Homebrew Class: Elemental Exemplar

[Bobby Baratheon]

This is a class I've developed using the warlock chassis. I'm aiming for a high tier 3, and for a class with strong enough scaling that players will have an actual reason to stick around for 20 levels. I also wanted to avoid forcing just one way to play the class, and avoid dead levels. What are your thoughts/comments/feedback/jokes?



Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Class Features
Invocations Known


1st
+0
+2
+2
+2
Elemental Manifestation, Elemental Blast (1d6), Elemental Blade (1d8)

3


2nd
+1
+3
+3
+3
Elemental Resistance 3, Elemental Casing

4


3rd
+2
+3
+3
+3
E. Blast (2d6), E. Blade (2d8)

4


4th
+3
+4
+4
+4
E. Resistance 6, Fast Healing 1

5


5th
+3
+4
+4
+4
E. Blast (3d6), E. Blade (3d8)

6


6th
+4
+5
+5
+5
E. Resistance 9, E. Casing (+4), +10 movement

6


7th
+5
+5
+5
+5
E. Blast (4d6), E. Blade (4d8)

7


8th
+6
+6
+6
+6
E. Resistance 12, Fast Healing 2

8


9th
+6
+6
+6
+6
E. Blast (5d6), E. Blade (5d8)

8


10th
+7
+7
+7
+7
E. Resistance 15, E. Casing (+6)

9


11th
+8
+7
+7
+7
E. Blast (6d6), E. Blade (6d8)

10


12th
+9
+8
+8
+8
Fast Healing 3, +10 movement, Elemental Synthesis (lesser)

10


13th
+9
+8
+8
+8
E. Blast (7d6), E. Blade (7d8)

11


14th
+10
+9
+9
+9
E. Casing (+8), Elemental Shroud (lesser)

12


15th
+11
+9
+9
+9
E. Blast (8d6), E. Blade (8d8)

12


16th
+12
+10
+10
+10
Fast Healing 4, E. Synthesis (greater)

13


17th
+12
+10
+10
+10
E. Blast (9d6), E. Blade (9d8)

14


18th
+13
+11
+11
+11
E. Casing (+10), +10 movement

14


19th
+14
+11
+11
+11
E. Blast (10d6), E. Blade (10d8)

15


20th
+15
+12
+12
+12
Fast Healing 5, E. Synthesis (master), E. Shroud (greater)

16



Elemental Manifestation: The Elemental Exemplar is so deeply connected to one of the four elements (earth, air, water or fire) or to the positive/negative energy planes that they manifest the power of that element, and can harness that power to achieve great feats of power. Whether this attuning come from years of meditation or simple inborn talent, it grants superhuman abilities to its bearer. Exemplars manifest their power in different ways, but all have much in common. Upon taking a level of Elemental Exemplar, the character must select one of the six mentioned "elements" as the source of their power. This choice affects the type of damage they do with their elemental attacks, as well as affecting the nature of their invocations. Each element has an opposite element, to which to they are "weak". Once an element has been chosen, the exemplar may never change it. The exemplar may "multiclass" and take another level of exemplar with a separate element, but the elemental attacks and all other class features are treated as separate classes and may not be combined. The elemental exemplar's caster level, from which the power of his elemental attacks are derived, is equal to his levels on elemental exemplar. This caster level may be modified by feats such as Practised Spellcaster, but may never exceed the number of levels in elemental exemplar that the character possesses.
FIRE: Fire exemplars do fire damage with all their elemental attacks, and their power is such that they deal 50% damage to enemies possessing the Fire Immunity trait. They receive an extra +20 feet to their land speed upon taking their first exemplar level, although this does not apply if they are wearing heavy armor. They possess immunity to fire damage, and weakness to the element of water. The fire exemplar's elemental resistance does not apply against cold damage. (NOTE: They do not technically possess the trait "Fire Immunity", and do not take extra damage from cold attacks. They just can't use their elemental resistance to protect themselves from cold damage).
WATER: Water exemplars do cold damage with all their elemental attacks, and their power is such that they deal 50% damage to enemies possessing the Cold Immunity trait. They receive a Swim speed of 30 feet upon taking their first exemplar level. They are immune to cold damage, and are weak against the element of fire. The water exemplar's elemental resistance does not apply against fire damage (NOTE: As with fire, they don't actually have the "Cold Immunity" trait and don't take extra fire damage).
AIR: Air exemplars do electricity damage with all their elemental attacks, and they may convert up to half their elemental damage into sonic damage (this decision must be made before attacking). They receive a Fly speed of 30 feet (average) upon taking their first exemplar level. They are immune to electricity damage, and are weak against the element of earth. The air exemplar's elemental resistance does not apply against acid damage.
EARTH: Earth exemplars do acid damage with all their elemental attacks and they may convert up to half their elemental damage into force damage (this decision must be made before attacking). They receive a Burrow speed of 15 feet upon taking their first exemplar level. They are immune to acid damage, and are weak against the element of air. The earth exemplar's elemental resistance does not apply against electricity damage.
POSITIVE ENERGY (ECTROPY): Ectropic exemplars do positive energy damage with all their elemental attacks, and such is their power that even beings that are normally unaffected by (or resistant to) positive energy damage are dealt 50% damage from the exemplar's elemental attacks. Ectropic exemplars have fortified skin, granting them +3 natural armor and DR 2/-. They themselves are immune to positive energy damage, and are weak against negative energy damage. The ectropic exemplar's energy resistance does not apply against negative energy damage.
NEGATIVE ENERGY (ENTROPY): Entropic exemplars do negative energy damage with all their elemental attacks, and such is their power that even beings that are normally unaffected by (or resistant to) negative energy damage are dealt 50% damage from the exemplar's elemental attacks. Entropic exemplars are especially skilled at destruction, and deal an extra +1 untyped damage per die on their elemental attacks, and score x2 critical hits with their elemental attacks on a natural 20 (NOTE: the critical only applies to the base elemental attack damage, and this critical range may not be improved in any way, whether by feats or by magic). They themselves are immune to negative energy damage, and are weak against positive energy damage. The entropic exemplar's energy resistance does not apply against negative energy damage.
Invocations: Invocations are treated in the same way as the Warlock's invocations. For the moment it's the same list, although obviously it would reflavored for each element. Perhaps of most relevance are the blast shapes and utility invocations.
Elemental Blast/Blade: Elemental Blast works just like Eldritch blast, although the range is now 90 feet, and the Elemental Exemplar adds their charisma bonus to damage. Elemental Blade is a melee only version that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, and is considered to be a weapon-like effect. I visualized an elementally-flavored version of the Bound weapons from the Elder Scrolls series. Elemental Blade also adds charisma damage. The actual appearance of the blast and the blade is up to the player's interpretation, but obviously it should within reasonable bounds (no mushroom clouds for 3d6 blasts :smallbiggrin:) Both versions allow for iterative attacks. The damage scale actually derives from the exemplar's caster level; the formula is 1d6 (or 1d8 for the blade) x ([caster level+1]/2).
Elemental Resistance: The exemplar gets this resistance against all forms of energy damage, with two exceptions. He/she is immune to damage from their own element, and the resistance is ignored by attacks from the energy attack type designated as weak.
Elemental Casing: The exemplar can shroud themselves in a cloak of energy, deflecting attacks and distracting attackers. Elemental Casing provides a deflection bonus to AC (does not stack with other deflection bonuses except for Elemental Shroud), and can be activated/deactivated at will by the exemplar.
Fast Healing: As ability.
Movement bonuses: This bonus applies to ALL forms of movement, so long as the Exemplar isn't wearing heavy armor.
Elemental Synthesis: The exemplar becomes so skilled with his element that he/she can, through force of will, coalesce it into a semi-autonomous being. The exemplar may draw on surrounding energy and "summon" an elemental of the appropriate energy type (haven't decided yet what entropic/ectropic exemplars get). This ability has three tiers, which affect the size/type of elemental summoned:
-Lesser: Up to Medium size; elemental's level = 1/2 exemplar's caster level
-Greater: Up to Huge size; elemental's level = 3/4 exemplar's caster level; May summon up to 2 elementals simultaneously
-Master: Up to Elder; elemental's level = exemplar's caster level: May summon up to 3 elementals simultaneously
The elemental exists only as long as the exemplar mentally maintains it, or until it is destroyed. One elemental does not place any great strain on the exemplar, but maintaining more than one elemental simultaneously requires a DC 20 Concentration check each round; this DC increases by +1 per elemental per round (IE, maintaining two elementals increases the DC by 2 each round) and fatigues the exemplar. The exemplar may simultaneously maintain a number of elementals equal to his/her charisma modifier.
Elemental Shroud: The exemplar has gained such mastery that he/she can draw on the energy around themselves, wreathing themselves in a cloak of raw energy. This ability can be used for a number of rounds per day equal to 10+Cha modifier (min. of 5), and comes in two tiers.
-Lesser: 40% deflection, SR equal to (10+[1/2 exemplar levels]+Cha modifier), +2 enhancement bonus to all stats, +4 deflection bonus to AC (this does stack with Elemental Casing)
-Greater: 80% deflection, SR (same as lesser), Spell Immunity (to all spells except those of the weak element type), +4 enhancement bonus to all stats, +8 deflection to AC (same)

EDIT: Forgot proficiencies and skills. Haven't given much thought to skills yet, but as for weapons/armor the Elemental Exemplar gets Simple Weapons, Light Armor, and Medium Armor proficiencies.

[Zaydos]

Ok let's go through step by step.

#1) This belongs in the Homebrew forum not the Roleplaying Games one. You can ask a mod to move it.

#2) Why doesn't Fire or Cold give Fire Immunity or Cold Immunity traits? You do realize those are not actually connected to Fire Vulnerability and Cold Vulnerability, while many creatures with one such immunity have the opposite vulnerability that's because they're associated with the Fire and Cold Subtypes which also grant immunity.

#3) Why do they get the movement bonuses at 1st level? You're already giving them ranged touch attacks, all good saves, AND 3 Invocations, they don't need at-will flight, at-will burrow, or a 20 ft movement speed that lets them perpetually kite. Also as a note as Electricity Immunity is on Demons and thus more common in play than Cold Immunity Air gets the short end of the damage stick at higher levels (of course they get at-will flight at 1st level when the game isn't able to compensate well with flying ranged attackers). Also 1 level dip energy immunity is a lot.

#4) In Elemental Synthesis what does 'elemental's level' mean? You give them stages which in theory determine their Hit Dice. The ability needs a lot more clarification and probably use limits (3 elder elementals being a lot even at 20, seeing as how it takes a 9th level spell to summon 1 and elementals are the only things possibly more under CRed than dragons).

#5) Is there an activation time on Elemental Shroud? Even if it is a standard action it's rather insane. Infinite SR for most extents and purposes, 80% miss chance (when normally you can't viably get above 50% without ignoring the rules for how it works) and a +8 bonus to AC when you can already get enough that foes need ~19 to hit you (except dragons which need a 7), and a duration to last through 4 encounters.

In general the class is really overloaded for play with Tier 3s. It gets 4 more invocations than a Warlock and built in Eldritch Glaive usable at a range which is already enough to bring Warlock up to mid to high tier 3 (it's arguably low tier 3 to begin with or top of tier 4), now it loses crafting, but it gets a whole lot including +8 over buyable AC (translation: High enough that sans dragons attacks miss on a 19). I mean if casters are playing to the hilt it still won't keep up, but at the same time Tier 3s are still playing a game where numbers matter and it simply has better numbers than everyone else, especially at low levels.

Let them grow into abilities. Space out elemental manifestation, most of what's there could go in the 6th-15th level range and be better balanced for it, some might need pumps (Water is bad, give 'em Freedom of Movement is the standard go to but it's significantly better...).

[Florian]

@Bobby Baratheon:

You made a very common and basic mistake on your custom class here. You excluded the option to pick up feats (or equivalent) to customize it, but instead crammed anything into the basic class framework.
For example, I see no need to gain Elemental Blade w/o spending anything on it or having an automatic range increase for the blast at no cost. You have feats and invocations to spent, so spent them on stuff.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to get it moved over, and I'll retool the powers to make it more scaling in level, and I'll include a mechanism in the individual elements to space out the unique powers.

With regards to the Immunities (these are copy and pasted from the SRD);

A creature with fire immunity never takes fire damage. It has vulnerability to cold, which means it takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from cold, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

A creature with cold immunity never takes cold damage. It has vulnerability to fire, which means it takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from fire, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

I didn't want them to have the vulnerability, but I suppose it would be a balancing factor. I also will probably make the Elemental Casing an armor bonus. I'll reduce the duration on Eldritch shroud, but hey. It's a capstone power, which I think SHOULD be overpowered. It's an encouragement to take the class all the way to 20.

With regards to the elementals, I was actually looking more at elemental swarm as a base, but you are right on the number summonable. I'll probably drop it down to two or three summonable max, with only one being the top tier summonable. I'll also rework the level part into just providing a bonus depending on the exemplar's charisma bonus.

I am aware this is overpowered, but I wanted to start high and then cut it down it size. Thanks for the feedback, and I hope it really isn't all that bad. The intent was to create a mobile, melee character who was strong enough to carry their weight even in relatively powerful groups.

[ComaVision]

This feels more like a refluffed and buffed Warlock than a distinct class.

[Bobby Baratheon]

Well, how could I make it more distinct? Do you have any suggestions?

[ComaVision]

Well, how could I make it more distinct? Do you have any suggestions?

DFA has a breath attack, and Warlock targets touch AC, so that plus different Invocation lists "feels" different. You could make the Elemental Exemplar like the Paladin of Invocations? Full BaB and bigger HD but Elemental Blade has to hit normal AC?

If you go that way, I'd make the EB default and it takes a feat for the ranged version (against normal AC still).

[Bobby Baratheon]

That's very helpful, actually. That would give it a distinct feel while building on the "mobile melee" theme, and I could pretty easily develop a whole new line of feats around the Elemental Blade to give customization options, as alluded to by Florian. I do think that invocation choice is where most invocation users differentiate themselves, so I might look at adapting some ToB stuff into invocation form. Might be more appropriate for the theme of the Exemplar.

[Ruethgar]

I would suggest looking here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?311076-The-Elemental-Adept-(D-amp-D-3-5-Base-Class)) and see if this is something you would be interested in without having to balance and create your own class.