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View Full Version : The Academiancer, or "I want to play Dr Who"



Hazkali
2007-09-01, 05:38 PM
Ok guys, you know the drill, pick over my lovingly crafted work with your razor-sharp e-talons of despair, and reassemble the bloody carcass into something playable for 3.5. :smallbiggrin:
I'm tired, so don't blame me for any errors or inconsistencies. I'll fix them in the morning.

The Academiancer

Sometimes, a sword isn't enough. Sometimes, you just have to know stuff.
{table=head]
Level|
Base Attack Bonus|
Fort Save|
Ref Save|
Will Save|
Special
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Foe Secret 1, Foe Secret 1/day, Focus

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+2|Lesser Ability

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Foe Secret 2/day

4th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+3|Lesser Ability

5th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Foe Secret 2

6th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+4|Lesser Ability

7th|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+5|Foe Secret 3/day

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+2|
+5|Lesser Ability

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+3|
+6|Foe Secret 3

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+3|
+6|Improved Focus

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+3|
+7|Foe Secret 4/day

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+7|Greater Ability

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+8|Foe Secret 5/day

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+4|
+8|Greater Ability

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+9|Foe Secret 4

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|Greater Ability

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+10|Foe Secret 6/day

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+10|Greater Ability

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Foe Secret 7/day

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+11|Greater Focus[/table]
Class Skills

Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (All) (Int), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha)

Skill Points Per Level: 8 + Int Mod
HD: d6

Class Abilities

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: The Academiancer is proficient with all simple weapons and one martial weapon of their choice. They are not proficient with any armour.

Focus (Ex): At 1st level, the Academiancer gains the ability to Focus his mind to a specific task. He must go into a trance, declaring at the time one skill or one save he wishes to gain a bonus on. For that round he must take no other actions and must maintain concentration (against damage taken etc). This ability is a move action which provokes attacks of opportunity. The next round, he comes out of the trance and for a number of rounds equal to 1+ his Charisma modifier (if positive), he gains an insight bonus on the skill or save he declared when entering his trance. This insight bonus is equal to his Wisdom modifier for all skills keyed to a physical attribute (Strength, Constitution or Dexterity) and all saves, or equal to his Intelligence modifier if the skill is keyed to a mental attribute (Wisdom, Intelligence or Charisma). The Academiancer gains the ability to use this ability a number of times equal to 3+ his Wisdom modifier. The Academiancer may not choose to take 10 when using his Focus ability.

Foe Secret (Ex): At 1st level, the Academiancer gains the ability to recall the weaknesses of his foes to his allies, giving them bonuses on certain actions.
The Academiancer gains the ability to use this once per day at 1st level, and this increases until he can use it 7 times per day at 19th level. At 1st level he gains the ability to affect one type of action, and gains the ability to affect more types of action as shown in the above table.
If the Academiancer has identified type of creature that they have encountered within the past 1 minute, he may make a Knowledge check appropriate to that creature’s school (Arcana for Magical Beasts, Dungeoneering for Aberrations, Religion for Undead, and The Planes for Outsiders and Elementals). He must succeed on a DC 15 check, and for every 10 points he succeeds by the bonus he bestows increases. The bonus affects the Academiancer and all allies who are able to hear and understand him, and lasts a total of one minute. The bonuses gained are extraordinary competence bonuses. Only one type of action against one type of creature may receive a bonus at any given time.
The types of bonus he can supply are:
Knowledgeable Attack: His allies gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls against that type of creature. For every 10 points the check is succeeded by, this bonus increases by 1.
Knowledgeable Damage: His allies gain a +1 bonus on damage rolls against that type of creature. For every 10 points the check is succeeded by, this bonus increases by 1.
Knowledgeable Saves: His allies gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against the abilities of that type of creature. For every 10 points the check is succeeded by, this bonus increases by 1.
Knowledgeable Defence: His allies gain a +1 bonus on Armour Class against that type of creature. For every 10 points the check is succeeded by, this bonus increases by 1.

Lesser Ability: The Academiancer gains a lesser ability, which must be chosen from the list below. Unless stated, he may not choose any ability except bonus feats more than once.

Intuitive Defence (Ex): The Academiancer may add his Intelligence modifier as an insight bonus to his armour class. This does not stack with the Monk's ability to do the same. This bonus only applies whilst the Academiancer is wearing no armour and carrying no shield.

Bonus Feat: The Academiancer may choose any feat as a bonus feat.

Eclectic Knowledge (ex): The Academiancer may choose to gain an ability similar to Bardic Knowledge, with which the Academiancer uses his Academiancer levels in place of Bard levels to determine the level of knowledge gained.

Intelligent Hunter (ex): The Academiancer chooses one type of foe, chosen from the list available to the Ranger class when choosing favoured enemies. The Academiancer then adds his Intelligence modifier to Attack rolls, Damage rolls and Intimidate checks against this type of foe. The Academiancer may choose this ability twice- once as a Lesser ability, and once as a greater ability. The effects do not stack, and must be applied against a different type of foe.

Sense Thoughts (Su): The Academiancer gains the ability to sense the thoughts of one creature he can touch (requiring a touch attack if hostile). This ability reveals the surface thoughts and immediate desires of that creature. So long as the Academiancer maintains contact (which may require a hostile creature to be bound or pinned) the Academiancer may continue to read the surface thoughts of the creature, up to a number of rounds equal to 1+ the Academiancer's Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1). The Academiancer must expend a standard action maintaining the connection each round he wishes the effect to continue. The Academiancer may use this ability once per day, and use of this is a standard action, which provokes attacks of opportunity if used against a hostile foe. A hostile foe may attempt a Will save to resist the effect, DC 12+the Academiancer's Intelligence modifier, when connection is first made, success meaning that the connection has failed.

Sense Alignment (Su): This ability works as Sense Thoughts, except that the first round of contact reveals the Ethical (Law-Chaos) part of the creature's alignment, and the second reveals the Moral (Good-Evil) part of the creature's alignment. The creature gets the same saving throw as if the Sense Thoughts ability was being used, but if the creatures alignment is being concealed by magical means (such as Undetectable Alignment) the ability fails automatically. The ability is usable once per day.

More Haste, Less Speed (Ex) The Academiancer gains the ability to use certain tasks at an improved speed. The Academiancer chooses a number of skills equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1), which list a penalty for using that skill "Rushed", for example, Diplomacy. When using that skill Rushed, the Academiancer halves the penalty.

Improved Focus (Ex): At 10th level, when using his Focus ability, the Academiancer may add twice his Intelligence modifier as the Insight bonus.

Greater Ability: The Academiancer may choose a Greater ability from the list below, or, if he chooses, he may select an ability from the list of Lesser abilities.

Improved Sense Thoughts (Su): The Academiancer must have the Sense Thoughts ability to choose this. The range of his Sense Thoughts ability increases to 10ft (so he no longer needs touch, although can only target one creature at a time), and the number of times per day he may use it increases by 3.

Delve Into Mind (Su): The Academiancer gains the ability to delve into the mind of another creature, revealing thoughts and secrets hidden. If the creature is unwilling, the Academiancer requires uninterrupted touch (so the creature must be bound or immobilised) and the creature gets a Will save of 15+ the Academiancer’s Intelligence modifier. When in the mind of the other creature, the Academiancer gains access to all of the creature’s memories. Whilst delving into the other mind, the Academiancer is helpless and uses all his actions each round to maintain the connection. For each round he is connected, he may reveal one minute of original memory, so long as that memory has not been modified by magical means- memories that are well-remembered, forgotten, or blurred by time are all accessible to the Academiancer. If the creature’s memories have been modified in any way, such as by Modify Memory or Mindrape, the Academiancer will know that the mind has been altered. The Academiancer may make a Will save against the DC of the original saving throw to delve past the effect. If passed, the Academiancer gains access to the true memories of the subject, but the effect is still in place. If failed, the connection ends and the Academiancer can delve no more that day. The Academiancer may use this ability once per day, and use of this is a standard action, which provokes attacks of opportunity if used against a hostile foe.

Skill Familiarity (Ex): The Academiancer my select a number of skills equal to 1+ his Intelligence modifier (if positive). When making a skill check with one of these skills, he may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so. An Academiancer may not use the bonus from his Focus ability when using his Skill Familiarity.

Improved Haste (Ex): The Academiancer must have chosen More Haste, Less Speed to use this ability. When using the skills he chose Rushed, he ignores the penalty. He may not combine this ability with Skill Familiarity.

Magewar (Su): If the Academiancer is caught in the area of a spell that also affects other targets and successfully makes his saving throw, he may make an opposed Will save against the original save DC. If passed, the spell is countered as if the Academiancer had used an appropriate counterspell. If the spell allows no save, the Academiancer may not use Magewar.

Greater Focus (Ex): At 20th level, the Academiancer uses three-times his intelligence modifier when using his Focus ability.

Gralamin
2007-09-01, 05:57 PM
{table=head]
Level|
Base Attack[br]Bonus|
Fort Save|
Ref Save|
Will Save|
Special
1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Foe Secret 1, Foe Secret 1/day, Focus

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+2|Lesser Ability

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Foe Secret 2/day

4th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+3|Lesser Ability

5th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Foe Secret 2

6th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+4|Lesser Ability

7th|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+5|Foe Secret 3/day

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+2|
+5|Lesser Ability

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+3|
+6|Foe Secret 3

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+3|
+6|Improved Focus

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+3|
+7|Foe Secret 4/day

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+7|Greater Ability

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+8|Foe Secret 5/day

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+4|
+8|Greater Ability

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+9|Foe Secret 4

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|Greater Ability

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+10|Foe Secret 6/day

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+10|Greater Ability

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Foe Secret 7/day

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+11|Greater Focus[/table]

Use this table please. If you do use it, make sure to change the <br> that will appear in Base Attack<br>Bonus to Base Attack[br]Bonus

Mewtarthio
2007-09-01, 06:50 PM
Hokay, just glancing at this...

You need more abilities of both types. This class gains four each of Greater and Lesser Abilities, but only has four Lesser Abilities (one of which is Bonus Feat) and three Greater Abilities. In effect, this guy always gets all the abilities plus two Bonus Feats: The only thing he chooses is in what order he gets them (and whether he wants to swap one out for an extra feat).

As written, "Increase Sense Thoughts" (which should probably be renamed "Improved" or "Greater Sense Thoughts," as "Increase" is a verb) is vague. His Sense Thoughts ability gets a range upgrade from Touch to 10 ft; however, the original Sense Thoughts implies a single target. It would be possible to interpret the text of "Increase Sense Thoughts" to allow this character to sense the thoughts of everything within 10 feet. This confusion would be eliminated with clearer wording (eg "His Sense Thoughts ability can now target a single creature within ten feet")

Speaking of "Sense Thoughts," the ability itself is a little vague. Is it meant to give the Academiancer an instantaneous snapshot of the target's mind? As written, one could interpret the ability to mean anything from "the Academiancer knows what the target is thinking at that very moment" to "the Academiancer can read the mind of the target so long as they remain in physical contact (or within ten feet, for the Increased version)" to "from now until the end of time, the targets surface thought are broadcasted on a loudspeaker for all to hear." Granted, the last one's a little suspect, but you specify neither duration nor even that the thoughts are revealed only to the Academiancer.

As written, "Delve Into Mind" allows the Academiancer to use his Focus-boosted Will save to break any memory-altering spells. Additionally, you don't specify any limits per session: Not only can this character tell when he's run into a magical modification, he can also repeatedly test his will against said modification until it is corrected. To rectify this, I recommend two changes: First, that the Academiancer can only test his will against a particular modification once per session (whether a failed will save means he notices the modification but can't work around it or simply scans the modified part as though it were an actual memory is up to you), and second, that a successful save only allows the Academiancer to access the true memories (that is, the subject's memories remain uncorrected).

The "-mancer" suffix implies spellcasting. You should change that name.

You often use the construction "1 + ability modifier (if positive)." This is vague, as it can either mean "disregard the ability modifier if it is not positive" or "disregard everything if 1 + ability modifier is not positive." I assume what you meant to say was "1 + ability modifier (minimum 1)." You shouldn't branch into outright legalese when homebrewing, but you should also keep things as clear as possible, particularly when a clearer alternative is just as succinct.

Hazkali
2007-09-02, 02:48 AM
Okay, thanks for the table Gralamin. As I said, I was flat out last night so using a picture seemed easier at the time.

So to Mewtarthio's points...




You need more abilities of both types. This class gains four each of Greater and Lesser Abilities, but only has four Lesser Abilities (one of which is Bonus Feat) and three Greater Abilities. In effect, this guy always gets all the abilities plus two Bonus Feats: The only thing he chooses is in what order he gets them (and whether he wants to swap one out for an extra feat).


Yup, I know. That's the main area where I would quite like people's help, as those were all of the knowledgey-type abilities that I could think of at the time.



As written, "Increase Sense Thoughts" (which should probably be renamed "Improved" or "Greater Sense Thoughts," as "Increase" is a verb) is vague. His Sense Thoughts ability gets a range upgrade from Touch to 10 ft; however, the original Sense Thoughts implies a single target. It would be possible to interpret the text of "Increase Sense Thoughts" to allow this character to sense the thoughts of everything within 10 feet. This confusion would be eliminated with clearer wording (eg "His Sense Thoughts ability can now target a single creature within ten feet")


Noted. As for the verb/adjective thing, I believe it was probably my intention to have it "Increased", but I accept "Improved" is more in keeping with the standard D+D lexicon.



Speaking of "Sense Thoughts," the ability itself is a little vague. Is it meant to give the Academiancer an instantaneous snapshot of the target's mind? As written, one could interpret the ability to mean anything from "the Academiancer knows what the target is thinking at that very moment" to "the Academiancer can read the mind of the target so long as they remain in physical contact (or within ten feet, for the Increased version)" to "from now until the end of time, the targets surface thought are broadcasted on a loudspeaker for all to hear." Granted, the last one's a little suspect, but you specify neither duration nor even that the thoughts are revealed only to the Academiancer.

Again, noted. The intention was that the Academiancer can continue to read the creature's surface thoughts so long as he remains in physical contact (or within 10ft, in the Improved version.



As written, "Delve Into Mind" allows the Academiancer to use his Focus-boosted Will save to break any memory-altering spells. Additionally, you don't specify any limits per session: Not only can this character tell when he's run into a magical modification, he can also repeatedly test his will against said modification until it is corrected. To rectify this, I recommend two changes: First, that the Academiancer can only test his will against a particular modification once per session (whether a failed will save means he notices the modification but can't work around it or simply scans the modified part as though it were an actual memory is up to you)

Ah, I meant to put a 1/day on the Delve Into Mind ability. As for the failed save, I'll make it mean the former- that the Academiancer notices the modification but cannot correct it- due to the advantages of being an outsider looking in, so to speak.



and second, that a successful save only allows the Academiancer to access the true memories (that is, the subject's memories remain uncorrected).

That also was the intention, but I didn't word it quite a succinctly as that.



The "-mancer" suffix implies spellcasting. You should change that name.

I understand that, but I thought the conjunction of "Academic" and "-mancer" made for quite a snappy title. I'm sure the intelligent people at GitP won't get too confused.



You often use the construction "1 + ability modifier (if positive)." This is vague, as it can either mean "disregard the ability modifier if it is not positive" or "disregard everything if 1 + ability modifier is not positive." I assume what you meant to say was "1 + ability modifier (minimum 1)." You shouldn't branch into outright legalese when homebrewing, but you should also keep things as clear as possible, particularly when a clearer alternative is just as succinct.
I thought it was standard lexicon to use "ability modifier (if positive)", although you are correct, "minimum 1" is more succinct.

So, I'll make the necessary changes now.

EDIT: Increased the number of abilities by a couple.