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Othesemo
2013-02-23, 05:37 AM
My brother and I have an ongoing joke about Occam, abuser of the gnomish quickrazor, and I decided to finally write the class out. Silliness abounds, but feel free to PEACH anyways. Without further ado-

Occam's Razor

Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity- and really, what need has the world of you?

Occam's Razors are dedicated to the elimination of the extraneous- whether logical or pragmatic in nature. They excel in concise and (as a rule of thumb) effective combat, aiming to bring an end to their opponents as quickly and cleanly as possible. Wherever the forces of evil aim to summon more of their number, or bring an end to the world through horribly convoluted means, Occam's Razors can be found at work. No overlord's machinations are safe from the sheer logical prowess of the Razor.

Prerequisites

Skills: Knowledge (Religion or Mathematics) 8 ranks, Iajitsu Focus 8 Ranks
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Gnomish Quickrazor)

Game Rule Information

Abilities- Above all, intelligence is necessary, both as the key ability of the Razor's class features and as the ability by which Iajitsu focus, the Razor's main damage dealing mechanism, is boosted. Beyond that, a Razor appreciates physical skills as compensation for mediocre hit die and BAB.

Alignment- Any, though many Razor's feel that great deviation from True Neutral simply mucks things up.

Hit Die- d6

Class Skills- The Razor's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Forgery (Int), Hide (Dex), Iajitsu Focus (Int)*, Knowledge (All; taken separately) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex)
*See Below

Skill Points at First Level- (4+Int Modifier)*4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level- 4+Int Modifier

Table- Occam's Razor
Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special
1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Simplification, Cut Down to Size, Wit
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Benefit of the Doubt
3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Plurality must never be posited unnecessarily
4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Embrace the Unexceptional
5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Simplest is Best

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency- The Razor gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Simplification (Ex)- Oftentimes, a perfectly reasonable hypothesis gets mucked up by piles upon piles of conditionals. It is the sacred duty of the Razor to oppose such silliness- starting at 1st level, the Razor is unable to trigger prepared actions of any variety. Opponents are still able to stipulate the conditions under which they are to act and expend a standard action as usual, but the Razor's actions are always treated as not fulfilling the prerequisites for activating a prepared action. Similarly, attempts to delay initiative in terms of the Razor's actions (for example, delaying until just after the Razor acts) simply result in the delayer wasting a turn, and acting on the same count next round. In addition, the actions of a Razor cannot fulfill the conditions of a contingent spell. The Razor is able to suppress this ability voluntarily.

Cut Down to Size (Ex)- Shaving away the undesirable is not exclusive to the field of logic. Starting at 1st level, the Razor adds his Razor level as a bonus to attack and damage rolls when using a Gnomish Quickrazor. Additionally, whenever the Razor succeeds in activating the effects of Iajitsu Focus, the critical threat range of the weapon he is wielding is treated as 1 larger than it normally would be (for instance, x3 becomes 19-20 x3, and 19-20 x2 becomes 18-20 x2). This effect is applied after effects which multiply critical threat range (such as the Keen enhancement).

Wit (Ex)- The Razor's talent with the eponymous weapon is a product, not of force of will or intimidation, but of intuition and logical dexterity. The Razor uses his Intelligence modifier instead of his Charisma modifier when determining his bonus to the Iajitsu Focus skill.

Benefit of the Doubt (Su)- Until an individual has witnessed the effects of a Razor's presence, he has no reason to assume that he poses a threat. Until a creature has either been targeted offensively by the Razor or observed an ally being similarly maligned, he is considered flat-footed against all attacks made by the Razor and will not target him in combat. Outside of combat, this ability essentially forces all other creatures to grant the Razor the benefit of the doubt. For instance- in a high security prison that has no business being patrolled by anything but guards, a Razor wearing civilian clothes will be reacted to as would any other creature (that is to say, with violence). However, if a city watchman sees a Razor kneeling in front of a door to pick the lock, he may conclude that the Razor may well be a locksmith hired to perform the function lawfully, and continue on his way. As a heuristic to DMs- NPCs will react to the Razor's actions with hostility only if there is no plausible explanation for them which would not warrant it. If a player attempts to abuse this ability as they might use glibness, it would be wise to remind them that it does not alter the NPCs perception of the world- it simply makes them more willing to extend the benefit of the doubt. No sane creature will react to being attacked with indifference.

Plurality must never be posited unnecessarily (Ex)- Until demonstrated otherwise, it is assumed that the abilities thus far demonstrated by a creature are the extent of its capabilities. The first time that a Razor is subject to a given creature's abilities, he gains a bonus equal to his Razor level to resist them, as applicable. For instance, a level 5 razor would gain a +5 bonus to his save against a spell like ability, a +5 bonus to his AC against a paladin's smite, or a +5 bonus on his balance check against a wizard's Grease spell (note that, for the purposes of this ability, the class feature Spellcasting is treated as a single ability, whereas Spell Like Abilities are affected individually). This is a product of logical incredulity- should the Razor be subjected to a given creature's ability once, he is unable to apply the benefits of this ability to it again. The laws of logic operate independently of a given Razor's stupidity, and simply forcing yourself to forget through magic, head injury and the like is not an effective means of erasing credulity. Abilities which permit no opposed roll are exempt from this class feature.

Embrace the Unexceptional (Su)- To assume that any given creature possesses any given ability is rarely accurate. However, once such a thing has been demonstrated, many would be content to simply accept its existence and get on with their lives. The logician, however, is a more stubborn breed of man. A single data point does not a trend make, and when his passions are aroused, a man of logic will not tire until the object of his ire is summarily dismissed as an outlier. At will, the Razor may select a single Supernatural or Spell-Like ability demonstrated to be possessed by a creature, and suppress its further manifestation through sheer intellectual stubbornness. For instance, this ability could prevent a black dragon from using its breath weapon, but it could not remove its ability to breath water. The effects of this ability persist for as long as the Razor concentrates plus a number of rounds equal to his intelligence modifier.

Simplest is Best (Su)- In positing future events, every moment of action- every swing of the sword, casting of a spell- represents a multiplication of possibilities. The more actions of variable results which are introduced, the more byzantine the branching probabilities. Really, everything would move a good bit more smoothly if there were just a bit more certainty in life...

Starting at 5th level, such thoughts are no longer idle dreams. Once per combat, the Razor may determine the exact result of any one die roll (this is to say, any one rolling of dice, not any rolling of one die) as an immediate action. The exact nature of the roll is irrelevant- this ability could force an enemy to roll a natural one on their saving throw, grant the fighter a critical threat, or ensure that the (snrk) healer's efforts bring a crippled tank to full strength. In the hands of a particularly meta Razor, it might even guarantee protection from a random encounter. This ability cannot force the impossible- if an enemy automatically makes their save, further certainty cannot be introduced, and any attempts to influence the situation would be wasted. Similarly, if a wizard cannot hope to overcome his enemy's spell resistance, the outcome of the situation is invariable. Should, through a bizarre sequence of events, two Razor's attempt to influence the same die roll, their efforts are wasted. The chances of such a thing happening are so astronomical that permitting it to affect the course of a battle runs counter to the point of the ability.

Eldan
2013-02-23, 08:10 AM
Hehe.

How about adding contingent spells to Simplification?

Othesemo
2013-02-23, 08:38 AM
Ooh, good idea. Done.

Kazyan
2013-02-23, 11:52 AM
Incidentally, this is a very good mage-slayer PrC.

Othesemo
2013-02-24, 08:06 AM
Incidentally, this is a very good mage-slayer PrC.

Really?

Huh. Now that I look at it, I can sort of see that. It wasn't really in my head while I was writing the thing, but it did turn out that way, I guess. If only Spellcasting were considered a supernatural ability.

I'm glad that my messing around produced something useful.

Jenfrag
2013-02-24, 09:26 AM
I'm glad that my messing around produced something useful.

It's really a good thing. :D