Corpse PrC [3.5]

[EdroGrimshell]

So, let's see -- a few comments.

1. The level 0 thing (as far as I know) originally comes from Risen Martyr in the BoED, so rules-wise there is a precedent, just in case anyone was wondering. Do the "turn into a construct" & "turn into an undead" things prevent you from taking more levels like being rezzed does? I suggest they do, since otherwise you could very easily cheese the stats (which are the big drawback).

It locks you out, yes, and if you ever get one of those at 10th level you lose the benefits of Unliving Paragon.

2. General worry is that this should not turn a creature into something better than the dedicated class. I can see this being an insane gish class, if you build it properly, though I haven't tried to actually break it.

I'll do my best in that regard, any suggestions specifically to tone it down?

2a. Inherent ability bonuses are handed out by some magic items and Wish spells. This makes those items & spells much less useful. Maybe a different bonus type (or untyped)?

Inherent is so it DOESN'T stack with those magic items and wish spell uses. It also prevents stacking the ability bonuses from the Sources with each other and those from the level 10 ability. I do try to mind when making stuff like this.

3. Arcane source:
~"Greatest invocations" aren't a thing -- I think you mean "dark invocations".
~You should also specify which invocation list they use. Honestly, invoking-wise, this is strictly better than straight warlock. EB is much less, but the invocation progression is superior (and definitely abusable via Legacy Champion).
~Need to specify how the bard casting works... is it "as a bard of your class level"?

If you follow the link you'll see that the Invoker class calls Dark Invocations Greatest Invocations instead. And I meant for the Corpse to use that list. As it is, the Invoker outclasses the Warlock too, and I prefer to use it to Warlock anyway.

Yes it is Class Level, so the casting never gets too high (I think level 3 or 4 at the highest), thouch I could probably change it to Sorcerer casting and still keep it okay.

Also, they only ever get one Greatest Invocation. Sure they get it a lot earlier, but still, it's only one, ever, and they can't change it. I could always change it so that it uses Character Level to determine the Invocations and Spells. A half character level progression should tone it down enough.

4. Artificer source:
~Can they take warforged feats which require being 1st level?

Hm, debating that, actually. I want to say yes, but I'm not sure if it would require them taking the feat at the level they gain corpse or not.

5. Blood source:
~Do they have to pay any XP for the major bloodline? How many bloodline levels do they count as having? (It should probably be 0, make that explicit).
~Why two separate abilities which each grant a major bloodline? Do you get both of those at class entry?

No and 0 bloodline levels. They just get the benefits of the bloodlines.

Actually, they get three Major bloodlines (using welknair's bloodlines rather than the official ones since the official ones suck), one for each ability. And they gain the benefits of the bloodline at the level they get the abilities that grant them. They still use their character level to determine the benefits.

6. Negative source:
~Seems kinda underpowered compared to some of the others; though the chance for unlimited self healing out of combat is nice... it's nothing a 1st-level DN couldn't do. The rest of the sources have far superior options (especially Arcane), particularly when it comes to scaling.
~Should explicitly say that charnel touch is negative energy damage. It's strongly implied by the fluff, but humor me?

If you'll note, the Corpse isn't Undead, it's Unliving, meaning it's more of a Living Construct of sorts. It's not healed by positive or negative energy unless it takes the appropriate source.

Any suggestions for making it better?

7. Positive source:
~Kinda cool -- you should maybe specify somewhere what happens if you take both Positive and Negative sources. Do you heal from both kinds of damage?

Yes, you heal from both Positive and Negative energy, same as being an Unliving Paragon. Grants the same benefit.

8. Willpower source:
~OK, this might be somewhat overpowered. Every Corpse should take this, probably as their first source, and then you can improve your chassis insanely while still getting your other abilities.

True, but it requires GM Fiat to even take it (note the Requirements). That one is mainly meant for Solo games or high power games. As it is, I don't recommend GMs allowing the Willpower source in most normal games unless they know exactly what they're doing.

Overall, I think you need to smooth out the balance between the different sources, some are strictly better than others (Willpower & Arcane) and others strictly worse (Negative). Needs more source ideas, definitely -- divine, primal, rage, incarnum, shadow, dragon, vestige. I can think of fluff for all of these off the top of my head. I also think this could very easily be broken open... if you build a Commoner 1/Corpse 10, then you can go into almost anything and be nuts.

I do intend to create more sources, the main ones being Psionic, Vestige, and Divine.

Any suggestions for toning down the powerful ones and increasing the power of the weaker ones? Like i said, Willpower is mainly a GM Fiat one, so that one shouldn't be as much of a problem.

I also need ideas for Source Abilities, any suggestions there would be extremely helpful.

EDIT: Also, can you make the Improvements into a list or table or something? Having them all smoodged together in the text makes it tedious to parse...

Really? It's a single improvement for all of them so it'd just be one column of things you can improve, that's really it.

I'll make one if it'll help, but I don't see it helping much at the moment.