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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class The Improvementalist [3.5 Base Class/Not completely serious]



gooddragon1
2018-08-16, 04:07 AM
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FlameUser64
2018-08-16, 08:49 PM
Okay so looking at this thing… The obvious best option at 1st level to ensure you have some functional gimmick is Elemental Companion. Following that you may as well stock up on non-scaling defensive options for a bit until the scaling options catch up and start being useful. Quite frankly you're never going to deal real direct damage with this class. You're 3/4s BAB and lacking much of anything to help with either that or your damage output because nothing scales fast enough. I guess you could combine Eldritch Blast and Skirmish, but even that seems ineffective at actual damage output, seeing as you lack blast shapes and don't get any ability score to damage. You could also just pick up a weapon and Skirmish but again that's not exactly impressive damage output. There is absolutely no reason to ever take Damage Reduction. Spell Resistance is tempting but probably a trap option (you're likely to need to receive healing spells etc. from allies more often than you'll be targeted by enemy spells, and some of the nastier save-or-dies don't allow SR anyway; furthermore, many monsters use save-or-suck/save-or-die abilities that aren't actually spells and thus do not allow Spell Resistance). Natural Armour, Smite, Hide in Plain Sight, and Etherealness should probably not be selected until 8th level if you're going to select them at all. Magical Knack is obviously strong, and is essentially your other primary class feature after Elemental Companion.

I think an "optimal" route is something like this:
1. Elemental Companion
2. Forcefield
3. Divine Grace
4. Domains (Nobility and Charm, or Spell and Charm if you have access to the Spell domain from Faerun)
5. Magical Knack
6. Mettle
7. Lay On Hands
8. Shadow Jump (just kinda neat to have, could put it in a different order with Evasion and Dispel Magic)
9. Evasion
10. Dispel Magic (Why not, seems useful)
11. Unearthly Splendor (or Natural Armor I suppose)
12. Unearthly Splendor
13. Unearthly Splendor
14. Unearthly Splendor
15. Etherealness
16. Unearthly Splendor
17. Unearthly Splendor
18. Unearthly Splendor
19. Unearthly Splendor
20. Unearthly Splendor

(If you aren't otherwise planning on taking domains, either the Charm domain or Faerun's Lust domain is always a superior choice to the first selection of Unearthly Splendor. As for this build… the main draw of the Charm domain is +4 Charisma for 1 minute, which gives you +2 AC and +2 to all saves during that time; it also stacks with Unearthly Splendor if you need some serious burst defence. As for the Nobility domain, you don't really care about Divine Favor, you're just in it for the ability to give your Elemental Companion a +2 bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, saving throws, and weapon damage rolls for 1 combat per day. Alternatively, the Spell domain lets you cast Mage Armor on your Elemental Companion, making them harder to kill. That said, this build doesn't include shenanigans with Devotion feats and Turn Undead, since I haven't taken feats into account at all here.)


It definitely seems like a fun class idea (create-a-classes of this nature often are), but a lot of the options seem decidedly not up to snuff, such as Skirmish (does not scale fast enough to make your melee or ranged damage competent on its own), Smite (uses per day scale too slowly to make melee an effective option, and it's not worth investing in as a "last resort" option, at least until higher levels where you've already got everything that's worth prioritizing and are filling in slots with Unearthly Splendor), Damage Reduction (DR 1/— is already irrelevant at 1st level, and it just gets worse from there), and Etherealness (neat, but its very limited uses per day and 1 round duration make it more of a side event than a main attraction). (Eldritch Blast scaling is dumb and always will be dumb, same with Cold Breath scaling. That, however, is not your fault but the fault of whatever writers at WotC wrote the Warlock in the first place. The lack of Blast Shape availability does not do it any favours, however.) Of course, Elemental Companion alone makes you more powerful than a 3.5e Fighter. Lay on Hands is generally a relatively weak amount of healing but can help keep your Elemental Companion alive, which is good since the only way you're getting more than one of them per day is if you have a downtime day where you're not adventuring (you activate the summon last thing before you rest for the night, meaning it remains active for the vast majority of the next day).

ShiningStarling
2018-08-22, 07:33 PM
I'm gonna largely agree with FlameUser here, but I want to comment in a bit of a different direction.

A class with "Improve" in the name, it doesn't actually improve any of its base chassis. For starters, I would suggest the following additions/changes, just to keep features more or less in line with each other.

Cold Breath ==> Breath Weapon
This kind of complex wording is the enemy, simplify!
Choose shape and energy when selected, 1d6 at 1st, additional d6 every 2 levels thereafter. Keep the typeless option at 8th. Scale distance as you see fit, been too long since I read the Draconomicon to remember it properly.

Damage Reduction, Natural Armor ==> Physical Resistance
Gain 2 DR and 1 NatAC at 1st and every 4 levels. Easy.

Domains ==> Domain
Allow multiple selections, but only give 1 domain at a time. Sprinkling in some of the higher spells off the list wouldn't hurt too much either.

Eldritch Blast
Allow picking blast invocations every so often, keep it from being stale.

Elemental Companion ==> Companion
Let them have any extraplanar creature, elementals are nice and all, but they don't have much personality, which of course is bad for RP with a companion. Suggested limit: neither HD nor CR can exceed character level. Suggested Fluff: Its only ever 1 entity, it just changes its shape to suit the needs of the Improvementalist.

Magical Knack ==> Knack
Make all skills class skills, and give a choice of any skill to receive the /level bonus. Let 'em take it again for more skills to get the bonus.

Skirmish
Just make it as Scout ffs.

Smite
Either make it per encounter or give 'em one use every other level, see also every Paladin remix in existence.

Spell Resistance
Let 'em drop it for friendlies.

ADDITIONS

Martial Aptitude
Give full BAB and proficiency in ALL weapons, even ones they've never seen before.

Fortress
Pick another save to be a good save, and give proficiency in ALL Armor and Shields, including Tower.

Also, just take a look around at some other class features. Find some more hidden scaling gems, like Shadow Jump, to throw in as options, let the players come up with some truly crazy combos! (Sideslip from Complete Scoundrel's Mountebank PrC is one of my personal favs)

FlameUser64
2018-08-23, 02:49 AM
It seems odd to limit Companion by both HD and CR. The current limit of HD = class level + 1 is equivalent to CR = class level, at least for Elementals. Are there any extraplanar creatures that have a CR rating greater than their number of HD? On the other hand, imposing that additional restriction might make sense with some extraplanar creatures, because I'm sure that allowing any extraplanar creature opens the doors to a lot more shenanigans than just the four primary elementals. That said, all the other suggestions seem good.