Quote Originally Posted by genericwit View Post
I know I'm kind of late to the party on this one, but this is an *awesome* homebrew. I've looked over a bunch of your stuff, and it's all pretty sweet. Hexblade has always been such a cool, flavorful class, but I feel like this really makes them playable.
Much appreciated; better late than never.

However, I feel like [along with several other of your classes] they're at least mildly over-powered. If I was going to play one, or allow one in a game I'm playing, I'd make the following changes:
Interesting conundrum. While I have no control over what happens at your table, I feel it's important to go point for point describing why I feel the change shouldn't (or hey, maybe should) go:

Caster level is Hexblade level -4, minimum 1 [so they still cast at 16 at max level].
I...really can't ascribe to the idea.

Partial spellcasters never really cast at half their potential. Consider the following: they cast spells with a serious delay (their first spells are learned at the moment full and 2/3rds spellcasters are casting their 2nd level spells, their 2nd level spells when others cast their 3rd or 4th level spells, and they only reach up to 4th level spells at the moment other spellcasters are approaching 5th or 7th level), so they're stunted in that sense. They've got spells with lower DC, for starters, and absolutely ALL spells are blocked by a single one (Globe of Invulnerability). That alone makes them half-spellcasters. Their original reduction halved their casting potential even more, so they were one-quarter spellcasters (in the same way that when you double the size of a three-dimensional object you elevate its weight to the third power).

Now, any limitation of caster level (a la Pathfinder) really won't make much of a difference, except that their 1st level spells will suffer quite a bit. Consider that they'll get a CL of 1 for three levels (3rd, 4th, 5th), so that means they get pretty weak spellcasting. The original Hexblade has a CL of 2nd when they begin, whereas the proposal limits them to CL 1st at the same level, and the level afterwards. The proposal would equal the original Hexblade's CL by 7th level (both would get CL 3rd) and exceed it by 9th (when the proposal would give the class a CL of 5th). Most games are played at low levels, so you'd have to wait a lot to be good at your job. It practically begs you to get Practiced Spellcaster to make ends meet. On the other hand, as it currently stands, the Bez-Kismet starts with a CL of 3rd for their 1st level spells, which makes the few spells they have access to useful at their level, but they're still getting 1st level spells where others get 2nd, so they're still a wee bit behind.

Reduce the usages of some abilities to 1 or 3 + Cha / day [they're curse ability, step into the unknown, limit the death ability to Cha/day or less].
Curse of the Fateless becomes a pretty strong ability, but the uses are fine if you think about it. With enough Charisma, you can use it about 8 times per day at, say, level 10 or so (Charisma 20 at the very least, plus the 2 uses you get from class levels), so that's the equivalent of using the curse on two enemies per battle. Since Curse of the Fateless affects only a single enemy, and it's limited to uses per day (because of the extended duration), forcing it to a "static" (at least, as static as your Charisma) amount of uses per day might be a needless nerf.

Step into the Unknown was a holdover of a previous crossover ability from the divine chassis (see Project Heretica for more details), where the Paladin had a flight ability that eventually because usable per day. That said, Step into the Unknown doesn't has a LOT of uses. At most, it becomes 6+Cha uses per day, which seems a LOT, but it's a move action (not a swift, or else I'd definitely limit it) and limited to your move speed (or double as a full-round action), so it's most likely you'll use it for battle.

As for the death ability...I reckon you mean Hex of Ending Fate. Well...the two limitations it has pretty much limits its uses per day. One, it's limited to how many Curses of the Fateless are running in combat, since it only affects THAT curse in particular (not the one from a Bestow Curse spell, for example, or Mark of Justice), and it has a save DC. The last thing you want is someone who can withstand (even with the penalty!!) the save DC, thus making you lose a daily use of your capstone. Once again, it's a capstone; pretty much the most awesome and interesting ability the class gets. In comparison: a spellcaster (Tier 1 or 2 most of the times) can use a spell which can kill one person per round (Implosion) and several at once (Wail of the Banshee) and other death-related spells (with their own save DCs) and can use them several times per day. A martial adept (Tier 3) with the Tiger Claw ultimate technique, Death from Above, can do it once every two rounds, and has a similar restriction. At least the last one, IMO, is pretty fair considering it's a melee class, and the Bez-Kismet is a gish so it should be pretty strong both physically and magically/supernaturally. Oh, and if the character succeeds on the Hex, it basically gets cured of the curse, so there's a strong element of risk involved.

In short: I don't really see a reason to reduce their uses per day, because each ability is right in the mid-point of "I've got a spare set of abilities" and "I wasted all of them", making the player able to choose carefully but still give it the chance to fire away with reckless abandon.

Remove aura of dissonance or aura of negation [I feel like one of these is more than enough; alternatively, allow save of aura of dissonance to allow them to retain their caster level, as opposed to spells], and reduce the aura of negation DC [maybe it's just me, but 13 + 2O + Cha, which could easily be over +1O for a grand total of 43, seems high--maybe 1O + class level, or even half class level?].
The thing with Aura of Dissonance and Aura of Negation is the same as with, say, most of the Project Heretica classes: they have abilities designed to battle and succeed against a wide variety of spellcasters. I could agree with the idea of shifting the save DC of Aura of Dissonance to prevent loss of caster level, but it's a Will save, which is the highest save the caster has (so there's a BIG chance they'll succeed on it).

Aura of Negation's DC, on the other hand, is fair enough. Consider a typical spellcaster: because Concentration is only useful for spellcasters, there's a big chance they'll have it high enough, and probably maxed; that's a 23 to the save. Con is usually an important stat, so there's a good chance that Con will be high enough, so in the end, the spellcaster must roll within the range of 10-14 to succeed. That range is the sweet one, because it's right around the average or a bit higher. Now, assume that the spellcaster has enough Con to meet the Bez-Kismet's Charisma: that'd make the spellcaster's Con bonus equal to 33, so you only need a 10. Have we added any ability that grants a bonus to Concentration checks? Note that Concentration checks are pretty easy to boost, so there's a chance that any well-optimized (not even fully; well-optimized) spellcaster will succeed by taking 1. That makes Aura of Negation a non-ability, because you ALWAYS succeed on it. The current version's DC is designed in a way that, against a character with a skill bonus based only on max skill levels plus relevant ability score bonus equal to the user's relevant ability score, the target has to roll a 10, which is basically the "magic number". Against spellcasters with low Concentration, you have a deadly weapon; however, considering how you can stack only a few bonuses and gain a decent enough total bonus on any skill check, the Bez-Kismet is actually probably unable to enforce this ability.

Maybe reduce the maximum range of auras to 6O--a 9O foot radius is a *huge* area.
Certainly, it's a pretty huge area...at 15th level. The reason why it's such a huge area is a combination of how the "Divine Champion" chassis is designed (all classes with the same chassis will share many of the same abilities) and how to keep archers and swift runners debuffed (at most, you'd keep frontliners debuffed, but they can block you and enemies only have to escape the range of your aura). Escaping from a 60' aura is easier than escaping from a 90' one. I might consider it, but don't hold me on that.

Tone down the penalty reduction to 3 or 4 at its highest [let's face it, reducing all penalties is an *amazing* ability, and basically negates debuffs].

Edit: Finally, I'd explicitly state [I don't know if you have] that they *cannot* get luck bonuses or use re-rolls.
Quite frankly? Aside from what I added later on, I never was too happy with Miser's Fortune. I really wanted to explain how their fortune was so horrible, it couldn't get any worse, but I never had the chance to pull it off.

Thus, suggesting the re-rolls idea is pretty interesting. The ability won't be really nerfed (after all, the Charisma bonus to damage against cursed opponents is good enough), but it plays interestingly: you can't get luck feats, luck bonuses or any kind of reroll, and you can't use a reroll, but people can't use rerolls against you AND you negate luck-based penalties (you're unaffected by Prayer on either side, for example), so it's a fair trade-off. I'd have to consider how I can work on it, but it can be interesting.

I feel like this still leaves you with an incredibly powerful gish with tons of synergy and a caster's worst nightmare.

Again, I love all your classes, especially your paladin and warlock fixes--paladins are no longer jokes, and non-glaivelock/hellfire builds are viable for warlocks.
Much appreciated for the pep-up. In any case, if you feel that your table will work better by using those suggestions, then go for it. I repeat, I can't control what happens on your table. I'd like you to consider each and probably state why each point's merit, but I've worked this class pretty well and I hesitate doing any change, unless it's for the best. Right now, it's not a Tier 2 by any measure, and it can barely reach Tier 3 because it can do one thing extremely well (debuff, particularly those pesky spell-casters) and do others moderately well (being a proper gish, for example).