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Ranged Ranger
2017-09-30, 10:32 PM
So I was playing around with chaining and inverting the srd variants (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#otherClassVariants) and ended up with a barbarian that got wild shape, lay on hands, turn undead, remove disease, and a couple of monk features.

I thought it looked interesting, but had lost its 20th level capstone and had 6 dead levels. To fix this I pulled the ranger abilities and modified versions of the fighter abilities from this article (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a).

I liked it, but then decided to make a second version that leaned in to the wild shape a bit more by taking out the fighter abilities and two of the ranger abilities and replacing them with a homebrewed favored form ability and a modified version of warshaper's multimorph ability.

EDIT:Changes Based on Feedback are in this color. Add Knowledge (Nature) as a class skill. Wild Sense is originally a Races of Stone Goliath Racial substitution for Trap Sense.



Lvl
Animagus Barbarian
Animagus Barbarian V2


1
Fast Movement
Illiteracy
Track
Fast Movement
Illiteracy
Track


2
Uncanny Dodge
Lay on Hands

Uncanny Dodge
Lay on Hands


3
Wild Sense +1
+20’ to Movement

Wild Sense +1
+20’ to Movement


4
Turn Undead
Turn Undead


5
Improved Uncanny Dodge
+1 bonus to AC
Wild Shape (Small & Medium), 1/day

Improved Uncanny Dodge
+1 bonus to AC
Wild Shape (Small & Medium), 1/day


6
Wild Sense +2
+30’ to Movement
Wild Shape, 2/day
Greater Magic Fang, 1/day

Wild Sense +2
+30’ to Movement
Wild Shape, 2/day
Greater Magic Fang, 1/day


7
Wild Shape, 3/day
Wild Shape, 3/day


8
Extreme Physical Prowess
Favored Form


9
Wild Sense +3
+40’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 2/day

Wild Sense +3
+40’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 2/day


10
+2 bonus to AC
Wild Shape, 4/day

+2 bonus to AC
Wild Shape, 4/day


11
Woodland Hunter
Favored Form


12
Wild Sense +4
+50’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 3/day

Wild Sense +4
+50’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 3/day


13
Perceptive Tracker
Woodland Hunter


14
Wild Shape, 5/day
Wild Shape, 5/day
Favored Form


15
Wild Sense +5
+3 bonus to AC
+60’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 4/day

Wild Sense +5
+3 bonus to AC
+60’ to Movement
Greater Magic Fang, 4/day


16
Seasoned Explorer
Seasoned Explorer


17
Instinctive Tracker
Favored Form


18
Wild Sense +6
+70’ to Movement
Wild Shape, 6/day
Greater Magic Fang, 5/day

Wild Sense +6
+70’ to Movement
Wild Shape, 6/day
Greater Magic Fang, 5/day


19
Survivalist
Survivalist


20
+4 bonus to AC
Extreme Physical Prowess[/td]
+4 bonus to AC
Favored Form
Multimorph




Greater Magic Fang (SP): At 6th level, an Animagus Barbarian can produce a Greater Magic Fang effect, as the spell, once per day. She can use this ability one additional time per day for every three levels after 6th (twice per day at 9th, three times at 12th, and so forth). They may expend all of their daily uses for a single use of Remove Disease or half their daily uses (round down, minimum 1) for a single daily use of Dominate Animal.

Things in blue came from the SRD Variants, things in orange came from the dead levels article, and the things in green are things that I either modified substantially or homebrewed.

Extreme Physical Prowess (Ex): At 8th level, an Animagus Barbarian gets a bonus to some aspect of his ability checks that makes him a better warrior. The Animagus Barbarian gains an even better bonus at 20th level. The bonus must be drawn from the following list. The bonus taken at 8th level is +3, while the one at 20th level is +6; he may choose the same bonus both times, in which case they stack.
(See Fighter in Dead Levels article)

Favored form: At 8th level the Animagus can choose a form that they can already take as a favored form. They can use one of their wild shape uses each day to become a more powerful version of this animal, with 2 extra hit die and +2 additional natural armor. At level 11, wild shaping into a favored form becomes a move action instead of a standard action. At levels 11, 14, 17, and 20, the Animagus can change their favored form and may use one more of their wild shape uses with the favored form benefits. At 20th level, they can choose to have three favored forms at +2, or one at +2 and one at +4, or one at +6.

Multimorph: The Animagus can now change forms multiple times during the duration of the spell, spell-like ability, or class feature that enables her to change form. For example, an Animagus could wild shape into a direct weasel for 2 minutes, then change into an eagle (favored form) for 4 minutes, and then spend the rest of the spell's duration in the form of an octopus. Each change requires a standard action (or move action to take a favored form), and only the first transformation heals the Animagus. I f the Animagus changes in to one or more of their favored forms one or more times during a single multimorph, it counts as a single use of their favored form. If the Animagus changes into its natural form, the use of wild shape ends.

Special: A Multiclass Animagus Barbarian can add their levels from any classes that provide the wild shape feature to determine wild shape abilities, but can only gain new form benefits from the class that grants that form. E.g. a Druid 5/ Animagus Barbarian 2 would have 3/day, if their next level was druid, they would gain wild shape (Large), but if their next level was Animagus they would gain Favored Form. Note: Animagus Barbarian Multimorph can only include forms of the Animal, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, or Vermin Types.

aimlessPolymath
2017-10-01, 12:23 AM
This is a pretty neat stitched-together class!
Some thoughts:
What did Rage get traded out for? Level 1 is sad and lonely.
Trap Sense might get swapped out for something more appropriate and nature-y- maybe a bonus on saves vs. poison and disease?
Remove Disease was very specific specific on the original paladin, and that hasn't changed, but the focus of the spell doesn't fit this class. Suggest changing out for Greater Magic Fang N/day, or Speak with Animals or Speak with Plants N/week.
-Perceptive Tracker without Track as a bonus feat is pretty strange.

Looks like a fine T3-4 class overall- I'd use it in a low-mid powered campaign, and as a replacement for druids in a low-magic campaign.

Ranged Ranger
2017-10-01, 12:53 AM
rage, et al. went to get favored enemy and the combat style of ranger, which were subsequently traded away... combat style for wild shape; favored enemy for the paladin abilities... and barb DR went to get monk speed and AC boosts. I actually started out just wanting turning on a non-pali melee character and the wild shaping barbarian just kind of happened... :smalltongue::smallredface:

aimlessPolymath
2017-10-01, 10:26 AM
IIRC, getting Wild Shape gets you
an extra copy of Fast Movement. I'd say it's justified to get some other ability at level 1(Track as a bonus feat, for example).

The other comments I made were thoughts on cleaning up the class design as a whole. Thoughts on them?

Ranged Ranger
2017-10-01, 09:29 PM
Added Track 1st level.
Added Knowledge (Nature) to skill list.
Replaced Trap Sense with Wild Sense ACF from Races of Stone.

Re: Remove Disease; the spell is on both the druid and ranger lists... If a tribe had mostly standard barbarians and one Animagus, they would probably be viewed as mystical and possibly default into a psudo-shaman role; the ability to cure their people's ills could be useful. Considering giving them a weekly choice:

Remove Disease OR Greater Magic Fang OR Dominate Animal N/week.

aimlessPolymath
2017-10-01, 09:48 PM
Hm.
Remove Disease 1/day would not be game-breaking compared to N/week- the main difference is in heading off a plague before it gets a hold vs. doing maintenance to slow it down. However, G. Magic Fang is extremely important to have multiple times per day (at minimum 1- having it 1/week is a tragedy)- each time you use it, it applies to a different natural weapon, so if you intend to use more than one or two different shapes, the difference matters a lot. At the same time, the ceiling for spamming it is very low, since it doesn't stack on the same natural weapon.
Given that, I would suggest giving Greater Magic Fang N/day, but letting them expend all their uses for a day to give Remove Disease, if you want to keep it.

Ranged Ranger
2017-10-02, 01:05 AM
What about having the table say:

Greater Magic Fang N/day

While the text includes:

The Animagus Barbarian may expend all of their daily uses of Greater Magic Fang for a single use of Remove Disease.
The Animagus Barbarian may use half their daily uses of Greater Magic Fang (round down, minimum 1) for a single daily use of Dominate Animal.

aimlessPolymath
2017-10-02, 10:09 AM
Works for me!

Ranged Ranger
2017-10-02, 09:34 PM
Ok, added that and also made an adjustment to my special note on multi-classing.