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MrNobody
2015-09-22, 08:03 AM
Hello everybody!
In August, when i was out on vacation (far away from my PC and from my D&D books), in a hot afternoon, my mind started wandering, seeking answers to questions that should not be asked for.

Suddenly, I started asking to myself: "if ACFs are made to give people the chance to custom their favorite classes without changing the overall feeling and without doing an extensive rebuild of the class, why don't people have the chance to do the same with their favorite prestige classes?"

The answer to this question, and the work that followed once i came back home, is posted here. It is the first part of a long and, i hope, valuable effort that starts from the Dungeon Masters Guide and will reach out to every other 3.x official manual out there.

That said, i'm proud to show you my ALTERNATIVE PRESTIGE FEATURES aka th ACFs for prestige classes.
They are meant to provide prestige classes more flexibility and variations in fluff, combat options and so on. The aim wasn't to make PrC better or stronger but just... different!
The text got spellchecked with a free software, but things may have slipped out: corrections in that sense and a general PEACH for balance are appreciated!

Work Diary

Done
Dungeon Master's Guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19853875&postcount=2)

Coming soon...
Complete Divine (or Complete Warrior, not really sure)

MrNobody
2015-09-22, 08:14 AM
Dungeon Master's Guide



Spells for Arrows. While the possibility of hitting at once everything you can see is sure amazing, you prefer focusing on one enemy at a time and, to do this, you have learned to tap into your arcane power.
Lose: Hail of Arrows.
Gain: Staring at 7th level, once per round you can use a full-round action to make a ranged attack with your bow against a single creature. When you do this you can spend any one spell prepared (or un-used spell slot, minimum level 1st) to conjure additional arrows aimed at the same target. You get a number of extra arrows equal to the level of the spell spent. Each extra arrow act as a copy of the original arrow and requires a separated ranged attack roll with the same bonus of the original arrow. Each arrow (including the original one) deals extra piercing damage equal to 1d6+the level of the spell spent. If the spell spent has an energetic descriptor (fire, cold, acid and so on) the extra damage deals damage of the same type of energy. If the spell spent has an alignment descriptor, the extra damage counts as having the same alignment for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
For example Eramil, an arcane archer capable of casting 3rd level spells, targets a red dragon with a ranged attack with his bow. Upon doing this, he spends his prepared Sleet Storm spell (3rd level, cold descriptor) and conjures 3 extra arrows aimed at the target. He rolls separately for each arrow (4 attack rolls, one for the original arrow, 3 for the copies): each arrow that hits the target deals 1d6+3 extra cold damage.


Telerobbery. Opening a lock form the distance is cool, but it will never be cooler that teleporting coins out of someone’s pocket.
Lose: Ranged Legerdemain.
Gain: Once a day, select a creature you can see that is within 60 ft. from you. You can wish an object (or a group of similar objects, like coins) weighting no more than 5 pounds to be teleported from his possession to yours (in your hand or backpack/sack/other). To make a successful telerobbery you must make a Sleight of Hand check: DC 20 if the item is simply worn/in plain sight (a sword in the scabbard, a worn ring), and the owner can make the usual Spot check to notice the vanishing; DC 25 if the item is in a backpack or similar container (no Spot check allowed); DC 30 if the item is inside an extra-dimensional object, like a Bag of Holding (no Spot check allowed). When wishing for an object you can wish for an object you know is in the target’s possession, but you can also wish for something you only suppose the target owns. If the target doesn’t own the object you wished for your attempt is wasted and lost. You gain an extra use of this ability at 5th and 9th level.


Archfamiliar. A great wizard cannot have a regular familiar as a companion. He needs an animal whose greatness is equal to the one of his master.
Lose: any one High Arcana.
Gain: The familiar's Intelligence score is raised to match the score of his master and the familiar gains the ability to speak, read and write (holding a pen if it's able to, or using a nail or other sharp body part in its place) any language that its master can. This allows the animal to replace his master in copying the spells in the spell book and writing scrolls: the wizard is still required to spend the usual resources but it doesn't need to attend the work in person. At last, the familiar learns to cast a small number of spells every day, that he prepares studying them from the spellbook with its master: it can prepare any number of spell levels per day equal to its Intelligence modifier. For example a Familiar with Int. 20 (mod. +5) could prepare five 1st level spells or one 2nd level spell and one 3rd level spell. Casting these spells follows all the rules for regular casting.


Skilled Assassin. While a lot of marauders seek to enter this prestige class to acquire the related arcane power, there are also certain individuals that refuse such "subterfuges" and prefer to enhance their mundane skills.
Lose: Spells.
Gain: At 1st level and every level thereafter a Skilled Assassin gains an extra skill trick for which he meets the prerequisites. The skill tricks acquired in this way do not count against the maximum number of skill tricks a character can possess.

Infector. Poison is an assassin's best friend, but the are some assassins that prefer to act slowly and subtly using diseases instead.
Lose: Poison use, Save bonus against poison.
Gain: At 2nd level, an Infector assassin learns to use Contagion once a day as a spell-like ability. This ability works like the spell, except that the DC to resist the selected diseases is equal to 10+Assassin's Class Level+his Int. modifier. In addition, the assassin gains immunity to all diseases (even magical ones). The assassin gains an extra use of Contagion at 6th an 10th level.

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Symbiotic Servant. Having a horse, a wolf or a bat ally is, for a Blackguard, both useful and iconic. But sometimes, having a hidden friend, an ace up the sleeve, is far more useful.
Lose: Fiendish servant.
Gain: At 5th level, a Blackguard must choose a fiendish symbiont (Fiend Folio, p. 218) to be summoned and attached to his body. He gains no save to resist the symbiont being attached to him (if any).
Once attached, the fiendish symbiont gains extra HPs equal to twice the Blackguard level and can roll saving throws using its own saves or the Blackguard’s one, whichever is higher.
In addition, the close bond between the Blackguard and the symbiont changes the powers of the latter as follows.
Should ever a symbiont die, the Blackguard must wait a week before summoning another one (of the same type, or of a new kind).
Arcane education special ability works on the Blackguard even if it is a divine caster. At 5th level and every level thereafter the Blackguard can select two wizard spells (conjuration, enchantment, evocation and necromancy only) and add them to his spells list . The spell level of the selected spell cannot be higher than the highest spell level the Blackguard can cast (a 6th level Blackguard can learn 1st, 2nd and 3rd spell levels). Each selected spell is added to the list with the same level it belonged as a wizard spell: therefore, a 10th level Blackguard will add Fire Shield at his “4th level spells” list despite the spell being also in the warmage’s “3rd level spells” list. If the familiar is killed the Blackguard loses access to the extra spells until is summons another Fiendish Familiar: summoning a new Fiendish Familiar does not grant new extra spells but allows the Blackguard to change any one of his extra spells with another one he can cast.
: Starting at 5th level, the Blackguard can spend a Smite Good attempt to force the Gutworm to use its Incite Rage ability if it refuses to. In addition, should the Gutworm try to use Incite Rage on the Blackguard when he is not willing to rage, the Blackguard can make a DC 15 Will save to avoid being enraged. At 7th level, the Gutworm loses its Neutralize Poison ability: it grants the Blackguard poison immunity instead. At 10th level, the Blackguard is so attuned to the influence of the Gutworm that the bonuses he gains while raging are raised by 2 and he is no more fatigued after raging.
At 5th level the bond with the Blackguard empowers the symbiont Protective aura: the little creature can now choose to emit Magic circle against good or chaos instead (CL 12). At 7th level the symbiont can choose to ward its host with a Mantle of Evil/Law instead (CL 12). At 10th level a Soul Tick learns to use Unholy aura or Shield of law once a day (CL 12): this effect protects only the tick and the Blackguard and until it is active it suppresses every other effect of the Protective aura.
At 5th level, the Gaze of Terror of a Ghostly visage is far harder to resist. The DC is equal to 10+Blackguard level+his Cha modifier. At 7th level the symbiont deepens his merging with the Blackguard and grants him immunity to stunning. At 10th level the Mind Shielding ability provided by the Ghostly Visage improves: everyone that tries to use a mind-affecting ability on the Blackguard receives a mental glimpse of the Ghostly Visage and must immediately save against Gaze of terror, even if the symbiont is not manifested.


Impure Discipline. Rather than focusing your training on the majestic pure dragons, you study the diverse beauty of the lesser draconic creatures.
Lose: Dragon Apotheosis
Gain: Your type permanently changes to Dragon (atypical). In addition, once a day (typically at the beginning of the day) you can meditate for 10 minutes to attune yourself with a particular kind of lesser draconic creature (see below). At the end of the meditation you gain the listed benefits: the choice remains effective until you undertake a new meditation or until you use a full-round action to dismiss the effect.
At the end of the meditation a lion head and a goat head sprout out from your shoulders. You gain a second bite attack (that deals the same damage of the one you already have) and a gore attack (damage equal to1d8+your Strenght modifier). You also gain the Scent special ability.
In addition, you gain a special resistance against vorpal weapons and other attacks based on decapitation. When you you are affected for a similar attack you can choose to lose either the lion head either the goat head (along with its natural attack) instead of your true head. This means that enemies need three successful decapitations to actually kill you.
Dragon Turtle: Choosing this draconic creature you gain swim speed out of 30 ft. and the amphibious subtype. In addition, you develop a shell-like body armor that gives you a +14 enhancement bonus to your natural armor. As last benefit, your breath weapon fully works underwater.
Attuning to this powerful predator, you gain Improved Initiative as bonus feat and the damage dealt by your natural weapons improves by one step as if you were one size larger. In addition, you gain Pounce special attack and the dragonne's Roar special attack: you can use this ability once a day and its DC is equal to 10+ your dragon disciple level+your CHA modifier.
Pseudodragon: The communion with this little dragon shrinks you down by one size (to a minimum of Tiny, apply all the normal bonuses and penalties for the size change), you gain telepathy out of 60ft and SR 20. In addition, you can use your bite attack to envenom your enemies. Your poison initial damage causes sleep for 1 minute, the secondary damage cause sleep for 1d3 hours. The DC is 10+ your dragon disciple level+your CON modifier.
Choosing to gain the power of this massive draconic creature, the Dragon Disciple grows up one size (apply all the normal bonuses and penalties for the size change), grow a long, stinged tail and stronger wings gaining three extra natural attacks: two wing attacks (1d6+1/2 STR modifier each) and one sting attack (1d6+STR modifier + venom). The venom deal 2d6 CON damage both as initial and secondary damage. The DC is 10+ your dragon disciple level+your CON modifier. At last it gains improved grab that he can use when hitting an enemy with both claws.


Daring disarm. You put all you have into battle, and love to take a risk or two if you can gain an advantage against your opponent.
Lose: Grace.
Gain: Once per round you can attempt to disarm an opponent in the exact moment it attacks you in melee.
When an opponent makes an armed melee attack against you, after the attack roll is made but before knowing if it is successful, you can choose to make a disarm attempt as an immediate action. Since the target of the disarm attempt is already attacking you, you don't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Make an attack roll opposed to the one that the enemy made to attack you, adding to this attack roll the bonus you receive from Improved Reaction. If your attack roll is higher that the attack roll of your opponent, it is disarmed. If your attack is lower you don't manage to disarm the opponent: it is not allowed to try to disarm you but it can end the attack you stopped. Against that attack you receive a -2 penalty to your AC.


Reactive Push-back. The perfect defender is the one that is able to avoid traps, suffer serious wounds without a moan and overcome deadly effects. Part of defence is, however, the ability of driving enemies away from those in danger.
Lose: Trap Sense.
Gain: At 4th level a Dwarven Defender learns to channel the power of an enemy's missed blow in order to push it back and make him lose ground. If a Dwarven Defender in Defensive Stance and holding a shield is attacked in melee and the attacker fails to overcome his AC, the Dwarven Defender can choose to use an immediate action to parry the blow with his shield and use the latter to push the attacker back. Treat this as a bull-rush check: the pushed creature, taken by surprise and unbalanced, has a -4 penalty to its Strenght check, raised to -8 if it rolled a natural 1 on the failed melee attack. If the Dwarven Defender manages to bull rush the attacker, the latter is pushed back but the Dwarven Defender does not move along with it.
Starting from 8th level, when the Dwarven Defender manages to bull-rush an opponent in this way, he can take a 5 ft. step as part of the same immediate action as long as it moves in the same direction the attacker was pushed. This movement doesn't end the Defensive Stance.

Martial Defender. You adhere to a philosophy that teaches that learning different and more mobile stances is way more effective that learning only one that requires you to “just stay there waiting the enemy to be lucky enough to hit you”.
Lose: Defensive Stance.
Gain: At 1st level and every odd level thereafter a Dwarven Defender learns one martial stance (see Tome of Battle – Book of Nine Swords) chosen from the following disciplines: Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon and White Raven. His initiator level is equal to his level in the Dwarven Defender prestige class.
At every even level a Dwarven Defender can choose to replace any one known stance with a new stance for which he meets the prerequisites.


Bonded Weapon. You give up a little bit of martial expertise to have a weapon that is the arcane extension of both your magic and combat skill.
Lose: Bonus feat.
Gain: Starting from 1st level an Eldritch Knight can undertake a 24-hours long meditation that requires the use of 2000 gp worth of precious oils to attune a ranged or melee weapon to his arcane power giving it the Superior Spell Storing special ability. This works like the standard Spell Storing ability except that the weapon can store spells up to 4th level and, when storing a spell, it gives the wielder an insight bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls equal to the level of the spell stored. The weapon retains this ability only when wielded by "its" Eldritch Knight. An Eldritch Knight can only have a Bonded Weapon at a time: if he undertakes a second bonding ritual while already having a bonded weapon, that first bonded weapon is unbound (and any stored spell is lost).


Avatar of the God. Leaving behind the other benefits usually gained, some members of this class reach for a deeper identification with their divine patrons and learn to morph into a living embodiment of what their belief.
Lose: Any Special Ability.
Gain: Once per day, for a number of rounds equal to three times his levels in this class, a Hierophant can change his form becoming an Avatar of his god, or an Avatar of Nature if has druid levels. When he transforms, he gains all the effects of Righteous Might spell: in addition, he must select a Domain associated with your god (even if he didn't select that domain as his own) and gain extra benefits accordingly to his choice. A Druid that doesn't worship a particular god can select between the following domains: Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water.
The DC of any ability granted by this variant is equal to 10+ twice your Hierophant level+your significant casting Ability. The caster level for the spell-like abilities is equal to 10+Hierophant level.

As your body is surrounded by foul winds your type changes to Elemental (Air), you gain fly speed 40 ft. and every square around you is considered as occupied by a Wind Wall spell (it does not affect you).
Changing shape twice at the same time,you become halfway between a humanoid and an animal. Before applying the bonuses of Righteous Might, select an animal whose CR is no higher than twice your Hierophant Level. You also gain the benefits you would gain from being a natural Lycanthrope of that animal in his hybrid form.
You must be chaotic to choose this form. Your type changes to Outsider (Chaotic), and you gain a Subtype based on your alignment; if you are CN you gain the slaad traits (resistance 5 to acid, cold, fire and electricity, immunity to sonic damage); if you are CG you gain the Eladrin Subtype; if you CE you gain the Tannar'ri Subtype.
As you become more pale and ghostly in the appearance your type changes to Undead and you gain Turn Resistance equal to your Hierophant level. In addition, while in this form you can use the power granted by Death Domain any time you want: should a creature survive your death touch, it still takes damage equal to half the result of the roll (damage is negative energy).
You become the ultimate force of annihilation. Every object or creature that touches you (or strikes you in melee with a natural weapon) suffers 3d6 damage per your Hierophant level (Fort. halves). The damage type is the same dealt by a disintegration spell. Thus a creature killed or an object destroyed by this effect crumble to dust.
As you become bulky and stony your type changes to Elemental (earth), you gain the earth glide special ability. In addition, you gain the ability to cause an earthquake (as the spell) in a 10 ft. radius centered on you once per round as a swift action.
You must be evil to choose this form. Your type changes to Outsider (Evil), and you gain a Subtype based on your alignment. If you are LE you gain the Baatezu Subtype; if you are NE you gain the Yugoloth traits (see Monster Manual II); if you CE you gain the Tannar'ri Subtype.
Surrounded by fire and ashes, your type changes to Elemental (Fire). In addition, your squares and all the adjacent squares are filled with an Incendiary Cloud: the cloud moves with you and if dissipated by a wind effect it reforms at the beginning of your next round. Your vision is not hampered by the cloud and you are immune to its effects.
You must be good to choose this form. Your type changes to Outsider (Good), and you gain a Subtype based on your alignment. If you are CG you gain the Eladrin Subtype; if you are NG you gain the Guardinal Subtype; if you are LG you gain the Archon Subtype.
You gain fast healing equal to three times your hierophant level and gain immunity to poisons and diseases. You can spend a turn/rebuke attempt as a swift action to heal an ally 10 points of damage per hierophant level you possess to any ally within 40 ft.
While in this form you gain a superior understanding of past, present and future. You cannot be taken by surprise and you gain a sacred (if good or neutral) or profane (if evil or neutral) bonus to Initiative and to AC equal to your Hierophant level.
You must be lawful to choose this form. Your type changes to Outsider (Lawful), and you gain a Subtype based on your alignment. If you are LG (or a LN cleric that channels positive energy) you gain the Archon Subtype; if you LE (or a LN cleric that channels negative energy) you gain the Baatezu Subtype.
Odds are with you when you are in your Avatar form. Once per round you can add a luck bonus equal to 1+your Hierophant level to any roll you make (including damage roll), or to your AC against a single attack. You must declare you are using the bonus before the roll or the attack are made. You are also immune to curses and spells and effects based on ill fortune.
Infused with the power of pure magic, you gain the ability to cast once per round a prepared spell as if affected by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat without increasing its level. The spell quickened in this way must be 3rd level or lower.
Your hair becomes green and your skin brown and thick. Your type changes to Plant, you gain a Barkskin effect and two slam attacks that deal 2d6+your Strenght modifier each.
As your skin takes an opaque metallic hue, you gain Evasion and Mettle as long as the transformation lasts.
As your muscles enormously enlarge, you gain powerful build (see Goliath race in Races of stone) special ability and you are always affected by the Strenght's domain power until the end of the transformation (use the sum of the levels in divine caster classes and hierophant levels as your cleric level for this purpose).

Bathed in the light of a thousand suns, your are under the constant effect of Righteous Aura (Spell Compendium). In addition, once per round as a swift action, you can unleash a white-hot beam of sunlight from your eyes and incinerate your enemies. This effect works like a Searing Light spell cast with a caster level equal to three times your hierophant level).
Master of space, you are under the effect of a Freedom of Movement spell. Once per round, as a swift action, you can teleport for 5ft+5ft per Hierophant level (max 30ft. at 5th level).
Treacherous and deceiving, while in the Avatar form you generate a number of illusory duplicates equal to three times your Hierophant level (they work as for mirror image) and you and the doubles are affected by a displacement spell. If dispelled or otherwise eliminated the illusory copies reform at the beginning of your next turn.
You transform screaming a fearsome battle cry. As long as the transformation lasts your BAB is equal to your character level. In addition, you are surrounded by three Spiritual Weapon (the weapon of your deity) that can attack once per round each against targets of your choice within reach.
As your body becomes partly liquid your type changes to Elemental (Water), you gain a swim speed of 60 ft. and the ability to freely breathe and speak underwater. When you take your Avatar form you can choose to become made of holy (if you are good or neutral) or unholy (if evil or neutral) water. Every creature attacking you in melee that is weak against this kind of water suffers 2d6 of holy or unholy damage. Creatures that you are holding in a grapple (or that are holding you) suffer twice that damage every round as long as the grapple lasts.

Urban Walker. Horizon Walkers are the ultimate explorers, the supreme pathfinders. Most of them dedicate their lives to the wilderness, but some cannot resist the charm of cities and the raging urbanization.
Lose: Any one Terrain Mastery.
Gain: Travelling around the world you have grown an increasing interest in towns and cities and learned to understand their “ecosystem” to take the best from it.
When you select this ability you must also select one kind of city from the list below and gain the associated power.
A small, unknown village, lost in the middle of a vast countryside or hidden between the rocks of a mountain, is the ideal refuge when you need to “vanish” for some time. When you are in this kind of location, everyone in the multiverse adds your class level to the DC of Gather Information checks made to locate where you are.
Big but not chaotic and full of friendly people, these places are the usual starting point for a lot of adventurers. After one week you have entered a town for the first time you gain an extra contact (see contacts rules in Cityscape). Staying longer inside the town grants you additional contacts: after one month from receiving the first extra contact you receive an additional one; after six months from that event you gain another one. From then on, for every 6 months you pass in the town you receive an extra contact. If you leave the city for at least one week before attaining a new contact, the time resets and the time spent in attaining that extra contact is wasted. You cannot have more extra contacts inside a town than your Horizon Walker's level.
Accustomed to the network of markets, trade fairs, guild houses, black markets that are at home in small and large cities you know how to buy the best things at the cheapest price. When paying for items (even magical) and services in a city you have a discount equal to twice your Horizont Walker level (max 20% at 10th level).
A metropolis is a beehive of streets, alleys, sewers, and rooftops that you have learnt to take advantage of. Because of this, your speed is considered tripled when calculating your Local and Overland Movement for moving inside the city.
Special: A Horizon Walker can take this Alternative Class Feature multiple times, each one selecting cities of a different kind.

Stunning Knowledge. Knowledge is a strong weapon and some aggressive Loremasters take this statement a little too literaly.
Lose: Lore.
Gain: At 2nd level a Loremaster can try to stun one of his opponents with a display of erudition. To do this he must target a single creature with human-like intelligence (3 or more) that shares one of his known languages and that can clearly hear him. As a standard action the Loremaster must roll a Knowlegde check in a Knowledge skill he is trained in as he utters samples of obscure lore on that topic. The target must then make a Will save or be stunned for a number or rounds equal to half the Loremaster level (minimum 1). The DC is equal to the Loremaster's Knowledge check. If the target is trained in the same Knowledge skill used by the Loremaster, it can roll a check on that skill instead of a Will Save to resist this effect. A Loremaster has no limit in using this ability, but once a creature has made its save it becomes immune to it for 24 hours, even if the Loremaster uses a different Knowledge skill.



Personal Bodyguard. You don’t like the cooperative, hierarchic lifestyle of Red Wizards and prefer adventuring with the only presence of their slaves-bodyguards.
Lose. Circle Leader and Greater Circle Leader.
Gain. At 5th level you gain Leadership as a bonus feat. Unlike the normal feat, you are limited to attracting cohorts (you cannot attract followers). In addition, the cohort must have as many levels as possible in at least one of the following classes: Thayan Gladiator (Champions of Ruin), Thayan Knight (Complete Warrior), Thayan Slaver (Unapproachable East).
Those who seek to become the guard of a Red Wizard are well aware of the cruelty and detachment such mages can show and are also well accustomed to their usual lack of interest in other people’s life. Because of this a Red Wizard’s Leadership score gains no penalty for the aloofness, cruelty and caused the death of a cohort entries in the Leadership Table (Dungeon Master Guide, p.106). The cohort will never leave the Wizard’s side, neither if treated like a slave or worse.
At 10th level you gain Improved Cohort (Heroes of Horror, p. 98) as bonus feat.


Mysterious Shadow. Some shadowdancer are pleased of trading the company of an umbral servant with the knowledge of some dance steps learned from a cryptic tradition.
Lose. Summon Shadow.
Gain. At 3rd level, the Shadowdancer learns any three fundamentals of shadow (for Shadow Magic, see Tome of Magic, p. 109) of his choice. He can use each of them three times a day as a spell-like ability.
At 6th level the shadow dancer learns any two mysteries chosen from any Apprentice Path (they can be both from the same path or come from different paths). He can use each of them two times a day as a spell-like ability.
At 9th level the shadow dancer learns any one mystery chosen from any Initiate Path. He can use it once a day as a spell-like ability.
The caster level for these spell-like abilities is equal to the shadowdancer’s level.


Aligned Summoning. You are attuned to the cosmic powers of alignments and you can summon in your aid creatures that shares your personal beliefs.
Lose. Augment Summoning.
Gain. Starting from 2nd level, when you use a (summoning) or (calling) spell to conjure a creature you can choose to enhance it with one of the following templates: Anarchic Creature (Planar Handbook, p.107), Axiomatic Creature (Planar Handbook, p.110), Corrupted Creature (Book of Vile Darkness, p.186), Sanctified Creature (Book of Exalted Deeds, p.186). Unlike stated in the templates’ descriptions, you can apply these templates to creatures of any type, but not to outsiders with the opposite alignment subtype (you cannot call a sanctified devil, or an axiomatic slaad).
A thaumaturgist cannot apply a template that is opposed to his own alignment: therefore a lawful good thaumaturgist can only apply the Axiomatic Creature and Sanctified Creature templates. A neutral thaumaturgist can apply ant template: at the DM’s discretion, though, an abuse of a certain template may cause the thaumaturgist’s alignment to shift towards one side of the spectrum.

nonsi
2015-09-22, 08:45 AM
.
1. Why do you aim to change all of them? Why not just the ones that bug you?
2. A suggestion: you might wanna consider reserving posts for other books (if so, start immediately). If you wish, I'll even delete this message to allow you codex-continuation.

[Edit]: on second thought, drop Q#1. APFs are not mandatory as it is.

MrNobody
2015-09-22, 09:29 AM
Thanks nonsi for the suggestion: i'm really interested in other people's suggestions so i'll leave the space open and keep a Work Diary in the first post with direct links to the manuals i've already worked out!

Amechra
2015-09-22, 11:40 AM
The Hierophant APF is currently broken.

As in, it doesn't really work - you need to list Caster Levels for a lot of the effects in question (Plant stood out for me - Barkskin's effect is entirely based on caster level, after all.)

Also, the Martial Defender APF is much stronger that Defensive Stance - so much so that I don't think anybody wouldn't take this option. After all, they don't lock you in place, AND you can use them at-will.

MrNobody
2015-09-23, 04:43 AM
The Hierophant APF is currently broken.

As in, it doesn't really work - you need to list Caster Levels for a lot of the effects in question (Plant stood out for me - Barkskin's effect is entirely based on caster level, after all.)

I see, you are right! Do you think that adding the statement "The Caster Level for every spell or spell-like ability listed below is equal to 10+Your Hierophant level" could be enough to fix the problem? Or do you think that it must be fixed in other ways



Also, the Martial Defender APF is much stronger that Defensive Stance - so much so that I don't think anybody wouldn't take this option. After all, they don't lock you in place, AND you can use them at-will.

Yes, I know :smallbiggrin: One thing i thought about while doing this APFs is that one big problem with martial class is that they may be good but they always loose against casters... expecially the older PrCs. This is why I tried to add Martial stances (the way WoTC tried to fix the problem) to the Dwarven Defender: it is intended to be much stronger than the base one while respecting the need for defence and teamwork-phalanx fighting.

Network
2015-09-23, 02:51 PM
I see, you are right! Do you think that adding the statement "The Caster Level for every spell or spell-like ability listed below is equal to 10+Your Hierophant level" could be enough to fix the problem? Or do you think that it must be fixed in other ways
The hierophant APC is also much stronger than the other hierophant special abilities. Dealing over 30d6 damage per attack (for the destruction domain) is a bit too much, even for only a few rounds a day.

Yes, I know :smallbiggrin: One thing i thought about while doing this APFs is that one big problem with martial class is that they may be good but they always loose against casters... expecially the older PrCs. This is why I tried to add Martial stances (the way WoTC tried to fix the problem) to the Dwarven Defender: it is intended to be much stronger than the base one while respecting the need for defence and teamwork-phalanx fighting.
I don't agree with the use of ACFs as a way to "fix" the power level of a class. Is there any way you could make Martial Defender less of a must-have for Dwarven Defender?

MrNobody
2015-09-24, 05:07 AM
The hierophant APC is also much stronger than the other hierophant special abilities. Dealing over 30d6 damage per attack (for the destruction domain) is a bit too much, even for only a few rounds a day.

Ok, i see i overdid a little with the Hierophant (honestly it was the APF that bothered me most)! I'll try to fix the power level of his abilities and fix the Caster-level thing. For the destruction one i could lower the damage to 3d6 per Hierophant level (max 15d6) with the target being disintegrated if it dies. It would be better?


Is there any way you could make Martial Defender less of a must-have for Dwarven Defender?

One thing that could be done is lowering the Initiator Level. As it is now, the Martial Defender has a cap of IL 15 at 10th level, since it has a IL equal to 1 and 1/2 his level. Lowering it to IL = level would give a max of IL 10. This would be a great turn-down since the Martial Defender would reach up only to 5th level stances instead on the current 8th level.

Another way could be keeping a form of movement reduction such has having movement halved while using a stance... but personally i don't like this option.

Thoughts?

Amechra
2015-09-24, 10:45 PM
No, they have an IL of 20 at level 20. Each level in a non-initiator class adds 1/2 a level to a creature's IL.

So if I were playing a Fighter 4/Warblade 2, I'd have an IL of 4.

MrNobody
2015-09-25, 03:27 AM
No, they have an IL of 20 at level 20. Each level in a non-initiator class adds 1/2 a level to a creature's IL.

So if I were playing a Fighter 4/Warblade 2, I'd have an IL of 4.

Ugh... i'm ashamed! I dont' know how I could have forgotten about this detail. In this case lowering the IL is more than necessary!

EDIT: i lowered the IL of the Dwarven Defender: now it's equal to his level. I also changed the Hierophant's destruction ability. Now it deals 3d6 damage per Hierophant Level (same type of disintegration), with a Fort halves save.