Is this unfair? NPC 'Unique' classes (Paladin and Monk)

[Genth]

Ok, so a couple of my 'bad guys'/rivals come from a very... fire focused nation, founded by dragons, the nobility have a lot of Dragon blood in them, the military class have some but less, and this results in some 'special NPC classes' I want to use as opponents. Obviously, GM fiat, I can do what I like, and the players won't have access to -most- of these things. I just want to know how badly this will jump the difficulty of the encounters.

FYI, it's based on Pathfinder

First is the low-level guys who will basically be monks with BAB, saves, flurry of blows and the AC and movement bonuses, no ki or any of the monk special abilities, but they have certain pyrokinetic powers - starting with a ranged flurry of blows 'firebending' style of attack, which does the same amount of fire damage as the unarmed attack monk damage plus CHA modifier. I may (if the story actually goes down one path) allow the players to take a single level dip in this class.

Second is the 'high level' fighter - a noble, who has a bunch of dodgy, fancy swordy tricks (may steal some stuff from the swashbuckler class in the new guide. But Crane style feats, improved criticals, haste and fireball spells. At higher levels (talking 12-15 here) they (or he, only really one NPC who'll have this class) become a fully realised half-dragon, treating class level as racial level for breath attack (+2 CR)

Lastly, the Paladins. No Mercy or Lay on hands, but Smite Evil does fire damage, and hits Chaotic people, as well as all members of a particular race. Channel energy likewise does a burst of flame damage (still will to save though). At level 12 they'll also become half-dragons. (So +2CR)

Thoughts?

[NickChaisson]

I'm not sure of the balance on the things you suggested, or most pathfinder stuff. But IIRC the book of vile darkness PrCs were mainly meant for NPCs. So there should be a precedent for what your trying to do.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Nothing sounds too strong in the abstract, though I can't say anything definite without seeing the actual mechanics.

I'm a little leery of the arbitrary DM fiat restriction, though. Rather than saying "NPCs only," try "only people from region X have these classes; if you want one, you need to either be a native or be trained by a native."

[Lappy9001]

Nothing sounds too strong in the abstract, though I can't say anything definite without seeing the actual mechanics.

I'm a little leery of the arbitrary DM fiat restriction, though. Rather than saying "NPCs only," try "only people from region X have these classes; if you want one, you need to either be a native or be trained by a native."This sounds like the way to go.

You should stat up those NPC classes so we can take a look! :smallsmile: (there isn't nearly enough NPC homebrew anyhow)

[Epsilon Rose]

I agree with grod. Also, if you want something a bit more comprehensive, The Spellshaping Codices (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=845.0) do very similar things. It's basically Tome of Battle for magic and there's a pretty strong elemental trend. One of the really cool things is that there are a ton of different base classes, ACFs, and PrCs that can cover a huge variety of concepts. Notable among these are the Spellshape Champion (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=854.msg5273#msg5273) who channels his attacks through melee weapons and can take an acf that lets him focus on a single element, the Anchorite (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=983.msg6171#msg6171)that acts as a monk analog and has an acf that lets him channel his attacks through his fists and get auras, and the Dragonheart Adept (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1480.0) who uses claws and a breath weapon. There are also a few classes that focus on fire in particular, but the list is already getting a bit long.

[Genth]

Thing is, with the monks, for example, it'll literally be me stealing CR3 monk NPCs from the PFSRD and subbing in a ranged attack on their flurry of blows doing the same damage only plus CHA bonus instead of STR.

I caught onto the 'free hand fighter', so built the Noble guy on that, made him a half-dragon, and gave him the Crane feat tree, which does a lot of what I want, give flyby attack because y'know, wings, then add to that basically a couple of free sorcerer spells. So that's sorted.

For the paladin, it's a very simple switch-out of Mercy and Lay on Hands for half-dragon, change smite evil to do fire damage to Chaotic people, and channel energy into a 30ft fire damage burst.

Were I to be turning this into a semi-published setting (which I might do, depending on how much more detail I think up and how well received it is by players) I'd stat them up. But mostly I just wanted assurances that none of these ideas are going to utterly TPK my players.

[Solarix]

Here are my thoughts


First is the low-level guys who will basically be monks with BAB, saves, flurry of blows and the AC and movement bonuses, no ki or any of the monk special abilities, but they have certain pyrokinetic powers - starting with a ranged flurry of blows 'firebending' style of attack, which does the same amount of fire damage as the unarmed attack monk damage plus CHA modifier. I may (if the story actually goes down one path) allow the players to take a single level dip in this class.

Doesn't seem bad, I would treat it as an archetype instead of a "different class"




Second is the 'high level' fighter - a noble, who has a bunch of dodgy, fancy swordy tricks (may steal some stuff from the swashbuckler class in the new guide. But Crane style feats, improved criticals, haste and fireball spells. At higher levels (talking 12-15 here) they (or he, only really one NPC who'll have this class) become a fully realised half-dragon, treating class level as racial level for breath attack (+2 CR)

This is a bit of a stretch as being a fighter. I would recommend the ToB: Book of 9 Swords, go Swordsage or Warblade with access to Desert Wind.

If that's not possible, have it multiclassed with rogue (scout archetype) so that it can be fancy and mobile.




Lastly, the Paladins. No Mercy or Lay on hands, but Smite Evil does fire damage, and hits Chaotic people, as well as all members of a particular race. Channel energy likewise does a burst of flame damage (still will to save though). At level 12 they'll also become half-dragons. (So +2CR)

This one sounds as an archetype as well.

As for becoming half dragon, I would point you to the Dread Necromancer (3.5) or the Knight of the Sepulcher archetype (PF Antipaladin), they become the undead type as a capstone.
A dragon disciple is kind of technically reaching the template, without changing the type.

You can just add the half-dragon template to the NPCs and treat it as an acquired template (sort of like a lich) that has a character level requirement of 12.

Hope this helps! :D

[Hanuman]

http://dndtools.eu/feats/dragon-compendium--109/ring-golden-bell--3389/

[jiriku]

It sounds like you have essentially homebrewed some alternative class features for the monk, fighter, and paladin classes. Since none of those classes are especially strong to begin with and your changes represent only minor improvements, I'd say you're fine.