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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Fencer [3.5 base class, by request]



Jormengand
2017-11-11, 01:37 PM
By request. Probably better than the duellist.

The Fencer

LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1st+1+2+2+0Deadly Force 1d6, Canny Defence, Einhander Style
2nd+2+3+3+0Evasion
3rd+3+3+3+1First to the Fight
4th+4+4+4+1Prodigious Acrobatics
5th+5+4+4+1Deadly Force 2d6
6th+6/+1+5+5+2Unrestricted Motion
7th+7/+2+5+5+2Riposte
8th+8/+3+6+6+2Shot Deflection
9th+9/+4+6+6+3Forever in Motion
10th+10/+5+7+7+3Deadly Force 3d6
11th+11/+6/+1+7+7+3Improved Evasion
12th+12/+7/+2+8+8+4Hurling Defence
13th+13/+8/+3+8+8+4Magic Deflection
14th+14/+9/+4+9+9+4Free-Run
15th+15/+10/+5+9+9+5Deadly Force 4d6
16th+16/+11/+6/+1+10+10+5Shot Reflection
17th+17/+12/+7/+2+10+10+5Living Legend
18th+18/+13/+8/+3+11+11+6Magic Reflection
19th+19/+14/+9/+4+11+11+6Dance of Death
20th+20/+15/+10/+5+12+12+6Finishing Blow, Deadly Force 5d6


Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10

Class Skills:
The fencer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str) and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency
A fencer is proficient in light armour and simple weapons. The fencer is also proficient in the rapier, the scimitar and the longsword, but not with any type of shield.

Deadly Force (Ex)
A fencer is particularly good at dealing damage with one-handed swords. When wielding a rapier, scimitar or longsword in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other, the fencer deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on each hit. This extra damage has the special quality of being true damage, which means that it cannot be prevented, resisted or mitigated by any means. True damage is mutliplied on a critical hit like normal damage.

Canny Defence (Ex)
Fencers are good at defending themselves in light armour. Fencers who wear light armour or no armour add their intelligence bonus to their armour class.

Einhander Style (Ex)
Fencers are good at wielding their signature weapons to great effect. A fencer adds his intelligence bonus to attack and damage rolls with a longsword, rapier or scimitar so long as he doesn't use a weapon or shield in the other hand.

Evasion (Ex)
From second level, a fencer who is wearing light armour or no armour takes no damage if he passes a reflex save which would normally halve the damage of an attack.

First to the Fight (Ex)
A fencer gets a +20 bonus on initiative checks starting at 3rd level.

Prodigious Acrobatics (Ex)
Starting from fourth level, a fencer gets a bonus equal to his level on climb, hide, jump, move silently, swim and tumble checks so long as he wears light or no armour.

Unrestricted Motion (Ex)
From sixth level, the fencer can charge and run over difficult terrain, and does not have to charge or run in a straight line, so long as he wears light or no armour.

Riposte (Ex)
At seventh level, the fencer gains combat reflexes as a bonus feat, and missing the fencer with an attack provokes an attack of opportunity if he is wielding a longsword, rapier or scimitar in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other.

Shot Deflection (Ex)
At eighth level, the fencer can deflect arrows (as the feat) if he is wielding a longsword, rapier or scimitar in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other, though unlike the feat the other hand doesn't need to be free. He can deflect additional arrows equal to his dexterity bonus.

Forever in Motion (Ex)
At ninth level, the fencer gains the benefits of freedom of movement so long as he wears light or no armour, though the effect isn't a spell effect.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
At eleventh level, if he is wearing light or no armour, the fencer takes half damage from an attack which would deal have damage on a successful reflex save even if he fails the save.

Hurling Defence (Ex)
At twelfth level, if the fencer makes a successful attack of opportunity against an enemy who provoked one due to his riposte class feature, he may as a free action grab and throw them up to 5 feet back, or to any of he other squares within the fencer's natural reach. The fencer needs to make an opposed strength check against the creature in order to throw them successfully, and can't throw a creature he can't lift in this way.

Magic Deflection (Ex)
At thirteenth level, if the fencer would be struck by a hostile spell which doesn't require an attack roll while he is wielding a longsword, rapier or scimitar in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other, the attacker must make a ranged touch attack roll against the fencer. If they fail, the spell does nothing to the fencer (but might hit other targets normally).

Free-Run (Ex)
At fourteenth level, the fencer can climb, jump and tumble at normal speeds, and can make a single move, withdraw, run or charge which covers up to the maximum possible distance without taking into account how that distance was covered. The fencer ignores difficult and dangerous terrain in this case.

Shot Reflection (Ex)
At sixteenth level, the fencer can reflect arrows the same way he deflects them.

Living Legend (Ex)
At seventeenth level, the fencer is so well known that almost everyone treats him favourably. Apart from the fencer's enemies, everyone is willing and possibly even eager to perform favours and provide minor goods and services free of charge.

Magic Reflection (Ex)
At eighteenth level, any magic which misses the fencer (whether due to the magic deflection or because the spell's innate attack roll failed) is reflected back onto the caster.

Dance of Death (Ex)
At nineteenth level, while wielding a longsword, rapier or scimitar in one hand and no weapon or shield in the other, a fencer can perform a dance of death. A dance of death is a full attack, but each attack in the dance of death is made in a special way. The fencer moves up to his full movement distance, ignoring foes in his path, and makes the relevant attack against each and every enemy in his path. He also makes a free trip attempt, as though he had the improved trip feat, against any target he hits (she need not make another touch attack). He then repeats this process for each other attack he is capable of making. However, he can only turn up to 120 degrees between attacks, which prevents him from cutting back and forth through the same line of enemies repeatedly.

Finishing Blow (Ex)
At twentieth level, if the fencer's attack with a longsword, rapier or scimitar hits a target, the fencer is wielding no weapon or shield in the other hand, and the target is left with 100 or fewer hit points, the attack kills the target outright as though it had done the other 110 points of damage that would kill them.

Westhart
2017-11-12, 09:56 AM
I love this but have a couple questions:
1) First to the fight: should this be per level since otherwise it makes a crazy good dip.
2) Magic Reflection: how does this work with AoE? Is the whole spell centered on the caster now? Is your square(s) unaffected and the casters square(s) are? If the whole thing is centered on the caster do any effects that allow you to remove 5'squares still apply?
3) Finishing blow at first gave me a funny feeling, but I think it'll be alright at 20th.
I'd support you, however between rent and utilities + college I'm broke (even had to sell most of my book collection). Hope you get some support though! :(

Jormengand
2017-11-12, 10:08 AM
I love this but have a couple questions:
1) First to the fight: should this be per level since otherwise it makes a crazy good dip.
I'm okay with a two-level fencer dip (which is a spell level, basically) giving you a big initiative buff.


2) Magic Reflection: how does this work with AoE? Is the whole spell centered on the caster now? Is your square(s) unaffected and the casters square(s) are? If the whole thing is centered on the caster do any effects that allow you to remove 5'squares still apply?
The caster is hit as though they were in the area, but the spell's actual area doesn't change. If a fencer and a fighter are fireballed by a wizard, then the wizard and fighter will be hit if the fencer reflects it.


3) Finishing blow at first gave me a funny feeling, but I think it'll be alright at 20th.
It's just PWK on a stick; I think it's probably fine.


I'd support you, however between rent and utilities + college I'm broke (even had to sell most of my book collection). Hope you get some support though! :(


No worries. Part of the reason I make donationware rather than gating my stuff away behind paywalls is so that if people aren't in the financial position to pay, they can still enjoy my stuff.

Westhart
2017-11-12, 10:19 AM
I'm okay with a two-level fencer dip (which is a spell level, basically) giving you a big initiative buff.

Fair enough then.
[/quote]
The caster is hit as though they were in the area, but the spell's actual area doesn't change. If a fencer and a fighter are fireballed by a wizard, then the wizard and fighter will be hit if the fencer reflects it.
[/quote]
Ah OK, thanks for clearing that up :smallbiggrin:


It's just PWK on a stick; I think it's probably fine.

Fair enough


No worries. Part of the reason I make donationware rather than gating my stuff away behind paywalls is so that if people aren't in the financial position to pay, they can still enjoy my stuff.
Just don't Pull a WoW eh? :smallwink: (got to level 20, missed the little asterisk n the ad that said you had to pay after 20th... :smallannoyed:).

Jormengand
2017-11-12, 10:23 AM
Just don't Pull a WoW eh? :smallwink: (got to level 20, missed the little asterisk n the ad that said you had to pay after 20th... :smallannoyed:).

What, because you were afraid I'd paywall all of my epic content? :smalltongue:

Westhart
2017-11-12, 10:26 AM
What, because you were afraid I'd paywall all of my epic content? :smalltongue:

Now that'd be a shame :smalltongue:

Westhart
2017-11-16, 09:03 AM
Just realized that peerless motion doesn't have a description but is on the table.

Jormengand
2017-11-16, 02:26 PM
Just realized that peerless motion doesn't have a description but is on the table.

That was a mistake; I renamed it and changed its level but accidentally kept the old version. I also accidentally put First to the Fight at the wrong level (text says 3rd, table said 2nd) so that's been fixed too.

Westhart
2017-11-16, 02:28 PM
That was a mistake; I renamed it and changed its level but accidentally kept the old version. I also accidentally put First to the Fight at the wrong level (text says 3rd, table said 2nd) so that's been fixed too.

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure :smallsmile:

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2017-11-23, 11:30 PM
As a DM, I would never allow this class as it's currently written without making a few adjustments:

Hurling Defense absolutely needs to require some type of check, such as a bull rush. A medium character with a few feats to get a 15 ft. natural reach should not be able to automatically push a colossal dragon 15 ft. back every time he dodges one of the dragon's attacks.

First to the Fight is way too good as a flat bonus, the +20 should be replaced with something like Class Level + Int bonus.

Finishing Blow should only be able to trigger 1/round, i.e. the first one of his attacks reduces the opponent below 101 hp in a given round.

Jormengand
2017-11-24, 01:24 PM
As a DM, I would never allow this class as it's currently written without making a few adjustments:

Hurling Defense absolutely needs to require some type of check, such as a bull rush. A medium character with a few feats to get a 15 ft. natural reach should not be able to automatically push a colossal dragon 15 ft. back every time he dodges one of the dragon's attacks.

First to the Fight is way too good as a flat bonus, the +20 should be replaced with something like Class Level + Int bonus.

Finishing Blow should only be able to trigger 1/round, i.e. the first one of his attacks reduces the opponent below 101 hp in a given round.

I've changed hurling defence, although if you have a medium creature with a 15 foot reach your game has other problems. I'm keeping first to the fight because class features actually reliably doing the thing they're meant to is nice for mundanes who don't tend to do much, and if you manage to Finishing Blow two enemies in one round then you should honestly get that benefit.

Zancloufer
2017-11-24, 06:52 PM
Solid idea, but a few notes:

1) Is the Int bonus to AC is what. Insight? Dodge? Armour? What AC does it apply to? Does it add to touch? Flat Footed?

2) First To The Fight isn't a "Nice thing" it is "Winning at initiative". It is so freaking ridiculous that a two level dip would be good for casters almost. Heck a Gish Wizard would love two levels of this class. Should really be scaled back as +20 to any d20 roll is really good, let alone at level 2.

3) Permanent (Ex) Freedom of Movement at level 9 is a little silly. Perhaps reducing it's effect and/or spreading it out would help. I mean it's a big NOPE button for anyone trying to stop you.

4) Magic Deflection probably should have some sort of limit on how often each round it can be used. Also magic reflection is a bit odd and could probably use some sort of nerf.

5) Finishing blow means anything with ~100-150 HP is pretty much a one shot. It's good, but as said should probably have a limit to how often it can be used. It's probably better than many 9th level maneuvers for ToB classes but in this case it's a no cost at will always active ability.

Also maybe it's just me but this class seems to be more of a "Unstoppable Juggernaut that happens to use a Rapier" than a "Fencer". Very few tricks, no real dexterity based bonuses, just a bunch of "NOPE YOU CAN'T STOP ME" buttons. Pretty much a charter that can only be stopped in fighting them in melee combat.

A Fencer. Who has one weakness. A straight up fair fight with weapons. That's rather ironic.

Jormengand
2017-11-24, 07:15 PM
1) Is the Int bonus to AC is what. Insight? Dodge? Armour? What AC does it apply to? Does it add to touch? Flat Footed?
Untyped bonuses exist.


2) First To The Fight isn't a "Nice thing" it is "Winning at initiative". It is so freaking ridiculous that a two level dip would be good for casters almost. Heck a Gish Wizard would love two levels of this class. Should really be scaled back as +20 to any d20 roll is really good, let alone at level 2.
It's at level 3. If you're losing one and a half spell levels for that, then that's fine, honestly.


3) Permanent (Ex) Freedom of Movement at level 9 is a little silly. Perhaps reducing it's effect and/or spreading it out would help. I mean it's a big NOPE button for anyone trying to stop you.
I think that mundanes having nice things is fine.


4) Magic Deflection probably should have some sort of limit on how often each round it can be used. Also magic reflection is a bit odd and could probably use some sort of nerf.
I think that mundanes having nice things is fine.


5) Finishing blow means anything with ~100-150 HP is pretty much a one shot. It's good, but as said should probably have a limit to how often it can be used. It's probably better than many 9th level maneuvers for ToB classes but in this case it's a no cost at will always active ability.
I don't know about "Better than many 9th-level maneuvers", given that there are 8th-level area attack maneuvers which do that sort of damage anyway. I still think that mundanes at twentieth level having nice things is fine.


Also maybe it's just me but this class seems to be more of a "Unstoppable Juggernaut that happens to use a Rapier" than a "Fencer". Very few tricks, no real dexterity based bonuses, just a bunch of "NOPE YOU CAN'T STOP ME" buttons. Pretty much a charter that can only be stopped in fighting them in melee combat.

Not really seeing it; fighting them with weapons is still dangerous and more so than casting decent spells on them. Magic reflection comes online at eighteenth level; it's not gonna smash the game.

GnomeWorks
2017-11-25, 09:52 PM
There's nothing wrong with this.

My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to have a solid answer to incorporeal, but it has enough other tools that adding an answer to that might be overkill.

Westhart
2017-11-25, 09:55 PM
There's nothing wrong with this.

My only complaint is that it doesn't seem to have a solid answer to incorporeal, but it has enough other tools that adding an answer to that might be overkill.
Well, most martials (I am not familiar with hypermundanes so not including them) do not have tat option, unless they use ghost touch equipment etc (at least I think).

GnomeWorks
2017-11-25, 10:03 PM
Which is dumb.

Team Monster has incorporeality online at CR 3. Giving martials ways to deal with it is on the path of letting them have nice things.

The fencer here has a solid toolkit though, so I think giving them a solid way of handling it might be overboard.

Westhart
2017-11-25, 10:07 PM
Which is dumb.

Team Monster has incorporeality online at CR 3. Giving martials ways to deal with it is on the path of letting them have nice things.

The fencer here has a solid toolkit though, so I think giving them a solid way of handling it might be overboard.

Ah, but that's more of a problem with the system then the class IMO.