D&D 2E 2E's Blade as a PrC attempt...

[LeifVignirsson]

I know, I know... This probably should be in the conversion section but that barely gets any traffic so I figured I would come here to house rules and see who wants to bloody my nose here

I have a NPC IMC that is a Blade and no matter which PrC I went with, it just didn't fit him too well. So, I figured I would go through my trusty Complete Bard's Handbook and give it a shot to make this a PrC. I know that this might be a titch too powerful, but seeing that he is supposed to be a weapons master, I didn't think that one weapon would make a huge amount of difference (You will see when you hit 10th level).

I also know that this class was supposed to cast spells like a bard but I am not sure if I should go with +1 of existing class or what... Opinions would help there too.

Anyway, let me know what you all think and what I can do to change it, if any. Thanks in advance!

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Blade
Blades are master artisans with bladed weapons. Everyone has seen a Blade in action at carnivals and fairs. They are the knife throwers who pop balloons while blind-folded and swallow slender sabers such as those used by lawless pirates on the high seas.
Blades also perform amazing displays of weapon skill and control as they flash various weapons all about their bodies with deadly precision. Besides rapid displays of weapon skills, they also perform slow, elegant dances, involving incredibly precise movements and timing. These dances include thrusts, lunges, leaps, graceful arcs, etc.
If there is a showy way to wield, throw, or perform with a weapon, a Blade knows how to do it better than anyone.
Hit Dice: d8

REQUIREMENTS
To become a Blade, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
BAB: +6
Skills: Diplomacy 6 ranks, Knowledge (History) 4 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Perform (Juggling) 6 ranks, Tumble 6 ranks
Feats: Ambidexterity, Blind Fight, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus

CLASS SKILLS
The Blade's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Wis), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis) and Tumble (Dex)
Skill points for each level: 4 + Int

CLASS DISCRIPTION
All of the following are the class features of the Blade
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Blade is proficient in all simple weapons. Additionally, the Blade is proficient with one of the following weapons: long sword, rapier, sap, short sword or whip. Blades are proficient with light armor and shields.
Fearsome Display: So long as you have a melee weapon drawn, you may take a full round to put on a fearsome display. Select one opponent within 30 ft to be the target and make an Intimidate check (DC 10 + target's character level.) Your opponent suffers a -2 morale penalty on attack and damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to your ranks in Intimidate. The second level allows you to put on a fearsome display for targets equal to your character level, and the final level (3) allows you to put on a fearsome display for twice your character level.
Weapon Catching: When an opponent attacks you with a natural 1 on his attack roll, you may attempt to catch his weapon. Make a contested Dexterity check against your opponent, adding ½ your base attack bonus to your check. If you are successful, your opponent is disarmed and the weapon is caught.
Streetwise: When attempting skill rolls that have to do with a city setting, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus. Some skills that benefit from this feature includes: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Knowledge (local history) and Spot.
Shadow: You may shadow (follow) one opponent unnoticed, by following 30 ft. to 100 ft. away based on the density of the crowd and the terrain. If the target is unaware of your presence, you must succeed at a Spot check (DC 10, modified by density of crowds or lack there of) to keep up with his movements. If the target is actively trying to avoid being followed, you must succeed at an opposed check using your opponent’s Hide skill check against your Spot check. If successful, another check must be made again in 15 minutes to maintain the trail. If unsuccessful, the opponent loses you in the crowd.
Trick Throw: Though this feature is called a “Trick Throw”, it functions the same for missile weapons and thrown weapons. When throwing at a covered opponent, the AC bonus provided is reduced by 1. At 6th level, the reduction is by 2 and at 9th level the reduction is by 3.
Weapon Specialization: Choose one type of weapon you have Weapon Focus in. You receive a +2 damage bonus with a chosen weapon.
Weapon Mastery: Choose one type of weapon you have Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in. Increase the damage of the weapon by one die type.
Elite Weapon Mastery: Choose one type of weapon you have Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and Weapon Mastery in. Increase the critical damage multiplier of the weapon by 1 (from x2 to x3, etc).


LEVEL BAB FORT REF WILL SPECIAL
1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Fearsome Display (1), Weapon Catching
2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Streetwise, Shadow
3 +2 +1 +3 +3 Trick Throw (1)
4 +3 +1 +4 +4 Fearsome Display (2)
5 +3 +1 +4 +4 Weapon Specialization
6 +4 +2 +5 +5 Trick Throw (2)
7 +5 +2 +5 +5 Weapon Mastery
8 +6 +2 +6 +6 Fearsome Display (3)
9 +6 +3 +6 +6 Trick Throw (3)
10 +7 +3 +7 +7 Elite Weapon Mastery

Some excerpts taken from The Complete Bard’s Handbook (AD&D) and AEG’s FEATS book.

 

[RangerWickett]

Have you perchance read the Edgemaster in Asgard magazine, issue . . . oh, I think it was 5 or 6? A performer who can use any weapon, and uses them to impress or scare his foes. I wrote it. And it's 5:45 am now, so I need sleeeee

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Its feats lack a certian flavor to it. What's Streetwize have to do with flash? What's shadowing have to do with flash? What's the weapon specialization or mastery have to do with pure flash? That's all damage. How relevant is weapon catching anyway? It's a neat concept, but I don't know how often it really comes up. Is it worth putting a defining part of the class into?

Think more along the lines of, sure this guy is dangerous, but he looks scary, and he'll kick you around while making it look effortless and beautiful. What you have now seems more like an unarmored weapons master (From the class abilities, not the bab) than a flashy fighter.

I'll try to help out some more tomorrow, when I'm more concious.

 

[LeifVignirsson]

All right, let me just say that everything that I came up with as far as the "features" go was taken directly from The Complete Bard's Handbook and put onto my computer, then I poured through existing rules (mostly through AEG's FEATS) to try and get as close as I could to the "spirit" of the kit.

Weapon Catching is a part of what the Blade does, as per the handbook. Same with the Trick Throw and Fearsome Display. In fact, I left out one thing that I figured would be covered by the Fearsome Display and that was Offensive/Defensive Spin.

Now, I may have gone over the deep end with the Weapon Spec, Weapon Mastery and Elite Weapon Mastery, but that is because in my eyes I saw it as the training with that one weapon at the higher levels (obviously they wouldn't reach this mark until level 16-18) that he would be rather effective with it. Now what I should have done was to let him use a variety of weapons at a lower level of specs. I am still working on that, hopefully sometime soon.

As far as the shadow and streetwise went, that was something added for flare because the original kit only had four features tops. Again, a work in process, so that may change too.. However, I don't believe that I will be changing anything that was part of the original feature.

Looking forward to more opinion.

-Leif

 

[Vanguard]

If there are only 4 abilities for the class, why not just make the PrC a 5-level PrC? Then you don't have to try to come up with other stuff to fill in the gaps.

You could cover the flavor of offensive/defensive spin with feats (dodge and whirlwind attack, though whirlwind attack has many prereqs) - Alternatively, you could give whirlwind attack as a class ability.

I havn't seen the original to know exactly what you're going for, but I'd change the specialization/mastery/elite to something else as well (and if its only 5 classes you'll have less gaps to fill)

The Fearsome Display is good, but I'd make it involve a will save.

You were right to leave out the spellcasting, this was originally a bard kit but the PrC doesn't necessarily have to be taken by bards.

 

[Ravellion]

Take out the weapon mastery stuff. The blade isn't a weapon master, he looks like one.

Suggestion:

Put in Offensive spin/Defensive spin +1, Offensive spin/Defensive spin +2, etc.

Make it work like a free one point per +1 to Expertise (if performing a defensive spin) or power attack (offensive spin), that doesn't actually require the use of the feats (ie. word them properly, I am going to bed now... what is your thread doing to people ?)

 

[LeifVignirsson]

All right, that does make some sense to take out the mastery... I have been thinking a bit more on that and reading up on the kit and it was a tad bit wrong of me to put that in because he isn't a master of a weapon, just looks like it as Ravellion said.

As far as the 5 level PrC's, those just downright annoy me... Perhaps it is just me, but I think that this PrC should be a 10 level one since many people were used to being that high if not higher in the previous edition.

Perhaps instead of the Mastery I can go with the idea of giving a bonus to attacks with the weapons available to the Blade. Maybe up to a +3, spaced out over the ten levels. Since the selection is rather sall, that shouldn't make it too powerful... I think. I will have to think about this and try to post a revised one over the weekend.

Offensive/Defensive spin just looked like it would be covered under the Fearsome Display feature, that was why I decided not to put it in there.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming! This is why I love the EN Boards!

 

[Knightfall]

Excellent thread, I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this one. The Blade was one of my favorite 2E Kits. A balanced 3E PrC would be nice addition to my own house rules.

I hope, once you have this more finalized that you'll put up a linked RTF document for those of us who want to use it.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[LeifVignirsson]

Well, I sat down and tweaked it a bit, taking out the mastery and spec features, shadow and streetwise and added The Parry (Thanks to AEG's War) and Riposte (thanks to MonPress). Hopefully this will kind of help level this out a bit. After taking a look at it all, it looks pretty good... But then I put out the PoS that was on here before... Er, I mean... Take a look at it and see what you think.

-Leif