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View Full Version : Pathfinder Horseman of the Apocalypse Base Class(Very WIP, Feedback Wanted)



Stevesciguy
2019-04-19, 02:43 PM
Presenting a new totally-not-just-a-better-fighter class:


The Horseman of the Apocalypse

Ok, not The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, A Horseman of the Apocalypse. Specifically, I imagine it as the sort of daemonic equivalent to a paladin, with one of The Horsemen of the Apocalypse being your patron rather than a deity.

I started this class for a game I'm in, and I'm lucky enough that my DM is allowing me to play it with the stipulation that I completely finish it. For now, I only have War, but I plan to eventually have the other horsemen built as archetypes, or maybe separate classes if they end up being too different.

Below is what I have so far. Underneath the class is going to be a to-do list, including some things I might change. This is my first attempt at homebrewing a class, so keep that in mind while looking through the probably at least moderately unbalanced mechanics. I'm hoping for feedback on how balanced/unbalanced it is, as well as ideas for some of the empty levels and such that you'll see below.


Horseman of War

Alignment: Any non-good

Hit Die: d10

Starting Wealth: 5d6×10 gp (average 175 gp) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills:

The horseman's class are Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Planes) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 4+Int

Table: Horseman of War



Level
BAB
Fortitude Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special


1
+1
+2
+0
+2
Scourge, Pain, Mount


2
+2
+3
+0
+3
Battle Lust


3
+3
+3
+1
+3
Fearless


4
+4
+4
+1
+4
Scourge


5
+5
+4
+1
+4
Counts-as-Fighter


6
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Apocalyptic Insight


7
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Scourge


8
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Battle Lust Improvement 1


9
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Engine of War


10
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Scourge


11
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+7
Improved Mount


12
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+8
Daemonic Status


13
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+8
Scourge


14
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+9
Battle Lust Improvement 2


15
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+9



16
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+10
Scourge


17
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+10



18
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+11



19
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+11
Scourge


20
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+12
Battle Lust Improvement 3



Class Features
The following are class features of the horseman of war.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:

A horseman of war is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, light, and medium) and with shields (except tower shields).

Pain(Su):

[Flavor Text]

Pain is reaped from enemies in the following ways:


Every successful hit on an enemy grants 1 plus the horseman’s Charisma modifier Pain.
Inflicting a penalty on an enemy’s attack roll, damage roll, AC, saving throw bonus, ability score, or movement speed grants Pain equal to the value of the penalty inflicted. In the case of movement speed, you gain one Pain for each 5ft you reduced their speed by. If you inflict multiple penalties at once, you only gain Pain from the highest penalty.


Attacks or effects that are created or augmented by utilizing Pain do not grant the horseman Pain.

The most basic use of Pain is to increase the horseman’s battle prowess. As a free action, a horseman may spend an amount of Pain up to half their class level(minimum 1) to gain an equal bonus to their damage rolls until the end of their turn.

Alternatively, the horseman may spend Pain up to half their class level as a free action to grant themselves DR X/-, where X is the amount of Pain spent.

Pain decays rapidly once combat is over. Once out of combat, a horseman loses one point of Pain each round.


Scourges(Ex or Su):

[Flavor Text]

Abilities the player can choose:

Combat Styles(Ex):
The horseman gains greater expertise in his favored method of fighting. Each option contains a set of feats, which are automatically granted to you as bonus feats as you qualify for them.

Insert stuff here.

Empowered Blow(Su)[Pain]:
As a swift action, you may spend 2 Pain to make your next attack count as two-handed for the purposes of adding your Strength modifier to damage and for the Power Attack feat. For every additional point of Pain you spend, an additional attack is enhanced in this way.

If you are attacking with a two-handed weapon or primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier to damage rolls, this effect allows you to add twice your Strength modifier to damage instead of 1-1/2, and Power Attack increases the bonus to damage by 100% instead of 50%.

If you are attacking with an off-hand weapon or a secondary natural attack, you add your full Strength modifier to your damage roll, and you do not take the 50% penalty to the bonus damage from Power Attack.

If you are somehow adding a different ability modifier to damage in place of Strength, you multiply that bonus as you would Strength.

Empowered Shot(Su)[Pain]:
As a swift action, you may spend 2 Pain to add 1-1/2 times your Dexterity modifier to your next ranged damage roll. For every additional point of Pain you spend, an additional attack is enhanced in this way.

In addition, attacks enhanced in this way gain 50% extra bonus damage from Deadly Aim.

If you are somehow adding a different ability modifier to your attack roll in place of Dexterity, you add 1-1/2 times that modifier instead of Dexterity.

Martial Insight(Ex or Su)[Pain]:
Choose a Path of War discipline. The horseman can use maneuvers from this discipline by spending an amount of Pain equal to the maneuver’s level. For these maneuvers, the horseman’s class level is their initiator level, and Charisma is your initiating modifier. Treat all maneuvers from this discipline as readied; however, each maneuver may only be used once per encounter.

Stances may be initiated by spending an amount of Pain equal to the level of the stance. The horseman remains in the stance for five rounds, after which they may spend Pain equal to the stance’s level as a free action to maintain it, or drop out of the stance.

This Scourge may be selected multiple times. You may either choose another discipline, or select one you already possess.

If you choose a discipline a second(or third, or fourth, etc.) time, you gain an additional use of each maneuver from that discipline each encounter. Stances last for an additional five rounds before their Pain cost needs to be paid again.

Stalwart(Ex)(Requires 11th Level):
Gain Stalwart

Swift Movement(Su)(Requires 7th Level)[Pain]:
As a swift action, the horseman may move up to their speed. This costs one point of Pain for every five feet of movement. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.


Mount(Ex):

At first level, a horseman gains a loyal mount. This functions similarly to the druid’s animal companion, with a couple changes. The horseman’s class level is his effective druid level.

The horseman must select a horse for his mount. This horse is always one size category larger than the horseman; this change in size does not change the horse’s statistics in any way(including size modifiers), except for the size of the horse’s space.

A horseman does not take an armor check penalty on Ride checks while riding his mount. The mount is always considered combat trained and begins play with Light Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat. A horseman’s mount does not gain the share spells special ability.

A horseman's horse is an extension of his consciousness, bestowed by his patron Horseman. A horseman can manifest or demanifest his horse as a spiritualist manifests her phantom, except he may not partially manifest it in incorporeal form. The horse may also heal naturally as long as it is manifested.

A Horseman of War gains a particularly strong horse. Advance your horse according to the table below, rather than the druid’s animal companion table.



Level
HD
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Skills
Feats
Nat Armor Bonus
Str/Dex Bonus
Bonus Tricks
Special


1
1
+0
+2
+2
+0
1
1
+0
+0
1
Link, War Trained


2
2
+1
+3
+3
+0
2
1
+0
+0
1



3
3
+2
+3
+3
+1
3
2
+2
+1
2
Grit


4
4
+3
+4
+4
+1
4
2
+2
+1
2
ASI


5
5
+3
+4
+4
+1
5
3
+2
+1
2



6
6
+4
+5
+5
+2
6
3
+4
+2
3
Devotion


7
7
+5
+5
+5
+2
7
4
+4
+2
3



8
8
+6
+6
+6
+2
8
4
+4
+2
3
ASI, Multiattack


9
9
+6
+6
+6
+3
9
5
+6
+3
4



10
10
+7
+7
+7
+3
10
5
+6
+3
4



11
11
+8
+7
+7
+3
11
6
+6
+3
4



12
12
+9
+8
+8
+4
12
6
+8
+4
5
ASI


13
13
+9
+8
+8
+4
13
7
+8
+4
5



14
14
+10
+9
+9
+4
14
7
+8
+4
5



15
15
+11
+9
+9
+5
15
8
+10
+5
6
Improved Grit


16
16
+12
+10
+10
+5
16
8
+10
+5
6
ASI


17
17
+12
+10
+10
+5
17
9
+10
+5
6



18
18
+13
+11
+11
+6
18
9
+12
+6
7



19
19
+14
+11
+11
+6
19
10
+12
+6
7



20
20
+15
+12
+12
+6
20
10
+12
+6
7
ASI



War Trained(Ex): In addition to the feats normally available to animal companions, a Horseman of War’s horse may select any Combat feat it qualifies for.

Grit: like Evasion, but for fortitude

Improved Grit: like improved evasion, but for fortitude


Battle Lust(Ex):

In exchange for single-minded devotion to the battle at hand, a horseman can become a destructive avatar of war.

As a free action, a Horseman of War can succumb to battle lust, gaining a morale bonus to attack rolls and AC equal to one fourth his class level(minimum +1). In addition, he automatically reaps the Pain of his enemy’s and ally's existing wounds. As long as there is at least one injured creature(excluding himself) within 5ft per class level, the horseman gains 1/4 his class level(minimum 1)+his Charisma modifier points of Pain at the beginning of each of his turns.

In exchange, however, a horseman has trouble doing anything that isn't throwing himself into the heat of battle. Whenever the horseman tries to do anything other than attack or target an enemy with a harmful effect - or otherwise getting closer to an enemy in order to do so - he must make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + his class level. On a success, he may continue on to whatever action he intended to do, and go on to make any other non-combat actions he might desire. On a failure, he cannot perform the action, and must continue to engage in active fighting for the rest of his turn, although the failure does not waste the action(or any other resources involved, such as charges of a wand) that triggered the save.

For example, if he intended to use a Wand of Fly in order to reach a ledge with an enemy archer so he might attack them, he would not need to make a save. If, however, he intended to use a Wand of Fly to reach a ledge where an allied archer had been struck unconscious so that he might heal them, he will require a save to do so.

Leaving battle lust is a full-round action, as the horseman must stop and reign in his eagerness to fight.

Fearless(Ex):

To the horseman, nothing is more terrifying than himself. At 3rd level, a horseman becomes immune to fear.

Counts-as-Fighter(Ex):

The Horseman of War’s class levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites.

Apocalyptic Insight(Ex):

At 6th level, the horseman is granted in depth knowledge of his domain by his patron. He gains a bonus equal to half his level on skill checks pertaining to his domain.

For example, a Horseman of War might receive the bonus to Knowledge(History) checks pertaining to historic battles, a Horseman of Pestilence might receive the bonus to Alchemy checks to create poisons, a Horseman of Famine might receive the bonus to Survival checks to find food, and a Horseman of Death might receive the bonus to Knowledge(Religion) checks pertaining to undead or a culture's funeral rights. Final judgement on where this ability applies is to the discretion of the DM.

Engine of War(Su):

How are you supposed to wage war on your enemies if there's a pesky wall or door in the way? At 9th level, the horseman can empower his attacks with the force of a siege engine, sending reverberations throughout a structure and bringing it to the ground. His attacks ignore an object's or structure’s hardness, and his ranged attacks deal full damage to objects and structures.

Daemonic Status(Ex):

At 12th Level, the horseman has achieved a fierce reputation that earns him respect throughout the lower planes. He gains a bonus equal to half his class level on Charisma-based checks made against evil intelligent undead and evil outsiders. He also receives this bonus to Intimidate checks made to demoralize opponents.





To-do List:

Come up with an actual name instead of "counts-as-fighter"
Re-evaluate the mount's increased number of HD. While thematically appropriate, it makes it stronger than other companion abilities.
Create more scourges
Fill in the improvements of Battle Lust
Unsure of what to do with Improved Mount. Current idea is to replace the horse with a Nightmare
Finish all the flavor text
Make the other three horsemen


Alright! That's everything I've got. Tell me what you like/dislike, what's broken, poorly worded, etc:smallsmile:

Stevesciguy
2019-04-19, 02:44 PM
Reserving in case I need it.