D&D 3.5 - Class Idea/Help Me Flesh it Out

[Ziegander]

Had a dream last night that a player wanted to design a homebrew class that would let him play as Venom. In the dream I told him that we could work on it, but that he should remember that a class needs to be more designed as broad strokes. We should design a class that Venom could be made out of, not a class that only works for Venom clone characters (oh god the Clone Saga!).

The player (still in the dream) suggested that the class should have a focus on Charisma, since a strong personality should help to control the symbiote and direct it to do what the host wants. I liked this idea. That was when I woke up (kinda).

Anyway, in the intervening time between that dream, my pseudosleep thereafter, and subsequently getting out of bed, I continued to think about this class. Not exactly a shapeshifter per se, but a charismatic master of disguise and socialite that controls some force that allows him morphic weaponry and biology. The charisma focus lends itself toward the interesting face/infiltrator out of combat role, while the Venom aspect shines through in a lot of the intended combat uses. I'm seeing a class that gains the natural attacks of level-appropriate monsters and eventually gains the extraordinary special attacks and even special qualities. It would have a set number of forms it is "familiar" with, that increases by class level.

Thoughts on this? What is the "power source" that grants it the ability to do this warshaper + socialshaper thing?

[JeminiZero]

If you have to roll cha based a control check, to keep the symbiote from manipulating your behaviour, then it sounds a bit like a binder specializing in homebrew vestiges that grant morphic weapons. Said specialization can possibly take the form of a prestige class centered around these homebrew morphic vestiges, possibly based off Tenebrous Apostate.

If you always have control, and Cha merely limits how many symbiotes you can bind, then it sounds vaguely like a Totemist who uses Cha instead of Con to bind soulmelds / get natural weapons. You can probably simplify this to a feat (like undead meldshaper) to run Soulmeld stat off Cha, and then refluffing soulmelds to be symbiotic like things. Essentia then becomes a pool of biological energy that he can channel to different weapons to enhance them.

[mrcarter11]

I have to admit I like the idea of seeing this done on an MoI frame, but that's because I enjoy the system. As for my opinion, I'd say this sounds like a Cha focused concept of a base class based on Prototype, which I think would work quite well really. A higher Cha would allow you access to more forms, thus allowing you greater versatility and as you said it'd lend to the social aspect. As for how the combat section should work, I'd say tiered forms would be best. So maybe make a good 10 or so forms, each of which would have something like 4 stages. And then at levels, 6,11, and 16 your forms would advance to the next stage.

Another homebrew class I believed cause the Primalist had a vaguely similar idea to what I'm describing with tiered forms and what not. In any case, very interested in seeing how this turns out.

[Ziegander]

Y'know, I might have to take another look at Pathfinder's Synthesist Summoner, because the second thought I had (directly after Magic of Incarnum) was some kind of Shaping Points, or whatever you want to call them, that are fueled by a higher Charisma score (in a manner similar to how psionic PP are fueled by a high ability score).

Basically, what if the class we're talking about here gained an Evolution Pool, similarly to the Summoner's Eidolon's pool, but invested the points in granting itself evolutions, and, what if it could reallocate these points as a swift action at any time (similarly to Incarnum)?

This has the advantage in that the Eidolon's Evolutions are already separated into four "tiers" 1pt EVOs, 2pt EVOs, 3pts, and 4pts. I figure I could work out another tier for 5pt EVOs, and parse it out between 1st, 4th, 7th, 11th, and 15th class level.

[Sgt. Cookie]

I think what you are describing is the Ozmodrin (I think it's spelt like that). I haven't looked over it that much, but if I remember correctly, that's pretty much what you just described.