Another Uber-Rogue

[jaker2003]

Crippler

The crippler is known as the bastard that strikes from the shadows, in the back, and with such accuracy and cunning that those victims that survive limp home.

Hit Die: d8



Requirements

BAB: +5.

Skills: Bluff 5 ranks, Disguise 5 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks, Sleight of Hand 5 ranks.

Feats: Improved Feint, Skill Focus (Bluff).

Special: Sneak Attack +3d6.



Class Skills

The Crippler’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (arcane)(Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering)(Int), Knowledge (nature)(Int), Knowledge (the planes)(Int), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Sleight of Hand (Dex). See Chapter 4 of the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.



Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Crippler does not gain proficiency with weapons or armor.

Distraction (Ex): When wielding two weapons, a crippler gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Bluff checks made while feinting.

Arterial Strike (Ex): Your sneak attacks target large blood vessels, leaving wounds that cause massive blood loss. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +1d6 of extra sneak attack damage to deliver a wound that won’t stop bleeding. Each wound caused in this manner saps an extra 1 point of damage per round from the victim, until the victim receives the benefit of a DC 15 Heal check or any cure spell or other magical healing. Wounds from multiple arterial strikes result in cumulative bleeding loss. You may deliver only one bleeding wound per successful sneak attack.

Knowing Strike (Ex): Your sneak attacks gain a +2 Insight bonus on damage rolls for every 5 ranks you have in the appropriate skill:

Appropriate Skill: Bonus Applies To
Heal: Humanoids
Knowledge (Arcana): Dragons and Magical Beasts
Knowledge (Dungeoneering): Aberrations and Oozes
Knowledge (Nature): Animals, Fey, Giants, Monstrous Humanoids, and Vermin
Knowledge (The Planes): Outsiders and Elementals

Hamstring Strike (Ex): You can wound your opponents’ legs hampering their movement. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +2d6 points of extra sneak attack damage to halve your opponent’s base land speed. This speed reduction ends after 24 hours have passed or a successful DC 15 Heal check or the application of any cure spell or other magical healing is made. Creatures with no legs or more than four legs can’t be slowed down with a hamstring attack. It takes two successful hamstring attacks to affect quadrupeds. Other movement speeds aren’t affected. You may deliver only one hamstring attack per sneak attack.

Shattering Strike (Ex):Your sneak attacks target vital bone or supporting structures, shattering them and causing massive internal damage. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +3d6 of sneak attack damage to deliver a shattering strike. The target takes 2 Constitution damage. You may deliver only one shattering strike per successful sneak attack.

Sneak Attack (Ex): As the rogue ability.
The Crippler
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Distraction, Sneak Attack +1d6
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Arterial Strike
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Knowing Strike, Sneak Attack +2d6
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Hamstring Strike
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Shattering Strike, Sneak Attack +3d6

Okay friends, I need help balancing (i can't balance anything) and assurance that this is a fun class

 

[jaker2003]

come on guys, it's been 5 days and no one has insulted my intelligence yet?!

does no one care that i'm going to throw something potentially unbalanced at my players?

 

[farscapesg1]

Hmm, I don't think it is too overpowered. But then again, I haven't designed many prestige classes yet.

One thing I will say, Please change the font color I have to highlight the entire post to even read the text.

 

[comrade raoul]

Knowing Strike is too good. +2 for every five ranks in Crippler class skills yields potentially massive bonuses -- why not just let them choose a favored enemy or two? (And why are things like knowledge (arcana), (nature), and (the planes) class skills for Cripplers anyway? Do they like magic, the woods, or planar travel? Just saying that cripplers like to learn about things they fight isn't good enough without more justification.)

More saliently, the class just seems conceptually unnecessary. They just don't seem different enough from high-level rogues (the flavor text doesn't help -- lots of rogues (and fighters!) would describe themselves as "the bastard that strikes from the shadows, in the back, and with such accuracy and cunning that those victims that survive limp home."), and most of their special abilities might be better modeled as feats or high-level rogue abilities.

These two worries, taken together, suggest a direction for further improvement -- you might want to build a class off abilities similar to "knowing strike", aiming at creating a kind of scholarly assassin who was able to defeat his opponents because he previously spent a lot of time learning their weaknesses.

 

[Treebranch]

Hrm...is it overpowered? No.

Is it necessary? Not really.

As is, all the class provides is the same sneak attack progression as a rogue and a couple of strikes. However, I'm pretty sure that all these attacks are already available to rogues; Shattering Strike is maybe the only one I'm not sure on, though it's pretty similar to Crippling Strike mechanically.

The other two were either in Song and Silence or some similar book.

So the end result is really a rogue with 1 more hp/level on average, and half the skill points.

 

[kanithardm]

Hmm, I don't think it is too overpowered. But then again, I haven't designed many prestige classes yet.

One thing I will say, Please change the font color I have to highlight the entire post to even read the text.

What he said.

 

[jaker2003]

New Version 1.03

Crippler

The crippler is known as the bastard that strikes from the shadows, in the back, and with such accuracy and cunning that those victims that survive limp home.

Hit Die: d6



Requirements

BAB: +5.

Skills: Bluff 10 ranks, Disguise 5 ranks, Heal 5 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks, Sleight of Hand 5 ranks.

Feats: Improved Feint, Skill Focus (Bluff).

Special: Sneak Attack +3d6.



Class Skills

The Crippler’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (arcane)(Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering)(Int), Knowledge (nature)(Int), Knowledge (the planes)(Int), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), and Sleight of Hand (Dex). See Chapter 4 of the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.



Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Crippler does not gain proficiency with weapons or armor.

Crippler Ability (Ex):Every level, a crippler gains a crippler ability of his choice from among the following:

Arterial Strike (Ex): Your sneak attacks target large blood vessels, leaving wounds that cause massive blood loss. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +1d6 of extra sneak attack damage to deliver a wound that won’t stop bleeding. Each wound caused in this manner saps an extra 1 point of damage per round from the victim, until the victim receives the benefit of a DC 15 Heal check or any cure spell or other magical healing. Wounds from multiple arterial strikes result in cumulative bleeding loss. You may deliver only one bleeding wound per successful sneak attack.

Deep Wound (Ex): Your sneak attacks strike deeper, inflicting more harm. Your sneak attack deals additional damage equal to your crippler level.

Expert Strike (Ex): You are adept at striking your opponents. When making a sneak attack, you may add your Intelligence bonus (max +5) to your attack roll (and any rolls to confirm critical hits) as a competence bonus.

Hamstring Strike (Ex): You can wound your opponents’ legs hampering their movement. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +2d6 points of extra sneak attack damage to halve your opponent’s base land speed. This speed reduction ends after 24 hours have passed or a successful DC 15 Heal check or the application of any cure spell or other magical healing is made. Creatures with no legs or more than four legs can’t be slowed down with a hamstring attack. It takes two successful hamstring attacks to affect quadrupeds. Other movement speeds aren’t affected. You may deliver only one hamstring attack per sneak attack.

Knowing Strike (Ex): Your sneak attacks gain a +2 Insight bonus on damage rolls for every 5 ranks you have in the appropriate skill (max +6):
Appropriate Skill - Bonus Applies To
Heal - Humanoids
Knowledge (Arcana) - Dragons and Magical Beasts
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) - Aberrations and Oozes
Knowledge (Nature) - Animals, Fey, Giants, Monstrous Humanoids, and Vermin
Knowledge (The Planes) - Outsiders and Elementals

Precise Strike (Ex): You are practiced at delivering your sneak attacks. When scoring a critical hit (not merely a threat) on a sneak attack, that sneak attack does maximum damage. Example: +5d6 deals +30 damage.

Ranged Precision (Ex): The range at which you may deal sneak attack damage with a ranged weapon increases by +15 feet. You may select this ability multiple times.

Shattering Strike (Ex):Your sneak attacks target vital bone or supporting structures, shattering them and causing massive internal damage. If you hit with a sneak attack, you may choose to forgo +5d6 of sneak attack damage to deliver a shattering strike. The target takes 2 Constitution damage. You may deliver only one shattering strike per successful sneak attack.

Sure Strike (Ex): Your sneak attacks deal an additional +2d6 on a critical threat (and confirmed criticals, too).

Sneak Attack (Ex): As the rogue ability.

Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Crippler Ability, Sneak Attack +1d6
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Crippler Ability
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Crippler Ability, Sneak Attack +2d6
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Crippler Ability
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Crippler Ability, Sneak Attack +3d6

Ok, here's the newest form on the chopping block, so everybody take a swing. Better sharpen your axe.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I think the benefits are too good, given the pre-requisites. Those feats and skills are likely to be taken anyways, so they aren't worth a lot in balancing it. 3d6 sneak attack over 5 levels is a bit better than a rogue (it would be better than if they were at even levels) and the crippler abilities are like a feat per level. The loss in skill points is largely, but not entirely made up for by the increase in hit points. So tone it down a little, and add something to the pre-reqs.

My recommendation: Give the crippler SA at even levels and crippler abilities at odd levels. Also require proficiency with all martial weapons to get into the class.

I don't know if that would be quite enough, but it would be a good start towards balancing it. A better idea might be to make the crippler abilities into feats or (more likely) rogue special abilities. It is not entirely clear to me that the class has a niche distinct from that of a rogue.

 

[Shadeus]

Pre-requisites:

Pretty good. The skill rank investments are a bit lower because it requires a 7th-level character to enter the class. You might consider making it 10 ranks of Bluff.

Also requires a 13 Int to qualify for Combat Expertise, which is interesting in itself.

Hit Dice: d8? Nah. Make it d6. This is a rogue/assassin.

Skills are good and 4 per level is appropriate.

Arterial Strike and Hamstring are feats. They look fine to be.

Deep wound - very powerful in my opinion. Change 7d6 (42 max), the most you can have after 5 levels of this class to 7d8 (56 max). What rogue WOULDN'T want this ability?

Expert Strike - there doesn't seem to be much about this PrC that screams "genius rogue." I don't see how this ability is appropriate. It's not terribly overpowered, but just doesn't fit the concept IMO.

Knowing Strike - Eh. You get to be a biology major to be a crippler? I could do without this ability entirely. If you do decide to keep it in though, maybe it would make a cool pre-req.

Precise Strike - Ack! very powerful. Combine this with deep wound to added fun. I'd remove it.

Ranged Percision - reduce the increments to 15 ft. As is, a dedicated archer could sneak attack at 180 ft. That's a bit much.

Shattering Strike - Con dmg is too much. Stick with the "crippling strike" from the rogue ability, which is Str dmg. At high levels, Con dmg is always going to be a better choice than 3d6 dmg. Is it odd that the crippler doesn't have crippling strike?

Sure Strike - a little weak, although can be powerful when combined with precise strike.

****

Comments:

I agree with Cheiromancer in that an ability every level is too much. I also like his/her idea of having the sneak attack progression on the even levels and the crippler abilities on the odd. That said, this PrC is about getting off sneak attacks, so the more the better. Maybe keep the sneak attacks where they are and get a crippler ability at levels 1,2, and 4.

 

[jaker2003]

I made an edit, so you can look at the newest version. I have some things I want to say:

* Thank you for helping me straighten this PrC out.
* This PrC specializes in his sneak attack (which can be dealt with any weapon), so I don't see the point in requiring that the crippler have proficiency with all martial weapons if we're not going to give him an ability that takes advantage of a broad arsenal.
* The archmage, hierophant, horizon walker, and loremaster all choose a special ability at each level. I brainstormed a handfull of possible abilities, but didn't decide on a select few, so I decided to go a similar route as the above PrCs. It its too much to gain a crippler ability and sneak attack at a certain level, I could just make sneak attack available as a crippler ability.
* Shattering Strike is a feat that formed gradually in http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=132914. It was agreed to be balanced at +3d6, but I pumped it up to +5d6 to help calm people down.
* As for crippling strike, I wanted to do a unique sneak attack specialist, and crippling strike is available to any rogue of tenth level or higher.
* As for the Combat Expertise feat, it does require Int 13, Which is why I listed it, If I decided to list crippler abilities that were supernatural or spell-like, there'd be some basis for the development of those abilities.
* We can easily up the damage on Sure Strike . . . Did anybody have something in mind?

Any and All comments welcome!