Nuntius
First Post
Greetings! I would like your thoughts and suggestions on the folllowing class i've created for our setting. It's my first time doing this, so any feedback will be appreciated.
My friends and I play on a very particular setting were divine forces have been long casted away of the realm, while magic, technology and alchemy have flourished and improved beyond the limits of the basic rules.
In practice, this means that everything "divine" is not available as a class option. It also means that certain things which usually come from divine source (such as healing potions) can be created with advanced alchemical processes, and that potions and certain technological gadgets are easier to obtain than in most settings. I should also say that we play with 3.0 rules, not 3.5.
Trouble remains, however, in the obvious imbalance this brings into player classes. In order to fix some of this, I've been trying to develop a non divine healing class. The key for the class are the alchemical bandages.
Alchemical Bandage:
[sblock]
"This runned piece of cloth has been imbued with strong alchemical oils that instantly heal wounds upon touch. The effectivness of the bandage depends both on the oil qualities and the applier's skill"
1) Bandages comes in levels. A bandage heals it's level in d8+the appliers HEAL skill ranks (up to a maximun of (Bandage lvl x 5) +5. So that a lvl 6 bandage would heal 6d8 + Heal Ranks up to 35, wich basically means "+ whatever")
2) A lvl 0 bandage heals an amount of hit points equals to the appliers HEAL skill ranks, up to a maximun of 5.
3) Applying a bandage it's a full round action, and applying it a to another person demands that person also spends a full round action (staying still)
4) An unused bandage becomes dry after some time, making it useless a day after it has been created. [/sblock]
With that in mind, the class in question would be something like:
Battle Medic:
[sblock]
"Trained both in alchemy and warfare, a battle medic keeps his allies alive with quickly applied bandages he carefully prepares everyday using his Alchemical Engine, mark of his trade"
A) Base attack, saves, hit dice and skills taken directly from the Cleric except for Knowlege (Religion) being swaped for Alchemy as class skill.
B) Alchemical Engine: The Battle Medic carries a technological device called Alchemical Engine at all times. As other things in our settings, this device functions extracting magical energies from a crystallized core. Operating it, the Battle Medic can create a number of Alchemical Bandages per day equal to Spells per Day table of the Cleric (both in number and bandage level), but using INT instead of WIS for the bonuses. (So that a level 4 Battle Medic with 10 int could create 5 lvl 0 bandages, 3 lvl 1 and 2 lvl 2). An Alchemical Engine weights 50lb, cost 500 gold pieces and it's a requiered component to prepare the daily Alchemical Bandages. It can be imagined as a metal backpack, with a shinning shard in it's center and small flasks on it's sides.
C) Battle Mending: The Battle Medic it's an expert in quickly applying bandages during complex situations. Therefore, starting at lvl 1, the Battle Medic can apply them as an standard action (and demading the recipient to expend an idle standard action) instead of the usual full round action.
[/sblock]
So...basically, that would be it
I have to say that i wouldn't mind it being a little "underpowered" (considering that right now we simply don't have a heling option). I wouldn't either care about it being a little overpowered, even thought i would rather having him a little weaker than a little stronger that he is supposed to be.
My bigger consern it's him being plain boring. I would rather have him had some more skills so that he is not simply a healbot. In any case, here are some possible balance fixes:
Balace Ideology:
-> The Battle Medic excels at healing, but can do little else. He lacks all the spell options the cleric has, but in exchange he get's stronger heals. On the flip side, his heals are also "harder to use" (because of them forcing the recipient to loose an action). On the other hand, he turns a completly useless skill (Heal) into a very important skill, wich is nice :3
If he would happen to be too strong:
[sblock]
- One could remove the battle mending special ability, or specify that it only works while applying heals to other characters, but not while healing himself.
- One could reduce the maximun skill bonus. I would rather not go this path thought, since skill level x5 it's the basic Cleric maximun level bonus to his skills, and +5 it's the number of a maxed Heal skill with the Skill Focus feat.
- One could keep the healing amount per bandage, but reduce the amount of bandages the Battle Medic can create per day. [/sblock]
If it would happen to be too weak/boring:
[sblock]
- One could grant him skills from other banned clases. I'm thinking about the paladin's Aura of Courage and Remove Desease, which kind of makes sense with the whole theme, without them needing to be divine oriented (and, in the process, recycling other unusable abilities).
- One could grant him certaing bonus feats. I'm thinking about Mobility and Skill Focus: Heal which will be most likely taken by players, indirectly making him better at other areas. On the other hand, i wouldn't know at which level he would gain this benefits.
- One could improve Battle Mending so that applying a bandage consumed a standard action to him only and not to the recipient.
[/sblock]
Well, thanks a lot for reading! Remember that we are still playing 3.0. I'll be waiting for your feedback. Happy new year ^^
My friends and I play on a very particular setting were divine forces have been long casted away of the realm, while magic, technology and alchemy have flourished and improved beyond the limits of the basic rules.
In practice, this means that everything "divine" is not available as a class option. It also means that certain things which usually come from divine source (such as healing potions) can be created with advanced alchemical processes, and that potions and certain technological gadgets are easier to obtain than in most settings. I should also say that we play with 3.0 rules, not 3.5.
Trouble remains, however, in the obvious imbalance this brings into player classes. In order to fix some of this, I've been trying to develop a non divine healing class. The key for the class are the alchemical bandages.
Alchemical Bandage:
[sblock]
"This runned piece of cloth has been imbued with strong alchemical oils that instantly heal wounds upon touch. The effectivness of the bandage depends both on the oil qualities and the applier's skill"
1) Bandages comes in levels. A bandage heals it's level in d8+the appliers HEAL skill ranks (up to a maximun of (Bandage lvl x 5) +5. So that a lvl 6 bandage would heal 6d8 + Heal Ranks up to 35, wich basically means "+ whatever")
2) A lvl 0 bandage heals an amount of hit points equals to the appliers HEAL skill ranks, up to a maximun of 5.
3) Applying a bandage it's a full round action, and applying it a to another person demands that person also spends a full round action (staying still)
4) An unused bandage becomes dry after some time, making it useless a day after it has been created. [/sblock]
With that in mind, the class in question would be something like:
Battle Medic:
[sblock]
"Trained both in alchemy and warfare, a battle medic keeps his allies alive with quickly applied bandages he carefully prepares everyday using his Alchemical Engine, mark of his trade"
A) Base attack, saves, hit dice and skills taken directly from the Cleric except for Knowlege (Religion) being swaped for Alchemy as class skill.
B) Alchemical Engine: The Battle Medic carries a technological device called Alchemical Engine at all times. As other things in our settings, this device functions extracting magical energies from a crystallized core. Operating it, the Battle Medic can create a number of Alchemical Bandages per day equal to Spells per Day table of the Cleric (both in number and bandage level), but using INT instead of WIS for the bonuses. (So that a level 4 Battle Medic with 10 int could create 5 lvl 0 bandages, 3 lvl 1 and 2 lvl 2). An Alchemical Engine weights 50lb, cost 500 gold pieces and it's a requiered component to prepare the daily Alchemical Bandages. It can be imagined as a metal backpack, with a shinning shard in it's center and small flasks on it's sides.
C) Battle Mending: The Battle Medic it's an expert in quickly applying bandages during complex situations. Therefore, starting at lvl 1, the Battle Medic can apply them as an standard action (and demading the recipient to expend an idle standard action) instead of the usual full round action.
[/sblock]
So...basically, that would be it
I have to say that i wouldn't mind it being a little "underpowered" (considering that right now we simply don't have a heling option). I wouldn't either care about it being a little overpowered, even thought i would rather having him a little weaker than a little stronger that he is supposed to be.
My bigger consern it's him being plain boring. I would rather have him had some more skills so that he is not simply a healbot. In any case, here are some possible balance fixes:
Balace Ideology:
-> The Battle Medic excels at healing, but can do little else. He lacks all the spell options the cleric has, but in exchange he get's stronger heals. On the flip side, his heals are also "harder to use" (because of them forcing the recipient to loose an action). On the other hand, he turns a completly useless skill (Heal) into a very important skill, wich is nice :3
If he would happen to be too strong:
[sblock]
- One could remove the battle mending special ability, or specify that it only works while applying heals to other characters, but not while healing himself.
- One could reduce the maximun skill bonus. I would rather not go this path thought, since skill level x5 it's the basic Cleric maximun level bonus to his skills, and +5 it's the number of a maxed Heal skill with the Skill Focus feat.
- One could keep the healing amount per bandage, but reduce the amount of bandages the Battle Medic can create per day. [/sblock]
If it would happen to be too weak/boring:
[sblock]
- One could grant him skills from other banned clases. I'm thinking about the paladin's Aura of Courage and Remove Desease, which kind of makes sense with the whole theme, without them needing to be divine oriented (and, in the process, recycling other unusable abilities).
- One could grant him certaing bonus feats. I'm thinking about Mobility and Skill Focus: Heal which will be most likely taken by players, indirectly making him better at other areas. On the other hand, i wouldn't know at which level he would gain this benefits.
- One could improve Battle Mending so that applying a bandage consumed a standard action to him only and not to the recipient.
[/sblock]
Well, thanks a lot for reading! Remember that we are still playing 3.0. I'll be waiting for your feedback. Happy new year ^^
