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CryWolfCorrupt
2013-12-28, 05:00 PM
STRATEGIST

“I love it when a plan comes together.” –Hannibal, A-Team Strategist

http://ravereader.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ateam_liam-neeson.jpg?w=570&h=343
Strategists are masters of preparation. Their plans turn the tides of battles, giving their party a method to overcome the odds of battle. Without a well-laid plan, battles can turn in any direction and turn against even the most skilled teams. Strategists provide their teams with these plans to victory.

Abilities: A Strategist relies heavily on Intelligence for his skills and abilities. Dexterity makes attacks and (at later levels) avoiding attacks easier.

Role: The Strategist is mostly a buffing class, but they can deal decent damage with melee attacks. Their high Intelligence score also makes them valuable as a skill monkey.

Becoming a Strategist: Strategists utilize Intelligence, so anyone with a keen understanding of combat and how to influence it can become one. Strategists are typically great generals who excelled at winning battles with as few mistakes or casualties as possible. They learned quickly how to manipulate the tides of battle with brilliant battle plans and shows of tactical genius.

Organization: Strategists are typically part of serious guilds or militaries.

Alignment: Strategists can use their guile in any number of fashions, whether to uphold the law through rigorous tactics or to enforce the powers of chaos.

Races: Elves make terrific Strategists due to their incredibly high Intelligence and scaling. Humans also tend to make good Strategists as their militaries are typically in need of great minds. Strategists get bonus feats, but an extra can’t hurt.

Religion: Strategists worship logic. They need no deity, but some choose to add prayer to their repertoire.

Class Synergy: Strategists are buffers, similar to Bards and casters who focus on abjuration. They synergize well in parties with a major spellcaster and a melee fighter class who can benefit from the true variety of plans the Strategist has to offer.

Adaptation: Strategists fit into any campaign, and they can work well in any setting. If there is no availability for a military background for a character, Strategists can be anyone who studies combat or focuses on battle techniques.

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: As Rogue.

Class Skills: The Strategist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex)

Skill Points at First Level: 6 + Int (x4)
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int


{table=head]
Level|
BAB|
Fort|
Ref|
Will|
Special

1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+0|Craft (Plans), Sneak Attack +1d6, Study
2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+0|Tactics
3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+1|Prior Planning
4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Study +2, Plans +1
5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Bonus Feat, Sneak Attack +2d6
6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+2|Witty Repartee
7th|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+2|Necessary Precautions
8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+6|
+2|Study +3, Plans +1
9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+6|
+3|Tactical Prediction
10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+7|
+3|Bonus Feat, Sneak Attack +3d6
11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+7|
+3|Imposing Intellect
12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+4|Study +4, Plans +1
13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+4|Strategic Opportunity
14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+9|
+4|Anticipation
15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+9|
+5|Bonus Feat, Sneak Attack +4d6
16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+5|Study +5, Plans +1
17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+5|Outsmarted
18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+6|Strategic Opportunity (2 attacks)
19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+6|Saw It Coming
20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+6|Study +6, Plans +1, Bonus Feat, Sneak Attack +5d6
[/table]

Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Strategists have proficiency with all simple weapons, the rapier, great sword, and thrown weapons. They are proficient with light armor, medium armor and shields.

Study: Strategists may use a Full-Round Action before or during combat to study an enemy on the battlefield. A Strategist may Study up to two enemies that he can see at level 1, and may study an additional enemy every other level, becoming uncapped at level 20. At level 1, Study confers a +1 insight bonus to attack, damage, and saves against that enemy during the fight. This bonus increases by one at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th levels (maximum +6).

Tactics: Starting at 2nd level, after a Strategist has used Study, he may take a Standard Action to explain to one ally within 10’ of him or a Full-Round Action to explain to all allies within 25’ exactly what he has learned. This confers his bonus to them, and this bonus stacks with all other magical and mundane bonuses (with the exception of Knowledge Devotion; take the higher bonus).

Craft (Plans): Strategists gain a new skill, Craft (Plans) at level one. These plans are used before or during battle to turn the tides or influence your allies. Plans can be one of 8 different concepts, and have different effects when used prior to and in the midst of battle. Crafting a plan costs 5gp to make, and a Strategist may only hold up to two of the same plan on their person or have a single plan active at any time.

Using a plan during combat is a Swift Action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If a Strategist implements their Plan before combat for the extra benefits, he must have either one full minute to prepare or use a Full-Round Action in the first round before any enemies have had a turn to act. They may also do so as their Standard Action in a surprise round. The bonus effects listed in each plan increase at a rate of +1 every 4 levels. The first bonus offered is if the plan is used prior to combat as a Prepared Plan or in the Surprise round before any enemies have had a turn; the second bonus is if the plan is used during combat.

Plan (Guard): Grants a +2 AC to all allies as long as each of them stay within 15’ of the ‘Guarded’ ally. If one ally moves more than 15’ from the ‘Guarded’ ally, the plan fails. // Grants a +1 AC to allies who stay within 15’ of the ‘Guarded’ ally.
Plan (Avoid): Grants a +2 AC to all allies as long as they each stay more than 15’ from the ‘Avoided’ enemy. If an ally allows the ‘Avoided’ enemy to attack them, the plan fails. // Grants a +1 AC to allies who stay more than 15’ from the ‘Avoided’ enemy.
Plan (Distract): The Strategist may designate one enemy as 'Distracted' by ranged attacks, which render them flanked for one round whenever a ranged attack succesfully hits them. Once the ‘Distracted’ enemy dies, the Strategist may choose another. If the ‘Distracted’ enemy lands a successful melee attack against the Strategist or they move more than 20’ away from them, the plan fails. // For one round, allies may treat one enemy as flanked, regardless of position, for purposes of the +2 attack bonus and Sneak Attack from melee or ranged attacks.
Plan (Capitalize): Grants a +2 bonus to one ally’s Special Attack attempts, as long as they attempt one on each turn. If the ally does not make a Special Attack attempt on one of their turns, the plan fails. // Grants a +1 bonus to one ally’s next three Special Attack attempts.
Plan (Prioritize): Grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls to all allies against one enemy. After the ‘Prioritized’ enemy dies, the Strategist may choose another. If any ally attacks an enemy besides the ‘Prioritized’ enemy, the plan fails. // Grants a +1 bonus to attack and damage against one enemy. After the ‘Prioritized’ enemy dies, the Strategist may choose one more enemy to ‘Prioritize’ before the plan is destroyed.
Plan (Hold): Grants the party a +1 bonus to AC and saves, and 2 Spell Resistance for each ally (maximum +5 AC/saves and 10 SR, respectively), as long as they do not move in the encounter. Once an ally moves, the party loses that ally’s bonus to their AC. If more than half the party moves, the plan fails. // Grants each ally a +1 bonus to AC and saves as long as they do not move, but the bonus is not contingent on allies’ movement.
Plan (Reposition): Grants allies an additional 10’ of movement each turn, and increases their free-action step to 10’ instead of 5’. If an ally is struck by an attack of opportunity, then the plan fails. // Immediately grants all allies one free action step of 10’ that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Plan (Coordination): Grants a +2 bonus to all skill checks made in combat. If an ally fails a skill check even with this bonus, then the plan fails. // Grants a +2 bonus to all skill checks made during the party’s next turn.

If a plan fails, the crafted plan is destroyed and the party or party members no longer gain the benefits of that plan. Crafted plans are also destroyed if they are used to their maximum benefit; i.e. a mid-combat Plan (Prioritize) is destroyed after both prioritized enemies are slain and a before-combat Plan (Guard) is destroyed at the end of the battle, as long as no allies moved more than 15' from the target. A Strategist cannot use a plan more than once and once a plan is destroyed the Strategist must craft another before being able to use it again.

Sneak Attack: If a Strategist can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from their attack, they can strike a vital spot for extra damage. Basically, the Strategist's attack deals extra damage any time their target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks their target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20. Should the Strategist score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied. Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet. A Strategist cannot strike with deadly accuracy from beyond that range.

A Strategist can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The Strategist must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A Strategist cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.

Prior Planning: When a Strategist has time to prepare for a fight, he gains massive comprehensive bonuses in that fight. Starting at 3rd level, for each minute that a Strategist has time to prepare for a fight, he gains a +1 competency bonus to his Initiative and saves to a maximum of +10. He can also use his Study ability as a Standard Action instead of a Full-Round Action if he has greater than two minutes to prepare, a Swift Action if he has greater than ten minutes to prepare, and a Free Action if he has an hour or longer. For each step below Full-Round Action when using Study, subtract one from the total number of enemies the Strategist can study with that action. A Strategist can only prepare for a fight using this ability if he has access to the battlefield information; he cannot prepare for a fight he does not know is coming or without knowing who, where, or what the enemy is. A Strategist with longer than five minutes to prepare may also implement any Prepared Plans at that time.

Bonus Feats: At 5th level and every 5 levels following, a Strategist may choose one of the Fighter's bonus feats as a bonus feat, but they must meet the pre-requisities.

Witty Repartee: Strategists understand what makes their foes tick. Anytime a Strategist succeeds on Studying an enemy that is within 20' of them, or as a Standard Action within the same range, they may use Witty Repartee to distract and taunt an enemy. The Strategist makes an opposed Bluff check against the enemy’s Sense Motive. The Strategist may replace their Charisma modifier with their Intelligence modifier for this check. If the enemy can understand the language, the Strategist gets a +2 bonus on their check. This ability cannot be used if the enemy cannot hear them. A successful check will cause the enemy to focus on the Strategist for 1d4 turns, making it impossible for that enemy to to move away from the Strategist in any form (movement, teleportation, planar travel).

Necessary Precautions: A Strategist is always aware of the situations surrounding them, and cannot be surprised by combat. In addition, when the Strategist uses Plan (Guard) with himself as the target, the AC bonus granted to allies is increased by 2 and the range increases to 30’. If the Strategist uses Plan (Guard) in combat with himself as the target, all allies may immediately take a 10’ step towards the Strategist without provoking attacks of opportunity anytime the Strategist takes damage.

Tactical Prediction: Strategists may use Tactical Prediction as a Swift Action, a Move Action, or a Standard Action to observe one target three times or three targets, or may use a Full-Round Action to observe three targets. A Strategist may also replace an attack of opportunity with this ability. They must be within 50’ of their target to observe them effectively. They may make a prediction of what an enemy will do on its following turn. They roll an untyped D20, with the following results:

19-20: Guessed movement, target, action, and result correctly (+4 bonus)
17-18: Guessed movement, target, and action correctly (+3 bonus)
14-16: Guessed movement and target correctly (+2 bonus)
10-13: Guessed movement correctly (+1 bonus)
1-9: Guessed nothing correctly (+0)
Each time a Strategist makes a successful Tactical Prediction, they may add +1 to their future Tactical Prediction rolls against that enemy alone (after 3 successful rolls, add +3, maximum +5). Strategists gain a bonus to attack rolls against enemies they have successfully observed, as noted by the bonus listed above. The bonuses do not stack, but a better bonus will replace the old bonus.

Anticipation: Strategists take pride in their knowledge of combat in all its forms. They spend most of their time, both on and off the battlefield, studying tactics, maneuvers, and other combat styles. This gives them a tremendous edge in battle. Starting at 14th level, the Strategist gains the ability to gain stacks of Anticipation. Stacks are independent to each enemy, and a Strategist can gain stacks against up to two enemies at one time and can have up to five stacks against each. Every third level, a Strategist may gain Anticipation stacks against an additional enemy. Anytime a Strategist uses their ability Tactical Prediction successfully (roll a 15-20), they gain a stack of Anticipation against that foe. Strategists may use Anticipation in one of two ways:
Anytime an opponent makes a Special Attack (Trip, Bull Rush, Charge, Disarm, Feint, Grapple, Overrun, or Sunder) against the Strategist, the Strategist replaces their Armor Class against the touch attack with a Tumble check. They can turn stacks of Anticipation into a +1 untyped bonus per stack. If their Tumble check succeeds against the opponent’s Special Attack, the Strategist negates the effect and damage of the Special Attack. Opponents who are defeated in this way may take move up to 10’ as a free action.
Anytime an opponent casts a spell, the Strategist may make a Spellcraft check with a DC of 10 + the spell level + caster level. If their Spellcraft check is successful, they identify the spell, and gain a point of Anticipation (assuming they do not have 5 stacks prior). If the spell is not an unavoidable area of effect spell (radius larger than the Strategist’s move speed) and requires an attack roll, they may make a second Spellcraft check, with a DC of the caster’s roll total. They can turn stacks of Anticipation into a +1 untyped bonus per stack. If their second Spellcraft check is successful, they dodge the spell and take no effects. If the spell is not targetted or is mind-affecting, the second Spellcraft DC is replaced by the DC of that spell's save DC. If the Strategist is not capable of escaping the radius of an area-of-effect spell with his move speed, he cannot avoid damage from the spell. If his move speed can escape the radius, he must immediately use a move action to avoid it; for each spell he avoids using this, he must go that many turns without taking a move action. The Strategist cannot attempt the second Spellcraft check if they fail the first.

Strategic Opportunity: Strategists have learned how to make the most of every opportunity, and they know when those opportunities are about to present themselves. Strategists no longer provoke attacks of opportunity. At level 18, they also gain the ability to take 2 attacks at highest BAB anytime an opponent provokes an attack of opportunity. 3 times a day, the Strategist may confer his understandings to one ally at a time, through the use of his Tactics ability. That ally alone also gains the Strategic Opportunity ability for 2d4 rounds. If the Strategist uses Tactics to bestow his gift to a different ally, the previous ally loses the ability.

Imposing Intellect: An enemy successfully taunted by Witty Repartee may not make Immediate or Swift actions while threatened by the Strategist. If the enemy is the target of Plan (Prioritize), the enemy becomes shaken for as long as you threaten them. This effect stacks with other fear effects.

Outsmarted: Strategists have the advantage even when they don’t know the enemy is coming. Any enemies who can see the Strategist when they act in a surprise round must make a Will save with a DC of 10 + 1/2 Strategist level + your Int modifier or they lose their action in the surprise round.

Saw it Coming: A Strategist’s greatest tool is the ability to foresee an opponent’s attacks. When a Strategist has five stacks of Anticipation against any enemy, he immediately gains five stacks of Anticipation against all enemies within 100’. He may now use Anticipation against normal attacks as well as Special Attacks, replacing his AC with a Tumble check. When he uses Anticipation to successfully negate an enemy’s attack, he regains all stacks of Anticipation agaisnt that enemy and may, as a free action, use Witty Repartee to taunt the opponent. If this is the first time the enemy’s attack has been negated, they become shaken until the beginning of their next turn. If this is the second time the enemy’s attack has been negated, they become frightened until the beginning of their next turn. If this is the third time or more that the enemy’s attack has been negated, the enemy becomes panicked until the beginning of the Strategist's next turn. The Strategist may utilize Imposing Intellect against the enemy to negate Swift and Immediate actions while threatened for 1d4 turns if shaken, 1d6 turns if frightened, or 1d8 turns if panicked. Any enemy who witnesses the Strategist’s feat must succeed on a Will save with a DC of the Bluff check’s result or succumb to the effects as well.

CryWolfCorrupt
2013-12-28, 05:03 PM
Changelog:
12-28-13: Added class.

1-8-13: Fixed Study so that it now only affects the enemy studied, but the Strategist can now Study more than one enemy at a time.
Clarified Craft (Plans) to explain how and when plans are used and destroyed.
Clarified Plan (Distract) to reflect that successful ranged attacks against 'Distracted' enemies result in those enemies becoming flanked and flat footed until your ally fails to land a ranged attack or attacks someone else. Clarified the mid-combat Plan to flank an enemy for the purposes of the attack bonus and sneak attacks.
Clarified Plan (Prioritize) to reflect that all allies gain the benefits of the plan.
Updated Plan (Hold) to reflect a greater bonus than is given for Plan (Guard). Allies now gain stacking AC, saves, and SR for each ally that holds to the plan.
Added a cap to the bonus to initiative and saves provided by Prior Planning.
Clarified Witty Repartee to reflect that an enemy focusing on the Strategist may not use their move action to move away from the Strategist.
Clarified Tactical Predictions to reflect which scores are bonuses to attack/damage and that the +1 cumulative bonus is only on the prediction rolls.
Clarified some issues with Anticipation. Anticipation now reflects that the Tumble check by the Strategist opposes the enemy's melee touch attack, rather than their Strength check. Also added a line to the Spellcraft checks that allows Strategists to avoid non-targetted damage and mind-affecting spells.
Added the ability to transfer Strategic Opportunity to one ally at a time, 3/day.
Added Strategist Intelligence modifier to the save DC of Outsmarted.
Updated Saw it Coming. The Strategist may now use Anticipation to avoid basic attacks, and a successful negation of damage/effect instantly regains all the Strategist's stacks of Anticipation against that enemy. Changed the duration of Panicked to Strategist's next turn.

1-13-14
Fixed Save progression
Added a clause to Prior Planning that prohibits using Study as a free action to infinitely observe all enemies forever and get the bonus permanently. A Strategist can observe their total number -1 for each step below Full-Round Action (-3 for Free Action).

1-22-14
Added Sneak Attack and Bonus Feats to the Class Features section
Corrected a handful of typos
Fixed RAW of proficiencies to include Light Armor
Clarified Tactical Prediction
Clarified Plan (Distract)
Clarified modes of transportation blocked by Witty Repartee
Changed the Bluff modifier in Witty Repartee to allow Int to replace Cha
Note: Thank you to VoodooPaladin for all their help with this.

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-06, 01:24 PM
Bump a rump dump.

6thEdition
2014-01-07, 04:49 AM
Hmm, what if the strategist was also pretty good at battlefield control? It kind of makes sense, since strategists are supposed to be good chessmasters. :smallsmile:

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-07, 12:47 PM
Hmm, what if the strategist was also pretty good at battlefield control? It kind of makes sense, since strategists are supposed to be good chessmasters. :smallsmile:

I like the idea, but wouldn't know how to incorporate it without adding in spells, which I don't want to do. I want this to be about understanding combat, not understanding magic. Suggestions? :smallsmile:

VoodooPaladin
2014-01-07, 06:36 PM
First things first, I like the concept. Leader characters are hard to represent in tabletop RPGs, and it's good to see someone trying.

But there are a few things I'm not sure about. Also, a few things I think could be improved.


Not really much to say about the fluff. It's descriptive, which is its job. Also, nice quote/photo combo.
The only thing to mention in here is the creeping suggestion of MAD in the Abilities section. Not really sure what to do about it, if anything needs to be done at all. Just thought I'd point it out.

Is the Will save supposed to be non-standard? If so, I'd like to know the formula you used for it.

Study: If I have this correct, it targets a single creature, and then gives you a scaling bonus vs. all creatures of that type. It sort of confuses me how the orcish fighter is similar enough to the elven wizard that you can prepare yourself against them both by studying only one, but an ogre is somehow so different from a minotaur you'd have to study them both to account for them.
Maybe you could change it to examining a limited number of enemies that you can see, (which may or may not also scale with level) and you gain the various bonuses only against those enemies? And at higher levels the number increases significantly, eventually becoming uncapped?

Tactics: This ability is cool, thematic, and I like it. With it, study actually becomes strategic.

Craft (Plans): How long does it take to make a plan? Also, since I assume you create the plans, it might help to state specifically that "crafting a plan" costs 5gp per plan, since the base cost of an item does long-winded things with the crafting rules.
It's never stated what "the plan fails" means. Combined with certain unclear text, I'm unsure whether a failed plan merely decreases in effectiveness or ceases completely. Also, it seems as though you can implement a plan during combat as a Swift Action, and yet in the next line you can only implement a plan prior to combat or during a Surprise Round in which you can act. Does this imply using plans within combat and prior to combat are seperate things that have different effects, or rather that you can have a certain number of "prepared plans" that you may activate throughout the day with a minute normally and can exchange at high-speed in combat, or what?
I'm asking for clarification here. It looks to be a very interesting idea you have. But I'm not sure what that idea is.

Plan (Distract) could use clarification. Do you mean they are considered flanked by all attacks provided someone has attacked them with a ranged attack since X point? Or are the considered flanked by the ranged attack made against them?
Plan (Prioritize) doesn't say to who it grants the bonus. Is it meant to only grant the bonus to you? I could see some logic in that, though the bonus could be slightly higher in that instance.
Plan (Hold) seems to be pretty much always weaker than Plan (Guard), despite having more restrictive requirements. Maybe give a bonus to resisting Special Attacks as well?

Prior Planning: There should probably be a maximum on the bonus. Free Action Study is cool, +60 competence bonuses to initiative and all saving throws is not. Also a duration for the bonuses, so they only lasts as long as the fight you've planned for.

Witty Repartee: Need clarification for what "focus on the strategist" means.

Necessary Precautions: Confusion related to how plans work notwithstanding, this is a neat ability. However, it sort of makes Plan (Guard) way better than all the other plans, so maybe it could be made into a seperate effect. Maybe it could let you throw the modified Plan (Guard) on yourself X/day, which is free and exists outside of the normal limit of plans you can have going at once?

Tactical Prediction: This grants a bonus to rolls against the observed enemy(es), right? It took me a little bit to figure that out. At first, I thought this was supposed to have something to do with actually predicting enemy actions, which isn't directly possible to do in a turn-based game like D&D.
Still, it isn't quite clear to me how long the bonus lasts, since you only predict what their next turn's action is. Is the bonus you gain next turn equal to the bonus listed to the right of the die result? And that stacks with the +1 permanent bonus you get for having observed them?
What is this actually supposed to do? Because there are actually ways of modelling "I predict your actions; TACTICAL GENIUS!" in game, if that's what you want. But if you just want bonuses with excellent fluff text, then I think better formatting might help.

Anticipation: Minor thing: should say 14th, not Xth. Could probably format it better, because at the level you get it, you can have six stacks, which makes the open-ended scaling unnecessary.
Also, the bonuses gained from stacks of Anticipation could probably be little bit higher without much issue. Not necesarily increasing the static bonus for expending a stack, but maybe give extra bonus for expending more than one stack at once?

Strategic Opportunity is cool and I approve of it. AoOs are annoying, and the double-swing on each AoO is cool. A thought - what if you could grant the benefits of Strategic Opportunity to an ally for free whenever you use Tactics to grant them your Study bonuses?

Imposing Intellect: The shaken effect is supposed to stack into higher fear effects, right? Also, the shaken effect needs a duration, if only "for as long as you threaten them" or "while you threaten them".

Outsmarted is good and flavorful, but no one will ever fail the save. You should probably add the strategist's Int modifier to the save DC.

Saw It Coming: I don't think it's practically possible to get five stacks of Anticipation between one turn and the next. Since it's such a high-level ability, how about it just let you regain all stacks of Anticipation you expended if it successfully negates the attack? It would certainly help the strategist live up to their nigh-prescient reputation. And also, making it work on creatures that have minds but are otherwise immune to Fear and demoralization would probably be good: high levels are full of stuff like that. And I, for one, have no problem with a 19th-level Strategist impressing Liches and Maruts into an accurate, logical replication of a fear effect.


In general, I think your class is charming and has plenty of potential. I think it could also use a good bit of polish. And clarification. Lots of clarification.

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-08, 10:05 AM
I'll make my points in bolded blue, thanks for this amazing critique! This is what I'm looking for.


First things first, I like the concept. Leader characters are hard to represent in tabletop RPGs, and it's good to see someone trying.

But there are a few things I'm not sure about. Also, a few things I think could be improved.


Not really much to say about the fluff. It's descriptive, which is its job. Also, nice quote/photo combo.
The only thing to mention in here is the creeping suggestion of MAD in the Abilities section. Not really sure what to do about it, if anything needs to be done at all. Just thought I'd point it out.

I am new to Homebrew, and thought the point of the abilities section was to explain how the character uses the attributes. The only points that are truly important are Int and Dex, though Con is Con.

Is the Will save supposed to be non-standard? If so, I'd like to know the formula you used for it.

Which Will save?

Study: If I have this correct, it targets a single creature, and then gives you a scaling bonus vs. all creatures of that type. It sort of confuses me how the orcish fighter is similar enough to the elven wizard that you can prepare yourself against them both by studying only one, but an ogre is somehow so different from a minotaur you'd have to study them both to account for them.
Maybe you could change it to examining a limited number of enemies that you can see, (which may or may not also scale with level) and you gain the various bonuses only against those enemies? And at higher levels the number increases significantly, eventually becoming uncapped?

I struggled to find a way to do this skill, as I agree that it doesn't make sense to study a fighter and understand how an illusionist works. I like the idea of studying a single enemy, and I like you're scaling. I will fix it.

Tactics: This ability is cool, thematic, and I like it. With it, study actually becomes strategic.

Thanks, this was the 'key' aspect of the class when I was thinking of it. Making the class into a 'team player'.

Craft (Plans): How long does it take to make a plan? Also, since I assume you create the plans, it might help to state specifically that "crafting a plan" costs 5gp per plan, since the base cost of an item does long-winded things with the crafting rules.

Didn't understand how the wording affected crafting rules. Fixing.

It's never stated what "the plan fails" means. Combined with certain unclear text, I'm unsure whether a failed plan merely decreases in effectiveness or ceases completely.

When a plan "fails" it means that the crafted plan is destroyed (as used) and no effect takes place any further in time. For instance, if the players break the rules of Plan (Guard) by moving too far from the target, all party members lose the bonuses, and the plan is destroyed. A new Craft (Plans) needs to be performed to create a Plan (Guard).

Also, it seems as though you can implement a plan during combat as a Swift Action, and yet in the next line you can only implement a plan prior to combat or during a Surprise Round in which you can act. Does this imply using plans within combat and prior to combat are seperate things that have different effects, or rather that you can have a certain number of "prepared plans" that you may activate throughout the day with a minute normally and can exchange at high-speed in combat, or what?
I'm asking for clarification here. It looks to be a very interesting idea you have. But I'm not sure what that idea is.


A Strategist can only implement a plan prior to combat if he has either one full minute to prepare or as a Full-Round Action in the surprise round before any enemies have a turn to act.

This just means that if you intend to get the bonus for preparing a plan prior to combat, to gain the first benefit as listed (you're right, I failed hard to clarify this), you must do so in the surprise round or prior to combat; you may use any plan anytime during combat as a Swift Action, but you get the less potent version, listed second. I will need to clarify that much better. Basically, when you have time to prepare the plan and use it before battle and your teammates work together with it, you get a much more powerful bonus then if you throw something together mid-battle.

Plan (Distract) could use clarification. Do you mean they are considered flanked by all attacks provided someone has attacked them with a ranged attack since X point? Or are the considered flanked by the ranged attack made against them?

Bold correct, I will clarify. Basically, as ranged attacks cannot flank, the fluff of this is to use ranged attacks to 'Distract' the target so the Strategist or others can make an attack against them. But the Strategist has to keep them within 20' so that he can call the shots (as many of the plans dictate).

Plan (Prioritize) doesn't say to who it grants the bonus. Is it meant to only grant the bonus to you? I could see some logic in that, though the bonus could be slightly higher in that instance.

The bonus is given to all allies against one enemy. Preparing the plan before the battle or in surprise grants a larger bonus, and the number of enemies a Strategist can mark is uncapped. However, it requires allies to attack no one but the target. The mid-battle plan grants a smaller bonus and only 2 enemies can be 'Prioritized' before the plan is destroyed. If this is too ridiculous, I could make the plan only apply to the Strategist and boost the numbers (on the mid-battle plan; I like the prepared plan).

Plan (Hold) seems to be pretty much always weaker than Plan (Guard), despite having more restrictive requirements. Maybe give a bonus to resisting Special Attacks as well?

I didn't even realize this. I think Hold will include a bonus to saves and resistance to special attacks as well. Nice catch, thanks.

Prior Planning: There should probably be a maximum on the bonus. Free Action Study is cool, +60 competence bonuses to initiative and all saving throws is not. Also a duration for the bonuses, so they only lasts as long as the fight you've planned for.

Holy crap, you're right I didn't cap it. Does a cap at +10 to Initiative and half that to saving throws work? Or still too high? The point of this class is to get the upperhand as early as possible.

Witty Repartee: Need clarification for what "focus on the strategist" means.

The goal of this is to 'taunt' enemies to trap them within 20' ofthe Strategist so he can utilize all his plans to the fullest. Perhaps clarify that 'the enemy will focus on the Strategist for 1d4 turns; they can move closer to him but cannot move further away'?

Necessary Precautions: Confusion related to how plans work notwithstanding, this is a neat ability. However, it sort of makes Plan (Guard) way better than all the other plans, so maybe it could be made into a seperate effect. Maybe it could let you throw the modified Plan (Guard) on yourself X/day, which is free and exists outside of the normal limit of plans you can have going at once?

I would love this, but I don't want to break anything either. Originally I was going to separate Plan (Guard) with this and make it an underlying plan that can be used with another plan (originally had # of plans usable increase every 5 levels) but I was scared that it would break combat. I would love to make it X/day and separate, if you don't think that's too strong.

Tactical Prediction: This grants a bonus to rolls against the observed enemy(es), right? It took me a little bit to figure that out. At first, I thought this was supposed to have something to do with actually predicting enemy actions, which isn't directly possible to do in a turn-based game like D&D.

You have no idea how long I sat around mulling over ANY POSSIBLE WAY to predict this. Sending an idea to the DM, but d*cks will always make the enemy move differently, and sh*tty DMs will try to help you out. I tried to find a way to balance it, but couldn't for the life of me.

Still, it isn't quite clear to me how long the bonus lasts, since you only predict what their next turn's action is. Is the bonus you gain next turn equal to the bonus listed to the right of the die result? And that stacks with the +1 permanent bonus you get for having observed them?
What is this actually supposed to do? Because there are actually ways of modelling "I predict your actions; TACTICAL GENIUS!" in game, if that's what you want. But if you just want bonuses with excellent fluff text, then I think better formatting might help.

The bonus you gain to attack rolls is listed to the right of the die rolls. The +1 bonus is only against the individual enemy you are studying, and only helps in rolling that 19-20 for the best attack bonus. I need mega clarification on this but it made sense to me when I wrote it and that is why I wanted PEACH'ing :smallsmile: Anyway, the point of Tactical Prediction is to make it feel like the Strategist understands the enemy, and thus knows what they will do and can secure their attacks more successfully. On top of that, it grants them stacks of Anticipation against enemies, giving the Strategist chances to avoid attacks, but I will cover that in your critique of Anticipation. If you have ideas on how to do the TACTICAL GENIUS! part, please let me know.

Anticipation: Minor thing: should say 14th, not Xth.

Whoops.

Could probably format it better, because at the level you get it, you can have six stacks, which makes the open-ended scaling unnecessary.

a Strategist can gain stacks against up to two enemies at one time and can have up to five stacks against eachStrategists can never gain more than five stacks, the only scaling they get is how many enemies they can get stacks agaisnt at once; 2 enemies at 14, 3 enemies at 17, and 4 (uncapped at 5 stacks) enemies at 20. I will clarify "every third level following" to avoid further confusion.

Also, the bonuses gained from stacks of Anticipation could probably be little bit higher without much issue. Not necesarily increasing the static bonus for expending a stack, but maybe give extra bonus for expending more than one stack at once?

The only concern I have with this is that an enemy uses Trip with a Spiked Chain at level 15. They get to make an attack roll, which might fail already. If that succeeds, they have to make a Strength check against a Tumble check. I don't necessarily agree with adding more bonus points but I do need to change the wording so that the tumble check opposed the attack roll instead of the strength roll (so its not 1d20+4 for the enemy vs. 1d20+22 for you). Will probably reword to "replaces their Armor Class with a Tumble check."
As far as against Spellcasters, everything looks fine to me. He will have the opportunity to identify a spell at any time, but if he fails, he fails. However, if he identifies it, he can roll again to try to avoid it. He can only avoid spells that he can escape the radius of (he is not the target of a fireball spell, but would be caught in the explosion) or a spell targeting him directly. I'll probably put a note in to replace the mind-affecting part and simply say "if the strategist can avoid damage through a saving throw, the DC on the second spellcraft check is equal to the spell's save DC."

Strategic Opportunity is cool and I approve of it. AoOs are annoying, and the double-swing on each AoO is cool. A thought - what if you could grant the benefits of Strategic Opportunity to an ally for free whenever you use Tactics to grant them your Study bonuses?

I love the idea. Just one ally at a time, and requires another use of Tactics to grant the bonus to a different ally? Or perhaps make it an X/day immediate action (uses up my swift action next turn) to grant an ally within 10-15' of me Strategic Opportunity? This way if they will unavoidably have to run through a thicket of enemies, they will (fluff) know how to do so without getting hit?

Imposing Intellect: The shaken effect is supposed to stack into higher fear effects, right? Also, the shaken effect needs a duration, if only "for as long as you threaten them" or "while you threaten them".

Will fix to reflect duration. Eventually, yes Shaken will progress but at this level it is just to impose the penalties. At level 20, your ability to impose increases greatly with Saw It Coming and grants the ability to further Panic your enemies.

Outsmarted is good and flavorful, but no one will ever fail the save. You should probably add the strategist's Int modifier to the save DC.

Works for me, I'm all for making it more potent. At level 19, a Strategist would probably have a 24+ Int modifier in a rolled-attribute game, making his mod a +7. This makes the save a 10 + 9 + 7 against enemies with high Dex, and probably low Will saves and Wis scores, meaning they probably have a +7 or +8 Will save (need a 19 or 20 to meet the save)... yeah I'm cool with this. Will fix.

Saw It Coming: I don't think it's practically possible to get five stacks of Anticipation between one turn and the next. Since it's such a high-level ability, how about it just let you regain all stacks of Anticipation you expended if it successfully negates the attack? It would certainly help the strategist live up to their nigh-prescient reputation.

If you use all 5 points in one turn to negate the attack, yeah it would be hard to get them all back. However, on a turn it can be rather simple to gather 3 stacks using each action to predict an enemy's actions. Though I do love the idea of instant regaining of stacks if successful. This gives the freedom to use all 5 stacks every try and adds delicious fluffing.

And also, making it work on creatures that have minds but are otherwise immune to Fear and demoralization would probably be good: high levels are full of stuff like that. And I, for one, have no problem with a 19th-level Strategist impressing Liches and Maruts into an accurate, logical replication of a fear effect.

Hah, I love your ideas. I will write it in there and I actually need to fix some of the wording on the fear effects anyway.




In general, I think your class is charming and has plenty of potential. I think it could also use a good bit of polish. And clarification. Lots of clarification.

Your critique was fantastic. Thank you so much for all the ideas. I'm glad you like the class and I will clean it up and hopefully you'll be back to take a look at the finished product after I fix it a bit.

ngilop
2014-01-13, 04:15 PM
Nice, i like the class.

nit picks;

Tactics the 25 foot to give all allies the bonuses is wonky, mke it an even 30 feet, this follows other abilities in the game already and a nice even number is easier to remember.

anticipation, having to keep track of several different stack of anticipation at once seems a bit.. much. Id just have it be one cumulative stack of anticipation for ease of tracking for the player, but you cna ever use more than 5 on any 1 thing.

I think you could take a page from the duelist and give him Int to AC, like at 4th level.

I like this class its a nice mix of combat awareness and ally buffing. I think even maybe slapping on a full BaB wouldn't be so bad.

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-13, 05:05 PM
Nice, i like the class.

nit picks;

Tactics the 25 foot to give all allies the bonuses is wonky, mke it an even 30 feet, this follows other abilities in the game already and a nice even number is easier to remember.
Will do.


anticipation, having to keep track of several different stack of anticipation at once seems a bit.. much. Id just have it be one cumulative stack of anticipation for ease of tracking for the player, but you cna ever use more than 5 on any 1 thing.
It needs to be multiple stacks that need to be watched so that people who spend more time observing the enemy better understand them, and as such, they gain a better understanding of how they fight and how to beat them.


I think you could take a page from the duelist and give him Int to AC, like at 4th level.

I like this class its a nice mix of combat awareness and ally buffing. I think even maybe slapping on a full BaB wouldn't be so bad.

I might do Int to AC but that almost seems a bit too strong. And full BAB while being a crazy buffer definitely seems like too much. But if someone else agrees with it, I will consider it.

VoodooPaladin
2014-01-21, 04:07 PM
So, finally got around to re-examining this. Thank you for taking so many of my criticisms into consideration!

9 out of 20 is high odds for a Tactical Prediction to do nothing. The "guess nothing correctly" result could probably be reduced by 2 or 3 without any difficulty.
Also, I think Tactical Prediction I found a Typo in the first sentence. I'm not sure if "observe one target three times or three targets" is a leftover from an earlier draft, but I doubt the Full-Round action is supposed to be less versatile and effective than the swift action. Unless you mean that you get the full effect of a lesser use of Tactical Prediction against three seperate foes, in which case the 9/20 odds to to do nothing suddenly makes a lot more sense.
And there's a typo in the Tactical Prediction bullet points: "12-14" overlaps with "10-13".

Plan (Distract) is almost clear, but I still think the wording could be improved. Since it's getting a bit long, perhaps replace first and second sentences with "The Strategist may designate one enemy to be 'Distracted' by ranged attacks, which renders them flanked for one round whenever a ranged attack successfully hits them."
Does that fit what you're going for?

Also, I really like Witty Repartee. It fits very well with the "zone control" theme of the class, since they can't run away from your careful formations, and even if you backpedal, they can still only walk into your traps. However, since it's a psychological effect, I'm surprised the wording is so precise - I'd imagine that Witty Repartee would prevent all actions that would willingly allow the target to go further away from you for the duration, including non-Move Action movement, teleportation, and planar shifting. Doesn't quite fit that they can't walk away, but they can snap their fingers and teleport elsewhere.

I see mentions of a Sneak Attack progression that is not detailed within the class features. And also Bonus Feats at 5th, 10th, and 15th level, which is a big deal. These don't appear to be detailed within the features list.

To the discussion about giving the Strategist full BAB: I don't think it'd break the class, but I don't think it's necessary, either. I like the fact that, if you look at the Study feature, it lines up almost perfectly with difference between full and 3/4 BAB progression, such that your attack attack bonus is always level-appropriate, provided you Study up first.

On another note, on Int to AC: Why? The class basically becomes Int/Dex at high level, and it's got Ranger-equivalent armor proficiency. If I mark this right, your point is to reduce Multiple Ability Dependency, but there are better ways to go about it. I would actually suggest that Charisma focus be reduced by allowing you to add your Intelligence modifier to Witty Repartee's Bluff check, either as a typed (Insight?) bonus on top of your Charisma bonus, or even in place of your Charisma bonus. That way, low-level Strategists have high Int and Str, and want to mix it up in melee and while wearing Medium armor, and high-level Strategists have high Int and Dexterity, preferring light armor since they get more out of Tumble checks and prefer ranged weapons anyway. And if they really want to use melee weapons, they can just pick up Weapon Finesse like the rogue had to ten levels ago.

Wait, that's probably a typo. According to RAW, the Strategist isn't proficient with light armor. No big deal, easy to fix.

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-22, 02:28 PM
So, finally got around to re-examining this. Thank you for taking so many of my criticisms into consideration!

9 out of 20 is high odds for a Tactical Prediction to do nothing. The "guess nothing correctly" result could probably be reduced by 2 or 3 without any difficulty. Hm. I just wanted to give it more of a feel of impressiveness. Since most people [average = 1/2 = 10/20?] would fail, I figured it was an adequate score. If you think it's not broken to lower the bar, I am all for making the class more fun to play.



Also, I think Tactical Prediction I found a Typo in the first sentence. I'm not sure if "observe one target three times or three targets" is a leftover from an earlier draft, but I doubt the Full-Round action is supposed to be less versatile and effective than the swift action. Unless you mean that you get the full effect of a lesser use of Tactical Prediction against three seperate foes, in which case the 9/20 odds to to do nothing suddenly makes a lot more sense.
And there's a typo in the Tactical Prediction bullet points: "12-14" overlaps with "10-13". You most vertainly did find a typo in both of those. I made a hard edit on the skill as a whole last time and missed some things so thanks for the catch. It is correct that you can use Tactical Prediction against 3 separate foes. Thanks for the catch and I will try to clarify. :smallsmile:



Plan (Distract) is almost clear, but I still think the wording could be improved. Since it's getting a bit long, perhaps replace first and second sentences with "The Strategist may designate one enemy to be 'Distracted' by ranged attacks, which renders them flanked for one round whenever a ranged attack successfully hits them."
Does that fit what you're going for? That's actually perfect. :smallredface:



Also, I really like Witty Repartee. It fits very well with the "zone control" theme of the class, since they can't run away from your careful formations, and even if you backpedal, they can still only walk into your traps. However, since it's a psychological effect, I'm surprised the wording is so precise - I'd imagine that Witty Repartee would prevent all actions that would willingly allow the target to go further away from you for the duration, including non-Move Action movement, teleportation, and planar shifting. Doesn't quite fit that they can't walk away, but they can snap their fingers and teleport elsewhere. I really struggled to find a way to implement BFC in this class but I think it turned out well, glad to hear someone else agrees. :smallbiggrin: I hadn't even thought of them using external methods of transportation. I will definitely write that in because I agree with you completely.



I see mentions of a Sneak Attack progression that is not detailed within the class features. And also Bonus Feats at 5th, 10th, and 15th level, which is a big deal. These don't appear to be detailed within the features list. Right again. Gah. Tear me apart, why don't you. I initially ignored those because they spoke for themselves and then forgot to revisit. I recently decided they can only take certain feats with those feats anyway, so come back in a day or two and I will have it retouched by then!



To the discussion about giving the Strategist full BAB: I don't think it'd break the class, but I don't think it's necessary, either. I like the fact that, if you look at the Study feature, it lines up almost perfectly with difference between full and 3/4 BAB progression, such that your attack attack bonus is always level-appropriate, provided you Study up first. That was the goal! Glad someone caught that and it's not just lost on everyone but me. :smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:



On another note, on Int to AC: Why? The class basically becomes Int/Dex at high level, and it's got Ranger-equivalent armor proficiency. If I mark this right, your point is to reduce Multiple Ability Dependency, but there are better ways to go about it. I would actually suggest that Charisma focus be reduced by allowing you to add your Intelligence modifier to Witty Repartee's Bluff check, either as a typed (Insight?) bonus on top of your Charisma bonus, or even in place of your Charisma bonus. That way, low-level Strategists have high Int and Str, and want to mix it up in melee and while wearing Medium armor, and high-level Strategists have high Int and Dexterity, preferring light armor since they get more out of Tumble checks and prefer ranged weapons anyway. And if they really want to use melee weapons, they can just pick up Weapon Finesse like the rogue had to ten levels ago.

Wait, that's probably a typo. According to RAW, the Strategist isn't proficient with light armor. No big deal, easy to fix. A: Need to fix RAW on proficiencies; definitely a typo that they are not proficient with light armor.
B: I love the idea of replacing the Cha mod with an Int mod, but was terrified of "breaking" the class by just tossing out replacement modifiers. I thought Int to AC was a bit strong (maybe just grant it while in Light Armor or no armor?) especially because the last thing I want is for him to get a full BAB with a 1h weapon/shield and medium armor while pumping out buffs to his team and gaining up to +10 AC at level 20 from Plan (Guard) and Necessary Precautions.

I think I have to change the step on Necessary Precautions to 5' but that doesn't seem helpful enough. The 10' step allows, say, a fighter nearby to end adjacent to almost any enemy that's within range to attack the Strategist, meaning on his next turn he can Full-Attack. Thoughts?

Zweisteine
2014-01-22, 03:58 PM
I don't have to time to go over the class too much, so I'll stick to one ability: study.

I'd say that, while it seems cool, and I understand the intent (I think), taking a full round to gain a bonus in combat is generally a bad idea, especially at high levels. The fact that it can effect a limited number of opponents makes that even worse. Never mind that, it would defeat the point of the ability.
(And if you took a round to get a bonus, you won't want to waste another action sharing it, maybe.)

One suggestion is that you give the bonus to your allies as part of the same action you used to activate it.

Study probably should give an insight bonus, because untyped bonuses are a bit too powerful in many cases, and studying something for a bonus is basically a by-the-book insight bonus. Then you could also remove the statement saying it doesn't stack with most things. Most typed bonuses don't stack, and having studying give an untyped bonus is a bit odd. Knowledge Devotion also gives an insight bonus, so that makes some sense, as the two abilities are quite similar.

As another idea, perhaps give the class Knowledge Devotion as a bonus feat (and probably grant more knowledge skills). If you do this, perhaps give the class a bonus to the Knowledge Devotion roll equal to their class level plus their intelligence modifier (maybe a bit less than class levels, or half their class levels), or their skill bonus, whichever is higher. The feat goes well with the class, and it makes sense for a strategist to have pre-existing knowledge of various types of opponents.


Also, under Craft (plans), you mention taking a full-round action during the surprise round. During a surprise round, you are limited to one move or standard action, and can not take full-round actions.


EDIT: And there are a bunch of class skills this class should probably have access to, such as Architecture and Engineering, Warfare (which I think is a thing), and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head.

CryWolfCorrupt
2014-01-22, 04:25 PM
First off, thanks for the critique!


I don't have to time to go over the class too much, so I'll stick to one ability: study.

I'd say that, while it seems cool, and I understand the intent (I think), taking a full round to gain a bonus in combat is generally a bad idea, especially at high levels. The fact that it can effect a limited number of opponents makes that even worse. Never mind that, it would defeat the point of the ability.
(And if you took a round to get a bonus, you won't want to waste another action sharing it, maybe.)

One suggestion is that you give the bonus to your allies as part of the same action you used to activate it. See I feel that spending one turn to gain a bonus for the rest of combat is actually a valuable resource, but I am also new to homebrew and that may be my opinion vs. the world of normal D&D players. Thanks for the insight and if anyone else agrees, I will happily make it into one action (all for increasing the power of the class).



Study probably should give an insight bonus, because untyped bonuses are a bit too powerful in many cases, and studying something for a bonus is basically a by-the-book insight bonus. Then you could also remove the statement saying it doesn't stack with most things. Most typed bonuses don't stack, and having studying give an untyped bonus is a bit odd. Knowledge Devotion also gives an insight bonus, so that makes some sense, as the two abilities are quite similar.
I thought I did give it a type. I will definitely fix this.


As another idea, perhaps give the class Knowledge Devotion as a bonus feat (and probably grant more knowledge skills). If you do this, perhaps give the class a bonus to the Knowledge Devotion roll equal to their class level plus their intelligence modifier (maybe a bit less than class levels, or half their class levels), or their skill bonus, whichever is higher. The feat goes well with the class, and it makes sense for a strategist to have pre-existing knowledge of various types of opponents.
Because Study doesn't stack with Knowledge Devotion (and exceeds it except early on) I feel giving the class two separate 'abilities' that grant the same, non-stackable function a bit superfluous. I do like the idea of giving a bonus to Knowledge Devotion, but that soon renders Study useless (except as a way to share the benefits, and is not reliant on a roll).


Also, under Craft (plans), you mention taking a full-round action during the surprise round. During a surprise round, you are limited to one move or standard action, and can not take full-round actions.
Typo. Fixing.


EDIT: And there are a bunch of class skills this class should probably have access to, such as Architecture and Engineering, Warfare (which I think is a thing), and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head.
I went directly off the SRD online and did not see anything Architecture or Engineering. Can you link me to the ones you think are thematically appropriate?

VoodooPaladin
2014-02-03, 07:13 PM
Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/knowledge.htm) is a real skill, believe it or not; second from the top, beneath arcana. It's clinically underpowered, but there's no harm in its inclusion. And for the record, Knowledge (geography) is a real skill, too. Knowledge (warfare) isn't real as far as I recall, but Knowledge (military tactics) does exist in World of Warcraft d20; it does nothing of note besides granting a synergy bonus to Profession (military commander) checks, which in that game let you command units within that game's mass combat system.

Int to AC could work... But I'd say it's not beneficial. With Sneak Attack now formally included, the class is basically Int/Dex, one of which already boosts AC. And since the damage-dealing capacity of the class is not as important as staying alive to grant bonuses to allies, it's good odds that Strategists prefer AC-boosting to (personal) attack- & damage boosting anyway.

On Knowledge Devotion: As stated above, redundant with Study as currently written. If it were to be added, rewriting the Study ability to make use of it in a modified way should be considered. The possibilities are intriguing, although I would be hesitant about granting Knowledge Devotion Plus to a low-level character, since these are bonuses being applied on top of the pre-existing 3/4 BAB + Weapon Finesse + Sneak Attack. And it would be trivial for a Duskblade or something to hop in for a level or two and break the RNG some more. If Knowledge Devotion synergy were to be included, I would have to suggest that it be put in during the mid-levels. And you would have to do something about the fact that the Strategist doesn't actually have Knowledge skills related to magical stuff, which I recall was on purpose. Flat bonus to Knowledge checks made for Knowledge Devotion, or skill substitution with Knowledge (history) perhaps?