Cheiromancer
2013-06-11, 10:35 AM
I read somewhere that a fighter//adept gestalt would be a good upgrade to the standard fighter; comparable to tier 4 and (maybe) tier 3 classes. I like the idea, but it occurs to me that such a class would be very good for dipping - maybe too good. Too many people just dip into fighter as it is; making it a more attractive dip doesn't really help. I am trying to think of an elegant way of making it so that a character who takes levels of a fighter-adept would have a strong incentive not to merely dip in it.
One thought I had was that the adept powers would only kick in past the 2 or 4 levels that one normally dips in fighter. Maybe in an escalating fashion, so that up to fighter 4 there is no gestalt (fighters are fine at lower levels) and at higher levels there are full adept levels. The intermediate levels might look like this:
fighter 1 - 4 (no gestalt)
fighter 5 // adept 2
fighter 6 // adept 4
fighter 7 // adept 6
fighter 8 // adept 8
fighter 9 - 20 (full gestalt)
Five or more levels is not really a dip, but a substantial commitment.
I was thinking that rather than getting a familiar at level 2, the adept spellcasting actually is the familiar; a spirit guide similar to the Hexblade's dark companion, but invisible. The verbal and somatic components of a spell would be the character invoking the spirit and asking it to produce the desired effect. The spirit guide would have to be within 5 feet of the character for spellcasting to take place, and would be detectable by anyone who can see invisible things. I was thinking that the spells could be cast spontaneously off of the adept spell list. The character would need to provide any material components ("Take this offering, O spirit, and grant the favor!") but would not need a divine focus. Or if they do, it is a carving of the spirit itself; an animal, if the spirit guide is an animal, or a figurine if the spirit guide is an ancestor or something.
Rather than being dispelled for 24 hours like the dark companion, a spirit guide affected by a dispel magic would be suppressed for 1-4 rounds, as a magic item. It is a separate entity from the character, and so does not use the character's wisdom. I was thinking the wisdom (for DC's and bonus spells) would be 12 + 1/2 x fighter level. So Wis 14 at level 5, Wis 15 at levels 6 and 7, and so on, up to Wis 22 at level 20. (Besides avoiding MADness, this also encourages staying with the fighter class).
Now I know that one of the attractions of playing a fighter is to avoid messing around with spell lists. However, a fighter already has to ask a party member for magical help to cure status effects, provide buffs and healing, etc.. Why not just ask a handy spirit? The adept spell list is short enough that it is not too much bother to keep track of, but has enough on it to give the fighter more versatility and self sufficiency.
Although the goal is to encourage people to stay with the fighter class and the spirit guide is distinct from the fighter, I am tempted to allow the fighter//adept to take a prestige class that advances divine spell casting. Adepts have inferior spell selection, and only get up to 5th level spells, so this won't do any harm. And it also means that an 8th level orc fighter//adept could qualify for hexer.
Questions? Comments? Should the spell list include the spells from one domain among the spells known like in Eberron? How would you make a non-dippable fighter//adept?
One thought I had was that the adept powers would only kick in past the 2 or 4 levels that one normally dips in fighter. Maybe in an escalating fashion, so that up to fighter 4 there is no gestalt (fighters are fine at lower levels) and at higher levels there are full adept levels. The intermediate levels might look like this:
fighter 1 - 4 (no gestalt)
fighter 5 // adept 2
fighter 6 // adept 4
fighter 7 // adept 6
fighter 8 // adept 8
fighter 9 - 20 (full gestalt)
Five or more levels is not really a dip, but a substantial commitment.
I was thinking that rather than getting a familiar at level 2, the adept spellcasting actually is the familiar; a spirit guide similar to the Hexblade's dark companion, but invisible. The verbal and somatic components of a spell would be the character invoking the spirit and asking it to produce the desired effect. The spirit guide would have to be within 5 feet of the character for spellcasting to take place, and would be detectable by anyone who can see invisible things. I was thinking that the spells could be cast spontaneously off of the adept spell list. The character would need to provide any material components ("Take this offering, O spirit, and grant the favor!") but would not need a divine focus. Or if they do, it is a carving of the spirit itself; an animal, if the spirit guide is an animal, or a figurine if the spirit guide is an ancestor or something.
Rather than being dispelled for 24 hours like the dark companion, a spirit guide affected by a dispel magic would be suppressed for 1-4 rounds, as a magic item. It is a separate entity from the character, and so does not use the character's wisdom. I was thinking the wisdom (for DC's and bonus spells) would be 12 + 1/2 x fighter level. So Wis 14 at level 5, Wis 15 at levels 6 and 7, and so on, up to Wis 22 at level 20. (Besides avoiding MADness, this also encourages staying with the fighter class).
Now I know that one of the attractions of playing a fighter is to avoid messing around with spell lists. However, a fighter already has to ask a party member for magical help to cure status effects, provide buffs and healing, etc.. Why not just ask a handy spirit? The adept spell list is short enough that it is not too much bother to keep track of, but has enough on it to give the fighter more versatility and self sufficiency.
Although the goal is to encourage people to stay with the fighter class and the spirit guide is distinct from the fighter, I am tempted to allow the fighter//adept to take a prestige class that advances divine spell casting. Adepts have inferior spell selection, and only get up to 5th level spells, so this won't do any harm. And it also means that an 8th level orc fighter//adept could qualify for hexer.
Questions? Comments? Should the spell list include the spells from one domain among the spells known like in Eberron? How would you make a non-dippable fighter//adept?