The Saint, Unstoppable Divine Warrior (Path of War)

[Kris Moonhand]

This started out as a port of 3.5's Crusader, but I soon realized that Crusader has, like, 5 real class features. And its capstone is getting an extra 5 points in its Steely Resolve pool. Not exactly the hottest option out there. Anywho, you may notice a few Crusader staples (now renamed and powered up for PF), along with some fancy new mechanics. In case you were wondering, I didn't keep the name because of the negative connotations that "Crusader" has garnered. Please let me know what you think. I usually err on the side of too powerful, since its easier to trim than add.

Link to the Saint (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VLDMoDmz1CwTv0YoL8wGoqEs5Tqyi2FbOCVIT90wn4c/edit?usp=sharing)

[Elves]

>Finally, a saint may choose two additional disciplines of their choice
Is this necessary? Crusader gets 3 static disciplines and does ok, 4 modular disciplines already seems like enough.

To make it simpler, I would split the two parts of Battle Prayer, with the reflection effect being a class feature granted later on, especially since you already have a lot going on at 1st level.

Did you consider making the first effect of Battle Prayer just an x/day free action instagrant so that you can go nova?

>as their blow is reflected back upon them.
Hard to visualize. Add fluff?

Patience of a Saint - just call it Delayed Damage Pool?

Bonus feat at 1st level seems excessive when the player is already dealing with their initial maneuver choices + two key features at that level.

Implacable: Constant FoM feels boring and obligatory, 18th level ability is boring, the immunities from the capstone are also boring. Everyone wants these immunities at some point but there's still an advantage to making people put in effort for them since they do cut out significant sections of the game. Also, it's more fun to have unique class features than getting what amounts to extra WBL.

Agree with your note, Smite is off-theme. The gap caused by removing this could make room for splitting Battle Prayer and granting the second half later, just like you did with delayed damage pool/furious counterstrike.

Aligned defense feels too complicated. My suggestion:

At 15th level, whenever they ready their maneuvers, the saint may choose one counter from each of their aligned disciplines. Each counter may be used for free once per encounter. When used this way, they take no action to initiate, are not expended, and can be used even if not available to you.


Lastly, saint just doesn't feel like the right name for this class, because it's a bashy class and not an enlightened, saintly class. I know PF already has a zealot, maybe templar or something? Maybe it's time for one of those fantasy compound words like swordsage.

[Kris Moonhand]

>Finally, a saint may choose two additional disciplines of their choice
Is this necessary? Crusader gets 3 static disciplines and does ok, 4 modular disciplines already seems like enough.
Most PoW classes get about 5 or 6 disciplines. For instance, Stalker gets Broken Blade, Solar Wind, Steel Serpent, Thrashing Dragon, Veiled Moon, and their choice between Riven Hourglass or Tempest Gale. Crusader got away with 3 because there were only 9 paths on the Sublime Way, whereas there's 23 disciplines in PoW. That said, I might cut it down to one choice discipline and then expand the alignment ones to 2 out of 3 or 4. I'll play around with it, see how it looks.

To make it simpler, I would split the two parts of Battle Prayer, with the reflection effect being a class feature granted later on, especially since you already have a lot going on at 1st level.

Did you consider making the first effect of Battle Prayer just an x/day free action instagrant so that you can go nova?Battle Prayer is a slightly reworked copy of Mystic's Blade Meditation, just based on the damage pool instead of animus.

When a mystic finds that her martial power is beginning to wane or that few options remain available for use, she can pause in battle, drawing on her inner well of animus to reinvigorate her body and mind. As a full-round action, a mystic can spend one point of animus to grant herself all her remaining withheld maneuvers, then immediately expend them in a raging cadence of arcane power. As there are no remaining maneuvers to be granted, a new set of maneuvers is granted to the mystic at the end of her turn, as normal.

In addition, until the start of her next turn, creatures that target the mystic with melee attacks are engulfed in the explosion of energy, taking 1d6 points of damage of her active element’s associated energy type, plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every two points of animus remaining in the mystic’s animus pool.I'm hesitant to remove or bump up the reflection, since every recovery method in PoW does something in addition to recovering maneuvers.


>as their blow is reflected back upon them.
Hard to visualize. Add fluff? Will do.


Patience of a Saint - just call it Delayed Damage Pool?Aw, but I liked the wordplay! Fair enough, though.


Bonus feat at 1st level seems excessive when the player is already dealing with their initial maneuver choices + two key features at that level.Fair. Moved it to 2nd.


Implacable: Constant FoM feels boring and obligatory, 18th level ability is boring, the immunities from the capstone are also boring. Everyone wants these immunities at some point but there's still an advantage to making people put in effort for them since they do cut out significant sections of the game. Also, it's more fun to have unique class features than getting what amounts to extra WBL. I will admit I kinda ran out of steam near the end, so I just put in some standard "can't stop me" style abilities. If you've got some better suggestions, I'm all ears.


Agree with your note, Smite is off-theme. The gap caused by removing this could make room for splitting Battle Prayer and granting the second half later, just like you did with delayed damage pool/furious counterstrike.Yeah, I'm gonna drop it and move Patient Counterpoint to 5th


Aligned defense feels too complicated. My suggestion:

At 15th level, whenever they ready their maneuvers, the saint may choose one counter from each of their aligned disciplines. Each counter may be used for free once per encounter. When used this way, they take no action to initiate, are not expended, and can be used even if not available to you.I will take this under advisement, though I do currently like how the ability works.


Lastly, saint just doesn't feel like the right name for this class, because it's a bashy class and not an enlightened, saintly class. I know PF already has a zealot, maybe templar or something? Maybe it's time for one of those fantasy compound words like swordsage.Yeah, picking a name is always hard cuz there's always some other class or something with that name. I'll work on it.

[Elves]

Yeah, picking a name is always hard cuz there's always some other class or something with that name. I'll work on it.

If you don't like templar, maybe bastion? It has a sort of spiritual air, like "bastion of faith".