Woad Warrior (Base Class 3.5) (Discussion and Planning)

[LordErebus12]

i'm gonna create a charisma based class called the Woad Warrior.

It uses the "essence" of monsters it has defeated, gaining some of their powers to use in combat. Once it absorbs an "essence", it can create elaborate body markings, referred to as Woads (referencing the blue dye that is often used to make them). These intricate knotwork patterns adorn the woad warrior, allowing him to tap into the essence of the creature's power that the woad represents.

To use these woads, the woad warrior enters a unique form, referred to as the Primal Form. While in this state, the woads glow with supernatural power, granting the woad warrior the unique powers associated with the markings. while they do not polymorph you into the creatures directly, you gain spectral aura-like features of many of the creature's traits while in frimal form. For Instance, someone who uses a primal beholder woad augment might have spectral 10 eyestalks around his head, which would also feature the classic main eye.

got the class layed out, but the Woads themselves need to be created. From what I've come up with, they do not stack with same slot magical items, meaning if you have a neck woad, you cannot gain the benefit of wearing a magical necklace or talisman that uses the same slot while in your Primal Form (although you can still wear it as normal and use it while not in Primal Form).

this thing reminds me of Blue Mages from Final Fantasy, although I do not want to use that too much in the planning of it all. It was the conceptual idea, but I've tried to remove much of the flavor from it in my mind.

My plan with Woad Augments is this... (almost) each creature in the five monster manuals will end up with 1-3 woads, which depending on what level you are, you can access once you defeat one in battle. woads are off until you enter primal form, at which point they all activate simultaneously. I figure entering into primal form will be a full round action.

Alignment: Any Non-Lawful.
Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills
The Woad Warrior’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Generally Painting) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering / geography / nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Table: The Woad Warrior
Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Woad Augments
1st|+0|+2|+2|+0|Absorb Essence, Primal Form 1/Day, Woad Augments (Lesser)|2
2nd|+1|+3|+3|+0||3
3rd|+2|+3|+3|+1||3
4th|+3|+4|+4|+1| Primal Form 2/Day |4
5th|+3|+4|+4|+1||4
6th|+4|+5|+5|+2||5
7th|+5|+5|+5|+2||5
8th|+6/+1|+6|+6|+2| Primal Form 3/Day, Woad Augments (Greater) |6
9th|+6/+1|+6|+6|+3||6
10th|+7/+2|+7|+7|+3||7
11th|+8/+3|+7|+7|+3||7
12th|+9/+4|+8|+8|+4| Primal Form 4/Day |8
13th|+9/+4|+8|+8|+4||8
14th|+10/+5|+9|+9|+4||9
15th|+11/+6/+1|+9|+9|+5||9
16th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+10|+5| Primal Form 5/Day, Woad Augments (Primal) |10
17th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+10|+5||10
18th|+13/+8/+3|+11|+11|+6||11
19th|+14/+9/+4|+11|+11|+6||11
20th|+15/+10/+5|+12|+12|+6| Primal Form 6/Day |12


Light and Medium Armor.
Shields.
All Simple and Martial Weapons.

[LordErebus12]

Various Slots: head, eyes, neck, torso/back, body, waist, shoulders, arms/wrists, hands, and legs/feet

Name of Woad Augment

Level: This shows you what power level the woad is categorized as. The types (in order of lowest power to highest) are Lesser, Greater and Primal.
Slot: Designates where the woad is painted on the body.
Primal Shift: While in your primal form, your alignment shifts around. This tells you how many steps it shifts and which way. In the case of multiple shifts back and forth, apply them all as if they were positive and negative numbers to figure out where you stand after all are applied.
Appearance: Each woad looks different, both during and before you activate your primal form. Although these are not always exactly how they can look, these are just meant give examples of how they might look.
Effect: This is what it does while you activate your primal form. None of these effects are active while not in your primal form.
Drawback: This tells you what drawbacks you have (if any) while using this woad in your primal form.


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Madness of the Allip

Level: Lesser
Slot: Head
Primal Shift: Evil
Appearance: These smoky black woads cover the entire head of woad warrior. When in primal form, the woad warrior's eyes appear unfocused and are filled with a malevolent light. Smoky trails of darkness seem to leak from the head of the woad warrior.
Effect: Anything targeting the woad warrior with thought detection, mind control, or telepathic ability suffers 2 points of wisdom damage and is confused (as per the spell) for 1d4 rounds.
Drawback: The woad warrior cannot speak intelligibly while in primal form.

Astral Deva's Aura

Level: Lesser
Slot: Throat
Primal Shift: Good
Appearance: This small silver woad appears to feature celestial script within its intricate pattern. During your primal form, it radiates faint light.
Effect: Against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures, you gain a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws.
Drawback: You cannot Lie, Cheat or Steal while in your primal form.

[LordErebus12]

reserved for woads 2 of 2

[LordErebus12]

reserved for feats and whatnot.

[LordErebus12]

This sounds a LOT like Incarnum. How is this not Incarnum?

because I am not using any source material from Incarnum. I suppose its thematically like binders, but Its gonna work differently (I hope).