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MurderHobo
2018-04-12, 02:17 PM
A friend of mine absolutely loves the Mystic from the Path of War.

However, he was wanting a variant that used playing cards or harrow cards, much like the Magus' archetype Card Caster.
Anyhow, I built this for him but was wanting some feed back on its power before play.
Such as:
Is it too much in addition to what the Mystic normally gets?
Should I take more away or modify more of the base elements?
I would like to hear from you guys what you think :)

By the way, this is my first home-brew post... I am excited to be here and cannot wait to share more creations.

Razor’s Edge

Using the power of their Animus, these mystics invest powers into decks of playing cards. This allows them to use said cards as weapons.

Charged Card (Su)
At 1st level, the razor’s edge gains the Deadly Dealer feat as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. A razor’s edge can invest cards with enough raw energy to deal lethal damage even without the Arcane Strike feat. The razor’s edge must be in a stance in order to use this ability.

Maneuvers
The disciplines available to a razor’s edge mystic are Elemental Flux, Riven Hourglass, Shattered Mirror, Solar Wind, Tempest Gale, and Veiled Moon. In addition, he always treats a deck of cards/harrow cards as discipline weapons for the disciplines available to him as a razor’s edge mystic. A razor’s edge mystic gains Bluff as a class skill. He otherwise learns, readies, and initiates maneuvers as a standard mystic.

This ability alters maneuvers.

Arcane Cards
At level 2, as a swift action, the mystic can imbue his deck of cards with anima. The deck of cards gains an enhancement bonus of +x, where x is 1 + 1/4 your level (max +5) for one round per level. This ability cannot stack with similar abilities, such as Arcane Strike. He can use his animus to augment an entire deck as if it were ammunition.

At level 6, the razor’s edge mystics gains the ability to spend anima points to add enchantments to his attacks for a round. As a free action, the mystic may spend any number of animus and choose any number of the following enchantments (to a max equal to a +5 bonus). The mystics attacks made until the start of his next turn are enhanced by the enchantment/s chosen. Activating this ability again ends any previous instances.
For 1 point of animus spent, the mystic’s deck is granted access to Corrosive, Distance, Flaming, Frost, Seeking, and Shocking.
At level 11, the mystic may spend 2 points to add any of the following: Corrosive Burst, Flaming Burst, Icy Burst, Shocking Burst, Huntsman, Limning, Designating(lesser), Igniting, or Phase Locking.
At level 16, the mystic may spend 3 points to add any of the following: Anchoring, Designating(greater), Nimble Shot, Second Chance, or Brilliant Energy.
At level 20, this ability costs 1 point less, to a minimum of 0.

This replaces Arcane Defense.

Animus Dealer (Su)
Starting at 5th level, razor’s edge is able to fuse extra energy into their decks, bestowing upon them a devastating ability. As a free action, the razor’s edge can spend two points of animus in order to charge his deck for 1 round per level, making any card thrown split into two cards in mid-flight. Both cards are identical in damage, except the ‘clone’ does not gain any bonuses or properties except for the +x enhancement bonuses granted from Specialized Animus (+1, +2 etc. but not other properties such as Flaming). The ‘clone’ damage type is equal to the razor’s edge elemental attunement (if fire the clone damage type will be fire). The ‘clone’ cannot critical or be used for precise damage (such as Sneak Attack). Both cards strike the same target. Make only one attack, if successful, both cards hit.

This ability replaces Withstand Spell.

aimlessPolymath
2018-04-12, 08:35 PM
For the following, note that I have only glanced through the Mystic's list.

First off, note that until level 9, this class will be focused on ranged maneuvers. There are probably a bunch available, but double-checking the discipline list and swapping for more ranged-oriented disciplines would not go astray.

Second, Specialized Animus is somewhat problematic. Similar abilities like the Magus and Paladin get are predicated on the assumption that the class, by default, has a lesser magic weapon that can be augmented as needed; thus they will usually end up with a level-appropriate weapon (ex. a +3 weapon that can be improved to +3 flaming burst). This class, due to its reliance on ordinary trading cards (i.e. ammunition), does not (a +0 deck goes up to +1 flaming, which isn't great). This is on top of being on a maneuver-using class with Average BAB, and so really needs the attack bonus.

Not a fan of Razor Sharp unless the class can stand without it; in most cases I would prefer to have, say, Weapon Focus/Specialization as bonus feats, or even the original feature. Overall a downgrade; crit builds can work, but they often require lots of applicable feats or specific enchantments, which this class doesn't have the chassis to handle. The existence of the various burst enchantments makes this barely useful.

Animus Dealer is a very complicated way of adding approximately +1d8+5-10 damage to attacks. Reasonably powerful, cool theme, but the actual effect is extremely bland.

My version:
At level 1, gain Charged Card as normal. Replaces nothing.
Also, maybe altered disciplines? Not sure what would need to be swapped.
Arcane Cards: At level 2, as a swift action, your deck of cards becomes +x, where x is 1 + 1/4 your level (max +5) for one round per level. As Arcane Strike except that it also improves attack rolls, essentially.

At level 6, gain the ability to spend anima points to add enchantments to your attacks for a round. As a free action, spend any amount of animus and choose any number of the following enchantments in some order. The next attacks you make until the start of your next turn are enhanced by the enchantment you chose. Activating this ability again ends any previous instances.
1 point of animus spent grants access to Corrosive, Distance, Flaming, Frost, Seeking, and Shocking.

At level 11, if you spend 2 points, you also choose from Corrosive Burst, Flaming Burst, Icy Burst, Shocking Burst, Huntsman, Limning, Designating(lesser), Igniting, or Phase Locking.

At level 16, if you spend 3 points, also choose from Anchoring, Designating(greater), Nimble Shot, Second Chance, or Brilliant Energy.

At level 20, this ability costs 1 point less, to a minimum of 0.

This replaces Arcane Defense.

You can keep Razor Sharp if you like- the synergies with the X Burst effects are non-negligible.

MurderHobo
2018-04-13, 12:14 PM
Thank you for the feedback! I really enjoy the suggestions you made and we are going to implement them!


First off, note that until level 9, this class will be focused on ranged maneuvers. There are probably a bunch available, but double-checking the discipline list and swapping for more ranged-oriented disciplines would not go astray.
This is something we were discussing and agree that the disciplines available are not quite a good fit so we are going to change them to be more appropriate.


Not a fan of Razor Sharp unless the class can stand without it; in most cases I would prefer to have, say, Weapon Focus/Specialization as bonus feats, or even the original feature. Overall a downgrade; crit builds can work, but they often require lots of applicable feats or specific enchantments, which this class doesn't have the chassis to handle. The existence of the various burst enchantments makes this barely useful.
Instead of changing this ability, would it be too much to have the cards be considered touch attacks, thereby keeping the Razor Sharp ability but also making it to where the class is not reliant on stacking attack bonus in order to hit?


Arcane Cards: At level 2, as a swift action, your deck of cards becomes +x, where x is 1 + 1/4 your level (max +5) for one round per level. As Arcane Strike except that it also improves attack rolls, essentially.
At level 6, gain the ability to spend anima points to add enchantments to your attacks for a round. As a free action, spend any amount of animus and choose any number of the following enchantments in some order. The next attacks you make until the start of your next turn are enhanced by the enchantment you chose. Activating this ability again ends any previous instances.
1 point of animus spent grants access to Corrosive, Distance, Flaming, Frost, Seeking, and Shocking.
At level 11, if you spend 2 points, you also choose from Corrosive Burst, Flaming Burst, Icy Burst, Shocking Burst, Huntsman, Limning, Designating(lesser), Igniting, or Phase Locking.
At level 16, if you spend 3 points, also choose from Anchoring, Designating(greater), Nimble Shot, Second Chance, or Brilliant Energy.
At level 20, this ability costs 1 point less, to a minimum of 0.
This replaces Arcane Defense.

So we edited the original post to reflect the suggestions made.

aimlessPolymath
2018-04-13, 01:40 PM
Instead of changing this ability, would it be too much to have the cards be considered touch attacks, thereby keeping the Razor Sharp ability but also making it to where the class is not reliant on stacking attack bonus in order to hit?

There were two factors that made me make the Weapon Focus comment. One of them is solved.
-Lack of accuracy based on medium BAB compounded with lack of access to a level-appropriate weapon. Remedying the latter with a level-appropriate weapon basically solves this- it's now on par with the original Mystic.
-Crit builds don't play well, IMO, with maneuver-using classes- they usually prefer to have lots of attacks to proc their on-crit features, but maneuver-users prefer single accurate attacks to trigger their maneuver's effects. A feature based around crits is okay, but not great- it's not as reliable because you usually only make one attack per round.

Also note that the increased die sizes work out to +1 damage per attack, so Weapon Specialization outdamages them.