Legendary Master, a super-Expert [WIP]

[Auroch]

The Legendary Master
http://www.komarckart.com/mtg_17.jpg
"Courage is a proud and gleaming shield. It does not bend or hide from sight. To fight with courage, we must forge in steel." - Legendary Master Shinsi Silverbrook


From Weyland the Smith to Will Turner, master craftsmen, especially smiths, have always been the subject of legend and myth. Their works, from the forging of Excalibur to the making of the Silmarils to the penning of the King in Yellow, even more so. A legendary master is an artist, artisan, or other skilled professional whose creations inspire such legends. Most will never raise a hand in anger or appear on the battlefield, but all will have an effect to rival commanders of armies.


Most legendary masters are smiths, and especially so for those legendary masters who choose the path of adventuring, as a strong bond with the arms and armor they create allows them to equal the combat skill of other combatants. Considerably more diversity is present among those who work with adventurers but take a support role; smiths are common, but so are sages, pamphleteers, musicians, diplomats, and merchants. High-level legendary masters are renaissance men and women, and so generally are masters of several of these fields simultaneously.

Abilities:

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d4

Class Skills
All skills are class skills for the legendary expert, except secret or inherently magical skills like Autohypnosis or Truenaming. A legendary expert with a rank in such a secret or magical skill treats it as a class skill from that point forward.


Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: Special. Initially 6+ Int modifier



Level
BAB
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save
Special


1st
+0
+0
+0
+0
Journeyman


2nd
+1
+0
+0
+0
Master


3rd
+1
+1
+1
+1
Magnum Opus(greater mwk)


4th
+2
+1
+1
+1
Master's Skill


5th
+2
+1
+1
+1
Of All Trades(7+Int)


6th
+3
+2
+2
+2
Magnum Opus(magic, CL 3)


7th
+3
+2
+2
+2
Master's Skill


8th
+4
+2
+2
+2
Of All Trades(8+Int)


9th
+4
+3
+3
+3
Magnum Opus(CL 6)


10th
+5
+3
+3
+3
Master's Skill


11th
+5
+3
+3
+3
Of All Trades(9+Int)


12th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+4
Magnum Opus(CL 9)


13th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+4
Legend's Skill


14th
+7/+2
+4
+4
+4
Of All Trades(10+Int)


15th
+7/+2
+5
+5
+5
Magnum Opus(CL 12)


16th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+5
Legend's Skill


17th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+10
Of All Trades(11+Int)


18th
/+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Magnum Opus(CL 15)


19th
+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Legend's Skill


20th
+10/+5
+6
+6
+12
Ars Longa, Of All Trades(12+Int)



Class Features
All of the following are class features of the legendary master.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A legendary master is proficient with light armor, but not with weapons or shields.

Journeyman: When making a skill check and not in combat or other pressing danger, a legendary expert grants and receives twice the usual aid another bonus. This can be used any time that both the expert and the collaborator could take 10 on the check.

Master: When using magic items of any variety, a Legendary Master of 2nd level or higher may substitute the most appropriate skill for creating that item in place of Use Magic Device. (This will usually be a Craft skill, but may be a Profession or Knowledge skill, and may at the DM's discretion be any skill.)

Magnum Opus (Ex/Su): At third level, the legendary master can create a magnum opus. Once per year, they may create a work other artisans can barely dream of making.
Haven't fully worked this out. It will be a complex skill check, one check per week (as Craft), X successes needed. My notes to date:
A success by 10 or more is considered a critical success and counts as two successes toward completion.
Both successes and failures are tracked; failures have no effect unless the accrued failures exceed twice the accrued successes, in which case the attempt fails. A week may be spent salvaging the raw materials, after which a new attempt is allowed.
If at least half the accrued successes were critical successes, the master may create another magnum opus after one week of recovery.
If a roll fails by 10 or more, it is considered a critical failure and wipes out all progress (successes and failures both). A second critical failure during a single attempt, or a critical failure when no successes have yet been made, botches the attempt, ruins the materials, and does not permit a retry; the master must wait a year, as if they had achieved a normal success.
At 3rd level, the legendary master can create greater masterwork items. A greater masterwork weapon grants +2 to attack rolls and +1 to damage rolls. A suit of greater masterwork armor has its armor check penalty reduced by 2 and its maximum Dexterity bonus increased by 1. A greater masterwork shield has its armor check penalty reduced by 2 and its shield bonus increased by 1. Greater masterwork artisan's tools grant a +3 circumstance bonus when used. Creating a greater masterwork magnum opus is an Extraordinary ability.

Starting at 6th level, the legendary master may create a magical item as a magnum opus. For the purpose of this creation, ignore all feat, spell, or class prerequisites. Caster level prerequisites may not be ignored, but the legendary master may substitute a skill check, generally the appropriate Craft subskill but at the DM's option whichever skill is most appropriate to the work. The DC is 20+caster level needed; this must be made before beginning work and again after each full month elapses. A success or failure on this check does not count toward the complex skill check which determines the outcome of the success, but a failure means that the master cannot continue work on the magnum opus until it is retried, which may be done weekly. When used to make a magical item, magnum opus is a Supernatural ability.
At 6th level, the master cannot emulate caster levels higher than 3rd, no matter the result of the check. At 9th level, this increases to caster level 6th, and it increases by 3 every three levels thereafter.

Master's Skill: On attaining 4th, 7th, and 10th level, a legendary master gains a special ability of their choice from among the following options.

Warrior-Smith:
Prerequisites: Craft(weaponsmithing), Craft(armorsmithing), or Craft(bowmaking) 7 ranks
The legendary master is treated as proficient with any weapons, armor, or shield they have personally created. (For weapons which require ammunition, eligibility is determined by the weapon, not the ammunition, though the DM may choose to vary this, especially for weapons where the ammunition is as critical as the weapon, such as the atlatl.) Additionally, their Base Attack Bonus is increased by (class level)/4 (i.e. as a rogue of their level) for attacks made with a weapon they personally created, which may grant additional attacks.

Sage-Of-All-Work:
Prerequisites: Knowledge(any two) 7 ranks.
The legendary master may make Bardic Knowledge checks (as the bard class feature). The master’s bonus is equal to their highest Knowledge skill. They do not receive the +2 synergy bonus from ranks in Knowledge(history), and this does not stack with other sources of Bardic Knowledge.
Special ability choice creation in progress. Suggestions wanted, especially for non-smith abilities.

Of All Trades: At 5th level and every three levels thereafter, the range of a legendary master's mastery expands. The skill points gained from their level increase by one. Additionally, they may choose a skill in which they placed a rank this level. They gain class level+2 additional skill ranks in that skill. Skill ranks which would increase their skill bonus beyond the maximum are not lost; the excess converts to skill points which may be spent freely.

Legend's Skill: On attaining 13th level, and at every three levels thereafter (16th and 19th), a legendary master gains a special ability of their choice from among the following options.

Master of All Trades:
Select a skill to master, exactly as Of All Trades except that your skill points per level does not increase. Then select a Master's Skill special ability to gain. This ability may be selected multiple times, each time selecting a new skill and special ability.

Master of Arms:
Prerequisites: Craft(weaponsmithing) or Craft(bowmaking) 16 ranks, Warrior-Smith
The legendary master gains proficiency with any type of weapon they have created in the past. Additionally, their Base Attack Bonus while attacking with a weapon they personally created increases to their level (i.e. as a fighter of their level).

Master of Armor:
Prerequisites: Craft(armorsmithing) 16 ranks, Warrior-Smith
The legendary master gains proficiency with all types of armor and shields which they have created in the past. Additionally, for armor or shields they personally created, they ignore the armor check penalty and gain 2*class level additional hit points. Removing their armor lowers both their current and maximum hit points. However, this never kills the master outright; if it would, instead they are left at -9 HP, unconscious, and stable.

Ars Longa (Ex/Su): At 20th level, the master is nearly divine in their mastery. The legendary master is no longer restricted to one magnum opus per year, and may begin a new one at any time. However, if they start a new attempt before finishing an old one, the first attempt automatically fails and the materials are lost.Additionally, any magical magnum opus they create may be infused with a portion of their soul. Treat this as an intelligent item with the same mental ability scores, skill ranks, alignment, and personality as the creator. The master may, by meditating on their creation for ten minutes, perceive the surroundings of one such item as if present and communicate with its bearer (if any). This can be sustained for up to one hour, but is spiritually exhausting; the master must wait eight hours to use it again, and cannot use this on a day they work on a magnum opus (or vice versa).
After their death, their soul remains anchored in their works, and they may use this ability with one minute of concentration and no exhaustion afterward. They may also use this to prevent their soul from passing onward to the Outer Planes (particularly popular among evil legendary masters for obvious reasons).



This is my attempt at making a mythic craftsman and general skill expert. The goal is to make this a choice that has advantages and disadvantages over a normal PC class, though making it an appealing PC choice is not desired. The ideal place for it to land would be on an even footing with a rogue, gaining lots of downtime utility at the cost of being an outright liability in combat. (If they take the Warrior-Smith line, they should still not be a primary combatant, but should no longer be a liability.)

Thought Process: I have been crafting a homebrewed setting where level/XP is a reflection of a real thing in the world, roughly "the degree to which you control consensus reality", with the material plane being split into several nested worlds each occupying a band of about 5 levels (being around people 6+ levels higher than you is dangerous and risks ego death or worse). For this purpose, I need a roughly-PC-caliber class for the powerful craftsmen, diplomats, artists, etc., to justify their place in the higher bands.

[Auroch]

No one has anything to say, so I guess this is utterly flawless and beyond reproach /s

[CasualViking]

1: The master ability is frustratingly vague.

2: Once/year is a terrible balance point for a PC class.

3: In general, it seems way, way undertuned.

[nonsi]

No one has anything to say, so I guess this is utterly flawless and beyond reproach /s

When designing a class, 1st thing I ask myself is "if I took this class, what would I want to be able to do while adventuring?".
TBH, it's hard for me to see what adventuring tools this class brings to the game.
Even exclusively in crafting, the Artificer seems more capable.
Correct me if I'm missing someting.

[rferries]

This is my attempt at making a mythic craftsman and general skill expert. The goal is to make this a choice that has advantages and disadvantages over a normal PC class, though making it an appealing PC choice is not desired. The ideal place for it to land would be on an even footing with a rogue, gaining lots of downtime utility at the cost of being an outright liability in combat. (If they take the Warrior-Smith line, they should still not be a primary combatant, but should no longer be a liability.)

I agree with the other comments. As it stands, the class isn't workable for PCs (a good skillmonkey but not useable in combat). However I see that wasn't your goal, so I'd just point out that the class is kind of superfluous. PCs don't generally see the character sheets of NPCs, so whether an NPC takes this class or takes levels of artificer or simply has crafting powers granted by DM fiat is all kind of arbitrary.

I like the flavour, but would suggest that you adapt it along the lines of a PC class instead.

[Knaight]

For a super-Expert this is a lot weaker than the Expert in a lot of ways. Only 6+int skill points per level? d4 hit dice? The Magnum Opus ability is also pretty convoluted looking, with complex craft checks and the like - something like a general assumption of background work happening and producing a magnum opus when you hit a particular level would probably be cleaner, for all that it reduces to a few free items at the end of the day.

[Auroch]

1: The master ability is frustratingly vague.

2: Once/year is a terrible balance point for a PC class.

3: In general, it seems way, way undertuned.

Vague in what way?

What do you mean by "undertuned"?



For a super-Expert this is a lot weaker than the Expert in a lot of ways. Only 6+int skill points per level? d4 hit dice? The Magnum Opus ability is also pretty convoluted looking, with complex craft checks and the like - something like a general assumption of background work happening and producing a magnum opus when you hit a particular level would probably be cleaner, for all that it reduces to a few free items at the end of the day.

The Expert gets 6+Int. This gets 6+Int for the first 4 levels and then has it go up from there, and that's effectively retroactive. I don't really know why the Expert has d6 HD in the first place, so dropping that to d4 was an obvious place to nerf when I noticed the special abilities piling up and making it probably-too-strong. Same with half-level BAB instead of 3/4 like the Expert gets, and the bad Will save. It gets a lot of toys the Expert doesn't and loses things that didn't really matter in the Expert's area of focus.


PCs don't generally see the character sheets of NPCs, so whether an NPC takes this class or takes levels of artificer or simply has crafting powers granted by DM fiat is all kind of arbitrary.

In practice, I'm going to be the DM. And it makes a significant difference to me whether my NPCs have arbitrary plot device powers or have an anchored "this is about what a character of X level is capable of".

[Xaotiq1]

If you can find a copy, War of the Lance book from the Dragonlance setting has a class called "Master". It's an upgrade to the Expert IMHO. You might get some inspiration from it.

[Auroch]

If you can find a copy, War of the Lance book from the Dragonlance setting has a class called "Master". It's an upgrade to the Expert IMHO. You might get some inspiration from it.

Found a copy of its text online, and yeah, that's roughly what I'm going for. (Not linking because I doubt it's strictly-speaking legal.)

[nonsi]

If you can find a copy, War of the Lance book from the Dragonlance setting has a class called "Master". It's an upgrade to the Expert IMHO. You might get some inspiration from it.

Yes. That's actually a very solid choice. Probably the best ever proposed for that part. PCs can't rival those at their forte, but they also don't need to.

[Auroch]

It seems weaker than I'd actually want (like most things that don't involve spellcasting, it has trouble with the concept that most characters are superhuman), but it's definitely a good starting point.

[King of Nowhere]

does seem more like an npc class, which would be totally fine. I myself designed an npc class (linked in my signature) to fulfill a similar function.

But the design itself is unfocused. I mean, is that a fighting class, or a crafting class, or a skill monkey? If it is a crafting class, then being able to make something worty (read: that you can't buy for pocket change in any town) only once per year is pretty bad. then there's that power to fight like a warrior if you wield a weapon you crafted yourself, which still doesn't make you much of a fighter anyway, but it doesn't seem in line with the class. And finally, you get plenty of skill points, which you could use to become a diplomancer or a rogue, and it doesn't fit the archetype you're trying to get at all. Have you ever seen a master smith versed at bluffing? singing? I just can't see an identity to this class. My personal advice would be to pick a specific role (crafter or skill monkey, I'd drop the part about using his own weapons) and focus on it.

A couple more specific points:
- greater masterwork weapons are fine, but it won't matter anything if they don't stack with magical bonuses. My specialized expert can make supermasterwork weapons that grants an additional +1 stackable with magic at level 10, and greater masterwork weapons granting upwards to +3 stackable with magic at level 17. this makes the class impact the world.
- "At 6th level, the master cannot emulate caster levels higher than 3rd, no matter the result of the check. At 9th level, this increases to caster level 6th, and it increases by 3 every three levels thereafter." Wouldn't it be simpler to just write "the master can emulate caster levels upwards to his master level minus three"?

[Auroch]

- "At 6th level, the master cannot emulate caster levels higher than 3rd, no matter the result of the check. At 9th level, this increases to caster level 6th, and it increases by 3 every three levels thereafter." Wouldn't it be simpler to just write "the master can emulate caster levels upwards to his master level minus three"?

I thought about that, but it makes for dead levels. And this way you get a bunch of things every time you get the capacity to make +N weapons for N one bigger. Could go either way.

[Goaty14]

I thought about that, but it makes for dead levels. And this way you get a bunch of things every time you get the capacity to make +N weapons for N one bigger. Could go either way.

So just add a seperate progression that refills every X levels (like the artificer's craft reserve), and use the aforementioned solution. If extending a single class feature over the majority of the class levels is your solution, then WotC once said that the monk was "the pinnacle of class design" because it didn't have any dead levels, and... you can see how that turned out for the monk.

I guess what I'm getting at is that removing dead levels shouldn't be the goal here. Yes, they're boring, but they don't disqualify good class design.

[nonsi]

I guess what I'm getting at is that removing dead levels shouldn't be the goal here. Yes, they're boring, but they don't disqualify good class design.


My view of things is that dead levels are legitimate only when they're "dead" levels....... i.e. when they're only seemingly dead, but in practice do introduce new things for the character to do (e.g. access to a new spell level).
OTOH, stating augmented-stats-repetition does not undo a dead level.

[Lacuna Caster]

I'm lovin' the flavour and concept, but yeah, I think it belongs in a somewhat milieu than a regular dungeon-crawling party.