Armor specialist base class (need help)

[A Crazy Fool]

I want to create a base class that focuses on a charecter getting bonuses while in heavy armor for one of my player's urskan PCs
some things i want are
bonus to ac when in heavy armor
reducing check penalties
increasing max dex
DR
regular speed in armor
BAB of fighter

 

[Bront]

I want to create a base class that focuses on a charecter getting bonuses while in heavy armor for one of my player's urskan PCs
some things i want are
bonus to ac when in heavy armor
reducing check penalties
increasing max dex
DR
regular speed in armor
BAB of fighter

I would instead offer it done this way.

Offer the bonuses to skills, speed, initiative, dodge bonus, and eventualy DR, but only while wearing heavy armor. It doesn't reduce the penalties, but it effectively does.

+10' speed while wearing heavy armor (+5' for small creatures)
+1 to skills effected by ACP (later raised to +2, +3, and maybe even +4), while wearing heavy armor.
+1 to Initiative (and later +2) while wearing heavy armor
2/- (later increased to 3/-, 4/-, and 5/-) while wearing heavy armor.
+1 dodge bonus to AC in Heavy armor (Later increased to +2)
+1 compitency bonus to reflex saves (later increased to +2).
Greater Endurance (+8 instead of the +4 of endurance, and can rest in heavy armor)

high BAB, High Fort save, Low Reflex and Will save. D10 HD

Spread out the above powers, maybe even throw in a bonus feat, and you're gold.

Reqs: Heavy Armor Proficiency, Endurance, BAB +6, Craft:Armor 8, and maybe Lightning Reflexes.

I could put it togeather in a nice chart later if you want, but this should give you a basis.

 

[Caeleddin]

Ummm..... He said base class, not prestige...?

 

[Bront]

Ummm..... He said base class, not prestige...?

He did...oops

I would recomend making it a prestiege class, not a base class. Fighters are cool untill then, and being a tank doesn't suck as much as people seem to think (You can wear full plate with a dex of 13 and get some dex based feats still and not loose anything, you just don't move as well with armor check penaltys. Or get Mitril Full Plate.

BTW, I would consider all armor that is listed as Heavy Armor to count as Heavy armor for purposes of the class (or raise it to medium and Heavy armor for how the class powers work) so Mithril armor still works (It's normaly considered one catagory lower).

 

[A Crazy Fool]

point taken on mithril full plate. i am going to start typing it once i finsh my homework

 

[Caeleddin]

Well, you can combine the Ranger and the Barbarian to get what you want.

d10 hps

At the levels where you get Combat Style for the Ranger, you put in Armour Style (light, med or heavy amour) and give bonuses to ACP, speed, dodge bonus, etc., when using said armour. This should be different for each armour type, with more emphasis on mobility (increased Ref save, increased speed, increased MDB, etc.) for heavier armours, and more AC or DR for lighter armours.

At level where you get DR for the Barb, add DR for your chosen Armour Style and make it stack with the above bonuses.

Give the class 4 Skill Pts/level and Fighter skills with a few extra.

Give bonus feats at 1 (Dodge), 3 (Mobility) and 9 (Spring Attack) if light armour. Dodge, Endurance and Mobility for med armour. Dodge, Endurance and Greater Endurance for heavy armour.

Give bonus Fighter feats every 5 levels (5,10,15,20).

Your Armour Expert, sir

 

[A Crazy Fool]

i lost the thread, oops!what is greater endurance?

 

[Cheiromancer]

I don't know what greater endurance is, but since endurance allows you to rest in medium armor, I would expect one of the benefits of greater endurance is to rest in heavy armor.

Oops! Bront defined it above;

Greater Endurance (+8 instead of the +4 of endurance, and can rest in heavy armor)

 

[Thondor]

Your other options would be to simply make a collection of feats that the standard fighter could take so that he becomes a heavy armor specialist, and invent some new ones.
The character's fighting style could also seriously effect things, does he use a shield? Is his armour his weapon i.e. armour spikes, spiked gauntlets, helmet spike(for charging)

combat expertise(intelligence not required)
endurance
greater endurance
toughness
two-weapon defense(two weapons not required)
Block(?) arrows
Snatch arrows

and some new ones

Improved heavy armour proficiency:
preq: heavy armour proficiency, +2 BAB
Benefit: +5 speed, +1 dex, +1 AC check in heavy armours

Greater Heavy armour proficiency:
preq: Improved heavy armour proficiency, +6 BAB
Benefit: +5 speed, +2 dex, +2 AC check
Special: this stacks with improved heavy armour proficiency

Deflecting Armour:
preq: "two-weapon defense", BAB +4, using heavy armour
benefit: You know how to angle your body so that when a blow connects it is more likely to glance off. This provides a further +2 bonus to your AC
Special: this stacks with "two-weapon defense" but does not double (like two-weapon defense) when fighting defensively or using -4 on Combat expertise. (like two-weapon fighting does)

Improved Deflecting Armour:
preq: "two-weapon defense", Deflecting armour, BAB +12, using heavy armour
benefit: You know how to angle your body so that when a blow connects it is more likely to glance off. This provides a further +2 bonus to your AC
Special: this stacks with "two-weapon defense" but does not double (like two-weapon defense) when fighting defensively or using -4 on Combat expertise. (like two-weapon fighting does) it also stacks with Deflecting armour.

Absorbing Armour:
preq: toughness, endurance, greater endurance, BAB +10, using heavy armor
Benefit: This feat grants DR 1/- representing your ability to shrug off a small amout of the blow that manages to get through your thick armour.
Special: This feat does not allow you to completely disregard damage, a 1hp strike is converted to non-lethal damage. You can gain this feat multiple times it's effect's stack however you can never gain more then DR 4/-

your spiky warrior would probably also take
improved grapple
weapon focus(armor spikes)
weapon focu(spiked gauntlet)

For your shield using you could come up with some shield feats

Note: I would not allow this fighter to gain weapon specilization or greater weapon focus, his focus is his armor

there you have maybe a little imbalancing but certenly fun.

 

[Bront]

i lost the thread, oops!what is greater endurance?

Yeah, it was an ability I sort of made up, feeling it was appropriate for an armor guy.