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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class PEACH - The Ancient Master (Initiator with Extras)



GrayDeath
2020-11-09, 05:25 PM
Preface: This is meant for full 3.p. If using it with regular 3.5, reduce its Skillpts by 2 per level, and remove the bonus feats at Levels 3 and 6.

Please tell me if the class has any glaring Flaws, and also if you have any ideas to modify it/make it more fun.

What I am NOT looking for are things like "Full casters or nothing" or "But class combo 357 with these 9 books used already does that".^^



The Ancient Master


We all know the Legends: An Ancient Sage on Top of a mountain, the near eternal Sifu of the first Imperial Dojo, the trusted majordomo and Bodyguard of an ancient family, the old janitor suddenly able to protect the School vs a gaggle of Vrocks, or simply your old Grandfather, teaching you what he knows about Martial Manevuers.
These and many more are Ancient Masters.



Requirements. BAB 6+, Concentration or Autohypnosis and any 2 Skills 8+ Ranks, Iron Will, Mortal Race (ergo no Undead, half undead, half Constructs, etc, just your classic mortal guy/gal^^), Old Age or older.

Spellcasting/Invocations/Psionics/Incarnum:
Ancient masters are not spellcasters. hence this class does not progress Spellcasting or Invocations at all.
They do however have a close connection to Psionics and Incarnum, being mastery of the self and the soul respectively, and hence progress them with new Powers known/Power points/etc on every even Level.
Edit: if ylu are using Pathfinders Akashic System instead of Incarnum, the same applies for its usage, however they cant use BOTH.

Initiating: Ancient Masters are Initiators.
They gain one additional maneuver known from the following 4 Disciplines at every odd level: Broken Blade, Elemental Flux, Eternal Guardian and Riven Hourglass. They may exchange one of these for Black Seraph or Silver Crane, as usual only if their Aligment fits.
If your world includes Disciplines of your own creation, or if you simply wish to mix your Ancient masters up a bit more, you may replace up to 2 of the stated Disciplines, as long as the ones replacing them fit the fluff (for example, Unquiet Grave or Veiled Moon dont fit the "Old Man Sage" Theme at all, and neither do Leadership/Leading focussed Disciplines, one could argue for Scarlet Throne, Piercing Thunder or Mithral current and similar Disciplines).
If they have Levels in another Initiaing Class, they add one Discipline of that class to the above List.






Table: The Ancient Master------Hit Die: d10
-


Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Initiating[/TD


[TD="align: center"]1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Age Penalties stop,
+1 Maneuver known


2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Age is Power 1, Been there, done that, Inner Power released 1
+1 maneuver readied, +1 Stance



3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Grace of Experience, Bonus Feat*
+1 maneuver known



4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Age is Power 2, Inner Power released 2
+1 maneuver readied



5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Perfect timing
+1 maneuver known.



6th
+6
+5
+2
+5
Age is Power 3, Bonus Feat, Inner Power released 3
+1 maneuver readied, +1 Stance



7th
+7
+5
+2
+5
true Ancient, Perfect Unity of Body and Soul, Age is Power 4, Immortal
+1 maneuver known






Age Penalties: At taking the first Level of this class, further aging does no longer acrue penalties to physical Scores.
Additionally, you gain +1 to 2 physical Abilities of your choice or +2 to one.


Age is Power: For every Level of this ability, you either increase all your physical Ability Scores by 1 and one mental one by 2 or one physical Score by 2 and 2 mental ones by 1. This counts as a regular Ability Increase and hence stacks with everything.

Inner Power released: Once per day per Level of this ability, you may increase all your physical Stats by the highest Mental Ability Modifier. This is an untyped Bonus and has a duration of 5 minutes
Afterwards you are exhausted AND suffer -2 to all Abilities for 1 hour.

Been there, done that: You have seen it all. In some cases even literally.
You cannot be flanked, not even by a rogue +4 levels above your level, and you can only be flatfooted if you are prevented from moving freely.
Additionally, you add +Wisdom Mod Dodge Bonus to your AC as long as you wear light or no armor.

Bonus Feats: These feats are limited to Psionic, Incarnum or Initiating Feats.

Grace of experience: Your long time of experiencing all kinds of suffering a mere mortal faces in these worlds have hardened your resistances.
You gain Elemental resistance 5 against all Elements and +2 to all Saves.

Perfect Timing: Speed is not everything, its being where you need to be at the critical moment.
You gain +2 CMD, and add 1/2 your Wisdom modifier to CMB Rolls aiming to do something other than Damage (Trip, Disarm, Feint, etc).

True Ancient: You add another Age category after Venerable, named Ancient. reaching this age does not provide regular age Bonus/Maluses, but instead grants you +3 to one physical and one mental Ability Score. If by any means you ever lose your immortality after reaching the additional Age category, you die within 1 hour of doing so.

Perfect Unity of Body and Mind/Soul: Your mind and body are one. Even moreso than usual, given your experience.
This allows you to modify the calculation of Your Save calculation as follows:
Add your best Physical and Mental Ability bonuses, half them, add 1 and add that instead of the regular bonuses to all Saves.
Additionally, it is impossible for nonepic/mythic Sources to seperate your Soul or Mind from your Body. Abilities that would do this simply fail.

Immortal: You have no natural End to your Life Span any longer. As long as you are not killed, you could live forever.

Thank you all in advance for your feedback!

noob
2020-11-09, 06:22 PM
Reminds me of the ultimate magus but for initiating and psionics or incarnum.

Inner Power released is invisible in the table and there is no way to know the level of that ability

once per day per Level of this ability
Meaning this ability have a level but you do not tell which one it have.

GrayDeath
2020-11-09, 07:26 PM
Ugh,s tupid formatting.

Corrected, and thanks for noticing!

JoshuaZ
2020-11-09, 10:01 PM
I like the idea.

A few quick remarks. First, is this intended for PCs or NPCs? Based on the class fluff I'd almost expect it to be an NPC by nature, but maybe it is intended for both?


theitr Aligment

Some typos here.


I'd be a little concerned that level 1 is an overly strong and might make a very single level dip.

Also, is this intended for either PF or 3.5? It looks like it uses PF specific disciplines, but also uses incarnum. My suggestion is to consider making two versions, one for PF and for 3.5 (Note that there is an Akashic system for PF which is essentially incarnum for PF but with different rules). At an absolute minimum, I'd include the save tables and skills for each separately. To allow more flexibility, I'd just allow them to pick maneuver from any four disciplines chosen at the start, or any discipline they have any maneuvers in. That fits more with the fluff, rather than every Ancient Master having the same four. That will help with the 3.5/PF compatibility also, and since there are a lot of well done homebrew disciplines, this would fit naturally into that framework.

GrayDeath
2020-11-10, 04:46 PM
As I wrote in the OP, this is intended for full 3.p.
And both, though usually the majority will be NPC`s, given the memes associated with it.

Thanks for pointing out the typoes, I`ll fix them.


What specifically do you see as too strong on level 1? After all, aside from a Maneuver all it provides is stopping age penalties....

As for the inclusion of eventual Homebrew Disciplines. True. Ill add something in.