The Pacifist (PEACH) - A Healer that doesn't suck

[shatterspike1]

Let's face it: in combat healing sucks. For the usual suspects that can do it (Clerics), their time is usually better spent making it more dead (or disabling it, or debuffing it, or summoning allies, etc.) For the one official class focused on it (Healers), well, there's a reason they're tier 5. Their abilities aren't just more narrowly focused than a Cleric's, they're focused in the least useful place. All they really can do is heal, with little to no ability to fight, buff, or do a million other useful things in combat. Not to mention their spellcasting depends on both their wisdom and charisma, and they get little good on their chassis to justify this ineffectiveness (Four skill points? That's two better than a Cleric!). Oh, but they got a unicorn companion and a few once-a-day abilities that can be duplicated by lower level spells. That's nice I suppose.

They should have just gone whole-hog and fully committed to the lack of combat capability.

The design goals with this pacifist class were threefold:
1. Create an in combat healer class that didn't suck
2. Create a pure pacifist class that was effective and didn't have the weird issues Vow of Nonviolence/Peace characters would have.
3. Make said class a solid high Tier 3.
Note that this class can function in an ordinary murder-happy party, provided the pacifist themself isn't doing the murdering and is good-aligned (if that has meaning in your campaign). In a social combat/skill heavy/murder is not the only option game, the pacifist should bring a lot to the table.

Pacifist

Game Rule Information
Pacifists have the following game statistics.

Abilities
Charisma determines how many spells the pacifist can cast, as well as the effectiveness of most of their class abilities. Constitution is important for a pacifist focusing on Interposing and taking hits for their allies, and Dexterity is important for a pacifist that doesn't want to get hit easily at early levels.

Alignment
Any good.

Hit Die
d8.

Class Skills
The pacifist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at 1st Level
(6 + Int modifier) x4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level
6 + Int modifier.






Spells Per Day



Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
+0
+2
+2
+2
White Fire, Armor of Peace 1, Guilt
3
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


2nd
+0
+3
+3
+3
Healing Reach, Blessing
4
4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


3rd
+0
+3
+3
+3
Divine Grace, Armor of Peace 2
4
5
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


4th
+0
+4
+4
+4
Interpose, Blessing
5
6
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


5th
+0
+4
+4
+4
Armor of Peace 3
5
6
4
2
—
—
—
—
—
—


6th
+0
+5
+5
+5
Blessing
5
6
5
3
—
—
—
—
—
—


7th
+0
+5
+5
+5
Armor of Peace 4
6
6
6
4
2
—
—
—
—
—


8th
+0
+6
+6
+6
Improved Interpose, Blessing
6
6
6
5
3
—
—
—
—
—


9th
+0
+6
+6
+6
Armor of Peace 5
6
6
6
6
4
2
—
—
—
—


10th
+0
+7
+7
+7
Blessing
6
6
6
6
5
3
—
—
—
—


11th
+0
+7
+7
+7
Armor of Peace 6
6
6
6
6
6
4
2
—
—
—


12th
+0
+8
+8
+8
Greater Interpose, Blessing
6
6
6
6
6
5
3
—
—
—


13th
+0
+8
+8
+8
Armor of Peace 7
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
2
—
—


14th
+0
+9
+9
+9
Blessing
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
3
—
—


15th
+0
+9
+9
+9
Armor of Peace 8
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
2
—


16th
+0
+10
+10
+10
Superior Interpose, Blessing
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
3
—


17th
+0
+10
+10
+10
Armor of Peace 9
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
3


18th
+0
+11
+11
+11
Blessing
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
4


19th
+0
+11
+11
+11
Armor of Peace 10
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5


20th
+0
+12
+12
+12
Supreme Grace
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6



Class Features
All of the following are class features of the pacifist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Pacifists are not proficient with any type of armor nor any type of weapon.

Spells
A pacifist casts divine spells which are drawn from the pacifist spell list given below. They may cast any spell they know without preparing it ahead of time. When a pacifist gains access to a new level of spells, they automatically know all the spells for that level on the pacifist's spell list. Essentially, their spell list is the same as their spells known list.
To cast a spell, a Pacifist must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell's level. The difficulty class for a saving throw against a pacifist's spell is 10 + the spell's level + the pacifist's Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a pacifist can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Pacifist. In addition, they receive bonus spells for a high Charisma score.
Unlike a cleric or wizard, a pacifist need not prepare their spells in advance. They can cast any spell they know at any time, assuming they have not used up their spells per day for that spell level.

White Fire (Su)
A pacifist's healing abilities are particularly potent. Whenever a pacifist restores hit points and the amount of hit points restored is greater than necessary to restore a creature to full hit points, one half of the remainder of the healing is applied as temporary hit points, appearing as an aura of white flame around the creature. Temporary hit points gained this way last for a total of 10 minutes per class level. Temporary hit points gained this way don't stack with themselves or other sources of temporary hit points; only the highest amount of temporary hit points gained from a single healing ability apply.

Armor of Peace (Su)
The pacifist is supernaturally protected by their unwillingness to do harm. At 1st level, the pacifist gains a +1 bonus to armor class (this bonus applies against all attacks), a damage reduction of 1/—, and a resistance to fire, electricity, poison, acid, cold, sonic, and negative energy equal to 1. The armor class bonus, damage reduction, and resistances increase by 1 at 3rd level, and every odd level thereafter. In addition to this, the pacifist adds their Charisma bonus to their Dexterity bonus for the purposes of calculating armor class.

Guilt (Su)
As a swift or standard action once per turn, the pacifist begins attempting to convince another creature not to fight with them. The other creature need not necessarily understand the language that the pacifist is speaking, just that the pacifist's attention is directed toward them. This creature must make a will saving throw, DC 15 + one-half the pacifist's class level + the pacifist's Charisma modifier. If the saving throw is successful, the creature receives a +10 bonus on saving throws versus further attempts to use Guilt on the creature for the next 24 hours in addition to the ability having no effect. If the saving throw is failed, the creature receives penalty to attack roll equal to half the pacifist's class levels (round up), a penalty to damage rolls equal to the pacifist's class levels, and a penalty to save DC's equal to half the pacifist's class levels (round up); these penalties apply when fighting against the pacifist or their allies. This ability doesn't work against mindless creatures, and may not work against particularly evil creatures (such as Outsiders with the Evil subtype) at the DM's discretion. The effects of this ability wear off in 24 hours, and stops applying against any creature that attacks the target.

Healing Reach (Ex)
The pacifist has learned not to waste time in combat. At 2nd level, any spell with a range of touch on the pacifist's class list is instead treated as having a range of close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 class levels). If the target does not wish to get hit, the pacifist must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit with the spell.

Blessings
At 2nd level and every even-numbered level thereafter except for 20th level, the pacifist may choose a blessing from the list of blessings below. The pacifist also gains a pool of blessing points equal to their one-half their class level + their charisma bonus, which refills to full after an extended rest. Unless otherwise noted, each use of a blessing costs one blessing point. If multiple blessings could be used at the same time, all of them may be used. Every even-numbered level, the pacifist may also choose to retrain one of their blessings. Any blessings which duplicate the effects of spells function as if the pacifist had cast the spell.

Aegis of Peace (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. The pacifist may select an additional number of targets up to their Charisma bonus, but they must include themselves as a target. No two targets may be more than 30 feet apart from each other. If the spell has any additional blessings applied to it, those are included in the effect on each creature. The pacifist must be 6th level or greater to take this blessing.

Armoring Spell (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient of the spell also receives a bonus to their armor class equal to one-third the pacifist's class levels (minimum +1). This bonus lasts for one minute per pacifist class levels.

Cure-All (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by a Panacea spell. The pacifist must be 8th level or greater to take this blessing.

Curse Annihilator (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by a Break Enchantment spell. The pacifist must be 10th level or greater to take this blessing.

Curse Destroyer (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by a Remove Curse spell. The pacifist must be 6th level or greater to take this blessing.

Detoxify (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by a Neutralize Poison spell. The pacifist must be 8th level or greater to take this blessing.

Energy Slow (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by a Protection from Energy spell with the energy type chosen by the pacifist. The pacifist must be 6th level or greater to take this blessing.

Energy Stop (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affected as if by an Energy Immunity spell with the energy type chosen by the pacifist. The pacifist must be 12th level or greater to take this blessing.

Failure of Violence (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient receives a 20% miss chance that lasts for a number of minutes equal to the pacifist's class level. If the pacifist expends an additional blessing point when using this blessing, the miss chance increases to 50%. This is not an illusion; weapons and blows just pass harmlessly through the target. The pacifist must be 6th level or greater to take this blessing.

Fearless Soul (Ex)
The pacifist is immune to fear effects. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Freeing Spell (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is affeted as if by a Freedom of Movement spell. The pacifist must be 8th level or greater to take this blessing.

Healing Spell (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the pacifist heals the target for an additional 10 hit points. For the expenditure of additional blessing points, the pacifist may heal an additional 10 hit points per additional blessing point spent.

Improved Armor of Peace (Su)
The pacifist gains a +4 armor bonus to armor class. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points.

Invincible Mind (Ex)
The pacifist is immune to charm and compulsion effects. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Mass Impulse (Su)
The pacifist may apply blessings that ordinarily only augment single-target spells to spells with multiple targets. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points. The pacifist must be 12th level or greater to take this blessing.

Natural Might (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient receives a +2 bonus to any one ability score of the pacifist's choosing. For the expenditure of additional blessing points, the pacifist may improve this bonus by another +2 for each additional blessing point spent, to a maximum bonus of +8. This bonus lasts for a number of minutes equal to the pacifist's class level. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Peace Talks (Su)
The pacifist may use Diplomacy to influence attitudes as a standard action, even being able to influence attitudes when it would otherwise be inappropriate (such as in the middle of combat). Additionally, while using this blessing, the pacifist may influence the attitudes of animals and magical beasts with Diplomacy.

Pure Positivity (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient receives the benefit of Death Ward spell. The pacifist must be 8th level or greater to take this blessing.

Purified Body (Ex)
The pacifist is immune to all diseases, mundane and supernatural. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Restorative Energy (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient receives the benefit of a Restoration spell. The pacifist must be 8th level or greater to take this blessing.

Resurrecting Spell (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. When targeting this spell, the target must be a creature slain a number of rounds no greater than the pacifist's class level. In addition to the effect of the spell, the creature is revived without loss of level and with 40 hit points. This ability requires the expenditure of two blessing points. The pacifist must be 12th level or greater to take this blessing.

Sense Restoration (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient is cured of any blindness or deafness they might have. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Shaming the Mob (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to improve their Guilt ability so that they may target a number of additional creatures equal to half their class level + their Charisma bonus.

Shattering Interpose (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment their Interpose ability so that any non-magical weapon that would damage them during their interpose instead shatters into harmless dust. If the weapon in question is magical, the pacifist may still use this ability, but must expend a number of additional blessing points equal to the weapon's overall modifier, and the weapon gets a Will saving throw to avoid shattering, DC 10 + half the pacifist's class levels + the pacifists Charisma modifier. The weapon uses its own will save or its wielder's, whichever is better. This ability does not work against natural weapons. The pacifist must be 6th level or greater to take this blessing.

Startling Interpose (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment their Interpose ability so that the attacker must re-roll their attack roll to even hit the pacifist. If the attacker hits, they deal damage as they would during a normal interpose; otherwise, the attacker is startled enough to miss the pacifist as well. The pacifist must be 4th level or greater to take this blessing.

Undying Peace (Su)
The pacifist is immune to death effects, death spells, energy drain, and any negative energy effects. This blessing is always active and does not require the use of blessing points. The pacifist must be 18th level or greater to take this blessing.

Weaponry Repulsion (Su)
The pacifist may use this blessing to augment any single-target spell they cast. In addition to the effects of the spell, the recipient gains damage reduction equal to half the pacifist's class levels. This damage reduction lasts for one minute per the pacifist's class levels.
Divine Grace (Su)
At 3rd level, a pacifist gains a bonus equal to their Charisma bonus on all saving throws.

Interpose (Su)
The pacifist takes hits so you don't have to. At 4th level, the pacifist gains this ability. Once per round, without consuming any action, the pacifist may interpose themselves between another creature and an attack that would otherwise hit that creature. That creature must be within 20 feet of the pacifist. The pacifist instantaneously moves between the creature and the source of the attack, appearing in the nearest unoccupied square afterward. The pacifist is automatically hit by the attack instead. The pacifist may make a reflex save against a DC equal the attacker's attack roll to half the damage (damage reduction applies before this halving of damage). Immediately after the interpose resolves, the pacifist may use Guilt on the attacker as an immediate action.

Improved Interpose (Su)
At 8th level, the pacifist may use Interpose twice per round, and the distance between the creature and the pacifist may be as large as close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 class levels). Additionally, the pacifist also gains a +4 to reflex saves for the purposes of halving the damage against the attack.

Greater Interpose (Su)
At 12th level, the pacifist may use Interpose three times per round, and the distance between the creature and the pacifist may be as large as medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./class level). Additionally, the pacifist's bonus from Improved Interpose to reflex saves increases to +8.

Superior Interpose (Su)
At 16th level, the pacifist may use Interpose four times per round, and the distance between the creature and the pacifist may be as large as long (400 ft. + 40 ft./class level). Additionally, the pacifist no longer needs to make reflex saves to half the damage of an attack blocked this way, instead, the damage is always halved.

Supreme Grace
At 20th level, the pacifist approaches apotheosis. They may select one option from the choices below.
Determined (Su)
Once per day, when the pacifist would otherwise ordinarily die, the pacifist instead is healed to full hit points and becomes immune to all damage, mind-affecting effects, death spells and effects, negative levels, acts as if under the effects of a Freedom of Movement spell, and may cast spells and use magical class abilities in anti-magic fields and other places of dead magic. These effects last for a number of rounds equal to the pacifist's Charisma bonus (minimum 1).

Protector (Su)
With this ability, the pacifist may block not only attacks with Interpose, but spells targeting an area. Any damage they would take by blocking these spells is quartered, and any negative status conditions they would gain only last for one round. If a spell generates multiple areas of effect, such as meteor swarm, the pacifist blocks all of them.

Redeemer (Su)
With this ability, the pacifist can see the faint spark of good in creatures, and can cause it to flare up. When using the Guilt class feature on a creature that has already failed one saving throw against Guilt and that creature fails a second saving throw, the creature ceases attacking and taking hostile action altogether for a number of rounds equal to the pacifist's Charisma bonus + the pacifist's class level. If the creature fails any single saving throw against Guilt during this period of non-hostility, the creature will attempt to leave the battlefield. They will no longer attempt to fight the pacifist or their allies. If the affected creature is a player character, this effect wears off after a number of days equal to the pacifist's Charisma bonus + the pacifist's class level. If the affected creature is not a player character, their alignment changes to one step further away from evil, and they will not ever attack or hamper the pacifist again. At any point, if the pacifist or their allies attack the creature before their alignment change, the effect is broken. Any creature immune to Guilt is immune to this ability.
Code of Conduct
A pacifist must be of good alignment and may not progress in the class if they are not of good alignment.

Additionally, a pacifist must never bring intentional harm to another creature, with the exception of mindless creatures, undead, and evilly aligned Outsiders with the Evil subtype.

Ex-Pacifists

A pacifist that willingly and intentionally brings harm to another creature that isn't mindless, undead, or an evilly aligned Outsider with the Evil subtype loses all pacifist spells and abilities. They may not progress any farther in levels as a pacifist. They may regain their abilities if the harm commited was in a desperate situation (DM's discretion) and they atone for their actions (see the atonement spell description), as appropriate.

Pacifist Spell List

Pacifists choose their spells from the following list.
0 Level: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Resistance
1st Level: Bless, Bless Water, Calm Animals, Cure Light Wounds, Deathwatch, Detect Evil, Detect Undead, Endure Elements, Entropic Shield, Hide from Undead, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear, Sanctuary, Speak with Animals, Shield of Faith, Lesser Vigor(SpC)
2nd Level: Barkskin, Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Calm Emotions, Consecrate, Cure Moderate Wounds, Delay Poison, Eagle's Splendor, Find Traps, Fox's Cunning, Gentle Repose, Make Whole, Owl's Wisdom, Remove Paralysis, Resist Energy, Lesser Restoration, Shield Other, Silence, Status
3rd Level: Continual Flame, Create Food and Water, Cure Serious Wounds, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Helping Hand, Locate Object, Magic Circle against Evil, Magic Vestment, Protection from Energy, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Speak with Plants, Vigor(SpC), Mass Lesser Vigor(SpC), Water Breathing, Water Walk
4th Level: Air Walk, Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Cure Light Wounds, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Neutralize Poison, Panacea (SpC), Restoration, Revenance (SpC), Sending, Spell Immunity, Tongues
5th Level: Atonement, Breath of Life(PFS), Break Enchantment, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds, Hallow, Plane Shift, Raise Dead, Spell Resistance, Stoneskin, True Seeing, Greater Vigor (SpC)
6th Level: Mass Bear's Endurance, Mass Bull's Strength, Mass Cure Serious Wounds, Greater Dispel Magic, Mass Eagle's Splendor, Energy Immunity(SpC), Find the Path, Mass Fox's Cunning, Heal, Heroes' Feast, Mass Owl's Wisdom, Vigorous Circle(SpC), Wind Walk, Word of Recall
7th Level: Mass Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Death Ward(SpC), Ethereal Jaunt, Fortunate Fate(SpC), Refuge, Regenerate, Greater Restoration, Resurrection
8th Level: Discern Location, Mass Heal, Mind Blank, Holy Aura, Greater Spell Immunity
9th Level: Astral Projection, Disjunction, Etherealness, Freedom, Fire of Life, True Resurrection
(SpC): Spell Compendium
(PFS): Pathfinder spell, imported here

[shatterspike1]

New SpellsFire of Life

Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 9, Pacifist 9
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: touch
Target: creature touched
Duration: instantaneous or 1 round/level; see text
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless) or Will half, see text
Spell Resistance: yes (harmless) or yes, see text

This spell cures 10d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +40).

Unlike other spells that heal damage, fire of life can bring recently slain creatures back to life. If cast upon a creature that has died within 1 round, apply the healing from this spell to the creature. If the healed creature's hit point total is at a negative amount less than its Constitution score, it comes back to life and stabilizes at its new hit point total. If the creature's hit point total is at a negative amount equal to or greater than its Constitution score, the creature remains dead. If the creature's hit point total is brought back to 0 or more from below 0, the creature reawakens and gains for the duration of the spell a +4 bonus to Attack rolls, Saving Throws, Skill Checks, and Damage rolls, as well as increasing the DC of any spells, spell-like effects, or special abilities it possesses by 4.

Like cure spells, fire of life deals damage to undead creatures rather than curing them, and cannot bring them back to life.

[shatterspike1]

New Feats

Extra Blessing

Prerequisite
Pacifist blessings class feature.

Benefit
You gain one additional pacifist blessing. You must meet all the prerequisites for this blessing.

Special
You may take this feat multiple times. Its effects stack, granting a new blessing each time you gain this feat.

Extra Blessing Points

Prerequisite
Pacifist blessings class feature.

Benefit
You gain 4 additional blessing points per day.

Special
You may take this feat multiple times. Its effects stack, granting more blessing points each time you gain this feat.

Pacify Undead

Prerequisite
Pacifist level 1.

Benefit
You have the ability to Turn undead (as if you were a good cleric), except that you do not damage the undead. The undead don't flee as they would if turned, instead standing passively and not attacking for the duration. This effect is not broken by approaching within 10 feet of the undead, although they may defend themselves as normal. If you would destroy the undead as a good cleric would, instead, the undead simply ceases to be undead for the next 24 hours. Corporeal undead fall as inert corpses, and incorporeal undead simply vanish for the duration. This ability counts as Turn Undead for all other purposes.

[shatterspike1]

(Reserved the Last)

[shatterspike1]

I added a few feats and a new spell to the Pacifist's spell list. I'm also thinking of adding a Blackguard equivalent prestige class for if the Pacifist falls...

[Just to Browse]

From my read-through, 3 things stick out:

This class is the supreme anti-SoL class.
1-2 spells every level are incredibly strong, overshadowing most of the rest of the list.
This class can tank better than any other class I have ever seen in my entire life.


I'm not sure if that was your intention.

The Good: Combining a bunch of status removal effects with free status removal riders makes this a very good anti-disable character. Guilt, while being weaksauce at low levels and completely bonkers at high levels, cements this class as a giant middle finger to God Wizards and Basilisks alike. I am concerned that making the class so good at removing SoDs and putting them on a Vancian resource system will turn a lot of fights into a resource tax and encourage 5min workdays much more than the average caster, but the use of riders is really interesting and I really like it.

The Bad: At high levels, Guilt is completely broken. At essentially all levels, Interpose is completely broken. White Fire encourages abuse cases without adding gameplay value. +0 BAB at mid/high levels means the Pacifist can't be a viable tripstar / grappler / bullrusher / stand still tank, despite those being awesome concepts that would fit right at home thematically. This would be a very frustrating class to play against (as a PC) or design encounters around (as a DM) because it goes "NOPE" to everything.

The OK: The class spell list is mostly anti-SoL with some small buffs peppered throughout, which is fine. Occasionally there is an insanely strong buff or BFC spell instead (wall of stone and freedom of movement for example) and the very nature of those obnoxiously strong buffs pushes out a lot of other in-combat options. Also, this class is not more effective as a "healer" than a cleric who keeps a couple wands of lesser vigor in his stash (and that's probably still the best route for the Pacifist too). Lastly, this class is very tanky with +Cha to AC, +Cha to saves, which fits a paladin-esque aesthetic and clashes with the total lack of armor and weaponry.


I'd suggest opening up the class a little bit more to the classic fighty options, because the mechanics of the Pacifist are already pushing it away from a truly "peaceful" style (i.e. Guilt is totally an offensive combat option, if you changed the name of "Malefic Visions" it would feel right at home on an evil wizard). I'd also suggest looking into a different resource system that's still keyed off spell effects, editing the spell list to add some more mellow buffs in place of crazy ones, and switch Interpose out with something that encourages the Pacifist to draw attention instead of NOPE-ing 4 attacks a turn. If you're willing to add offense to the class, you could look for inspiration from the greatest piece of content in Races of War (http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Knight,_Tome_%283.5e_Class%29).

EDIT: Looks like you can't remove Confusion because the cure for it isn't a spell. Not sure what other status effects slip under that radar, but you might want to add spells for that?

[shatterspike1]

Hey Just to Browse, thanks for taking the time to respond. I agree with your assessment of White Fire for the most part; it was included as an incentive to drop healing spells in combat early and often, under the idea that preventing damage is often significantly better than removing it, but as written, it seems to encourage pre-combat temp hp buffing. Not that I have a problem with that being the use for White Fire, but it does seem significantly stronger than other level equivalent options. Maybe a 1/2 return on the temp hp portion? Then a real decision will be created; buff now for some protection going in, or heal later for greatest value? It was also my understanding (at time of writing) that only the highest amount of temp HP applies and that it didn't stack with other sources of temp hp; having found that to be incorrect, I'll be adding wording to that effect. It was never the intention that the temp HP stacked with itself, so thanks for bringing that to my attention.

There was some language I thought I included on the Guilt ability about if the creature is attacked or harmed by the pacifists allies that the debuff would go away against that particular ally, but it seems I forgot to include that. That's why the save DC is as high as it is; it isn't supposed to be a "debuff to nothing and then murder ability", it's supposed to be a "let's stop fighting" ability. At low levels, it could be a bit stronger (potentially starting at a -2 instead of a -1), but at high levels, it's only supposed to last for one round anyway (assuming the target is attacked) if the rest of the pacifist's party is violent. It's a strong SoS debuff at mid-to-high levels, but that's where rocket tag comes into full effect anyway, so I didn't think it would be that bad compared to the likes of, say, Stinking Cloud. A -10 to attack rolls and DCs and a -20 to damage at 20th level versus most targets is nice, but I don't think is broken versus the spells being thrown around at that level. I might smooth out the progression of the DC curve as 15 + 1/2 level + Cha mod as opposed to 10 + level + Cha mod, to make the debuff more viable at lower levels and less guaranteed at higher levels. A near guaranteed -1 to attack and damage rolls at level 1 for one round will be much more likely to matter, I think.

As for interpose. . . the class was intended to also be a viable tank, which to my awareness, isn't a role that was possible in 3.5 previously. I disagree with your assessment that interpose is broken at all levels. At 4th level, when the pacifist first gets interpose, they get to block one attack per round with their face and debuff essentially for free once, which, while better than the alternative, doesn't seem terribly broken to me. Instead of an ally getting hit for 9 by one of a troll's three attacks, the pacifist gets hit for 4 (and then the troll follows through with the attack on the ally, potentially dealing 13 less damage to that ally than it otherwise would have done due to guilt, and 8 damage less overall). That's effective tanking, but it isn't game breaking at this level. Interpose (at least, before getting Protector) doesn't block AoE's or effects that don't require attack rolls, nor would it protect against SoS abilities attached to attacks (a pacifist that fails their save against poison is harmed just as badly as an ally that fails their save). At 20th level, with Protector, I think there's much more ground for saying that interpose is broken, though. A full attacking Balor gets all of his longsword attacks interposed against, and assuming average rolls, means that the pacifist takes quarter damage from that first attack and none against the subsequent attacks. However, being an evil outsider with the evil subtype, said Balor is immune to Guilt, and can easily follow through with its flaming whip attacks. Interpose is still maybe overly effective here, but far more likely is the Balor drops in and uses Implosion. A pacifist, even with protector, can't interpose that (it's a targeted spell without an attack roll). A pacifist here can effectively make one set of one creature's attacks useless (not broken, but probably not good design), or block a few particularly nasty SoS AoE's (very probably overpowered). I'd probably take off the "avoid damage" clauses on the higher levels of Interpose, because they make blasting even more suboptimal than usual. I might even just ultimately limit the damage to half instead of quarter, so that the pacifist can't prevent absolutely every attack. I'd also limit Protector to once per round (so three attacks blocked and one AoE absorbed), so that the pacifist could only effectively prevent one of multiple AoE SoS's a round. The high level version would need to be playtested to get a good idea of how it works, I think, but I'm not seeing the low level version as broken.

A pacifist can't interpose for themself, so they're going to be vulnerable to focus fire.

For +0 BAB, the intention was to create an Actual Pacifist, rather than a technical "will beat you up but won't kill you" pacifist. Obviously, some ground is given in working with a violent party, since just because one player wants to play a non-violent class doesn't mean the rest of the party should have to. I consider it one of the failures of the 3.5 (and earlier edition) Paladins that they can't work with Evil characters without losing their class features, so the code of conduct applies strictly only to the actions of the pacifist themself. I don't have a problem with the idea of a technical pacifist, it's just not what I was going for with this class.

In terms of spells, I guess I'm not sure what you mean. Freedom of Movement is one of those effects everyone wants to pick up at some point (for insurance), as is Death Ward, Mind Blank, Protection from X, etc. Wall of Stone, I can see your point on; a class that already functions very well as Healer/Buffer/Tank need not function as BCer as well. I'm considering removing it, as the only reason it was on there in the first place is that it was a spell that caused no direct harm but made the Pacifist more versatile. This would apply to spells like Wind Wall as well, since they fit the same BC niche (if nowhere near as well).

One last word about healing; out of combat healing is always going to be wands of lesser vigor. That's simply the most efficient option. This class was designed to be good at in-combat healing though, which is why White Fire and the various Blessing riders exist in the first place. A heal + temp hp + buff or status effect remover as well as the ability to prevent more damage out of turn is much better than a "I removed last turn's damage by wasting my turn". The idea is that the pacifist is good at in combat healing because their in combat healing does much more than just remove damage, and the pacifist isn't wasting their turn to do so, because they have Guilt and Interpose as the other actions they can perform at the same time.

Again, I really appreciate the feedback, and would like to have more insight into why you think certain things are overpowered. Some of these, I can see for myself, or there's some error that needed fixing, but others I'm less certain about.

[Just to Browse]

White Fire: Preventing stacking and reducing temp HP returns on White Fire will definitely limit abuse cases. If that's the way to go, then I'd say you're probably set. It still looks like the value offered is too small compared to the abuses it can create, but both are fairly minor.

Combat Healing: In general this class won't want to heal in combat anyways because it's stuck using the cure line for burst healing and those are awful. Throwing down a death ward or shield of faith is going to be better 99% of the time. Off the top of my head, you could put an at-will temp HP shield with a 1 round duration to create that "combat healer" feel without having to jump through the optimization hoops, or maybe add bonus temp HP as a rider to all spells cast. I'm not concerned about this not being a combat healer, but it doesn't really deliver on that concept right now.

Guilt: I can see the misconception about RLT making major debuffs OK because I've thought that too. Having tried to playtest that, I can tell you it doesn't work and I'll try to explain why.

The idea behind using debuffs over SoL effects is that they are less effective, so you have more opportunities to allocate power to things like save DC, action economy, frequency of use, resource requirements, etc since not all of it is wrapped up in the "lose" effect. This is fair, but the power budget of debuffs is deceiving. If a debuff targets the right numbers with a high enough penalty, it essentially becomes an SoL effect under a creative disguise, even though it technically offers a little more wiggle room.

The power you've saved with this debuff at high levels amounts to:

A limited subset of opponents are unaffected: mindless minions that somehow aren't wiped out by BFC or AoE spells, the boss monster because the DM will make him immune, and uberchargers because their attack bonus is 20 points too large and their damage is 400 points too large.
Prepared wizards can still resort to spells that only use caster level or "no save, just lose" spells
The target can still move around as before.
Buff spells still work


That's a fairly small list. The debuff is allowing marginally useful effects plus some abuse cases that would have ended the encounter anyways if the target won initiative. It might not feel like it, but this effect is essentially an SoL for all balancing purposes.

Breaking Guilt if the target takes allied damage will be helpful in curbing this effect, as will a standardized DC. But I would be very wary of including penalties in excess of -3 to ubiquitously-used stats like to-hit and especially save DCs... even at -3 I'd consider that on par with some 2nd-3rd level spells.

Interpose: Interpose's strength does not just lie in stopping full attacks where 2 people stand still and wail on each other -- the way it counters is that is by giving a free Guilt (which I would be fine with assuming Guilt got toned down, as per above). Remember that in a fight against a troll, your party will try to kite it by attacking and running, and it will probably get off 1 attack each turn until it falls.

Interpose is a problem because it hurts one of the important dynamics in combat -- threatening the backline. This is done with BFC or stealth + closet trolls, pouncing, uberchargers, mailmen, etc and nearly all of those involve rolling attacks on someone with low defense for a ton of damage. The subset that is able to avoid Interpose is completely unaffected, such as Balors using their optimal tactics of teleporting constantly while trying to pick people off with blasphemy, dominate monster, insanity, or power word stun.

Interpose essentially forces encounters to have a totally level-inappropriate amount of backline threat or to specifically tailor its types of threat around the ability. While I also think the ability is too strong (huge damage reduction, no cost, at-will 1-4x per turn is crazy) but the important thing is that this ability probably can't be balanced since it breaks encounter design over its knee.

BAB: You can definitely it at +0, it's just clashing with the feel of his other abilities (Ex: replace the name "Guilt" with "Malefic Visions" and it can feel right at home on an evil wizard). It also shoehorns the Pacifist into very specific builds.

Spells: Some buff spells are totally fine (protection from [X] and death ward are good examples) because they will be limited in use. But spells like freedom of movement are crazily good and will overshadow other buff spells regularly. On its own, FoM pushes the Pacifist from a "buff caster" to a "FoM caster who has other buffs". If you feel that an effect like freedom of movement is just too important to this class to remove, then I recommend looking into a quick errata on their duration. Same thing goes for BFC spells.

[shatterspike1]

White Fire: I'm curious what abuses this would cause with the fixes suggested? I want insight into your thought process here.

Healing: I'm alright with in-combat healing not necessarily being the best option at any given time, but the idea was to make it more viable than it had been. If I was going to do the 1-round temp hp shield, I think I'd stick with full temp-hp White Fire with possibly a shortened duration (1 round/level + 5 rounds or something like that).

Guilt: Like I said, the debuff was always intended to include the language that makes it go away against those that attack the target. In full on rocket tag, it's still closer to an SoL (with the exceptions you've noted), but then again, it's the pacifist's ONLY rocket tag ability. I don't consider SoL's broken when the expectation is SoL; there might be an argument there that it should be limited use, but I wouldn't agree with that. The fact that it can be used as an immediate action after Interpose though does argue for a lower (or at least a flatter DC), though.

Interpose: I think the issue here is a result of some design assumption clash. I'm not terribly worried if an encounter is balanced towards the PC's capabilities, so long as they have the option of avoiding or bypassing the encounter in some other fashion. If the encounter is too weak, the PC's enjoy an easy victory but nothing about the game is harmed. If the encounter is too strong, assuming the DM is good at their job, the PC's will have had the option to have avoided it or bypassed it by getting a read on the strength of the opposition long before coming to blows, and that if the PC's wipe to an encounter way above their level, the fault lies on them. I recognize not everyone plays (or runs) this way however.

That being said, I would add a clause that the pacifist must be aware of the combatant before they can interpose. If they couldn't have known the attack was coming, they can't do anything about it. Surprise and being flat-footed should still be deadly.

If that isn't the complaint, and the issue is that interpose makes it hard to threaten the backline, well I'd say that'll be solved by limiting the damage reduction to 1/2, since the ability is supposed to make it difficult to threaten the backline in the first place; the idea is just to make it not impossible, or make the pacifist go negative stopping them. Tanking hasn't existed in 3.5 before, so adding it as a role is going to change encounter design if you tailor encounters. If I'm missing the point (which I'm afraid I might be), I'd like to hear you go into more depth about it.

I think you've highlighted quite a few issues with the class that I've gone over, but I also think some of these are an assumption clash about the way our games are ran and played.

[Ancalidormis]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite healer classes of all time. I would suggest this as a Vancian counterpart to the Vitalist to anyone in my pathfinder games.


This class can tank better than any other class I have ever seen in my entire life.
[/list]

I'm not sure if that was your intention.


Is it wrong of me to not see this as even a problem? Why shouldn't the Healer also be the tank? If it can't do something other than heal, its boring to play.

Just look at the Vitalist (especially the lifeleech variant) from Dreamscarred Press' Psionics books. Its the ultimate healer, in my opinion. It pulls off some decent debuffing with the ability to move status conditions onto those in its collective (which often includes the enemies, too), which is nice when you have someone in the group who's immune to a bunch of things (construct/undead/plant), as well as being able to toss out some good DPS by leeching life directly. My point is, the best healer classes fill in for another role, in addition to healing.

[Just to Browse]

White Fire: The abuses are still the same, but with diminishing returns it's blowing your low-level slots on heals for a little bonus temp HP each fight instead of blowing higher-level slots on super shields.

Healing: I suppose it's more viable, and if that's your goal then you're good. It just doesn't seem viable enough to actually use in comparison to in-combat buffs. Do what you feel is right, and try it out.

Guilt: Trimming power by making it his only SoL option isn't enough to warrant making it at-will as a standard or swift action with such a broad scope of application. A good starting point is to look at the action economy -- this competes with quickened spells, meaning at level 9 when you are dropped -4 DC penalties the wizard is using his quickened color spray at an 8-point weaker DC for a far weaker effect. Even with some stipulations about breaking the effect when allies attack, that's insane. And it's at-will, and could be used as a standard action if you needed your swift for other stuff, and it will work on a lot more level-appropriate enemies.

That's all I can really tell you. If you really believe the mechanics of Guilt are worth trying, then you should try them out. All I can say is that I have tested similar mechanics, and I see this being way broken.

Interpose: It's not just the about balancing around PC capabilities. It's absolutely normal to tailor encounters to your player abilities -- Ex: The DM spreads enemies out against 2 warmages, or the DM doesn't use Pit Fiend SLAs against a party full of fighters. But Interpose is a step, or dare I say 2 or 3 steps, beyond that. It almost completely shuts down a core tactic in fights (especially mid/high-level fights) that's tied to all sorts of encounter design and class balance.

As an extreme example, a designer should not create an ability that allows a class to kill everything within 5' of it as a standard action. The excuse of "The DM should design his encounters around characters who have the ability to kill everything within 5' of them" would not appropriate. Interpose is a less-extreme problem, but still a problem.

Tanking is fairly limited, but still exists. There is the PHB2 knight with its pseudo mind control (forcing a save, though), the AoO stand still tank, the AoO tripstar. Homebrew methods of tanking involve pulling aggro (http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Knight,_Tome_%283.5e_Class%29), and other heavy zone control abilities like the Gravity Warrior (http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Gravity_Warrior_%283.5e_Class%29#High-Gravity_Zone), or 1-round shields like the Curator (http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=49091). These don't usually ruin the attacker's efforts directly, but make it harder to perform the attack or reduce the impact of the attack. And that's what you want from a tank ability, because that way it doesn't invalidate encounter design. Including damage reduction at all is enough to make this a good tank ability, but it also..:

Negates the attack against the original target
Costs nothing
Grants % reduction (generally much stronger than flat reduction)
Stacks with a high quantity of flat reduction
Gives the opportunity to use a powerful debuff immediately after
Can be used multiple times every turn
Costs no resource


Preventing Interpose from working when the Pacifist is not aware of the attack is a good start, but I'm confident that's not enough to prevent Interpose from breaking encounter design over its knee. Again, if you think this is good enough then I encourage you to test it out.



Is it wrong of me to not see this as even a problem? Why shouldn't the Healer also be the tank? If it can't do something other than heal, its boring to play.
I don't think anyone sees it as a problem for classes to do things other than healing. I might find the concept of healer-as-tank a little boring since it's been around for decades now in every edition of D&D, but I certainly don't think it's bad design.

Now a godlike tank that's better at tanking than any other class with healing that barely surpasses the cleric... that doesn't seem intended considering the title of the OP. If he wrote it as "A tank that doesn't suck" I probably would have written my post differently.

[shatterspike1]

White Fire: Ah. Those aren't abuses, more like a secondary intended use.

Guilt: Because this is their only offensive ability, I'm tempted to just playtest them out with the new DC 15 + 1/2 level + Cha mod. A swift or immediate action debuff like this would be completely broken on a Wizard or really any other class with offensive capability, but after trimming out the BC abilities of this class (which I'll be editing in soon), having a debuff (or SoL at high levels) and a buff once each turn, plus one additional SoL on the first interpose of the fight, seems okay on paper. I doubt my mind will change on this without playtesting, although I've had the potential pitfalls pointed out. Essentially, the class comes pre-optimized in terms of the action economy, but outside of something like 3.0 Haste or some sort of weird contingent Celerity effect, they're not going to get any more actions out of said economy. I just realized the language about the ability wearing off is there; it's the very last sentence.

Interpose: Thanks for outlining the issues you see with this. The flat reduction combined with the percentage reduction was just something I hadn't considered, so I'll have to think more on how that overlaps (at the very least, Flat first, then Percentage, so damage is reduced less). It's incorrect to say it costs no resource though; it costs the pacifist's health. If a level 20 pacifist has a Con of 20 and rolled absolutely the maximum on their hit die (260 health) and they interpose between the 400 damage dealing ubercharger, they still end up taking 195 damage. This leaves them open to be picked off by one of said ubercharger's friends, doing (at this point) a trivial 65 damage after damage reduction to down the pacifist. This is assuming that 1/2 is the maximum damage reduction (which will be one of the changes). Again, the Pacifist is vulnerable to focus fire (they don't get that percentage damage reduction for themselves), so they're one of the high priority targets in the back line, just one for an unusual reason. (Although it seems funny to have an evil wizard say "Kill him my minions! Before he makes me feel guilty!") I think we both agree that interpose costing nothing or too little is a bad thing, we just disagree on what it costs. Unnoted the last time I talked about a full attacking balor, if the Pacifist interposes that first attack, there's a good chance that balor just makes the next five on the pacifist and ruins their ability to cast as well as dealing about half of the pacifist's max hit points in damage. This isn't even going into the pacifist that interposes Enervate and similar abilities. Here's the power of interpose (as I see it)


Redirects the attack from the original target to the pacifist
Grants % Reduction on top of Flat Reduction
Allows the use of a powerful debuff for one of its uses per round
Can be used up to 4 times per round depending on level


Which still makes it a strong tanking ability, but not as strong as I think you're making it out to be.

Responding to the comment about tank-as-healer: Clerics aren't tanks unless there's some way of building them that way I'm unaware of in 3rd, and they weren't tanks pre-3rd. It just isn't possible to play a pre-3rd Cleric that way without severely twisting the definition of tank.

I think it is worth outlining that I see the pacifist's role as preventing damage as much as healing, and the Healer referred to in the title is the Miniatures Handbook Healer. The idea of a healer that didn't suck was one that could actually do its job fairly well, and was proficient at other roles. In the interest of keeping the pacifist from doing everything, removing the battlefield control spells is going to help. I think the nerf on interpose's damage reduction is warranted, but we disagree strongly on the resource cost. Guilt really will have to be playtested, and the DC might even need to be dropped to (10 + 1/2 level + Cha mod), but I don't think it's out of place in a high level game. I appreciate the feedback you've given me, but I think we've hit a wall in terms of considering the power of these abilities.

[Just to Browse]

White Fire: Hm. Attempting to stack your party's effective HP by churning through low-level spell slots before each encounter seems fairly abusive to me. Your call.

Guilt: Lack of options is a balancing factor. I have agreed with this. I'm saying that it's not enough of a balancing factor, considering how crazy the penalty is and how incredibly high you want the DC. I feel like you are vastly underestimating the raw power of Guilt, as well as the effectiveness of buffs with curative riders.

This would probably be less broken (still broken, just less) on a wizard because they've already got SoL spells to throw around so they run the risk of redundancy -- i.e. the swift action is wasted because you don't need to debuff anyone. It's much better on a guy like the Pacifist who is stocking up on defenses an anti-SoL effects, because redundancy isn't an issue and it gives him more levers for affecting the combat. Now if this reduced saves or SR, then it would be way better on the wizard. But this is explicitly a debuff to aggression, with loopholes for edge cases.

Interpose: The "cost" of HP is part of the intended effect. Remember the "cost" was already going to be paid in full by the designated target, who will likely be doing something big next turn (like killing whoever attacked them). As an example: A spell that let you tank an attack for an ally would not cost HP, it would cost a spell slot. This is non-action, at-will, 1-4 times per turn, usable as an interrupt. And then on top of that it's a strong tank effect with higher priority than immediate actions, it has a huge amount of damage reduction, and it's followed by an SoL that's also at will / out-of-turn / interrupt the likes of which the God Wizard lusts over.

And don't forget to think about the context of a fight instead of just the numbers. If you are in a fight against an ubercharger at their peak, blocking 1 attack and maybe dying (depending on if you're using Elusive Target / using stoneskin / maxing Con / cheesing with white fire / guilting him) is probably fine, considering you saved a priority party member who can use time stop or wail of the banshee or imprisonment or warp you all to his private demiplane.

Against a Balor using real tactics, Interpose is already useless because insanity and power word stun and greater teleport will be the Balor's weapons of choice. Remember that Interpose only breaks a specific (but important) part of encounter design.

Tank / Healer: I wasn't talking about whether the attempts succeeded. Every edition of D&D (even 3e/4e/5e) has failed to make the Cleric a useful tank and sometimes has also failed to make it a useful healer. But the concept of a tank / healer was what Ancalidormis was talking about. Despite poor execution, the cleric has always been intended as a healy / tanky character ever since it was written up to troll the guy who wanted to play a vampire PC pre-1e.

I agree we've hit a wall. You should definitely playtest those abilities before trying this in a game -- from personal experience, 5 encounters is probably enough to see the power of Guilt, and I think Interpose should come across pretty much immediately. But then again, I figured those would be obvious right now so hell if I know how long it'll take. I've found the Same Game Test (http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Same_Game_Test) very helpful in the past if you're interested, but it's for judging solo balance so Pacifist performance will not be a particularly good metric.

Good luck!

[shatterspike1]

The same game test looks like an interesting tool! I'm thinking I'll use that as a thought exercise. It does occur to me that there's no stated goal condition in the encounters listed, with most of the encounters with creatures having the implied goal of "murder or otherwise permanently disable", so I doubt it would be a good metric if those were the implied conditions of what a solo pacifist had to do. Used as written, the pacifist loses all combat encounters. However, adjusting the encounters (the golem is guarding treasure, the cleric of Hextor has hostages, someone wants a petrified person back from the basilisk) all of a sudden adds a gameplay goal that the pacifist will be able to attempt without failing just based on their code of conduct.

With this in mind, I'll spend the rest of this post actually running through the thought exercise. I'll hide the whole thing in a spoiler, since this is mostly for my amusement.

We'll start with a Level 5 Pacifist; behind the name gives us Carver Lindsey. Their stats are built off the elite array, but with the 8 replaced with an 18, which is more common in the games I play in. They'll have typical wealth per level, as assumed by the DMG.

Carver Lindsey
Human
Pacifist 5

STR 12 +1
DEX 14 +2
CON 15 +2
INT 13 +1
WIS 10 0
CHA 19 21 +5

BAB +0

HP 36
Init +2 (+2 Dex)
AC 22 (+7 Dex-Cha, +3 AoP, +2 Armor)
Fort +11 (+4 Pac, +2 Con, +5 Cha)
Ref +11 (+4 Pac, +2 Dex, +5 Cha)
Will +9 (+4 Pac, +5 Cha)

Skills Bluff (8) +13, Concentration (8) +10, Diplomacy (8) +15, Disable Device (8) +9, Search (8) +9, Spellcraft (8) +9, Spot (8) +8, Use Magic Device (8) +13

Feats Pacify Undead1, Extend Spell1 Hum, Extra Blessing3

Class Features White Fire, Armor of Peace 3, Guilt, Healing Reach, Divine Grace, Interpose, 2 Blessings + 1

Blessings Peace Talks, Shaming the Mob, Invincible Mind
Points: 7

Spells Per Day 5/8/5/3

GP 377
Gear Cloak of Charisma +2, Bracers of Armor +2, Universal Solvent, Backpack, Bedroll, Crowbar, Flint and Steel, Grappling Hook, Mule (Named Muleby), Saddlebags, Hammer, Small Silver Mirror, Miner's Pick, 10 Pitons, 4 Trail Rations, 250 feet of Silk Rope, Sledge, Shovel, Tent, 2 Waterskins, 2 Everburning Torches, Masterwork Thieves' Tools, Explorer's Outfit, 20 Days of Stabling, 30 Flasks, Signal Whistle, Handaxe (Purely for chopping wood), 4 Holy Water Vials, Silver Holy Symbol

Anything Carver can't carry unencumbered, she puts on Muleby.

Now, onto the challenges!


A locked door behind an arbitrarily high number of assorted CR 4 traps.
A huge Animated iron statue in a throne room, guarding the crown left on the throne. Carver needs the crown for funds (because come on, there's no prohibition against tomb robbing).
A Basilisk in its desert burrow, with several statues of victims around. Carver's been hired to bring back a certain someone's statue.
A Large Fire Elemental in a mystic forge; it's pretty mad about being forced to work there and now threatens the surrounding city. Carver wants to prevent as much destruction as possible.
A Manticore on the wing above a plain, looking for a meal. Carver just needs to survive.
A Phase Spider anywhere, same motive as Manticore. Same.
A couple of Centaur Archers in a light to medium wood; they've taken umbrage at the merchants traveling through and Carver's been hired as a bodyguard.
A Howler/Allip tag team in an abandoned temple to a dark god; Carver's mission here is to Sanctify the area (via scrolls of Hallow and Dimensional Lock).
A Grimlock assault team (4 members) hidden in a cavern; they're ambushing. Carver's goal here is to survive.
A Cleric of Hextor (with his dozen zombies) in a crypt. He's keeping four hostages, and Carver's supposed to get as many back alive as possible.


I edited every encounter with a creature to provide some alternate win condition beyond "murder the thing", hopefully in a way that showcases how a game might actually go.

So, down the list!

Trapped Hallway Carver has a fairly easy time dealing with the traps in the hallway. Being trained in Search and Disable Device helps, but having spells that remove all the negative effects of said trap on the list helps more, not to mention the damage reduction and really high saving throws. The only traps on the list that Carver might be worried about are ones that can take her out in one go, like Sepia Snake Sigil, and even those she'll be more likely to save against than anything. The real sticking point is the locked door; if it's made of wood, she'll take the time to chop it down with the axe. Metal, and she'll swing at the lock with her hammer or her sledge until it breaks. If there are wandering monsters (and there should be), this will likely make a lot of noise and leave Carver in a crap position; other than that, this hallway is likely to just be a waste of time for the player and DM, being a whole lot of pointless rolling and accounting. How terrible. Anyway, the hallway is a Likely Win.

Iron Statue The moment Carver opens the door, she's likely going to be surprised by the Iron Statue on the other side. It'll move towards her, likely blocking the door. Already, the statue's immune to her best stuff, so she'll have to find another way around it. Simplest way is kiting it around a larger room, running through the door, grabbing the crown, and running away. This'll open her up to about three or four attacks from the statue, depending on how Carver plays it. Fortunately for Carver, she's got a greater chance of avoiding Tramples than not, and a well placed Cure Serious will get her back into the clear and then some in terms of hit points. Carver will end up eating some damage either way. That's assuming the Iron Statue leaves the room to pursue a (non-crown holding) Carver in the first place, which it may very well not. Carver, after backing up and popping some temp HP pills, tries again. Now that she knows the Statue is there, she throws open the door and makes a mad dash for the crown, possibly eating some damage (11 damage from a slam after damage reduction, taken off 9 temp HP from a Cure Serious, results in Carver getting a small scratch). She grabs the Crown, and the statue makes another attack on her. She grabs and moves, provoking a third attack. The statue gets a fourth, followed by a fifth when Carver books it at top speed away. The statue, if it lands every attack and deals max damage, will deal 80 to Carver after damage reduction, overkilling her by a large amount. However, the statue's chance to hit is fairly low versus Carver's 22 AC, and it's more likely to deal 11 damage (after damage reduction) each hit. Total expected damage is 20, which Carver isn't happy about, but can live through. The statue can't trample now either, at risk of destroying the crown, but it can run after Carver. How well Carver does depends at least partly on luck, although the odds are in her favor. The real issue comes when the Statue runs after Carver, chasing her across creation. Whether she gets away or not is a Toss Up.

Basilisk Den For the sake of argument, we'll pretend Carver's a moron and doesn't realize there's a Basilisk despite the fact she's been hired to grab the statue of a specific person in a cave somewhere. Oh, she'll come prepared with a scroll of shrink item or whatever, (she has the UMD and the cash), but she won't have a blindfold or anything of the like. Because Carver isn't actually a moron, she'll get pretty leery upon seeing the many statues with bites taken out of them. But, being on guard, she spots the statue of the person she's come to save at around the same time she and the basilisk spot each other (Spot check average 18 vs Hide check average 14). The basilisk, even if it wins initiative, isn't terribly likely to stone her (Carver would have to roll a 1). Still though, the basilisk is hostile, and Carver doesn't want it taking bites at her while she's shrinking the statue and running off with it. So, despite having a mirror in pocket (the petrification qualifies as violence), Carver decides to use Peace Talks. If we're using The Giant's very own diplomacy rules, the DC ends up being 27 (15 + Basilisk HD + Basilisk Wis + Basilisk is Enemy (+5) + Carver is suggesting they stop fighting (0)). She'll likely fail at least once, but the odds are in her favor for eventually succeeding; remember, she has 7 blessing points and can attempt this even when it would otherwise be inappropriate. The basilisk, after 2 or 3 rounds of fighting, decides it likes Carver okay enough to ignore her, and proceeds to lay down for a nap. Carver walks over and Shrinks the statue, then hightails it back to civilization. Using the broken original 3.5 Diplomacy rules results in the Basilisk and Carver becoming BFF's in short order. The only real risk here is that Carver blows a Fortitude save, and given that she has eyelids, I'd say the odds are far enough in her favor that this is a Sure Win.

Fire Elemental Carver's looking to get Muleby shoed but the smithy is a bit of a pompous ****. Suddenly, the back door bursts open and an enormous mass of fire floods forth. Recovering from her surprise, Carver Interposes the first attack on the smithy. Because Carver has both Fire Resist and Damage reduction, she'll take only 10 damage even if she fails the reflex for half portion (she's also quite unlikely to catch fire). The smithy, realizing the jig is up, books it from the shop. The Fire Elemental decides it really hates all of humanity because that smithy bound it up to magically power his forge, and decides to target the human standing directly in front of it: Carver. Carver pleads with the creature to stop fighting (using Guilt as an immediate action), and the Elemental most likely doesn't roll a natural 20. The elemental feels some warm fuzzies (or burning fuzzies), and it's will to attack is reduced. Carver decides to try Peace Talks again, attempting to convince the Fire Elemental to stop fighting, she'll get it back to the Plane of Elemental Fire. Unfortunately for her, the Fire Elemental doesn't speak Common, so the DC is 29 (15 + HD + Fire Elemental Hates Humans (+6) + Carver says the stop fighting (0) ). Carver's got good odds of succeeding in two or three rounds at talking the Elemental down (it understands the creature in front of it is actively trying to talk it down), but her survival isn't guaranteed, even with the successful Guilt attempt. Average expected damage each round is 5, but hitting with both attacks on is really bad for Carver (16 damage on average). Four attacks landed on Carver means Carver is negative, and likely about to burn to death. Still though, the odds are far enough in her favor (plus, she has healing) that she likely talks down this rampaging Fire Elemental before it roasts her alive. This is a Likely Win, provided the Fire Elemental doesn't just decide only Carver is okay and go out and roast the city. That would complicate factors, and Carver can't really help there beyond Interpose and rescuing individuals in the city. With 3.5's Diplomacy rules, this becomes a Sure Win. Either way, she's never going back to that smithy again.
Alright, I enjoyed that. Think I might finish up the second half of level 5 in another post at some other point.