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bootzin
2015-02-28, 05:54 PM
The Pyrokineticist

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/066/8/7/whip_lash_by_tmza-d4rzloz.jpg

Requirements:
Skills: Concentration: 8 ranks, Knowledge (Psionics): 2 ranks
Powers: Must have at least one manifester level
Special: Must have set fire to a structure of any size just to watch it burn


HD: d8
Skill Points: 2 + Int
Class Skills: Climb, Concentration, Craft, Intimidate, Jump, Psicraft, Tumble.
Class Features:

All Weapons are Hot (Ps): As a swift Action, a Pyrokineticist may spend 1 power point to engulf one of his weapons in flames that doesn't harm neither her, nor the weapons (His unarmed strike is considered a weapon for this ability). By doing so, he increases his weapon's damage by one dice per two class levels, rounded up (Ranged weapons bestow this effect upon their ammunition). These new damage dices as well as any other damage he deals with this weapons are treated as fire damage, in addition to other damage types the weapon may have. The weapon is treated as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. He is able to dismiss the fire as a free action. This power has a duration of 1 round/class level.

Additionally, as a move-equivalent action (Or swift, if the character has the quick draw feat), he is able spend one power point to create a fire lash that works exactly just as a normal whip, except for the following: It deals 1d8 fire damage on a successful hit, plus 2 fire damage per class level, and the pyrokineticist is automatically considered proficient with it, although this does not apply to a normal whip if the character does not already have proficiency with it. Treat every attack with the Fire Lash as a touch attack. If the pyrokineticist releases her whip, it immediatly dissipates. The whip is considered a magic weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. This power used in this fashion has no limited duration.

Should sunder or disarm be attempted against either the Fire Lash, or the Weapon covered in flames, the weapon deals 1d8 fire damage to whomever attempted it, or to the weapon that was used to do so.

Flame Control (Ps): Starting at 2nd level or higher, the Pyrokineticist receive an augmented version of the Control Flames Power: Firstly, it has no maximum duration for you, you can keep it for as long as you concentrate. Secondly, your manifester level is considered to be 3 levels higher for the purposes of determining the size of the fire you can control, and the damage it deals. Thirdly, the augmentation costs of it are reduced to 1PP each. And Finally, whenever an opponent within line of sight takes fire damage from any source, you can spend 1 PP as an immediate action and force him to make a DC 15 reflex save or catch on fire.

Hot Body (Ex): At second level and higher, the pyrokineticist receives fire resistance equal to 5 per Pyrokineticist level and an additional plus 10 on charisma :smallbiggrin:

Licking Flames (Ps): Beggining at 3rd level, as an immediate action and by spending 3 PP, a pyrokineticist may treat any melee weapon he wields as having an additional 5' of reach for as long as he is psionically focused. This ability is dismissible as a free action. Any damage dealt by the weapon while this ability is active is considered fire damage, in addition to the other damage types the weapon may have.

Additionally, the pyrokineticist may convert any ammunition or thrown weapon into a Bolt of Fire. Doing so doubles the range increment of the weapon and deals an additional 1d6 fire damage per class level. The pyro may spend 1 PP to increase the damage dealt by 1d6, up to a maximum of +5d6 for both ranged and melee weapons while using this ability

Flamable Two Weapon fighting (Ex): A 3rd level pyro is treated as having the TWF feat whenever she is wielding fire damage dealing weapons. Additionally, she may spend one single action and PP to engulf both her weapons in flames or to create 2 Fire Lashes.

Archokinesis (Ps): When the pyro attains his 4th level, he becomes able to manage smoke as well as fire. By spending 1PP, as a standart action, he may start a burst of smoke from any source of fire within 60ft of him. This ability functions exactly like the Fog cloud spell, except it is psionic. You suffer no penalties from the burst of smoke.

Additionally, if the pyrokineticist manages to catch a foe on fire, he may spend 1 PP as a free action, instead of a standart action, to produce the burst of smoke effect.

The reflex save DC from when a pyrokineticist attempts to catch her foe on fire is increased to 19.

Firewalk (Su): Beginning at 5th level, as a free action a pyromancer can expend his psionic focus to literally walk on air. He moves at his normal speed in all directions, including vertically, and he may even run while doing so. A firewalking pyro leaves footprints of flame in the air that disperse in 2 rounds, but his tread does not deal damage, although it provides illumination and warmth as if it was a torch. He must pay 1 power point per 2 rounds spent traveling in this fashion.

Additionally, she may walk over non-magical fire and lava without taking any damage (Although being hit by fire and lava can still deal damage to her).

Ignite (Ps): At 5th level and above, the pyrokineticist may set any unattended object aflame by raising it's temperature. By using 1 PP, he can, as a standart action, set any unattended object within 20ft of her aflame. An Ignited object takes 1d6 fire damage plus an additional 1d6 fire damage per round. The reflex save DC to put the fire out is 25, as this is a magical fire. The pyrokineticist may accelerate the burning process by spending additional PP as a swift action after the fire is alight, dealing an additional 1d6 points of damage per PP spent this way, up to a maximum of +6d6.

Improved Flamable TWF (Ex): Starting at 6th level, the pyro receives the benefits of ITWF with his fire damage dealing weapons.

Fiery Discorporation (Ps): Once per day, on 6th level and above, you are able to manifest the Fiery Discorporation power. During this manifestation, you don't have to spend any power points to manifest it, although you may spend additional PP to augment it

Fire Slide (Ps): At 7th level, the pyrokineticist gains the ability to launch herself out of the way of a melee attack using a quick burst of fire from her feet. If an opponent makes a melee attack against you and misses your AC but would hit your flat-footed AC, as an immediate action you may take a 5-foot step away from your attacker, which does not count against the normal limit of one 5-foot step per round. Your attacker takes 3d6 points of fire damage unless he succeeds on a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Cha modifier) for half damage.

On the Heat (Ps): When the pyrokineticist reaches his 8th level, he is so used to high temperatures that they no longer bother him. You gain the [Fire] Subtype, and the save DC for when you try to set your foes on fire using the Flame Control ability is increased to 25. Additionally, you no longer receives TWF penalties with your fire weapons.

Molten Body (Ex): By reaching his 9th level, the pyrokineticist has developed his inner fire to a point that it is now material. Any foe that attempts an attack on you must make a Reflex save equal to 10 + 1/2 your class level or take 2d6 points of fire damage. If the save is successful, the foe takes no damage. Additionally, the pyro gains concealment due to the smoke that surrounds him. This ability can be suppressed at will as a free action, and does not work for 2d6 rounds if he is struck with cold damage or water. Resuming this ability is a swift action, and requires you to spend your psionic focus.

Inner Fire (Ex): Upon reaching 10th level, and as long as the environment temperature is above 100 Fahrenheit or there is a fire source like a campfire within 60ft of him, the pyro may draw her strength from even the slightest amount of environmental warmth. This allows him to treat the total cost of any power with the [Fire] descriptor as costing 1 PP less to manifest, to a minimum of 1 PP.



Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Powers Known


1
+0
+2
+2
+0
All Weapons Are Hot
-


2
+1
+3
+3
+0
Flame Control, Hot Body
+1 to existing manifesting class


3
+2
+3
+3
+1
Licking Flames, Flamable TWF
-


4
+3
+4
+4
+1
Archokinesis
+1 of existing manifesting class


5
+3
+4
+4
+1
Firewalk, Ignite
-


6
+4
+5
+5
+2
Improved Flamable TWF, Fiery Discorporation
+1 of existing manifesting class


7
+5
+5
+5
+2
Fire Slide
-


8
+6
+6
+6
+2
On the Heat
+1 of existing manifesting class


9
+6
+6
+6
+3
Molten Body
-


10
+7
+7
+7
+3
Inner Fire
+1 of existing manifesting class

bootzin
2015-02-28, 05:56 PM
So, guys, I've posted here an updated version correcting some points that I think should be different in the Pyrokineticist. I'd like you to tell me if you've liked it, and if there is anything that I should change, or that is too powerful or nerfed. I kept most of its characteristics, mainly clarifying somethings that were confusing or that didn't make sense.

Please give me your opinion on how is it and what should still be changed. Thank's a lot! (:

Feint's End
2015-02-28, 06:04 PM
This has pretty much the same problem as the old pyrokineticist .. its just way too niche. Before you start redesigning you should decide who the class is meant for. Is it for full manifesters? For psywars? For soulknifes? For other classes?

Because as it is now it's not a solid choice for any concept ... its just not worth the class levels.

Edit: also this probably belongs to the home brew part of the boards

M Placeholder
2015-02-28, 06:13 PM
How does being bathed in fire make you more charismatic, especially as the noise and the heat will make it even harder for people to hear your voice?

Solaris
2015-02-28, 06:16 PM
How does being bathed in fire make you more charismatic, especially as the noise and the heat will make it even harder for people to hear your voice?

Because it makes you hot.

bootzin
2015-02-28, 06:25 PM
I forgot to add, all the characteristics of the pyromancer have the possibility of changing the elemental type, like the pyrokineticist variants.

The charisma increase is due to an increased force of personality. Intimidate, for instance, is increased. I agree it may not be the best ability, but I don't know exactly which ability could be increased, or how exactly to modify it.

Maybe it should be destined to something like the soulknife. You are not focused into psionics, but it is the concept you use, being able to psionically manipulate the ectoplasm to create fire (or another element) and use it to your advantage.

Do you have any tips on what to change?

Tohsaka Rin
2015-02-28, 06:35 PM
Yes, condense it down into a 5-level PrC.

There's no real point in stretching this class out over 10 levels, when 5 would suit it much better.

PairO'Dice Lost
2015-02-28, 07:50 PM
The main issue with the pyrokineticist, and with this redesign as well, is that it provides no unique capabilities. Yes, the specific flavor is new and the numbers are a bit higher in some cases, but it does nothing another class can't do. That's not necessarily a bad thing, there are other PrCs that just remix and tweak existing abilities instead of adding anything drastically new, but to justify its existence such a PrC has to do the same ol' things a lot better than they can be done by other classes (such as the frenzied berserker being "the barbarian, but more so" or the ur-priest being "the cleric, but faster") or at least not being worse than other class or PrC options (such as the master specialist basically being "the wizard, but more specialized" or the virtuoso being "the bard, but more music-y"), and the pyrokineticist does neither, instead being a drop in power for pretty much any character who enters it.

You can make a character with the "pyrokineticist" flavor much better by not taking any levels in Pyrokineticist. Let's take a fire-focused battle sorcerer (UA) as an example. He has the same HD and skills, and can duplicate all the capabilities of this class with judicious spell, feat, and item selection:

Fire Lash: flame whips (SpC), reflavored to be holding two whips instead of transforming one's arms
Fire Adaptation: greater resistance (SpC), resist energy
Hand Afire: produce flame (via Arcane Disciple: Fire)
Bolt of Fire: Fiery Burst reserve feat
Weapon Afire: Flaming weapon property.
Nimbus: daggerspell stance (SpC), eagle's splendor, fire shield
Firewalk: fly, reflavored to include the flaming footsteps
Fear No Fire: protection from spells, resist energy
Greater Weapon Afire: Energy Surge (Fire) weapon property
Heat Death: internal fire
Conflagration: greater fireburst (SpC)

Now, yes, the pyrokineticist's weapon fire damage stacks with the flaming weapon property, its abilities come one or two levels before the sorcerer's, and it has a few other minor benefits, but generally speaking someone could play in a party with a PC who sets weapons on fire, chucks fire around, sets himself on fire, and so forth and wouldn't be able to tell whether that PC was a pyrokineticist or a sorcerer without seeing their sheet.

And the pyrokineticist's advantages are minor when you consider that the above sorcerer can have been a "pyrokineticist" from level 1 so getting those specific abilities at exactly the same level isn't a huge deal, it has many more fire effects on its list to choose from if it wants to be less cookie-cutter, and it ends up with 14 more spells of 1st level or higher to spend on other spells to either enhance the fire focus or give himself more breadth. The pyrokineticist simply has nothing to recommend it.

---------------------------------------------

So, given the pyrokineticist's utter redundancy, how do we fix it? As Feint's End said, the exact way to fix it depends on what sort of character the class is intended for.

Full Manifesters: Nimbus, Conflagration, and its offensive ranged abilities imply it's meant for full casters to focus on fire powers to the exclusion of all others, the way constructor does with astral constructs. If you want psion/pyrokineticist or wilder/pyrokineticist to be considered at all, it needs to progress manifesting for most of its levels; this is the same reason why wizard/mindbender and psion/metamind are pointless, namely that you can be better at what the PrC does by simply taking more base class levels. It should give 8/10 manifesting at the very least like the other psion-focused PrCs, but 6/10 or 7/10 would be acceptable if it gave some sort of fire-specific Overchannel, improved ML for fire powers, or other means of ensuring that its fire powers are effectively 10/10 manifesting. It should also have more ways to enhance its class features based on spending power points, since full manifesters have those to spare. Ditch the per-day limits in favor of PP costs and make everything augmentable.

Partial Manifesters: Fire Lash, Firewalk, and its offensive melee abilities imply it's meant for partial manifesters to meld combat and fire powers, the way elocator does with combat and teleportation powers. If you want psychic warrior/pyrokineticist or soulknife/pyrokineticist to be viable builds, it also need to progress manifesting, but doesn't need to do so as much as if it were meant for full manifesters. 5/10 to 7/10 would be acceptable, as long as it gave some daily free manifestations of fire powers and/or added some bonus powers known, like the elocator does. Giving some bonus feats and integrating them with other class powers would be good as well, again basing things on the elocator; giving it Two-Weapon Fighting feats in conjunction with Fire Lash or flaming weapons would be good, similar to the soulknife being able to create and enhance two mind blades, as would treating Bolt of Fire as a weapon and allowing it to make use of Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, and other bow feats.

Non-Manifesters: The low-psionics nature of the prerequisites imply it's meant for non-psionics to take a short detour into psionics to enhance their combat skills, the way warmind does with its melee-enhancing class features. If you want fighter/pyrokineticist or ranger/pyrokineticist to make sense, emphasize the "short" part: the storm disciple PrC in Complete Psionics might be terrible in many, many ways, but it gets one thing right by making it a 5-level PrC. If the pyrokineticist were compressed into a 5-level PrC as Tohsaka suggested, and given full BAB and a d10 HD, it might actually be used by martial types because they don't sacrifice their main schticks (full BAB, d8 or d10 HD, dealing lots of damage with weapons) by entering it and they can go back to doing fighter-y things in just a few levels instead of spending 10 levels trying to imitate a caster.

So, pick one of those, do it, and the pyrokineticist might actually be a worthwhile PrC choice.

bootzin
2015-02-28, 09:00 PM
Thanks for the replies, guys, I'll work around the build a little and see what can I come up with. I'll be posting here again as soon as I've completed, but feel free to add more opinions and give me some abilities advices of what to add

For now, I intend to break this class into 3 different classes: The Pyromancer, destinated for a full manifester build. The Pyrokineticist, destinated for a partial manifester build, and The Pyromaniac, that will focus into being a class for non-manifesters. Advices are welcome (:

j_spencer93
2015-03-01, 02:33 AM
WOTC mind's eye got rid of pyro and cyro kinneticist and created the kineticist class. much better, should look at it if you havent.

PairO'Dice Lost
2015-03-01, 04:12 AM
WOTC mind's eye got rid of pyro and cyro kinneticist and created the kineticist class. much better, should look at it if you havent.

Actually, the kineticist PrC (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20030328b) is 3.0 and based on the 3.0 pyrokineticist, so they technically got rid of the kineticist and gave us the 3.5 pyrokineticist.

It's certainly quite a bit stronger than either the 3.0 or 3.5 pyrokineticist, with its 7/10 manifesting and much better Energy Walk (though conversion to 3.5 is tricky with all the PP-threshold-based abilities and the wonky pseudo-augmentation), but it suffers from the same ol' pyrokineticist problem of basically being a collection of pre-selected powers rather than offering anything substantially unique.

Hanuman
2015-03-01, 08:28 AM
Because it makes you hot.
Yes! High five.

Great artwork for the front image btw.

Hi, I'm Han. I'm a professional fire performer and know pretty much all the fire, do I usually play fire things in DnD? No. I'll be PEACHing anyway.

My issue with the pyro is that it always felt underwhelming, and there was really no solution for that without drastically changing the methodology used to build it. I have to warn, I do not like PRC's.

How I would fix this:

Make it 5 levels.

Pyro1 (ECL6+)
All Weapons Are Hot (Ex)
Give the players 3 damage per ECL on swift action on any attack, place or split among any attack they want.
Summon a fire weapon, move action (swift if quickdraw), apply damage.
Make weapon touch attach by suppressing weapon enchantments for 1 round.

Fire Control (Ex)
As a move action set flame to unattended flammable objects or extinguish flames within [ 10' + 5' / Pyro Level ] of your choosing, you may also reposition fire within that area moving it out of it's squares and into others, or whenever a foe take fire damage in that area you may spend 1PP to attempt to catch that foe on fire (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/environmental-rules#TOC-Catching-on-Fire) as an immediate action.
Heat unattended objects.
Gain resistance to fire equal to 5 * Pyro Level.

Pyro2 (ECL7+)
Licking flames (Ex)
Your bolt except +Cha Mod as base damage, +5' reach to your melee and reach weapons, double ranged weapon attack increment as part of All Weapons Are Hot.

Molten Heart (Ex)
Fire and smoke, besides damage, has no negative effect on you or your efforts.
Your vision is unimpeded by it, you breathe it as you would fresh air, it does not harm your belongings, it does not distract you nor feel too hot or unpleasant, and you may hear and speak clearly despite it's roar.

Pyro3 (ECL8+)
Begin massive debuffing

+

Pyro4 (ECL9+)
Gain Flight

+

Pyro5 (ECL10+)
Big nuke time

+

That's my time for now, change names and make it your own if you like it, bump and I'll respond.
PEACH me back if you wish to trade.

bootzin
2015-03-01, 06:52 PM
I've updated the main thread with the Pyrokineticist that I made. I'd like that you PEACHed this thread, telling me what should I change

I have special thanks to give for Hanuman and PairO'Dice Lost for their ideas and suggestions, I really liked them all (:

PairO'Dice Lost
2015-03-01, 08:24 PM
Much better. Still some polishing to be done, though; if I don't mention something, assume it's fine as-is.


All Weapons are Hot (Ps): As a swift Action, a Pyrokineticist may spend 1 power point to engulf one of his weapons in flames that doesn't harm neither her, nor the weapons

I'm assuming this lasts for 1 round, but you should state a duration.


Additionally, as a move-equivalent action (Or swift, if the character has the quick draw feat), he is able spend one power point to create a fire lash that works exactly just as a normal whip, except for the following: It deals 1d8 fire damage on a successful hit, plus 2 fire damage per level of the character, and the pyrokineticist is automatically considered proficient with it, although this does not apply to a normal whip if the character does not already have proficiency with it.

Basing PrC abilities on character level isn't really done; I'm assuming you meant 2 fire damage per level of pyrokineticist? If you did want it to scale by character level, I suggest making it class level instead, otherwise this version of the class makes too much of a tempting 1-level dip.


Flame Control (Ps):
[...]
And Finally, whenever an opponent takes fire damage, you can spend 1 PP and force him to make a DC 15 reflex save or catch on fire.

Did you mean whenever an opponent takes fire damage from this ability? If so, you should clarify that. If not, you should specify "whenever an opponent within line of sight takes fire damage from any source" or something like that, and should specify the action required (probably immediate) because psi-like abilities default to requiring a standard action which would mean that usage wouldn't function correctly.


Licking Flames (Ps): Beggining at 3rd level, as an immediate action, a pyrokineticist may treat any melee weapon he wields as having an additional 5' of reach.

This also needs a duration specified.


Flamable Two Weapon fighting (Ex): A 3rd level pyro receives the TWF feat whenever she is wielding fire damage dealing weapons. Additionally, she may spend one single action and PP to engulf both her weapons in flames or to create 2 Fire Lashes.

This should say "receives the benefit of the feat" rather than just receiving the feat; otherwise, the wonkiness of gaining a feat then losing it when you stop wielding those weapons then gaining it again then losing it again plays hell with prerequisites and such.


Molten Heart (Ps):

"Molten" implies lava, not smoke; a different name would fit better, perhaps "achrokinesis" (smoke manipulation).


Ignite (Ps): At 5th level and above, the pyrokineticist may set any unattended object aflame by raising it's temperature. By using 1 PP, he can, as a standart action, set any unattended object within 20ft of her aflame. This requires a successful ranged touch attack against the object's AC. If successful, the object is ignited, dealing 1d6 fire damage per round to both the object and the wearer (If any).

If you meant this to only affect unattended objects, don't mention a wearer, and I'd drop the attack requirement because unattended objects generally have an AC of 5 so this adds pointless rolling for a 1 in 20 chance to not manage to set something on fire. If you meant this to be able to affect attended objects, you shouldn't specify unattended objects only.


Fire Decoy (Ps):

This ability doesn't really make any flavor sense; a "decoy" made of fire isn't going to fool anyone. It would make more sense to flavor it as launching yourself out of the way with a burst of flame, or something like that. Also, the mechanics of creating a decoy and then checking attack rolls to see if they took damage are a bit clunky.

Here's how I'd redo it:

Fire Slide (Ps): At 7th level, the pyrokineticist gains the ability to launch herself out of the way of a melee attack using a quick burst of fire from her feet. If an opponent makes a melee attack against you and misses your AC but would hit your flat-footed AC, as an immediate action you may take a 5-foot step away from your attacker, which does not count against the normal limit of one 5-foot step per round. Your attacker takes 3d6 points of fire damage unless he succeeds on a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 class level + Cha modifier) for half damage.


On the Heat (Ps):
[...]
You gain the [Fire] Subtype, and the save DC for when you try to set your foes on fire is increased to 25.

The save DC for setting creatures on fire with Ignite is already 25; did you mean for Ignite to have a lower value which is then raised to 25 with this ability?


Molten Body (Ex):
[...]Any foe that attempts an attack on you must make a Reflex save equal to 12 + 1/2 your class level.

1) They must make a Reflex save or...what? Or they miss? That's both a very strong ability and one that adds a lot of extra rolls to each attack. I assume it's "or take fire damage," in which case you need to specify how much.

2) The usual DC calculation is 10 + 1/2 class level OR effective power level + key ability modifier, and you should stick with that unless you have a very good reason not to.


This ability can be suppressed at will, and does not work for 2d6 rounds if he is struck with cold damage or water.

You should specify what action this suppression requires and what action is required to reactivate it; it defaults to a standard action, but I assume you intended it to be a free action.


Inner Fire (Ex): Upon reaching 10th level, and as long as the environment temperature is above 100 Fahrenheit or there is a fire source like a campfire nearby, the pyro may draw her strength from the slightest amount of environmental warmth. This allows him to treat all the powers with the [Fire] descriptor as costing 1PP less to manifest, to a minimum of 1 PP. The augment costs of the powers is also reduced.

1) You should specify an exact range for "nearby" and how large a fire needs to be to trigger this ability.

2) When you say the augment costs are also reduced, I assume you mean that (base cost + augmentation cost) is reduced by 1 to a minimum of 1 PP total, and not the incredibly broken "each augmentation is reduced in cost by 1 PP." In the former case, you should phrase it as "the total cost of any powers you manifest with the [Fire] descriptor is reduced by 1 power point, after taking augmentations into account."

bootzin
2015-03-01, 10:32 PM
I've made some new changes regarding what you've pointed out, and I have a few things to say:

First of all, I've made the class use the concentration skill a little bit more.

The Licking Flames ability wasn't supposed to have a fixed duration, but seeing how hard it is to have extra reach on D&D, I decided to change it as to concentration, requiring a check whenever he takes damage

The Ignite ability was supposed to deal damage to both the object and the wearer, as what I thought was: If my pants (or even my spell component pouch) are on fire, I kinda have to take some fire damage, right? But realising how complex would it be and how easy would it be to deal damage to anyone, I decided to let the damage only within the object.

The Fire Slide ability is definitely better fluffed and mechaanically easier to do than the Fire decoy, thanks for the advice (:

On the Heat was supposed to increase the DC of Flame Control, as I corrected in the post. Would you think a DC of 25 would be too high for that?

Finally, Inner Fire was supposed to be something like: Each type of augmentation decreased by an additional 1. It would be something like.. the first use of each augmentation decreases the cost by an additional 1, but I realised the ability is good just as it is

During this next week I'll be posting here both the Pyromancer and the Pyromaniac, and I'd appreciate your help PEACHing those too (:

EDIT---
Just as a fun info, I just saw a book today that was called "Where is Hanuman?" haha

EDIT 2-----
Do you think that I should add a 7/10 or 5/10 psionic progression? I kinda haven't decided this yet

PairO'Dice Lost
2015-03-01, 10:53 PM
The Licking Flames ability wasn't supposed to have a fixed duration, but seeing how hard it is to have extra reach on D&D, I decided to change it as to concentration, requiring a check whenever he takes damage

The every-other-round-and-concentration mechanic is a bit clunky as well. How about changing it so that Licking Flames requires spending some PP to activate (3 would be good) and then stays active as long as the pyrokineticist is psionically focused?


On the Heat was supposed to increase the DC of Flame Control, as I corrected in the post. Would you think a DC of 25 would be too high for that?

No, it's fine at 25, it was just unclear before.


During this next week I'll be posting here both the Pyromancer and the Pyromaniac, and I'd appreciate your help PEACHing those too (:

Can do.


Do you think that I should add a 7/10 or 5/10 psionic progression? I kinda haven't decided this yet

As the PrC intended for partial manifesters, the pyrokineticist would be fine with 5/10, I think.

Hanuman
2015-03-12, 03:56 PM
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war
Thrashing dragon has viable TWF balance datapoints if you want to go down the TWF route.

Tier?
A good question is what tier are you shooting for in your class? I don't have a huge amount of experience with PrC's and I rather that they not actually exist, is there some sort of tier placement for them?

If we are using the standard baseclass tier system I'd rate the concept of Pyro between 2 and 3.
If a pyro goes a full manifester it's going to be M.A.D. to go pyro which would make it more niche and drops it's tier unless cheese or some sort.
If a pyro goes combat manifester it's going to be tier3 anyway.

Damage Balance
The damage balancepoint for 3.5 or pathfinder characters for a spammed attack on an attack roll to be effective as a t3 class is aproximately this:
[Attack Roll = (3 dmg/level) OR (Weapon + Atr + 2dmg/Level)]

If you are using a sustain mechanic such as PP to increase damage or effect output you can adjust the attack, let's use Mind Thrust as a mechanic to weigh a raise of damage output against added PP:
[Mind Thrust = 1D10/PP Spent] so we know that 1PP = 5.5 untyped damage, we can raise that to 6 fire damage without issue.

We can then combine these 2 trends to make a new mechanic:
Base Damage = [3 / Level OR 2 / Level + Weapon(s) + Attribute]
+ 3/Level (1PP Per 3 Damage) (Swift Action)
Range maximum for extra damage from adding PP = 25' + (5' / 2 Levels)

To be perfectly clear, this means isolating the damage from the weapons in a sense, you're not having to optimize a reach build blender to have to make use of this.
Isolating damage from attack number also means you can add this to natural weapons as well, adding natural weapons to your current build means that it would get immediately dipped and added to a NA blender build that psiwar is infamous for.

In terms of dipping I rather limit the player from gaining effectiveness from dipping when that happens rather than limiting the player both ways just in case, but I guess that's not conventional PrC methodology, and probably one of the reasons I don't like prc's :smallwink:


"All weapons are hot" was a joke name, I expected you to change it :smallsmile:

In terms of "what can fire do and not do" is not really realistic in this sense, the entire concept is abstracted and you're changing the physics of the fire and moving it around.
You could take examples of the physics of fire and apply it as mechanics, but saying a mechanic isn't realistic because the physics are wrong is not really a concern.
Fire wildly differs in temperature and how it effects the air, hot air is kind of fire's thing.

For example (begin first result on google posting), two fair sized swords are going to be fairly easy to manage:
http://aliceinflames.deviantart.com/...rd-3-286805034

Exact same thing with whips:
http://www.loupiote.com/photos/1384701350.shtml

But fans have a much larger area, they heat more air and it's harder to move that air away from your hands, so fans are way way hotter than swords or whips:
http://www.triskelionarts.org/fire-fan-choreography

All the fire you see is around 400c, if you were to be directly over the flame it would be as hot as an oven. Ever opened an oven and stuck your hand in? Hot, but not really harmful, unconfortable at best, probably more like http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unl...tter-agitation at best.

To be dealing lots of damage you'll need to be using fire that is way way hotter, technically it probably wouldn't even be orange. It will be very violent fire, it will be incredibly loud and bright. You could intensify it upon impact and such, but you have to realize the photos of people using firetools are in no danger, fire is not very dangerous.

How that works is that the fuel is absorbed into wicking (kevlar, which is essentially fiberglass fabric) which is then held within, the only danger to a performer is the fuel getting on them, or using synthetic materials (which melt, light on fire, and stick to your skin, it's aweful), but because there's basically no synth material in fantasy RPGs that's not an issue, so really it's about fuel getting on you (which isn't easy when done safe because the fuel isn't on the surface for long), or your clothes actually catching on fire. Cotton fabric is hard to catch, so you could imagine DnD where everyone's wearing fireproof clothing like leather (excellent fire protection) and even metals which would have to basically start liquifying before they catch.
Basically the temperatures we are talking about to have to start dealing direct damage, without catching, would either have to engulf the whole body in very hot fire, or flames so intensified that they would burn through everything. How I would probably put this is somewhere between a continual dragon's breathe coming out of your sword hilt, and a lightsaber. Lightsabers cut through everything by incinerating and melting them, so a warrior holds up his shield and as your sword comes crashing down on it the shield melts and the sword carries through it, lobbing off the arm holding it.

Conduction of heat is a LOT more effective at causing damage, a fire performer has to be far more careful with the metal bits on their firetools than the actual fire, 400c metal tends to instantly brand flesh, leaving scars for months.

Limit of fire damage can be seen here:
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0243.html

If you are specifically sundering objects from range with fire you could explode them dealing damage equal to their hardness.

The main debuffs you could illustrate are: Shaken (Fear), Concealment (Block Sight), Blind (Light or Smoke), Dazzle (Light)
Secondary debuffs you could illustrate are: Sicken (Smoke), Deafen (Noise), Suffocation (Smoke or Fire)