AetherShift
2014-12-04, 09:52 AM
The unseen seer prestige class was one of my all time favorites from 3.x. I have a lot of ideas, but no real experience in creating subclasses for 5th edition. Would anyone care to help me translate some of these ideas into a balanced rogue archetype?
First, a short narrative about a hypothetical high level Unseen Seer.
Note: There are a lot of ideas in here. I know not all of them will make the cut. This is just a flavor exercise.
As her senses lead her into the next room, she sees that it is a dead end. Her mark had disappeared. Closing her eyes, she sees with her mind’s eye, footsteps leading to the far wall, where they seem to vanish. She places her hand on the wall and concentrates. She extends her senses 5, 15, 30, 60 feet in all directions. She sees into a hidden room behind the false wall, as well as the concealed (and booby-trapped) door to her left. Somehow understanding exactly how the mechanism works, she slides her finger along a deep grove in the stonework, catching a switch that opens the door without setting off the trap. As she enters the room, she notices two hallways that branch of in opposite directions. The temporal impressions left by her mark’s footprints have faded. She’ll have to hurry if she is to catch him now. She sits on the floor and begins to weave her scouting spell, an Arcane Eye. She does so quickly and silently, unwilling to give away her position to even a seemingly empty room. The Arcane Eye darts down the left corridor as she takes the right. As she moves, quickly yet carefully, an image from the floating eye plays out in her mind’s eye. It is difficult to maintain concentration while moving, but she is running out of time. Her mark must not get away. Now running, she can feel herself growing closer. She dismisses her arcane eye as she rounds the corner. There she discovers her target waiting for her. He has foolishly fabricated illusory doubles of himself as he braces for her attack. Only one version of her mark radiates with the warm glow of life and the aura of enchanted items. Suddenly she vanishes. All goes quiet. The last thing the mark noticed was the cold thrust of a dagger in his side.
Next, here are some more mechanical ideas of how the subclass might work.
Unseen Seer 5.0
Stealth, Reconnaissance, Infiltration
Unseen Seer v3.5 prestige class characteristics
- Access to divination spells from all spell lists
- Silent spell casting
- Caster level bonus to divination spells
- Permanent nondetection
v5.0 Skills that might be important to an Unseen Seer
Arcana
Insight
Investigation
Perception
Stealth
v5.0 Feats that might be important to an Unseen Seer
Alert
Observant
Skulker
Possibilities for distinguishing Unseen Seer from Diviner
- Rogue related usage of divination
Stealthy Scrying / Silent Spellcasting
Detecting traps/hidden doors
See invisible creatures for purpose of sneak attacking them
Etc.
- No “Temporal” flavored abilities.
Unseen Seers see/know what’s happening right now, in the present
(Lots of detecting but not a whole lot of predicting)
Ex. True Seeing is fine. Foresight is not.
-Nondetection, Invisibility
Actively hide from mundane and magical detection
Adapt at shrugging of other divinatory powers
Unseen Seer structured as a Rogue Archetype (initial thoughts)
3: Spell casting (As arcane trickster except replace Enchantment/Illusion spell limitation with Divination spells from all class spell lists)
3: Some sort of stealth specific ability or maybe a bonus to Perception and/or Stealth under certain conditions. Maybe cast divination spells silently.
9: Limited invisibility or limited clairvoyant ability (see/hear behind touched walls/doors?) Access to scrying sensor, Minor “Portent” (1 dice) ability
13: Permanent Nondetection (as per the spell), Modified version of diviner “Third Eye” ability, “x-ray” vision
17: Some form of True Seeing
If anyone has other ideas, I would be glad to hear them!
(Also, first post!)
First, a short narrative about a hypothetical high level Unseen Seer.
Note: There are a lot of ideas in here. I know not all of them will make the cut. This is just a flavor exercise.
As her senses lead her into the next room, she sees that it is a dead end. Her mark had disappeared. Closing her eyes, she sees with her mind’s eye, footsteps leading to the far wall, where they seem to vanish. She places her hand on the wall and concentrates. She extends her senses 5, 15, 30, 60 feet in all directions. She sees into a hidden room behind the false wall, as well as the concealed (and booby-trapped) door to her left. Somehow understanding exactly how the mechanism works, she slides her finger along a deep grove in the stonework, catching a switch that opens the door without setting off the trap. As she enters the room, she notices two hallways that branch of in opposite directions. The temporal impressions left by her mark’s footprints have faded. She’ll have to hurry if she is to catch him now. She sits on the floor and begins to weave her scouting spell, an Arcane Eye. She does so quickly and silently, unwilling to give away her position to even a seemingly empty room. The Arcane Eye darts down the left corridor as she takes the right. As she moves, quickly yet carefully, an image from the floating eye plays out in her mind’s eye. It is difficult to maintain concentration while moving, but she is running out of time. Her mark must not get away. Now running, she can feel herself growing closer. She dismisses her arcane eye as she rounds the corner. There she discovers her target waiting for her. He has foolishly fabricated illusory doubles of himself as he braces for her attack. Only one version of her mark radiates with the warm glow of life and the aura of enchanted items. Suddenly she vanishes. All goes quiet. The last thing the mark noticed was the cold thrust of a dagger in his side.
Next, here are some more mechanical ideas of how the subclass might work.
Unseen Seer 5.0
Stealth, Reconnaissance, Infiltration
Unseen Seer v3.5 prestige class characteristics
- Access to divination spells from all spell lists
- Silent spell casting
- Caster level bonus to divination spells
- Permanent nondetection
v5.0 Skills that might be important to an Unseen Seer
Arcana
Insight
Investigation
Perception
Stealth
v5.0 Feats that might be important to an Unseen Seer
Alert
Observant
Skulker
Possibilities for distinguishing Unseen Seer from Diviner
- Rogue related usage of divination
Stealthy Scrying / Silent Spellcasting
Detecting traps/hidden doors
See invisible creatures for purpose of sneak attacking them
Etc.
- No “Temporal” flavored abilities.
Unseen Seers see/know what’s happening right now, in the present
(Lots of detecting but not a whole lot of predicting)
Ex. True Seeing is fine. Foresight is not.
-Nondetection, Invisibility
Actively hide from mundane and magical detection
Adapt at shrugging of other divinatory powers
Unseen Seer structured as a Rogue Archetype (initial thoughts)
3: Spell casting (As arcane trickster except replace Enchantment/Illusion spell limitation with Divination spells from all class spell lists)
3: Some sort of stealth specific ability or maybe a bonus to Perception and/or Stealth under certain conditions. Maybe cast divination spells silently.
9: Limited invisibility or limited clairvoyant ability (see/hear behind touched walls/doors?) Access to scrying sensor, Minor “Portent” (1 dice) ability
13: Permanent Nondetection (as per the spell), Modified version of diviner “Third Eye” ability, “x-ray” vision
17: Some form of True Seeing
If anyone has other ideas, I would be glad to hear them!
(Also, first post!)