Aura of the Unseen: Warlock PrC [WIP][PEACH][3.5]

[Madara]

At one point in time, a group of warlocks who had unlocked the secret to invisibility became some of the greatest thieves ever. Soon, their services were used for espionage, assassination, and as spies. Relating to a creature of legend, this group named themselves the invisible stalkers. Not only were they masters of stealth, but their power grew to include tracking and observing others.

Requirements:
Skills: 6 ranks in Hide and Move Silently
Casting: Caster Level 5
Special: Must have the Walk Unseen Invocation

Invisible Stalker
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+0|+1|+1|+0|Track

2nd|+0|+1|+1|+0|+1 Least/Lesser Warlock Invocation

3rd|+1|+2|+2|+1|Natural Invisibility

4th|+1|+2|+2|+1|Improved Detect Magic,Eldritch Blaster

5th|+2|+3|+3|+1|Telepathy

6th|+2|+3|+3|+2|Mindsight, +1 Least/Lesser Warlock Invocation

7th|+3|+3|+3|+2|+1 Least/Lesser Warlock Invocation

8th|+4|+4|+4|+2|Eldritch Blaster

9th|+4|+4|+4|+3| Beyond the Material

10th|+5|+5|+5|+3| One with the Ethereal

[/table]

Alignment: Any non-good
Hit Die: 1d6

Class Skills:
Concentration (Con),Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha),Hide (Dex), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Sleight Of Hand (Dex), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features:

Track: At first level, the Invisible Stalker gains Track as a bonus feat as he learns to follow his target over long distances. If the Invisible Stalker already has Track as a feat, he may choose another feat instead.

Least/Lesser Warlock Invocation: At 2nd and 7th level, the Invisible Stalker gains Invocations from the Warlock list. Once these are chosen, they cannot be changed.

Natural Invisibility: At 3rd level, an Invisible Stalker becomes more like his namesake, his invisibility is considered natural when activated, and cannot be dispelled. It acts like Improved Invisibility in that the Invisible Stalker does not become visible when he attacks. He can still be seen by spells such as See Invisibility and True Seeing.

Improved Detect Magic: The Stalker's Detect Magic Ability he gained from Warlock levels now acts as if he has already spent 2 rounds on concentration.

Telepathy: The Invisible Stalker has learned how to contact his allies without alerting his enemies to his presence. He gains 100ft. Telepathy.

Mindsight: The Invisible Stalker can now track his foes with his Telepathy. He gains Mindsight as a bonus feat.

Eldritch Blaster: At 4th level, an Invisible Stalker gains more power with his eldritch blast. At 4th level, his Eldritch blast can count as force damage. In addition, the damage dice used increase by 1d6. The Invisible Stalker's eldritch blast has no verbal or somatic components, and cannot be seen except by effects such as true seeing and see invisibility. At 8th level, this increases to a bonus of 2d6 damage.

Beyond the Material: For a total of 1 Minute/Character Level, a stalker can turn Ethereal each day. Activating this ability takes a full round action, and so does ending it.

One with the Ethereal: At 10th level, the Stalker can use his Beyond the Material ability as a swift action 3/day.

[Empedocles]

Okay, not doing as thorough an PEACH as I did on the overseer, but I'd like to make a few suggestions. I do really like this class, but I see some potentially fatal problems

The biggest issue with this class as a warlock PrC is that it doesn't have an eldritch blast progression for 10 levels which renders a lot of what the warlock can do completely obsolete.

This alone doesn't break the PrC though. The incredible stealth means that you can still have a ridiculously good sniper if you're creative. To that end, you have 2 options.

Give it an eldritch blast progression, which could theoretically break it the other direction (it'd probably be Tier 2 with a full progression, which is pretty damn broken IMO) or make some smaller changes.

HD could go to d8. This class feels a little hardier than the warlock anyways Add use magic device as a skill. It more or less fits the flavor, and it gives the invisible stalker a lot more options. Fill in the dead level at level 8. And finally, improve the BAB progression. If this is a stealthy sniper tracker thingy, he needs to be able to hit stuff.

This class has a lot of potential, but it does still need some work.

[Madara]

Thank's again for the PEACH, I will be making some changes.

[unosarta]

(it'd probably be Tier 2 with a full progression, which is pretty damn broken IMO)

This is a really freaking common misconception, but the Tiers do not work that way. The Tiers are based on the flexibility of the class; this is why Sorcerers are of a lower Tier than Wizards, when they have access to the same spell lists. The Wizard can change their spells everyday if they want to, in order to maximize flexibility, whereas the Sorcerer knows their spells and cannot change them. Tier 4 is good at one thing, and pretty damn good at it, but can't do other things. Tier 3 is good at their one thing, but can also do other things as well, though they can't overshadow someone dedicated to that thing. Tier 2 is good at everything with enough dedication, and will overshadow classes dedicated to one single task. Tier 1 is the same as Tier 2, but has more flexibility. Look at the Tier 1 classes; Archivist, Artificer, Druid, Cleric, and Wizard. Those classes can change their spells/infusions every single day into being whatever they want. Those classes can overshadow a melee character fairly easily, can overshadow a skilled character with the right spells, can heal (even Wizard has access to some healing via UMD), can battle field control, can deal with traps, in addition to being able to do whatever it is they are specialized in, and being able to change this every day. This is especially true for the Cleric and Druid, who can literally just prepare any spell that can be granted to them, which is theoretically any spell that isn't the opposite of their god's alignment, whereas Wizards and Archivists have to have their spells in a spellbook (to be fair, it isn't that hard to just get a lot of spells in your spellbook, but it does give the DM some leeway in nerfing them). That is why they are Tier 1, not because they have individually powerful effects. This class isn't anywhere near Tier 2, especially given the fact that they don't even get above Lesser/Least Invocations. Not that that would actually drive them up to Tier 2 ever, but it would certainly help up their power slightly.

I do however agree that the Eldritch Blast should be included. It is an iconic ability of the Warlock, after all. Instead of only including progression, however, I would recommend that you also make the Eldritch Blast in some way feel sneaky and ethereal- for instance, make it so that there is no visual component of the Blast, make it bypass non living material, etc. That would make it feel far more like the Warlock's abilities are being granted by an Invisible Stalker than just upping the damage.

For instance:

Invisible Ballast (Su): The Invisible Stalker's Eldritch Blast gives no visible component, and even True Seeing and other similar effects cannot locate the Eldritch Blast. In addition, once per day, the Invisible Stalker may ignore any cover the target has, as they phase their Eldritch Blast through any material between the blast and their target. This also ignores any non-living material that the target might be using to shield themselves as part of their armor, including Deflection bonuses to armor and other such normally impassable forces. They gain an additional use of this ability at fourth level and every three levels thereafter (7th, and 10th).

Just as an example. You can take this however you will, but this is the sort of thing I would recommend. I really like the flavor of this class, and I could easily see it being converted into a more Fey class that focuses on the Fey-like invisibility. In fact, the mechanics seem to support that fully...

[Cieyrin]

An easier method is to just hand it an invocation progression, which will both get them new invocations and eldritch blast dice, as per Complete Arcane on PrCs and Warlocks. Giving it piecemeal isn't very efficient, especially since a lot of the features feel like they should just be feats or somesuch.

I'd say giving it at least half progression but I think this class would have options and power if it had 9/10 progression.

[Madara]

I like that Idea, thank you, the invisible eldritch blast has been added. This is one of my earliest works, so it lacks a lot of fluff. But, I think I'll leave it that way, then the fluff is rather mutable.

[Empedocles]

I like that Idea, thank you, the invisible eldritch blast has been added. This is one of my earliest works, so it lacks a lot of fluff. But, I think I'll leave it that way, then the fluff is rather mutable.

Give him an additional 1d6 at 4th level. 2d6 at 8th level is good though

[rgrekejin]

A few notes:

A normal warlock has good will saves, but poor fort and reflex saves. This class has poor will saves, but good fort and reflex saves. Why the inversion?

I'll also add my voice to the chorus suggesting that at least some invocation/eldritch blast progression is probably in order. It can be 1/2 or 9/10 or something less than complete, as this class gets some powerful stuff, but a full progression warlock that gets greater and dark invocations is probably, over the long term, going to be a more powerful character. Especially as they can use pretty much all of their abilities an unlimited number of times per day. Having abilities you can't use ad nauseum seems very un-warlock. Maybe install a 1/2 progression instead of handing out bonuses and extra invocations at strange levels? Then swap the levels at which you gain some of the class abilities to prevent dead levels?

Survival needs to be a class skill for you to get any use out of the Track feat at all. Maybe make having ranks in survival a prerequisite in some way.

Why the reduction in BAB progression (someone has already mentioned this, I think)?

[Madara]

Ah survival! I will add it.
As for the BAB, this class is meant to avoid combat and as such they become less capable fighters. Still, I think you've inspired me, I will see what I can do to remix this.

[rgrekejin]

Ah survival! I will add it.
As for the BAB, this class is meant to avoid combat and as such they become less capable fighters. Still, I think you've inspired me, I will see what I can do to remix this.

Awesome! I do love me some 3.5 warlock (easily my favorite class), and the more support that there is for it, the better!