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Edge
2014-10-28, 03:54 AM
The Carmine Marauder
Image (http://i.imgur.com/WQuuFa2.jpg) (source (http://imgur.com/gallery/WQuuFa2)),

"Make the blood run, and the gold shall flow." – Magda ferch Rhos, Carmine Marauder

The oceans of the world are not a safe place. Any adventurer can tell you of the threats posed by kraken, aboleths, sahuagin and worse. Few of them remember to mention the dangers posed by the waves above – slavers, storms, pirates, tsunamis and privateers. Amongst the most dangerous of these are the carmine marauders.

Buccaneers who emulate the unbridled fury of an ocean storm, the carmine marauders are the undisputed masters of naval boarding actions who realise the secret of winning such engagements – hitting hard, hitting fast, and winning before you lose too many men.

And when a carmine marauder stands on the enemy's deck, storm clouds clinging to her skin, men cowering before her, and the deck underfoot slick with blood, they know they've succeeded.

They always succeed.

HD: d10

Requirements
Base Attack Bonus +5
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks, Profession (Sailor) 4 ranks, Use Rope 2 ranks.
Feats: Intimidating Rage, Two-Weapon Fighting
Maneuvers: Must have knowledge of at least three maneuvers of the Army of One, Iron Heart, Oncoming Storm or Tiger Claw disciplines, including one of at least 2nd level, and least one stance.
Special: Must be able to Rage at least 1/day.

Class Skills: Appraise, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (local), Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope.
Skill points per level: 4 + Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).

LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1+1+2+2+0Buccaneer's Fury 1/day, Terrifying Reputation
2+2+3+3+0Rampaging Thunderhead Stance
3+3+3+3+1Cutlass Quickstep
4+4+4+4+1Crimson Tempest
5+5+4+4+1Bloody Waltz, Buccaneer's Fury 2/day
6+6+5+5+2Sailor's Warning
7+7+5+5+2Eye of the Incarnadine Storm
8+8+6+6+2Crimson-Capped Waves
9+9+6+6+3Buccaneer's Fury 3/day
10+10+7+7+3Red Sky Stance

LevelMan. KnownMan. ReadiedStances Known
1st100
2nd000
3rd111
4th000
5th100
6th011
7th100
8th000
9th111
10th000

Class Features
All the following are class features of the carmine marauder.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Carmine marauders gain no new weapon or armour proficiencies.

Maneuvers: At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th levels, the carmine marauder gains new maneuvers known from the*Army of One (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?103406-Army-of-One-Discipline&p=5710173), Iron Heart, Oncoming Storm (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?54816-Beware-the-Oncoming-Storm-Discipline) or Tiger Claw disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full carmine marauder levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, you gain additional maneuvers readied per day.

Stances Known: At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, the carmine marauder learn a new martial stance from the Army of One, Iron Heart, Oncoming Storm or Tiger Claw disciplines. You must meet the stance’s prerequisites to learn it.

Buccaneer's Fury (Ex): At first level, the carmine marauder hones her rage into a more focused weapon, modifying the ability into the Buccaneer's Fury, altering its effects. It now grants her a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Dexterity and a +2 bonus to Charisma, though she still takes a -2 penalty to AC. Unlike a normal rage, Buccaneer's Fury only prevents her from using the Autohypnosis, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disguise, Forgery, Handle Animal, Heal, Open Lock, Search, Spellcraft and Use Magic Device skills, leaving all other skills, feats and actions available to her.

Buccaneer's Fury has a duration equal to 3 + the carmine marauder's (newly improved) Charisma modifier, and is treated as rage for the purposes of all feats and class features, though Greater Rage and Mighty Rage do not improve the bonuses it provides. She gains an additional use of this ability at 5th level and every 4 level thereafter.

Terrifying Reputation (Ex): A carmine marauder is a terrifying foe, and a scourge upon all who dare the waves. At first level, her reputation is already cemented. If she possesses the battle clarity, battle ardour, battle cunning, battle skill or battle mastery class features, they now function off her Charisma modifier rather than her Intelligence modifier. If she possesses the AC bonus or discipline focus (insightful strikes) class features, they now function off her Charisma modifier rather than her Wisdom modifier.

Additionally, her Intimidating Rage feat is no longer limited to only targeting one creature per encounter, though she still may only intimidate one target per round as a free action.

Rampaging Thunderhead Stance (Su): So great is a carmine marauder's wrath, that the very air around them crackles with their fury. At 2nd level, the carmine marauder gains a unique martial stance. She may take a swift action to lose the benefits of her current stance to gain the benefits of this one. Whilst in this stance, the carmine marauder is surrounded by wisps of dark cloud that provide a dodge bonus to AC based on her Intimidate ranks. If she is in this stance whilst in a Buccaneer's Fury, the wisps become a full blown miniature thunderhead, changing the benefit to a miss chance against incoming attacks based on her Intimidate ranks. The table below lists the exact benefits gained from the carmine marauder's Intimidate ranks.

Intimidate RanksDodge BonusMiss Chance
4 – 8+210%
9 – 13+420%
14 – 18+630%
19 – 23+840%
24++1050%

This stance is a supernatural ability, and is considered to belong to the Army of One and Oncoming Storm disciplines.

Cutlass Quickstep (Ex): Boarding is bloody work, and the carmine marauder knows exactly how to use the best tools for the job. At 3rd level, the carmine marauder may treat the scimitar and the battleaxe as light weapons for the purpose of Two-Weapon Fighting and Weapon Finesse. Additionally, in any round in which she takes a 5ft step whilst wielding only scimitars or battleaxes, she may make an attack with up to two scimitars or battleaxes as a standard action. Finally, she gains the ability to make a second 5-ft action each round as a move action.

Crimson Tempest (Ex): The carmine marauder lashes out mercilessly, and none within her reach are safe from her fury. At 4th level, every time the carmine marauder manages to hit a single target with two or more melee attacks in one round, she deals damage to all other foes within her reach equal to her Strength or Dexterity bonus, whichever is higher. Any targets downed by Crimson Tempest are not considered to have been downed by an attack for the purposes of Cleave, Great Cleave and similar effects.

Bloody Waltz (Ex) At 5th level, the carmine marauder's momentum buoys her fury, keeping her in the killing zone that is the bane of merchant sailors and navies alike. Any round in which the carmine marauder begins her turn in a stance belonging to one of the Army of One, Iron Heart, Oncoming Storm or Tiger Claw disciplines and ends it in a stance belonging to one of the other three listed disciplines does not count against the duration of her Buccaneer's Fury. Stances that are considered to belong to two of these disciplines do not trigger Bloody Waltz simply by maintaining them – the carmine marauder explicitly only gains this benefit if the stance she is in actually changes.

Sailor's Warning (Ex): The carmine marauder is a grim tale with a bloody and unhappy ending. None know the truth of this like her victims. At 6th level, she may make an Intimidate check to demoralize as a free action against any target damaged by her Crimson Tempest class feature whilst she is in a Buccaneer's Fury. Furthermore, she may now use fear effects against targets that are immune to them, though such creatures gain a +4 circumstance bonus on their Will save.

Eye of the Incarnadine Storm (Ex): There is stillness... and then the carmine marauder unleashes a barrage of attacks that drive her foes before her. At 7th level, the carmine marauder gains access to a unique strike much like those granted to martial adepts. This strike must be recovered and readied to use, just like any maneuver, and is considered to belong to the Army of One and Tiger Claw disciplines.

Initiating this strike is a full-round action. As part of this strike, the carmine marauder makes a normal full attack. She makes an immediate demoralize attempt against each target she hits as a free action. Each target that loses the opposed check immediately moves 5ft directly away from the carmine marauder, plus an additional 5ft for every 5 points they lost the opposed check by, instead of being shaken as normal. Targets forced to move by this strike suffer damage equal to the carmine marauder's Charisma bonus for each 5ft it moves them, though they do not provoke attacks of opportunity for their forced movement.

If this forced movement would move a target into a hazardous situation, such as into a pit of lava, or off a cliff, they may make a Will save (DC 10 + class level + carmine marauder's Charisma modifier). If successful, they overcome their fear for the carmine marauder, and remain in the last safe space they occupied. If they fail, the hazard seems preferable to facing the marauder's wrath, and they keep moving.

Crimson-Capped Waves (Ex): Where the carmine marauder sails, the waters run red. At 8th level, whilst in a Buccaneer's Fury, any target she hits with a melee attack or damages with her Crimson Tempest class feature must make a Fortitude save (DC equal to 10 + her class level + the higher of her Strength or Dexterity modifiers) or suffer a horrible injury that continues to bleed profusely. A target that fails their save continues to take 1d4 points of damage per round until they receive a DC 15 Heal check, or any amount of magical healing.

Additionally, creatures so afflicted leave the ground beneath them slick with blood, and until they receive the Heal check or magical healing, any square they enter is considered to be under the effects of a grease spell until the end of the encounter.

Red Sky Stance (Ex): Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning... At 10th level, the carmine marauder gains a unique martial stance. She may take a swift action to lose the benefits of her current stance to gain the benefits of this one. Whilst in this stance, any target she damages with a melee attack must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + her class level + the higher of her Strength of Dexterity modifiers) or suffer one of two fates – either take 1d2 Constitution damage, or become shaken, and grant the carmine marauder temporary hit points equal to the target's Hit Dice. The target chooses which effect applies. Temporary hit points gained from this stance last until the end of the encounter, and do not stack with themselves or with temporary hit points from other sources. Only the highest amount applies.

A given target may only suffer the effects of Red Sky Stance once per round, and the stance is considered to belong to the Oncoming Storm and Tiger Claw disciplines.

Avelent
2014-10-28, 12:27 PM
Hey hey Mr.

I like it a lot. I have no problems with it. Think it seems all fair and balanced enough for the most part. Might be a little on the stronger side but its not op or broken or nothing.

One thought though. It seems that this class will still get their bonuses regardless of if at sea or not? I don't see anything that states these bonuses and abilities only work at sea. I would image that this class and some of its abilities should only work at sea yes? other wise there is nothing stopping me from using my terrible reputation against a bunch of goblins in a cave in the middle of a forest yes? Hee hee. A few of the abilities should perhaps only work when out at sea is my thinking anyways.

Great job!
-Avelent

Edge
2014-10-31, 01:57 PM
I like it a lot. I have no problems with it. Think it seems all fair and balanced enough for the most part. Might be a little on the stronger side but its not op or broken or nothing.

One thought though. It seems that this class will still get their bonuses regardless of if at sea or not? I don't see anything that states these bonuses and abilities only work at sea. I would image that this class and some of its abilities should only work at sea yes? other wise there is nothing stopping me from using my terrible reputation against a bunch of goblins in a cave in the middle of a forest yes? Hee hee. A few of the abilities should perhaps only work when out at sea is my thinking anyways.

Punishing players for taking a class is, in my eyes anyway, bad design. If the class features are limited to being used at sea, which not all that many campaigns visit for extended periods of time, then anyone who takes levels in the class is going to feel like they wasted a level.

As for Terrible Reputation in particular, it's as much about bearing and demeanour as actual reputation. The carmine marauder earned that reputation, and it shows.

Admiral Squish
2014-10-31, 02:09 PM
No comment on the class just yet, but I'm reasonably confident the line is 'hungers', not 'hundreds'.
And to compensate for my nitpickery, I'll be back with proper review in a moment.

Admiral Squish
2014-10-31, 03:44 PM
Okay, time for review:

In the maneuvers thing, it mentions 'crimson executor', which I'm guessing is a copy/paste error.

Buccaneer's Fury
This is problematic on a few points, but I think it's easy enough to fix.

As written, they gain a separate ability that's similar to rage, with its own daily uses, rather than modifying the rage itself, which seems like the intent. I would suggest wording it so that when they use their rage ability, in addition to the normal effects, they gain (unique benefits here). Alternately, you could say instead of the usual benefits, they gain (unique benefits here). Either way would allow you to use your normal daily uses of rage, so a higher-level barbarian wouldn't be penalized for going into this. You would also have to change the table to grant them additional uses of rage at given levels and how greater/mighty rage interacts with it.

The bonuses just seem odd to me. I can understand strength and kinda get dexterity, but I don't think a charisma bonus is valid here. They might be more frightening, but a lot of other charisma-based abilities and effects don't seem like they would benefit from such a rage. Would they be better liars, able to cast stronger spells?

I don't really understand why they can take actions that require patience or concentration. I think you could simplify a bit by just listing the skills they are now allowed to use, rather than the skills they still aren't, and saying they are allowed to use maneuvers with this rage-variety. Otherwise, this opens the door to spellcasting in a rage, which would strike me as odd with this character.

Personally, I would make it +str/+dex, with the ability to use maneuvers and a scaling bonus to intimidate checks.

Rampaging Thunderhead Stance
Definitely not a bad stance, my concern is the numbers. Below 24+ ranks, the benefit when in a rage is actually reduced. Mathematically speaking, if you have a +5 modifier on a d20 roll and the DC is 25, you have a 5% chance of hitting the DC. Each extra +1 increases that chance by 5. So, when you have the dodge bonus, your chance of avoiding an attack increases by 10%, as long as it's possible for them to miss. There's a bit of an extra edge with a miss chance since they have to roll twice, once to beat the miss chance and once to hit your AC, but mathematically, the benefit while in a rage is actually lower than the benefit provided by the dodge bonus. I would have it start at 10% and increases by 10 at each jump. It's not a huge upgrade.

Or, wait, does the dodge bonus and the miss chance stack, or does the miss chance replace the dodge bonus?
Maybe it would be more accurate to the concept to go 5/10/15/20/25 for not-raging, and double it while in a rage.

Cutlass Quickstep
This is just a wording thing. The whole thing about battleaxes and scimitars in any combination is just wordy and a little confusing. I would phrase it as 'when wielding only scimitars or battleaxes, they can attack with each weapon they wield as a standard action'. Races with more than two arms already pay for their advantage with LA/HD, it seems like limiting them to two attacks here would be bothersome.
Maybe add a line about having to attack the same target with both attacks?

Just looked again. A five foot step and a standard action together only leaves a move action in a round, and you can't actually take a normal move in a round where you take a 5-foot step.

Crimson Tempest
This bugs me a bit. For one, how would you deal dexterity mod damage? For another, why does this only trigger if you make two attacks against a single target? It seems like any ability that automatically deals physical damage would have to overcome AC somehow.
I would say make it a special attack on its own, allowing you to make a single attack roll with each weapon you wield, as a standard or full-round action. Then you apply the result of the rolls to the ACs of all creatures you threaten, as though you'd attacked them. You still get to attack everyone in reach, but now you actually work against AC as normal with a weapon. Basically, it's whirlwind attack, but you have the potential to do wit with each weapon you wield.

Bloody Waltz
I gotta say, this seems really complex and wordy. Would it be so terrible to just say they get the benefit in any round in which they change stances?

Eye of the Incarnadine Storm
I had to look up 'incarnadine' which is probably a bad sign. you want the name to evoke, not leave people scratching their heads.
Only one concern here: Why do they take bonus damage based on how badly you scared them and force them to move? I mean, if it was supernatural, I could see it, but it's strength or dex damage again. It doesn't really make sense to me, but I'm open to it if you'd like to clarify the explanation.
Personally, I would say drop the damage, keep the shaken, and just have them move.

Other Notes:
I don't know how to fit it in, but it would be cool to see an ability that makes it so shaken targets take an extra morale penalty to attacks against you.

Edge
2014-10-31, 05:06 PM
No comment on the class just yet, but I'm reasonably confident the line is 'hungers', not 'hundreds'.
Eh, it's what I always heard it as. :smalltongue:


Okay, time for review:

In the maneuvers thing, it mentions 'crimson executor', which I'm guessing is a copy/paste error.
Yep, fixed.


Buccaneer's Fury
This is problematic on a few points, but I think it's easy enough to fix.

As written, they gain a separate ability that's similar to rage, with its own daily uses, rather than modifying the rage itself, which seems like the intent. I would suggest wording it so that when they use their rage ability, in addition to the normal effects, they gain (unique benefits here). Alternately, you could say instead of the usual benefits, they gain (unique benefits here). Either way would allow you to use your normal daily uses of rage, so a higher-level barbarian wouldn't be penalized for going into this. You would also have to change the table to grant them additional uses of rage at given levels and how greater/mighty rage interacts with it.
Pretty sure that, as written, it does what you suggest in the bold text. Their rage ability changes name and effects, but is still considered rage for all intents and purposes, aside from greater and mighty rage, which they explicitly gain no benefit from any more. This is an intentional decision, to avoid some later class features becoming excessively potent.


The bonuses just seem odd to me. I can understand strength and kinda get dexterity, but I don't think a charisma bonus is valid here. They might be more frightening, but a lot of other charisma-based abilities and effects don't seem like they would benefit from such a rage. Would they be better liars, able to cast stronger spells?
It's mainly to tie in with the Terrifying Reputation class feature. Could modify it so that the Charisma bonus doesn't apply for social skills other than Intimidate, or to spellcasting/manifesting, etc.


I don't really understand why they can take actions that require patience or concentration. I think you could simplify a bit by just listing the skills they are now allowed to use, rather than the skills they still aren't, and saying they are allowed to use maneuvers with this rage-variety. Otherwise, this opens the door to spellcasting in a rage, which would strike me as odd with this character.

Personally, I would make it +str/+dex, with the ability to use maneuvers and a scaling bonus to intimidate checks.
Because the list of skills they still can't use is a much shorter list than those they can use. Regarding spellcasting in the rage... it's a tricky decision. Given the obvious entry is warblade/barbarian, and the class doesn't offer anything in the way of spellcasting, plus the fact that most carmine marauders will be Two-Weapon Fighting, and thus unable to make much use of spells with somatic components, it's not something I'm unduly worried about. Plus, I like the idea of a Snowflake Wardance-using bard/carmine marauder singing intimidating battle songs, on the off chance it happens.


Rampaging Thunderhead Stance
Definitely not a bad stance, my concern is the numbers. Below 24+ ranks, the benefit when in a rage is actually reduced. Mathematically speaking, if you have a +5 modifier on a d20 roll and the DC is 25, you have a 5% chance of hitting the DC. Each extra +1 increases that chance by 5. So, when you have the dodge bonus, your chance of avoiding an attack increases by 10%, as long as it's possible for them to miss. There's a bit of an extra edge with a miss chance since they have to roll twice, once to beat the miss chance and once to hit your AC, but mathematically, the benefit while in a rage is actually lower than the benefit provided by the dodge bonus. I would have it start at 10% and increases by 10 at each jump. It's not a huge upgrade.

Or, wait, does the dodge bonus and the miss chance stack, or does the miss chance replace the dodge bonus?
Maybe it would be more accurate to the concept to go 5/10/15/20/25 for not-raging, and double it while in a rage.
The miss chance replaces the dodge bonus, says so in the stance text. The fact that the miss chance is arguably worse than the dodge bonus is worrying though. Your given pattern leaves it at a 50% chance at the final skill range, though, so I'll probably adopt it.


Cutlass Quickstep
This is just a wording thing. The whole thing about battleaxes and scimitars in any combination is just wordy and a little confusing. I would phrase it as 'when wielding only scimitars or battleaxes, they can attack with each weapon they wield as a standard action'. Races with more than two arms already pay for their advantage with LA/HD, it seems like limiting them to two attacks here would be bothersome.
Maybe add a line about having to attack the same target with both attacks?

Just looked again. A five foot step and a standard action together only leaves a move action in a round, and you can't actually take a normal move in a round where you take a 5-foot step.
I dislike the idea of giving multi-armed races 4 or more attacks as a standard action, effectively at will. Will change the wording to "when wielding only scimitars or battleaxes" though, as it is a much less wordy way of saying it.

And I honestly thought a 5-ft step was a move action. Do you think it would be excessive if Cutlass Quickstep also allowed them to take a second 5-ft step in a round as a move action?


Crimson Tempest
This bugs me a bit. For one, how would you deal dexterity mod damage? For another, why does this only trigger if you make two attacks against a single target? It seems like any ability that automatically deals physical damage would have to overcome AC somehow.
I would say make it a special attack on its own, allowing you to make a single attack roll with each weapon you wield, as a standard or full-round action. Then you apply the result of the rolls to the ACs of all creatures you threaten, as though you'd attacked them. You still get to attack everyone in reach, but now you actually work against AC as normal with a weapon. Basically, it's whirlwind attack, but you have the potential to do wit with each weapon you wield.
For the first question: by attacking with precision, rather than brute force. There's precedent with the Shadow Blade feat.

The ability is intended to synergise with Cutlass Quickstep and be a sweetner, rather than a game-changer. In comparison, making two attacks against everyone in reach is almost as good as the 8th level Iron Heart strike Adamantine Hurricane. I'm not comfortable letting the ability trigger that every time a fairly easily met condition is met.


Bloody Waltz
I gotta say, this seems really complex and wordy. Would it be so terrible to just say they get the benefit in any round in which they change stances?
The wordiness is explicitly to prevent rules lawyers from using the stances granted by the class, claiming they're of one discipline at the start of the round and another at the end of the round to gain the benefit.


Eye of the Incarnadine Storm
I had to look up 'incarnadine' which is probably a bad sign. you want the name to evoke, not leave people scratching their heads.
Only one concern here: Why do they take bonus damage based on how badly you scared them and force them to move? I mean, if it was supernatural, I could see it, but it's strength or dex damage again. It doesn't really make sense to me, but I'm open to it if you'd like to clarify the explanation.
Personally, I would say drop the damage, keep the shaken, and just have them move.
I fall into the camp that hp reflects morale and willingness to fight as much physical bodily harm. The damage is based on that assumption. Though, now you mention it, the damage should probably be Cha-based with that rationale.


Other Notes:
I don't know how to fit it in, but it would be cool to see an ability that makes it so shaken targets take an extra morale penalty to attacks against you.

curious-puzzle
2014-11-01, 10:08 AM
I really like this class, it's quite stylish! Just had a few questions...

In Cutlass Two-step, can the attack with two scimitars/axes be combined with a maneuver?

In Eye of the Incarnadine (Nice :smallbiggrin:) Storm, what happens if the opponent's movement would make them move into something hazardous, say off the edge of a ship, or a cliff? Do they stop just short, get a save of some sort, or just fall right in? Also, if the intent of this is you're terrifying everyone into retreating away from you (and taking damage because of it), I'd second changing the damage to be based off Charisma.

In Red Sky Stance, does the marauder or the victim choose the effect? How long do the temporary hit points last?

All in all, I think it's pretty cool. Definitely on the strong side, but in a good way.

Edge
2014-11-01, 11:12 AM
I really like this class, it's quite stylish! Just had a few questions...
Thanks!


In Cutlass Two-step, can the attack with two scimitars/axes be combined with a maneuver?
It lets them make a normal attack with the two weapons as a standard action. Strike are generally their own standard or full-round action, so you couldn't get the two normal attacks plus a strike off. Nothing stopping you 5-ft stepping, using a standard action strike and then using the ability to 5ft-step again.

Of course, if you're using a boost that improves attacks, it would improve the attacks granted by Cutlass Quickstep.


In Eye of the Incarnadine (Nice :smallbiggrin:) Storm, what happens if the opponent's movement would make them move into something hazardous, say off the edge of a ship, or a cliff? Do they stop just short, get a save of some sort, or just fall right in? Also, if the intent of this is you're terrifying everyone into retreating away from you (and taking damage because of it), I'd second changing the damage to be based off Charisma.
And this is something I hadn't considered! I think I'll add a Reflex save to allow targets to negate moving off solid objects. And yeah, I'm pretty set on changing the damage to Cha, now.


In Red Sky Stance, does the marauder or the victim choose the effect? How long do the temporary hit points last?
The victim chooses, and they should last until the end of the encounter. Will edit to clarify.


All in all, I think it's pretty cool. Definitely on the strong side, but in a good way.
Thanks - that's what I aim for. :smalltongue: