PDA

View Full Version : Energy master - first homebrew class



Aurosman
2017-11-26, 11:13 PM
So after a year of playing d&d I decided to try my hand at creating a homebrew class. It came about because I liked the pyrokineticist PRC but thought it was bit lackluster(the minds eye version helped, but still had flaws). I also wanted to be able to start as that class. This is for 3.5.

Sorry about no table, havent fully figured that out yet, will make one in a day or two hopefully.

same bab and saves as a psion
gains 1 new power per level
every odd level new power must deal with an energy type
Learns new levels of powers at the same rate
starts with 2 powers known
2/3 power points as a psion, starts with 3
may learn any discipline power as long as it is an energy power


level 1 - energy atunement
a energy master has mastered all knowledge of the energy types, but is unable to fully bend them to his will. at the start of every day roll 1d6, this determines what type of energy gets a bonus for the day. 1-cold, 2-fire, 3-acid, 4-lightning, 5-sonic. on a 6 reroll.

level 1 - energy manifestation
a energy master gains 1 manifester level when using an energy powers or ability of his current type. this increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 12th level and +4 at 18th.

level 1 - imbue weapon
imbue current weapon with current energy type, gains 1d6 energy damage. this increases to 2d6 at level 7, 3d6 at level 13, and 4d6 at 19.

level 3 - bolt of energy
60ft ray deals 3d6 plus 1d6 per 2 manifested levels of current energy type

level 4 - energy aura
produces an aura that gives allies within 30ft energy resistance 5 of the current type. 10 at level 9, and 15 at level 14. also while in this aura allies gain the bonus from imbue weapon

level 5 - Energy Golem (Su):*
At 5th level, an energy master has mastered energy to such an extent that she can create temporary beings of fire, cold, water, or electricity and sonic. She can call forth a creature resembling an elemental, but composed of some type of energetic force. In any case, the creature she summons uses the statistics of a fire elemental, except that all references to fire are changed to the appropriate energy type, and it loses the Fire subtype; thus, a cold energy golem would be immune to cold and would have a Burn special ability that dealt cold damage to a victim that caught “fire”, as cold energy plays across the victim's body. Use the statistics for a medium fire elemental when the evoker first gains this ability. At 8th level, this improves to a Large Fire Elemental. At 12th level, this improves to a Huge Fire Elemental. At 16th level, this improves to a Greater Fire Elemental. At 20th level, use the statistics for an Elder Fire Elemental. An evoker can use this ability at will, but can have only a single energy golem at a time. Using this ability requires a standard action, and the creature lasts for 1 hour per manifester level. It counts as a summoned creature for the purpose of interacting with other effects. A fire golem is vulnerable to cold, a cold golem vulnerable to fire, an electricity golem vulnerable to acid, and an acid golem vulnerable to electricity.

level 6 - energy adaption
if an energy master gains a feat, ability, or weapon that does a certain type of energy damage, or makes you choose one type. an energy master may change it to his current energy type each day.

level 10 - energy surge
if an energy master rolls a critical on a power or ability, he may then treat the power or ability as if the maximize or enlarge metapower feat was applied. choose only 1.

level 20 - full energy control
once per day an energy master can go into a form where he is in perfect harmony with all 5 energy types. the next power or ability he manifests does 5x the damage, 1/5 of the damage is of each energy type. Full energy control takes a full round action to activate, and then a full round action to use the power or ability(2 rounds). if the power or ability already takes a full round to manifest, it now takes 2(3 rounds total). metapsionics and energy surge cannot be used with this ability.

I know it's not perfect, so any feedback would be great!

Also, I really want to add the energy walk ability to it somewhere cause I think it's a fun ability. Any idea on what level to put it at?

aimlessPolymath
2017-11-27, 12:25 AM
This has some issues.

I'm going to hit the major issues I see- if I don't call something out, assume it's OK.

-Energy attunement can select acid as an energy type. energy stun, energy burst, and the like cannot make use of acid, severely hurting the class on those days. Also, that kind of randomness seems kinda pointless compared to letting the class choose in the first place?
-Imbue Weapon is only useful to a weapon-user. Consider: This class has a psion's BAB, and (I expect) the same proficiencies. This is a problem. The level 4 ability turns this into a large damage buff for your melee combatants that expect to make more than a few attacks, to a rather silly extent.
-Level 6 ability should seriously be gained earlier.
-Energy surge at L10 is meaningless for many powers, especially the AoE ones. Also, if I wanted crits on my powers, I would play an Anarchic Initiate.


Generally, I would either:
-buff up the manifestation & power points to be in line with normal Psion/Wilder levels, giving this more of a Psion/Wilder bent, and letting it use its powers as often as one of them, OR
-Buff up its abilities to fight physically, pulling in the Energy Body + imbue weapon thing, and focus on psi-like abilities over psionics- this is more of a Psychic Warrior/Soulknife style.

Aurosman
2017-11-27, 05:18 PM
This has some issues.

I'm going to hit the major issues I see- if I don't call something out, assume it's OK.

-Energy attunement can select acid as an energy type. energy stun, energy burst, and the like cannot make use of acid, severely hurting the class on those days. Also, that kind of randomness seems kinda pointless compared to letting the class choose in the first place?
-Imbue Weapon is only useful to a weapon-user. Consider: This class has a psion's BAB, and (I expect) the same proficiencies. This is a problem. The level 4 ability turns this into a large damage buff for your melee combatants that expect to make more than a few attacks, to a rather silly extent.
-Level 6 ability should seriously be gained earlier.
-Energy surge at L10 is meaningless for many powers, especially the AoE ones. Also, if I wanted crits on my powers, I would play an Anarchic Initiate.


Generally, I would either:
-buff up the manifestation & power points to be in line with normal Psion/Wilder levels, giving this more of a Psion/Wilder bent, and letting it use its powers as often as one of them, OR
-Buff up its abilities to fight physically, pulling in the Energy Body + imbue weapon thing, and focus on psi-like abilities over psionics- this is more of a Psychic Warrior/Soulknife style.



My goal was kind of a support burst caster, able to help out the party, but can put out some good damage if needed.

For the randomness of energy types I thought it might be a fun thing instead of always choosing the best augment for a power, you would have a reason to use the other ones. But you totally could just choose 1 at the beginning and stick with it if you wanted.

Good point on the acid energy. I would just rule it to use the fire augment but do acid damage instead. Unless there is a basic acid modifier for phonics somewhere.

As for the imbue weapon, I just kind of followed the printed pyrokineticest, which got 3 different types of melee attacks/buffs. It seemed useful at low levels when you don't get many powers per day, and tried to make it useful for later levels so you don't have to waste powers.

As for energy surge, yeah I guess it really isn't needed. Not like you roll a crit that often anyway.

Good idea about energy adaption. Should that be a level 1 ability also then?