New idea for prc need help please

[korasukage]

Hi all this is my first post here so I was just wondering if you could help out with my prc below. I'm trying to finish it for a campaign I'm beginning and need your help in giving it a few finishing touches. So please read it over and let me know what you think. Also I haven't decided on all the requirements yet either. This is a work in progress so let me know what your suggestions are. Below is what I have so far. Thanks

Basic concept: A wizard/fighter type that through the manipulation of his magic ability(which tranlsates into spending spell slots to obtain certain abilities detailed below) he is able to summon a blade of magical force and also to offset the penalties of wearing amour.

Arcane Blade(AcB)

By using arcane energies, and the characters own life force, the Arcane Blade(also known as a spellblade) is able to manipulate magical energy in order to form a weapon. This is where the prc gets its namesake as this blade is known as a spellblade. He is also able, by manipulating the same energies, to bond with worn armour so that it does not hamper his spellcasting ability.

Hit Die: d6

Requirements:
Weapon Proficiency: Must be proficient in all weapons and light and medium armour.
BAB: +5
Craft(Weaponsmithing): 7
Knowledge(Arcana): 7
Spellcraft: 7
Feats: Weapon Focus(in the characters chosen weapon, see below),
Spellcasting: The ability to cast up to 3rd level arcane spells.

Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

The character gains no weapon proficiencies or armour proficiencies from this prc.

......Base
......Attack.Fort..Ref...Will
.............Save..Save..Save.Special Abilities
1st....+0....+2....+0.....+2..Arcane Blade,Armoured Bond(light)
2nd....+1....+3....+0....+3..
3rd....+2....+3....+1.....+3..
4th....+3....+4....+1.....+4..
5th....+3....+4....+1.....+4..Arcane Blade(free action)
6th....+4....+5....+2.....+5..
7th....+5....+5....+2.....+5..Armoured Bond(medium)
8th....+6....+6....+2.....+6..
9th....+6....+6....+3.....+6..
10th...+7....+7....+3.....+7..Eldritch Blade

Arcane blade(Su):This ability allows the pc to create a weapon, at will, composed of magical energy and the arcane blade's own lifeforce. The pc chooses the weapon type at first level and once chosen cannot be changed. It requires a move action to create the blade, though at 5th level it becomes a free action to summon it. The ability to create such a weapon comes at a cost though. Due to the incredible amount of magic that it takes to create the weapon the arcane blade must forever sacrifice a 3rd level spell slot. The weapon once created acts in all respects as a +1 weapon of the type chosen. The weapon is a natural extension of the pc and thus as he gains levels he may imbue the blade with additional powers by expending xp. The chart below lists the abilities that the spellblade can be augmented with, including the xp sacrificed, the minimum level of Arcane Blade required, and the amount of time(in days) spent augmenting the weapon. Note a weapon cannot have a bonus over +5. Though the pc can instead add special abilities(ie keen would be the equivalent of a +2 weapon bonus).

Arcane Blade Abilities

Weapon......XP.........Min SpB..Amount
Bonus.....Sacrificed....Level.....of time
+2............400XP........2........4days
+3............900XP........3........9days
+4..........1,600XP.......4........16days
+5..........2,500XP.......5........24days
+6..........3,600XP.......6........33days
+7..........4,900XP.......7........46days
+8..........6,400XP.......8........61days
+9..........8,100XP.......9........78days
+10.........10,000XP....10.......97days

Spellcasting(Su): The spellblade continues his magical training and receives a +1 CL at each level except level 5.

Armoured Bond(Light Armour/Medium Armour, Su): The arcane blade by manipulating magical energies is able to offset the impact that armour has on spellcasting. By sacrificing a 2nd level spell slot the pc is able to wear light armour with no ASF. At 7th level the pc is able to wear medium armour without any ASF.

Eldritchblade(Su): This is the pinnacle of the arcane blade's mastery in using and summoning his spellblade. He has now mastered the form of the arcane blade itself and because of it the arcane blade damage die is increased by one step(ie d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d10 etc) Also the blade that is formed now inflicts grievous wounds upon those that are struck with it. Thus the critical multiplier of the weapon is increased by 1. Thus if a weapon, ie a longsword, is normally x2 on a crit it is now x3.

Note: The blade can still be formed in a dead magic zone as it is formed not just using magic energy but also the life force of the arcane blade. When formed in such an area it is less powerful. Its damage die is decreased one step and its crit range is 20.

 

[Velmont]

Not bad, idea original, average BAB make it good enough in comabt without being too strong. No bonus feats make it a good sacrifice to have something pretty good (a magical weapon that you'll never lose), but I would give him less spells, something like at level 2,3,4,6,7,8,9

I hope when you say proficient in all weapon, you mean simple & martial...

I would add one requirement: Create magical arms & armor. I think it would fit with the power of his blade.

For armour bond, I would do something more like a progressive lose of %, like the spellsword, something like 5% at each even level (so up to 25%).

 

[Magic Slim]

Welcome to the boards!

Question: when you choose your spellblade type, you can choose... any weapon you're proficient with? Any weapon at all? Would there be a reason for someone NOT to choose the "best" weapons around (Say Bastard Sword / Elven Thinblade)? I'd suggest that whatever the form the weapon may take, its damage be standard and increase with the level of the Spellblade. First, you choose a one-handed vs two-handed weapon, and go on from there. Example of what I mean:

LVL	Dam 1H	Dam 2H	Crit 1 OR	Crit 2   other
1	1d6	1d12	20 / X2	        20 / X2	
2	1d6	1d12	20 / X2	        20 / X2	
3	1d6	1d12	20 / X2	        20 / X2	
4	1d8	2d8	19-20 / X2	20 / X3	
5	1d8	2d8	19-20 / X2	20 / X3	may be used to trip
6	1d8	2d8	19-20 / X2	20 / X3	
7	1d10	3d6	18-20 / X2	20 / X4	
8	1d10	3d6	18-20 / X2	20 / X4	
9	1d10	3d6	18-20 / X2	20 / X4	
10	1d12	3d8	17-20 / X2	20 / X5	5' and 10' reach

Maybe that would be too powerful, but you get the idea.

Anyways, good concept. Good luck!

Slim

 

[Velmont]

The reason of not choosing a bastard:

-You want a two-wepaon figthing (Greataxe, Greatsword)
-You prefer a x3 critical than a 19/x2 (Greataxe, dwarven waraxe)
-You don't want an exotic wepaon (Longsword, Great axe)
-You are a fan of disarming (Chain, whip, flails)
-You want to trip (Kama)
-You want reach (Polearms, Chain)
-You are a finesse warrior (Light weapons, rapier)
-You are a follower of a god (Favored weapon of the God)

I can keep going like that, but most reason not told here can be resume as personnal choice or background choice. So there can be 1001 reasons if you are not searching for the greatest weapon in stats.

 

[korasukage]

Need help...

Hey All thanks for the feedback! Velmont thanks glad ya like it. As for your suggestions I've almost used all of them in my revamped version. Magic Slim I can understand what you are saying but thank God I never have to worry about my players trying to screw the rules, and as Velmont has pointed out there are plenty of reasons why a person would take any number of different weapons. So here is the revamped version below.


These are the changes:
1)Added Combat Casting and Craft magic arms and armour as prerequisites.
2)Gave a progression instead of an xp table for the arcane blade.
3)Created a new ability called Bladechannelling to replace the xp table. This new ability still allows the arcane blade to augment his weapon its just shorter duration and much more restricted.
4)Change CL progression to 8/10

So here is what the class looks like now...

Arcane Blade
Hit Die: d6

Requirements:
Weapon Proficiency: Must be proficient in simple and martial weapons as well as light and medium armour.
BAB: +5
Craft(Weaponsmithing): 7
Knowledge(Arcana): 7
Spellcraft: 7
Feats: Weapon Focus(in the characters chosen weapon, see below), Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Combat Casting
Spellcasting: The ability to cast up to 3rd level arcane spells.

Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).

The character gains no weapon proficiencies or armour proficiencies from this prc.

Arcane Blade
......Base
......Attack.Fort..Ref...Will
..............Save.Save..Save..Special Abilities
1st....+0....+2....+0.....+2...Arcane Blade +1,
......................................Armour Bond(lght)
2nd...+1.....+3....+0....+3...Bladechanneling I
3rd....+2....+3....+1.....+3...Arcane Blade +2
4th....+3....+4....+1.....+4...
5th....+3....+4....+1.....+4...Arcane Blade +3(free action)
6th....+4....+5....+2.....+5...Armour Bond(med)
7th....+5....+5....+2.....+5...Arcane Blade +4
8th....+6....+6....+2.....+6...Bladechannelling II
9th....+6....+6....+3.....+6...
10th...+7....+7....+3.....+7..Eldritch Blade, Arcane Blade +5

Arcane blade(Su):This ability allows the pc to create a weapon, at will, composed of magical energy and the arcane blade's own lifeforce. The pc chooses the weapon type at first level and once chosen cannot be changed. It requires a move action to create the blade, though at 5th level it becomes a free action to summon it. The ability to create such a weapon comes at a cost though. Due to the incredible amount of magic that it takes to create the weapon the arcane blade must forever sacrifice a 3rd level spell slot. The weapon once created acts in all respects as a +1 weapon of the type chosen. The weapon is a natural extension of the pc and thus as he gains levels so to does his weapon increase in ability. At every other level the blades enhancement bonus increases by +1(at level 3 it is a +2 weapon, at level 5 it is a +3 weapon and so on).

Spellcasting(Su): The spellblade continues his magical training and receives a +1 CL except for levels 1 and 10.

Armour Bond(Light Armour/Medium Armour, Su): The arcane blade by manipulating magical energies is able to offset the impact that armour has on spellcasting. By sacrificing a 2nd level spell slot the pc is able to wear light armour with no ASF. At 7th level the pcs mastery over such energies is such that he is now able to wear medium armour without any ASF.

Bladechanneling I and II(Sp): With this ability the arcane blade can manipulate the latent magical energies that he controls in order to imbue his blade with special properties. Activating this ability is a move action. By expending 2 spell levels, 3 for bladechannelling II, the pc can imbue his weapon with one of several abilities. The duration is equal to a rnd per spell level plus the pcs intelligence bonus(min 1). The character can only have one such power active at a time ,however, once he attains bladechannelling II he may have up to two abilities active at once. See charts below for specific abilities.
Bladechannelling I...........Bladechannellig II
Bane............................Keen
Flaming/Frost/Shock.......Flaming/Icy/Shocking Burst
Defender......................Wounding

Eldritchblade(Su): This is the pinnacle of the arcane blade's mastery in using and summoning his spellblade. He has now mastered the form of the arcane blade itself and because of it the arcane blade damage die is increased by one step(ie d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d10 etc) Also the blade that is formed now inflicts grievous wounds upon those that are struck with it. Thus the critical multiplier of the weapon is increased by 1. Thus if a weapon, ie a longsword, is normally x2 on a crit it is now x3.

 

[TheUber]

would you mind if I posted this PrC on my site?
www.uberddragons.cjb.net

 

[korasukage]

Please feel free....

Hey TheUber I think it would be awesome if you posted it on your site. BTW cool site Glad you liked the class.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Some notes:

1) You want the prerequisite to be proficiency with all martial weapons... otherwise I don't know how you'd qualify for this.

2) I think the spellcasting is too much - I can't see any reason why I wouldn't take this as a (mostly) wizard. You lose only two spellcasting levels (fighter and arcane blade 5th), so you still get 9th level spells. On the other hand, you get increased BAB rate, increased HD, increased Fort saves, reduction of spell failure, and a slew of other useful abilities.

I would either nix the spellcasting progression altogether and bump the HD up to d8, or only include maybe two or three levels of spellcasting.

 

[korasukage]

...

Hey LightPhoenix thanks for the input....on to your points

1) In the requir. it states proficient in martial weapons does this not suffice. Do you mean that I should have written it like this "...proficiency with all martial weapons"?

2) As for why a wizard would not take this prc....most of the abilities are combat oriented and even with the ability to cast 9th level spells most of this prc would not be that helpful to a wizard as he would not be lasting too long in a fight(even with buff spells). I believe that there would not be many at all that would take this prc if they wanted mainly just a wizard and were going for high levels of spellcasting. But I can also understand what you are saying as well. So the simplest thing to do I believe would be to increase the bab requirement to +6 and to lower additional caster levels to 7/10(so at levels 1, 5, 10 you do not receive a caster level) This way the highest possible caster level(by taking wiz8/fighter2) would be 15 by 20th level. I think that this balances as well compared to the fact that you are permanently losing a 2nd and 3rd level spell and must burn spell levels to use the other abilities of the class.