Commoner Class Homebrew

[incandescent]

My DM is allowing me to make a commoner that throws cats for my character, so I'm trying to design a class that will be viable in actual play while still having a sort of useless/comedic flavor. (i'm in a party with a high optimization werebear half elf morninglord avenger with twin strike and a polearm momentum based fighter). I've decided to divide the cat throwing into a theme and the commoner into a patchwork class. The DM is letting me use inherent bonuses to make the commoner work without much item dependence.

Any suggestions? does it look like it will work? any ideas on better ways to do this? any ideas for good/hilarious utility powers? Any thoughts on a theme?

EDIT: here's the class so far
EDIT: updated Just Barely and corrected Survivor's instinct
EDIT: rearranged things and added things. Everything above the edit line is most of what was from the original post.
EDIT: added last few abilities
EDIT: Added Yakk's card based happenstance mechanic.

DESIGN PROCESS CREDITS

Spoiler

Show

-Yakk
-Tegu8788
-Mandrake
-Kurald Galain
-allonym
-surrealistik
(shout if i missed you)

1. Picked up Along the Way, No Real Plan, Whatever's at Hand, Survivor's Instinct, Unqualified Combatant, Just Barely

Spoiler

Show

Picked Up Along the Way
a commoner that manages to reach level two through some happenstance miracle has usually live long enough to learn a few things based on the society he or she lives in. commoners living in the outskirts of a wizard's tower might pick up some magical tricks to supplement their mundane trade or see something they shouldn't. Commoners in a military society with mandatory terms of service may come off their tours with the legion knowing a thing or two about a fighter's discipline.
At first level, a commoner picks a class other than commoner. The commoner counts as a member of that class, gains training in two class skills from that class, and gains a utility of the approproate level from that class's utility list at each level when the commoner would normally gain a utility. Additionally, a commoner cannot multiclass.

No Real Plan:
Happenstance effects are "until the end of your next turn" unless noted otherwise. Forced movement is, naturally, applied immediately, either before or after other effects. Self movement is before or after the attack. Prone has no duration.

Happenstance Cards (Heroic):
+2[W], +1[W] x4, Slow x2, Slide 1 x3, Push 2 x3, Grabbed x2, Shift 2 x3, Daze, Immobalize x2, Prone x2, vs Fort, vs Ref, vs Will, Mark target

At the start of an encounter, draw a hand of Happenstance Cards. Each time you make an attack, play one Happenstance Card and modify the attack. If you take your second wind as a standard action, or hit with a basic attack as a standard action and do not use any Happenstance Cards on it, you can discard your hand and draw a new hand.

Hand size:
Level 1: 1
Level 3: 2
Level 7: 3
Level 11: 4
Level 13: 5
Level 17: 6
Level 21: 7
Level 23: 8
Level 27: 9
Level 30: 10

At level 11, you add (Paragon) Happenstance Cards to your deck. Playing a (Paragon) Happenstance Card requires that you discard a second card when you play it.

Happenstance cards marked with a * let you pick one (Heroic) card you discarded and add it to the effect.

+4[W], +3[W]x2, +2[W]*, Close Burst 2 & Shift directly to a square in Burst, Immobilize and Prone, Grabbed (-5 to escape), Stun, Slide 1d6 x2, Push everyone adjacent 1d6, Shift your speed x2, Make a basic attack as a reaction to an enemy moving or attacking*, Dazed and Prone, Dazed*, Blind, Target Lowest Defense

At level 21, you add (Epic) Happenstance Cards to your deck. Playing (Epic) Happenstance cards requires that you discard 2 other cards when you play it.

+6[W], +5[W]x2, +3[W]*x2, Stun (save ends) aftereffect Dazed, Slide 1d6 and shift your speed*, Slide everyone adjacent 1d6*, Stun*, Shift twice your speed*, Change target of enemies attack on hit (Interrupt), Blind and Daze, Prone and Stun, -5 penalty to a defense, Make two attacks applying a non-epic discarded card to each.

If you do not have enough extra cards, cannot play a Paragon or Epic happenstance card.


Whatever's at hand: You treat all weapons as improvised weapons. you gain a +2 proficiency bonus with improvised weapons and deal 1d8 damage with improvised weapons and 1d10 with two handed weapons. You also gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with improvised weapons.

Survivor's Instinct: You gain a +2 bonus to AC and can use your highest ability modifier in place of your Intelligence or Dexterity modifier to determine your AC when wearing cloth armor or no armor.

Unqualified Combatant: you can use your highest ability modifier for basic attacks. SeDovlect 2 of the following at will powers (one more at 7th and another at 17th level).

Dive out of Harm's way (minor action, at will)
Effect: You assume the diving stance. While the stance is active, you can use an immediate action to jump 2 squares and land prone when you are targeted by an attack. This jump does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Mob Rule (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the mob rule stance. While the stance is active, you gain a +2 power bonus to all defenses while within 5 squares of an ally.
Not really in the Fight (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the unnoticed stance. While this stance is active, you are invisible to enemies more than 5 squares away from you that you didn;t attack during your last turn.
Yellow bellied (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the yellow bellied stance. While the stance is active, you gain superior cover while adjacent to an ally.
High Tail it (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the running stance. While the stance is active, you do not provoke opportunity attacks and cannot make opportunity attacks as long as you don't end your turn adjacent to an enemy.
Junk Barrage (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the junk barrage stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to throw up to three one handed improvised weapons near you or in your inventory when you make a ranged basic attack. For each additional object you throw, your damage dice is reduced by 1 (from one d8, to 1d6, to 1d4 per attack)
Heavy hitter (minor action, at will)
Effect: you enter the heavy hitter stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to break a two handed weapon you're wielding after you hit with a melee basic attack to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to each enemy adjacent to the target.
Swinging Wildly (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the swinging wildly stance. While the stance is active, you deal damage to enemies that start their turn adjacent to you or enter squares adjacent to you during their turn. This damage equals half you highest ability modifier if you are wielding a one hadned improvised weapon or your full ability modifier if you're wielding a two handed improvised weapon.
Deadly Chucker (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the deadly chucker stance. While the stance is active, any enemy you hit with a ranged basic attack grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
Ricochet (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the ricochet stance. Whenever you hit an enemy with a basic attack while this stance is active, you can choose to break the weapon you used to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to one enmy within 5 squares of the target

Just Barely Daily (no action)
Trigger: you fail an attack roll, a skill check, or a saving throw by 5 or less.
Effect: Your roll is modified to the minimum result needed to succeed.
Level 11: 10 or less
Level 21: 15 or less

2. Other Class Utility

3. One Hair Closer

Spoiler

Show

One Hair Closer You gain an additional daily use of Just Barely

4. --

5. Beatdown

Spoiler

Show

Beatdown You gain a +2 Bonus to the damage rolls of attacks made with improvised weapons.

6. Other Class Utility

7. Another Dirty Trick

Spoiler

Show

Dive out of Harm's way (minor action, at will)
Effect: You assume the diving stance. While the stance is active, you can use an immediate action to jump 2 squares and land prone when you are targeted by an attack. This jump does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Mob Rule (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the mob rule stance. While the stance is active, you gain a +2 power bonus to all defenses while within 5 squares of an ally.
Not really in the Fight (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the unnoticed stance. While this stance is active, you are invisible to enemies more than 5 squares away from you that you didn;t attack during your last turn.
Yellow bellied (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the yellow bellied stance. While the stance is active, you gain superior cover while adjacent to an ally.
High Tail it (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the running stance. While the stance is active, you do not provoke opportunity attacks and cannot make opportunity attacks as long as you don't end your turn adjacent to an enemy.
Junk Barrage (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the junk barrage stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to throw up to three one handed improvised weapons near you or in your inventory when you make a ranged basic attack. For each additional object you throw, your damage dice is reduced by 1 (from one d8, to 1d6, to 1d4 per attack)
Heavy hitter (minor action, at will)
Effect: you enter the heavy hitter stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to break a two handed weapon you're wielding after you hit with a melee basic attack to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to each enemy adjacent to the target.
Swinging Wildly (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the swinging wildly stance. While the stance is active, you deal damage to enemies that start their turn adjacent to you or enter squares adjacent to you during their turn. This damage equals half you highest ability modifier if you are wielding a one hadned improvised weapon or your full ability modifier if you're wielding a two handed improvised weapon.
Deadly Chucker (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the deadly chucker stance. While the stance is active, any enemy you hit with a ranged basic attack grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
Ricochet (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the ricochet stance. Whenever you hit an enemy with a basic attack while this stance is active, you can choose to break the weapon you used to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to one enmy within 5 squares of the target

8. --

9. As Long as I'm Not the Slowest

Spoiler

Show

As Long as I'm Not the Slowest You gain a +1 bonus to speed

10. Other Class Utility

11. --

12. --

13. One Hair Closer

Spoiler

Show

One Hair Closer You gain an additional daily use of Just Barely

14. --

15. Improved Beatdown

Spoiler

Show

Improved Beatdown Your bonus to the damage rolls of attacks made with improvised weapons increases to +4.

16. Second Class Utility

17. Another Dirty Trick

Spoiler

Show

Dive out of Harm's way (minor action, at will)
Effect: You assume the diving stance. While the stance is active, you can use an immediate action to jump 2 squares and land prone when you are targeted by an attack. This jump does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Mob Rule (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the mob rule stance. While the stance is active, you gain a +2 power bonus to all defenses while within 5 squares of an ally.
Not really in the Fight (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the unnoticed stance. While this stance is active, you are invisible to enemies more than 5 squares away from you that you didn;t attack during your last turn.
Yellow bellied (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the yellow bellied stance. While the stance is active, you gain superior cover while adjacent to an ally.
High Tail it (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the running stance. While the stance is active, you do not provoke opportunity attacks and cannot make opportunity attacks as long as you don't end your turn adjacent to an enemy.
Junk Barrage (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the junk barrage stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to throw up to three one handed improvised weapons near you or in your inventory when you make a ranged basic attack. For each additional object you throw, your damage dice is reduced by 1 (from one d8, to 1d6, to 1d4 per attack)
Heavy hitter (minor action, at will)
Effect: you enter the heavy hitter stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to break a two handed weapon you're wielding after you hit with a melee basic attack to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to each enemy adjacent to the target.
Swinging Wildly (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the swinging wildly stance. While the stance is active, you deal damage to enemies that start their turn adjacent to you or enter squares adjacent to you during their turn. This damage equals half you highest ability modifier if you are wielding a one hadned improvised weapon or your full ability modifier if you're wielding a two handed improvised weapon.
Deadly Chucker (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the deadly chucker stance. While the stance is active, any enemy you hit with a ranged basic attack grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
Ricochet (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the ricochet stance. Whenever you hit an enemy with a basic attack while this stance is active, you can choose to break the weapon you used to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to one enmy within 5 squares of the target

18. --

19. Lucky Shot

Spoiler

Show

Lucky Shot Whenever you successfully hit with an attack modified by happenstance points, you can increase the duration of one effect of that power to (save ends).

20. --

21. --

22. Other Class Utility

23. One Hair Closer

Spoiler

Show

One Hair Closer You gain an additional daily use of Just Barely

24. --

25. Epic Beatdown

Spoiler

Show

Epic Beatdown Your bonus to the damage rolls of attacks made with improvised weapons increases to +8.

26. --

27. Finally got the hang of fightin'

Spoiler

Show

Finally got the hang of fightin'
You can have two Untrained Combatant stances active at the same time. At the start of any turn during which you have two stances active, you must spend a minor action, or choose a stance to end.

28. --

29. Against all the odds

Spoiler

Show

Against all the odds
How the hell did you make it this far? You're probably not real sure yourself.
You still end an effect that you fail a saving throw against when you make the saving throw at the end of your turn.

30. --


I don;t really know what to do with these abilities. I'll probably just put them in the idea bin and use them for something else.

Strength of the People (you gain this power if strength is your highest ability score at first level)
At will utility, move action
Effect: you lift a large object and can wield it as a special two handed improvised weapon that deals 2d6 damage per [W]. While wielding the object, you are slowed and have partial cover. Attacks with the object target all creatures in an ares two squares on a side. when thrown the object has a range of 3/6. It costs one happenstance point to make an attack with this weapon.
Special: You can use this power and pay one happenstance point to wield a grabbed enemy up to large size in this manner. A wielded enemy is restrained.

worker's hands (you gain this ability at 4th level if you have the strength of the people power)
When you hit with a melee basic attack while you are unarmed or have a free hand, you can grab the target until the start of your next turn.

[original happenstance mechanic]
A commoner has a pool of Happenstance Points equal to half his level (with a minimum of one at first level) that recover when the commoner takes a short rest. Whenever a commoner makes a basic attack, he/she can spend any number of happenstance points to add effects to any successful basic attack in the following manner.
-Slow, slide 1, increase damage by 1[W] cost one point each (per square and per [W])
-prone, daze, immobilize, blind all cost 2 points each
-stun costs 4 points and can only be done once per encounter
Once an effect is used on an attack, it cannot be used again until the end of the following round.

[Tegu8788]

I can say nothing to the mechanics, but I'd suggest something where you can roll a die to get a bonus/negative to a roll, like 1d6-3=your modifier, or you can reroll a roll you don't like but must use the second roll. Maybe roll a 1d4 to figure out which effect you get.

I'd look at the essential classes if you don't want a complicated class, psychic classes to.

As for fluff, having them all be accidental attacks. Pick up. A heavy pan and accidentally whack someone in the face. If he cares a piece of lumber he can attack like a monk. Fish slapping galore! Look for old style slapstick, and have fun playing a bumbling fool.

[obryn]

My only comment is: Awesome.

(I have not looked at the mechanics, but I think it's hilarious.)

-O

[Kurald Galain]

No real plan A commoner gains 2 happenstance points at every odd character level. A commoner can spend happenstance points to modify attack rolls in the following ways.

Assuming these recover per encounter, this ability is extremely powerful. Stunning is not generally available to characters at level 3, and inflicing the condition of your choice with every attack by level 7 is also a bit much.

[ArcturusV]

I thought it was just a flat 2 every time you gained an odd level.

So you'd only have 2 to see you through all the way from level 1 to 3. Which might balance out easy stunning, dazing, etc.

[incandescent]

it might be especially powerful since we're starting at level 16 and i'll have 16 'happenstance points' to work with. Assuming i hit with every attack, I could stun lock one target for 4 rounds per encounter (not that i would choose stunning every time) since i was treating them like a psionic character's powerpoint pool. I could remove the stunning rider since i'm supposed to be a subpar type character anyway. here's a revised list of class features.

unqualified (as is in first post).
what ever's at hand (as in first post, except gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with improvised weapons).
No real plan (as in first post with stunning rider removed).

to explain that better, i mean you can spend as many points as you want per attack before the attack is made, so if you want to daze someone and slide them 2 squares, it would be 1+1+2 points. Or if you wanted to make an heavy attack that dealt 3[w] extra on top of the 1[w] of the basic attack, it would cost 1+1+1 points.

Prepare for the worst
-these are essentials type minor action stances i've thought of.

Dive Out of harm's way
Effect: you assume the dive out of harm's way stance. When you are targeted by an attack while the stance is active, you can use an immediate action to jump 2 squares without provoking opportunity attacks and fall prone.

Mob rule
Effect: you assume the mob rule stance. When you are within 5 squares of an ally while this stance is active, you gain a +2 bonus to all defenses. (I stole this straight off the human rabble monster,)

Not really in the fight
Effect: you assume the not really in the fight stance. While this stance is active, you are invisible to enemies that are farther than 5 squares from you that you didn't attack during your last turn.

Yellow bellied
Effect: You assume the yellow bellied stance. While this stance is active, you gain superior cover while adjacent to an ally.

Junk barrage
Effect: you assume the junk barrage stance. While this stance is active, you can reduce the size of your thrown object damage by one to throw an additional object (the minimum dice size you can reduce to is 1d4. with this stance you can throw a standard object at 1d8, 2 objects at 1d6, or 3 objects at 1d4 plus strength modifier.

Heavy hitter
Effect: You assume the heavy hitter stance. Whever you hit with an attack using a two handed improvised weapon, you can choose to break the object and deal damage equal to your strength modifier to each enemy adjacent to the target of your melee basic attack.

Swinging wildly
Effect: you enter the swinging wildly stance. While this stance is active, enemies who start their turn adjacent to you or enter squares adjacent to you on their turn take half your strength modifier damage if you are wielding a one handed improvised weapon (including your unarmed strike) or your full strength modifier damage if you are wielding a two handed improvised weapon.

Deadly chucker
effect: you enter the deadly chucker stance. While this stance is active, any enemy you hit with a thrown improvised weapon grant combat advantage until te end of your next turn.

[Tegu8788]

I just gotta say, this looks like a blast to play. No clue about its balance, but it sure looks fun.

[Surrealistik]

Definitely needs a 'luck' based utility that allows it to reroll a saving throw, damage or attack roll, skill or ability check on an outcome you dislike as no action, taking the better result, perhaps enabled or improved by expending Happenstance Points. I love the idea of a hapless commoner peasant basically bumbling his way to some success or victory he has no right to whatsoever.

Concerning Happenstance Points, I'd work them like Psionic Power points.

Also, I'd unlock more powerful Happenstance Effects with higher levels. Stun on hit probably shouldn't come about until late paragon at earliest.

Lastly, it definitely needs a flavourful benefit, like 'Hero of the People' or something, which allows you to get substantial Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate bonuses and free room and boarding with any peasantry/working class folk that have heard and approve of your deeds.

[incandescent]

Definitely needs a 'luck' based utility that allows it to reroll a saving throw, damage or attack roll, skill or ability check on an outcome you dislike as no action, taking the better result, perhaps enabled or improved by expending Happenstance Points. I love the idea of a hapless commoner peasant basically bumbling his way to some success or victory he has no right to whatsoever.

hmmm... i think i got something interesting for this one

Just Barely
encounter power (no action)
Trigger: you make a skill check, a saving throw, an attack roll and dislike the result.
Effect: your roll is modified to be the minimum number you need to succeed. Subtract your new result from your original result and divide by 5 and consult the table. This power cannot help you perform an action beyond you abilities (jumping a one hundred foot chasm for example).

+3 You gain 15 temporary hit points
+2 You gain 10 temporary hit points
+1 You gain 5 temporary hit points
0 nothing out of the ordinary happens
-1 You grant combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
-2 You are dazed until the end of your next turn.
-3 You are stunned until the end of your next turn

Concerning Happenstance Points, I'd work them like Psionic Power points.

Also, I'd unlock more powerful Happenstance Effects with higher levels. Stun on hit probably shouldn't come about until late paragon at earliest.

that's exactly what i did. You could replace happenstance with psionic augmentation. Sticking with paragon models, it would cost 4 points to add stun to an attacks effect. my only concern is the temptation to just stunlock a guy repeatedly.

Lastly, it definitely needs a flavourful benefit, like 'Hero of the People' or something, which allows you to get substantial Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate bonuses and free room and boarding with any peasantry/working class folk that have heard and approve of your deeds.

I think you've just given me an idea for a paragon path to make.

I just gotta say, this looks like a blast to play. No clue about its balance, but it sure looks fun.

That's the main idea

[Mandrake]

Sticking with paragon models, it would cost 4 points to add stun to an attacks effect. my only concern is the temptation to just stunlock a guy repeatedly.

So just limit the number of uses per encounter, no matter the number of points left. :)

[incandescent]

So just limit the number of uses per encounter, no matter the number of points left. :)

that's just crazy enough to work

I came up with one at will utility power that just replaces the utility powers I'd normally gain.

Feat of Strength At will move action
Effect: You lift a large object and can use it as a two handed improvised weapon that deals 2d6 damage. The object can be thrown a range of 3/6 and attacks an area two squares on a side. While wielding the object, you are slowed and have partial cover. At the beginning of each turn after you lift this object, you have to pay one happenstance point to sustain your grip.
Special: you can use this power to wield a grabbed enemy by paying two happenstance points. A wielded creature is restrained.

[Mandrake]

wield a grabbed enemy

lol you seriously need to rename that power into something awesomer

[incandescent]

Here's all the stuff I've got so far in an organized format. I'll put it in the first post so people know what I've got so far.

Unqualified: A commoner is not trained in any class skills and cannot multiclass but gains the Jack of All Trades feat, even without meeting prerequisites. A commoner never has to make skill checks when performing manual or unskilled labor.

No Real Plan: A commoner has a pool of Happenstance Points equal to half his level (with a minimum of one at first level) that recover whenever the commoner takes a short rest. Whenever a commoner makes a basic attack, he/she can spend any number of happenstance points to add effects to any successful basic attack in the following manner.
-Slow, slide 1, increase damage by 1[W] cost one point each (per square and per [W])
-prone, daze, immobilize, blind all cost 2 points each
-stun costs 4 points and can only be done once per encounter

What ever's at hand: You treat all weapons as improvised weapons. you gain a +2 proficiency bonus with improvised weapons and deal 1d8 damage with improvised weapons and 1d10 with two handed weapons. You also gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with improvised weapons.

Survivor's Instinct: You gain a +2 bonus to AC and can use your highest ability modifier in place of your intelligence modifier when wearing cloth armor or no armor.

Untrained: you can use your highest ability modifier for basic attacks. SeDovlect 2 of the following at will powers (one more at 7th and another at 17th level).

Dive out of Harm's way (minor action, at will)
Effect: You assume the diving stance. While the stance is active, you can use an immediate action to jump 2 squares and land prone when you are targeted by an attack. This jump does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Mob Rule (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the mob rule stance. While the stance is active, you gain a +2 power bonus to all defenses while within 5 squares of an ally.
Not really in the Fight (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the unnoticed stance. While this stance is active, you are invisible to enemies more than 5 squares away from you that you didn;t attack during your last turn.
Yellow bellied (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the yellow bellied stance. While the stance is active, you gain superior cover while adjacent to an ally.
High Tail it (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the running stance. While the stance is active, you do not provoke opportunity attacks and cannot make opportunity attacks as long as you don't end your turn adjacent to an enemy.
Junk Barrage (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the junk barrage stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to throw up to three one handed improvised weapons near you or in your inventory when you make a ranged basic attack. For each additional object you throw, your damage dice is reduced by 1 (from one d8, to 1d6, to 1d4 per attack)
Heavy hitter (minor action, at will)
Effect: you enter the heavy hitter stance. While the stance is active, you can choose to break a two handed weapon you're wielding after you hit with a melee basic attack to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to each enemy adjacent to the target.
Swinging Wildly (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the swinging wildly stance. While the stance is active, you deal damage to enemies that start their turn adjacent to you or enter squares adjacent to you during their turn. This damage equals half you highest ability modifier if you are wielding a one hadned improvised weapon or your full ability modifier if you're wielding a two handed improvised weapon.
Deadly Chucker (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the deadly chucker stance. While the stance is active, any enemy you hit with a ranged basic attack grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
Ricochet (minor action, at will)
Effect: You enter the ricochet stance. Whenever you hit an enemy with a basic attack while this stance is active, you can choose to break the weapon you used to deal damage equal to your highest ability modifier to one enmy within 5 squares of the target

Just Barely (encounter no action) You gain a use of this power at 1st, 3rd, and 13th level.
Trigger: you make an attack roll, a skill check, or a saving throw and decide to use this power.
Effect: Your roll is modified to the minimum number needed to succeed.Subtract the new result from the original result, divide by 5 and round down, then consult the table. This power cannot help your perform an action beyond your ability such as jumping a 100ft wide chasm)
2 Gain temporary hit points equal to 10 plus your highest ability modifer
1 Gain temporary hit points equal to your highest ability modifier
0 nothing good or bad happens
-1 You grant combat advantage until the end of your next turn.
-2 You are dazed until the end of your next turn.

Strength of the People (you gain this power if strength is your highest ability score at first level)
At will utility, move action
Effect: you lift a large object and can wield it as a special two handed improvised weapon that deals 2d6 damage per [W]. While wielding the object, you are slowed and have partial cover. Attacks with the object target all creatures in an ares two squares on a side. when thrown the object has a range of 3/6. It costs one happenstance point to make an attack with this weapon.
Special: You can use this power and pay one happenstance point to wield a grabbed enemy up to large size in this manner. A wielded enemy is restrained.

worker's hands (you gain this ability at 4th level if you have the strength of the people power)
When you hit with a melee basic attack while you are unarmed or have a free hand, you can grab the target until the start of your next turn.

I plan on coming up with more power based on each of the ability scores.

[Kurald Galain]

What, no Chicken Infested?

[incandescent]

I missed that edition :(
Though I've heard all about that feat through lurking, but don't know exactly what it does otherwise i'd be happy to make a 4e analogue.

Besides, i still need to create the cat throwing theme. In the last one shot we did i fluffed cloud of daggers as throwing an angry cat and had a zombie cat familiar before that, so it just doesn't seem right to break the chain :P

I was thinking about gaining bonus damage when using the cat as a projectile, but once it hits it acts like a mobile conjuration or summon with just an intrinsic action to move closer to me every round. When it finally gets to my square it claws me for throwing it :P

[Tegu8788]

For a Daily, you could use your cat throwing prowess to launch a cat at someone's face, blinding them and causing on-going damage (bleeding) with a save to end blind then on-going, and on the first save, compels them to either attack the next closest creature with the cat, which then repeats the attack, and so on and so forth. Akin to the The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, but in feline form.


And don't forget fish slapping!

[allonym]

Chicken Infested basically states that every time you try to draw an item, you have a 50% chance to instead draw a chicken. This allowed for hilarity with actions to draw items (such as retrieving material components from a component pouch) which were technically free actions with no stated limit other than the DM's patience.

For 4e, how about...

"Chicken Infested (feat? At-will utility? Class feature?)
Absentmindedness is not a good trait in a poultry farmer, but somehow you have worked out how to use it to your advantage. You have numerous live chickens about your person, and their squawking and flapping is distracting to your enemies when let loose on the battlefield. If only you can remember where you put them...

Once per round, as a minor action, you can attempt to retrieve a chicken from about your person. When you do so, roll a saving throw. On a success, you have found a chicken, and you may choose a square within 2 for it to occupy. It remains there until the start of your next turn, whereupon it disappears, trampled in the melee or simply escaping. Enemies can move through its space without penalty, but you and your allies can treat the chicken as an ally for the purposes of flanking. If your saving throw fails, there is no effect.

The availability of nigh-limitless chicken also confers a +5 bonus to nature checks made to forage."

[incandescent]

i like the cat based daily power. I could jack it up to overpowered levels and have it be the only thing granted by the theme that way when things get serious I throw fluffy into the mix. If we ever end up in a fish market, I'll be sure to beat people with all manner of mackerels, octopi, lobsters, and even sharks and larger marine life with the strength of the people power. I'm trying to put together a list on the side of things I want to damage enemies with.

So far I've got (in no particular order):
1. Strangle a dragon with my own pants
2. Use junk barrage with paper airplanes
3. blind someone with a candle that ricochet's and kills a minion.
4. Strangle someone with a cat
5. Glue a chicken to a stick and threaten enemies. (this was from when i was thinking of having 'sovereign glue maker' as a profession.)
6. Kill a minion by whipping it with a towel.
7. reenact the hammer scene from the movie Oldboy
8. Start the world's most lethal pillow fight (got this from a friend who wanted to make a ki focus using assassin pillow fighter)
9. Throw hand crossbow bolts and deal more damage than someone actually using a hand crossbow
10. Sushi fight (courtesy of this thread)
11. pretend to be gambit and kill people with playing cards (thrown from the deck of many things).
12. flick copper pieces at enemies.
13. bludgeon people with potions of healing.
14. Pretend to be a wizard and bludgeon someone with my spell book.
15. pluck the teeth out of an enemy's head and throw them at another enemy dwarf fortress style.
16: throw a hat like odd job.


The chicken infested ability would be hilarious and I'll probably turn it into a feat to pick up later but for now i'll hold off on it. The campaign discussion was a bit chaotic but i think i ended up as a goliath miner with a head injury that's dropped my intelligence to two and a half.

[Surrealistik]

I can easily see Commoners having Athletics, Bluff, Insight, Perception, Endurance, Streetwise, and Nature as class skills; they'd have training in maybe 3-4.

[incandescent]

Perhaps, for the purposes of character balance in terms of skill challenges and what not. I just sort of took too seriously the word training in skill training when I started and I'm kind of irrationally attached to the "unqualified" class feature because it's the first I came up with .

I'm beta testing what I have in two days, so I'll see how my skill nerf plays out in a real scenario. As it is now, I kind of like how it synergizes with "Just Barely" in that you can do the same things as the other heroes, but just by the skin of your teeth. however, if the DCs end up always out of my league, I'll amend that class feature. I just want to see if my base combat mechanic is worth anything before I throw too much into it. since I don;t have any utility powers, I might put more strain on the happenstance mechanic by adding an ability to spend one point to gain a +2 to a skill check.

Anyone who likes what I have here is free to reverse engineer it into a different type of commoner class or post alternate class features/feats/powers like the chicken infested ability. It might even give me more ideas. The "Just Barely" power itself wouldn't exist if I hadn't gotten that prompt.

[Tegu8788]

I'd consider looking at the feats that bump a number of skills, and give all those as class features, +1 to all skills just isn't very much. Bardic Knowledge, Bard of All Trades, those should compensate for having no trained skills.

[Alan_Pehnereas]

I want to play this.

[incandescent]

My DM called in sick for this week's session so I have another week to work out the kinks.

I'm starting to agree about the skills situation and letting go of making the class as a semi-playable joke because I thought of a serious background for Slackjaw, my half giant commoner. What I still need to put in there are some minor benefits to pad out the levels (like +1 bonus to saving throws for a high heroic slayer) so that's my next plan after I address skills in a flavorful way. I might even get rid of the no multiclass limit since that cuts out a big part of character customization, especially for essentials type classes. After that, a sprinkling of utlity powers is on the menu. I don;t know whether to make them small and at will like wizard cantrips or more like your standard daily and encounter utilities, attach utility functions to happenstance points, or what. Also, when picking feats before the game, I found myself trawling the builder for the most random and useless stuff because I have no class feats, nor anything outside of 'improvised missile' that promoted the improvised weapon playstyle (that I haven't already crammed into the class).

I'm also afraid I built it like a hulking hurler (If I'm using my 3.5 terms right) because all it does is throw things at things and hit things with other things. So, i need to add the powers for the other builds based on other ability scores. I might rework the structure from ability score to profession based, like a farmer, a fisherman, a blacksmith, and a tailor might get different happenstance effects. (ooh, or that could play into what skills they get).

I'll post some more stuff as I think of it for those who're still interested.

[Tegu8788]

I'd consider using the theme and background to include the professional differences between a farmer, a fisherman, or a blacksmith.

[incandescent]

that might be a better way of going about it instead of tying the commoner to a particular job through his base class, because people would reflavor it away to suit their character's needs anyway. At least I always do that with the assassin guilds and warlock pacts.

I could see using the alchemist theme and martial practices as a template to give prefessions a mechanical presence beyond "I make candles".

[Yakk]

For the happenstance...

I'd be tempted to introduce a card-based mechanic. Have a pile of happenstance effects, and randomly pick a set of them when you make an attack.

So you could get stun, +damage, slide, blind, etc -- but you don't know until you make the attack what is going to happen.

As you gain levels, new cards are added to your deck, and you draw more cards per attack. Maybe even you gain the ability to look at a draw, discard it, and draw a new one a time or two per encounter.

As it stands, repeating the same effect will often end up being optimal, and not very random. Like PPP, where you use the same at-will with the same augment over and over again in most fights...

[incandescent]

The original mechanic I had was an encounter power where you could add a random hard control effect to your attack and suffer an effect from the same chart. You'd roll 2d6 and pick one to give to your opponent and one to take yourself. But then again, that version functioned more like an implement class that didn;t get to choose which defense it attacked (rolled a d4 and got one of the 4 defenses).

I switched to the powerpoint mechanic so you could pick an appropriate effect for an item without having to check with your DM every time whether you can knock someone prone with a banana peel or slide them X squares. Though it would be fun to create a deck of random effects. I could even throw things like "random explosion" in there and have funny things happen like "how did you inflict ongoing 5 fire damage with a cactus?"

I'll throw together a chart after while.

[Surrealistik]

For the happenstance...

I'd be tempted to introduce a card-based mechanic. Have a pile of happenstance effects, and randomly pick a set of them when you make an attack.

So you could get stun, +damage, slide, blind, etc -- but you don't know until you make the attack what is going to happen.

As you gain levels, new cards are added to your deck, and you draw more cards per attack. Maybe even you gain the ability to look at a draw, discard it, and draw a new one a time or two per encounter.

As it stands, repeating the same effect will often end up being optimal, and not very random. Like PPP, where you use the same at-will with the same augment over and over again in most fights...

I like it.

I don't like Just Barely to be absolutely honest in its current form (clunky, and too powerful as an encounter power).

What I would do is in its place grant a utility power that allows you to reroll any ability or skill check, saving throw, or attack or damage roll and take the result of your choice, or you'd be able to force an enemy to reroll an attack or damage roll against you, again taking the result of your choice. Each time you'd gain a utility power, you'd gain a use of this power instead (up until level 10).

'Just Barely' might be a Daily that allows you to auto succeed (just barely) on any of these above rolls, so long as you don't fail by more than say 10 or 15. You'd gain an additional use any time you'd gain a Daily power, and/or perhaps it'd recharge whenever you gain a Milestone.

Survivor's Instinct needs to be reworded as follows:

Survivor's Instinct: You gain a +2 bonus to AC and can use your highest ability modifier in place of your Intelligence or Dexterity modifier to determine your AC when wearing cloth armor or no armor.

[incandescent]

I couldn't decide whether Just Barely would be difficult to use quickly or not. How does this sound?

Just Barely Daily (no action)
Trigger: you fail an attack roll, a skill check, or a saving throw by 5 or less.
Effect: Your roll is modified to the minimum result needed to succeed.
Level 11: 10 or less
Level 21: 15 or less

I don't know about a frequency for it or recharges or if there should be a choice between it and other daily powers. I'll meditate on the utility a bit.

I hadn't noticed I missed putting dexterity in survivor's instinct, I'll correct that .

I'm having trouble coming up with happenstance effects beyond the basics and without the points system, I don't know when to throw the larger effects in or if I should just roll them into the same card. Example: should there be one card for +1[W] and a card for +2[W] or a single card that increases with level? How many cards should I sart with and how specific should the effects get?

Two of the first things I thought of were Avalanche and Don't make me use this. These effects would be added to the respective lines of a basic attack.

Avalanche
Hit: the target is slowed
Effect: remove 10 random objects from your inventory or the immediate vicinity. The area in a burst one centered on the target is now difficult terrain.
Don't make me use this
Close Burst 1
Attack: The attack targets will in addition to AC
Hit: half damage. If the attack hit the target's will, slide it to an area outside of the burst.

[incandescent]

Sorry for the huge delay anyone who's been keeping track (car troubles, classes, and baby sitting).

The short version: i can't do the deck of card thing even though it sounds cool because i'm too lazy to throw together an entire smorgasboard of effects to trickle in through 30 levels. I'm keeping the powerpoint mechanic but i'm taking to heart the repetetive nature of powerpoints and adding the restriction that once you use an effect, you can't use it until after the end of the next round (to avoid immediate action shenanigans). I think this saves me some headache while breaking up the monotony and keeping with happenstance flavor. To solve the skilllessness and lack of utilities i'm replacing Unqualified with Picked up Along the Way.

Picked Up Along the Way
a commoner that manages to reach level two through some happenstance miracle has usually live long enough to learn a few things based on the society he or she lives in. commoners living in the outskirts of a wizard's tower might pick up some magical tricks to supplement their mundane trade or see something they shouldn't. Commoners in a military society with mandatory terms of service may come off their tours with the legion knowing a thing or two about a fighter's discipline.
At first level, a commoner picks a class other than commoner. The commoner counts as a member of that class, gains training in two class skills from that class, and gains a utility of the approproate level from that class's utility list at each level when the commoner would normally gain a utility. Additionally, a commoner cannot multiclass.


So with all the changes, the commoner gets a small powerpoint pool to represent encounter powers, a daily essentials type power in Just Barely, essentials type stances in place of at wills, and a built in multiclass.

I can post my character as an example commoner if someone wants. I chose wizard as my second class because my background involves a magical accident that made my commoner's imaginary friend real (a familiar). Regardless, i'll update the class layout in the first post tomorrow after i move to a real computer.

Edit:phone typo sweep