PDA

View Full Version : She alone will stand against the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness (PrC)



Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-10, 01:36 PM
This is my first real attempt at a class and I'm sure there's loads of things wrong with it, so go easy on me here. I mean, by all means, point out whats wrong with it, just, please do it politely. I also wasn't sure whether it should be a prestige class or a base class. Either way, here it is.

The Slayer
{table=head]Level|Base AttackBonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+0|Turn undead, Ability boost (Str. +2), Dedicated path

2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+0|1st Favored Enemy

3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+1|Slay 1/day

4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+1|Ability boost (Dex +2), Bonus Feat

5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+1|Slay 2/day, Stake

6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+2|2nd Favored Enemy

7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+2|Ability boost (Con +2)

8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+2|Slay 3/day, Fists of Light, Bonus Feat

9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+3|3rd Favored Enemy

10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+3|Ability boost (Str. +2), Slay 4/day, Decapitating Strike[/table]

[B]Requirements:
Gender: Female
Alignment: Any good.
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike,
Special: The slayer is “called” and gains her powers when another slayer dies. You do not choose this prestige class, it chooses you.

Class skills:
A slayers class skills(and the relevant abilities) are: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str.), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (The Planes), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Tumble (Dex)

Skill points at each level: 4 + intelligence modifier

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor proficiencies: A slayer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, plus all types of crossbows, and light armor.

Turn Undead: A Slayer can turn undead as a cleric of the same level. If the slayer already has levels in a class with a turning ability, these levels stack for the purposes of turning checks.

Ability boost: As a slayer gains levels in this prestige class, her ability scores increase as noted on the chart. These increases stack and are gained as if through level advancement.

Dedicated Path: The path of the slayer requires total devotion. Any Slayer who takes a level of another class after her first level of Slayer can never take another level of Slayer. She retains all class features gained already.

Favored Enemy: This works exactly like the ranger ability of the same name, except that the enemy must be chosen from the following list: Undead, Outsider (Evil) or Outsider (Chaotic). Slayer levels do stack with ranger levels for purposes of determining favored enemies (A level 5 ranger/level 3 slayer could add a +2 bonus to any favored enemy.)

Slay: At 3rd level, the slayer gains the ability to add her slayer level to one attack or damage roll made against one of her slayer favored enemies. At 5th, 8th, and 10th level, additional uses of this ability are gained.

Bonus Feat: At fourth and eighth levels, the slayer gains a bonus feat. It must be chosen from the following list:
Combat Expertise, Improved disarm, Improved Feint, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring attack, Blindfight, Improved Critical, Improved Grapple, Weapon Finesse, Acrobatic strike, Bounding Assault, or Versatile Unarmed Strike

Stake: At fifth level, the Slayer has become adept at staking vampires. She adds a +2 to her attack bonus when fighting a vampire with any piercing weapon made of wood. In addition, when a critical hit is scored in such a situation, the vampire must make a reflex save (DC 10 + Slayer level + Str. Modifier) or be turned to dust.

Fists of Light: At eighth level, a slayers unarmed strikes count as good-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Decapitating Strike: At tenth level, the slayer becomes incredibly skilled at decapitating demons to take care of them once and for all. Any slashing weapon wielded by a slayer becomes vorpal when fighting one of her favored enemies.

Fax Celestis
2007-01-10, 01:41 PM
I'd make the ability to turn undead a prerequisite. Also, what about something like the Hunter of the Dead PrC (in CAdv), where they get extra 1d6/2d6/3d6 damage against undead targets.

Matthew
2007-01-10, 02:35 PM
Buffy doesn't have the ability to Turn Undead, does she?

Fax Celestis
2007-01-10, 02:39 PM
True enough.

Weezer
2007-01-10, 02:57 PM
I'm not sure but I think the ability score bonuses are a little too much. I have never seen a class that gives characters ability bonus's. Also why only Female?

Jibar
2007-01-10, 02:59 PM
Because, it is the Slayer class.
Also, I love you Gloobe. I truly do.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-10, 04:55 PM
She (and others on the show) frequently use crosses to scare vampires, which to me seemed like an application of turn undead.
Dragon Disciples get similar ability boosts, I tried to use those to gauge balance.

Fireball.Man.Guy.
2007-01-10, 04:58 PM
I'm not sure but I think the ability score bonuses are a little too much. I have never seen a class that gives characters ability bonus's. Also why only Female?

Dragon Diciple. To name 1.

Lapak
2007-01-10, 04:59 PM
And it's good that you incorporated balance, because they would have to be significantly higher if you were trying to be utterly accurate based on the source.

You'd probably have to give 'em Fast Healing or something, too, which would make it really inappropriate.

Fax Celestis
2007-01-10, 05:15 PM
And it's good that you incorporated balance, because they would have to be significantly higher if you were trying to be utterly accurate based on the source.

You'd probably have to give 'em Fast Healing or something, too, which would make it really inappropriate.

No, but you could give it Fast Healing X (where X is equal to 1/2 class level), but only effective on damage inflicted by undead, creatures with the [Evil] descriptor, and evil-aligned weapons. That wouldn't be too bad.

Reptilius
2007-01-10, 06:20 PM
Ahh...you bring warmth into an old fanboy's heart. It's also a good class. Gets my seal of approval (worth $0.50 on eBay). The whole dedication thing seems kinda shaky...maybe you could allow Monks, Paladins, and Fighters to continue leveling. Maybe Rangers too, but more than these three might be going too far. Could be too far already.

Roderick_BR
2007-01-10, 06:34 PM
Forsaker gives you +1 for one ability every time you level up.
Make turn undead useable only to activate Divine Feats, put First Favored Enemy on first level, and the strenght boost in the second.
This could do a good PrC for D20 Modern kind of games too.

The Special part should explain better how a character is called. It sounds like you can't choose not to take levels here. In some games, the character may choose to use diferent classes for it, like taking Cleric levels instead of Slayer levels.

Reptilius
2007-01-10, 06:42 PM
Do you have to just be good to get in? Or stay good throughout the levels? After all, I don't think I need to mention Faith. Even though I just did.

"She draped evil around herself like a giant evil Mexican sarape."
-Andrew, Season 7

Fax Celestis
2007-01-10, 06:47 PM
Mmm...Faith.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-10, 07:09 PM
Nice, I like it. I have to say it reminds me of the class I'm working on based off Neo.

Quellian-dyrae
2007-01-10, 07:24 PM
I'm not particularly experienced with the series, but just from a D&D standpoint, might I make the suggestion of good Fortitude and Will saves rather than Reflex? They seem like they'd be more helpful to someone hunting undead in general and (considering energy drain and dominate gazes) vampires in particular.

Reptilius
2007-01-10, 07:28 PM
I'm not particularly experienced with the series, but just from a D&D standpoint, might I make the suggestion of good Fortitude and Will saves rather than Reflex? They seem like they'd be more helpful to someone hunting undead in general and (considering energy drain and dominate gazes) vampires in particular.

I agree with the Fortitude, but none of the Slayers in the Series seemed any more...willful because of their Slayerdom. I think good Fort. and Ref. would make sense.

EDIT: I found that stakes do damge as if they were a small dagger.

The_Pope
2007-01-11, 02:39 AM
Ahah hah, this gave me a good laugh. Nice job with the whole thing.

One thing though, I think you might want to add in a little note about monk unarmed strikes, AC bonus, speed and slow fall abilities increasing as if it was taking a level in the monk class. Buffy rarely used weaponry, never wore armor, and was pretty damn fast in that series, which seems an awful lot like the monk class.

Lapak
2007-01-11, 11:27 AM
I agree with the Fortitude, but none of the Slayers in the Series seemed any more...willful because of their Slayerdom. I think good Fort. and Ref. would make sense.Makes sense to me as well. They're inhumanly tough and fast (Fort and Ref) but prone to depression and prophetic nightmares. Heck, one Slayer in the series gets out-and-out mesmerized by a vampire and just stands there while it kills her.

Matthew
2007-01-11, 12:08 PM
She (and others on the show) frequently use crosses to scare vampires, which to me seemed like an application of turn undead.

Sure, but even given that as a reasonable interpretation, it's fairly clear that anybody can do it in Buffy, not just the Slayer. The Slayer should definitely have Fast Healing, though. I would be inclined to give Good Saves all round, as well.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-11, 01:20 PM
In the interest of accuracy, I think her will save is pretty crappy. Kendra does get mesmerized by Dru, Buffy succumbs to Xanders love spell, there's plenty of other times when she succumbs to mind-affecting enchantments. I think I'm gonna up the fortitude, remove the turn undead, and somehow implement fast healing. Would that make this slightly overpowered? I'm thinking no, since most of the features only apply to certain types of enemies, but the ability boosts and the fast healing would apply against anyone. I'll post a new version later today.

Fax Celestis
2007-01-11, 01:32 PM
...there's plenty of other times when she succumbs to mind-affecting enchantments.

...Like Tabula Rasa or Once More With Feeling?

Matthew
2007-01-11, 01:40 PM
Sure, but then there's the time she overcomes the Master's Charm at the end of the First Season... it's all relative and comparative, I guess. I would be inclined to set her saves at full to mark her out from the other folk with reagard to Fortitude, Reflex and Willpower, but I can see the argument for why they might not be.

Jibar
2007-01-11, 02:19 PM
You could just make a magic item to go along with the class. A cross that allows you to use turn undead, but only works on Vampires.
No other monster seems to fear the cross.

ArmorArmadillo
2007-01-11, 02:38 PM
As Buffy tribute, it works fine; however, as an actual class, it falls into one of the biggest pitfalls that class designers fall into: The Specialization fallacy.

The idea is that this is balanced because it's really powerful, but only against a select group of enemies, By doing that, you create a situation where you are either underpowered severely and loaded with useless abilities are overpowered an able to take down certain enemies exceptionally well. What you get is not a balance, but instead a situation where every encounter is skewed and imbalanced.

Now, this may be balanced if the monster selection was truly natural, but it also isn't. Classes such as this place a burden on DMs, who now must seperate every encounter into: Slayer Rules/Slayer is Useless.

(Turn Undead and Favored Enemy are small parts of their classes compared with this, and see how big a deal they are to designing?)

Reptilius
2007-01-11, 03:00 PM
I think Armadillo has a point, but I think that if someone is a Slayer, then the DM is probably running a demon + Undead-heavy campaign. Just my 2 cents.

The_Ferg
2007-01-11, 05:06 PM
Just a flavor question: How can the path of the slayer be devoted if she's not the one who chooses it? Hmm? Maybe I'm nitpicking.

Yakk
2007-01-11, 07:02 PM
Requirements:
Gender: Any female
Alignment: Any good
Special: The slayer is "called" and gains her powers when another slayer dies. You do not choose this prestigue class, it chooses you.

HD: d8
Skill points: 4+int bonus/level
Skills: Jump, Bluff, Balance, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge(the planes), Knowledge(religion), Listen, Move Silently, Hide, Survial
Saves: Good reflex, poor Fort and Will.

Slay Vampires(ex): Whenever a Slayer does damage with a Stake to a Vampire, if 2x damage would kill the Vampire, the Vampire is dusted. Otherwise, it does normal damage. The multiplier increases to 3x at L 6, 4x at L 8 and 5x at level 10.

Fists(ex): Each level of Slayer is treated as a level of Monk for the purposes of unarmed damage. This includes the Ki Strike(type) abilities, but not flurry of blows or other such abilities.

In addition, starting at L 2, slayers fists can ignore DR on coporeal undead.

Fast healing: Heal an extra Slayer level*2/day.

Ability Boost(Su): At L 3, 6, 9 and 10, the Slayer gains an enhancement bonus of +1 to Str, Dex and Con. (note that this does not stack with most spells and items that increase stats).

Slayer's Virtue(Su): 1/day/slayer level uses of Slayer abilities. Slayer abilities include:
Slayer's Strike(Su): +slayer level to hit and damage on any evil or undead being for one attack.
Slayer's Destiny(Su): +slayer level to saves for one round.
Slayer's Dodge(Su): +slayer level to AC for one round.
Slayer's Agility(Su): +slayer level to jump/tumble/balance for one round.

Lapak
2007-01-12, 11:55 AM
On thinking about it, the Slayer probably works better as a template than as a PrC. Fixes the "Chosen One" aspect, as no one can pick it up voluntarily or abandon it, and ECL adjustment would mean that you can balance any or all abilities that are included without having to make them conditional (and thus limited-use.)

Reptilius
2007-01-12, 03:28 PM
Hmmm... a Slayer template. Applicable to any female non-undead creature without the (evil) subtype, perhaps?

Lapak
2007-01-12, 03:42 PM
Yep. Very hefty bump to all three physical stats, Fast Healing, maybe some kind of undead-sensing of some kind. That would be just about enough, now that I think about it; most of the rest of what they get comes from training. Take a normal human, hit them with the template, take a few levels of monk or possibly ranger with favored enemy: undead and you're good to go.

EDIT: Possibly an immunity or resistance to some undead special attacks like energy drains or paralyzation could be tossed in.

Reptilius
2007-01-12, 04:13 PM
Why bother with human? You could have a dragon Slayer, or an orc Slayer, or a changeling slayer. But who doesn't love bonus feats?

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-12, 06:04 PM
A template would make a certain amount of sense. Either way, maybe instead of good it should be non-evil. I'm pretty sure Faith is Chaotic Neutral (She just likes to kill stuff.)

Yakk
2007-01-13, 08:42 AM
A template would make a certain amount of sense. Either way, maybe instead of good it should be non-evil. I'm pretty sure Faith is Chaotic Neutral (She just likes to kill stuff.)

No. Faith became evil.

If you think that was Chaotic Neutral... I hope you don't think you are neutral!

Matthew
2007-01-13, 08:56 AM
I think he means after her redemption. Even so, I don't think Alignment need be a prerequisite to be a Slayer. Faith didn't lose her Slayer Powers.

Reptilius
2007-01-13, 09:06 AM
Yeah, but you should be non-evil to begin. Faith wasn't really evil when she became the Slayer. You don't lose the template If you become evil, though.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-13, 11:02 AM
I meant when she became the slayer. Obviously she was evil later. I'm just saying I don't think she was ever good.

Yakk
2007-01-14, 08:07 PM
We never met her when/before she became the slayer. She showed up months after having been trained, recruited, and having been slayer #2 for a long while.

Then she killed someone accidentally, and she cracked.

Reptilius
2007-01-14, 10:43 PM
Yeah, and she stayed evil until the last season. But she got free cookies and a cool knife out of it though.

MandibleBones
2007-01-14, 11:15 PM
I agree that a template is probably the way to go - and the whole "one person" thing should be optional flavor. We've already determined that Epic Spell Cheese can break that requirement.

Also, should you keep it as a class, I have a problem with the dedication thing: one can't choose to just stop being a slayer or following that path. Even if they leave it for other training, they ALWAYS get dragged back to it one way or another.