CHANNELER (new base class) please comment!

Hello, I've been trying to cut the distinction of arcane and divine magic out of my new homebrew setting I'm developing. All magic is just considered magic, and most of the flashy magic in the world is for high level casters and monsters only.

The Channeler, which I've ATTACHED to this thread, is really the centerpiece of this homebrew setting's 'feel,' so I was hoping to get some feedback about its mechanics, balance, and hopefully flavor. Its power level is something akin to the druid, and most of the spells for the list come from the druidic spell list, as well as from the enchantment, illusion, and necromantic schools of wizards and wu jen.

Outsiders are mostly spirits (incorporeal undead, fey, and elementals), as related in the Complete Divine, and the world sort of feels a little holistic with alignment less relevant than in most other campaigns.

The setting is sort of low magic in a Call of Cthulu/ Conanesque sword and sorcery kind of way. Society is similar in technology and culture to Central and Eastern Europe in the early Dark Ages.

The base classes are barbarian, bard (which are mostly Good and Lawful in this setting), channeler, fighter, noble (modified aristocrat), ranger, rogue, and warlock (from Complete Arcane). A very limited PrC list is available to PCs/NPCs - such as Acolytes of the Skin, Blackguards, The Knights Defiant (Holy Liberators), and a modified version of the Athar (from the Planar Handbook) are thrown into the mix, but generally this a base class and feat driven world mechanically.



Thanks for any comments,

C.I.D.

I really like the feel you're going for. Here are my suggestions...

First, at first level does a channeller simply select 3 cantrips and 1 first level spell that he knows, or does he get to choose ANY spell from the list spontaneously? That wasn't clear in your write-up.

Also, in order to use their channel ley lines ability, do they need to have access to a ley line or is the energy assumed to be ambient? Or do they go to a ley line and absorb energy from it, requiring subsequent trips to the ley line to recharge their power?

I think the affinity for the animal world only fits for this class if in your campaign animals are closely associated with spirits. If not, I would change wild empathy to spirit empathy. And woudl change the animal companion into a spirit creature, like a shaman's spirit animal totem. What do you think?

Why are channellers able to heal themselves? Since this is a campaign-specific class you might as well come up with a rationale to explain this ability as it stands out among the class abilities as not making much sense.

Why are they immune to poison? I can understand disease, but poison seems like it's a stretch. Maybe giving them an enhanced metamagic ability (increase spell level by 2 to reduce casting time of metamagic to the normal spell casting time) would be more appropriate. Or the option for an innate spell or two would be appropriate as well.

Cheers!

Quickleaf said:

I really like the feel you're going for. Here are my suggestions...

First, at first level does a channeller simply select 3 cantrips and 1 first level spell that he knows, or does he get to choose ANY spell from the list spontaneously? That wasn't clear in your write-up.

Also, in order to use their channel ley lines ability, do they need to have access to a ley line or is the energy assumed to be ambient? Or do they go to a ley line and absorb energy from it, requiring subsequent trips to the ley line to recharge their power?

I think the affinity for the animal world only fits for this class if in your campaign animals are closely associated with spirits. If not, I would change wild empathy to spirit empathy. And woudl change the animal companion into a spirit creature, like a shaman's spirit animal totem. What do you think?

Why are channellers able to heal themselves? Since this is a campaign-specific class you might as well come up with a rationale to explain this ability as it stands out among the class abilities as not making much sense.

Why are they immune to poison? I can understand disease, but poison seems like it's a stretch. Maybe giving them an enhanced metamagic ability (increase spell level by 2 to reduce casting time of metamagic to the normal spell casting time) would be more appropriate. Or the option for an innate spell or two would be appropriate as well.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

A channeler can cast any spell from their spell list spontaneously without prior preparation. This is the main thing I'm not sure about in terms of game balance. A channeler's spells per day and his spell list were chosen for flavor but also so that this absolute spontanaity wouldn't be overpowered.

Channeling ley line energy can be done anywhere in a world with relatively normal amounts of magic. It is considered ambient. I was planning on writing up rules for different grades of energy (such as if you're right on top of a ley line nexus), but I haven't got that far yet.

Thanks, anyone else?

C.I.D.