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View Full Version : Rusty Pipe Veteran [Prestige Class] with a bit of innuendo!!!



paigeoliver
2008-01-05, 03:09 AM
Ok, with 4th edition looming on the horizon I severely doubt I am going to sell any more of my own D20 books, so here is a class few people ever saw.


“Did you see what he Dread Pirate Rivera was wearing last night? Scandalous!”
Clyde - Rusty Pipe Veteran

Rusty Pipe Veteran

The Rusty Pipe is one of the toughest bars on Fibber Island. So tough that you almost never see a woman in the place, so tough that they rent rooms by the hour, so tough that they don‘t even chill their fine wines. The Rusty Pipe veteran is a regular, he keeps his ear to the ground, and always makes it back to the Rusty Pipe, no matter where his real home is.

Adventures: Rusty Pipe Veterans are almost always sailors, since the Rusty Pipe is a sailor bar. There has always been a huge amount of crossover between sailors, pirates and adventurers, and this is no exception when it comes to the Rusty Pipe Veteran.

Characteristics: Rusty Pipe Veterans often have a distinctive accent that is hard to place, all those years spent in far off ports is likely the reason why. Most of them are surprisingly sensitive, and almost all of them keep on top of local events.

Alignment: Rusty Pipe Veterans may be of any alignment, although few of them are Lawful Good or Chaotic evil as the extreme viewpoints espoused by those alignments makes it hard for one to fit in at the Rusty Pipe.

Religion: As a group Rusty Pipe Veterans tend to not put a lot of stock into religion, even though religion is a frequent topic of discussion at the Rusty Pipe.

Other Classes: Rusty Pipe Veterans usually fit in well with light fighters, most sailor and pirate characters, and anyone else who can appreciate someone with a quick rapier and a keen fashion sense. They often clash with clerics of gods that particularly encourage marriage and family.

Abilities: Rusty Pipe Veterans vary a lot in their ability scores, although most have at least average intelligence and charisma.

Becoming a Rusty Pipe Veteran

Some claim that Rusty Pipe Veterans are born and not made, but that debate has never been settled. The actual requirements to join the class are fairly simple, and any class can qualify at 5th level.

Entry Requirements
Skills: Any skill 8 ranks
Or
Base Attack Bonus: +5

Special: Must be a regular at the Rusty Pipe. Must be male. Must not have a wife or girlfriend.

Class Features:
The primary focus of the Rusty Pipe Veteran is becoming a man of the world and increasing your existing abilities, and increasing your importance among the other regulars at the Rusty Pipe.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
The Rusty Pipe Veteran gains weapon proficiency with either rapier or whip, his choice.

No Time for Love (Ex) There is a code of conduct among Rusty Pipe Veterans. They don’t have time for romance with women. There are too many ports to sail to and too many bars just like the Rusty Pipe to drink in. Rusty Pipe Veterans who take a wife cannot advance further in the class, and will suffer all the drawbacks of shunning (detailed below). Rusty Pipe Veterans who take a girlfriend or are seen frequenting prostitutes are shunned until they change their ways and then for 1d4 weeks after.

Shunning Any Rusty Pipe veteran who is suffering from shunning receives a -8 penalty on all charisma checks made in the Rusty Pipe and to charisma checks made relating to other Rusty Pipe Veterans. In addition all other Rusty Pipe Veterans (and other characters at the GM’s discretion) are automatically move one category towards hostile on the diplomacy table. It usually takes a while for everyone to figure out the person is on the out list, so the GM may wish to hold off penalties in some circumstances.

No one can advance as a Rusty Pipe Veteran while being shunned, although they keep all class abilities.

Wrestling (Ex) A large amount of amateur wrestling goes on at the Rusty Pipe, and Rusty Pipe Veterans receive a +2 bonus to grapple checks at 1st level.

Progression (Ex) When a Rusty Pipe Veteran gains an even numbered level the character may choose to advance class features in one of several ways. The character only gets a single choice, but may make different choices each time.

A Rusty Pipe Veteran with the Sneak Attack class feature may choose to increase his sneak attack by 1d6.

A Rusty Pipe Veteran with a class ability to choose auras, invocations, tricks, or other similar class features from a list may choose a new one.

A Rusty Pipe Veteran with spellcasting abilities may choose to advance those. The character gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he belonged to before adding the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained, except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a Rusty Pipe Veteran, he must decide to which class he adds the new level for purposes of determining spells per day.

A Rusty Pipe Veteran with the rage or smite ability may increase his number of rages or smites by one per day.

A Rusty Pipe Veteran may also choose a fighter bonus feat in lieu of other progression options.

Gossip (Ex) Rusty Pipe Veterans are extremely adept in spreading gossip. A Rusty Pipe Veteran of 3rd level or higher may take the usual time to make a Gather Information check, but instead use that time to spread rumors about any target they wish. If successful the target has a penalty to effective charisma in the community for one month. The penalty does not affect spells per day, or maximum spell levels that can be cast. But it does affect save DCs, skill checks, and any other abilities based on charisma, provided the person is using the ability on a member of the community that the gossip ability was used in. The person targeted can find out the source of the gossip with a DC 15 Gather Information check, made at their new lower charisma score. It may be easier for the target to have a companion make the Gather Information check for them.

The basic DC needed to spread Gossip about someone is 15, and that will provide an effective -2 penalty to charisma. The penalty increases to 5 at DC 20, 6 at DC 25, 7 at DC 30, and so on up to a maximum penalty of -12.

Remember that the penalty only applies to intelligent members of the community that the gossip was spread in, and does not apply to unintelligent creatures, hidden monsters or the like.

Attack from the Rear (Ex) No one ever accused Rusty Pipe Veterans of being particularly honorable. They are particularly adept at striking from behind their opponent. Rusty Pipe Veterans of 5th level and above gain +4 to hit while flanking as opposed to the normal +2.

Look at That (Ex) Rusty Pipe Veterans are very much in tune with aesthetics. They can often instantly notice if something is different. A Rusty Pipe veteran at 7th level or above gains a +4 circumstance bonus on spot checks to notice things that are out of the ordinary about creatures that they can already see, and places they are already familiar with. This bonus would apply to seeing through a disguise, noticing blood on someone’s hands, or noticing a new set of drapes in the house across the street. The bonus would not apply to spotting hidden creatures, secret doors or traps.

Reputation (Ex) The Rusty Pipe is frequented by many sailors and adventurers from around the world, and those sailors and adventurers have allies all over the world. A 9th level Rusty Pipe Veteran can find locate an ally in any town on the planet with a population of over 1000, and in any port town regardless of population. This requires either a DC 15 Gather Information check (taking normal amount of time), or a DC 20 Spot or Listen check which will take the same amount of time as the Gather Information would, but will be more discrete.

The exact nature of the ally is up to the gamemaster, but they should be able to provide the character with some sort of help.

Hit Die
d8

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): Appraise, Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Knowledge (Local, Nobility and Royalty), Listen, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim and Use Rope.

Rusty Pipe Veteran
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+2|
+0|No Time For Love, Wrestling

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+3|
+0|Progression


3rd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+1|Gossip

4th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+1|Progression


5th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+1|Attack from the Rear


6th|
+4|
+5|
+5|
+2|Progression

7th|
+5|
+5|
+5|
+2|Look at That

8th|
+6|
+6|
+6|
+2|Progression

9th|
+6|
+6|
+6|
+3|Reputation

10th|
+7|
+7|
+7|
+3|Progression[/table]

Stycotl
2008-01-05, 02:39 PM
this strikes me as something that should be a 3 or 5-level prc, rather than a full 10. especially with the fairly light-weight requirements. it is interesting, and flexible, though.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2008-01-05, 02:42 PM
I agree, take out the "Progression" abilities, and put it down to a 5 level, or leave in 2 levels of "Progression", and pick and choose from other abilities.

paigeoliver
2008-01-08, 11:53 PM
It is already published in a book that isn't going to see another revision, so there aren't going to be any changes. =)


I agree, take out the "Progression" abilities, and put it down to a 5 level, or leave in 2 levels of "Progression", and pick and choose from other abilities.

Icewalker
2008-01-09, 12:08 AM
Erm...it kinda sucks. Half or less than half progression of previous class, and no particularly useful abilities? I suppose giving somebody in a community a charisma minus towards checks could be useful...but really it isn't that great. Also, only 3/4 BAB and 4+I skills...


When I saw the name, this hilarious image of some dude with a rusty pipe just whaling on another guy popped into my head.

I wonder what kind of damage a rusty pipe would do as an improvised weapon...maybe a 1 con/1 con poison with an easy save...

paigeoliver
2008-01-09, 07:04 AM
It largely functioned as a class for social characters (all play examples were NPCs). The test play group for my game was half girls and had a lot more roleplaying than combat (entire sessions were spent shopping and eating pancakes and such), and they demanded I make a prestige class for the guys at the gay bar, so I did.

The class actually has some really good synergy with Marshal, since it allows you to keep picking up those useful minor auras without otherwise throwing good level after bad into Marshal. I largely had Marshal in mind when I wrote the class.

I also tend to write classes to introduce all new abilities (like the Ass Bandit who can steal your animal companion or familiar), and I tend towards the conservative side as far as power levels go, since almost anything can be cheesed out.