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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3213040" data-attributes="member: 13966">Design and balance notes for my version of the Elven Bladesinger (click the button to view):[sblock]This prestige class has gone through two or three iterations on my part, over the past several years, but changed relatively little; at one point or another I had it with 6 skill points per level, or d8 hit dice, and I only added the Bardic Talents, Dodge bonuses, Songblade, and Spellsongs in the most recent iteration, making it final.Initially, I just felt the Bladesinger prestige class from WotC's Tome & Blood supplement was just too weak for a prestige class and didn't adequately represent the elven fencers I had read about previously in Forgotten Realms novels and some old 2nd Edition material.  So I tweaked the basic stats of the class a little, replaced its personal spell list and such with just advancing the spellcasting of a previously-acquired class every other level, and added the Bladesong Style at 1st-level.I then decided it was still too weak at the later levels, so I added Superior Focus and Superior Specialization, and at some point I determined that it also deserved Improved Critical and Superior Critical.  Before finishing the flavor text and posting the class, a few months ago when I had originally intended to do so, I also decided to give it Bardic Talents, Dodge bonuses, and the Songblade feature, as well as the Spellsongs feature to make it more flavorful and a little better as a caster (even though they still won't be nearly so good as a pure Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, or Wu Jen, they at least have an easier time averting counterspells and dispels against their spells).  Then I finished the last of the flavor text.Balance-wise.....I determined the entry requirements to make it a kinda tough class to qualify for (no jumping in at 4th, 5th, or 6th level), but entirely reasonable for elves and half-elves advancing in a relatively traditional elven style, but definitely emphasizing the fact that bladesingers are masters of the elven art of fencing, so they need to be pretty well qualified with an appropriate weapon already just to qualify (Weapon Focus and Specialization, plus a decent BAB).They're also at least dabblers in mixing arcana with swordplay, so they need to be at least a little more than an apprentice mage (2nd-level spells and the Combat Mystic feat).  They're acrobatic and dance-like fighters, so they needed appropriate skills for that too, on top of their magic-oriented skills and their singing skills (which reminds me, after this post I'm going to edit the PrC requirements to ensure that it requires Dance and Singing amongst the character's learned performance types through the Perform skill).Compared to a standard (and even) bard/fighter multiclass, the bladesinger has a few advantages and disadvantages, but overall comes out on top.  Normally the multiclass combo (even moreso with fighter/sorcerer, fighter/wizard, or fighter/wu jen) would be rather sub-par (armor and shields interfere with arcana, yet armor and shields are one of the fighter's strengths, and neither class really complements the other well in skills/feats/combat ability as a multiclass combo).  The bladesinger compensates for this, and I'll be tweaking the Spellblade prestige class from Tome & Blood (and others) to fit for other races wanting to be capable warrior-mages.The bladesinger makes an effective swashbuckling mage and adventurer, but is rather dependant on several ability scores, depending on their multiclass combo prior to the PrC.  A fighter/bard will need good Dex, Int, and Cha, and at least decent Con (preferably average Str, while Wis is a dump stat for them).  A fighter/wizard or fighter/wu jen will need good Dex, Int, and Con (with average Str, but Wis and Cha both dump stats).  Multiclassing into the zealot variant cleric (rather than fighter) will allow slightly faster entry into the PrC, but will make Wisdom and Charisma more important scores to emphasize (lest they give up on their minor zealot spellcasting and undead-turning capacity, which would at least be useful at lower levels).The Bladesong Style makes Dex and Int very important (though a bladesinger could just go for lower AC and more damage with good Str, but given their melee focus and d6 hit dice, that's not a good idea).  With the PrC's low HD, they need a decent or good Constitution, unless they maximize their Armor Class through Dex, Int, spells, and magic items.  Dipping a few levels into rogue could provide them with Evasion (making their strong Reflex save from multiclassing provide virtual immunity to the most common offensive magic/psionics), but it would slow their bladesinger advancement a bit.The Weapon Specialization feat requirement, along with the Improved Critical bonus feat and the Superior Specialization/Critical abilities make up for a bladesinger's typical poor Strength, at least for the most part, so they aren't pathetic at dealing damage.  But of course, those abilities only really help with the Songblade, not with other weapons, like a composite longbow.  Bladesingers are good fencers, but likely no better than a standard bard (maybe even a little worse sometimes) when it comes to ranged combat.  Their spells can make up for this at least somewhat, since they continue to slowly advance their spellcasting ability from a previous class (whether bard or something else).  Still much weaker than a full caster's ranged offense.Bladesingers have lower average hit dice and HP compared to bard/fighters, and lower skill points on average too (Aurelian bards get 6 sp/level, and Aurelian fighters get 4 sp/level), but they get improved durability for their Songblade as well as the benefits of their Spellsongs (tougher for enemies to identify and counter or dispel their magic).  Their class skill selection is inbetween that of a bard and a fighter in broadness, so they're a little disadvantaged in that regard too perhaps.But bladesingers get more benefit from Intelligence than a bard would, so they're more encouraged towards a high Int (and thus more skill points).  They also get several little boosts to AC, thus improving their survivability a little compared to a bard or wizard (and without needing to rely entirely on spells for AC, nor relying on armor which would make some spells fail).  The Bladesong Style's attack and damage boosts help give more accuracy/striking power as well, to help balance out the lower versatility.Their bonus feat and Superior Focus/Specialization/Critical abilities help make up for the reduced feats, Bardic Music, and Bardic Knowledge prowess of a bladesinger compared to a standard bard/fighter multiclass.  They also make up somewhat for the reduced HP of the prestige class, and the lack of advancement in the Aurelian bard's number of daily uses for miscellaneous class features and the Aurelian fighter's miscellaneous abilities too (and the Aurelian fighter's access to a few more exclusive feats between 8th and 12th level).All in all, I may even end up editing the class later, just maybe, to give them a boost to skill points (to 6/level) or hit points (to d8/level), and perhaps a small Leadership Score boost (like a +2 boost to LS at 1st-level merely from the 'prestige' of being an actual, bona-fide bladesinger, not just some average elf), but I haven't had a chance yet to playtest an Aurelian half-elf bard/fighter/bladesinger alongside/versus an Aurelian half-elf bard/fighter to see just how well they really stack up in combat (the bladesinger is intentionally a bit less focused on noncombat talents, but still capable with them).Soon I may just put together a set of example stats for two such characters, munchkinized, to see how they compare 'on paper' so to speak, at least.  In any case I am utterly certain that my version of the Elven Bladesinger is both superior to the Tome & Blood bladesinger, and nowhere near overpowered (multiclassing normally sucks, especially when it involves giving up access to high-level spells, and I'm making sure to provide nice benefits for the upper levels of most classes).  If anything it's balanced, or a little underpowered in overall playability (though more likely it's just balanced).As for the last paragraph of the PrC's description before its stats....  It provides a variety of options to the player for how to enter the prestige class, without having to wrack their brain and figure out what'll work and how well, so they don't have to feel like their bladesinger MUST be a fighter/bard like everyone else and nothing special or unique.  Certainly a psychic warrior/wu jen bladesinger would be a lot more colorful and, ahem, unique, individual to play.Just not as optimal (couldn't enter the PrC until 12th level) and rather quirky (plus not really in a good position politically/socially with the rest of elvenkind; but still a possible combination that would not necessarily been inappropriate from a roleplaying POV).  The last paragraph also shows that, yes, I am familiar with power-gamers and am sorta one myself, so you won't slip anything past me that steals the spotlight from everyone else at the table.Despite my tendency towards optimization, it's usually optimization with sub-par or unusual combinations for the sake of fun and 'doing something different' (and I usually still end up the most useless party member when I do that, because I don't focus on raw character power; I prefer versatility over singular potency).  Elven and half-elven zealot/wu jen/bladesingers have their own problems, even if they are the quickest route into the prestige class, with the least amount of feats/abilities wasted.  More on that will be apparent whenever I get the Zealot variant Cleric posted, and the Aurelian version of the Wu Jen posted.Also, for reference, elven samurai are kinda rare in Aurelia, and have a slightly different code of honor than human samurai (being fey-related Nature guardians), different 'ancestral daisho' weapons, and some different fighting styles from which to choose samurai bonus feats.  They arose some time after the first conflicts between elves and the Mentari human culture of yore, before the pure Mentari were destroyed by divine wrath and their hybrid descendants gained any significance in the world.  Elves adopted a few aspects of the Mentari samurai tradition out of respect for their foes' honor and valor in those days, learning from a few ronin who disliked the Mentari conquer-and-spread-humanity's-dominance mentality.  But turned more towards traditional elven 'guard Nature's dominion and sanctity' goals.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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