Buffing classes for a setting

[Mopeds42]

Hello, I am currently working on a setting that focuses on the Tome of Battle and Incarnum, with magic/psionics being rare. I want to buff some of the classes by giving them maneuver progressions but am unsure how balanced this would be in regards to the Tome of Battle classes. I also have some other changes that I am unsure of the balance on. All the classes I am allowing I am aiming for Tier-3, with some of the tier-2 casters. Sorry for the following wall of text. Here are the changes:

Rangers: Lose spells, animal companion at level 1, gain White Raven, Desert Wind, Iron Heart Maneuvers, and either Tiger Claw if they select melee combat style, or the True Arrow (online archery maneuvers) if they select archery. They would progress/recover as the Warblade.

Monks: Gain an ability that allows them to use wisdom for attack/damage rolls at level 1 (reduce MAD) and scaling magical fists. Gain light, nonmetal armor, lose fast movement past an extra 10 feet and the scaling AC bonus. Gain Maneuvers from Devoted Spirit, Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, Shadow Hand, and Desert Wind. Progress as Swordsage/recover as swordsage.

Barbarians: Lose Trap Sense/Fast movement. Gain Iron Heart, Tiger Claw, and Stone Dragon Maneuvers. Progress/recover as Crusader, though refluff the randomness to be from their primal instincts rather than divine inspiration. Use Whirling Frenzy rather than Rage.

Rogues: Heres the harder one. Scale back their sneak attack damage. Buff hit die to d8. Lose the random special abilities they get later on. Gain Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, and Diamond Mind. Unsure how to do progression (I am thinkging Crusader Progression, Warblade Recovery mechanic)

In addition, I am going to add the ranger spells to the Scout class. (and possibly a limited wildshape?)
I am also unsure what to do with Soulknife. I could give them maneuvers, give them powers like the psychic warrior, but what I really want to do is entirely remake them into an Incarnum class, as flavor wise, the idea of "Soul" Knife seems very Incarnum-y, and like they would be a bit like totemists, with a special blade chakra akin to the totem chakra.
I also want to figure out a way to buff the Hexblade a little bit.

Finally, the spellcasters I am thinking of using are the Spirit Shaman, Sorcerer, and Favored Soul. I also want to use the Wu Jen and Shugenja for flavor reasons, but their spell lists are too small (As the other three have the advantage of all those extra books). I want spellcasters to be less powerful than they are normally, so maybe writing spell lists for sorcerers, spirit shamans, and favored souls are the way to go, but thats a lot of work. Or I could expand the Wu Jen and Shugenja's lists. Or just use Wizard and Archivist instead (though I would re-fluff them a bit, and they very strong casters).

Other Notes: Warlocks can full attack with eldritch blast, and the allowed psionic classes are Psion, Wilder, and Psychic Warrior (and maybe psionic rogue/lurk? unsure). Also Incarnates/Totemists. Factotums are also allowed. If I haven't mentioned the class above, its not allowed, for either flavor reasons, because I am going for a Pseudo-Eastern/exotic fantasy feel (with no humans), or because they have a more powerful alternative (as fighters do) or both (like Paladins). Again, The goal is for all the classes allowed to be Tier 2-3 ish.

Edit: Forgot Binders!

[NoACWarrior]

Alternatively you could give the martial classes gestalt with the Incarnum base classes - with or without the alignment restrictions. While Incarnum isn't a good substitution for spells, its a fair way to get interesting buffs and abilities both in combat and out of combat which last all day long.

[Mopeds42]

Alternatively you could give the martial classes gestalt with the Incarnum base classes - with or without the alignment restrictions. While Incarnum isn't a good substitution for spells, its a fair way to get interesting buffs and abilities both in combat and out of combat which last all day long.

Well I like the flavor of the Tome of Battle a lot, which is why I added the maneuvers to the martial classes. I also personally feel gestalt is a little clunky in terms of flavor. That is the style of thing I am going for, as I don't want things to replace spells, I just want to add extra utility/capabilities to non-spell-casters, so it is something I will keep in mind as a possibility.

[NoACWarrior]

Ah well, the PCs can always take shape soulmeld :smallwink:

The spell substitutions into maneuvers could work splendidly, especially if you are running low magic and the image of a tank / front liner casting spells is a bit headache inducing.

Adding ToM has other issues, but if you are going without divine magic (or very little) binders have (a very limited) a heal which can get the party up after fights, and all derived powers are granted by a supernatural pact (kind of goth punk). Shadow magic might not be to your liking tho, as it is very close to a spell caster. Truenamer magic fluff makes alot of sense (at least in some lore, and some descriptions in epic levels), but can be unwieldy to use without serious optimization.

As for spell casters - You could limit the levels of the spells received by using the bard's spells per day chart (not a balanced way of doing things, but hey, its consistent) with some modified version of spells known. You could also give only core + certain complete books (using the spell compendium versions of course) and then open up spell list variety as the PCs uncover tomes. For my friend's campaign he made us discover as a party the DnD books we wanted to use.

[Mopeds42]

Ah well, the PCs can always take shape soulmeld :smallwink:

The spell substitutions into maneuvers could work splendidly, especially if you are running low magic and the image of a tank / front liner casting spells is a bit headache inducing.

Adding ToM has other issues, but if you are going without divine magic (or very little) binders have (a very limited) a heal which can get the party up after fights, and all derived powers are granted by a supernatural pact (kind of goth punk). Shadow magic might not be to your liking tho, as it is very close to a spell caster. Truenamer magic fluff makes alot of sense (at least in some lore, and some descriptions in epic levels), but can be unwieldy to use without serious optimization.

As for spell casters - You could limit the levels of the spells received by using the bard's spells per day chart (not a balanced way of doing things, but hey, its consistent) with some modified version of spells known. You could also give only core + certain complete books (using the spell compendium versions of course) and then open up spell list variety as the PCs uncover tomes. For my friend's campaign he made us discover as a party the DnD books we wanted to use.


Wow I totally forgot about healing (non of my players ever play anything that heals, the closest we have gotten is a Warlock with a wand). Using that book limitation in regards to spells seems like a good choice, making the casters have to go out and seek/discover exotic magic.