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CrazyYanmega
2014-01-25, 09:20 PM
Hello Giants! Had a bad day and decided trying my hand at homebrew may give me the pickup I need. (But seriously, there isn't a Guardian class already in a sourcebook?)

I will be editing this post bit by bit, as my browser has a nasty habit of shutting down in the middle of important stuff. Feel free to make suggestions and/or mock my work as it progresses.

Shield Guardian is complete. This class is a tank class based on Naotsugu's Fortress build.


Shield Guardian

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/L05c9GqDzb4/hqdefault.jpg

Prerequisites
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Concentration 4 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks
Armor Proficiency:Must have proficiency with Heavy Armor.

Role: A Shield Guardian is the ultimate protector. Where others would falter, a Guardian stands strong. Attacks that would crumple more delicate adventurers simply bounce off a Guardian's mighty shield. Guardians play a Tank role in the party, and there are few who can do it better. Shield Guardians specialize in utilizing their Skills in concert with their superior defenses to gain an advantage on the battlefield.

Alignment: While there are no restrictions on a Shield Guardian's alignment, the nature of the class tends to draw Lawful and/or Good characters more often than not. Paladins, Fighters, Crusaders, and more melee-oriented Clerics often find this class to their liking. Knights are especially drawn to this class due to its synergy with their Codes of Honor.

Hit Die: d10

Skill Points: 4+Intelligence Modifier

Class Skills:
Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft (Weaponsmith), Craft (Armorsmith), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Jump, Ride

Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Persistent Wall, Spell Resistance

2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Persistent Wall 2/day, Enraging Taunt

3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Great Wall

4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Persistent Wall 3/day

5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Swift Wall

6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+5|Persistent Wall 4/day

7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+5|Steadfast Wall

8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+6|Persistent Wall 5/day, Castle Of Stone

9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+6|Grand Wall

10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+7|Persistent Wall 6/day, Anchor Howl

Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: Shield Guardians gain proficiency in Tower Shields.

Persistent Wall (Ex.): Once per day, a Shield Guardian may make a Concentration check as a Standard Action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The DC of the check is equal to (Character Level)+15, and increases by 1 for each point of damage dealt to the Guardian from Attacks of Opportunity.

For every point the Concentration check exceeds the DC, the Guardian gains a +1 Deflection Bonus to his AC. If the Guardian fails his Concentration check, he takes a -4 penalty to his Armor Bonus. The effects of Persistent Wall last until the end of the encounter.

At second level and every two levels thereafter, a Shield Guardian gains the ability to use Persistent Wall an additional time per day, to a maximum of 6 times per day at 10th level. At fifth level, a Guardian can use Persistent Wall as a Swift Action that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity, but costs two uses of Persistent Wall.

Special: A Guardian can only use this ability if he is using a Tower Shield or a Two-handed Weapon he is proficient with. (Bastard Sword does not qualify, as it is treated as an exotic one-handed weapon with Exotic Weapon Proficiency).

Spell Resistance (Su.): A Shield Guardian is an exceptional defender, and knows how to protect himself from spells. He gains Spell Resistance equal to 15 + his guardian level, or his existing Spell Resistance increases by +4, whichever is better.

A Shield Guardian does not gain the effects of his Spell Resistance gained from his Guardian Levels if he is flat-footed, and/or if he is not using a Tower Shield.

A Guardian can deactivate his Spell Resistance as an Immediate Action, but he loses his Shield Bonus to his AC.

Enraging Taunt (Ex.): At second level a Guardian learns how to goad his enemies into a blind fury, protecting his allies by drawing attention to himself. As a swift action, a Guardian targets creatures within 60 ft. whose combined hit-dice total cannot exceed twice his character level, and no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart. The Guardian then makes a Bluff Check, the result of which is the Will Save DC for the targeted creatures.

Any creature that fails their Will Save gains an effect similar to a barbarian's Rage ability, except for the differences listed here:

The rage effect lasts only for a number of rounds equal to the affected creature's Hit-dice. Creatures who end their rage this way do not become fatigued.
If the creature targets something other than the Guardian who taunted it, the rage ends, and the creature becomes fatigued


A creature that succeeds on its Will Save cannot be affected by Enraging Taunt for 24 hours. A creature that fails its Will Save can be affected by Enraging Taunt multiple times, until it succeeds on its Will Save. Enraging Taunt is a sonic, mind-affecting effect.

A Shield Guardian can use Enraging Taunt a number of times per day equal to his Guardian level.

Great Wall (Ex.): At third level, whenever the Guardian is under the effect his Persistent Wall effect, he can extend any benefits of Persistent Wall to all adjacent allies. Allies who leave the zone don't retain the benefit, but allies can enter the zone to gain the benefit as long as it is active.

Steadfast Wall (Ex.): At seventh level, a Guardian can pay two of his daily uses of Persistent Wall to make a Concentration Check as a Standard Action that provokes Attacks of Opportunity. The DC of the check is equal to (Character Level)+5, and increases by 1 for each point of damage dealt to the Guardian from Attacks of Opportunity.

If the Guardian succeeds on his check. he gains Damage Reduction/Adamantine equal to (Concentration Result)-(Concentration DC)+1. If the Guardian fails his Concentration check, creatures that attack the Guardian do not have to confirm critical hits. The effects of Steadfast Wall last until the end of the encounter.

Special: A Guardian cannot use this ability if he is not wearing Heavy Armor.

Castle of Stone (Su.): At eighth level, once per encounter, a Shield Guardian may use this ability as a Full Round Action that does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity. For two rounds, a Guardian using this ability is immune to Hit Point damage, Ability Damage, Ability Drain, Energy Drain, Death effects, Paralysis, and poisons.

While this ability is active, a Guardian cannot use a move action, standard action, swift action, or full action, and he cannot take a 5-foot step. He also cannot use a martial stance while Castle of Stone is active. He can still make attacks of opportunity while this ability is active.

Grand Wall (Su.): At ninth level a Shield Guardian has nearly mastered the art of Protecting. If you have Persistent Wall or Steadfast Wall active, you extend any benefits of these abilities to all allies within 10 ft. Allies who leave the zone don't retain the benefit, but allies can enter the zone to gain the benefit as long as it is active.

Anchor Howl (Su.): This is the Guardian's ultimate skill. Once per day as a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, make an Intimidate Check. The check result is a Will Save DC that all hostile creatures within 40 ft. of the Guardian must attempt.

Any target that fails their Will Save is now Anchored for the rest of the encounter. An Anchored creature can still take actions as normal, but if the creature attempts to move more than 40 ft. away or attempts to attack or cast a spell at something other than the Guardian while within 40 ft. of the Guardian, they provoke a powerful counter attack. The Guardian can teleport to a square adjacent to the anchored creature provoking the counterattack as a free action and makes an attack at his full Base Attack Bonus. If this attack hits, it deals double normal melee damage. If the attack is a critical, stack the multipliers as normal (PHB 304). The Guardian then teleports back to his original space as a free action.

Anchored creatures are automatically aware that they are Anchored, and of the effects of Anchor Howl. A Guardian can make an unlimited number of counter attacks per round, but can only target each individual enemy once per round. An Anchored creature that leaves the 40-ft. radius area of effect is still considered Anchored, and thus still vulnerable to Anchor Howl if it re-enters the area of effect.

A target that succeeds on their Will Save is stunned for one round.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 12:11 AM
Okay, I'm almost done. Can someone please give me some feedback before I get started on the Anchor Howl ability?

avr
2014-01-26, 03:31 AM
What's the range of Enraging Taunt, and is it language-based as well? I.e. Can you taunt an elephant?

Spell resistance is a famously mixed blessing, blocking buffs unless you can spare a standard action as well as enemy actions. This is especially true of low levels of SR which are often completely ineffective against higher level enemies while still sometimes blocking friends. You're 100% sure you want this in the class rather than a direct save buff?

The class is obviously designed to be used in a campaign which allows ToB. Maybe it should progress IL at full levels rather than half, and/or progress maneuvers to some extent as well as stances. For that matter maybe the max stance level should be set by IL rather than by level in the class.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 03:50 AM
I specifically thought about whether to give Guardian full IL progression, but decided against it. I may reconsider once the class is complete.

Enraging Taunt is not language based, and I will put in a range after I get some sleep. Somewhere between 30-50 ft. sounds good. Maybe a restriction that they can be no more than 30 ft. apart.

I didn't think about the Spell Resistance blocking allied magic...
Should I add a bonus to saves that scales with level? Or maybe an ability that lets you add your shield bonus to saves...

KozanShoku
2014-01-26, 08:08 AM
It looks good although I think the Dc for his abilities should go off class level instead of chracter

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 11:48 AM
Changed up how the Guardian's Spell Resistance works. If he wants to receive buffs or heals, he still has to make himself vulnerable on both the physical and magical side of things, but now it occurs faster.

I chose to make the DC's for checks off of character level because of how you can continue to advance skill points while not investing levels in Guardian.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 03:42 PM
Okay, Guardian is finished! Please review it so I can edit it.

Prime32
2014-01-26, 04:21 PM
This really seems like it should be a base class. There are more Guardian abilities that haven't appeared in the anime... (http://lh.oksub.me/wiki/Guardian)


Prerequisites
Saves: Base Fortitude +5
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks
Weapon Proficiencies: At least 1 Melee Martial Weapon Proficiency.
Special: Must have proficiency with Tower Shields and Heavy Armor.This is both overly restrictive and redundant. You only really need one "minimum level" type prereq, but you've got three - the BAB and skills require a 5th-level character, while the saves require level 6.
You can just grant tower shield proficiency through the class itself, so there's no need to force everyone to take levels in fighter (especially when a pure fighter can't enter the class until lv13, due to not having Concentration as a class skill). Likewise the weapon proficiency prereq is redundant as it only applies to full-BAB classes that lack proficiency with any martial weapons... of which there are none (even monks, rogues and bards qualify!).

Better would be something like:
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Concentration 4 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks
Armor Proficiency: Must be proficient with heavy armor


Spell Resistance: A Guardian is an exceptional defender, and knows how to protect himself from spells. If a Guardian does not already have Spell Resistance, he gains Spell Resistance 11. A Guardian's Spell Resistance increases by 1 every time he increases his Guardian level. If a Guardian already has Spell Resistance from another source, the Guardian instead gains +1 spell resistance for each of his Guardian levels.This is... not a good progression. The standard for SR is 11 + character level, which translates as a 50% chance of negation. For a PrC you'd grant 15 + class level or so, to make up for being 5 levels behind. Just say "He gains Spell Resistance equal to 15 + his guardian level, or his existing Spell Resistance increases by +4, whichever is better."


A Guardian does not gain the effects of his Spell Resistance gained from his Guardian Levels if he is flat-footed, and/or if he is not using a Tower Shield.

A Guardian can deactivate his Spell Resistance as a Swift Action, but he loses his Shield Bonus to his AC.Why? :smallfrown: Why would a shield-based class have a mechanic that makes him worse at shielding himself while doing this than anyone else? Just say he chooses whether to apply the SR against each spell whenever he's hit by one.


Anchor Howl (Su.): This is the Guardian's ultimate skill. Once per day as a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, make an Intimidate Check. The check result is a Will Save DC that all hostile creatures within 30 ft. of the Guardian must attempt.

Any target that fails their Will Save is now Anchored. An Anchored creature can still take actions as normal, but if the creature attempts to move more than 40 ft. away or attempts to attack something other than the Guardian, they provoke a powerful counter attack. The Guardian can teleport to a square adjacent to the anchored creature provoking the counterattack as a free action and makes an attack at his full Base Attack Bonus. If this attack hits, it deals double normal melee damage. If the attack is a critical, stack the multipliers as normal (PHB 304). The Guardian then teleports back to his original space as a free action. Anchored creatures are automatically aware that they are Anchored, and of the effects of Anchor Howl.

A target that succeeds on their Will Save is stunned for one round.Succeeding on your Will save gives you more penalties than failing? :smallconfused: Also why both 30ft and 40ft ranges? Why not just trigger if they try to move further away from the Guardian than where they started, period? This ability does very little to spellcasters unless you add "casting a spell" to the list of things that provoke counterattacks. Finally, you need to clarify that you can use Anchor Howl and Castle of Stone at the same time.


Suggested conversions of other ET abilities:
Resilience (Ex): After every minute of inactivity, a guardian recovers hit points and ability damage as if after a full night's rest. This does not grant him any other benefits of rest, such as the ability to prepare spells.

Shield Smash (Ex): As part of the attack or full attack action, you may take a -2 penalty on your attack rolls to make an additional attack with your shield at your highest attack bonus (even if your shield could not normally be used to deliver shield bash attacks). If it hits this attack deals no damage, but the target must make a Fortitude save (DC = 10 + half your class level + your Con modifier) or become stunned for 1 round. You must be carrying a shield to use this ability.

Shield Mastery (Ex): While carrying a shield, a guardian increases its shield bonus to AC by +1. Treat this ability as the Shield Specialization feat for meeting prerequisites.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 04:53 PM
Succeeding on your Will save gives you more penalties than failing? Also why both 30ft and 40ft ranges? Why not just trigger if they try to move further away from the Guardian than where they started, period? This ability does very little to spellcasters unless you add "casting a spell" to the list of things that provoke counterattacks. Finally, you need to clarify that you can use Anchor Howl and Castle of Stone at the same time.

Ugh, I forgot to indicate that Anchor Howl lasts for the rest of the encounter. AND I forgot that spellcasting doesn't technically count as attacking.

The way I made the mechanics is that you can activate Castle of Stone while Anchor Howl is active, but you can't activate Anchor Howl while Castle of Stone is active.


Why? Why would a shield-based class have a mechanic that makes him worse at shielding himself while doing this than anyone else? Just say he chooses whether to apply the SR against each spell whenever he's hit by one.

This is so that the Guardian can allow healing/buff spells to hit him in combat if there is some sort of need for it. However, I felt that there needed to be some sort of penalty for doing this.

I will apply some of your suggestions.

EDIT: Thank you for the link. I may use it for some other classes. I think I'll rename this PrC Shield Guardian.

Samm
2014-01-26, 08:29 PM
With enraging taunt, you haven't specified how often it can be used.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-26, 11:50 PM
With enraging taunt, you haven't specified how often it can be used.

It's an at-will action. Do I need to indicate that?

Samm
2014-01-27, 12:25 AM
It's an at-will action. Do I need to indicate that?

Fair enough, I just assumed that because it was rather powerful, you might want to put a cap on it.

Edit: For some reason this seems really disingenuous, as I've done exactly that in my Swashbuckler homebrew. Although, it's not quite as powerful as the ability in question here. :smallconfused:

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-28, 12:22 PM
Fair enough, I just assumed that because it was rather powerful, you might want to put a cap on it.

Edit: For some reason this seems really disingenuous, as I've done exactly that in my Swashbuckler homebrew. Although, it's not quite as powerful as the ability in question here. :smallconfused:

Added a cap of "Times per day = to Guardian Level." Is that good?

Samm
2014-01-29, 09:26 PM
Added a cap of "Times per day = to Guardian Level." Is that good?

I think it's good.

Are you sure you want it to be a bluff check? I would have thought intimidate would make a little more sense flavour wise.

CrazyYanmega
2014-01-31, 05:18 PM
Are you sure you want it to be a bluff check? I would have thought intimidate would make a little more sense flavour wise.

I feel Bluff works better because you are trying to attract attention away from your squishier party members. Something of a deception. I also can't get the enemy getting stronger from being intimidated by their opponents.

Samm
2014-02-01, 08:51 PM
I feel Bluff works better because you are trying to attract attention away from your squishier party members. Something of a deception. I also can't get the enemy getting stronger from being intimidated by their opponents.

That's a fairly good fluff reason. What base classes do you reckon would go well with this?

CrazyYanmega
2014-02-03, 04:12 AM
I personally recommend Fighter, Crusader, and Knight. However, I think there are optimizers out there who could come up with some kind of super build implementing Shield Guardian.

Samm
2014-02-03, 06:15 PM
I personally recommend Fighter, Crusader, and Knight. However, I think there are optimizers out there who could come up with some kind of super build implementing Shield Guardian.

Limiting yourself to no other homebrews, generally leaves Crusader only as the others are a bit underpowered. Although, Knight does what it does well, he just does nothing else.

That said though, I have little understanding of what this means, because I've never used or homebrewed a prestige class.

CrazyYanmega
2014-02-04, 12:23 AM
Limiting yourself to no other homebrews, generally leaves Crusader only as the others are a bit underpowered. Although, Knight does what it does well, he just does nothing else.

That said though, I have little understanding of what this means, because I've never used or homebrewed a prestige class.

Well, I don't really know the other home-brew classes well. Do you have a recommendation for Lv. 10-15-20 builds?

Samm
2014-02-04, 04:46 AM
Well, I don't really know the other home-brew classes well. Do you have a recommendation for Lv. 10-15-20 builds?

For homebrewed classes? I'd probably do a shameless self-plug (See Foot-Knight and Fighter). The reason being that I haven't been active for a while, so I'm not really up to speed on them. Sorry mate.

Debihuman
2014-02-04, 06:52 AM
Spell resistance is a famously mixed blessing, blocking buffs unless you can spare a standard action as well as enemy actions. This is especially true of low levels of SR which are often completely ineffective against higher level enemies while still sometimes blocking friends. You're 100% sure you want this in the class rather than a direct save buff?



You can voluntarily lower SR to get buffs.

Debby

CrazyYanmega
2014-02-05, 03:19 AM
Ohhh! Debihuman! I saw you on Bhu's critter thread! I hope you will treat me good as well!

So what do you think of the class?

CrazyYanmega
2014-04-01, 09:05 PM
Final Edit: I decided to remove the ability to learn Martial Stances. It just was unnecessary and didn't add much to the class. Also, it was restricted by the prerequisites.

Also, how the heck do the tables work now?