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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Mystical Marshal (Complete Rewrite)



Logalite
2017-03-20, 12:02 AM
The Marshal positively emanates untapped potential; this is my attempt to upgrade Marshal to Tier 2-3 with a full rewrite.


Marshal

Do you see these men?! These are my people! I will lead them to glory! Nothing less!

Hit die
d8

Alignment
Any

Skill points
4 + Int

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Marshals are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor, medium armor and shields (except tower shields).

Class Skills: The Marshal's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Gameplay: A Marshal's most important abilities are Charisma and Constitution. Charisma ensures he can dilate, change, project, and amplify his auras as much as possible for as long as possible. Constitution lets him stay close to the thick of battle where his auras will be the most effective and boosts his Concentration check to maintain his auras in an anti-magic field or similar effect.



Level

BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Major Auras Known
Minor Auras Known


1
0
2
0
2
Aura +1, Skill Focus: Diplomacy
0
1


2
1
3
0
3


1
2


3
2
3
1
3
Grant move action 1/day
1
2


4
3
4
1
4


2
3


5
3
4
1
4
Dilate Aura
2
3


6
4
5
2
5
Aura +2
3
4


7
5
5
2
5


3
4


8
6/1
6
2
6
Grant move action 2/day
3
5


9
6/1
6
3
6


4
5


10
7/2
7
3
7
Aural Prescience
4
6


11
8/3
7
3
7
Aura +3
5
7


12
9/4
8
4
8


5
7


13
9/4
8
4
8
Grant move action 3/day
6
8


14
10/5
9
4
9


6
8


15
11/6/1
9
5
9
Project Aura
6
9


16
12/7/2
10
5
10
Aura +4
7
10


17
12/7/2
10
5
10


7
10


18
13/8/3
11
6
11
Grant move action 4/day
8
11


19
14/9/4
11
6
11


8
11


20
15/10/5
12
6
12
Amplify Aura
9
12





Skill Focus (Diplomacy): Because a Marshal has a way with people, he gains this feat as a bonus feat. If the Marshal already has the feat, he can choose a different one.


Auras (Su): A Marshal may emanate one major and one minor aura at a time. An aura lets allies add +1 to certain rolls. This bonus improves by +1 at 6th, 11th, and 16th level. He can learn to emanate different auras, over the course of his career.
Emanating an aura is a swift action. The aura remains in effect until the Marshal uses a free action to dismiss it or activates another aura . A Marshal can have an aura active continually; thus, an aura can be in effect at the start of a combat encounter even before the Marshal takes his first turn.

Unless otherwise noted, a Marshal's aura affects all allies within 60 feet (including himself.) Auras are considered supernatural abilities and can be suppressed by an anti-magic field or similar effect. If this occurs, a Marshal is entitled to a Concentration check every round, with his Charisma modifier added, against the spell’s save DC to maintain auras centered on himself. A Marshal's auras are dismissed if he is dazed, unconscious, stunned, or paralyzed. As his level increases, a Marshal gains access to new auras.
A Marshal may concentrate for one standard action to become aware of all party members within range of his auras, projected or displaced or otherwise, as per the spell Status.

All bonuses granted by a Marshal's auras are circumstance bonuses that can stack with each other.

Grant Move Action (Ex): a Marshal may expend his move action to grant an extra move action to all allies within line of sight, excluding himself OR he may move up to his base movement speed as an immediate action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Either action counts towards his daily limit for this ability. The affected allies take these extra move actions immediately, acting in their current initiative order without provoking attacks of opportunity. This extra action does not affect the allies initiative count; the round continues normally after the marshal's turn is over.

Dilate Aura (Ex): A Marshal gains this feat as a bonus feat, but may use it as a swift action a number of times per day equal to his Charisma bonus. Multiple effects that double aura range do not stack.

Aural Prescience (Ex): A Marshal may emanate, dismiss, or change an aura as an immediate action a number of times per day equal to his Charisma modifier.

Project Aura (Su): A Marshal may project an aura onto one willing creature he has line of sight with as a swift action a number of times per day, and for a number of rounds, equal to his Charisma modifier. While his aura is projected, he retains the same aura centered on himself, although the effects of identical overlapping auras do not stack. If a Marshal changes or dismisses one or more of his auras while a previous aura is projected, the projected aura continues for its duration and does not change. A creature emanating a projected aura is not entitled to a Concentration check when under the influence of an anti-magic field or similar effect.

Amplify Aura (Ex): A Marshal may add his Charisma modifier to a single aura bonus as a swift action a number of times per day, and for up to a number of rounds equal to his Charisma modifier.

Logalite
2017-03-20, 12:11 AM
Major Auras




Martial Prowess

Bonus +1 to attack and bonus ×2 to damage rolls



Arcane Prowess

Bonus to effective spell level



Pillar of Resolve

Bonus x2 DR/-



Arcane Interference

Bonus x10% chance to dispel harmful spell effects within range



Displacement

Bonus x10% miss chance




Guardian's Presence

Bonus ×2 as armor bonus to AC



Bloodlust

+1d6 damage per bonus on critical hit



Death Defiance

Allies gain Diehard and die upon reaching -10 - bonus x5 hp




Savior's Presence

Bonus x2 to one specified saving throw










Minor Auras




Flickering Step

Bonus x5 to movement speed



Unshakeable Courage

Bonus +1 to saving throws versus fear and death effects




Ironclad Temperance

Bonus +1 to saving throws versus fatigue, sicken, exhaust, and nauseate




Endure Assault

Bonus x5 to resist one specified energy type




Adaptive Assistance

Bonus x2 to all skills associated with a particular skill feat




Radial Awareness

Bonus x2 to Initiative




Art of War

Bonus +1 on disarm, grapple, trip, bull rush, and sunder attempts




Accurate Strike

Bonus +1 on rolls made to confirm critical hits




Accelerated Movement

Removes penalty on accelerated movement skill checks equal to bonus +1



Sheltering Presence

As Endure Elements and bonus +1 to all survival checks



Sedative Influence

Bonus +1 to saving throws versus charm and compulsion effects



Light as a Feather

Removes armor penalty on skill checks equal to bonus +1

Logalite
2017-03-20, 12:16 AM
At epic levels a Marshal gains the ability to emanate multiple Major and Minor Auras at once as shown on the following chart. In addition, Grant move action and Bestow dodge no longer require line of sight and Status within range of a Marshal's auras is permanent without the need to concentrate for one standard action.


Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Major Auras
Minor Auras


21
15/10/5
7
3
7
Aura +5
1
1


22
16/11/6/1
7
3
7

1
2


23
17/12/7/2
8
4
8
Grant move action 5/day
2
2


24
18/13/8/3
8
4
8

2
3


25
18/13/8/3
9
4
9

3
3


26
19/14/9/4
9
5
9
Aura +6
3
4


27
20/15/10/5
10
5
10

3
4


28
21/16/11/6/1
10
5
10
Grant move action 6/day
4
5


29
21/16/11/6/1
11
6
11

4
5


30
22/17/12/7/2
11
6
11

5
6





Skill Focus: Intimidate Because a Marshal has a way with people, he gains this feat as a bonus feat. If the Marshal already has the feat, he can choose a different one. This class feature replaces Skill Focus: Diplomacy.

Displace Aura (Su) A Marshal may designate a point he has line of sight with to emanate his aura a number of times per day, and for a number of rounds, equal to his Charisma Modifier. While his aura is displaced, he retains the same aura centered on himself, although the effects of identical overlapping auras do not stack. If a Marshal changes or dismisses one or more of his auras while a previous aura is displaced, the displaced aura continues for its duration and does not change. He is entitled to a Concentration check to sustain a displaced aura in an anti-magic field. This class feature replaces Project Aura.

Bestow Dodge (Ex) A Marshal may bestow a dodge bonus equal to his Charisma modifier plus his aura bonus on himself or one ally within line of sight as an immediate action. This ability replaces Grant move action.

Overload Aura A Marshal gains this feat as a bonus feat but may use it 1/encounter. This replaces Dilate Aura.

Emanate Benevolence Prerequisites: CHA 12, Good Alignment; You gain the ability to emanate or dismiss a benevolent aura as a standard action in a 30ft radius. This aura provides a bonus on attack and damage rolls, skill checks, and saving throws to all allies in range. This bonus is equal to your Charisma modifier but cannot exceed 1/5 your level to a minimum of 1.

Aural Eye Prerequisites: Must be able to emanate an aura; You gain blindsense out to the range of the largest aura you can emanate.

Keyed Empathy Prerequisites: Must be able to emanate an aura; You gain the ability to read the emotions of all living creatures within range of your largest aura.

Inward Aura Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +8, Must be able to emanate an aura; You can suppress one or more of your auras to gain fast healing 1 per aura suppressed.

Emanate Malevolence Prerequisite: CHA 12, Evil Alignment; You gain the ability to emanate or dismiss a malevolent aura as a standard action in a 30ft radius. This aura provides a penalty on attack and damage rolls, skill checks, and saving throws to all enemies within range. This penalty is equal to your Charisma modifier but cannot exceed 1/5 your level to a minimum of 1.

Overload Aura Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus +12, Must be able to emanate an aura; You gain the ability to expend a burst of aural energy 1/day as a standard action. All creatures within 30ft take damage equal to your highest aura bonus times your Charisma modifier.

Dilate Aura Double the range of an aura 1/encounter. Multiple effects that double aura range do not stack.

JNAProductions
2017-03-20, 12:47 AM
You are aware you are giving unlimited Out Of Combat healing by level one, right?

Logalite
2017-03-20, 01:17 AM
*Replaced with a Resist Energy equivalent.

nonsi
2017-03-20, 05:15 AM
.
A nice twist. You should add fluff.

One thing that always bothered me about the official Marshal, is that on its own, w/o allies, it's a very weak class. IIRC, Leonidas was no less than a legendary warrior.
This remake seems to carry that same symptom. While less of an issue when going for the "Mystical" approach, a class still needs something half decent for one-on-one situations.

Amechra
2017-03-20, 10:43 AM
Some Auras are miles better than others in the same category.

Compare Amplify Ability (+1 - +4 to all skill checks) to Iron Temperament (immunity to Fatigue, Exhaustion, and Sickened). One of those is massively more useful than the other.

Logalite
2017-03-20, 11:41 AM
I am currently working on ACF's to address this issue.


Any ideas to balance that? *Adaptive Assistance revised to affect one specified skill

JNAProductions
2017-03-20, 11:42 AM
I am currently working on ACF's to address this issue.


Any ideas to balance that? *Adaptive Assistance revised to affect one specified skill

Um... I think Amechra was saying that the IMMUNITIES were more useful.

Logalite
2017-03-20, 12:17 PM
Amechra, could you please specify?
____________________________________________

Yes and no. It only suppresses (read "delays") those status effects for the duration of time an ally is in range of the active aura. This effectively locks the marshal into one, albeit effective aura. It also means the affected can't stray too far. That said:

*Iron Temperance changed to Unshakeable Courage.

Amechra
2017-03-20, 12:44 PM
Yep. Skill bonuses come in +2s and +3s for a reason.

I'd take three immunities over +1 to a bunch of rolls any day of the week, especially since Fatigue and Exhaustion are such nasty effects.

=---=

This is not a very good revision. Other than the fact that the auras are a bit crazy at first level, they scale really poorly. You also don't have anything that makes them more interesting to play, since you took away the bonus-action granting that the Marshal could pull off.

The original Marshal isn't a poor design due to weak auras (though that's part of the problem), it's a poor design because it has nothing else (other than the some action-economy stuff with Grant Move Action). Your class has the same problems, it just has poorly-thought-out auras.

Like Aural Eye - what's the range on that Blindsense? Does everyone in the radius get it, or just you?
Or Arcane Interference - why would you want to make your allies worse at casting spells?

=---=

In short, you gave us your notes, not a full class.

aimlessPolymath
2017-03-20, 12:50 PM
Er, I would actually guess that the other one is the good one.

Immunity to three conditions (not particularly crippling ones, either) barely stacks up against +1-4 to all skill checks except at very low levels (+2 is the bare minimum for "decent", really), for a couple reasons:

-Skill checks are significantly more useful in general- this aura is handy in virtually every noncombat situation.
-The skill-boost aura is much more versatile- you can use it on any skill in most situations.
-The skill-boost aura scales well with level. At high levels, the immunities only affect relatively minor conditions- often, you're dealing with the improved versions of these conditions at a flat minimum (frightened and nauseated in particular). Meanwhile, the rogue is loving the extra + to a stealth skill, the diplomat likes the Diplomacy boost, the wizard takes advantage of Spellcraft while researching spells, etc. Because of the way Aid Another works, it also helps teamwork to some extent.

On the other hand, neither of those auras are particularly powerful. I can't see the minor auras as a focus of the class to the extent they seem to be. The bonuses are pretty specific in general, and barely useful even within that field at low levels (+1 bonus).

Edit: Looks like the immunity-granting aura has been changed.

Logalite
2017-03-20, 02:52 PM
*Range increment added to Aural Eye
*Arcane Interference revised to affect enemy hostile spells in range.

Part of the reason the Marshal class appeals to me is because its passivity allows me to still contribute and enjoy the company of close friends without worrying too much about action economy. I'm still developing ACF's that will take a slightly different approach. Also, why sacrifice a standard action to say "MOVE!" when you can yell "DODGE!" as an immediate action?
____________________________________________

All excellent points. The minor auras were designed with minimal out-of-combat utility in mind since auras can be persisted indefinitely (unless a Marshal is asleep.)
I decided to change the immunities because they don't scale well and it didn't make sense to give the bard and paladin (two of the biggest buffers) an easy way to boost fear saves and ignore the Marshal. I'm not sure whether or not to make Adaptive Assistance specify a skill. It's a rather small bonus. Thoughts?
____________________________________________

Clarification: Bonus refers to your aura bonus. Therefore Adaptive Assistance at level 1 confers your aura bonus +1 for a total of +2 to one skill check.

Amechra
2017-03-20, 03:18 PM
Er, I would actually guess that the other one is the good one.

Immunity to three conditions (not particularly crippling ones, either) barely stacks up against +1-4 to all skill checks except at very low levels (+2 is the bare minimum for "decent", really), for a couple reasons:

-Skill checks are significantly more useful in general- this aura is handy in virtually every noncombat situation.
-The skill-boost aura is much more versatile- you can use it on any skill in most situations.
-The skill-boost aura scales well with level. At high levels, the immunities only affect relatively minor conditions- often, you're dealing with the improved versions of these conditions at a flat minimum (frightened and nauseated in particular). Meanwhile, the rogue is loving the extra + to a stealth skill, the diplomat likes the Diplomacy boost, the wizard takes advantage of Spellcraft while researching spells, etc. Because of the way Aid Another works, it also helps teamwork to some extent.

On the other hand, neither of those auras are particularly powerful. I can't see the minor auras as a focus of the class to the extent they seem to be. The bonuses are pretty specific in general, and barely useful even within that field at low levels (+1 bonus).

Edit: Looks like the immunity-granting aura has been changed.

Here's the thing, though - immunity to Fatigue makes you the Barbarian's best friend and it allows your party to sleep in armor (just play something like a Warforged Marshal). It's damn useful.

On the other hand, the skill bonus is bad - by the time Fatigue/Sickened/Exhaustion stop being a problem, your Rogue won't care about the stealth boost, the face won't care about the boost to Diplomacy, and the Wizard will look at that Spellcraft bonus as if it were peanuts.

By the time you get a +2 out of it, anyone who specialized in a particular skill has around a +14 to it, before any bonuses other than level and ability scores. Meanwhile, it doesn't help with Aid Another, since both bonuses are Circumstance bonuses.

But yes, I'd say they both aren't very good, especially since it feels like they were designed for the original Marshal and then ported over to this one without accounting for the way that Minor Auras no longer base their bonus off of Charisma.

=---=

Logalite: I apologise if I'm coming off as pretty harsh, but you picked a really hard class to try to rebalance. This kind of feature (group buffing) is really hard to get right.

Right now, I'd hesitate to say that this class leaves Tier 4. You actually lost out of combat utility at early levels - the original Marshal could pick Motivate Dexterity and give a +[Charisma Modifier] bonus to all Dexterity checks and Dexterity-based skills, which covers all of the Stealth skills and a lot of movement skills. They could grab Motivate Charisma and double their Charisma modifier for the purposes of Charisma-based skill checks - which, combined with Skill Focus (Diplomacy), made them a fantastic party face.

The problem never was that the Auras are crap¹ - the problem was that the Auras were all they got. If you want your class to be better than the original, you need to give them actual class features.

¹ Pretty much the only necessary fix there is "start Major Auras at +2 and bump them to +6 by 20th level".

JNAProductions
2017-03-20, 03:25 PM
Actually, circumstance bonuses stack with themselves.

Amechra
2017-03-20, 03:40 PM
Actually, circumstance bonuses stack with themselves.

Oops, you're right. Sorry, aimlessPolymath.

...

You know what might help? More auras, both known and active at once.

Logalite
2017-03-20, 03:50 PM
*Sedative Influence revised due to overlap with Unshakeable Courage and to reduce non-bonus driven auras
*Adaptive Assistance revised to bonus x2 to scale better into later levels
*Savior's Presence increased to bonus x2 but restricted to one saving throw
*Bestow dodge now includes aura bonus, providing scaling into later levels
*Minor Aura saving throw bonuses increased to bonus +1
*Gameplay section expanded
*Fluff quote added
*Added Move Action ACF
*Added Displaced ACF
*Added Intimidate ACF
*Etc.
____________________________________________

The immunities have been removed in favor of a save versus fear and death effect. I enjoy the passivity as a core concept of the marshal. It allows me to focus on things more important to me like role-playing. That said, I am developing ACF's to address this issue.
____________________________________________

Good idea. It removes the punch from epic level progression though. Maybe I'll extend the table for emanating multiple auras down to start at 16th-ish level...
____________________________________________

I need help balancing/scaling Major and Minor Aura saving throw bonuses.

Logalite
2017-03-22, 01:51 PM
The whole class has undergone Mark I revisions. If anyone wants to take a crack at picking holes in it, please do so.

nonsi
2017-03-22, 04:38 PM
.
If it were less "Mystical", I'd say that you should consider borrowing Tactical Leader from my Warrior class. This can be an option if you intend for this to be the only Marshal in your game. If you're gonna have a martial counterpart to this class, Tactical Leader should go there.

You should specify Class Skills list. The official Marshal's list seems solid enough. At your discretion (taking the above into account), add Climb, Jump and Tumble.

Grant Move Action: If a marshal is "combat smart" enough to grant a move action to others, I see no rationale in him not being able to identify such an opportunity for himself (self only, as an immediate action, since he doesn't have to spend time directing others).
Basically, any benefit that he can grant others, he should be able to grant self as well.
In fact, I'd go as far as allow limitless once-per-encounter grant move action to self (or at least as many times as he can grant others).

Level 7, 17, 19: Those are dead in the water. Play around with the Known Auras progression a bit to accommodate those levels.

Level 12, 14: A tad bit less dead, but still nothing to write home about. Ditto on the Known Auras.

Amplify Aura: You might wanna specify that this can be taken in 1-round increments.