed. Calling a mount is a conjuration (calling) effect.

The special mount has 1 additional HD for every character level higher than 5 the Paladin has (not just Paladin class levels).

Should the Paladin's mount die, it instead immediately disappears, and the paladin may not call the mount for 24 hours.

The special mount has an enhancement bonus to AC, Attacks, Defence, all ability scores and all saves equal to 1 per Paladin level above 5 the Paladin has.

Purify (Su): At level 6, once per week the Paladin may as a full round action purify a target. This cures all diseases on the target, and restores 1d4 points of ability damage and drain on every ability score. At level 8, the Paladin my Purify twice per week, and Purify also cures all poisons and acts as if Restoration was cast. At level 10, the Paladin may Purify three times per week, and Purify may also include a caster level 20 Break Enchantment (bypassing the level 15 maximium) and a Remove Curse.

Holy Weapon (Su): A Paladin may, during her daily meditation, make one of her weapons holy. This weapon becomes aligned lawful and good, once per round deals an extra 1d6 damage when it hits a target. For each additional 2 Paladin levels, the extra damage increases by another d6, to a maximium of 4d6 at level 10.
BarbarianAlignment: Any nonlawful

Hit Die: d12

Class Skills: Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Ride, Survival, Swim

Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int modifier



Fort Ref Will Fast
Level BaB Save Save Save Move DR Features
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 10' - Rage, Trap Sense
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 10' - Uncanny Dodge
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 20' 2
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 20' 2 Reckless Attack
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 20' 4
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 30' 4 Greater Rage
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 30' 7
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 30' 7 Indomidable Will
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 40' 10
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 40' 10 Mighty Rage

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: All simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, small and large shields.

Fast Movement (Ex): A Barbarian's land speed is 10 feet faster than is normal for her race. This increases by another 10 feet at level 3, 6 and 9.

Rage: (Ex) A Barbarian can enter a rage one time per day per Barbarian class level on her turn. In a rage, a Barbarian gains a +4 bonus to Strength, Constitution and Will saves, and suffers a -2 penalty to AC. While raging, a Barbarian must roll twice and take the worst result on any Charisma, Dexterity or Intelligence based skill (except Intimidate, Balance, Escape Artist, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration (not including weapon attacks), nor can she cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger, or spell completion to function. A rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Barbarian's (newly improved) constitution score, or when the Barbarian ends the rage as a free action. At the end of a rage, the Barbarian becomes fatigued (-2 strength, -2 dex, cannot charge or run) for 1d4 rounds, and cannot enter a rage again until no longer fatigued.

Entering a rage is not an action, but may only be done on your turn as part of another action.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex) At 2nd level, a Barbarian retains her Dex bonus to AC unless immobilized. As usual, if the Barbarian already has Uncanny Dodge from another source, she instead gains Improved Uncanny Dodge at 2nd level. Regardless, at level 5 the Barbarian gains improved uncanny dodge.

Trap Sense (Ex) A Barbarian gains a +1 bonus per class level to AC against attacks from traps and Reflex saves against traps.

Damage Reduction (Ex) At 3rd level, a Barbarian gains DR 2/-, and it increases as she gains levels. This DR is doubled while in a rage.

Reckless Attack (Ex) A 4th level Barbarian may choose to attack Recklessly. When she does, she rolls twice on her attack, and takes the better result. If both attacks hit, the attack is resolved as a critical hit. Until the start of her next turn, all enemies may attack roll twice on attacks against the Barbarian, and take the better result.

Greater Rage (Ex) At 6th level, the Barbarians Str, Con and Will bonuses during rage increase to +6, and weapon damage dice are doubled while in a rage.

Indomidable Will (Ex) At 8th level, the Barbarian becomes immune to all mind-affecting spells while in Rage.

Mighty Rage (Ex) At 10th level, the Barbarian's bonuses to Str, Con and Will during a rage increase to +8, weapon damage dice are tripled while in a rage, and the Barbarian no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her rage.

Ex-Barbarians A Barbarian who becomes lawful can no longer advance in the Barbarian class, and the duration of her rages is halved.
RangerAlignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills: Climb, Concentration, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (dungeonering), Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Ride, Search, Spot, Survival, Swim, Use Rope

Skill Points per Level: 6 plus Int modifier



Fort Ref Will Favored Hunter's Spells per Day
Level BaB Save Save Save Special Enemies Quarry 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Track, Wild empathy 1 +2 - - - -
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Basic Combat Style 2 +2 0 - - -
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Animal Companion, Endurance 2 +4 1 - - -
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Combat Style 3 +4 1 0 - -
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Woodland Stride, Evasion 3 +6 1 1 - -
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Improved Combat Style 4 +6 1 1 0 -
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Camouflage 4 +8 1 1 1 -
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Superior Combat Style 5 +8 1 1 1 0
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Hide in Plain Sight 5 +10 1 1 1 1
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Combat Style Mastery 6 +10 2 2 2 2


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor and small and large shields.

Favored Enemies (Ex): A Ranger can learn the weaknesses of a limited number of creature types at once, starting with one type. As a standard action, a Ranger may make a Nature check with a bonus equal to her Quarry bonus against a DC equal to 10 plus the target's HD. On success, the Ranger can take the target creature's subtype as a favored enemy. In the case of Vermin, Undead, Plants, Ooze, Monsterous Humanoids, Magical Beasts, Giants, Fey, Elementals, Dragons, Constructs, Animals and Aberrations, the entire type of creature becomes a favored enemy.

The Ranger can only one favored enemy active at first level, plus one for every even level afterwards. A Ranger can drop a Favored Enemy from her list whenever she wishes to, but must study an example again to regain it.

When a Ranger makes a Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot or Survival check against creatures of that type, she gains a Hunter's Quarry bonus on the check. In addition, the Ranger gains a Hunter's Quarry bonus to her damage rolls against such creatures.

Bonus Feats (Ex): At level 1, the Ranger gains Track as a bonus feat. At level 3, Endurance.

Spells (Su): Beginning at level 2, the Ranger gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the Ranger spell list. The Ranger may prepare one spell per Ranger class level, plus her Intelligence modifier, from spell levels she can cast.

To prepare or cast a spell, a Ranger must have a Wisdom modifier of 10+the spells level. The DC for saves against a Ranger's spells is equal to 10+the spell level+the Ranger's Wisdom modifier. A Ranger gains bonus spells per day based off her Wisdom modifier, and at some levels she only gains access to spells of that level if she has bonus spells from her Wisdom modifier or other source.

A ranger casts spells the way a Cleric does, though he cannot spontaneously cast cure spells unless she has prepared them.

A Ranger's caster level is equal to her Ranger class level starting at level 2.

Combat Style (Ex): Beginning at level 2, a Ranger gains a combat style. The Ranger may use the feats gained in her combat style so long as she is wearing light or no armor, and the feats are gained even if she otherwise would not meet prequisites.

Two-Weapon Combat Style:
Level 2: Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 4: May use Two-Weapon fighting without taking a full-attack action.
Level 6: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, may make iterative attacks in melee without taking a full-attack action
Level 8: Penalties from two-weapon fighting reduced by 2.
Level 10: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, no longer suffers penalties on iterative melee attacks, BaB treated as 1 higher for the purpose of iterative melee attacks.

Archery Combat Style:
Level 2: Rapid Shot
Level 4: You may use the Rapid Shot feat without taking a full-attack action.
Level 6: May make iterative attacks with ranged weapons without taking full-attack action, can make two -5 iterative attacks with ranged weapons if using Rapid Shot.
Level 8: Penalties from Rapid Shot reduced by 2.
Level 10: You no longer suffer penalties from iterative attacks on ranged attacks, BaB treated as 1 higher for the purposes of iterative ranged weapon attacks, and you gain an additional ranged attack when you use the Rapid Shot feat.

Animal Companion: (Ex) Beginning at level 3, a Ranger gains an animal companion, as the druid feature of the same name. Treat the Ranger's effective Druid level as twice his Ranger class level for the purpose of this ability.

Woodland Stride, Swift Tracker, Evasion, Camouflage, Hide in Plain Sight: As standard ranger (at different levels)
I'm concerned about inter-class balance between these 4 classes. I suspect that the Paladin is the weakest class above.

By level 10:
The Ranger is making 6 full-BaB attacks as a standard action at +10 damage each.

The Fighter is rolling 10x weapon damage, and has nearly every feat in the book.

The Barbarian is criting left, right and center (starting at level 4, which is probably too early?), has 20 DR, and +8 str/con/will and 10 rages/day.

The Paladin gets +4d6 damage, and 10 smites/day at +cha accuracy and +20 damage each.

The planned next phase:
Add in some post-level-10 PrCs to transition into that take melee/martial type characters from merely heroic to epic.

As an example, a God Blooded PrC that requires being descended from a God, drinking the blood or eating the flesh of a Divine being, or being adopted by a God for services to her Church. And something similar for Dragon Blooded. Or Hero out of Legend, where you have to fullfill a prophesy to enter it. Etc.

These PrCs would require a BaB of +10 to enter, wouldn't advance caster progression, but would grant abilities that would allow melee types to continue to play on the same level as a pure caster. They would be full of (Su) abilities.

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-30, 11:39 PM
I think you're getting into "broken tier 4" territory here-- your classes are too good at killing things, and can't really do much else. Not because of the compression, mind-- heck, a 10-level paladin's still underpowered and MAD-- but because of the new abilities you've added.

The fighter, say. +10 weapon die 1/round at level 20 is OK-- dealing +20d6/round with a greatsword is fine there. But not at level 10.

The barbarian's also pretty bad. DR 20 at level 10 is just silly-- pretty much nothing is going to get through that. Again, it'd be OK at 20, but... Add the ability to crit on pretty much every hit and watch me murder everything with a scythe.

The ranger is just silly. A 20th level druid's animal companion? Dropping the flavor of favored enemies altogether to just get the bonus against anything it wants?

You've also failed to solve the biggest issues with classes like these. The paladin is still MAD. The fighter still can't do much of anything but fight. The barbarian still doesn't do anything but charge. And so on.

On the whole... a level 10 caster can still do more damage to the campaign as a whole than these guys can, yes. But that kind of power is much more controllable (if only by a gentleman's agreement) than this sort of thing. T4 classes need more, but you're not going to get good balance by letting everyone break the crap out of the game.