Viking 3.5 Base Class

[artimus261]

Posting this class I made. Think it's a fun and well rounded class. Not sure how 'optimized' it is but didn't really make it for that. A competent warrior that is able to navigate, spread fear, bolster allies, and deal considerable damage. Anyway, tell me what yall think. Sorry in advance for not having a level advancement grid thing. Don't know how to do those... bolded the levels they get things at in the paragraphs and other important details to try to help make it clear.

Viking

HD: d12

BAB: Good

Fort: Good
Ref: Poor
Will: Poor

Skill Points at 1st Level: 4 x (4 + Int)
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int

Skill List: Balance(Dex), Climb(Str), Craft(Int), Handle Animal(Cha), Intimidate(Cha), Jump(Str), Knowledge[geography](Int), Knowledge[history](Int), Profession(Wis), Spot(Wis), Survival(Wis), Swim(Str), Use Rope(Dex)

Armor: Light, Medium + Shields(except tower)

Weapons: Dagger, light mace, club, heavy mace, morningstar, shortspear, crossbow(light/heavy), sling, javelin, throwing axe, light hammer, handaxe, light pick, bastardsword, battleaxe, longsword, heavy pick, flail, heavy flail, trident, warhammer, greataxe, greatsword, greatclub, dwarven waraxe, net, shortbow, composite shortbow, longbow, composite longbow.

Raid(Ex): A viking leaps in combat with a ferocious tenacity that can strike fear in the hearts of those facing him. At the beginning of combat, after he rolls Initiative, the viking makes a special Intimidate check with a bonus equal to his Initiative modifier. All enemies that have a lower Initiative result than the viking are subject to this Intimidate check and, upon failing a modified level check, take a -2 penalty on all attack rolls, armor class, and saving throws for 1 round.

Seafarer(Ex): A viking is an explorer as much as he is a warrior, his kind taking to the seas to find what’s past the horizon. Spending so much time aboard rocking and swaying ships and on the sea in general has given him some benefits. The viking gains a +2 bonus on Balance, Swim, and Use Rope checks. Additionally the viking gains a +2 bonus on all Survival checks made to keep him from getting lost or to recognize that he is lost as long as he can see the stars, able to keenly navigate with them alone. These bonuses increase to +4 at 7th level and +6 at 14th level.

Martial Upbringing(Ex): A viking is trained heavily in the use of weapons he tends to favor from a young age. A viking is treated as a fighter of an equivalent level for the purpose of selecting feats.

Heavy Limbed(Ex): A viking is a sculpted example of near physical perfection and his body is capable of mighty blows. A viking gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat at 1st level. Additionally he deals 1d6 points of damage with his unarmed strikes and can apply 1-1/2 his Strength modifier to the damage of such attacks.

Determination(Ex): Despite the vikings brutal upbringing he is taught to keep his head up and shrug off anything that would shake his will. Beginning at 2nd level the viking gains a +1 bonus on his Will saves and on Strength checks. The bonus increases to +2 at 9th level and +3 at 16th level.

Improved Sunder: The viking is a capable combatant, preferring to cleave his enemies weapons and shields to pieces when they raise them. At 3rd level the viking gains Improved Sunder as a bonus feat.

Capable Grappler(Ex): A viking has been wrestling with his peers for as long as he can remember and is more than comfortable grappling his foes. The viking gains Improved Grapple as a bonus feat at 4th level and makes grapple checks as if he was one size category larger.

Armor Mastery(Ex): Starting at 5th level, a viking is able to wear his armor like a second skin and ignore the standard speed reduction for wearing medium armor.

Know Direction(Ex): A viking is a truly competent navigator, able to see much with the stars alone. Beginning at 5th level the viking can take a full-round action to gain an effect identical to the know direction spell at will as long as he can clearly see the night sky.

Adrenaline Rush(Ex): A viking who enters into combat is flooded with his love for battle and the defeat of his foes. Beginning at 6th level the viking gains a +10ft bonus to his landspeed and a +4 bonus to his Strength score for a number of rounds equal to his Constitution modifier at the beginning of each encounter.

Cold Resistance(Ex): A Viking hails from far northern lands where it snows year round and has developed resistance to temperatures that others would find harmful. Beginning at 6th level the Viking gains Cold Resistance 10. This increases to Cold Resistance 20 at 15th level.

Damage Reduction(Ex): At 7th level, a viking gains Damage Reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the viking takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every three viking levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0.

Endurance: The viking has a lot of vitality and is able to continue onwards when others have tired. At 7th level the viking gains Endurance as a bonus feat.

Mettle(Ex): A viking has become able to completely shrug off lesser burdens and power through the effects that would hinder him. Beginning at 8th level if he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping viking does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Rampant Charge(Ex): A viking is fearless in the heat of combat, charging his foe with complete abandon. Beginning at 10th level the viking is able to increase the AC penalty he takes for charging to inflict additional damage on the blow. The viking can choose to increase the penalty he takes from rampant charge to an amount equal to his base attack bonus (not including the normal -2 penalty for charging) and gains the same amount as a bonus on the damage roll. When using a two-handed weapon the viking gains 1-½ times the amount he increased the penalty by as a bonus on the damage roll. The penalty remains until the start of his next turn.

Battlecry(Ex): A viking is a fearsome combatant and is able to spread fear through the ranks of his opponents. At 12th level the viking gains Kiai Shout as a bonus feat. However the viking is able to affect creatures with his shout whose HD are less than the viking’s HD + his Charisma modifier.
Additionally the Viking can use his battlecry as a free action during any other move action.
Finally, all allies within range of his shout also gains a +2 morale bonus on attacks rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws for 3 rounds. The viking gains the benefit of this morale bonus as well. However the viking and his allies can only gain the benefit of this morale bonus once per encounter.

Terrible Blow(Ex): A viking is capable of devastating blows that can send opponents flying. At 17th level the viking gains Awesome Blow as a bonus feat. Additionally the viking can choose to take an additional -4 penalty on the attack roll and make the attack as a full round action to increase the DC by 4 and send the target 20ft instead of 10.

Odin's Blessings(Ex): A Viking who has come this far is a leader of his people and earned the favor of the All-Father giving him great power, a breadth of knowledge, and an unfailing vitality. At 20th level the Viking gains an effect identical to deathward except that it is always active, cannot be dispelled, and is not negated by anti-magic. Additionally the Viking gains an inherent +2 bonus to all of his ability scores. The bonus to Intelligence the Viking gains through this ability allows him to calculate his skill points as if he had had this bonus at 1st level granting him all of the skill points he would have gained throughout his levels when he attains 20th level (23 skill points in addition to the skill points gained at 20th level with the viking’s newly increased Intelligence modifier).


Hope this wasn't a pain to read. I am thinking about changing rampant charge's penalty cap to armor class as opposed to base attack bonus. The only problem I am seeing with that is the viking being able to take a much larger penalty the moment they get the ability.

[aimlessPolymath]

Your formatting is almost ideal. The only change I would make is to indicate the level at which the feature is gained in the first sentence, for easier skimming (using general language similar to what you use in Armor Mastery)
1st level features don't need this, though, and your bolding helps alleviate it.

Some notes:
Skills should go up to 4+Int. Add Balance(since it's boosted by Seafarer), Spot (for sighting land) and Search (for effective looting).

First level features, practically, boil down to "skill focus plus a solid chassis". I suggest a new feature to set apart this class from a generic feature:
Raid: When the Viking rolls initiative, they can make an Intimidate check to demoralize all creatures they can see and that can hear them as a free action.

Determination feels low-relevance. It brings their Will save from Poor to Still Not Great, and takes until level 16 to equal the Iron Will feat. Strength checks are OK, but not great, especially since there are bigger bonuses around. Suggest granting the player's choice of Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, and Iron Will.

Levels 3 and 4 are fine features, if not particularly splashy.

Level 5 is good, though a cantrip at will isn't particularly impressive (and an ordinary Survival check does the same thing, I think). Suggest adding weather prediction (24 hours in advance?) to round it out.

Level 6 is good! I like the "beginning of combat" trigger- it feels elegant in a way that's hard to pin down, and I incorporated it into my Raid suggestion.

Cold Resistance is good, if very poorly scaling. 10 is fine for level 6, but I would improve it to 20 by 9, and 30 at level 15 at least. There's also room for a bit of fun- perhaps a Viking who gets a kiss from a winter fae becomes immune outright.

Damage Reduction is fine.
Endurance feels like "more of the same" - two different features representing the same quality. Move Endurance to a different level.

Mettle is good, not much to say.

Rampant Charge...I would apply the resulting increase to attack rolls, and let them Power Attack on their own. BAB is a good limiter. Consider as a possible alternative Pounce, but each attack beyond the first applies -2 to AC.

Kiai Shout: I would grant Kiai Shout as abonus feat earlier, to segue into these later improvements. Also, the bonus uses are probably unneeded.

Terrible Blow:Awesome Blow is awesome.

Odin's Blessings is good! Deathward continuously is a cool capstone.

Dead levels: 11 but a new iterative, 13 is only +DR, 18, 19 is only +DR.
Prioritize filling 18>19>13>11 to fill these.

[brian 333]

I'd change Animal Handling to Boat Handling. Let the player choose Animal Handling if he wants it, but your theme as a seafaring culture indicates ships and boats are the primary means of transportation.

I'd also put Fishing on the class skills list, both net fishing and hook and line.

Rope Use is a must for the class skills list.

[artimus261]

Thank you for looking this over aimless! You always give very helpful advice!

not sure about increasing their skills, though even as i type this i find myself thinking 'it wouldn't overdo it' so maybe xP

Definitely could see adding Balance and Spot but feel like Search might just be a little out of their area of expertise, though maybe not @_@

Really liked your Raid idea. The one change I might make to it is for him to gain the free Intimidate against all creatures that rolled lower on Initiative. with that version in use thinking about giving them a bonus on this intimidate check equal to their Strength modifier... or initiative bonus??? idk... still it's a beautiful concept that also helps them start the combat from even better footing. also once battlecry is there makes for a good way to help them apply it's effects while bolstering the party for a short time

while it wasn't explicitly discussed i also will be raising the damage their unarmed strikes deal, allowing them to add 1-1/2 Str to the damage, not a huge increase but it just feels appropriate for a viking to be able to deliver brutal unarmed strikes. not needing to draw a weapon, not caring if they've thrown their weapon, not a huge feature but gives them some flexibility when it comes to melee

I will say that Determination actually equals Iron Will on the will save side of things at 2nd level. might consider increasing the bonuses to maybe +4. while the strength check bonus might not seem overall huge it allows them to break through doors, burst chains when bound, and other things. it's definitely more for flavor but think it still has a healthy use (considering it also helps them against trip attempts, making bullrushes, and other combat techniques)

LOOOVED the weather prediction, don't know why i didn't think of that, would be very cool for the frontline meleer to be able to fill the navigator roll (which i wanted for this class so TY)

i battled for a long time with the cold resistance. thought a lot about giving them immunity but given their overall lack of magical stuff it felt wrong, but i do like the concept you gave it to fluff it up a bit and make sense, will think about that

Endurance was definitely there for fluff, it makes sense for the viking but given it's low impact it could definitely be given at almost any level. might even just move it to the first level they gain DR or some other minor benefit

as for rampant charge, i liked the idea of them being able to hinder their AC instead of power attacking so they get to keep their accuracy while still dolling out heavy damage on a charge, although at a heavy cost. do like the pounce alternative, perhaps each additional attack after the first gaining a cumulative +2 damage while taking the cumulative -2 AC per swing. not sure, while it doesn't exactly flow with power attack i like that it takes it's place if you're looking for surefire damage on your charge and still pairs with it if you're willing to take the risk of missing the attack and having a huge penalty to AC

battlecry: while part of me likes the idea of dolling out the increases over different levels i think i have to stick with it the way it is, kiai shout by itself is like... one of the worst feats despite what it wants to do/be. even with the addition of his charisma mod to the HD that can be affected by it there are still very good odds enemies HD will be too high or they'll just have a high will save, or heck, even just be immune to fear/mind-affecting effects. with all of that in mind i think trying to spread out the feature would impair all parts of it. right now it's only saving grace really is the morale bonus to the viking and allies which makes him shrug his shoulders when no one gets demoralized. admittedly Raid makes doing this early in the fight something to think about, but think it's just too flimsy to bother trying to dish out over multiple levels.
Though I'll definitely admit the additional uses are mostly unneeded, thought so myself but figured 'eh, can't hurt'

glad you liked odin's blessing, took me a long time to come up with a capstone i liked but when it hit me a wrote it out like a madman, love the overall boost they get to every stat, the bonus skill points signifying the knowledge bestowed upon them, and the freaking eternal immunity to death effects, negative levels, and negative energy. while it was soemthing they could have used before, making them wonder if the all-father was ever watching at all, so many things in late game/epic level games use death effects left and right. letting a simple viking stand in the face of that is just a beautiful image for me

[artimus261]

thinking of letting the viking gains the effects of the Weather Eye spell if they spend 10 minutes surveying the sky. thoughts? the druid spell takes an hour to complete but is only a level 3 spell. however they are normally the only class that can cast it so while it's not an overall powerful effect, allowing a viking to do it seems pretty boss, plus of course they wouldn't need the material component or focus item

seems like a decent way to fill the dead level 11 slot

[artimus261]

posting up my iteration of Raid, tell me what ya think :) little different but allows it to stack and enhance battlecry

Also just altered battlecry in a way that I think allows it to deserve the level it's at and made me remove the additional uses.

Now the very first turn of a viking is as follows: roll initiative (raid and adrenaline rush activates), charge towards enemy (allowing the use of battlecry and drawing weapon), deliver heavy damage with rampant charge.

If all things work target has a -4 attack/saves, -2 AC

The Viking has a +4 attack/damage (5 damage if two-handing), +2 saves, +10ft landspeed.

The gap between the enemies penalties and the Vikings bonuses make for a hit like a freight train in the first round.

His features make feats like Rapid Assault (Tome of Battle; +1d6 melee damage in first turn) and even Improved Initiative (which grants the Viking +4 bonus on his Raid intimidate check and helps him get higher Initiative than enemies which helps raid actually work) very desirable

[artimus261]

Doing some minor calculations the damage the Viking potentially deals on his first attack is humongous and likely even forces a massive damage fort save.

With an 18 Str Viking using a greatsword by 12th level using raid, adrenaline rush, battlecry, and rampant charge all together you're looking at (ignoring the equipment of a 12th level Viking which would only make this even more ridiculous)

+22 attack, 2d6+11 vs. a -2 AC/-4 attack target

Now this brings up the gap between the Vikings normal attack and the enemies normal AC to 8. This means the Viking could, almost without penalty, take -4 AC from rampant charge resulting in +6 damage (accounting for the enemies -4 Attack) and a -6 attack penalty from power attack resulting in a +12 damage (accounting for the +2 attack from charging, adrenaline rush, and battlecry and the -2 AC on the target)

Already without almost any true penalty due to the debuffs and buffs you're looking at a +14 attack 2d6+29 damage charge

If you were bold you could even tack on an extra -8 AC for an extra +12 damage if you were going for broke ending up with a 2d6+41 damage.

Even if the Viking wanted to go full power attack that is only another -4 resulting in a grand total of!

+10 attack, 2d6+49 damage vs. a -2 AC target

That said you also just took a -14 to AC so enjoy that