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Elricaltovilla
2013-06-23, 01:53 PM
Foreword
So I'm quite fond of the Totemist class, I think it's quite cool and I love the natural attacks stuff that it gets, but there isn't something like that in Pathfinder. Plus I'm too lazy to go ahead and convert soulmelds, essentia and bindings to PF. So I'll just go ahead and make things even more difficult by making a brand new base class!

Shooting for upper tier 3. Current questions:

4. Feats or ACF ideas?

5. More Souls?

The Channeler

There are spirits in this world with power and desires other than the gods. They have goals and seek ways to influence the world just like the beings of the upper and lower planes. These spirits work through their own agents, sentient creatures with the power to see and hear them, and to accept their power.

Role: Channelers are primarily melee combatants, but unlike the armored fighter, the faith bound paladin or the arcane magus, Channelers rely on the power of their spirit guardians to protect and empower them. They utilize natural attacks and ectoplasmic armors to engage foes.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Dice: d8.

Starting Wealth: 3d6 × 10 gp (average 105gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The Channeler's Class Skills are: Acrobatics(Dex), Bluff(Cha), Craft(Int), Disguise(Cha), Handle Animal(Cha), Heal(Wis), Knowledge(Nature)(Int), Knowledge(Planes)(Int), Knowledge(Religion)(Int), Perception(Wis), Ride(Dex), Sleight of Hand(Dex), Stealth(Dex), Survival(Wis)

Skill Points: The Channeler gains 4+Int Skill points per level.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Improved Unarmed Strike, Channel Soul

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Bonded Soul

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+1|
+3|Protected Vessel +1, Whispered Senses

4th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Bonded Soul

5th|
+3|
+4|
+1|
+4|Extra Soul

6th|
+4|
+5|
+2|
+5|Bonded Soul

7th|
+5|
+5|
+2|
+5|Protected Vessel +2

8th|
+6/1|
+6|
+2|
+6|Bonded Soul

9th|
+6/1|
+6|
+3|
+6|Multiattack

10th|
+7/2|
+7|
+3|
+7|Bonded Soul(Major), Extra Soul

11th|
+8/3|
+7|
+3|
+7| Protected Vessel +3

12th|
+9/4|
+8|
+4|
+8|Bonded Soul

13th|
+9/4|
+8|
+4|
+8| Whispered Senses

14th|
+10/5|
+9|
+4|
+9|Bonded Soul

15th|
+11/6/1|
+9|
+5|
+9|Extra Soul, Protected Vessel +4

16th|
+12/7/2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Bonded Soul

17th|
+12/7/2|
+10|
+5|
+10|Timeless Bond

18th|
+13/8/3|
+11|
+6|
+11|Bonded Soul(Grand)

19th|
+14/9/4|
+11|
+6|
+11|Protected Vessel +5

20th|
+15/10/5|
+12|
+6|
+12|Bonded Soul[/table]

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Channelers are proficient with all simple weapons, light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Improved Unarmed Strike: A first level Channeler gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, even if they do not meet the prerequisites.

Channel Soul: A Channeler has the ability to empower themselves by accepting the soul of another being into their body. Starting at 1st level, a Channeler can Channel for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + their Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, they can Channel for 2 additional rounds. A Channeler can begin to Channel as a free action.

When a Channeler accepts a new soul into their body, they gain a +4 morale bonus to one ability score of their choice, and take a -2 penalty to another ability score of their choice.

A Channeler can cease Channeling at any time as a free action.

A Note On Channeled Souls and Natural Attacks
Most of the Channeled souls offer a number of natural attacks for the channeler to use. In general, these natural attacks do not stack, meaning that if you channel two souls, one which offers a bite(1d8+2xSTR), and one which offers a bite(1d8+STR) and two claw attacks(1d6+STR), you choose the higher damage attacks, in this case Bite(1d8+2xSTR) and Claws (1d6+STR). There are Souls which do allow you to stack natural attacks that wouldn't otherwise stack however.

Bonded Soul(lesser): Starting at Second level, A channeler learns how to contact and bond with specific souls. These souls are powerful otherworldy entities, but are not divine in nature. They often modify a channeler's abilities by providing new power and insight that the channeler can rely on.

At second level a channeler can only use one bonded soul at a time. The list of bonded souls are included below.

At each even numbered level, the Channeler can select an additional soul to bond with.

NOTE: Some bonded souls provide spell like abilities. These Spell Like Abilities do not refresh if the Channeler ceases then resumes channeling the Soul.

Protected Vessel: Starting at third level, the souls that a Channeler bonds with begin to leave their mark on the Channeler's body. The Channeler's skin and muscles harden, granting a +1 bonus to natural armor. This bonus increases by 1 every 4 levels to a maximum of +5 at 19th level.

Whispered Senses: The souls that a channeler bonds with and communicates with are capable of sharing information that mortals may not be aware of. Once per day, a Channeler of 3rd level or higher can reroll one Perception, Sense Motive or Knowledge check. The Channeler must take the second result even if its lower. This ability can be used one additional time per day at 13th level.

Extra Soul: At 5th level, a Channeler can channel more than one soul at a time. The Channeler can combine these two souls into one channeling gaining the abilities of both. At 10th level, a channeler can channel three souls at once and at 15th level the total increases to four souls.

Multiattack: At 9th level, the Channeler gains multiattack as a bonus feat, even if they do not meet the prerequisites. This feat applies only as long as the channeler is currently channeling souls that provide multiple attacks.

Bonded Soul (major): Starting at 10th level a channeler can bond with souls from the Major Soul list whenever they select a new soul to bond with.

Timeless Bond: At 17th level, a Channeler forms a permanent bond with one of the souls they channel. Select one soul from the Lesser Soul list, the channeler gains the bonuses of channeling that soul at all times.

Bonded Soul (Grand): At 18th level, a Channeler can select souls from the Grand Soul list whenever they select a new soul to bond with. No matter how many Grand Souls a Channeler has bonded with, they may only Channel one of them at a time.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-23, 01:54 PM
Lesser Souls (count: 11)

The Cat:
Channelers who channel The Cat gain two claw attacks (1d6+Str) as primary natural attacks. They also gain a +2 bonus to stealth and perception rolls. These bonuses increase to +4 at 8th level.

The Dog:
Channelers who channel The Dog gain a bite attack (1d8+2xStr), this is a primary natural attack. They also gain the scent ability and can make a free trip attempt against any target which they bite.

The Boar:
Channelers who channel The Boar gain a gore attack (1d8+2xStr). They also gain Diehard and Vital Strike as bonus feats as long as they channel The Boar.

The Snake:
Channelers who channel The Snake gain a bite attack that does 1d6+Str damage. This attack also poisons the target, dealing 1 point of constitution damage per round unless the target succeeds on a Fort save equal to (10+1/2 Class level+ Con Modifier). Additionally, Channelers who Channel The Snake gain Improved Grapple as a bonus feat.

The Spider:
Channelers who channel The Spider gain a bite Channelers who channel Nathair gain a bite attack that does 1d6+Str damage. This attack also poisons the target, dealing 1 point of Dex damage per round unless the target succeeds on a Fort save equal to (10+1/2 Class level+ Con Modifier). Additionally, Channelers who channel BuiBui can use spider walk at will. You must be at least 5th level to bond with The Spider.

The Turtle:
Channelers who channel The Turtle gain a bite attack that does 1d8+ double the channeler's Str damage, this is a primary natural attack. They also gain a +1 shield bonus to AC, this bonus increases by +1 at 4th level and by an additional +1 every 4 levels to a maximum of +6 at 20th level.

The Rat:
Channelers who channel the rat gain a bite attack that does 1d8+Str damage as a primary attack. They gain a +10 ft enhancement bonus to movement speed and the Improved Initiative feat for as long as they channel The Rat.

The Bull:
Channelers who Channel The Bull gain a Gore attack that does 1d8+ double the Channeler's Str in damage, this is a primary natural attack. They also gain 2 hoof attacks that do 1d4 + 1/2 the Channeler's Str in damage, these are secondary natural attacks.

The Wasp:
Channelers who channel The Wasp gain a sting attack that does 1d4+ 1/2 Str damage. This attack also poisons the target, dealing 1 point of Wis damage per round unless the target succeeds on a Fort save equal to (10+1/2 Class level+ Con Modifier). Additionally, at 8th level Channelers who channel The Wasp gain a fly speed(good) equal to their movement speed as long as they channel The Wasp.

The Shark:
Channelers who channel The Shark gain a swim speed equal to their land speed, and do not need to breathe while underwater. They also gain a bite attack that does 1d8+ double the Channeler's Str in damage, this is a primary natural attack.

The Mole:
Channelers who channel The Mole gain a burrow speed equal to their land speed and do not need to breath while burrowing. They gain two claw attacks that do 1d6+Str as primary natural attacks.




Major Souls (count: 11)

The Flame:
Channelers who channel The Flame gain Fire resistance equal to their Class Level, a +10 ft. enhancement to their base land speed and The Improved Initiative feat. They gain two slam attacks that do 1d8+Str damage as primary natural attacks and all of their attacks do an extra 1d6 fire damage with each hit.

The Frost:
Channelers who channel The Frost gain Cold Resistance equal to their Class Level, a 60 ft. swim speed and the ability to breate underwater. They gain two slam attacks that do 1d8+Str damage as primary natural attacks and all of their attacks do an extra 1d6 Ice damage with each hit.

The Storm:
Channelers who channel The Storm gain Electricity Resistance equal to their Class Leveland a fly speed of 60 ft. with perfect maneuverability. They gain two slam attacks that do 1d8+Str damage as primary natural attacks and all of their attacks do an extra 1d6 Electricity damage with each hit.

The Tremor:
Channelers who channel The Tremor gain Acid Resistance equal to their Class Level, a burrow speed of 60 feet and an armor bonus equal to 1/2 their class level. They gain two slam attacks that do 1d8+Str damage as primary natural attacks and all of their attacks do an extra 1d6 Acid damage with each hit.

The Drake:
Channelers who channel The Drake gain a bite attack that does 1d8+ 2x Str damage and two claw attacks that each do 1d6+ Str damage. The channeler also gains blindsense out to 30 ft. and low light vision.

The Roc:
Channelers who channel The Roc gain a 60 ft. Fly Speed (good) and the Flyby attack feat as a bonus feat. Additionally, While channeling The Roc, Channelers can fire up to three razor sharp feathers per round as a standard action. These feathers have a range increment of 40 ft. and deal 1d6+Str damage.

The Shadow:
Channelers that Channel The Shadow gain a touch attack that does 1d3 Str damage, useable as a standard action. They gain a bonus to Stealth equal to 1/2 their class level and can hide in plain sight so long as they are in dimly lit areas.

The Champion:
Channelers who channel The Champion increase by one size category and have a BAB equal to their character level, and gain proficiency with all martial weapons. They gain all the Improved Combat maneuver feats as bonus feats as long as they channel The Champion. In addition, they can summon a weapon to their side as a free action, this weapon can be any simple or martial melee weapon and gains a +1 bonus for every 4 Class levels the channeler has.

The False:
Channelers who channel The False gain a bonus to Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Bluff and Disguise Self equal to 1/2 their class level. They can use Alter Self as a spell like ability at will, and Invisibility 3/day as a spell like ability. They also gain +1d6 sneak attack damage for every 2 levels of Channeler.

The Stalker:
Channelers who channel The Stalker gain a bonus to Acrobatics, Handle Animal, Perception, and Survival survival skill checks equal to 1/2 their class level and can make these checks untrained. They can use Magic Fang as spell like ability 1/hour and gain a single favored enemy (as the ranger class feature, chosen when The Stalker is channeled).

The Berserker:
Channelers who channel The Berserker gain a bonus on all Strength and Dexterity related skill checks equal to 1/4 their class level and DR/- equal to 1/4 their class levels. They gain a second pair of arms, which allows them to use claw attacks from two other souls, and a rend attack. If the Channeler hits with two or more claw attacks in a round, they can rend their target dealing an additional 1d10+Str damage.


Grand Souls (count: 8)

The Dragon:
Channelers who Channel The Dragon gain a bite attack that does 2d10+ 2x Str damage and two claw attacks that do 2d8+ Str damage as primary natural attacks. They gain a Flight speed of 100 Ft. (good), immunity to any one energy type and a breath weapon (30 ft cone or 60 ft. Line) useable every 1d4 rounds that does 1d6 damage/ 2 Class levels. The damage of the breath weapon is the same as the chosen energy type. Creatures caught in the blast may make a reflex save (10+1/2 Channeler Level+ Con) for half damage.

The Giant:
Channelers who Channel The Giant grow to Huge size, gaining +16 Size bonus to Strength, a +8 Size bonus to Constitution, and a +5 Size bonus to its natural armor, but they take a –4 penalty to Dexterity. This size change also give the creature a –2 size penalty to its AC and attack rolls, a +2 bonus to its CMB and CMD, 15 Foot reach, a –4 penalty on Fly skill checks, and a –8 penalty on Stealth skill checks. All of the Channeler's natural attacks and unarmed strikes deal damage as if they were Two size categories larger. The Channeler gains the Rock Catching (ex) and Rock Throwing (ex) abilities. The Channeler's Rocks have a range increment of 120 ft. and deal 5d6+ Str damage.

The Tarrasque:
Channelers who Channel The Tarrasque gain a bite attack (4d8+Str), two claw attacks (1d12+Str), two gore attacks (1d10+Str) and a tail slap (3d8+Str). The Channeler gains Regeneration 5, the pounce ability and Light Fortification. While channeling The Tarrasque, the Channeller cannot distinguish friend from foe, and must attack whoever is closest.

The Virtuous:
Channelers who channel The Virtuous gain SR 11+Class Level against spells cast by evil creatures. Their natural and manufactured attacks are treated as good aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. They gain immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits. They can smite evil creatures as a paladin of their class level and can channel positive energy as a cleric of their level a number of times equal to 3+Wis modifier.
A channeler must be Good to bond with The Virtuous.

The Vile:
Channelers who channel The Vile gain SR 11+Class Level against spells cast by good creatures. Their natural and manufactured attacks are treated as evil aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. They gain immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits. They can smite good creatures as a blackguard of their class level and can channel negative energy as a cleric of their level a number of times equal to 3+Wis modifier.
A channeler must be Evil to bond with The Vile.

The Just:
Channelers who channel The Just gain SR 11+Class Level against spells cast by chaotic creatures. Their natural and manufactured attacks are treated as lawful aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. They gain immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits. They can smite Chaotic creatures as a paladin of their class level and can channel positive or negative energy (chosen each time the Channeler channels The Just) as a cleric of their level a number of times equal to 3+Wis modifier.
A channeler must be Lawful to bond with The Just.

The Anarchic:
Channelers who channel The Anarchic gain SR 11+Class Level against spells cast by lawful creatures. Their natural and manufactured attacks are treated as chaotic aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. They gain immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits. They can smite lawful creatures as a paladin of their class level and can channel positive energy or negative (determined randomly each time it is channeled) as a cleric of their level a number of times equal to 3+Wis modifier.
A channeler must be Chaotic to bond with The Anarchic.

The Pure:
Channelers who channel The Pure gain SR 11+Class Level against spells cast by non-True Neutral creatures. Their natural and manufactured attacks are treated as good/evil/chaotic/lawful aligned for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. They gain immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits. They can smite non-True Neutral creatures as a paladin of their class level and can channel positive or negative energy as a cleric of their level a number of times equal to 3+Wis modifier.
A channeler must be True Neutral to bond with The Pure.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-23, 01:55 PM
Feats


Extra Channel
Prerequisites:Channel Class Feature
Benefit: You can channel for 6 additional rounds per day.
Special: You can select this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.

Extra Bonded Soul
Prerequisites: Bonded Soul Class Feature
Benefit: Choose a Soul from the list of Souls you are eligible to bond with. You can now Channel that Soul in addition to the ones your class features normally allow you to select.
Special: You can select this feat multiple times.

Empowered Channel
Prerequisites: Channel Class Feature, BAB +7
Benefit: You can apply a +4 morale bonus to an additional stat when you use your Channel Class feature, but you must also select another stat to apply a -2 penalty to.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-23, 08:16 PM
Added more Souls to channel and some feats. Please let me know what you think?

Brova
2013-06-23, 10:13 PM
My first impression is that it seems like it could probably be done just as well with incarnum and/or binding. The chasis seems a little weak, especially without a broader selection of abilities.

It also seems like this should just channel things like "The Knave" or "The Dragon" rather than the names you're currently using. One possibility for a naming scheme is to go Animals (i.e. The Wolf) > People (i.e. The Priest) > Monsters (i.e. The Kraken)

The biggest conceptual problem is adding more souls to channel. Do that and fixing power level concerns is a matter of almost exclusively tweaking numbers.

EDIT: Because my first post seemed less than helpful, here are some ideas for stuff to channel:

The Knight: Gives allies defensive bonus and challenges monsters.

The Fool: Illusions, Maneuverability and Sneak Attack.

The Rat: Disease and a Bite.

The Titan: Lightning Bolts, Thrown Boulders and a Freezing Aura.

The Wolf: Bonus to flanking and trip.

The Dragon: Breath Weapon, Flight, Elemental immunity.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-23, 10:26 PM
My first impression is that it seems like it could probably be done just as well with incarnum and/or binding. The chasis seems a little weak, especially without a broader selection of abilities.

I mentioned in the Foreword (spoiler at the top) that I didn't want to port over Incarnum/binding to PF. I'm trying to practice my own homebrewing skills here.:smallamused:


It also seems like this should just channel things like "The Knave" or "The Dragon" rather than the names you're currently using. One possibility for a naming scheme is to go Animals (i.e. The Wolf) > People (i.e. The Priest) > Monsters (i.e. The Kraken)

I'd toyed with a number of different naming schemes. Oddly enough, the names for the Regular Souls are just the names of animals, but in different languages. Swahili and Irish specifically, with some slight modifications to account for my limited understanding of using unusual text symbols.

I'd thought about some sort of Tarot theme, but I'm kind of burnt out on Tarot lately.


The biggest conceptual problem is adding more souls to channel. Do that and fixing power level concerns is a matter of almost exclusively tweaking numbers.

EDIT: Because my first post seemed less than helpful, here are some ideas for stuff to channel:

The Knight: Gives allies defensive bonus and challenges monsters.

The Fool: Illusions, Maneuverability and Sneak Attack.

The Rat: Disease and a Bite.

The Titan: Lightning Bolts, Thrown Boulders and a Freezing Aura.

The Wolf: Bonus to flanking and trip.

The Dragon: Breath Weapon, Flight, Elemental immunity.

I do need more souls to channel, I'll be adding them during my free time over the next couple of days. I also need to read up on my natural attack rules to make sure I'm doing things right.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-24, 05:34 PM
Added more Souls, really hoping someone will take a look at them and tell me how far I overshot myself.

GnomeWorks
2013-06-24, 07:29 PM
"-2 penalty to any ability score of your choice" means they'll take -2 to their Charisma, 99% of the time. I would suggest tying the ability score penalty to the soul chosen. Also, when binding multiple souls, do you apply multiple instances of this status (+4 to one stat, -2 to another), or just do it once whenever you channel, regardless of soul count?

Are the daily abilities of souls refreshed if you unbind and rebind that soul? So if I bind The False, use up the three uses of invisibility somehow, unbind it, then bind it again later, do I have those three uses again?

Perfect Channel... um, hrm. Oh, and a feat to channel more at once? Yeah, I don't have the time just this second to break that, but I probably could if I had the inclination, and probably fairly easily.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-24, 07:38 PM
"-2 penalty to any ability score of your choice" means they'll take -2 to their Charisma, 99% of the time. I would suggest tying the ability score penalty to the soul chosen. Also, when binding multiple souls, do you apply multiple instances of this status (+4 to one stat, -2 to another), or just do it once whenever you channel, regardless of soul count?

It's just once when you channel. There's a feat that gives you a second +4 and -2, but that's a feat. It's along the lines of the Alchemist's mutagen or the Barbarian's rage, but decidedly less powerful.


Are the daily abilities of souls refreshed if you unbind and rebind that soul? So if I bind The False, use up the three uses of invisibility somehow, unbind it, then bind it again later, do I have those three uses again?

The dailies don't refresh, but I'll put that in their descriptions for clarity's sake.


Perfect Channel... um, hrm. Oh, and a feat to channel more at once? Yeah, I don't have the time just this second to break that, but I probably could if I had the inclination, and probably fairly easily.

Perfected Channel is a capstone ability, by the time you get that you're 20 levels into a class, that means no multiclassing, no PRCs. It's meant to be a reward for following through. The PF Barbarian has a similar capstone.

The Extra Bonded Soul feat only allows you to pick another soul to bond with. There is no feat that allows you to add extra souls above and beyond the 4 that the class allows you to bond with. Without that feat, you can only pick 10 of the (currently) 28 available souls. If you took that feat at every opportunity you'd still only have 20 of the souls available to use.

GnomeWorks
2013-06-24, 08:24 PM
It's just once when you channel. There's a feat that gives you a second +4 and -2, but that's a feat. It's along the lines of the Alchemist's mutagen or the Barbarian's rage, but decidedly less powerful.

Fair enough. I still think you should specify where the penalty goes, or else it will be put somewhere that it doesn't impact the character's abilities in any meaningful way.


The dailies don't refresh, but I'll put that in their descriptions for clarity's sake.

Yes, do. Clarity is important.


Perfected Channel is a capstone ability, by the time you get that you're 20 levels into a class, that means no multiclassing, no PRCs. It's meant to be a reward for following through. The PF Barbarian has a similar capstone.

The game doesn't necessarily stop at 20. My current game has characters in the 24-26 range, with a number of NPC allies in the 22-28 range, with their current main antagonist at 32.

Looking at the barbarian... no, no it really doesn't.

Your bonuses are untyped. You are now getting four of them. Cool, I'll take... dragon, giant, and... the shadow and the champion. So I'll take all the bonuses from all of those and stack them, and proceed to be a very, very dangerous melee combatant who is also incorporeal, so my crazy size is now no longer an issue, either.

I would have gone with tarrasque, but the inability to distinguish friend from foe is a very big drawback, so that's pretty much almost unusable.

I understand the desire to have big capstone abilities. It does, and always has, made sense. However, the point of those abilities should be to make the player feel like there's a decision to make: do I go this way, and get this ability; or do I go that way, and get that ability? It should never be bad enough that players will never finish the class, but also never so good that they will ignore anything else just to get it.


The Extra Bonded Soul feat only allows you to pick another soul to bond with.

Ah. Your wording there could use some work, then. I can see why it works the way you say it does (and that makes infinitely more sense), but the wording as present is somewhat vague.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-24, 08:38 PM
Fair enough. I still think you should specify where the penalty goes, or else it will be put somewhere that it doesn't impact the character's abilities in any meaningful way.

Considering people will be dumping one stat or the other depending on their preference (intelligence is another option, since the penalty doesn't meaningfully affect skills anyway), it doesn't really bother me that much if they min/max that.




Yes, do. Clarity is important.

It's under the Bonded Soul (lesser) class feature.



The game doesn't necessarily stop at 20. My current game has characters in the 24-26 range, with a number of NPC allies in the 22-28 range, with their current main antagonist at 32.

Looking at the barbarian... no, no it really doesn't.

I'm in a campaign like that right now as well. I didn't build beyond 20 because Pathfinder currently lacks support for Epic Levels, and its a territory I don't feel qualified to tread in. I may just drop the capstone.


Your bonuses are untyped. You are now getting four of them. Cool, I'll take... dragon, giant, and... the shadow and the champion. So I'll take all the bonuses from all of those and stack them, and proceed to be a very, very dangerous melee combatant who is also incorporeal, so my crazy size is now no longer an issue, either.

Bonuses are untyped because I'm unsure how to type them. The Abilities are all Su, but since they're mostly providing attacks instead of ability score increases, I'm having trouble with that bit. Any suggestions?


I would have gone with tarrasque, but the inability to distinguish friend from foe is a very big drawback, so that's pretty much almost unusable.


A Channeler can begin to Channel as a free action.

A Channeler can cease Channeling at any time as a free action.

It's a "run into the middle of the enemy army and wreak havoc" kind of ability. No, don't use it near anyone you actually like. But you're effectively immortal while using it.


I understand the desire to have big capstone abilities. It does, and always has, made sense. However, the point of those abilities should be to make the player feel like there's a decision to make: do I go this way, and get this ability; or do I go that way, and get that ability? It should never be bad enough that players will never finish the class, but also never so good that they will ignore anything else just to get it.

I may just drop the capstone at this point. The Grand Souls are quite powerful already, even discounting that they're currently the only souls with restrictions.



Ah. Your wording there could use some work, then. I can see why it works the way you say it does (and that makes infinitely more sense), but the wording as present is somewhat vague.

I'll see if I can reword it, but I basically copypasted the Extra Rage Power feat, which has a number of different permutations for each PF class.

BTW, thanks so much for your help with this!

GnomeWorks
2013-06-24, 08:56 PM
...it doesn't really bother me that much if they min/max that.

Fair enough.


It's under the Bonded Soul (lesser) class feature.

Bueno.


I'm in a campaign like that right now as well. I didn't build beyond 20 because Pathfinder currently lacks support for Epic Levels, and its a territory I don't feel qualified to tread in. I may just drop the capstone.

You don't need to build beyond 20, just ensure that your level 20 abilities aren't "and now you break the game."


Bonuses are untyped because I'm unsure how to type them. The Abilities are all Su, but since they're mostly providing attacks instead of ability score increases, I'm having trouble with that bit. Any suggestions?

Type them. It doesn't matter what type they are, just type them so they don't stack. If it were me, I'd probably call them insight bonuses, due to the nature of the class, but you could honestly call them anything. What matters here is that typed bonuses don't stack with themselves (with the exceptions of dodge bonuses and armor bonuses from armor and shields), while untyped bonuses stack with all other bonuses.

Honestly, though, I don't think it helps: the build I presented above doesn't actually use too many stacking bonuses, it just abuses clearly evident existing synergies.


It's a "run into the middle of the enemy army and wreak havoc" kind of ability. No, don't use it near anyone you actually like. But you're effectively immortal while using it.

Hmm. You and I have very different definitions of "effectively immortal."


I may just drop the capstone at this point. The Grand Souls are quite powerful already, even discounting that they're currently the only souls with restrictions.

...what restrictions, the alignment things? You did notice that I pretty much ignored those, right? They're just not as good as the first few for the intent of this class.

And actually, the capstone isn't the problem here (it's further making it crazy, but it - by itself - is not absurd). The problem is the "bond extra souls" thing. I would probably do some sort of thing where better souls take up more slots: so you can bind four, but grand souls count as four souls, so you can only bind one at a time. Major would count as two, lesser as one.


I'll see if I can reword it, but I basically copypasted the Extra Rage Power feat, which has a number of different permutations for each PF class.

The problem here is that the "can select another soul to bond with" wording is... well, you bond with souls, and you have souls to bond with. So you need to be more clear.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-24, 08:59 PM
Updated the class table, removed capstone ability, cleared up a few vagaries in the system:

Only one Grand Soul can be channeled at a time now

Natural attacks of the same type (claws, bite, gore, hooves, etc.) do not stack unless explicitly stated)

Reworded Extra Bonded Soul feat

Basic Channeled Soul boost is Morale. Giant's Stat boost is Size.

For Posterity/Clarity: Bonding with a Soul allows you to Channel that Soul. Channeling that soul is what gives you its bonuses.

GnomeWorks
2013-06-24, 09:14 PM
Needs moah powah.

Hrm... throw mettle and improved mettle in there. This class is very Fort/Will, and it seems to fit the concept.

And... well, looking at other tier 3 PF classes, that should probably be fine.

Elricaltovilla
2013-06-24, 11:08 PM
On The Tarrasque Soul, the regeneration 5 is untyped which means it can't be overcome. And the PFSRD has this to say about Regeneration:



Regeneration (Ex)
A creature with this ability is difficult to kill. Creatures with regeneration heal damage at a fixed rate, as with fast healing, but they cannot die as long as their regeneration is still functioning (although creatures with regeneration still fall unconscious when their hit points are below 0). Certain attack forms, typically fire and acid, cause a creature’s regeneration to stop functioning on the round following the attack. During this round, the creature does not heal any damage and can die normally. The creature's descriptive text describes the types of damage that cause the regeneration to cease functioning.



So, while ability damage or drain could still kill the Channeler, regular HP damage won't kill them unless the Regeneration is overcome. It doesn't mean they can't be put down until the regeneration wears off, but as long as its on, they're unkillable.