(3.5) - Storm Trooper : Tanky Martial Class

[Zancloufer]

I'll Just start with the class idea so far then explain my idea after.

The Storm Trooper

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills:
The Storm Trooper's Class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level (4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at each additional level 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Storm Trooper
{table=head] Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Form Fitting, Bonus Feat
2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Armour Focus, Combat Focus
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Uncanny Dodge, Improved Shield Bash
4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Infallible Resolve, Bonus Feat
5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Armour Specialization
6 | 6\1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Evasion, Sword and Board Fighting
7 | 7\2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Rapid Movement, Bonus Feat
8 | 8\3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Combat Leap, Keen Senses
9 | 9\4 | 6 | 6 | 6 |Greater Armour Focus
10 | 10\5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Greater Armour Specialization
11 | 11\6\1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Improved Uncanny Dodge
12 | 12\7\2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Slippery Mind, Bonus Feat
13 | 13\8\3 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Improved Evasion, Mettle
14 | 14\9\4 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Greater Rapid Movement
15 | 15\10\5 | 9 |9 | 9 | Cushioned fall
16 | 16\11\6\1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Aerial Superiority, Bonus Feat
17 | 17\12\7\2 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Supreme Armour Focus
18 | 18\13\8\3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Supreme Armour Specialization
19 | 19\14\9\4 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Arcane Resistance
20 | 20\15\10\5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Fortification, Bonus Feat
[/table]

Now (in spoilers as it's quite long) the class features descriptions:

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the storm trooper.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Storm Trooper is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Form Fitting
Basic training accustoms the storm trooper to the weight of armour. He suffers no movement speed penalty from heavy armour, or large shields.

Bonus Feat
At first level, and at every fourth level after (4th. 8Th, etc) the storm trooper gains a bonus feat. This can me any martial, general, skill or save feat. The Storm Trooper must still meat the prerequisites for the feat however.

Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Focus as a bonus feat.

Combat Focus
Starting at 2nd level the storm trooper can use his storm trooper level to count as fighter levels for taking fighter specific feats (Ie: Weapon Specialization). Also, any Armour Focus/Specialization feats the storm trooper has for shields count at Weapon Focus/Specialization for that shield in granting additional damage and to hit bonuses.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, a storm trooper can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

Improved Shield Bash
At 3rd level the storm trooper gets the benefit of the Improved Shield Bash Feat.

Infallible Resolve (Ex)
Starting at the 4th level, a storm trooper no longer automatically fails a saving throw on a roll of 1. He can still fail the save if he doesn't meet the DC however.

Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.

Evasion (Ex)
At 6th level and higher, a storm trooper can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the storm trooper is wearing armor that he has Armour Specialization in, or no armor. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Sword and Board Fighting
Starting at 6th level the storm trooper can make shield bashes with their shield and attack with their weapon at the same time. Unlike two weapon fighting there is no attack penalty and they add their full strength modifier (instead of half as normal for off hand attacks). In addition the storm trooper can make as many irradiative attacks with their 'off hand' as their 'main hand'.

Rapid Movement (Ex)
Quick movement speed is as important as heavy armour in avoiding danger. Starting at 7th level and higher the storm trooper gains +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.

Combat Leap (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper can do a combat leap as a full round action. The target in question must be at least 30ft away. The storm trooper must then make a running jump check to cover the distance, however they gain a bonus to that check equal to their current movement speed. If they make the check they land in front of the target and get to make an attack at their highest BaB. They also gain a bonus to hit equal to half their level, and a damage bonus equal to quarter that (or half if using a two handed weapon). There is no limit to the number of times an encounter/day this can be used.

Keen Senses (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper adds half their storm trooper level to any spot, search, listen, and sense motive check. In addition if they pass a hidden or invisible object they gain a passive observation check as if they had actively 'taken 10' on a spot, listen and/or search check.

Greater Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Focus as a bonus feat.

Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A storm trooper of 11th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies others the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more 'rogue' levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum 'rogue' level required to flank the character.

Slippery Mind (Ex)
Starting at 12th level storm troopers gets to roll two d20 instead of one to make a saving throw against a mind effecting attack/spell, and take the highest of the two rolls.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper's Evasion is more powerful. He still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Mettle (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper can resist magical attacks more than most others. If you succeed a saving throw against a Fortitude or Will that would normally produce an effect on a successful save (Will half or Fortitude partial) you instead ignore that effect. Mettle does not benefit an unconscious or sleeping storm trooper.

Greater Rapid Movement (Ex)
The Storm Trooper is even faster in his armour. The storm trooper gains an additional +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.

Cushioned fall (Ex)
At 15th level the storm trooper can negate some falling damage. If he makes a Reflex save equal to (10 + 1 per 10 feet up to DC 30 @ 200ft) he only takes halve damage. This only works if he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. In addition Evasion does not apply to this as you usually cannot save for half falling damage.


Aerial Superiority (Ex)
Starting at the 16th level the storm trooper may attempt to down flying opponents with a Combat Leap. They would preform the leap check as normal, but instead of attacking they make a grapple check with a bonus equal to half their class level. If they succeed they then throw their opponents downward tearing them out of the sky inflicting damage equal to 1d6 per 5 feet fallen (up to 20d6 damage maximum). However, if the opponent is strong enough to lift the storm trooper over their head they can make an opposing strength check to throw the storm trooper off them, interrupting the attack.


Supreme Armour Focus (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Focus. The storm trooper gains an additional +2 to AC with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Focus with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all armour focus) instead of one like Greater Armour Focus.

Supreme Armour Specialization (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Specialization. The storm trooper reduces the armour check penalty by -2, and max Dex bonus by 2 with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Specialization with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all Armour Specializations) instead of one like Greater Armour Specialization, and allows a positive armour check (IE Bonus) if the penalty is reduced past 0.

Arcane Resistance (Ex)
At the 19th level the storm trooper is so resilient he emits a slight anti-magical aura around him. Any spell targeting him (or something on him) that allows a save must make a spell penetration check equal to 10+The storm trooper's relevant saving throw.

Fortification (Ex)
At the 20th level the storm trooper gains a 50% chance to negate any critical hit as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. This -stacks- with the Fortification armour enchantment, multiple pieces of armour with armour focus and similar spells (IE if his armour already has 50% Fortification, this increases that to 100% effectively making him immune to critical hits).

Also, Armour Spec/Focus [based of something the Giant had on here a while ago but I think I reversed them or something] :
Armour Focus [Combat]
Pre-req
Proficiency in the chosen armour/shield
Benefit
You gain +1 AC with the chosen armour/shield
Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new category of armour/shields.

Armour Specialization [Combat]
Pre-req
Proficiency in the chosen armour/shield, Armour Focus with chosen armour/shield
Benefit
Your armour check penalty decreases by 2, and your max Dex increases by 2 with the chosen Armour/Shield. You cannot gain a negative armour penalty with this.
Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new category of armour/shields.

Greater Armour Focus [Combat]
Pre-req
Proficiency in the chosen armour/shield, Armour Focus with chosen armour/sheild
Benefit
You gain an additional +2 AC with the chosen armour/shield. This stacks with Armour Focus.
Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new category of armour/shields.

Greater Armour Specialization [Combat]
Pre-req
Proficiency in the chosen armour/shield, Armour Specialization with chosen armour/shield
Benefit
Your armour check penalty decreases by an additional 3, and your max Dex increases by 3 more with the chosen Armour/Shield. You cannot gain a negative armour penalty with this.
Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new category of armour/shields

Now essentially I was aiming for a mid-tier (~3, maybe high 4) martial class with good survivability. Something that replaces your average guard, or works as a shock trooper in the army (hence the improved movement, perception, and reduced penalty in armour). However they should still be capable of damaging stuff, so full BAB, bonus feats and some offensive features I added in.

What I would like the know the most:
1) Does the class make sense and have synergy well with it's self? I tried to make the class features supportive or base off each other.
2) Is it too niche? Does it step too much on published base classes (and I mean the viable ones, IDC if it makes the Core Fighter, obsolete for example).
3) If it's too weak? If so any ideas for more/revamped features.
4) Does anything not make sense? Like you THINK the skill means something but might have some bad RAW implications?

[Zancloufer]

~2 weeks later, quite a few views, but no replies? No comments/likes/dislikes etc?

[inuyasha]

my questions/comments are below the ability in bold underlined

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Storm Trooper is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
pretty standard, good
Form Fitting
Basic training accustoms the storm trooper to the weight of armour. He suffers no movement speed penalty from heavy armour, or large shields.
does this change if the character is a dwarf or something else already not slowed down by heavy armor?
Bonus Feat
At first level, and at every fourth level after (4th. 8Th, etc) the storm trooper gains a bonus feat. This can me any martial, general, skill or save feat. The Storm Trooper must still meat the prerequisites for the feat however.
I would suggest just saying you can take a bonus feat from the fighter list + these other feats (and put the name of the feat) this just seems vague
Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Focus as a bonus feat.
no change
Combat Focus
Starting at 2nd level the storm trooper can use his storm trooper level to count as fighter levels for taking fighter specific feats (Ie: Weapon Specialization). Also, any Armour Focus/Specialization feats the storm trooper has for shields count at Weapon Focus/Specialization for that shield in granting additional damage and to hit bonuses.
I would suggest granting this at 4th level, since thats when you can get weapon finesse, and it kind of makes sense
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, a storm trooper can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
I thought this was supposed to be a tanky class? those dont usually have this ability
Improved Shield Bash
At 3rd level the storm trooper gets the benefit of the Improved Shield Bash Feat.
no change
Infallible Resolve (Ex)
Starting at the 4th level, a storm trooper no longer automatically fails a saving throw on a roll of 1. He can still fail the save if he doesn't meet the DC however.
this does seem a little powerful for being only 4th level and universally affecting saves, i would suggest a nerf or dropping it, but it is your class do what you want :smallsmile:
Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.
no change
Evasion (Ex)
At 6th level and higher, a storm trooper can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the storm trooper is wearing armor that he has Armour Specialization in, or no armor. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of evasion.
also...not something very tanky
Sword and Board Fighting
Starting at 6th level the storm trooper can make shield bashes with their shield and attack with their weapon at the same time. Unlike two weapon fighting there is no attack penalty and they add their full strength modifier (instead of half as normal for off hand attacks). In addition the storm trooper can make as many irradiative attacks with their 'off hand' as their 'main hand'.
1. seems a little powerful, full bonus to attack and full strength bonus
2. irradiative attacks?
Rapid Movement (Ex)
Quick movement speed is as important as heavy armour in avoiding danger. Starting at 7th level and higher the storm trooper gains +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.
slightly tanky but usually tanks stay in melee while a healer sits back and heals them, avoiding the need for running away
Combat Leap (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper can do a combat leap as a full round action. The target in question must be at least 30ft away. The storm trooper must then make a running jump check to cover the distance, however they gain a bonus to that check equal to their current movement speed. If they make the check they land in front of the target and get to make an attack at their highest BaB. They also gain a bonus to hit equal to half their level, and a damage bonus equal to quarter that (or half if using a two handed weapon). There is no limit to the number of times an encounter/day this can be used.
so if im running i use what, triple my base speed? so thats usually 90 feet. I get a bonus to my jump=to my current movement speed soo...thats +90 to jump...could be abused with expeditious retreat
Keen Senses (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper adds half their storm trooper level to any spot, search, listen, and sense motive check. In addition if they pass a hidden or invisible object they gain a passive observation check as if they had actively 'taken 10' on a spot, listen and/or search check.
this one doesnt seem very tanky either...or appropriate for a storm trooper :p
Greater Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Focus as a bonus feat.
no change
Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.
no change
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A storm trooper of 11th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies others the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more 'rogue' levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum 'rogue' level required to flank the character.
very very not tanky...
Slippery Mind (Ex)
Starting at 12th level storm troopers gets to roll two d20 instead of one to make a saving throw against a mind effecting attack/spell, and take the highest of the two rolls.
woah...not tanky at all...if you found a way to justify this for fortitude saves it could work though
Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper's Evasion is more powerful. He still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
im going to just stop saying it
Mettle (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper can resist magical attacks more than most others. If you succeed a saving throw against a Fortitude or Will that would normally produce an effect on a successful save (Will half or Fortitude partial) you instead ignore that effect. Mettle does not benefit an unconscious or sleeping storm trooper.
now this i can understand
Greater Rapid Movement (Ex)
The Storm Trooper is even faster in his armour. The storm trooper gains an additional +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.
combined with that jump bonus above...wow
Cushioned fall (Ex)
At 15th level the storm trooper can negate some falling damage. If he makes a Reflex save equal to (10 + 1 per 10 feet up to DC 30 @ 200ft) he only takes halve damage. This only works if he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. In addition Evasion does not apply to this as you usually cannot save for half falling damage.
so at 100 feet the reflex save is 20 to halve the damage? hmmm could get the player out of lots of trouble, and could be abused

Aerial Superiority (Ex)
Starting at the 16th level the storm trooper may attempt to down flying opponents with a Combat Leap. They would preform the leap check as normal, but instead of attacking they make a grapple check with a bonus equal to half their class level. If they succeed they then throw their opponents downward tearing them out of the sky inflicting damage equal to 1d6 per 5 feet fallen (up to 20d6 damage maximum). However, if the opponent is strong enough to lift the storm trooper over their head they can make an opposing strength check to throw the storm trooper off them, interrupting the attack.
this just seems a little odd to me

Supreme Armour Focus (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Focus. The storm trooper gains an additional +2 to AC with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Focus with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all armour focus) instead of one like Greater Armour Focus.
VERY tanky :smallbiggrin:
Supreme Armour Specialization (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Specialization. The storm trooper reduces the armour check penalty by -2, and max Dex bonus by 2 with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Specialization with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all Armour Specializations) instead of one like Greater Armour Specialization, and allows a positive armour check (IE Bonus) if the penalty is reduced past 0.
good no change here
Arcane Resistance (Ex)
At the 19th level the storm trooper is so resilient he emits a slight anti-magical aura around him. Any spell targeting him (or something on him) that allows a save must make a spell penetration check equal to 10+The storm trooper's relevant saving throw.
ooh i like it :) but technically its called a caster level check i think
Fortification (Ex)
At the 20th level the storm trooper gains a 50% chance to negate any critical hit as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. This -stacks- with the Fortification armour enchantment, multiple pieces of armour with armour focus and similar spells (IE if his armour already has 50% Fortification, this increases that to 100% effectively making him immune to critical hits).
great :smallbiggrin:

[/QUOTE]

[Ashtagon]

Where's the ranged attack penalty? :smalltongue:

[Zancloufer]

First some responses to inyuasha:

Form Fitting
does this change if the character is a dwarf or something else already not slowed down by heavy armor?
Never thought of that. Maybe a reduction in armour check penalty if they already have that effective ability?

Bonus Feat
I would suggest just saying you can take a bonus feat from the fighter list + these other feats (and put the name of the feat) this just seems vague
Problem is that the Fighter Bonus feat list is rather, lacking, in some ways. If you poke through non-core books there are quite a few feats that are not "Fighter Bonus Feats" but are even more suited for fighter types. Anyone know some better wording?

Combat Focus
I would suggest granting this at 4th level, since thats when you can get weapon finesse, and it kind of makes sense
Perhaps, but it would weaken their shield damage at the lower levels, and make the class a bit sparse at level 2 but have quite a few abilities at level 4.

@Evasion/Uncanny Dodge in general:

not something very tanky
"Tanking" in D&D is not quite the same as standing there taking damage. Barbarians have Uncanny dodge to start with anyway and iirc so does the Dwarven Defender. Inability to be flanked is something a front line build can use. Also Evasion is sort of a way to help avoid getting blasted to bits. Maybe not something a slow moving Hulk has, but the Storm Trooper is supposed to be somewhat agile as well.

Infallible Resolve (Ex)
this does seem a little powerful for being only 4th level and universally affecting saves, i would suggest a nerf or dropping it, but it is your class do what you want
It's REALLY useful not failing a save on a nat 1. TBH it's not THAT Powerful. with a +4 to saves and max +5 from stats, maybe +1-2 from Gear your looking at most +11-12 to a saving throw. A level 1 Wizard casting a level 1 spell has a minimal DC of 14+. Even if he can't fail because he rolled a one, odd are he needs a 5+ to actually make the save at this point.

Sword and Board Fighting
1. seems a little powerful, full bonus to attack and full strength bonus
2. irradiative attacks?
1) At level 6-7 all classes start getting pretty nasty. Casters and Martial Adepts have level 3-4 powers by this point. Sword+Sheild is one of, or the weakest combat styles in game by this point. Making it possibly better than TWF isn't that bad IMO.
2) Extra Attacks for a High BAB, you know since they have +6/+1 attack at level 6. Think my spell checker conked out at that point.

Rapid Movement (Ex)
slightly tanky but usually tanks stay in melee while a healer sits back and heals them, avoiding the need for running away
In-combat healing in D&D isn't as useful as a MMO. Also, extra movement lets them get closer easier. Most lock-down builds need to be in the middle of the enemies and getting there faster is helpful. Also makes for a good Shock Trooper.

Combat Leap (Ex)
so if im running i use what, triple my base speed? so thats usually 90 feet. I get a bonus to my jump=to my current movement speed soo...thats +90 to jump...could be abused with expeditious retreat
Remember though for Long jumps the distance covered is Jump check /2 and it's divided by 4 for high ones. The distance you can jump will never exceed the distance you can simply sprint/charge.

Keen Senses (Ex)
this one doesnt seem very tanky either...or appropriate for a storm trooper :p
Yeah well, who ever gave Fighters/Warriors 2+Int skill points and no perception skills/bonuses must've wanted really blind city guards. If you want to make a scout/guard out of this class being able to spot trouble is very useful.

Slippery Mind (Ex)
woah...not tanky at all...if you found a way to justify this for fortitude saves it could work though
Save or Sucks, well, SUCK. With Evasion and soon to be Mettle on the table have extra defenses against Will targeting powers are nice. Makes it harder to frighten/shaken these guys to as fear targets Will saves.

Aerial Superiority (Ex)
this just seems a little odd to me
Bit of a mind blank myself on the name. Essentially though by this point half the things you fight like to fly. Therefore a counter to them is essential. If you honestly expect a shield using 'Storm Trooper' to sit on the ground and SHOOT stuff, well. Could use a better name but was designed as a way to tear them flying things outa the sky.



Where's the ranged attack penalty? :smalltongue:

Maybe make them NOT proficient with most ranged weapons (Bows/Crossbows specifically)? Would give them the hammy inability to hit people at range with guns (or the closest thing to them in D&D).

Also, thanks for the replies so far.

[Wargamer]

Here's the TL;DR version: This class is horrendously overpowered, and renders all other direct combat classes utterly obsolete. You need to do a lot of streamlining to make this a well-rounded class (my partner calls it "busy" :P).

Now the long version, discussing why.

First off, you have three Good Save progressions. This is pretty much unheard of. One is the norm, two is exceptional, but three? You need a pretty strong justification for why a class has all three saves that high.

So, let's start there; Fort is acceptable as a good save, but the others really are not.

BAB is fine, though a true "tank" could have average instead as they are more about taking hits than dishing out. Hit dice might be depending on how you execute the rest of the class, but my gut says D8 for the hit dice since you seem to want a lot of showy abilities, especially if you keep Good BAB progression.

Now keep in mind all of my comments work of your original design brief; to create a "tanking" class. As such, I will seek to offer advice on the basis that you want the core focus to be damage control.

One last thing before diving into specifics; you seem to really like having two new abilities per level. Most classes have one per level, and even powerful classes sometimes have "empty" levels, or ones where it's just progressing an existing ability (ie: half the Rogue levels are just "Sneak Attack xD6". So, the first thing I would suggest you do is to literally take half of your abilities out. Moving on...



Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Storm Trooper is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Fine for the class.


Form Fitting
Basic training accustoms the storm trooper to the weight of armour. He suffers no movement speed penalty from heavy armour, or large shields.
I'm sorry, but this strikes me as just far too good as an entry level ability. Its balanced with Dwarfs because their land speed is lower, and so it means they can keep up with armoured creatures of other races. If you want to keep this ability, it needs to come later in the class, and it should be tiered (ie: when it first appears it only applies to medium armour). I'd say 6th / 10th level as a rule of thumb.


Bonus Feat
At first level, and at every fourth level after (4th. 8Th, etc) the storm trooper gains a bonus feat. This can me any martial, general, skill or save feat. The Storm Trooper must still meat the prerequisites for the feat however.
You should not get a bonus feat at first level - that's what Fighters are for. Also, you probably just want to call these "Fighter Bonus Feats" for simplicity. I would also suggest the class gains no other bonus on levels where it gets the bonus feat.


Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Focus as a bonus feat.
Armour Focus as you have worded it is an easily abused feat progression system. Instead of it being a feat, call it "Signature Armour" and force the Storm Trooper to choose a specific type of armour (ie: Full Plate) as his signature armour type. As he levels, he gains bonuses to that armour.

Also, remember that +1 AC is quite a powerful bonus at low levels; you probably shouldn't be throwing that out there as a second level ability. I'd probably start by reducing armour check penalty, with AC boosts coming at higher levels.


Combat Focus
Starting at 2nd level the storm trooper can use his storm trooper level to count as fighter levels for taking fighter specific feats (Ie: Weapon Specialization). Also, any Armour Focus/Specialization feats the storm trooper has for shields count at Weapon Focus/Specialization for that shield in granting additional damage and to hit bonuses.
No. Specialisation is the Fighter exclusive "thing". If you give that to another class, you take away yet more of the Fighter's purpose.

Having Armour Focus etc count as Weapon Focus etc for shields is also horribly overpowered; it's giving you two feats in one!



Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, a storm trooper can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
This is fine IMO because your class is built around using heavy armour, and so this won't really have a big impact until the Mith Fullplate turns up, which will be at much higher levels and so easier to balance.


Improved Shield Bash
At 3rd level the storm trooper gets the benefit of the Improved Shield Bash Feat.Certainly a good choice for the class.


Infallible Resolve (Ex)
Starting at the 4th level, a storm trooper no longer automatically fails a saving throw on a roll of 1. He can still fail the save if he doesn't meet the DC however.
No. Just... no.


Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.

See Armour Focus.


Evasion (Ex)
At 6th level and higher, a storm trooper can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the storm trooper is wearing armor that he has Armour Specialization in, or no armor. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Evasion is really out of character for a tank; it's an ability based on agility and fast reactions, being used by the party equivalent of a walking fortification. Mettle is a more appropriate choice.


Sword and Board Fighting
Starting at 6th level the storm trooper can make shield bashes with their shield and attack with their weapon at the same time. Unlike two weapon fighting there is no attack penalty and they add their full strength modifier (instead of half as normal for off hand attacks). In addition the storm trooper can make as many irradiative attacks with their 'off hand' as their 'main hand'.
This strikes me as seriously overpowered. I would change this to "The Storm Trooper counts as having the Two Weapon Fighting feat as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the pre-requisites of the feat, so long as she is armed with a one-handed melee weapon and using a shield as her off-hand weapon."



Rapid Movement (Ex)
Quick movement speed is as important as heavy armour in avoiding danger. Starting at 7th level and higher the storm trooper gains +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.
Tanks don't move fast. Hell, in some cases tanks don't move period. This ability feels utterly at odds with your end goals to me.


Combat Leap (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper can do a combat leap as a full round action. The target in question must be at least 30ft away. The storm trooper must then make a running jump check to cover the distance, however they gain a bonus to that check equal to their current movement speed. If they make the check they land in front of the target and get to make an attack at their highest BaB. They also gain a bonus to hit equal to half their level, and a damage bonus equal to quarter that (or half if using a two handed weapon). There is no limit to the number of times an encounter/day this can be used.
...what? I'm sorry, but this is a flat out ludicrous ability. Drop this altogether.


Keen Senses (Ex)
Starting at 8th level the storm trooper adds half their storm trooper level to any spot, search, listen, and sense motive check. In addition if they pass a hidden or invisible object they gain a passive observation check as if they had actively 'taken 10' on a spot, listen and/or search check.
Firstly, "Keen Senses" already refers to specific abilities. Second, I don't see how being able to stand in front of sharp objects for a living gives you supernatural awareness...
Some kind of bonus to spot and listen is quite appropriate though. I think just giving half their Stormtrooper levels as a bonus to spot and listen would work nicely.


Greater Armour Focus
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Focus as a bonus feat.

Amour Specialization
The Storm Trooper gains Greater Armour Specialization as a bonus feat.
See Armour Focus.


Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
A storm trooper of 11th level or higher can no longer be flanked.
This defense denies others the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more 'rogue' levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum 'rogue' level required to flank the character.
This is fine.



Slippery Mind (Ex)
Starting at 12th level storm troopers gets to roll two d20 instead of one to make a saving throw against a mind effecting attack/spell, and take the highest of the two rolls.

Again, not seeing how this fits with the character...


Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper's Evasion is more powerful. He still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless storm trooper does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Again, Evasion does not fit.


Mettle (Ex)
At 13th level the storm trooper can resist magical attacks more than most others. If you succeed a saving throw against a Fortitude or Will that would normally produce an effect on a successful save (Will half or Fortitude partial) you instead ignore that effect. Mettle does not benefit an unconscious or sleeping storm trooper.

Should probably get this earlier.


Greater Rapid Movement (Ex)
The Storm Trooper is even faster in his armour. The storm trooper gains an additional +10ft movement speed as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Specialization in, or is un-armoured.
Again, not appropriate to the class.


Cushioned fall (Ex)
At 15th level the storm trooper can negate some falling damage. If he makes a Reflex save equal to (10 + 1 per 10 feet up to DC 30 @ 200ft) he only takes halve damage. This only works if he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. In addition Evasion does not apply to this as you usually cannot save for half falling damage.

Another skill I don't see having any purpose in this class...


Aerial Superiority (Ex)
Starting at the 16th level the storm trooper may attempt to down flying opponents with a Combat Leap. They would preform the leap check as normal, but instead of attacking they make a grapple check with a bonus equal to half their class level. If they succeed they then throw their opponents downward tearing them out of the sky inflicting damage equal to 1d6 per 5 feet fallen (up to 20d6 damage maximum). However, if the opponent is strong enough to lift the storm trooper over their head they can make an opposing strength check to throw the storm trooper off them, interrupting the attack.

An even sillier version of Combat Leap... chop this one as well I think.


Supreme Armour Focus (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Focus. The storm trooper gains an additional +2 to AC with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Focus with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all armour focus) instead of one like Greater Armour Focus.

Supreme Armour Specialization (Ex)
This feat functions much like (Greater) Armour Specialization. The storm trooper reduces the armour check penalty by -2, and max Dex bonus by 2 with any armour he has (Greater) Armour Specialization with. This bonus applies to -multiple- feats (IE all Armour Specializations) instead of one like Greater Armour Specialization, and allows a positive armour check (IE Bonus) if the penalty is reduced past 0.
Again, see Armour Focus.


Arcane Resistance (Ex)
At the 19th level the storm trooper is so resilient he emits a slight anti-magical aura around him. Any spell targeting him (or something on him) that allows a save must make a spell penetration check equal to 10+The storm trooper's relevant saving throw.
... how about Damage Reduction 1/- or 2/- instead?


Fortification (Ex)
At the 20th level the storm trooper gains a 50% chance to negate any critical hit as long as he is wearing armour he has Armour Focus in. This -stacks- with the Fortification armour enchantment, multiple pieces of armour with armour focus and similar spells (IE if his armour already has 50% Fortification, this increases that to 100% effectively making him immune to critical hits).
I actually think this is a pretty cool idea for a 20th level ability, so keep this!


Okay, that's the lot. Not trying to be mean or anything, but this class really did read like "I want to be super-amazingly cool at everything!" rather than trying to make a characterful, defence-orientated build.

Finally, an idea for moving forward:

None of your abilities help party members very much, How about adding abilities that focus on protecting allies (ie: taking some damage on their behalf, or them getting AC bonuses if you are nearby). A big part of being a tank is keeping everyone else alive at the potential expense of your own life. Your Storm Trooper should look into this if it's going to be all about tanking.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

*STUFF*

Some of this is valid. Wargamer's balance sense, however, is (I feel) severely of.

The thing I will agree with is that the class seems a bit busy. I'd really like to hear what your design goal was, so we can focus the class in that specific direction. For the moment, however, I'll assume that the abilities fit the role you're going for, and discuss them as that.

Form Fitting
Cool. Although I find it odd that he still suffers a movement penalty in Medium armor. Any particular reason for this?

Unlike Wargame, I think this is a perfectly fine ability, even for very low levels. Martial melee classes often need the speed edge to make movement worth it in combat, so I see no real issue with this, especially as you don't have this increase the Dex bonus or reduce the penalty. This is fine.

Bonus Feat
Hm. I see the criticism here. Level 1 in this class is now automatically better than Fighter 1 (better saves, skills, and level 1 perks). I'd rather see the feats dropped (they make poor class features anyway) and have something else given in return.

Armor Focus
Alright. We're looking at a tank class here. Might prove very hard to hit at lower levels, but I'm not overly concerned.

Combat Focus See what I mentioned above about feats. I like the extra bonus here though: that's a fairly nice way of making shield bashing not a huge drain on feats.

Uncanny Dodge
This, Evasion, and Improved Evasion seem very odd for a heavy-armor wearing class. I'd recommend thinking of some other abilities, as these just seem out of place.

Infallible Resolve
With three good saves (why does it get all three good saves?), this is potentially a bit strong. Still, I'm not hugely concerned about it, unless the class naturally gets large save-boosters.

I might also limit it to Fortitude and Will saves, as resolve doesn't make sense for Reflex saves. :smalltongue:

Sword and Board Fighting
Cool. Competitive damage, which might be enough to make non-optimized shield fighting decent. Question for this though: on a standard action attack, do you also get a shield bash? Might want to specify.

Rapid Movement
Interesting choice given a heavy armor wearing tank class. What was the reasoning? You get good full-attack options with Sword and Board Fighting, but movement increases detract from your ability to full attack. It's the monk issue again.

Combat Leap
I'd say to just give them Pounce and call it a day. One attack with a bonus to attacks and damage is...meh. Mediocre. Either that, or give no bonus to attack and damage and let them make a full attack when they land.

Keen Senses
...this is very oddly out of place.

Slippery Mind / Mettle
This with Improved Evasion, Infallible Resolve, and all good saves is pushing saves a bit, I think. If you want save defenses, I'd rather see some more interesting active defenses than this much passive stuff.

Cushioned Fall
To little to late. By this level you've got the HP to just absorb falling damage, honestly. By 15th level you could probably justify removing fall damage altogether without it even approaching overpowered.

Aerial Superiority
This is another ability that sort of comes out of nowhere (I still have no idea why this guy is so good at jumping). That said, it's a nice ability, but it probably comes on to late to be particularly useful. The mechanics could also be simplified a bit.

Arcane Resistance
Don't make this saving-throw based: that's really easy to buff past Caster Level values. Make it level based, like all Spell Resistance is. Something like 11+level, although you could probably give this in 5/7/9/11+level increments starting earlier in the class.

Fortification
This is a rather weak capstone. Outright immunity to crits would make a better capstone, although I don't like blanket immunities. This would, in a revision I made, probably be a 10th level ability at most.


OVERALL THOUGHTS
This class is a little disjointed, and I'm not sure you quite know what you want to do with it. Is it a stationary full-attacking tank, a highly mobile battlefield controller, or what? You need a little more focus, so you can tighten up the abilities, which are a little bit to divergent in many places.

The class is probably mid Tier 4. It doesn't have the options required to go to Tier 3, and it is a bit non-synergistic in...well...a lot of areas. Not an especially strong class, all things considered.

[Zancloufer]

Alright the Storm Trooper being a base class that was to be a front line martial character as close to Tier 3 as possible. I can see it being a bit disjointed as perhaps it tries to do too many things at the same time.

It essentially has to or at least be possibly built as some sort of 'tank', 'shock trooper' and/or 'guard'.

Perhaps adding some more abilities and shoring up others, but spacing them out with mutual exclusive choices? Possibly even (and probably in addition to) as list of special abilities like the Core Rouge? As in ever 2-3 levels get a choice from either two power feats/features that would build it in different directions and/or a list of special abilities?

Question is which current abilities on their own could use a fix/buff and which ones can stay on the core class? Was thinking it should keep it's "Armour Focus" or make it some sort of Signature armour ability like was mentioned earlier.

Also those who think it's a bit OP: If this class doesn't outshine the core fighter something is wrong. Most Pure martial classes outside of Tome of Battle (Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade) are extremely under powered. I was aiming to have it replace the Fighter outright in some cases without getting too close to a Warblade or Crusader.

[PEACH]

Wargamer, I have to say, I find it hard to believe anybody would every consider +1 AC to be huge (even at low levels), DR 1/- to be a relevant 19th level ability, or an attack that's only slightly better than a vanilla charge to be overpowered. Hell, at faster movement speeds, charge has greater range, no minimum range, and the obvious feat support, so there's no real problem with it. Given your suggestions, you'd strip the class of most everything but a minor amount of fighter bonus feats, uncanny dodge, mettle, and fortification, which would honestly be weaker than a fighter.

I will say that this class probably makes Fighters obsolete to a good extent, but fighters are T5 while this is intended to be T3, so that's not a bad thing, especially since it could just be a fighter replacement in the campaign. Overall, I'd say that it's a pretty good generic melee class, but it lacks (much) mobility against flying and has almost no utility, so I'd consider it somewhere in T4 land, and maybe a bit boring as a player.

EDIT: Also, I agree with Djinn in that the spell resistance should not be based on saving throws. Essentially, at that point, in order to get hit with a saving throw, SR yes required spell, the opponent has to beat a take 10'd save with a caster level check, you have to fail your saving throw twice, and you're still not taking the full effect of the spell in a lot of cases. It's rapidly approaching the uncanny-valley of D&D balance where you've got abilities, defensive or offensive, that are really strong for the tier you are in, but in no way help you advance in tiers, and just leads to a stronger likelihood things don't play well in a real game.

[Obiwanjablome]

In my mind a tank is someone who keeps the party safe by attracting the enemy's attention and forces them to attack him instead of them. This class doesn't have anything like that. Crusader in my mind is the closest thing to a tank that D&D has, without building an optimized AoO fighter with an anime like reach. Knight tried but fails without having an overpowered Charisma score, which would serve any other class better than Knight.

If i were you, I would focus on giving it abilities like threatened spaces being difficult terrain, similar to the Knight and things like Thicket of Blades. While neither of these abilities stop an enemy from getting around you, they make it a lot harder.

[Wargamer]

Wargamer, I have to say, I find it hard to believe anybody would every consider +1 AC to be huge (even at low levels), DR 1/- to be a relevant 19th level ability, or an attack that's only slightly better than a vanilla charge to be overpowered. Hell, at faster movement speeds, charge has greater range, no minimum range, and the obvious feat support, so there's no real problem with it. Given your suggestions, you'd strip the class of most everything but a minor amount of fighter bonus feats, uncanny dodge, mettle, and fortification, which would honestly be weaker than a fighter.
Not all of us believe D&D is about trying to produce the most obscenely overpowered build possible, using every possible splatbook to munchkin one's build.

Compared to the Fighter, which is a CORE class, this class is vastly superior in every way. In terms of raw combat potential, I'd argue this class beats out the Ranger and Barbarian, especially if you play as Human and take the right Feats.

My suggestions were based on a very reliable rule of homebrew; nobody complains about underpowered house rules. Better to make it too weak and power it up than make it overpowered and have to compromise.

On the DR front, the Barbarian gets DR earlier, but they are a class limited in terms of available armour. The Storm Trooper is a tank; someone who is meant to be packing epic AC from the get-go. Throwing DR on top of a character who is supposedly hard to hit in the first place is less balanced; DR is inherently more valuable to a class that has other means of avoiding or negating damage.

So yes, I do not buy the notion that "Balanced" means "should be able to pump out the same DPS as a 20th level optimised Wizard." Balanced means that it should be as useful as the nearest equivalent official classes. That means the Fighter.

[FlamingKobold]

Not all of us believe D&D is about trying to produce the most obscenely overpowered build possible, using every possible splatbook to munchkin one's build.

Compared to the Fighter, which is a CORE class, this class is vastly superior in every way. In terms of raw combat potential, I'd argue this class beats out the Ranger and Barbarian, especially if you play as Human and take the right Feats.

My suggestions were based on a very reliable rule of homebrew; nobody complains about underpowered house rules. Better to make it too weak and power it up than make it overpowered and have to compromise.

I don't think that's really what he was saying at all. Your argument is that it's stronger than a series of tier 4 and 5 classes, which is perfectly okay if Zancloufer is shooting for tier 3. Plus it's unlikely that this character would break any games as is.

On topic: I like what you're going for with the class, but you have a lot of class features that don't seem to synergize well at all, both mechanically and fluff-wise. If you're trying to move away from the fighter problems but allow it to keep the flexibility of being able to focus in a wide range of areas, I think your idea of having special abilities gained frequently might be a good idea. This depends, of course, on how powerful said abilities are; they should (imo) give the character more options and abilities to be useful both in and out of combat, while giving a much larger power increase than the average feat.

[PEACH]

Not all of us believe D&D is about trying to produce the most obscenely overpowered build possible, using every possible splatbook to munchkin one's build.

Completely random statement, but I'll humor you. If you don't care about building optimized characters, why do you care about whether or not homebrew is balanced?


Compared to the Fighter, which is a CORE class, this class is vastly superior in every way. In terms of raw combat potential, I'd argue this class beats out the Ranger and Barbarian, especially if you play as Human and take the right Feats.

Your mistake here is thinking that core is balanced to begin with! Sure, this class is probably better than a fighter almost outright, but fighters suck even in comparison to most core classes, and this class was designed, as the OP said, to be T3, which is supposed to be stronger than a fighter. It would be comically missing the design intent to make a class that is significantly worse than the fighter.


My suggestions were based on a very reliable rule of homebrew; nobody complains about underpowered house rules. Better to make it too weak and power it up than make it overpowered and have to compromise.

That isn't a tenant of homebrew at all. In all my time judging homebrew here and elsewhere, that has never been the prevailing design philosophy. If you're aiming to hit T3 in balance, the correct thing to do is not to design to be sub T5 and then ratchet it up; it's to aim at T3 and then change things either way. Intentionally making a class unbalanced one way or another just ensures it won't see play.


On the DR front, the Barbarian gets DR earlier, but they are a class limited in terms of available armour. The Storm Trooper is a tank; someone who is meant to be packing epic AC from the get-go. Throwing DR on top of a character who is supposedly hard to hit in the first place is less balanced; DR is inherently more valuable to a class that has other means of avoiding or negating damage.

Barbarians DR is absolutely irrelevant and you could remove it from them without appreciably harming anybody who takes the class. So having weaker DR than "irrelevant" isn't great. Not only that, but tanking in D&D doesn't work how you think it does, mostly in that tanking in D&D simply doesn't exist. This guy is supposed to be a frontline fighter who can take hits (which does exist in D&D), but the "tank" style character with a ton of HP, armor, and no threatening abilities doesn't work.


So yes, I do not buy the notion that "Balanced" means "should be able to pump out the same DPS as a 20th level optimised Wizard." Balanced means that it should be as useful as the nearest equivalent official classes. That means the Fighter.

I disagree on the latter and agree on the former, but since nobody was arguing for the former to begin with, it's a bit of a hollow endorsement.

Classes should be balanced towards where you want them to be balanced, and while I assume that most martial characters are shooting for T4 or T3, and most casters are shooting for T3 or T2, if the design explicitly says what it's aiming for, they should be balanced around that. You don't balance around something that isn't your design intent.

[Zancloufer]

A comment on being "OP" compared to the fighter: Read my four points at the end there. I said I was aiming for Tier 3 if possible and didn't mind if I made the Fighter Obsolete. I'm working on some small fixes for the Paladin/Ranger aside this, but the Core Fighter is kinda unsalvagable without rewriting it completely. Just seems kinda silly to tell someone to play a Martial Adept if they want a good mundane front line so I starting designing this class.

Alright, a small update to the progression of Special Abilities:

Table: The Storm Trooper
{table=head] Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Form Fitting,
2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Armour Focus,
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Bonus Feat, Improved Shield Bash
4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Infallible Resolve
5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Armour Specialization
6 | 6\1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Sword and Board Fighting
7 | 7\2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Bonus Feat
8 | 8\3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Greater Armour Focus
9 | 9\4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Greater Armour Specialization
10 | 10\5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Special Ability
11 | 11\6\1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Bonus Feat
12 | 12\7\2 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
13 | 13\8\3 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Bonus Feat
14 | 14\9\4 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Special Ability
15 | 15\10\5 | 9 |9 | 9 | Supreme Armour Focus
16 | 16\11\6\1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Supreme Armour Specialization
17 | 17\12\7\2 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Bonus Feat
18 | 18\13\8\3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Special Ability
19 | 19\14\9\4 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
20 | 20\15\10\5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Special Ability, Bonus Feat
[/table]

Essentially "Bonus Feat" would be choosing between two or three different feats/existing special abilities but not too powerful of ones. Something like a choice between pounce and uncanny dodge or something.

Special abilities would be kinda like the Rouge's: There's a list a bit longer than you can choose from (IE you can't have ALL of them, but would be able to take at least half). I would add things like the untyped 50% stacking Fortification and SR 11+Character level/HD there.

Now I would like the class powers to keep to two Archetypes : A Front line "Tank" something that doesn't go down easily, or a "Shock Trooper" something that can get in your face and has some decent CC or the like.

Any suggestions which previous powers to keep and some new ones (or new concepts) to add in? Also does this seem better than before? Less cluttered but it does have two oddly placed dead levels

[Wargamer]

Well, the Fighter was perhaps not the best example to use, and I admit it is the weakest class by far, but I disagree it is a complete write-off. In my opinion, it just needs minor tweaking.

Anyway, it seems you want to achieve two conflicting goals with your class; to be the party's punching bag, and to be a lightning blitzer (which is how I would interpret "Shock Trooper"; a character who relies on surprise and/or alpha strike, not prolonged fighting). Honestly, I don't know how well you can cover that in a single class given that they are pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum.

However, some key points:

Tanks win via attrition - they outlast you in a long term conflict. They don't win quickly, but they don't have to.
STs, to my mind, win via alpha strike (ie: the first attack). Rogues are a prime example of an official Alpha Striker; they are all about their turn-1 Sneak Attack, but once that has popped they don't have much to offer in pure combat compared to, say, a Fighter.

Tanks are not generally good at dealing damage comparable to their closest equivalent. Again, a Tank should not be able to keep up with a Fighter / Barbarian / Direct Damage Class in output, but they don't need to because their speciality is taking hits, not dishing them out.
A Shock Trooper wants to win before the enemy knows they're under attack. That means a lot of up front damage, but it also means misdirection, surprise, catching enemies flat-footed, etc. They probably don't have much in the way of taking hits, and they possibly even suffer in a straight up fight compared to their 'normal' equivalents.

Finally, the party. Tanks are welcome in any party, but most of all in one where nobody else wants to be up front. Tanks work best when they have a healer on standby, and some supporting fire from rear ranks. Their goal in the party is to get everyone focused on them so everyone else can work unhindered.
Shock Troopers, by contrast, don't work well with others. A character that relies exclusively on stealth, speed and surprise is hindered by people who do not share this MO. This means that in overall tactics, a Shock Trooper is going to fill the "Rogue" niche rather than the "Fighter" niche. In other words, they don't fight head on - they lurk around the edge of a fight and spring on people unawares. With that in mind, a Shock Trooper should arguably deal more damage hit for hit than a Rogue, but at a cost of having little to none of the Rogue's out of combat functionality.

[Xulin]

Eeeh, I would agree with most of the comments of the people here in the sense that, it seems like you simply stacked all of the defensive abilities you could onto a single class; I guess my real problem with it is that the way you make it tank against other defense doesn't really make much sense, with these abilities from all over the place. The class is very turtley, but I don't see the way he's actually contributing from combat aside from not going down. Also, the jumping abilites and "keen senses" feel really out of place with the class - they don't have much synergy with the other features.

Classes are basically 3 parts: theme, role, and mechanics.

For a theme, let's get an image in mind to think of how we'd want this guy to move about. I will use the FE Black Knight as an example, since he is a heavily armored fighter who moves around in armor and actually dodges attacks like nobodies business. He is very much a guy who can move around and fight in very heavy armor, but he doesn't do flips or dodge out of the way and he doesn't jump around. In fact he's not even especially fast, just quick - he can dodge blows that are coming at him, and attacks he can dodge he takes to the armor. Now, that may not be what you're going for, but the most important thing about the theme is to BE CONSISTANT. Whatever you choose to go with, make sure your choices don't counter that.

For the role, clearly you want this guy to be a front line tank, but how's he gonna do it? Obviously he can take the hits, but so can most heavy armor full BAB guys, so how are you going to single yourself out from there? Well let's look at what we have; knights are taunty, and they also slow people down around them so they taunt and stick. Crusaders tank through a combination of powerful strikes, a delayed damage mechanic and self healing - they are the persistant threat that must be dealt with. Paladins are kinda wonky, but they have several class features (turning attempts, spells, the mount) that they can build themselves around to defend the party. Now we have this guy, Mr. Heavy armor guy, what's his shtick? How's he gonna tank? You should decide on HOW your guy will tank. For example, with Mr. black knight, I might decide to make him mobile in armor (with his movement in armor abilities) and let him bull rush/trip multiple mans if they were all adjacent to him when he did the ability - in that case, he would be a high mobility/melee area control type of unit.

Now where we start is giving him a mechanic to build his abilities around - your choice is armor, so we'll work with that. This is just sort of an example of what you might try doing with him:
You seem to be giving him bonus feats to slightly up his ac as he levels - rather than doing that, try giving him a flat, level scaling bonus to ac (we'll say up to +5 at 20th level), as long he's not flat-footed, the idea being that he's moving to take the hits on the armoryier parts; that's simpler to understand and would be a bit on the unique side. Or conversely, give him a monk-style wis bonus to ac in heavy armor - that might feel weird but it would synergize well with the "I'm not fast, I'm just moving barely enough to get out of the way"
Now we have him with an unusually high armor AC, we should think of ways to keep his armor relevant with other abilities while not going overboard. For instance, we could use the above AC bonus per level ability and apply that to attacks of opportunity for enemies getting up next to him, or as a bonus to resist bull rushes and trips. At higher levels, you might give him an elemental resistance equal to his ac from his heavy armor, or add his heavy armor bonus to his bull rush/overrun/trip attempts. In this way you make the armor a relevant part of the class, and make it drive his abilities, rather than just having a bunch of miscelleneous abilities that you can use IN armor.
The movement speed in armor is fine, but I'd ditch the other roguey abilities like evasion and slippery mind. Maybe keep uncanny dodge, and possibly possibly mettle, although I think dealing with will saves and the like would still be better served with a unique mechanic stemming from your armor.

This is just sort of general advice because I don't want to build your class for you - I think you know what you want to do; you just need to streamline it a bit more and give it more focus. I will say that having a tier 3 with fixed abilities is a bit hard to do; the tier 3 classes tend to have spellcasting or some equivalent (like manuvers), so you might want to aim for more of a tier 4 unless you want to give it some form of spellcasting.

Just remember, consistancy is the most important thing. Having a lot of abilities is fine, as long as they synergize with each other.

[PEACH]

Well, the Fighter was perhaps not the best example to use, and I admit it is the weakest class by far, but I disagree it is a complete write-off. In my opinion, it just needs minor tweaking.

Anyway, it seems you want to achieve two conflicting goals with your class; to be the party's punching bag, and to be a lightning blitzer (which is how I would interpret "Shock Trooper"; a character who relies on surprise and/or alpha strike, not prolonged fighting). Honestly, I don't know how well you can cover that in a single class given that they are pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum.

However, some key points:

Tanks win via attrition - they outlast you in a long term conflict. They don't win quickly, but they don't have to.
STs, to my mind, win via alpha strike (ie: the first attack). Rogues are a prime example of an official Alpha Striker; they are all about their turn-1 Sneak Attack, but once that has popped they don't have much to offer in pure combat compared to, say, a Fighter.

Tanks are not generally good at dealing damage comparable to their closest equivalent. Again, a Tank should not be able to keep up with a Fighter / Barbarian / Direct Damage Class in output, but they don't need to because their speciality is taking hits, not dishing them out.
A Shock Trooper wants to win before the enemy knows they're under attack. That means a lot of up front damage, but it also means misdirection, surprise, catching enemies flat-footed, etc. They probably don't have much in the way of taking hits, and they possibly even suffer in a straight up fight compared to their 'normal' equivalents.

Finally, the party. Tanks are welcome in any party, but most of all in one where nobody else wants to be up front. Tanks work best when they have a healer on standby, and some supporting fire from rear ranks. Their goal in the party is to get everyone focused on them so everyone else can work unhindered.
Shock Troopers, by contrast, don't work well with others. A character that relies exclusively on stealth, speed and surprise is hindered by people who do not share this MO. This means that in overall tactics, a Shock Trooper is going to fill the "Rogue" niche rather than the "Fighter" niche. In other words, they don't fight head on - they lurk around the edge of a fight and spring on people unawares. With that in mind, a Shock Trooper should arguably deal more damage hit for hit than a Rogue, but at a cost of having little to none of the Rogue's out of combat functionality.

It's storm trooper, not shock trooper. That may be coloring your expectations a bit. Regardless, basically nothing you've said about tanks makes any sense whatsoever in a D&D setting. There's no reason a tanky character is particularly better in a party of backline characters than in a party of all frontliners, since targeting in D&D is incredibly easy and there's no real way to force people to target one dude.

So if your expectations for the class are really colored entirely by a misreading of the class title and a misunderstanding of the way D&D combat actually winds up working (i.e. that tankiness and being on the front line are not assets that actually ensure squishier backline party members don't get hit), I can't really see your criticisms as relevant.

[Just to Browse]

PEACH, you are very aggressive.

This class doesn't appear to do it's job very well. It's full of defensive abilities, and moves fast, but it doesn't give enemies any real reason to target it. Enemies will see the super-dodging ball of speeding metal and say "oh hey I'm not going to shoot at that."

Tanks need to get in the way of enemy abilities, incentivize enemies to attack them, or force enemies to attack them. This class is just tough, not tanky.

[PEACH]

PEACH, you are very aggressive.

I have not defended this class in general, but against the specific criticisms of "it's more powerful than a class it was designed to be more powerful than" and "it doesn't fit into a role that doesn't exist in D&D and that it was never intended to be," yes, I don't see any reason to respond to those with anything besides reasons why they are incorrect.

The class is loaded with defensive abilities without much offense, and I haven't specifically addressed this, but when the primary criticism given to the class is that the few offensive abilities it has are overpowered and that +1 AC is a huge boost, I can disagree with those on an individual level.

[Just to Browse]

I have not defended this class in general, but against the specific criticisms of "it's more powerful than a class it was designed to be more powerful than" and "it doesn't fit into a role that doesn't exist in D&D and that it was never intended to be," yes, I don't see any reason to respond to those with anything besides reasons why they are incorrect.

The class is loaded with defensive abilities without much offense, and I haven't specifically addressed this, but when the primary criticism given to the class is that the few offensive abilities it has are overpowered and that +1 AC is a huge boost, I can disagree with those on an individual level.

Your argument against the criticism is certainly valid, but that wasn't my point.

[Zancloufer]

Okay first : Thanks so far for the Constructive Criticism. Making a decent mundane is a bit harder than I though. Anyway an incomplete, but I think more focus and less clutter class:

Table: The Storm Trooper
{table=head] Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Form Fitting,
2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Armour Focus +1
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Bonus Feat, Improved Shield Bash
4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Infallible Resolve
5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Armour Specialization +1
6 | 6\1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Sword and Board Fighting
7 | 7\2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Bonus Feat
8 | 8\3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Greater Armour Focus +3
9 | 9\4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Special Ability
10 | 10\5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Greater Armour Specialization +3
11 | 11\6\1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Bonus Feat
12 | 12\7\2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Special Ability
13 | 13\8\3 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Supreme Armour Focus +6
14 | 14\9\4 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Bonus Feat
15 | 15\10\5 | 9 |9 | 9 | Special Ability
16 | 16\11\6\1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Supreme Armour Specialization +6
17 | 17\12\7\2 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Bonus Feat
18 | 18\13\8\3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Special Ability, Armour Focus +9
19 | 19\14\9\4 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Armour Specialization +9
20 | 20\15\10\5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Special Ability, Bonus Feat
[/table]

Now in Spoilers (For Length) revamped Abilities (kinda):
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Strom Trooper is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Form Fitting
Basic training accustoms the storm trooper to the weight of armour. He chooses a sub-Type of armour (Light Medium or Heavy) or Shield (Normal or Tower). When wearing that Armour, or using that type of shield he gains +10ft to his movement speed.

Armour Focus
At 2nd level the Storm Trooper Gains +1 to his AC when wearing/using his chosen armour/shield type. This increases to +3 at level 8, +6 at level 13 and +9 at level 18.

Bonus Feat
At 3rd level the Storm Trooper can choose to learn a Bonus Feat from the list of Storm Trooper Feats. While the Storm Trooper must meet any level requirements (if applicable), all other requirements are considered null. They gain additional feats from this list as indicated on Table 1 : The Storm Trooper.
Storm Trooper Bonus Feats: (Tempted to just say Fighter Feats + These but IDK)
Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, (Improved) Die Hard, Endurance, Evasion, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Feign, Improved Grapple, Improved Knockdown, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Improved Trip, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness, Uncanny Dodge, Whirlwind Attack

Improved Shield Bash
At 3rd level the storm trooper gets the benefit of the Improved Shield Bash Feat.

Infallible Resolve (Ex)
Starting at the 4th level, a storm trooper no longer automatically fails a saving throw on a roll of 1. He can still fail the save if he doesn't meet the DC however.

Armour Specialization
At 5th level the Storm Trooper reduces his Armour Check Penalty and increases his Max Dex bonus by -1/+1 with his chosen armour/shield. This improves to -3/+3 at 10th level, -6/+6 at level 16 and -9/+9 by 19th level. However this can not improved the armour check penalty above 0.

Sword and Board Fighting
Starting at 6th level the storm trooper can make shield bashes with their shield and attack with their weapon at the same time. Unlike two weapon fighting there is no attack penalty and they add their full strength modifier (instead of half as normal for off hand attacks). In addition the storm trooper can make as many irradiative attacks with their 'off hand' as their 'main hand'.


Special Ability
Starting at 9th level, and again at every level indicated on Table 1. These Special Abilities include:
Spell Resistance
The Storm Trooper Gains a Spell Resistance equal to 11+Character level.
Fortification
The Storm Trooper Gains a +50% untyped resistance to Criticals, Sneak Attacks and Precision damage. If the Storm Trooper has similar resistances from other sources it stacks with the 50%.
Frighting Taunt
The Storm Trooper can make an intimidate check with an untyped bonus equal to half his level, against any foe he can see. If he succeeds this check he can goad the enemy into attacking him. If the enemy is incapable of attacking him they are frighten instead. This abilities lasts 1 round per 4 Storm Trooper levels.
Mettle
The Storm Trooper can resist magical attacks more than most others. If you succeed a saving throw against a Fortitude or Will that would normally produce an effect on a successful save (Will half or Fortitude partial) you instead ignore that effect. Mettle does not benefit an unconscious or sleeping storm trooper.
Rapid Movement
The Storm Trooper's base land speed increases by +20ft. This stacks and is multiplied by other speed increases skills or magic.
Battlefield Control
The Storm Trooper locks down his area. Defensive casting and 5ft steps now provoke an Attack of Opportunity if they are within the Storm Trooper's Reach. In addition the DC for a successful Tumble through the Storm Trooper's reach is increased by his level.

Supreme Armour Focus (Ex)
At level 13 the Storm Trooper gains a bonus to the shield he is wielding or armour he is wearing (depending on if he took Shield or Armour for Form Fitting at level 1) three points lower than his current armour focus (+6>+3, +9>+6 etc).

Supreme Armour Specialization (Ex)
This Ability functions just like Supreme Armour Focus except it reduces the Armour Check Penalty and increases the max Dexterity bonus of the alternate piece of gear. In addition the Armour Check penalty can become a positive number now, making it possible to be more agile in armour.

The Special Abilities and Bonus Feats are a bit incomplete still. Likes/Dislikes suggestions for new ones? Only had a quick glance at the SRD feats, haven't looked through all my Splay books. If you have a Feat suggestion outside of the SRD you mind mentioning the book?

So - still aiming for mostly a tank, but not a lumbering one. Pretty much a character who survives taking all the heat, but more so via skill, will power and speed than being a giant punching bag.

[Just to Browse]

Your only true tanking abilities are the taunt and battlefield control. Taunt doesn't define what an "attack" is and what "incapable" means, but is otherwise useful (and pretty much identical to the PHBII Knight). Battlefield Control is Thicket of Blades + Mage Slayer, which is useful (and honestly should exist in more classes, I salute you) but feels very passive and not that interesting.

I recommend handing out actual defensive benefits (fortification, SR, Mettle, Evasion, etc.) without giving players a choice, but giving them their choice of tanking abilities (Thicket of Blades, AoE debuffs, bonus damage if not struck, aggro marks, taunts, etc.). That will stop players from picking so many aggro-drawing abilities that they become flimsy, but will also require them to have moves that work with their strategy in combat.

EDIT: Important! The tanking abilities need to start at low levels! I shouldn't start tanking when I've hit level 9 in my class progression. I want that at level 1, or at level 3 at the latest.

[Xulin]

Ok, let's look at your rewrite.

Your armor focus ability scales a little too high. I wouldn't make it better than a +6, honestly. Also, the scaling jumps a lot with lot's of gap in between, maybe increase it by 1 point but more often? (2nd, 5th, 9th, 12th, 16th, 19th)

Infallable resolve is fine, I suppose, but you get it a little early - at those levels your saves won't be so high that you'll actually benefit from it. On the topic of saves, you really should only be upping fort. Ref especially doesn't make much sense to have on this character.

Sword and Board fighting is a bit much. Give them agile shield fighter at that level, and maybe later give them a "snap kick" like ability with their shield if you want to keep it active. I don't see much justification for giving it penaltyless full TWF, with full iteratives - even the Ranger doesn't get that.

Let's go though your Special Abilities:

Spell resistance - make it 10 + class level, you should be rewarded for staying with the class, not leaving it. Otherwise fine.

Fortification - Should not stack, but 50% is probably fine at lv 9.

Frighting Taunt - This ability is basically goad, but based on your Intimidate. I would flesh out the description a bit more on how it works, and it probably shouldn't frighten them if they can't attack you. I'd say they get frustrated and take a -2 penalty to attacks and ac when they can't attack you.

Mettle - This ability is fine

Rapid Movement - You should only gain +10 speed per iteration, not +20

Battlefield Control - This ability is thicket of blades + mage slayer + anti tumble. It steps on a bit too many toes for my liking, since you can basically get this from the Knight or Crusader. I might try picking another mechanism for controlling the battlefield, one that would be unique to this class.

Armor Focus, Armor Specialization, Supreme Armor Focus, Supreme Armor Specialization - All 4 of these abilities are too much of the same thing. Pick one ability which enhances armor by level, but having all of these is redundant.

It seems you're still lacking the primary focus for this person. If you're looking for suggestings of abilities, here's a couple:

Heavy Armor Blitz - You use the weight of your armor when forcing your enemies around the battlefield. When making a bull rush/overrun attempt, you may add the bonus from your armor focus ability as a competence bonus to your opposed strength check.

Roaring Slam - When surrounded you lash out in all directions and fling your enemies away. As a full round action, you may make a bull rush attempt against all adjacent enemies. You make one roll, and each enemy must make a roll to oppose it to see if they get knocked back, but they get a +1 bonus to their opposed strength check for every addtional enemy affected after the first. You cannot choose to follow your enemies and may only push them back 5 feet away from you.

Heavy Shield Slam - You take advantage of openings by countering your opponents with your large shield. When you successfully attack with a shield bash as an attack of opportunity, you may make a trip attempt as a free action; this attempt does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and your opponent does not get a free trip attempt against you if it fails. You may not follow this trip attempt with an additional attack (such as with improved trip).

[Zancloufer]

Bit of a bump with some updates to the class

Table: The Storm Trooper
{table=head] Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Form Fitting,
2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Armour Focus
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Bonus Feat, Improved Shield Bash
4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Infallible Resolve
5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Armour Specialization
6 | 6\1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Sword and Board Fighting
7 | 7\2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Bonus Feat
8 | 8\3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Armoured Assault
9 | 9\4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Special Ability
10 | 10\5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | I'm Here for You
11 | 11\6\1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Bonus Feat
12 | 12\7\2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Special Ability
13 | 13\8\3 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Supreme Armour Focus
14 | 14\9\4 | 9 | 9 | 9 | Bonus Feat
15 | 15\10\5 | 9 |9 | 9 | Special Ability
16 | 16\11\6\1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Supreme Armour Specialization
17 | 17\12\7\2 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Bonus Feat
18 | 18\13\8\3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | Special Ability
19 | 19\14\9\4 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
20 | 20\15\10\5 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Special Ability, Bonus Feat
[/table]

Now in Spoilers (For Length) revamped Abilities (kinda):
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Strom Trooper is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Form Fitting
Basic training accustoms the storm trooper to the weight of armour. He chooses a sub-Type of armour (Light Medium or Heavy) or Shield (Normal or Tower). When wearing that Armour, or using that type of shield he gains +10ft to his movement speed.

Armour Focus
At 2nd level the Storm Trooper Gains +1 to his AC when wearing/using his chosen armour/shield type. This increases by +1 every 3 levels up to +7 at level 20.

Bonus Feat
At 3rd level the Storm Trooper can choose to learn a Bonus Feat from the list of Storm Trooper Feats. If both the normal and Improved version are listen he must take the normal one first, however all other requirements are waived. In addition if the Storm Trooper gains a feat via level (Ie: Typically every 3rd level) as long as he leveled up as a Storm Trooper he may choose the feat as if it was from his Bonus Feat class feature. They gain additional feats from this list as indicated on Table 1 : The Storm Trooper.
Storm Trooper Bonus Feats:
Accidents Happen*, Armour Skin, Combat Expertise, Damage Reduction, (Improved) Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, (Improved) Die Hard, Endurance, Exceptional Deflection**, Fast Healing, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Feign, Improved Grapple, Improved Knockdown, Improved Overrun, Improved Spell Resistance, Improved Sunder, Improved Trip, Iron Will, Infinite Deflection**, Interference*, Lightning Reflexes, Reflect Arrows**, Stand Still*, Toughness, Weapon Finesse, (Improved) Weapon Focus, (Improved) Weapon Specialization, Whirlwind Attack.
Feats marked with an (*) are explained after the class features.
**These feats still require the Deflect Arrows Feat as they are merely upgrades to it.

Improved Shield Bash
At 3rd level the storm trooper gets the benefit of the Improved Shield Bash Feat.

Infallible Resolve (Ex)
Starting at the 4th level, a storm trooper no longer automatically fails a saving throw on a roll of 1. He can still fail the save if he doesn't meet the DC however.

Armour Specialization
At 5th level the Storm Trooper reduces his Armour Check Penalty and increases his Max Dex bonus by -1/+1 with his chosen armour/shield. This improves by -1/+1 every 3 levels up to -5/+5 by 20th level. However this can not improved the armour check penalty above 0.

Sword and Board Fighting
Starting at 6th level the storm trooper can make shield bashes with their shield and attack with their weapon at the same time. Unlike two weapon fighting there is no attack penalty and they add their full strength modifier (instead of half as normal for off hand attacks). In addition the storm trooper can make as many irradiative attacks with their 'off hand' as their 'main hand'.

Armoured Assault (Ex)
When attacking with his shield, or with an armour spike the Storm Trooper gains benefits from his Armour Focus/Specialization. For every +1 to AC with the armour/shield he gains +1 to hit, and for ever -1/+1 for Check Penalty/Max Dex he gains +2 to any opposed combat maneuver(Trip, Bull Rush, Grapple etc).


Special Ability
Starting at 9th level, and again at every level indicated on Table 1. These Special Abilities include:
Spell Resistance
The Storm Trooper Gains a Spell Resistance equal to 11+Character level.
Fortification
The Storm Trooper Gains a +50% untyped resistance to Criticals, Sneak Attacks and Precision damage. If the Storm Trooper has similar resistances from other sources it stacks with the 50%.
Frighting Taunt
The Storm Trooper can make an intimidate check with an untyped bonus equal to half his level, against any foe he can see. If he succeeds this check he can goad the enemy into attacking him. If the enemy is incapable of attacking him they are frighten instead. This abilities lasts 1 round per 4 Storm Trooper levels.
Mettle
The Storm Trooper can resist magical attacks more than most others. If you succeed a saving throw against a Fortitude or Will that would normally produce an effect on a successful save (Will half or Fortitude partial) you instead ignore that effect. Mettle does not benefit an unconscious or sleeping storm trooper.
Rapid Movement
The Storm Trooper's base land speed increases by +10ft. This stacks and is multiplied by other speed increases skills or magic. In addition the DC for tumbling past the Storm Trooper increases by 15.
Battlefield Control
The Storm Trooper locks down his area. Defensive casting and 5ft steps now provoke an Attack of Opportunity if they are within the Storm Trooper's Reach.
Vicious Throw
The Storm Trooper can throw his Shield like a boomerang at an enemy. With a Range increment of 30ft (60ft if the target is flying) and suffering a -1 to hit for every additional 30(60)ft. If the weapon hits the target they must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10+ ½ of the Storm Trooper's level+Str+Dex Mod) or be stunned for 1+Str Mod rounds. If the target is flying they must make an addition check vs trip or be knocked out of the sky taking 1d6 damage per 10ft fallen.

I'm Here for You (Ex)
If any ally within reach is targeted by an enemy, or any enemy within reach targets an ally, the Storm Trooper can immediately step in front of the attack making him the target of the attack. That this only works for attacks that require a attack roll and before the attack result is determined. If the attack is melee this only work if the ally can be pushed back 5ft. There is no limit to the number of attacks he can block, but note that the step might take them out of reach for some targets and into reach for others. Also note that the Storm Trooper does HAVE to get whacked in the face if they are abilities that let them deflect the attack (Deflect Arrows, Various Martial Adpet skills etc).

Supreme Armour Focus (Ex)
At level 13 the Storm Trooper gains a bonus to the shield he is wielding or armour he is wearing (depending on if he took Shield or Armour for Form Fitting at level 1) two points lower than his current armour focus (+3>+1, +6>+4 etc).

Supreme Armour Specialization (Ex)
This Ability functions just like Supreme Armour Focus except it reduces the Armour Check Penalty and increases the max Dexterity bonus of the alternate piece of gear. In addition the Armour Check penalty can become a positive number now, making it possible to be more agile in armour.

*'d Bonus Feats:
Accidents Happen
If any enemy misses a ranged or melee attack against the character, he can make the attack hit an enemy adjacent to the character. Note that if the attack roll isn't high enough to hit the ally's flat footed AC the attack still misses. There is no limit to the number of times per round this ability can be used.
Interference
When surrounded in combat the character is much harder to hit. For every enemy adjacent to the character their AC increases by +2, to a maximum of +10.
Stand Still
If an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity from the character and it hits them they must stop their move action irregardless of whether or not it was done. Note that the character does not have to successfully trip/knockdown/stun/etc the enemy with the AoO to stop them, just hit them.


Now some comments :
Fast movement might have been a bit fast and the battlefield control having an increase to tumble was a bit silly. Reduced the fast moment but made to harder to tumble past the faster Storm Trooper (increased speed makes him harder to get by).

Gave him something similar to Sheild Other - letting him jump in the way of nearby attacks. Might get silly with +reach around larger opponents but eh.

Took the advice about Armour Focus/Spec and added a bonus to it.

Now could still use 1-3 new Special Abilities and maybe more Bonus Feats (added some of the more tame epic feats in there to, DR 3/- or +2 to SR isn't exactly that epic.)

Also :


Roaring Slam - When surrounded you lash out in all directions and fling your enemies away. As a full round action, you may make a bull rush attempt against all adjacent enemies. You make one roll, and each enemy must make a roll to oppose it to see if they get knocked back, but they get a +1 bonus to their opposed strength check for every addtional enemy affected after the first. You cannot choose to follow your enemies and may only push them back 5 feet away from you.

Heavy Shield Slam - You take advantage of openings by countering your opponents with your large shield. When you successfully attack with a shield bash as an attack of opportunity, you may make a trip attempt as a free action; this attempt does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and your opponent does not get a free trip attempt against you if it fails. You may not follow this trip attempt with an additional attack (such as with improved trip).


These two abilities while seemingly nice are kinda redundant with the right feat choice. Improved Knockdown is better than Heavy Shield Slam 90% of the time, and Roaring slam is kinda a weaker version of Whirlwind attack if you have Improved Knockdown feat. While very nice and colourful ideas, they are kinda rendered obsolete by some of the earlier bonus Feats.

[Zancloufer]

Been about a week, and there's quite a few views : No more comments though?