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Everynone
2013-07-21, 05:18 PM
Planar Conduit

"I'm not evil. I just don't argue with amoral methods when they work." - Rahna Sparke, a negative Planar Conduit

Beyond the prime material lies many different planes of existence. The elemental, the heavenly, the torturous, even those with no rhyme or reason. And, perhaps most importantly, the planes of energy. These two planes, corresponding to positive and negative energy, are constantly drawn into the prime, be it as spellpower, natural emissions causing a more prevalent type of energy in an area, or simply as residual magic from times long past. This deep connection to the 'real' world is not lost on scholars of the arcane and divine arts.

Some individuals seek to form a more complex understanding of these energy planes, eventually becoming so intertwined with their chosen type of energy that they can form rifts between the prime material and one of the two planes almost at a whim. While both positive and negative energy can be used for equally dangerous of benevolent purposes, the forces at work in the essence of the energy itself tends to have a corrupting effect on those who try to tame it.


Hit Die: d8


Requirements

To qualify to become a planar conduit, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Alignment: Any non-evil (for positive conduits) or any non-good (for negative conduits)

Skills: Knowledge (the planes) 10 ranks

Feat: Greater Spell Focus (conjuration) (for positive conduits) or (necromancy) (for negative conduits)

Spellcasting: Able to cast 3rd level arcane or divine spells. In the former case, must know at least two Positive Energy or Negative Energy spells, according to conduit type.

Special: Must be able to channel positive energy (for positive conduits) or negative energy (for negative conduits). Alternatively, must have at one point been to the positive energy plane or negative energy plane, respectively, and survived to return to the prime material plane.


Class Skills

The planar conduit's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier


Class Features

All of the following are class features of the planar conduit prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Planar conduits are proficient with simple weapons, but not with any shields or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: Every level, the character gains new spells per day (or spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a divine or arcane spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine or arcane spellcasting class before becoming a planar conduit, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

Conduct Energy (Su): Upon taking the first level of this prestige class, a character must select either the positive or negative energy plane to draw their powers from, according to which they qualify for based on the prerequisites above. This choice grants them greater control over their body's reactions to the energy of that plane.

Positive Energy Plane: Healing spells grant a regeneration bonus equal to the spell's level for a number of rounds equal to the planar conduit's class level.
Negative Energy Plane: Spells that deal negative energy damage heal the planar conduit, much as they do undead, though she is not harmed by positive energy.


Channel Energy (Su): A planar conduit acts as a living gateway between the prime material plane and their chosen energy plane, allowing small fractures to occur in the makeup of the universe. These fractures expel slivers of energy, which the planar conduit can shape into a blast of their choosing. Positive planar conduits' bursts heal living creatures and deal damage to undead ones, as noted on Table: The Planar Conduit. Negative planar conduits deal damage to living creatures and heal undead at the same values.

A planar conduit can use this ability on herself as a swift action, but using it on another is a move action. A willing target is automatically affected, while unwilling targets must be hit with a melee touch attack.

The planar conduit can use Channel Energy a number of times per day equal to her class level + her Int, Wis, or Cha modifier, whichever is highest.

Energetic Enhancement (Su): At 3rd level, a planar conduit can grant herself or her targets additional benefits when they are targeted by Channel Energy. These benefits only apply when the target is successfully healed by Channel Energy, and the effect lasts for 1 minute per class level. Multiple uses of Channel Energy do not allow this bonus to stack, nor do they reset the time expired since the bonus was granted.

Positive Energy Enhancement: Grants a bonus of 1 + the modifier of the planar conduit's highest mental attribute modifier to Constitution, and regeneration equal to her class level. The Constitution bonus increases to 2 + modifier at 5th level and 3 + modifier at 8th.
Negative Energy Enhancement: Grants a bonus of 1 + the modifier of the planar conduit's highest mental attribute modifier to Strength, and damage reduction equal to her class level. The damage reduction cannot be bypassed, but it only affects physical damage. The Strength bonus increases to 2 + modifier at 5th level and 3 + modifier at 8th.


Ranged Channel (Su): A 4th level, the planar conduit can use Channel Energy as a ranged touch attack, rather than a melee touch attack.

Imbue Spell (Su): Twice per day at 6th level, the planar conduit can summon the energy necessary to form an offensive spell directly from the plane they are bonded to, increasing its potency. Only a spell that deals damage can be imbued in such a way. The spell deals entirely positive energy damage if cast by a positive conduit (thus dealing an extra 1.5x damage to undead, but no damage to living creatures), or entirely negative energy damage if cast by a negative conduit (thus dealing an extra 1.5x damage to living creatures, but no damage to undead). In either case, the spell deal an additional 1d6 damage per 2 class levels, and its DC (if any) is improved by 2.

Light's Wrath/Dark Rage (Su): Twice per day at 8th level, the planar conduit can grant herself or an ally within 20 feet great strength as a move action. This ability lasts for 1 round per class level.

Light's Wrath: Positive conduits grant an increase to Armor Class equal to their class level, and half this bonus to all attack rolls for the duration of the effect.
Dark Rage: Negative conduits grant an increase in all damage dealt equal to their class level, and a +30 bonus to base land speed for the duration of the effect.


Planar Rift (Su): Once per day at 9th level, the planar conduit can trap a single enemy in their bonded plane for 3 rounds as a standard action. There is no saving throw for this effect, and it ignores spell resistance, though nothing prevents the target from simply teleporting back to the prime material plane if they have the ability. Regardless of which plane they are sent to, the target takes damage equal to the planar conduit's class level × her highest mental attribute's modifier for every round they remain.

Positive Secondary Effect: Any undead creature so transported must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + planar conduit level) or be instantly destroyed upon arriving. If they succeed, they still take the normal amounts of damage per round they remain.
Negative Secondary Effect: Any living creature so transported must make a Will save (DC = 10 + planar conduit level) or be paralyzed for 2 rounds after returning to the prime material.


Energy Being (Su): At 10th level, the planar conduit has become so firmly bound to their chosen plane that they have taken on attributes of the plane itself. Her creature type becomes Outsider (with the exception that she can be raised from the dead as per a normal creature of her former type), she becomes completely immune to mind-affecting spells and any spells with an energy component that matched her chosen plane, and gains a permanent +2 bonus to Charisma.

However, positive conduits take double damage from all negative energy effects and have a -2 penalty to saving throws made against necromancy spells, and negative conduits take damage from positive energy such as healing just as undead do.


Table: The Planar Conduit
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Refl|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Channel Energy 1d6, Conduct Energy|+1 to existing class
2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Channel Energy 2d6|+1 to existing class
3rd|+1|+3|+1|+3|Channel Energy 3d6, Energetic Enhancement|+1 to existing class
4th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Channel Energy 4d8, Ranged Channel|+1 to existing class
5th|+2|+4|+1|+4|Channel Energy 5d8|+1 to existing class
6th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Channel Energy 6d8, Imbue Spell|+1 to existing class
7th|+3|+5|+2|+5|Channel Energy 7d8|+1 to existing class
8th|+4|+6|+2|+6|Channel Energy 8d10, Light’s Wrath/Dark Rage|+1 to existing class
9th|+4|+6|+3|+6|Channel Energy 9d10, Planar Rift|+1 to existing class
10th|+5|+7|+3|+7|Channel Energy 10d10, Energy Being|+1 to existing class[/table]

Network
2013-07-23, 12:49 PM
I'll review the class features in order.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Planar conduits are proficient with simple weapons, but not with any shields or armor.
Giving proficiency through a prestige class is non standard. Chances are good they are already proficient with simple weapons anyway.

Spells per Day/Spells Known: Every level, the character gains new spells per day (or spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a divine or arcane spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one divine or arcane spellcasting class before becoming a planar conduit, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.
That's standard, although given the impressive number of class features, they should probably not have full spellcasting.

Conduct Energy (Su): Upon taking the first level of this prestige class, a character must select either the positive or negative energy plane to draw their powers from, according to which they qualify for based on the prerequisites above. This choice grants them greater control over their body's reactions to the energy of that plane.

Positive Energy Plane: Healing spells grant a regeneration bonus equal to the spell's level for a number of rounds equal to the planar conduit's class level.
Negative Energy Plane: Spells that deal negative energy damage heal the planar conduit, much as they do undead, though she is not harmed by positive energy.

What is a regeneration bonus? If you meant regeneration, how do you bypass it?
Being healed by negative and positive energy is a major benefit. The Entropic creature template (PlH) has LA +2 and doesn't even grant a full immunity. A 3rd party class, the Savant of the Dead, has this feature as its 10th-level capstone. And its not a weak class by itself.

Channel Energy (Su): A planar conduit acts as a living gateway between the prime material plane and their chosen energy plane, allowing small fractures to occur in the makeup of the universe. These fractures expel slivers of energy, which the planar conduit can shape into a blast of their choosing. Positive planar conduits' bursts heal living creatures and deal damage to undead ones, as noted on Table: The Planar Conduit. Negative planar conduits deal damage to living creatures and heal undead at the same values.

A planar conduit can use this ability on herself as a swift action, but using it on another is a move action. A willing target is automatically affected, while unwilling targets must be hit with a melee touch attack.

The planar conduit can use Channel Energy a number of times per day equal to her class level + her Int, Wis, or Cha modifier, whichever is highest.
Attacking an enemy as a move action for 10d10 damage a high number of times per day? That alone would be impressive, even as a capstone.

Energetic Enhancement (Su): At 3rd level, a planar conduit can grant herself or her targets additional benefits when they are targeted by Channel Energy. These benefits only apply when the target is successfully healed by Channel Energy, and the effect lasts for 1 minute per class level. Multiple uses of Channel Energy do not allow this bonus to stack, nor do they reset the time expired since the bonus was granted.

Positive Energy Enhancement: Grants a bonus of 1 + the modifier of the planar conduit's highest mental attribute modifier to Constitution, and regeneration equal to her class level. The Constitution bonus increases to 2 + modifier at 5th level and 3 + modifier at 8th.
Negative Energy Enhancement: Grants a bonus of 1 + the modifier of the planar conduit's highest mental attribute modifier to Strength, and damage reduction equal to her class level. The damage reduction cannot be bypassed, but it only affects physical damage. The Strength bonus increases to 2 + modifier at 5th level and 3 + modifier at 8th.

Aside from the fact it doesn't specify how the regeneration works, I don't see anything wrong with this class feature.

Ranged Channel (Su): A 4th level, the planar conduit can use Channel Energy as a ranged touch attack, rather than a melee touch attack.
Kind of make sense.

Imbue Spell (Su): Twice per day at 6th level, the planar conduit can summon the energy necessary to form an offensive spell directly from the plane they are bonded to, increasing its potency. Only a spell that deals damage can be imbued in such a way. The spell deals entirely positive energy damage if cast by a positive conduit (thus dealing an extra 1.5x damage to undead, but no damage to living creatures), or entirely negative energy damage if cast by a negative conduit (thus dealing an extra 1.5x damage to living creatures, but no damage to undead). In either case, the spell deal an additional 1d6 damage per 2 class levels, and its DC (if any) is improved by 2.
Dealing an extra 1.5x damage against X is in addition to transforming the damage into positive/negative energy. It is not a result of the damage change.

Light's Wrath/Dark Rage (Su): Twice per day at 8th level, the planar conduit can grant herself or an ally within 20 feet great strength as a move action. This ability lasts for 1 round per class level.

Light's Wrath: Positive conduits grant an increase to Armor Class equal to their class level, and half this bonus to all attack rolls for the duration of the effect.
Dark Rage: Negative conduits grant an increase in all damage dealt equal to their class level, and a +30 bonus to base land speed for the duration of the effect.

For once, positive conduits get something actually better than negative conduits. But its the kind of thing that expands the gap between fighting classes and spellcasters, as it makes you unbeatable in melee.

Planar Rift (Su): Once per day at 9th level, the planar conduit can trap a single enemy in their bonded plane for 3 rounds as a standard action. There is no saving throw for this effect, and it ignores spell resistance, though nothing prevents the target from simply teleporting back to the prime material plane if they have the ability. Regardless of which plane they are sent to, the target takes damage equal to the planar conduit's class level × her highest mental attribute's modifier for every round they remain.

Positive Secondary Effect: Any undead creature so transported must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + planar conduit level) or be instantly destroyed upon arriving. If they succeed, they still take the normal amounts of damage per round they remain.
Negative Secondary Effect: Any living creature so transported must make a Will save (DC = 10 + planar conduit level) or be paralyzed for 2 rounds after returning to the prime material.

I can hardly comment on these, but excluding an enemy from battle (and killing them for sure if they are not a 9th-level cleric or a 13th-level wizard) seems too much for me.

Energy Being (Su): At 10th level, the planar conduit has become so firmly bound to their chosen plane that they have taken on attributes of the plane itself. Her creature type becomes Outsider (with the exception that she can be raised from the dead as per a normal creature of her former type), she becomes completely immune to mind-affecting spells and any spells with an energy component that matched her chosen plane, and gains a permanent +2 bonus to Charisma.

However, positive conduits take double damage from all negative energy effects and have a -2 penalty to saving throws made against necromancy spells, and negative conduits take damage from positive energy such as healing just as undead do.
Really, this capstone sucks. The negative far outweights having a mostly useless type change and a +2 bonus to charisma (which comes seemingly out of nowhere).

Overneath
2013-07-23, 04:26 PM
Thanks for the feedback, Network.


Giving proficiency through a prestige class is non standard. Chances are good they are already proficient with simple weapons anyway.

This was intended so that a wizard who takes the Prestige Class is on the same Weapon Proficiency level as a cleric who takes the Prestige Class. Not a major concern, though it may be removed at some point, given that those who use this PrC should only use weapons as a last resort.


That's standard, although given the impressive number of class features, they should probably not have full spellcasting.

If this wasn't a spellcaster Prestige Class, I'd agree with you. As it is, PrC's designed for pure casters without full spellcasting progression have always irked us phenomenally.


What is a regeneration bonus? If you meant regeneration, how do you bypass it?
Being healed by negative and positive energy is a major benefit. The Entropic creature template (PlH) has LA +2 and doesn't even grant a full immunity. A 3rd party class, the Savant of the Dead, has this feature as its 10th-level capstone. And its not a weak class by itself.

Mm, true. We wanted to save the vulnerabilities for the capstone transformation, but this does need a vulnerability. Also, this regeneration is intentionally unable to be bypassed - you ALWAYS heal that number of hit points per round, no matter what you're hit with.


Attacking an enemy as a move action for 10d10 damage a high number of times per day? That alone would be impressive, even as a capstone.

Lowering the damage from a dice progression to a more linear one is in the works. We figured this one was too powerful as-is, but wanted to make sure.


Aside from the fact it doesn't specify how the regeneration works, I don't see anything wrong with this class feature.

I would've thought the term regeneration was self-explanatory. How much detail does the bonus need?


Dealing an extra 1.5x damage against X is in addition to transforming the damage into positive/negative energy. It is not a result of the damage change.

Thanks, we'll work on rephrasing that.


For once, positive conduits get something actually better than negative conduits. But its the kind of thing that expands the gap between fighting classes and spellcasters, as it makes you unbeatable in melee.

I'll have to disagree with you, there. Unless you were already a gish, even +10 to Attack and AC will not make a true monster out of you. Not alone, anyway. That said, we'll work on rebalancing here.


I can hardly comment on these, but excluding an enemy from battle (and killing them for sure if they are not a 9th-level cleric or a 13th-level wizard) seems too much for me.

It only lasts for 3 rounds on anybody. Having access to Plane Shift only allows you to escape a little earlier.


Really, this capstone sucks. The negative far outweights having a mostly useless type change and a +2 bonus to charisma (which comes seemingly out of nowhere).

I concur. Incidentally, the +2 Charisma was supposed to be +2 to your highest mental attribute. Don't know where the singular bonus came from. That said, do you have a suggestion for a potentially better one?

Thanks again for the review, it's given us food for thought.

Network
2013-07-24, 12:26 PM
This was intended so that a wizard who takes the Prestige Class is on the same Weapon Proficiency level as a cleric who takes the Prestige Class. Not a major concern, though it may be removed at some point, given that those who use this PrC should only use weapons as a last resort.
You made me notice the Wizard doesn't get simple weapons proficiency. Anyway, this is not a major concern.

If this wasn't a spellcaster Prestige Class, I'd agree with you. As it is, PrC's designed for pure casters without full spellcasting progression have always irked us phenomenally.
Okay, you just have to tone down the class features to make up for it.

Mm, true. We wanted to save the vulnerabilities for the capstone transformation, but this does need a vulnerability. Also, this regeneration is intentionally unable to be bypassed - you ALWAYS heal that number of hit points per round, no matter what you're hit with.
I that case, giving Tomb-Tainted Soul as a bonus feat for negative conduits seems fair. And maybe give something else if you are undead or already have the feat.
For positive conduits, I suggest you give fast healing instead of regeneration. Regeneration has always specific mentions, like how do you bypass it (or if you can at all), or how long does it take to regrow limbs. And you don't need a Constitution score to have fast healing.

Lowering the damage from a dice progression to a more linear one is in the works. We figured this one was too powerful as-is, but wanted to make sure.
1d6/2 levels, rounded up, seems fair for me. That may be weak, but it only requires a move action, so they have time to cast a spell on top of it. They have full spellcasting, so class features should not give them a major boost.

I would've thought the term regeneration was self-explanatory. How much detail does the bonus need?
Usually, the regeneration line always contains mention on what bypass it (or if it can be bypassed at all), how long does it take for limbs to regrow, and weither or not body parts can be reattached. But as I mentioned above, fast healing may be more appropriate if you don't want to be so specific.

I'll have to disagree with you, there. Unless you were already a gish, even +10 to Attack and AC will not make a true monster out of you. Not alone, anyway. That said, we'll work on rebalancing here.
My mistake. I thought it was the target's class level that was used. This is not as powerful as I believed, though the bonus may be typed.

It only lasts for 3 rounds on anybody. Having access to Plane Shift only allows you to escape a little earlier.
Ok, I didn't notice that.

I concur. Incidentally, the +2 Charisma was supposed to be +2 to your highest mental attribute. Don't know where the singular bonus came from. That said, do you have a suggestion for a potentially better one?

Thanks again for the review, it's given us food for thought.
In most cases, when a class has a capstone that change the character type, it also gives damage reduction (usually 10/magic, but sometimes 10/material or 10/alignment). I don't have any specific idea about how yours should work, but the vulnerability should be reduced. Instead of 100% more damage, 50% seems good, with not penalty to the save.