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Thread: Politician [Base Class]
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2007-03-12, 09:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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Politician [Base Class]
Politician
Alignment: Must be Lawful. Typically Lawful Neutral, yet arguably Lawful Evil.
Hit Die: d6.
Starting Gold: 5d4 ×15 (187 gp).
Age: As Cleric.
Class Skills
The politician’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points: 8 + Int modifier.
Attack and Saves
BAB: 3:4
Fort: Poor
Ref: Poor
Will: Good
Weapons and Armor
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons.
Armor: All types of armor and shields.
Class Features
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Platform; Rally the Masses [Calm Emotions or Remove Fear]; Through the Grapevine
2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3|Bribery; Can't Handle the Truth (+2)
3rd|+2|+1|+1|+3|Rally the Masses [Charm or Heroism]
4th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Platform Ability
5th|+3|+1|+1|+4|Climb the Ranks
6th|+4|+2|+2|+5|Rally the Masses [Suggestion or Good Hope]; Leadership: Quantity Over Quality
7th|+5|+2|+2|+5|Bonus Feat
8th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+6|Platform
9th|+6/+1|+3|+3|+6|Rally the Masses [Dominate or Song of Discord]
10th|+7/+2|+3|+3|+7|Climb the Ranks
11th|+8/+3|+3|+3|+7|Can't Handle the Truth (+4)
12th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|Platform; Rally the Masses [Greater Heroism or Fear]
13th|+9/+4|+4|+4|+8|Filibuster
14th|+10/+5|+4|+4|+9|Incite Mob
15th|+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+9|Rally the Masses [Dictum or other*]; Climb the Ranks
16th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10|Platform
17th|+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10|Can't Handle the Truth (Immunity); Master Pundit
18th|+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11|Rally the Masses [Shield of Law* or other*]
19th|+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Political Gambit
20th|+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Platform; Climb the Ranks[/table]
*=see ability description for details
[[Ability (Level): Effect.]]
Fallen Politicians: When a politician fails to uphold his Lawful alignment requirement, he loses the following class abilities along with his people's trust: Rally the Masses, Through the Grape Vine, Bribery/Donation, Incite Mob, Master Pundit, and Political Gambit. To regain his abilities, he must become Lawful again through his own means. If the failure of his alignment was public or released to the public before he regains his abilities, it takes 4d4 weeks of campaigning at 5d20x10 gp a week to rebuild his image (at which time he must maintain a Lawful alignment or start all over again).
Platform (1, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20): A politician chooses a Knowledge skill at their first level and every fourth level to add to their political platform. The politician gains a +4 bonus to those checks, but acquires a -2 penalty to every Knowledge skill he lacks a Platform on for each Platform he has attained. Platforms may be invested in the abilities of this class, granting extra power but still costing the Knowledge penalties.
Rally the Masses [Calm Emotions or Remove Fear] (1): The politician may spend one minute to deliver a speech before a large group of people. All within earshot, a 60 foot burst, must pass a Sense Motive check opposed by a Perform (Oratory) check or make a save to avoid becoming affected by the indicated effect for one minute per class level (see below for the save DC). After each minute, they may reattempt their check, but the politician's check (the original serves as the DC) is reduced by 2 each minute. Investing a Platform in Rally the Masses causes the DC to only decrease by one. Investing in one instance of Rally the Masses affects them all. If a save is involved in the indicated effect, the DC is 10 + spell level + politician's Charisma modifier. Any command put upon the listeners is directed to all listeners. When a Rally the Masses ability lists two spells, the politician may choose which one to use when they perform their action. Spell resistance has no effect as the powers of Rally the Masses are more mundane than actually magical.
A politician may use his Rally the Masses ability on a mob.
A politician may use this ability once per day per three class levels plus an additional time per Platform invested in this ability.
Through the Grapevine (1): A politician gains the bardic lore ability, as per a bard. However, he uses his Charisma instead. This only works when talking with at least one associate per two points of the DC. A Platform invested in this ability adds a +2 bonus to the roll (only one Platform may be invested).
Bribery (2): Whenever a politician makes a Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Perform, or Intimidate check, he may pay a certain amount of gold. He gains a circumstance bonus equal to the amount of gold divided by 200, to a maximum of his class level. This bonus doesn't apply to Rally the Masses. Investing a Platform in Bribery reduces this cost to 100 gp. A Good character's version of this ability is called 'Donation'. A Neutral character may choose either.
Can't Handle the Truth (2, 11, 17): A politician gains a +2 bonus to all saves against effects that would make him tell the truth or glean any sort of information. This includes zone of truth and detect thoughts. If told to tell the truth as per charm or dominate, he automatically gets the chance to retry his save first, with this bonus included. At level 11, this bonus increases to +4. At level 19, he gains immunity to such effects (or is automatically freed of the effect in the case of charm or dominate).
Rally the Masses [Charm or Heroism] (3)
Climb the Ranks (5, 10, 15, 20): As a politician's skills increase, he acquires more and more social standing among his peers. Each time he gains another instance of this ability, he is given a 5000 gp. To find any bit of knowledge about him through a Knowledge (nobility, local, or history) or the bardic knowledge ability, the DC of the check is reduced by 3 each time. A DM may increment the character's social standing by one level or category, as they see fit.
Leadership: Quantity over Quality (6, 11): At level 6, a politician can lead the masses, gaining the Leadership feat. However, none of his followers may only have up to one mental ability score above his own. The politician may invest a Platform into this skill to increase his Leadership score by 2, but the Knowledge penalties still accrue. His cohort, usually a the running mate or a body guard, is not affected by investing a Platform in this ability or the mental ability limitation. At level 11, the politician's cohort's level is increased by two, to a maximum of the politician's class level minus one.
The politician's leadership score is not affected by moving around a lot, and often has a small to medium-sized entourage at all times.
The cohort is generated using the same ability picking method as the politician (32-point buy, 4d6, etc.).
This feat counts as Leadership. A politician taking it early is subject to the same limitations but cannot invest Platforms until this level.
Rally the Masses [Suggestion or Good Hope] (6)
Bonus Feat (7, 14): At level 7 and again at level 14, a politician may choose to take one of the following feats: Deceitful, Investigator, Persuasive, Stealthy, Skill Focus (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Perform, or Intimidate). Widen Rally, Extend Rally, Counterpoint are politician only feats that may be taken as well.
Rally the Masses [Dominate or Song of Discord] (9)
Rally the Masses [Greater Heroism or Feeblemind] (12)
Filibuster (13): Once per day, a politician may take a full-round action to occupy the entire next round with a speech, usually an inane one. Anyone acting after the politician in the initiative order, until his next turn, does not get an action but effects still transpire as normal (such as being on fire, being dazzled for a certain period of time, fast healing, falling, etc.). This effects allies as well as enemies.
Incite Mob: A Politician may expend one of his daily uses of Rally the Masses to incite a mob of Small or Medium Humanoids (see the DMG2, pg. 59). The attempt works as a Rally the Masses ability but requires a single Sense Motive check opposed by his Perform (Oratory) check. If he affects the right number of creatures or more, a mob is incited from those affected (chosen at random). He may only use this ability once per week, plus an additional time if he invests a Platform. The mob lasts for one hour per five class levels and follows basic commands of the politician (as per a continuous command spell).
Rally the Masses [Dictum or other] (15): You may use dictum or its counterpart that matches your other alignment axis, as long as you are not Lawful Neutral (holy word or blasphemy).
Master Pundit (17): A politician has gained so advanced an education in a certain field of knowledge that he may use that knowledge to understand a completely unrelated situation, somewhat. He may substitute one type of Knowledge check for another whenever he makes a straight Knowledge check (not part of any other action), but at a -5d4 penalty. The certainty of his information is as if he had made the check without the penalty. Each Platform invested reduces the penalty by 1d4, to a minimum of -2d4.
Rally the Masses [Shield of Law or other] (18): You may use shield of law or its counterpart that matches your other alignment axis (holy aura or unholy aura), as long as you are not Lawful Neutral. Shield of Law's effect is altered so that it only bestows the first two effects (bonuses and SR).
Political Gambit (19): Once per month, a politician may automatically roll a 20 on a Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, Forgery, Perform, Profession, or Sense Motive check (or another skill check at the DM's discretion, depending on what's necessary for the situation). However, there is a 50% chance the attempt ends as a natural 1, automatically failing even if a 1 wouldn't necessarily cause the attempt to fail. If the attempt fails on the 50% chance, the politician receives a horrible reputation (suspending any bonus to his Leadership score, in addition to a -2 penalty for the time being, and losing any benefit from Climb the Ranks) until this ability can be used again. If a 1 was rolled on the d100 to decide this, the politician becomes public enemy number one and is despised by all in their society (they all receive the benefit of Favored Enemy against him, which stacks with other Favored Enemy bonuses from rangers and the such).
Epic Politician {table=head]Level|Class Ability
21st|Bonus Feat; Rally the Masses [Hold]
22nd|Epic Leadership
23rd|Epic Bonus Feat
24th|Rally the Masses [Haste or Slow]; Platform
25th|Climb the Ranks
26th|Epic Bonus Feat
27th|Rally the Masses [Geas/Quest*]
28th|Platform; Bonus Feat
29th|Epic Bonus Feat; Platform
30th|Rally the Masses [Bear's Endurance or Bull's Strength or Cat's Grace or Eagle's Splendor or Fox's Cunning or Owl's Wisdom]; Climb the Ranks[/table]
Bonus Feat (21, 28): Choose another feat from the Bonus Feat list above.
Epic Leadership (22): This still follows the limitations listed on the non-epic base class. Any bonuses are transferred to Epic Leadership as well. You may invest a Platform to gain another +2 reputation bonus.
Epic Bonus Feat (23, 26, 29): At every third level after 20, a politician gains one of the Epic Politician bonus feats from the list below.
Platform (24, 28): The progression of Platforms continues as normal.
Rally the Masses [Hold] (21)
Rally the Masses [Haste or Slow] (24)
Climb the Ranks (25, 30): Gains 10,000 gp instead. Epic social ranks are comparable to national or international positions, possibly king and emperor, respectively.
Rally the Masses [Geas/Quest] (27): Time is extended to one month per class level, or until the action is completed. The recipients get a new save at the end of each month.
Rally the Masses [Bear's Endurance or Bull's Strength or Cat's Grace or Eagle's Splendor or Fox's Cunning or Owl's Wisdom] (30)
Epic Politician Bonus Feat List: Legendary Commander, Epic Reputation, Epic Skill Focus (see Bonus Feat above), Extended Lifespan, Great Charisma, Great Intelligence, Great Wisdom, Polyglot. Special Politician-Only Feats: Extra Platform.
Politician Feats
Widen Rally [Politician]
Prereq.: Rally the Masses, Politician level 6, has invested a Platform in Rally the Masses
Effect: Your Rally the Masses range doubles (120 feet). Investing a Platform in this feat triples the range instead (180 feet).
Extend Rally [Politician]
Prereq.: Rally the Masses, Politician level 15, has invested a Platform in Rally the Masses
Effect: Your Rally the Masses ability lasts for two minutes per caster level, instead. Saves are rolled every two minutes instead of after every one. Rally the Masses effects with a specialized duration are not affected.
Counterpoint [Politician]
Prereq.: Can't Handle the Truth
Effect: Any effect your resist due to Can't Handle the Truth is reflected back onto the source (caster or user of an item that employs that effect). They suffer the effect for one minute, but only you may take advantage of it.
Extra Platform [Epic, Politician]
Prereq.: Politician level 20
Effect: You gain an additional Platform.Last edited by Maerok; 2007-05-12 at 01:51 PM.
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Explorer - Politician - Shadowcaster 2 - Devotee Paladin
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2007-03-12, 09:39 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
wow, this one has me holding my sides
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2007-03-12, 10:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
4x skills.
Remove from class skills: Appraise, Decipher Script, Forgery, Gather Information, Listen and Search.
Instead, the Politician's cohort recieves these as class skills, and is renamed "Secretary"!Belkar's Bad to the Bone.
Dispossible a fetter hein and bemay kine a sinder's tock.
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2007-03-12, 10:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Oh sweet lord. This is great
from,
EE
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2007-03-15, 09:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Alignment: Must be Lawful. Typically Lawful Neutral.
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2007-03-15, 09:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
I don't even know if it should be LAWFUL?
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2007-03-15, 09:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Eh. Every so often you'll get a well-meaning but misguided politician. So I couldn't make it LE. Yet the description of LE from the SRD fits the politician nicely... Oh well. The DM has final say anyways. How does this class work as a base class one would actually use?
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Explorer - Politician - Shadowcaster 2 - Devotee Paladin
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2007-03-15, 09:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
This is totally going into my Munchkin game. The campaign is in big part a parody of real world politics, and this fits perfectly!
Lawful? The law is whatever a politician says it is, so of course he is lawful!
Good job!
Last edited by Fascisticide; 2007-03-15 at 09:55 PM.
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2007-03-16, 10:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Except lawful is not about laws but about how much you are willing to conform to social norms. I wouldn´t make this class lawful. These platforms are a really cool idea. The fun thing is that in D&D, to become a good politician, you need many levels in this class and you need to bump uglies to get those.
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2007-03-16, 12:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
This is an argument for another thread, but to throw in my chips real quick about this class: Lawful alignment is a logical alignment requirement for this class. While Law is about willingness to conform to social norms, the politician is required to be a paragon for social norms (whether he believes in them or not). Since his stance is for the better morality of the community, and his saying so helps his position--that comes off as Lawful Evil to me.
A politician with little regard for social norms (Chaotic) would hardly receive as many votes against a politician who did regard them (Lawful), whether he does so out of personal gain or the benefit of the whole community.
Either way--awesome class.Last edited by Neek; 2007-03-16 at 12:14 PM.
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2007-03-16, 03:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Obviously, this means that Politicians should be of any alignment, but the first level confers the [Evil] and [Lawful] subtypes!
Belkar's Bad to the Bone.
Dispossible a fetter hein and bemay kine a sinder's tock.
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2007-03-16, 04:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Epic Politician has been added. It gets more stuff than a normal Epic Base Class because I think it starts to become a little weaker as an adventurer. Its nothing compared to epic spells.
Edit: Switched around the Rally the Masses effects and added an Incite Mob class ability at 12th. A few Politician feats. I'm working on an election system.Last edited by Maerok; 2007-03-16 at 08:07 PM.
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2007-05-11, 08:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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2007-05-11, 08:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
X_X Fixed it.
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2007-05-11, 08:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Excellent.
Have you received my PM?
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2007-05-12, 05:47 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
In other words, Lawful = More votes. They're lawful.
Marginally more serious/verbose explaination: They totally conform to social norms. They might not be your social norms, but within the society of politics all of them, Whig or Tory, Liberal or Conservative, Socialist or Capitalist, act pretty much the same. Their entire existance is devoted to conforming to social norms! When one of them comes slightly close to not conforming, a media circus forms around them. They are Law incarnate.
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2007-05-12, 01:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
What happens if they lose their Lawful alignment? Do they lose class features, or just never get reelected and lose progression ability?
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2007-05-12, 01:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Ooh, good point. I'll add something about that...
EDIT: Ok, now check it. (First thing after the table.)Last edited by Maerok; 2007-05-12 at 01:51 PM.
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2007-05-13, 12:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
This class should be open to all alignments. Would Chaotic Orcs who worship Gruumsh follow a lawful leader? What about Elves? Or, for your Extra-Planar politicians, do you really think a Tanari would vote for a Baatezu? They aren't likely to want a leader of Lawful alignment, either. Further, real world politicians aren't lawful. They just pretend to be.
Last edited by Droodle; 2007-05-13 at 12:39 AM.
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2007-05-13, 11:33 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
I see a fundamental problem with the required alignment, of this otherwise surprisingly workable base-class. A fallacious assumption, if you like.
Ie, that a Politician must be eminently lawful of nature to succeed. This couldn't be further from the truth!
Rather, a politician must be seen to be lawful, to succeed. The amount of Politicians who have lost their careers due to lying, in or out of court is staggering, and it only follows that many, many more simply get away with it.
As I understand it, Lawful alignment doesn't mean that they don't lie, it means that they would not even consider lying, whether they would get away with it. The idea of lying, or breaking promises, is anathema to the lawful alignment.
I'd say, rather, that Neutral alignment is absolutely essential for a serious politician. The willingness to bend the truth and to break promises when necessary is so necessary for a would-be politician to get ahead. :)
I mean, the classic cliche of a politician is hardly someone who has a firm relationship with the truth, is it? ^_^
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2007-05-13, 12:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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2007-05-13, 09:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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2007-05-14, 01:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
Well, the key to alignments is that no two people can actually agree what they really mean, in or outside of wizards of the coast. ;)
My take on Lawful is that it means that someone really believes in the rule of law, and so on. Evil or otherwise. So even the Lawful Evil corporation boss will keep a promise, because as much as he hates it, he gave his word. (conversely, I don't assume that chaotic characters are incapable of keeping their word, only that they will if they want to, and for no other reason. again, evil or otherwise.)
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2007-05-14, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Politician [Base Class]
In my opinion, Lawful has nothing to do with laws. I feel the alignment lawful represents a person who organizes them self and behaves in a certain manner consistently. When they choose not to behave that way, they have a dang good reason for their change. This is opposite the chaotic who behaves more on a random whim and the neutral who has some basic guidelines but is flexible.
Thus, lawful is more about adherence to personal codes rather than adherence to laws per say. If the LE corporate head's personal code included keep your promises, he would do so. If it didn't he'd break it in a heartbeat.