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Seerow
2014-01-19, 08:39 PM
I was recently introduced to the fun that is Pathfinder Psionics. One class in particular, the Aegis, caught my eye. It has a solid concept, as a Psionic Frontliner who manifests special armor that lets him do extraordinary things like grow to the size of a giant, gain extra arms, move faster, breath underwater, and so on. It's pretty cool.

I did however run into two problems while reading it:
1) Despite being so heavily focused on its armor, it is very weak defensively. No miss chances. AC that starts out decent, but falls behind regular armor very quickly.
2) For every good customization I found, there was one more that was awful, an outright trap to pick.

So what I've done is made some tweaks. Most class features have been modified slightly, and a number of the customization options have been modified (mostly making the weaker ones more competitive with the obviously great options), and added a couple of new abilities to fill in some gaps.

Unlike my Revitalized classes, I've made no sweeping changes to resources, no new added abilities, or anything along those lines. It's simply a number of tweaks to bring the class's power level up to where I felt would be more appropriate.


Aegis Tweaks

Astral Suit Changes
At the start of the day, the Aegis now forms each Astral Suit (Skin, Armor, and Juggernaut) assigning it customization points separately. Any Shards or Power Crystals are shared among all suits, however the relevant customization is still required to activate it as normal. Changing between the suits swaps out to the new customization set up.

All Astral Suits, in addition to their normal customization points, gain a number of upgrade points for more minor effects equal to 1/4th level plus half the Intelligence mod of the Aegis. These upgrade points may be applied to each suit separately. The points may be spent as follows:
-1 upgrade point can be spent to reduce Armor Check Penalty by 2.
-1 upgrade point can increase your AC against crit confirmations by 1.
-2 upgrade points may be spent to increase max dex by 1.
-2 upgrade points to reduce ASF of suit by 5%
-3 upgrade points can be spent to gain armor spikes

Aegis now gain additional Customization points equal to half their Constitution modifier.

Astral Skin:
-Loses improved evasion at level 12.
-Begins as Masterwork Studded Leather
-Becomes Masterwork Chain Shirt at level 3.
-Gains Evasion at level 3.

Astral Armor
-Becomes Masterwork Breastplate at 3 instead of 8.
-Lose Flexible Suit at 2nd level.
-Gain Psionic Attacks at 3rd level.

Astral Juggernaut
-Become Masterwork Full Plate at 3rd level instead of 7.
-Gain Stalwart at level 3 instead of level 2.

This is pretty much the biggest change out of the lot. Basically 1 point of ACP wasn't worth a customization point. So I wanted to throw reducing ACP into a different category, so I did that and gave a couple other options, so characters can wear the medium/heavy armor without being so crippled.

This also opened up the ability to make the no-armor option into a light armor option, since with light armor you could invest those same resources into raising max dex and still having full mobility and ACP-none.

Other than that it's just streamlining the upgrade process for the armors. Everyone now starts with a weaker armor at level 1, and upgrades to their best armor at level 3. Getting it at level 7-8 before was insulting, normal classes were buying that gear at level 2-3. And getting heavily enchanted versions with better AC by level 8.

The other big change here is each astral suit having a different customization loadout. This gives the Aegis more flexibility throughout the day, having 3 different distinct loadouts to work with. The other system of having your loadout carry over if you changed armor type was just weird. This way you can have your super mobility light armor suit, your heavy damage medium armor suit, and your tanking heavy armor suit.

Class Feature Changes

Craftsman: The bonus from this is doubled.
Invigorating Suit: This bonus is now a bonus equal to Aegis level.
Reconfigure: This ability is now usable Int mod times per day.
Augment Suit: This ability low lasts a number of rounds equal to Con mod (min 1), instead of Int mod.
Master Craftsman: This ability now explicitly allows the Aegis to enhance his Astral Suit. Unlike the Customization and Upgrade points, any enhancement applied in this way applies to all forms of the suit.
Cannibalize Suit: Consumes one suit, however allows the character to manifest one of his other two suits. As part of the same action, the Aegis may cannibalize 2 or 3 of his suits at once, to gain additional healing.

Okay these are all relatively small and simple tweaks. You'll notice that the suit can be enchanted by the Aegis, letting the more regular defenses like bonus AC keep pace with people just buying their gear.

The big change here is Augment suit being based off con mod, and Reconfigure being usable based on Int mod.

You'll also notice that in the previous section Int provided more of the weak upgrades, and Con provided some bonus Customization points. The general idea here is that the Int focused Aegis has much more flexibility. He'll generally have more skills, more capability to shift around his augments to suit situational needs, etc. A more con focused Aegis will be less flexible, but have a suit that is much more powerful at any given time, and generally fill his role as frontliner better.


Customization Changes

Removed Customizations
Flexible Suit-Is no longer available as a Customization.
Spoked Carapace-No longer available as a Customization.

1 Point Customizations
Hardened Strikes-Now grants unarmed damage as though a Monk of your level.
Psionic Attacks-Is now combined with Psionic Damage. Each additional time this upgrade is taken improves damage by 2 points instead of 1. This damage bonus applies to Ranged Attack customization if taken.
Pull/Push-Each of these powers now has the movement increased 5ft for every 5 you win on CMB check.
Ranged Attack-Add strength to damage.
Retaliate-Now an Attack of Opportunity instead of an Immediate Action
Speed-Now provides +10ft per point instead of 5ft. Can be taken 1+1/4 levels.
Augment Weapon-Now stacks with regular size increases. May now be taken 1 additional time at 10 and 20.
Climb-Now a 1 point enhancement. Taking a second time increases to full move speed.
Diehard-Is now a 1 point customization, and lets you qualify as having the feat for any feats or prestige classes that require Diehard.

2 point customizations
Fortification-3rd time this is taken now increases fort to 100%
Increased Size-May be dismissed and reactivated as a swift action.
Power Resistance-Grants Power Resistance of 7+level. 2nd time becomes 10+level. 3rd time becomes 13+level.
Ram-Ram Attack can be used as secondary weapon. When used as primary weapon add 2x strength damage. Add +.5 str damage for each additional time this is picked.
Retaliate, Improved-No longer need to expend psionic focus to use. Requires level 12 instead of 16.
Tremorsense-May be taken a second time 3 levels later to extend range to 60ft.

3 point customizations
Blindsense-May be taken a second time 3 levels later to extend range to 60ft.
Burrow-Gain full base speed, not half.
Reach-May be taken again at 14 and 20.

4 point customizations
Blindsight-May be taken a second time 3 levels later to extend range to 60ft.
Extra Passenger-May be taken up to 3 times.
Improved Stalwart-No longer requires expending Psionic Focus.

These are basically all just improving some of the weaker abilities, or letting them scale better. Lots of little buffs, but nothing game changing here.


New Customizations
Strength (1 point)-Gain +2 bonus to strength checks to open doors, break objects, etc. Can be taken 1+1/3 levels. (So a 6th level character can take this 3 times for a +6 bonus to strength checks).

Agile (2 points)-As chameleon, applies bonus to Acrobatics check instead of stealth.
Blurring(2 points)-Character gains 20% miss chance against all attacks, as though under the effect of Blur. Character can activate or deactivate as a swift action at will. Requires level 5.
Disguising(2 points)-As chameleon, applies bonus to Disguise check instead of stealth.
Harness Shard, Improved(2 points)-Activating a stored shard may now be done as a free action. Requires level 7 and Harness Shard.
Imposing(2 points)- As chameleon, applies bonus to Intimidate instead of stealth.
Vigor(2 points)-Gain Fast Healing 1 while below 50% health. Requires level 4. May be taken an additional time for every 4 levels above 4.
Visor(2 points)-As chameleon, applies bonus to Perception instead of stealth.

Dimension Slide(3 points)-Character can teleport up to base land speed as a move action. 3 extra points can increase to a swift action. Requires level 7. Can be picked an additional time every 5 levels, every time picked again, add 30ft to the teleport range.
Displacement(3 points)-Character gains 50% miss chance against all attacks, as though under the effect of Displacement. Character can activate or deactivate as a swift action at will. Requires level 12 and the Blurring customization.
Insightful(3 points)-Character may apply Int to AC in place of Dex, still limited by max dex. Requires level 5.
Planar Adaptation(3 points)-The Aegis can survive in an extraplanar environment normally. Requires level 9.
Storing(3 points)-Can store up to 200lbs worth of objects in your suit. Suit is treated as a Handy Haversack. May be taken up to 3 times, each additional time doubling the amount that can be stored. Requires level 6.

These are some new Customizations added to fill a few gaping holes in the Aegis' toolkit. I also took the time to add a couple of fun things, and things that are extensions of other abilities. This is the one section I may continue to add to after posting this. The major one I wanted to add was Blurring/Displacement.