Base Class i'm building

[Dandu]

In an attempt to balance the class, here are some suggestions.

I must ask: what are we balancing it relative to?

 

[Corsair420]

i do plan on lowerinf the skill points probably down to 6, the rogue gets 3 more special abiiltes, the only one i took was improved evasion.

as for perfect landing i thought it was way to high, i made a character based on speed who had a base jump skill of 85 at level 12, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when i thought of the idea. originally i was thinking of it being a # of uses per day to essentially cast feather fall 5 feet above the ground(to get to he ground faster) but that was way harder to explain properly, so perfect landing will be changed once i come up with a better way to handle it.

For ambuscade, when i originally was thinking up this class it was not limited to just the rogue or the ninja, when I was making him I was looking at the Rogue, the Ninja, the Dervish, the Bladedancer and the Weightless foot, to scale its power somewhere between a prestige class and a normal class. Ambuscade only scales up to +18 where as the blade dancer, gets its acrobatics up to +30 in much fewer levels, to compensate i applied it to more of the main skills used by the class.

I didn't see much difference between sneak attack and sudden strike other then SS can't be used to deal nonlethal damage, I could have missed something but I wanted this character to be an ambush character(hence the name Ambuscade) so i went with sneak attack.

The fast movement scales every 4 levels, while most classes only get it once or twice, most the classes that get it regularly like the monk actually get more speed over the long run, the other classes are generally prestige classes that dont have enough levels to scale it as far as it would go.

uncanny dodge does not strictly apply to traps so not having trap sense shouldn't have anythign to do with having the skill or not. When i was thinking this guy up in my head, he was an assassin(obviously) and i pictured him sneaking into a kings throne room and killing him with all the guards right there, and he would have to fight atleast some of them to get out. you really can't have improved uncanny dodge without uncanny dodge, so i put it in there, the whole idea is that hes effective when fighting bigger groups, and can't be flanked so as to keep the AC bonus

And then with the ac bonus depending on where you put your points it should scale close to what it would be if you had a bonus from wisdom, but with my build it makes you pick between more AC from a higher dexterity, or more uses per day of your abilities, from a higher wisdom

 

[Arkhandus]

Keep in mind that prestige classes tend to be balanced to some extent by the prerequisites they have and the opportunity cost of taking those prereqs and taking levels in those classes instead of advancing in a base class for its own particular upper-level benefits and flexibility. A base class shouldn't necessarily be on-par with a munchkinized combo of prestige class level-dips and such. If you're not giving up something (taking a bunch of prereqs and shoehorning your character into a particular role for awhile), then you shouldn't be gaining the extra advantages of a prestige class. So don't try to balance a base class against an optimized combo of prestige classes.

Outlaw, Brigand, Vagabond, Trickster, Rebel, or Malcontent might work for a name, depending on the flavor and focus of the class. The class features need to specify whether they're extraordinary, supernatural, or spell-like, in many cases, since some of them are obviously magical and others not so obviously.

So, I'm building a base class, I call it the Ambuscade(name subject to change). He's kind of a mixture between a rogue, a ninja and an acrobat (yes htey are all kinda similiar). this is taking some of the features from all of these and some features from other classes i've come across. Thought i'd post what I have so far here and get some comments and opinions from anyone willing. Please try to keep it constructive. This is what I have so far;

Ambuscade

Abilities: Dexterity provides protection for the Ambuscade. Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom are important for a majority of the Ambuscade's skills. A high Strength will help the Ambuscade, on Jump, Climb and Swim checks. A high Intelligence will give more skill points. A high Wisdom will allow the Ambuscade to use his abilities more times per day

Alignment: Any non-good
Race: Any
Hit Die: d6

Class Skills: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Perform, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope

Skill points at first level: (7 + Int mod) x 4
Skill points at each addtional: 7 + Int mod

OKay, you need to reduce the skill points, and to an even number. Given the huge skill bonuses gained over time, I'd say you need to drop this to 4 skill points per level, and even that puts it in better shape skill-wise than a Rogue.

[table=head]Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Abilities
1 | +0 | +0 | +2 | +0 | Sneak Attack +1d6, AC Bonus
2 | +1 | +0 | +3 | +0 | Evasion, Ghost Step
3 | +2 | +1 | +3 | +1 | Sneak Attack +2d6, Ambuscade +3
4 | +3 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Uncanny Dodge, Fast Movement(+10ft)
5 | +3 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Sneak Attack +3d6, Leap of the Clouds
6 | +4 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Uncanny Step, Ambuscade +6
7 | +5 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Sneak Attack +4d6, Spring Attack
8 | +6/+1 | +2 | +6 | +2 | Improved Uncanny Dodge, Fast Movement(+20ft)
9 | +6/+1 | +3 | +6 | +3 | Sneak Attack +5d6, Ambuscade +9
10 | +7/+2 | +3 | +7 | +3 | Ghost Rush, Ghost Strike
11 | +8/+3 | +3 | +7 | +3 | Sneak Attack +6d6
12 | +9/+4 | +4 | +8 | +4 | Ambuscade +12, Fast Movement (+30ft)
13 | +9/+4 | +4 | +8 | +4 | Sneak Attack +7d6 Improved Evasion
14 | +10/+5 | +4 | +9 | +4 | Perfect Landing
15 | +11/+6/+1 | +5 | +9 | +5 | Sneak Attack +8d6, Ambuscade +15
16 | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +10 | +5 | Hide in Plain Sight, Fast Movement(+40ft)
17 | +12/+7/+2 | +5 | +10 | +5 | Sneak Attack +9d6
18 | +13/+8/+3 | +6 | +11 | +6 | Ambuscade +18
19 | +14/+9/+4 | +6 | +11 | +6 | Sneak Attack +10d6
20 | +15/+10/+5 | +6 | +12 | +6 | Fast Movement(+50ft)
[/table]

Special Abilities:

Sneak Attack: If an Ambuscade can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from an attack he can strike vital areas for extra damage. Any time an opponent would be denied their dexterity bonus to AC this damage is applied. Only weapon damage is multiplied on a successful critical hit, not the sneak attack damage

Ranged attack can count as sneak attacks only if the target is withing 30 feet.

Sneak Attack only works on living creatures with discernable anatomies. Undead, constructs, oozes, plants and incoporeal creatures cannot be effected by sneak attack as they lack vital areas(the exception to this rule is using the Ambuscades Ghost Strike ability to attack an incorporeal creature)

Given that you limit their Sneak Attack to only work when the foe gets no Dex to AC, you should probably call it Sudden Strike instead, like the Ninja's ability, so people don't get confused and think that it works whenever any other class' Sneak Attack would.

ALSO, you still need to list the class' proficiencies.

AC Bonus: An Ambuscade is extraordinarily dexterous when Unarmored and unencumbered. The Ambuscade is able to add his Dexterity modifier and a half to their AC when unarmoed and unecnumbered, for example: if your deterity is an 18(a modifier of +4) your AC bonus from dexterity would be +6 instead of the normal +4. This bonus is also lost any time you would otherwise be denied your dexterity bonus to your AC.

Evasion: At 2nd level and higher, an Ambuscade can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex save against attacks that normally deal half damage on a successful save(Such as the Fireball spell), he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ambuscade is wearing light or no armor. A helpless Ambuscade (such as one who is unconcious or paralyzed) doesn't not benefit from evasion.

Ghost step: Ghost Step allows the Ambuscade to turn invisible for 1 round. Using this ability is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. An Ambuscade is able to use this ability 2 time per day Plus his Wisdom modifier(minimum 1)

Ambuscade: This ability gives an Ambuscade a +3 bonus to Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Move silently and Tumble checks. This bonus increases by +3, every 3 levels(+3 at level 1, +6 at level 6, +9 at level 9 and so on).

Ambuscade should probably be a +2 bonus at each increment, for a total of +12 by 18th-level, and it should be a competence bonus like most other special skill bonuses (so it won't stack with some others into an obscenely high and unbeatable bonus).

Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 4th level an Ambuscade can react to danfer before her senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC(if any) even if caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. He still loses this bonus if immobilized.

If the Ambuscade already has uncanny dodge from another class, he automatically gains Improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.

You misspelled danger, as I highlighted above.

Fast Movement: Starting at 4th level an Ambuscade benefits from a faster base land speed. This bonus starts at +10 feet at 4th level and increases by +10 every 4 levels after (+20 at 8th, +30 at 12th and so on up to +50 at 20th level. This Bonus is lost if the Ambuscade wears armor heavier then Light or while carrying a medium or heavy load.

As others said, the Fast Movement should be an enhancement bonus, and the ability should be supernatural. No human should be able to move at an 80-foot speed, for example, without developing supernatural speed. Even 60 or 70 foot movement speeds are beyond normal limits. A 50-foot or 55-foot total movement speed with the Run feat might equate to the best Olympic champion sprinter, and that's with modern dieting, sports drinks, workout machines/programs, etc. The best a D&D sprinter might realistically manage without supernatural abilities might be a 50-foot movement speed.

Leap of the Clouds: At 5th level an Ambuscades jumping distance(vertical or horizontal) is no longer limited accoirding to the characters height

Uncanny Step: On reaching 6th level an Ambuscade can take part of his move actions on a wall or other vertical surface so long as the movement begins and ends on a horizontal surface. If movement is ended before reaching a horizontal surface the Ambuscade falls, taking appropriate damage.

Treat Vertical surfaces as normal floor for the purposes of calculating distance. Passing the boundary from vertical to horizontal is equivalen to 5 feet of movement on normal floor. Opponents still get attacks of opportunity if the Ambuscade passes through their threat range. An Ambuscade can take other move actions in conjunction with uncanny step, such the Spring Attack feat, and the Tumble and Jump skills.

For instance, Kangling the ambuscade has a base land spped of 40 feet. she begins her action with her back to a wall facing some enemies who guard the building across the street. Kangling turns, runs up the wall for 10 feet, and then leaps 15 feet across the street(using the Jump skill and the Leap of the clouds ability) to land on the wall of the building the men were guarding, she then moves 5 feet to an open winfow and ends her movement on a horizontal surface by stepping through the window.

Forgot a "t" at the end of equivalent. Yeah, I'm a nitpicker. Not gonna bother looking for every typo, but I inevitably notice a few when skimming.

Spring Attack: At 7th level an Ambuscade gains the benefits of the Spring Attack feat even if he doesn't have the prerequisites.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: At 8th level or higher an Ambuscade can no longer be flanked; he can react to danger on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single opponent. This defense denies another rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has atleast 4 more levels of rogue then the target does.

If the character already has uncanny dodge from another class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character

Ghost Rush: Upon reaching 10th level an Ambuscade gains the use of the Ghost Rush ability 3 times per day. This ability allows the Ambuscade to charge an opponent using a special form of ethereal jaunt. Using this ability causes you to jaunt forward 10 feet at a time, each time in a different place in a loose line towards the enemy, this ability can be used in conjuction with Leap of the clouds and Uncanny step, allowing you to walk along walls and jump from place to place on the way to your target.

If the attack succeeds you catch your opponent off guard and are able to apply your sneak attack to the damage roll. If you miss the attack the use of the ability is wasted. If the target can see ethereal creatures whether through the True Seeing spell or some other means they are not caught flat-footed and they retain their Dexterity bonus to their AC.

Should note in IUD that Ambuscade levels or whatever are treated as rogue levels for purposes of flanking or avoiding flanking with Improved Uncanny Dodge and such.

Ghost Rush needs clarification on how it works with the move restrictions of a normal charge (i.e. how far off-course can the character move in a Ghost Rush? Do they still have to end the charge in the same spot that a direct, normal charge would have required? etc.). Also should specify that sudden strike also works with Ghost Rush, not just sneak attack.

Ghost Strike: Ghost strike allows the Ambuscade to hit incorporeal targets 2 times per day plus his Wisdom modifier(minimum 1). This ability allows the Ambuscade to apply his sneak attack to damage rolls made against incorporeal creatures any time they are denied their dexterity bonus to their AC

Need to specify if Ghost Strike applies on that many ATTACKS per day, or that many ROUNDS per day. Also need to note the activation action.

Improved Evasion: Improved evasion works like evasion except that even on a failed reflex save the Ambuscade takes only half damage from spells and effects that allow a reflex save for half damage. A successful save still lets the Ambuscade take no damage.

Perfect Landing: When the Ambuscade needs to make a quick escape, he doesn't always have time to take the stairs. Perfect landing allows the Ambuscade to leap from higher heights and take no damage from the fall. The ambuscade makes a jump check vs the distance he falls, if he succeeds he takes no damage, on a failed save damage is taken normally and the Ambuscade falls prone

Hide in Plain sight: At 16th level an Ambuscade is able to use to his hide skill even while being observed

Is Perfect Landing treated like a vertical jump? Is it treated as having a running start? These are important for determining the Jump check DCs, if you bother to check the Jump skill's description/tables.

Hide in Plain Sight should probably be gained at 20th-level, and it should clearly be supernatural. Maybe throw in Skill Mastery at 16th-level to fill that "gap" but have it limited to choosing skills from the Ambuscade feature's list of skills.

Sorry about the weird format, notepad didn't translate well to the forum.

As you can see, hes not finished yet, i'm having issues trying to think of what abilities to give him to finish off the last few levels, i'm open to changing abilities or adding or removing some should the need arise.

I also made a prestige class I call the Shock Archer, its a ranger or fighter build focusing on using a bow to inflict more damage using lightning, if yall are interesting I can post him.

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NOW, as for the overall analysis........

It's definitely too-strong of a class as it stands right now, at least relative to any official mostly- or fully-nonspellcaster or nonmanifester class.

It gets roughly 6 to 15 feats worth of special abilities beyond what a standard rogue does, depending on how good or poor its proficiencies are, and depending on how much you value Hide in Plain Sight, Ghost Step, Ghost Rush, the Spring Attack without prereqs bonus feat, and just how high their Dexterity is before the AC Bonus 50% increase. And this is AFTER factoring in the skill point reduction, Ambuscade bonus reduction, and added Skill Mastery that I suggested above. Now, if you do replace Sneak Attack with Sudden Strike (since Sneak Attack normally applies whenever you flank an opponent, not just when they're denied Dex to AC), then the class is somewhat more reasonable.

I would suggest making some of the class features into options, and giving it one special ability from among those options at 2nd-level or 6th-level, and every fourth additional level (such as 10th, 14th, and 18th). Then just make sure that they get one or two fewer of those options than what you currently have them receiving. That might be enough to balance out the class.

Of course, we can't really be sure how closely it will balance out with a Rogue except through playtesting or normal use in play. But it's definitely too strong if you leave it as-is without any of the changes that I or others have suggested.

 

[AuraSeer]

As for the special abilities i tried to place them where they would normally be obtained if you had taken any of the numerous prestige classes listed above with the exception of spring attack and leap of the clouds, (i think) your gaining them in the same place as if you had taken levels in dervish or blade dancer or weightless foot

I think that's part of the problem. You're giving abilities as if this guy had levels in three different prestige classes at the same time, plus letting him still have the base class abilities as well.

A balanced character gets only one prestige class at a time. And those classes have prereqs, which mean he has to give up early options somewhere (like feat choices) in order to get better abilities later on. Also, if a class's abilities are particularly strong, they will be fewer and spaced further apart.

What you seem to have done is taken advantages from several classes, without the disadvantages. That is not a recipe for game balance.

 

[Corsair420]

Thanks for the input, a lot to comment on. i'm the same way when it comes to typos, I sometimes reread the same sentence 5 or 6 times because I know something is wrong with it

First off, I haven't actually edited it yet but i do plan on lowering the skills to at least 6, i haven't been able to look into it more yet but my normal group for gaming is on sundays so i might get to try it out, but i do agree that it might need to go down to 4. and thers nothing that says i have to have an even number for skill points... "tradition" is not a valid enough reason for me to keep with evens if i'm so inclined

For sneak attack vs sudden strike I didn't realize the differences between the 2 so, I think i will be changing it to sudden strike.

I didn't even think about proficiencies, but it will be similar to the rogues.

I don't want to lower how much Ambuscade grants, but your right about it needed to be specified as a competence bonus, I honestly don't understand all about the competence/super natural/special ability/etc differences so i need to look those up

IUD does say that classes that grant this ability stack to determine rogue level; "and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character"

For Ghost Rush, yea I do need to refine it, when i thought of the idea it was very hard to put it into words, I mean for it for end in the closest square to the enemy(as with a normal charge) and in my mind i'm seeing it being in a 10 foot wide line towards the enemy

Perfect Landing is going to be changed, I just haven't figured out what i'm going to change it to, Originally in my mind it was usable a number of times per day plus wisdom mod, and it worked like feather fall but it was activated 5 feet above the ground so the class could reach the ground faster

The skill mastery could be a really good idea I think


[MENTION=1331]AuraSeer[/MENTION], I was merely referencing the classes that get those abilities, and those 2 abilities are pretty much the only things I took from those prestige classes but i do understand what you mean about needing more balance. i'll be talking to my gaming group to see what they think as well.

 

[Tharkon]

Perfect Landing is going to be changed, I just haven't figured out what i'm going to change it to, Originally in my mind it was usable a number of times per day plus wisdom mod, and it worked like feather fall but it was activated 5 feet above the ground so the class could reach the ground faster

I didn't look perfectly well at the ability. I originally thought it could be used for any fall, but it requires a voluntary jump similar to the standard DC 15 check to reduce a fall by 10 ft. It should clarify if this standard check can still be used. Maybe the skill can be changed so that the Ambuscade can choose to voluntarily increase the DC to further decrease the fall but failure to make the check results in no distance subtracted.

For ambuscade, when i originally was thinking up this class it was not limited to just the rogue or the ninja, when I was making him I was looking at the Rogue, the Ninja, the Dervish, the Bladedancer and the Weightless foot, to scale its power somewhere between a prestige class and a normal class. Ambuscade only scales up to +18 where as the blade dancer, gets its acrobatics up to +30 in much fewer levels, to compensate i applied it to more of the main skills used by the class.

I am currently working on a blade dancing character, was going with Dervish but could you point me to the source of the Bladedancer class, it sounds familiar but just couldn't find it when I looked for it.

I didn't see much difference between sneak attack and sudden strike other then SS can't be used to deal nonlethal damage, I could have missed something but I wanted this character to be an ambush character(hence the name Ambuscade) so i went with sneak attack.

You missed the biggest difference, sneak attack can be used whenever you flank your target. If you just want to ambush then go with sudden strike.

The fast movement scales every 4 levels, while most classes only get it once or twice, most the classes that get it regularly like the monk actually get more speed over the long run, the other classes are generally prestige classes that dont have enough levels to scale it as far as it would go.

The Monk loses it in any armor, and it's an enhancement bonus. The reason it's reduced is more because you can't have all rolemodel's class feature's to full extend at the same time. The Dervish only gets a little bonus and might be a better rolemodel in this case.

uncanny dodge does not strictly apply to traps so not having trap sense shouldn't have anythign to do with having the skill or not. When i was thinking this guy up in my head, he was an assassin(obviously) and i pictured him sneaking into a kings throne room and killing him with all the guards right there, and he would have to fight atleast some of them to get out. you really can't have improved uncanny dodge without uncanny dodge, so i put it in there, the whole idea is that hes effective when fighting bigger groups, and can't be flanked so as to keep the AC bonus

I just noticed that every SRD class with Uncanny Dodge, even a Barbarian has trap sense. Yet Barbarian's don't really have that much to do with traps at all.

And then with the ac bonus depending on where you put your points it should scale close to what it would be if you had a bonus from wisdom, but with my build it makes you pick between more AC from a higher dexterity, or more uses per day of your abilities, from a higher wisdom

I forgot to mention that in your class the abilities have separate use counts, which makes it more powerful than the Ninja's system in which using one removes a use of all other abilities. Consider copying the Ninja's ki power system, including the Will bonus if desired (it encourages characters not to overuse their abilities)

As others said, the Fast Movement should be an enhancement bonus, and the ability should be supernatural. No human should be able to move at an 80-foot speed, for example, without developing supernatural speed.

Monk's Fast Movement is Extraordinary.

I would suggest making some of the class features into options, and giving it one special ability from among those options at 2nd-level or 6th-level, and every fourth additional level (such as 10th, 14th, and 18th). Then just make sure that they get one or two fewer of those options than what you currently have them receiving. That might be enough to balance out the class.

I aggree, essentially make a rogue but with different abilities to choose from, and with sudden strike in place of sneak attack to give room for some other abilities.

I don't want to lower how much Ambuscade grants, but your right about it needed to be specified as a competence bonus, I honestly don't understand all about the competence/super natural/special ability/etc differences so i need to look those up

As for bonuses there is this to consider:
Bonuses of the same type don't stack (except dodge bonuses).
Bonuses of different types stack with each other.
Bonuses without a type stack with all other bonuses.
Difference can be seen when comparing a Barbarian with a 4th-level Monk when under other effects that affect size. The Monk loses it's class feature in many cases and it's less effective in others. The Barbarian will always be faster than without his Fast Movement ability. Except when flying since Barbarians are only faster on land. Another reason why the Ambuscade's ability is more like the Barbarian's than the Monk's.

As for supernaturality there are sort of 5 grades:
Spells have spell components, provoke attacks of opportunity, can be countered, dispelled and suppressed.
Spell-like abilities lack components, provoke attacks of opportunity, can't be countered but may be dispelled or suppressed. This category is for effects that are spells except that they aren't.
Supernatural abilities lack components, don't provoke attacks of opportunity, can't be countered or dispelled but may be suppressed. This is usually anything that is magical but does not fit the above two categories.
Extraordinary abilities lack components (and sometimes don't even require an action), don't provoke attacks of opportunities, can't be countered, dispelled or suppressed. This category is for abilities that are special enough to be mentioned but are not magical.
Natural abilities are none of the above, they generally behave like extraordinary abilities, but they are affected differently by spells. An example of a natural ability is a bat's ability to fly or a human's ability to speak.

 

[Jimlock]

Corsair i have a question...

Is this a class you want to introduce into your game as a DM?...

Or a class you want to play yourself as a player?

 

[Arkhandus]

I didn't look perfectly well at the ability. I originally thought it could be used for any fall, but it requires a voluntary jump similar to the standard DC 15 check to reduce a fall by 10 ft. It should clarify if this standard check can still be used. Maybe the skill can be changed so that the Ambuscade can choose to voluntarily increase the DC to further decrease the fall but failure to make the check results in no distance subtracted.

Nah, no initial jump required, he has it set so that you can sorta treat the fall like a jump if you pass the check, so as to mitigate the falling damage. I like your idea though; maybe just have Perfect Landing reduce effective falling distance for damage purposes by an additional 10 feet per, say, 5 points of your result above the normal Jump check DC of 15. Considering how high of a Jump bonus the class gets anyway, that should suffice. And of course have it allow them to make the Jump check for that purpose even if they didn't jump first.

I am currently working on a blade dancing character, was going with Dervish but could you point me to the source of the Bladedancer class, it sounds familiar but just couldn't find it when I looked for it.

Blade Dancer is a prestige class found in Oriental Adventures for 3E D&D; I don't think it was ever updated to 3.5, and I can't remember if it was errata'd or not to fix a typo or two (like requiring lawful alignment even though it was supposed to be a prestige class for multiclassed wu jen/fighters or the like). Blade Dancer is basically a warrior-type who needs a bit of arcane spellcasting at first, but doesn't advance it; instead they get the ability to enchant their weapon occasionally with some special abilities and stuff. They also get awesome Acrobatics (skill bonuses to balancing, jumping, tumbling, etc.), a lot of Fast Movement (like a monk but compressed into 10 levels), Acrobatic Attack like the Duelist PrC, and some minor aerial capabilities. It's basically the Oriental Adventures version of a Duelist.

You missed the biggest difference, sneak attack can be used whenever you flank your target. If you just want to ambush then go with sudden strike.

The Monk loses it in any armor, and it's an enhancement bonus. The reason it's reduced is more because you can't have all rolemodel's class feature's to full extend at the same time. The Dervish only gets a little bonus and might be a better rolemodel in this case.

I just noticed that every SRD class with Uncanny Dodge, even a Barbarian has trap sense. Yet Barbarian's don't really have that much to do with traps at all.

Yeah, it should be Sudden Strike. And the Ambuscade's Fast Movement should probably be reduced to a 5-foot bonus at each increment, especially given that Corsair has said that he won't be reducing the Ambuscade ability's bonus.

The Barbarian's UD/IUD/TS are an odd addition....it's supposed to represent good instincts or something, yet they don't have any of the other things commonly possessed by classes with those abilities........high Reflex, Disable Device/Trapfinding/Search, Sense Motive, or the like......

KEEP IN MIND, CORSAIR, that a high movement speed AUTOMATICALLY grants you +4 on Jump checks per 10 feet of speed above 30 feet whenever you get a running start (which really just means whenever you move at least 20 feet before jumping). Monks may be awesome runners and jumpers, but they don't get Sudden Strike or Sneak Attack, and they don't have any ability like your Ambuscade (nor the Acrobatics of a Blade Dancer), so their awesome jumping capabilities are still fairly limited.

I forgot to mention that in your class the abilities have separate use counts, which makes it more powerful than the Ninja's system in which using one removes a use of all other abilities. Consider copying the Ninja's ki power system, including the Will bonus if desired (it encourages characters not to overuse their abilities)

Monk's Fast Movement is Extraordinary.

That's a fluke with the 3.5 monk. And they make heavy use of ki, which is only treated as extraordinary in some cases and supernatural or spell-like in others. It's wierd. The monk's Fast Movement was ORIGINALLY supernatural at 9th-level onward in 3.0 rules (the point at which it doubled their base speed). The stupid rewrite of everything in 3.5 resulted in that line being dropped and the 3.5 designers forgetting or something.

I sorta agree with the comment on using the Ninja's ki pool, but with the caveat that it may or may not give the class more uses per day than what it's currently capable of; I'll have to re-check. And some of the class features may be worth 2 ki pool uses each time, perhaps.

Side-note: The ninja's Blur and Displacement abilities (I forget the names right now) are stupid. Almost never even half as useful as their Ghost Step invisibility, as there's very little that bypasses invisibility but not blur/displacement. Only See Invisibility, as far as I can recall. Given the tradeoffs, I would've liked to see the Ninja have a longer duration for their blur/displacement abilities whenever they bothered to waste a ki point on 'em.

 

[domino]

Also, why is it non-good only? I don't see anything that specifically screams that it's evil, or even antithetical to the ideals of good. Stabbing someone when they're not at their most prepared isn't exactly nice, but I wouldn't say you can't do it and still be good.

 

[Corsair420]

Wow ok, a lot to comment on. i'll just start from the top since my last comment.

[MENTION=6674292]Tharkon[/MENTION], thank you for explaining the differences between extraordinary and the like, thats one that has confused me for awhile.

When I first posted perfect landing the DC was the distance fallen, if you missed it then you took damage normally and fell prone, I wasn't thinking about having any modifiers to it at all, and the reason I used distance fallen is because I had a super fast thrikreen build with a base +85 to his jump before rolling a d20. In my group for skill checks if you roll a nat 20 you get +10 to the roll and a nat 1 gives you -10 to a roll so theres no automatic successes or failures for skill checks, meaning even on my worst roll I still got a 75 on my jump check. So having the DC set at whatever the distance is allowed me to jump from much higher heights and actually have a chance at failing the rolls. and I had planned on changing it but I do like you idea of having a set DC and subtracting damage for getting so many points over the dc.

The Bladedancer as was said earlier is a prestige class from oriental adventures, the reason I used it was also for that thrikreen character mentioned above, he was a very convoluted class and the rules were bent to accomodate him because my DM loved the idea, his BASE land speed was 180 feet a round at level 12. Thrikreen base 40 + 1 level of barbarian (50ft) + 1 level of cleric with the celerity domain(60ft plus it allows access to blade dancer later) + 3 levels of scout (70ft) + 3 levels of Dervish(75ft) + the Quick trait which increases speed by 10 feet at the cost of 1 HP per level for the rest of the character life(85ft) + the Dash feat which gives a +5 to move speed. now this is where it really gets broken, because if taken as written the first level of blade dancer doubles you movement speed, and since my speed has been granted through classes and class abilities not magic, my base speed is technically 90, so doubling that puts it at 180 feet per round. Plus it gets acrobatics +10 and leap of the clouds at level 1.

Wielding 3 scimitars with my stats gave me 6 attacks per round at very small negatives after feats, and with a high tumble a high jump and spring attack this thing was a killing machine, just to see what he could do I put him in an arena in my DMs world, he was able to solo a Bulette, a Drider, a Pyrohydra, a Truly Horrid Umber hulk, and a Satyr, not all at once but in single combat, the scimitars were both Keen and Returning no other bonuses.

For sneak attack vs sudden strike, I did learn the difference yesterday and I did agree and changed it to sudden strike.

For the speed boost, given the rest of his abilities lowering it to 5 feet will do well without diminishing to much what I envisioned him with so I will lower it to 5ft. I don't remember who's fast movement ability I was reading but they don't lose it when wearing light armor and thats who I used I think it was barbarian.

For uses per day, I need to actually look at the way the ki pool works for the ninja but that is a definite possibility, I like having some powers use more points because Ghost Rush alone is really powerful despite giving it the weakness or not denying the enemy their dex bonus if they can see ethereal creatures, and it would force people to pay more attention instead of wantonly using the abilities.

Having a pool of abilities to choose from is also a definite possibility given how many there are, and since all of them are rather useful it would be hard to pick between them all.

[MENTION=6674931]Jimlock[/MENTION]: This was going to be a class I introduced to my group for anyone to use, myself including, my DM LOVES dex based NPCs to the extent that in the 7 years i've known him i've NEVER seen a strength based NPC and only a few spellcasting ones.

[MENTION=13966]Arkhandus[/MENTION]: I realize now you can't really do this with DND but it was supposed to implied that you jumped voluntariily, it was, in my mind, an escape measure. you have guards chasing you so you leap off the edge of a castle wall(usually at least 40 ft) land on your feet and continue running off into the darkness(or wherever you might be). if you slip off, are thrown or pushed off the edge you wouldn't be prepared to use the ability since it's a rather "OH S***!" moment.

[MENTION=28855]domino[/MENTION]: I chose non-good because this character , in my mind, is more of an acrobatic assassin then anything else, sneaking into a castle or keep to kill the king, or a lord or what have you is almost decidedly not good... but after thinking about it, I think you may have a point, and it should probably be any non-lawful not any non-good