Courtesan

[ngilop]

Hey guys, here is a new 3.5 class i made. It is basically a class more focused on social interactions. But does have the abiity to if they so chose to cast a limited number of spell Or do some sneak attacking.

here is the google doc link :)
Courtesan (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L59AY7EInsBlTys_tE7SwDEEDhp_4OTg64WF_750W_s/edit?usp=sharing)

[Ranged Ranger]

You seem to be missing the progression here:
"Negotiator (Ex)
Courtesans are experts at judging the attitudes of people they meet and swaying them over to specific ways of thinking. As such, a courtesan receives a +2 circumstance bonus to all Diplomacy and Sense Motive skill checks, this increases by +1 at 6th level and every th level thereafter."

Healing touch/poison use
so healing is a skill while poisoning isn't (at least according to the rules)... I'd suggest adding heal to the class skill list and making this ability a choice between the Master of Poisons Feat (Drow of Underdark) and Skill Focus Heal... possibly with an added effect if you think one of the feats is more powerful than the other.

Sorcery Style: Curse/Heal/Necromancy - I'd make these based directly on non-good/non-evil/(evil or non-good) alignments rather than tying them to healing touch/poison use...

[nonsi]

Hey guys, here is a new 3.5 class i made. It is basically a class more focused on social interactions. But does have the abiity to if they so chose to cast a limited number of spell Or do some sneak attacking.

here is the google doc link :)
Courtesan (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L59AY7EInsBlTys_tE7SwDEEDhp_4OTg64WF_750W_s/edit?usp=sharing)

7 dead levels means 7 levels where you're getting nothing (BAB saves and skill points don't justify a level). That's really not fun.

[Westhart]

I have to agree with nonsi, dead levels are... well called ded for a reason...

[ngilop]

I have to agree with nonsi, dead levels are... well called ded for a reason...

I am not too hung up on the whole dead levels thing.

What I do realize though, is sorcery style is more powerful than sneak attack by far and better than politics in all but pure social campaigns.

I need some abilities to improve those 2 abilities to put them on par with the spell casting line.

[Ranged Ranger]

Since two other people brought up the dead levels, might I suggest you let the character choose two Secret Arts - one to get the full progression at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels as you have it; the other doesn't get its final progression but gets the other at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels? This would fill three of your dead levels... (could sacrifice the mathematical beauty of the progression to move the 13th level to either 12th or 14th and fill 4 dead levels...)

As for increasing power... for sneak attack, you could increase the die at a faster rate: +2d6 each progression or something... and/or you could add the ability to change the damage type of the extra dice...
Not sure for the political one... Maybe choose two each time?

[ngilop]

Since two other people brought up the dead levels, might I suggest you let the character choose two Secret Arts - one to get the full progression at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels as you have it; the other doesn't get its final progression but gets the other at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels? This would fill three of your dead levels... (could sacrifice the mathematical beauty of the progression to move the 13th level to either 12th or 14th and fill 4 dead levels...)

As for increasing power... for sneak attack, you could increase the die at a faster rate: +2d6 each progression or something... and/or you could add the ability to change the damage type of the extra dice...
Not sure for the political one... Maybe choose two each time?

one thing I am thinking of doing is rolling the sneak attack into a general art for everyone and replacing sneak attack with assassination and coming up with new abilities for them ( easy enough give her death attack, Anatomy Knowledge , Blend and other such)

think that is a good idea?

[Ranged Ranger]

one thing I am thinking of doing is rolling the sneak attack into a general art for everyone and replacing sneak attack with assassination and coming up with new abilities for them ( easy enough give her death attack, Anatomy Knowledge , Blend and other such)

think that is a good idea?

Sounds fine balance wise... although thematically the politics art seems more like something every courtesan would have....

An option for your consideration:1st Negotiator, Comeliness
2nd Poison Use or Healing Touch, Seductive Art
3rd Secret Art (Politics)
4th Prowess Focus
5th Secret Art (Sorcery)
6th Secret Art (Sneak Attack)
7th Prowess Focus, Improved Secret Art 1
8th Inspire
9th Improved Secret Art 2
10th Prowess Focus
11th Advanced Secret Art 1
12th –
13th Prowess Focus, Advanced Secret Art 2
14th –
15th Greater Secret Art 1
16th Prowess Focus
17th Greater Secret Art 2
18th –
19th Perfected Secret Art 1, Prowess Focus
20th Timeless Charm

They get the basics of each secret art (levels 3rd, 5th, and 6th) and then choose one to advance all the way starting at 7th and another to advance most of the way starting at 9th...

[FreddyNoNose]

I have to agree with nonsi, dead levels are... well called ded for a reason...

Makes me think of this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_URGZ3QQjE

[Avigor]

First, the following are just my opinions, feel free to use or ignore as you see fit:

Healing Touch: Part of me really doesn't think that Heal as a class skill comes close to matching Poison Use; if you want to keep a masseuse flavor, maybe something that allows their massages to grant temporary relief to Strength and/or Dexterity damage (as in the subject can act as if they weren't damaged but the damage is still technically there) equal to their Wisdom bonus (minimum 1 point) for a number of hours equal to their ranks in the Heal skill after spending an hour working on the subject? Otherwise, a Lay on Hands ability would work great here.

Sneak Attack: I think this should be renamed "Stealth" and grant Trapfinding.

Entertainer: Does the "restore a damaged reputation" effectively improve everyone's reactions to someone you're singing the praises of? Might be worth slightly tweaking the wording here to just say you can adjust everyone's reaction to the target for better or worse, and maybe even throw in something about a failure possibly causing the opposite result ("eyes as green as a fresh-pickled toad" didn't exactly help Harry's rep lol).

Smear Others: It might be worth, again, adjusting the wording to allow this to be either positive or negative. After all, RAW diplomacy only affects NPC reactions towards yourself, not towards others; you need the Renowned Courtesan feat (Dragon 315) to pull that off.

Prowess Focus: This should allow SA/Stealth focus to take an Ambush feat instead of a Skill Focus; after all, they get half what a single-class Rogue can get, and Sorcerers can get extra spells with these. It would also be worth allowing Politics specialists to take the feats Smooth Talk (PGtF/DR315, allow ignoring the regional and level 1 requirements) or Wanderer's Diplomacy (PHB2), as well as the Social Recovery Skill Trick (CS) to give the more diplomatic types some better options.

Inspire: Limits? Must remain in range, maintain line of sight, only works for a specific duration? At least one of those limits should be applied.

Greater Secret Art: Leadership and Contacts (Ally feature)? This seems redundant IMO; I'd just give her a cohort here, using the Ally feature for the other "followers". Maybe fluff as a personal butler or body guard of some sort, otherwise a fan wanting to follow her around and help always works.

Perfected Secret Art: Greater Invisibility? Personally, I'd rather have any version of Hide in Plain Sight, but that's just me.

Timeless Charm:
Poison Use: You can spit a poison, cause damage, and afflict the poison? Firstly, what is the damage type? Acid would be the classic option, and should probably be accompanied by Acid Resistance. Secondly, can this be used for ingested poisons? If so, it is OP. Either way, the fact that you are adding damage suggests to me that you should either be mutating into a spider or similar monster, or this should be an Su ability, not an Ex ability.
Healing Touch: By RAW, after death a Cure Serious Wounds will do nothing. There is the Revivify spell, so if you meant a level 20 Courtesan can effectively cast Revivify with a Cure Serious Wounds rider that could work, but I'd want that to be Su not Ex.

Mass Touch of Harm: Given that the Mass Mending Touch was two "levels" above Mending Touch, I'd suggest pushing this up one into the "Requires 2 Advanced Spells" category.
That's my only suggestion for the spells; someone more experienced with spell balance should take a look at this. I definitely love the concept however, like a sorcerer domain wizard almost.

Recommended to add Politics options:
Cover Identity: The Courtesan has established an alternate life which is less glamorous and noticeable, but which might have more access or arouse less suspicion in some circumstances, such as a teacher, scribe, merchant, or servant (inspiration: Spymaster PrC from Complete Adventurer). When in the cover identity, the benefit of Advanced Secret Art should not apply, or should be refluffed to be less about sex appeal and more about looking innocent, scared, helpless, etc (maybe require a Perform check to pull this off?).

Inspire Love and Devotion: Use Diplomacy to make someone fall in love with you. This shouldn't be treated as a Charm Person as their goal is not just to help a friend but to increase their level of intimacy with you. (Inspiration: Dragon 315's Renowned Courtesan feat).

Inspire Hope or Despair: By applying psychological manipulation, you can give a target some bonuses or penalties to morale. Inspired (again) by Dragon 315's Renowned Courtesan, this could give an equivalent of either Bless or Bane to a target; maybe start as Bless/ Bane equivalent and allow taking this twice to allow either faster Bless/ Bane effects or take the same time for Good Hope or Crushing Despair or apply the Bless/ Bane to multiple targets?

[ngilop]

thanks Ranged Ranger that is a brilliant idea, and one I can say never even crossed my mind.

as for your input Avigor, thats smart too, and led to me create a couple more abilities thanks so much.

now to finish the class!

[ngilop]

Ok.. there we go...

take a look and lemme know if it is better and all 3 secret art choices are valid somewhat balanced against each other.

[Avigor]

Another idea: Immunity to Disease to deal with venereal diseases, and Immunity to Poison to deal with court intrigue assassination attempts. Could easily be squeezed into a dead level somewhere long before getting the immunity to ability damage at 20.

Also, while on second thought the alternate identity suggestion could be a bad fit, something that I think would fit is a free Skill Focus that must be on a Profession skill (teacher, scribe, bureaucrat, museum curator or antiquarian, etc) or an appropriate Craft skill (painting, bookbinding, writing, cartography, etc; you just can't pick anything too hands-on like blacksmithing, weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, carpentry, stonemasonry, etc) which can't be traded for anything else, to reflect some kind of professional training outside of social maneuvering.

That has got to be the earliest Death Attack I've ever seen... Yes, Death Attack isn't the most powerful thing in existence, but getting it that early might not be the best idea. I'd suggest moving it to a higher slot somewhere. Again, I'd advocate Trapfinding as the first Secret Art ability for the stealthier option (or maybe even for all Courtesans); after all, even if the nobility doesn't tend to use rolling boulder traps, it wouldn't be unheard of for them to use a poison needle or a glyph of warding on the lockboxes containing their sensitive personal documents.

Calming Aura might benefit, balance-wise, from some kind of cooldown, so only perfected secret art gives you every round, otherwise there's a gap between uses.

Does Inspire Greatness require continuous line of sight or remaining within range or such? Wording didn't seem 100% clear to me. Inspire has the same question still.

Advanced Secret Art's Charisma to AC: Does it apply to all armors? I'd strongly suggest a clause limiting it to light armors.

The Greater and Perfected Assassination abilities just seem weird to me, but I'm not sure what to suggest...

Again, I'd advocate HiPS over GI any day, given that the presence of Invisible creatures can by RAW be detected with a spot check result of 20 (albeit many DM's will probably ignore this if you're actively hiding in favor of the +20/+40 modifier so yeah it could potentially work).

Venomous Spittle: Poison isn't officially a damage type in 3.5 afaik, albeit iirc at least one 3.5 poison does do direct HP damage so I'll cede that this does technically have precedent (if barely).




A minor point is that the items aren't exactly in order outside of the table, which can be confusing, and Venomous Spittle/ Touch of Respite would be significantly less bulky if separated into two separate paragraphs, but that's formatting not substance so...