Ursus the Grim
2013-06-01, 08:14 PM
They said I was crazy. A battletitan couldn't be done, they said, not without extreme cheese! I'll show them! I'll show them all!
Long post ahead.
Hey, Playgrounders, its Ursus again.
As suggested by my signature, I've always been a fan of the battletitan dinosaur, and look for ways incorporate it into games. Unfortunately, the players really haven't had a chance to do it themselves (aside from throwing a few hundred thousand gold pieces at the DM). Until now.
This class feels like an arcane ranger with refined focus. I'll spare you the fluff at this point (unless you really want it), but essentially the class gets a battletitan companion that grows as the character takes levels. Its starts as a small, 2 HD lizard and picks up more (many more) hit die and a half-dozen abilities that can be ferocious, magical, or just plain strange.
In terms of flexibility, I expect the class to fall under tier two or three. I see it being useful for wilderness survival, some spellcasting, and of course, various combat purposes. In terms of raw combat potential, I expect it to end up squarely in two. The thought of a mutated gargantuan dinosaur may sound horrifying, but compared to full spellcasters, martial adepts, and certain builds at the level it occurs, I don't think its really that overpowered. I don't expect it to be 'fair' alongside, say, a core fighter or archery ranger, but really, what is?
I'm going to be developing this in stages, even though I think I'm mostly done on paper. Right now, I have a pile of abilities for the main class. I'd like your help determining where these abilities should fall in terms of the advancement from 1-20, and I'd appreciate any feedback you may have. Each ability will have a short, crunch-only description and a spoiler block with my thoughts on the subject. Abilities are posted in no particular order.
The Class so Far
Caller of the Titan
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points: 4+Int Modifier
Sample Class Skills: Ride, Handle Animal, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Nature), Survival, Concentration, Knowledge (Nobility), Knowledge (Geography)
Good Saves: Reflex, Will
Poor Saves: Fortitude
Base Attack Bonus: Moderate (as Cleric)
Important Abilities: Wisdom for spells and Bloodletter abilities. Intelligence for wild empathy, handle animal, and skill points. Dexterity for Armor class, reflex saves, and Bloodletter abilities. Constitution for fortitude saves, Concentration, and general survivability.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple.
Armor Proficiencies: Light to Medium, no shields.
The class itself, at this point, resembles a ranger, but where the ranger channels diving magic drawn from the wilderness and slogs alongside his companion into combat, the Caller uses his intelligence to guide and train the Titan as he advances, dancing about his protector while harrying the enemy with spells. The class will only end up with 6th level spells (ala Bard and Ranger) and so I didn't want to make it useless in combat. At the same time, I wanted to avoid full BaB and d12 HD. The Titan is the brawler, after all. I feel like its a mediocre, but not useless, chassis.
Wild Empathy (ex):
As the druid ability, but the Caller adds his Intelligence modifier instead of Charisma.
The class was originally quite MAD, honestly, and this is where I felt I could fix that. The Caller has read and studied enough of animal habits to justify him using his knowledge to read their behavior. I considered a dino-only clause, but didn't see enough justification to. I'd probably assign this at a low level.
Living Cover (ex):
A Caller who is no larger than his titan is treated as having partial cover when immediately adjacent to it.
I wanted to provide a reason for the partial caster to enter combat instead of just sitting back and watching. To do this, I crafted some abilities that encourage him to get in there and support the titan. This is the first, probably assigned at a low level. The titan hits medium size at five, so somewhere in that area would make the most sense. Its short, simple, and not horribly broken, I think.
Instinctive Counterspell (sp):
A Caller who observes a spell being cast that targets his titan may attempt to counter that spell as an immediate action. No knowledge (other than the target) of the spell is revealed to the Caller, though he may make a Spellcraft check as usual to identify the spell. If the Caller chooses to counter the spell, they immediately expend a spell slot of the highest level they can cast. If all such spell slots have already been expended, the Caller instead takes one point of Constitution damage per level of the countered spell.
Now, there is only one ability that the Battletitan has the chance to get that provides any protection against spells, and the class as envisioned doesn't load down the titan with Spell Resistant Full Plate (not that I ever thought that was effective). This helps the Caller potentially save his main class feature from being destroyed by a Save or Die. At the same time, I feel I balanced the risk versus the reward enough. The costs (either a limited spell slot or even more limited Con points) should cause the player to think hard about whether or not its worth it to try and counter that spell, about the likelihood that the Titan can make that save or tank the damage, and a thinking player is a good player*.It also encourages development in Spellcraft. The costs also prevent the countered spell from being entirely ineffective. Sure, the Titan may have escaped Imprisonment, but the Caller is now down 9 points of Con. This would likely be a higher level (10-15) ability, so that the Caller doesn't get to trade Longstrider as a counterspell.
*unless they play a wizard.
Secret of Bloodletting
Once per round, when your titan makes a successful melee attack against an enemy with thirty feet of you, you may make an attack of opportunity (if you threaten it), cast a spell of up to two levels lower than the highest castable, or use any ability with the keyword bloodletter.
This started off with just being an AoO, but I realized that would be mostly useless for most Callers, and nobody likes a useless ability. Then I added the spell clause. I may actually drop the spell clause, because most of the spells on the Caller's class list wouldn't qualify. The Bloodletter abilities are incoming, and are essentially their 'blasty' spells. This has the potential to be pretty powerful, but I don't see it being broken by the average Caller. 8-12th level.
Lashing Claws (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack, Usable 3/day, deals 1d6 damage per class level+Wisdom modifier. Medium range.
Gnashing Maw (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack. Usable 1/day. Deals 2d6 damage per class level+Wisdom modifier and stuns the target for 1 round. Close range.
Thrashing Tail (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack. Usable 3/day. Deals 1d4 damage per class level + Wisdom modifier. Free trip attempt and opponent takes 1 damage per level for Wis Mod turns. Long Range.
These are the core Bloodletter abilities, the blasty 'spells' that the Caller gets. Each will probably be assigned at a different level and is meant to support the titan and other party members in combat while still evoking the fluff of the class. They could use some rephrasing and such, of course. I'm thinking Claws 3ish, Tail 7ish, Maw 10ish?
Channel the Titan (su)
As a full-round action, the Caller may put his titan into a trance and draw power directly from it. While channeling the titan, the Caller gains +4 Str, +4 Con, and +2 Natural Armor. This effect ends if the titan takes damage (which stuns the caller) or when the caller dismisses it (as a free action).
You know what would suck for someone who picked this class to play with a dinosaur? Tiny hallways. This gives the player the feeling that they haven't been completely crippled by admittedly realistic situations, while not negating the DM's efforts to change things up a bit. I think this should be reasonably early, such as 4th level.
Unleash the Titan (ex)
Usable 3/day. Sends the Titan into a barbarian's Greater Rage. Titan is fatigued for 1 minute after combat ends.
Nothing special here. +6 to Str and Con are a little much for lower levels but not much when they get to high levels, so I'd probably be looking between 8 and 12 I think.
Borrow the Blood (su)
The Caller may leech hit points from his titan. The Caller gains 1 hp for every 5 hp the titan loses.
I wanted this to be a steep exchange. The Titan will have twice the HD the Caller has, and a much higher Constitution, so I didn't want it to be an effectively endless pool. 5 to 1 seems to hit that sweet spot between steep and not arbitrary and easy to math.
Fitting Rebirth (su)
24 hours after death the Caller's corpse may give birth to a young, 2 HD battletitan. If the Caller chooses to "respawn", it cannot be resurrected short of Wish shenanigans.
I think this is all fluff and my desire to give every player a chance to recover (theoretically) from a TPK. . . and because everyone secretly wants to play a Battletitan that is awakened by their old comrades. This isn't a capstone, because its functionally useless, but I think it should be pretty high nonetheless.
Mage of Motion (ex)
The Caller does not need to make Concentration checks to cast or maintain a spell due to vigorous motion while mounted on their Titan. In addition, they receive a +4 bonus to Concentration rolls when adjacent to the titan.
This was originally going to be a flat, circumstantial buff to Concentration checks for casting while mounted, but the DC is only 10+level anyway. Figured this would be simpler while effectively identical. I see no harm in giving this at low to mid levels. 5-11?
Gullet of the Titan (sp, bloodletting)
Once per day, target makes a will save (10+half level+Wis) or is instantly transported to the stomach of your titan. Spell fails if the target is too large.
This is, for many enemies, a potential save or die spell. It would have to come at at MINIMUM level 10, as that's when the Titan first gets Swallow Whole. I'm thinking 15ish, as that's when the Titan gets to Huge and can swallow medium creatures.
Secrets of the Brood (ex)
With one month of work and an investment costing 50,000 gp and 4,000 xp, the Caller can produce a young battletitan (which must still be domesticated). Assumes there is some terrible lizard stock nearby.
Well, this IS what the class is all about, isn't it? For most players, this provides a way to replace their titan if it gets killed without relying on DM fiat. It also gives them the chance to play the Kingmaker, so to speak, especially with the excellent fluff that the MMIII gives to the importance of battletitans for the military. I'm thinking capstone here.
Frequently Asked Potential Questions
Woah, woah, woah. A battletitan? Seriously?
Actually, yes, I think so. I don't think its as powerful as it appears on first glance. First, look at its damage output. Staggeringly low for its CR. . . and that's AFTER taking Improved Natural Attack twice. When was the last time anyone felt threatened by 3d6+16 damage at level 16? The titan, as presented, is a pile of Hit Points and little else, in my opinion.
But this is easily breakable with XYZ class!
Possible, but if there's a class out there, someone can break it. I think this class is also resistant to most cheesiness, as it REQUIRES advancement in order to keep the Titan and its spells up to date.
Where are the Titan's abilities?
They're coming. I have them all planned out, but this post's lengths would probably triple. Essentially, there's a menu of mutations/infusions they pick from as the caller advances, allowing the caller to specialize or broaden their options as desired. Things range from increasing damage with an acidic bite, gobbling things up quickly, to developing a chamelon-like tongue and more. This won't be another bland monster, promise. Unless you want it to be. I also want to get the main class ironed out before I bring the titan in, as I think people would want to see them side-by-side to make a decision.
Where are the Caller's Spells?
You know what? Let's assume he uses the Ranger's spell lists. He probably really shouldn't get Animal Growth before 14th level.
Long post ahead.
Hey, Playgrounders, its Ursus again.
As suggested by my signature, I've always been a fan of the battletitan dinosaur, and look for ways incorporate it into games. Unfortunately, the players really haven't had a chance to do it themselves (aside from throwing a few hundred thousand gold pieces at the DM). Until now.
This class feels like an arcane ranger with refined focus. I'll spare you the fluff at this point (unless you really want it), but essentially the class gets a battletitan companion that grows as the character takes levels. Its starts as a small, 2 HD lizard and picks up more (many more) hit die and a half-dozen abilities that can be ferocious, magical, or just plain strange.
In terms of flexibility, I expect the class to fall under tier two or three. I see it being useful for wilderness survival, some spellcasting, and of course, various combat purposes. In terms of raw combat potential, I expect it to end up squarely in two. The thought of a mutated gargantuan dinosaur may sound horrifying, but compared to full spellcasters, martial adepts, and certain builds at the level it occurs, I don't think its really that overpowered. I don't expect it to be 'fair' alongside, say, a core fighter or archery ranger, but really, what is?
I'm going to be developing this in stages, even though I think I'm mostly done on paper. Right now, I have a pile of abilities for the main class. I'd like your help determining where these abilities should fall in terms of the advancement from 1-20, and I'd appreciate any feedback you may have. Each ability will have a short, crunch-only description and a spoiler block with my thoughts on the subject. Abilities are posted in no particular order.
The Class so Far
Caller of the Titan
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points: 4+Int Modifier
Sample Class Skills: Ride, Handle Animal, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Nature), Survival, Concentration, Knowledge (Nobility), Knowledge (Geography)
Good Saves: Reflex, Will
Poor Saves: Fortitude
Base Attack Bonus: Moderate (as Cleric)
Important Abilities: Wisdom for spells and Bloodletter abilities. Intelligence for wild empathy, handle animal, and skill points. Dexterity for Armor class, reflex saves, and Bloodletter abilities. Constitution for fortitude saves, Concentration, and general survivability.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple.
Armor Proficiencies: Light to Medium, no shields.
The class itself, at this point, resembles a ranger, but where the ranger channels diving magic drawn from the wilderness and slogs alongside his companion into combat, the Caller uses his intelligence to guide and train the Titan as he advances, dancing about his protector while harrying the enemy with spells. The class will only end up with 6th level spells (ala Bard and Ranger) and so I didn't want to make it useless in combat. At the same time, I wanted to avoid full BaB and d12 HD. The Titan is the brawler, after all. I feel like its a mediocre, but not useless, chassis.
Wild Empathy (ex):
As the druid ability, but the Caller adds his Intelligence modifier instead of Charisma.
The class was originally quite MAD, honestly, and this is where I felt I could fix that. The Caller has read and studied enough of animal habits to justify him using his knowledge to read their behavior. I considered a dino-only clause, but didn't see enough justification to. I'd probably assign this at a low level.
Living Cover (ex):
A Caller who is no larger than his titan is treated as having partial cover when immediately adjacent to it.
I wanted to provide a reason for the partial caster to enter combat instead of just sitting back and watching. To do this, I crafted some abilities that encourage him to get in there and support the titan. This is the first, probably assigned at a low level. The titan hits medium size at five, so somewhere in that area would make the most sense. Its short, simple, and not horribly broken, I think.
Instinctive Counterspell (sp):
A Caller who observes a spell being cast that targets his titan may attempt to counter that spell as an immediate action. No knowledge (other than the target) of the spell is revealed to the Caller, though he may make a Spellcraft check as usual to identify the spell. If the Caller chooses to counter the spell, they immediately expend a spell slot of the highest level they can cast. If all such spell slots have already been expended, the Caller instead takes one point of Constitution damage per level of the countered spell.
Now, there is only one ability that the Battletitan has the chance to get that provides any protection against spells, and the class as envisioned doesn't load down the titan with Spell Resistant Full Plate (not that I ever thought that was effective). This helps the Caller potentially save his main class feature from being destroyed by a Save or Die. At the same time, I feel I balanced the risk versus the reward enough. The costs (either a limited spell slot or even more limited Con points) should cause the player to think hard about whether or not its worth it to try and counter that spell, about the likelihood that the Titan can make that save or tank the damage, and a thinking player is a good player*.It also encourages development in Spellcraft. The costs also prevent the countered spell from being entirely ineffective. Sure, the Titan may have escaped Imprisonment, but the Caller is now down 9 points of Con. This would likely be a higher level (10-15) ability, so that the Caller doesn't get to trade Longstrider as a counterspell.
*unless they play a wizard.
Secret of Bloodletting
Once per round, when your titan makes a successful melee attack against an enemy with thirty feet of you, you may make an attack of opportunity (if you threaten it), cast a spell of up to two levels lower than the highest castable, or use any ability with the keyword bloodletter.
This started off with just being an AoO, but I realized that would be mostly useless for most Callers, and nobody likes a useless ability. Then I added the spell clause. I may actually drop the spell clause, because most of the spells on the Caller's class list wouldn't qualify. The Bloodletter abilities are incoming, and are essentially their 'blasty' spells. This has the potential to be pretty powerful, but I don't see it being broken by the average Caller. 8-12th level.
Lashing Claws (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack, Usable 3/day, deals 1d6 damage per class level+Wisdom modifier. Medium range.
Gnashing Maw (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack. Usable 1/day. Deals 2d6 damage per class level+Wisdom modifier and stuns the target for 1 round. Close range.
Thrashing Tail (sp, Bloodletter)
Ranged or melee touch attack. Usable 3/day. Deals 1d4 damage per class level + Wisdom modifier. Free trip attempt and opponent takes 1 damage per level for Wis Mod turns. Long Range.
These are the core Bloodletter abilities, the blasty 'spells' that the Caller gets. Each will probably be assigned at a different level and is meant to support the titan and other party members in combat while still evoking the fluff of the class. They could use some rephrasing and such, of course. I'm thinking Claws 3ish, Tail 7ish, Maw 10ish?
Channel the Titan (su)
As a full-round action, the Caller may put his titan into a trance and draw power directly from it. While channeling the titan, the Caller gains +4 Str, +4 Con, and +2 Natural Armor. This effect ends if the titan takes damage (which stuns the caller) or when the caller dismisses it (as a free action).
You know what would suck for someone who picked this class to play with a dinosaur? Tiny hallways. This gives the player the feeling that they haven't been completely crippled by admittedly realistic situations, while not negating the DM's efforts to change things up a bit. I think this should be reasonably early, such as 4th level.
Unleash the Titan (ex)
Usable 3/day. Sends the Titan into a barbarian's Greater Rage. Titan is fatigued for 1 minute after combat ends.
Nothing special here. +6 to Str and Con are a little much for lower levels but not much when they get to high levels, so I'd probably be looking between 8 and 12 I think.
Borrow the Blood (su)
The Caller may leech hit points from his titan. The Caller gains 1 hp for every 5 hp the titan loses.
I wanted this to be a steep exchange. The Titan will have twice the HD the Caller has, and a much higher Constitution, so I didn't want it to be an effectively endless pool. 5 to 1 seems to hit that sweet spot between steep and not arbitrary and easy to math.
Fitting Rebirth (su)
24 hours after death the Caller's corpse may give birth to a young, 2 HD battletitan. If the Caller chooses to "respawn", it cannot be resurrected short of Wish shenanigans.
I think this is all fluff and my desire to give every player a chance to recover (theoretically) from a TPK. . . and because everyone secretly wants to play a Battletitan that is awakened by their old comrades. This isn't a capstone, because its functionally useless, but I think it should be pretty high nonetheless.
Mage of Motion (ex)
The Caller does not need to make Concentration checks to cast or maintain a spell due to vigorous motion while mounted on their Titan. In addition, they receive a +4 bonus to Concentration rolls when adjacent to the titan.
This was originally going to be a flat, circumstantial buff to Concentration checks for casting while mounted, but the DC is only 10+level anyway. Figured this would be simpler while effectively identical. I see no harm in giving this at low to mid levels. 5-11?
Gullet of the Titan (sp, bloodletting)
Once per day, target makes a will save (10+half level+Wis) or is instantly transported to the stomach of your titan. Spell fails if the target is too large.
This is, for many enemies, a potential save or die spell. It would have to come at at MINIMUM level 10, as that's when the Titan first gets Swallow Whole. I'm thinking 15ish, as that's when the Titan gets to Huge and can swallow medium creatures.
Secrets of the Brood (ex)
With one month of work and an investment costing 50,000 gp and 4,000 xp, the Caller can produce a young battletitan (which must still be domesticated). Assumes there is some terrible lizard stock nearby.
Well, this IS what the class is all about, isn't it? For most players, this provides a way to replace their titan if it gets killed without relying on DM fiat. It also gives them the chance to play the Kingmaker, so to speak, especially with the excellent fluff that the MMIII gives to the importance of battletitans for the military. I'm thinking capstone here.
Frequently Asked Potential Questions
Woah, woah, woah. A battletitan? Seriously?
Actually, yes, I think so. I don't think its as powerful as it appears on first glance. First, look at its damage output. Staggeringly low for its CR. . . and that's AFTER taking Improved Natural Attack twice. When was the last time anyone felt threatened by 3d6+16 damage at level 16? The titan, as presented, is a pile of Hit Points and little else, in my opinion.
But this is easily breakable with XYZ class!
Possible, but if there's a class out there, someone can break it. I think this class is also resistant to most cheesiness, as it REQUIRES advancement in order to keep the Titan and its spells up to date.
Where are the Titan's abilities?
They're coming. I have them all planned out, but this post's lengths would probably triple. Essentially, there's a menu of mutations/infusions they pick from as the caller advances, allowing the caller to specialize or broaden their options as desired. Things range from increasing damage with an acidic bite, gobbling things up quickly, to developing a chamelon-like tongue and more. This won't be another bland monster, promise. Unless you want it to be. I also want to get the main class ironed out before I bring the titan in, as I think people would want to see them side-by-side to make a decision.
Where are the Caller's Spells?
You know what? Let's assume he uses the Ranger's spell lists. He probably really shouldn't get Animal Growth before 14th level.