[3.5e PrC PEACH]- Dragon Legionnaire

[Salasay]

I don't want to have to transcribe the whole thing over, but here (http://dandwiki.com/wiki/Dragon_Legionnaire_%283.5e_Prestige_Class%29) is a link to the class. Please tell me what you think!

[Salasay]

Bump? Someone, please reply?

[Erberor]

First things first, when you get the time you should really transcribe the class over. That is probably part of why nobody has really responded.

On to the class...

The lore behind the class is excellent (except for that bit about how their spears are made...it really doesn't fit the image I get from the class), and it gives the class direction. However, this direction is never really followed up on. Many of the class features are somewhat lackluster, and the ones with the most potential are often quite convoluted.

I cite the example of Drachenstil. This ability appears to be a substitute for Two-weapon fighting which makes for an interesting ability, but it ends up being a huge block of text that is very hard to read. Also, the ability itself is rather lackluster. What you ought to do is first clean up the description, then make it a comprehensive replacement for TWF. Like making it so that whenever you could make an attack with your main hand weapon (spear), you may make an additional attack with your off hand weapon (sabreknife) at the same attack bonus.

Another problem is Momentum strike. It basically doesn't really do anything, considering that the minimum level at which you get it is 10. Flat bonuses like that, particularly such small ones, do not have significant effect on your combat ability. You should change it to something that scales well, like, say, x2 damage when you charge. Or possibly incorporating pounce in there somewhere. Everyone likes pounce. :smallsmile:

With regard to Arms Drills, you shouldn't restrict the abilities rather minor benefits to those who have taken fighter levels. If you're going to grant bonus feats, grant them even if the person doesn't meet prereqs. Maybe you could also incorporate being able to use some of those other weapons in place of spear and sabreknife.

The maneuvers are fairly good, but need to be cleaned up a bit, and strengthened. You'll also want more of them.

I would say to scratch the TWF feats, unless you plan on not using Drachenstil to replace TWF, in which case go ahead.

For the love of all that is good in the world, give this class a capstone. Something awesome at level 10, which a character would, at the earliest, have at level 20. Give it something awesome.

Girdle of arms has a LOT of potential and is a very interesting idea. Again, it isn't implemented as well as it could be. I would personally base it not on an item, but rather building on the Legionnaire's connection with his weapon(s) by allowing him to mentally imbue the weapons he wields with the enhancements. That aside, the entire "not qualifying for two or more enchantments...etc" is really complicated and not entirely clear.

Overall, this class has so much potential, but is being bogged down by lackluster abilities and overly complicated descriptions of certain abilities. If you take the time to fix it up and give it a bit of a boost, I think it could definitely turn out to be a very nice prestige class.

[Salasay]

Another problem is Momentum strike. It basically doesn't really do anything, considering that the minimum level at which you get it is 10. Flat bonuses like that, particularly such small ones, do not have significant effect on your combat ability. You should change it to something that scales well, like, say, x2 damage when you charge. Or possibly incorporating pounce in there somewhere. Everyone likes pounce.

Ah. sorry, that ability is an extension of another class's ability. By level 20, the bonus will be +5 if you took 10 levels of "dragoon".


With regard to Arms Drills, you shouldn't restrict the abilities rather minor benefits to those who have taken fighter levels. If you're going to grant bonus feats, grant them even if the person doesn't meet prereqs. Maybe you could also incorporate being able to use some of those other weapons in place of spear and sabreknife.

The point of "restricting" it like that is so that if you have levels in fighter, you just get it at level 1 instead of 2. There's a bit at the beginning of the abilities saying that it counts as a fighter for feats.


I cite the example of Drachenstil. This ability appears to be a substitute for Two-weapon fighting which makes for an interesting ability, but it ends up being a huge block of text that is very hard to read. Also, the ability itself is rather lackluster. What you ought to do is first clean up the description, then make it a comprehensive replacement for TWF. Like making it so that whenever you could make an attack with your main hand weapon (spear), you may make an additional attack with your off hand weapon (sabreknife) at the same attack bonus.

You, sir, are a genius.


Girdle of arms has a LOT of potential and is a very interesting idea. Again, it isn't implemented as well as it could be. I would personally base it not on an item, but rather building on the Legionnaire's connection with his weapon(s) by allowing him to mentally imbue the weapons he wields with the enhancements. That aside, the entire "not qualifying for two or more enchantments...etc" is really complicated and not entirely clear.

That was originally the way I was headed, but I figured that a regular military unit wouldn't really have that kind of thing.

[Erberor]

Ah. sorry, that ability is an extension of another class's ability. By level 20, the bonus will be +5 if you took 10 levels of "dragoon".

I had a suspicion of something like that, but it is still a rather small bonus. Maybe adding some kind of scaling based on how far you move before attacking could make it more interesting, as well as more interesting tactics.


The point of "restricting" it like that is so that if you have levels in fighter, you just get it at level 1 instead of 2. There's a bit at the beginning of the abilities saying that it counts as a fighter for feats.

Ah, I missed that one. Simplifying the wording to something like "if you have x fighter levels, you gain this ability at level 1, otherwise you gain it at level 2" would help there. I get where you're coming from though, I imagine you were trying to make it simple and reasonable, but ended up making it difficult for others to understand. I tend to do that a lot myself. :smallyuk:


You, sir, are a genius.

Why thank you, good sir!


That was originally the way I was headed, but I figured that a regular military unit wouldn't really have that kind of thing.

Whatever works for the flavor of the class is probably the best way to go, especially considering the rather rich fluff you've set up here.

I wish you good luck!

[Salasay]

The maneuvers are fairly good, but need to be cleaned up a bit, and strengthened. You'll also want more of them.

...

For the love of all that is good in the world, give this class a capstone. Something awesome at level 10, which a character would, at the earliest, have at level 20. Give it something awesome.

Do you have any ideas for more maneuvers or a capstone?

[Erberor]

Well, with regard to coming up with maneuvers, it's important to remember that not all a warrior can do is combat. Giving some out of combat cool stuff can make a huge difference in the class's General Awesomeness Quotient. :smallbiggrin:

As far as a capstone goes, I would recommend taking a step back from game rules and such and think hard about the class as a whole, asking yourself a few questions.

What is a Dragon Legionnaire?
How does a Dragon Legionnaire fight? (very much an offense vs defense question, or somewhere in between)
Why does a Dragon Legionnaire fight? (more important than one might think)

and so on. Knowing what exactly a Dragon Legionnaire is is absolutely vital. Once you've got that figured out, you can ask the big one.

What, after ten levels of intense training in the legion, is such an incredible warrior capable of? What is the defining aspect of the legend that such a warrior would be?

That is what you should think about on that. Don't think about numbers or anything else until you know what you want a tenth level Dragon Legionnaire to be capable of. And it should be suitably awesome.