[PrC] Dwarven Defender Reworked

[AvatarVecna]

Found this in an old discussion thread, figured I'd make a homebrew thread for it so I could find it more easily later.

Hit Die

d12

Prerequisites

Race: Dwarf

BAB: +7

Feats: Two from the following in any combination: Combat Reflexes, any [Combat Form] feat

Class Skills

Autohypnosis, Craft, Intimidate, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot

Skill Points per Level

4+Int per level

Lvl	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	Bonus Feat Defensive Stance Improved Focus
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	Armor Mastery Prescient Sense Uncanny Dodge
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	Interpose Reactive Focus Threatening Reach
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	Bonus Feat Determination Shield Mastery
5	+5	+4	+1	+4	Greater Focus Improved Prescient Sense Improved Uncanny Dodge
6	+6	+5	+2	+5	Greater Defensive Stance Improved Interpose Lockdown
7	+7	+5	+2	+5	Bonus Feat Ever Vigilant Undying Sentinel
8	+8	+6	+2	+6	Mobile Defense Hoping For The Best Prepared For The Worst
9	+9	+6	+3	+6	Immovable Object Unstoppable Force Perfect Interpose
10	+10	+7	+3	+7	Bonus Feat Perfect Defensive Stance Perfect Focus

Weapon/Armor Proficiency

Gain proficiency in all simple and martial weapons, as well as any exotic weapons with "Dwarven" in the name. Gain proficiency in all armors and shields (including tower shields).

Bonus Feats

You gain a bonus feat at 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th level. These feats can be selected from the Fighter Bonus Feat list. Your levels in Dwarven Defense count as fighter levels for prereq purposes, and stack with fighter levels for the same purpose if you have any.

Defensive Stance

Starting at 1st level, when in your Combat Focus, you can choose to enter your Defensive Stance or your Mobile Stance. In your Defensive Stance, you speed is halved until the Combat Focus ends, but you gain a +4 bonus to Constitution, a +2 bonus to Strength, a +2 bonus to Wisdom, a +2 bonus to Armor Class, a +2 bonus to saving throws, and +2 bonus to Damage Reduction (stacking with any existing DR). If you enter your Mobile Stance, your speed is not limited, but all the bonuses provided are two points lower.

At 6th level, and every four levels thereafter, each of these bonuses increases by two points.

Improved Focus

Starting at 1st level, increase the duration of your Combat Focus by your class level and your Wisdom modifier. Additionally, at the start of your turn (taking no action) you may select one Combat Form feat you possess; this feat has its bonus improved by your Wisdom modifier for this round (or has its range increased by 5 ft per point of Wisdom modifier, in the case of Combat Awareness). At 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, you may add your Wisdom modifier to an additional Combat Form feat.

Armor Mastery

Starting at 2nd level, any armor or shield you use gains +1 bonus to its armor/shield bonus, +1 bonus to its Max Dex rating (if any), -1 reduction to its Armor Check Penalty, and -5% to its Arcane Spell Failure Chance. Additionally, you are no longer slowed down or rendered less capable of running by any armor, even exotic armors that specify they even slow down dwarves.

At every subsequent even level, you gain these bonuses again (self-stacking).

Prescient Sense

Beginning at 2nd level, if a dwarven defender makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally inflicts half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage, since her prescience allowed her to get out of the way faster. This form of evasion works no matter what armor the dwarven defender wears, unlike the evasion ability used by monks and rogues.

At 5th level, this instead works like Improved Evasion, save for that it works in any armor as before.

Uncanny Dodge

As rogue.

Interpose

Starting at 3rd level, as an immediate action you can opt to absorb part of the damage dealt to an ally within your reach. Each time this ally takes damage from a physical attack before your next turn, you can take half this damage yourself. You only absorb damage from physical melee attacks and ranged attacks, such as an incoming arrow or a blow from a sword, not from spells and other effects.

At 6th level, you instead take all the damage for your ally, with them taking none.

At 9th level, you instead take half damage, and your ally takes none.

Reactive Focus

Starting at 3rd level, while in your Combat Focus, you increase the number of AoOs you can make per round by your Wisdom modifier.

Threatening Reach

Starting at 3rd level, you increase your reach by 5 ft. Enemies moving through your threatened area treat the area as difficult terrain, and take a penalty to Tumble checks equal to your class level plus your Wisdom modifier. Moving through your threatened area provokes AoOs, unless that movement is a 5 ft step.

Determination

Starting at 4th level, you increase your Hit Point total by your Wisdom modifier per Hit Die. This applies retroactively to all previous HD, and applies to each HD gained afterwards.

Shield Mastery

Starting at 4th level, if you are using a shield, you add your shield bonus to Reflex saves and Touch AC.

Greater Focus

Upon reaching 5th level, you gain a [Combat Form] feat. Additionally, you can now enter Combat Focus multiple times per encounter, although every Combat Focus after the first can only be entered if you successfully make a Will save with a DC equal to the number of rounds you have already spent in Combat Focus this encounter, cumulatively. You can start a second Combat Focus immediately upon the previous one ending, effectively adding their durations together into one continuous Combat Focus if you can make the save.

Improved Uncanny Dodge

As Rogue. Additionally, your effective rogue level for the purposes of avoiding sneak attacks is equal to your Dwarven Defender level, plus your Fighter level, plus any levels you have in a class that provides you with Improved Uncanny Dodge.

Lockdown

Starting at 6th level, any foe struck by your AoO has their speed for the round reduced to 0 ft.

Ever Vigilant

Starting at 7th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to your initiative modifier, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot.

Undying Sentinel

Starting at 7th level, when you are reduced to 0 HP or lower, you remain conscious and can act as normal without suffering additional damage. Additionally, you are rendered dead when you reach a negative hit point total equal to 10 plus your Constitution score plus your Wisdom score plus your class level. Finally, if you possess fast healing, it functions while you are in negative hit points unless you are dead.

Mobile Defense

Starting at 8th level, your Defensive Stance no longer penalizes your movement.

Hoping For The Best

Starting at 8th level, you gain a morale bonus to all Will saves equal to the number of living allies within 60 ft of you, to a maximum of your class level. Additionally, you are now immune to fear effects.

Prepared For The Worst

You no longer automatically fail when you roll a natural one on an attack roll or save, and enemies no longer automatically succeed on a nat 20 attack roll or save against you; instead, success or failure is determined by the roll's total.

Immovable Object

Starting at 9th level, you add your Constitution modifier to any check or save made to resist being moved or tripped against your will. Additionally, whenever you are successfully moved against your will, you are only moved half the distance. This ability even works on certain natural forces; falling damage, pressure damage, and being hit by falling objects deals half normal damage to you.

Unstoppable Force

Starting at 9th level, you add your Constitution modifier to checks made to move or trip others against their will, to checks made to break or sunder objects, and to damage rolls. Additionally, your attacks ignore hardness.

Perfect Focus

Starting at 10th level, the DC to activate a new Combat Focus/extend a previous Combat Focus is halved. Finally, while in your Combat Focus, you roll saves twice and take the better roll, and you cannot die from hit point loss. If your Combat Focus ends (and you failed to extend it via the Greater Focus ability), and you are still far enough into negative HP that you would be dead, you die.

[JNAProductions]

4+Int skill points, and 7 skills? Seems... Iffy.

Weapon/Armor proficiencies would technically give all exotic armors, but that might be intended?

Bonus Feats, neato.

Stances, I'm not familiar with Combat Focus, so I assume the rules are more fully explained elsewhere. But it should specify what type of DR it is.

Armor Mastery, neat.

unEvasion, okay, cool.

Uncanny Dodge, okay.

Interpose has some formatting/grammar weirdness. But neat, overall.

Reactive Focus, cool.

Threatening Reach, neat.

Determination, does that work retroactively and on all hit dice, or only Defender hit dice?

Shield Mastery, neat.

Greater Focus, cool.

Improved Uncanny Dodge, okay.

Lockdown, neat.

Ever Vigilant, okay.

Undying Sentinel, awesome.

Mobile Defense makes Mobile Stance pointless, but okay.

Hoping For The Best, cool.

Prepare For The Worst, awesome.

Immovable Object, cool.

Unstoppable Force, needs a formatting clean-up. Also, neat.

Perfect Focus, awesome.

OVERALL!
Tons of features. But I doubt anything in there would actually be OP. It just seems to be a solid tank PrC, which is tough to do in 3.5.

Does need some minor clean-up in grammar and formatting, but whatever. Is good stuff!

[Eurus]

Tying it to Combat Focus is interesting, but challenging. Since you don't normally enter Combat Focus until you hit with an attack, you're vulnerable in the first round (or even after, if you're thwarted from successfully attacking).

"In your Defensive Stance, you cannot move more than half your speed until the Combat Focus ends" -- As written, this seems to say that if your speed is 20 feet, you can only move 10 feet total for the entire duration of your stance. It should probably say "you cannot move more than half of your speed each turn" or even "your speed is halved".

Improved Focus doesn't specify a duration. Does it boost the chosen feat for one round only, or for the rest of the encounter? If the latter, it probably shouldn't stack on the same feat multiple times.

Getting +6 AC from stance, +5 from armor mastery, and +wis from boosting your Combat Defense feat is a ton of AC. Whether tons of AC is OP or not is a question I don't want to address right now, but I'm just pointing it out. It's a ton of AC.

Greater Focus significantly changes the way the class works in a way that isn't immediately obvious, because it lets you use the Combat Strike feat multiple times to get (# of combat form feats) + (wis modifier) to attack and damage for a turn as a swift action. This is pretty significant! The will saves should be very easy to make, since you'll be making a DC 1 will save, then a DC 2 will save, etc. I don't actually mind this, because the class does need some damage, but this feature makes you an offensive powerhouse in a way that isn't very clear to most people when reading it and that's bad.

Obviously this only matters if you have BAB +15, so normally I wouldn't mention it, but since a level 5 dwarven defender will have at least +12 already it seems relevant. Honestly, I might even change the feature to just give you Combat Strike without the normal prereqs.

All in all, it's not a bad class. It's obviously focused on durability, but it has two important ways to prevent enemies from ignoring them: blocking for allies, and locking down with AoOs. Three, if you count punching people in the face really hard.

[Elves]

First, there are too many features. The bonus feats should be cut to begin with. Bonus feats in PRCs are filler 90% of the time and this is true here.

This seems to go in the direction of being a generic tank class, and it's fine at doing that, but I don't see why it would be called dwarven defender or limited to dwarf-only.

It's hard to do racial classes in 3.5 because unlike in later editions races don't get an active ability to use, which would be the natural thing to center race-based class gameplay around. What 3.5 dwarves have is slow speed, stonecunning, stability, anti-poison and anti-magic. I would use those as jumping-off points. OG dwarven defender at least kind of feeds into the slow speed by encouraging you not to move.

An alternate effect that feeds into their racial bonuses would be something like defensive stance except instead of end if you move, it ends if you get bull rushed or tripped.