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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Honour Guard, Take 3



Jormengand
2017-07-04, 03:23 PM
Preface:

The Honour Guard was the first class I made on these forums. And it was... passably tier 4? Playable? It did a thing; the thing it did wasn't very exciting but it did it well. There were a lot of issues with it. First, if you're not making plays you're not having fun: the honour guard never made plays beyond whacking the target with his weapon of choice; keeping up his signature ability doesn't (and shouldn't) require actions. Second, it had very little to do out of combat: a bonus to diplomacy checks equal to the rogue's sneak attack dice is neat, but it doesn't make you the actual best party member for diplomacy for a long time (a charisma-based character who isn't really trying very hard will still be better at diplomacy until level 9 at the earliest). Third, it suffered from "Not a real character concept" syndrome. Overly broad character concepts (wizard "I cast spells from a book") are too strong, overly narrow ones (fighter "I fight") are too weak. The honour guard could have been a lot better: its concept was "I defend people" when it could have been more generally about what a personal guard should be doing - making sure areas are safe, making sure that there's a tactical advantage, making plans, and also looking good while doing it.

While the second attempt made a few hot-fixes, this is a major fix-up of the original honour guard. So let's get to business:


LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial
1st+1+2+2+0Damage guard +1, The Mouth +1, Discipline of war, Force of Personality, Ready for Anything
2nd+2+3+3+0Look out!, Special Ability
3rd+3+3+3+1Damage guard +2, The Mouth +2
4th+4+4+4+1Armour guard +1, Multi-guard +1, Special Ability
5th+5+4+4+1The Mouth +3
6th+6/+1+5+5+2Damage guard +3, Special Ability
7th+7/+2+5+5+2The Mouth +4
8th+8/+3+6+6+2Armour guard +2, Multi-guard +2, Special Ability
9th+9/+4+6+6+3Damage guard +4, The Mouth +5
10th+10/+5+7+7+3Inspired Guard +2, Special Ability
11th+11/+6/+1+7+7+3The Mouth +6
12th+12/+7/+2+8+8+4Damage guard +5, Special Ability
13th+13/+8/+3+8+8+8The Mouth +7
14th+14/+9/+4+9+9+4Armour guard +3, Special Ability
15th+15/+10/+5+9+9+5Damage guard +6, Inspired guard +4, The Mouth +8
16th+16/+11/+6/+1+10+10+5Multi-guard +3, Special Ability
17th+17/+12/+7/+2+10+10+5The Mouth +9
18th+18/+13/+8/+3+11+11+6Damage guard +7, Special Ability
19th+19/+14/+9/+4+11+11+6Armour guard +4, The Mouth +10
20th+20/+15/+10/+5+12+12+6Multi-guard +4, Inspired guard +6, Doom Phalanx, Special Ability

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d12
Class Skills:
The Honour Guard's class skills (And the key ability for each skill*) are Bluff (Str), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Str), Handle Animal (Str), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Str), Listen (Wis), Knowledge (Architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowldge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowldge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

*Adjusted for Force of Personality feature.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency
An Honour Guard is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and all armour (light, medium and heavy) and shields (including tower shields).

Guard (Ex)

At first level the Honour Guard can guard a single creature as a swift action. The target remains guarded by the Honour Guard until the Honour guard leaves 50ft+5ft/level range or stops guarding them to guard another target. The Honour Guard gains the following bonuses:

Damage Guard: at first level, the Honour Guard gains +1 to attack and damage rolls when making attacks of opportunity or readied attacks against a target making a hostile action against the guarded target. This bonus is increased by +1 at third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth level.

Armour Guard: at fourth level the guarded target gains a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. This bonus is increased by +1 at ninth, fourteenth and nineteenth levels.

Multi-guard: at fourth level the Honour Guard can guard an additional target, choosing who to guard as a swift action for all targets. They can guard another at eigth, another at sixteenth and another at twentieth level.

Inspired Guard: at tenth level the Honour Guard gains a +2 Morale bonus to Strength and Constitution while guarding a target. This becomes a +4 bonus at fifteenth and +6 at twentieth level.

If the Honour Guard is affected by a spell which causes him to act against his will, then he can never be made to un-guard a target nor perform hostile actions upon a guarded target.

The Mouth (Ex)
At first level, and every odd level thereafter, the Honour Guard gains a +1 to intimidate, diplomacy, bluff and knowledge (nobility) checks. Also, these skills always count as trained for him.

Force of Personality (Ex)
An honour guard uses strength instead of charisma for all charisma-based skill checks and charisma checks.

Discipline of war (Ex)
The Honour Guard counts all levels in Honour Guard as levels in fighter whenever they are listed as a feat prerequisite.

Ready for Anything (Ex)
The honour guard is a master of readying actions. He can ready an action without affecting his initiative count. Further, he can ready any kind of action as an action of the same type, potentially allowing him to ready a move action to move when a creature charges him, a standard action to attack the first creature in range, and so forth. Finally, he can leave out either the type of action or the action trigger regarding his readied action: either he can choose to make some kind of standard action when a specific event occurs, or to make a specific standard action whenever he likes before his next turn. For example, he could say "I will attack at some point" or "I will take some standard action in response to the next creature who attacks me".

Look out! (Ex)
From second level, the Honour Guard may leap into danger to protect a guarded ally within half the Honour Guard's movement range as an immediate action in response to any spell or attack which specifies a target or area and must physically travel there, even a melee attack. The Honour Guard makes an attack roll with a DC equal to the result attack roll that was made to hit the target. If no attack roll is required, a ranged attack roll is made to provide the DC.

If the Honour Guard succeeds, the Honour Guard takes all the effects of the spell or attack. If he succeeds by 10 or more, neither he nor the target take the effects. In any case, the honour guard must move either to threaten the attacker or to interpose himself between the attacker and the target.

Special Abilities (Ex)
An honour guard gains a special ability at every second level level. These abilities are drawn from the section on honour guard special abilities.

Doom Phalanx (Ex)
At twentieth level, the Honour Guard’s expertise is so high that he can turn his allies into a small defence network. All the targets of guard count themselves to be guarding each other and the Honour Guard, as though they had the honour guard's Guard class feature (at the honour guard's class level) but the bonuses for being guarded do not stack.

Block: Whenever a creature attacks the honour guard while he wields a shield, or attacks a guarded target while the honour guard's shield threatens them, he can as an immediate action make an attack roll with the shield, opposing the original attack roll. If he succeeds, the shield takes the hit instead of the original target.
Break: The honour guard can choose to deal nonlethal damage with attacks at no penalty. In addition, a creature who takes nonlethal damage from an honour guard's attack must take a fortitude save (DC = damage dealt) or take strength damage equal to the honour guard's strength modifier (minimum 1).
Daisho Defender: (Requires Two-weapon Fighting feat) The honour guard gains proficiency in the bastard sword. Whenever he makes an attack of opportunity, if he's fighting with two weapons (or a double weapon) he may make an attack with both weapons, at no penalty to the attack roll.
Evade: The honour guard, and each creature guarded by the honour guard, gains the evasion class feature as a rogue. A creature who already has it gains improved evasion, and a creature who already has improved evasion gets no further benefit.
Grappler: (Requires Improved Grapple feat) The honour guard gets a bonus on grapple checks equal to half his level, and creatures larger than medium get half the normal size bonus on grapple checks against him.
Hurl Block: (Requires Block) Whenever a creature attacks a guarded creature while the honour guard is in range to throw a shield - usually 25 feet - the honour guard can throw it to block their attack as an immediate action. If his attack roll equals or exceeds the target's, the attack hits the shield. If the honour guard's attack roll is equal to or greater than the attacker's AC, the shield also hits the attacker.
Knock Back: The honour guard can attempt to knock an enemy back with his weapon attacks. As a full-round action, the honour guard can attempt a single attack with a melee weapon which knocks the target back 1 square if it hits, in addition to dealing normal damage.
Move Move Move!: Whenever the honour guard moves, he may grant up to half of his movement to an ally who is being guarded, in which case they can use that movement to move as well as part of the honour guard's action. They don't have to move together or in the same direction.
Never Surprised: The honour guard is never considered surprised - in fact, he acts in the surprise round even if there normally wouldn't be a surprise round at all.
Old Order Guardian: The honour guard gains the AC bonus of a monk of the same level due to hailing from a guard academy which eschews armour in favour of self-defence techniques. If the honour guard actually has levels in monk, their levels stack for purposes of determining the honour guard's total AC (but the wisdom bonus isn't doubled).
Opportune Defence: Attacking a guarded target provokes an attack of opportunity from the honour guard. If it already would have, the honour guard can make an additional attack of opportunity (given the ability to make more than one attack of opportunity in a round, such as via the combat reflexes feat).
Pinning Shot: The honour guard can, as a full-round action, make a single attack which holds the target in place unless they pass a reflex save (DC equal to the result of the attack roll). If they fail, they cannot move from their position and take 50% arcane spell failure chance until they free themselves as a full-round action. An honour guard using Stand and Shoot can take a pinning shot in place of the standard full attack.
Ranged Guard: The honour guard's guarding range is doubled. A creature making a ranged attack against a guarded target takes double damage if the honour guard readies an action to attack them when they do.
Slam: (Requires Knockback) When the honour guard makes a knockback attack, he can attempt to knock the enemy prone as well. If he does, the enemy must take a reflex save (DC = the result of the attack roll) or fall prone.
Snapfire: The honour guard can take attacks of opportunity with a ranged weapon, and doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity for using a ranged weapon. With the ranged weapon, the honour guard threatens as though the ranged weapon were a reach weapon, although if the weapon is thrown he may threaten normally in melee at the same time.
Stand and Shoot: (Requires Snapfire) The honour guard can make a full attack against the first opponent he makes a ranged attack of opportunity against.
Subdual Grapple: (Requires Break, Grappler) A creature grappling the honour guard takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per round.
Suppressing Fire: (Requires Pinning Shot, Stand and Shoot, Combat Reflexes feat) The honour guard can attempt to suppress enemies in an area as a standard action. The area is 5 feet in radius for every attack the honour guard is entitled to. Creatures in the area are considered threatened by the honour guard and any attack of opportunity he takes against them is automatically a pinning shot.
Temple Guard: The honour guard can guard objects as well as creatures. An honour guard who guards a significant religious structure, altar or shrine gains the paladin's divine grace class feature for the duration, except that the bonus is based on the honour guard's strength.
Tower Protector: The honour guard can form a wall with his tower shield, effectively giving total cover to anyone who is attacked through his square whenever he uses the shield to give himself total cover. The total cover is directional, allowing a creature so protected to fight with impunity.
With You to the End: Whenever a guarded makes a climb, hide, jump, move silently, swim or tumble check, the honour guard also makes a roll using his own bonus. Conversely, when an honour guard attempts one of those checks each guarded target makes a roll using their own bonus. The creature making the check then takes the best natural roll and the best bonus and combines them to get their check result.
You Cannot Pass: The honour guard can as a move or standard action enter a defensive posture which prevents enemies leaving his threatened area.