Had an idea while lying in bed. It won't go away unless I tell it. Sadly, I'm not the best at balance. In the last game I was in, one of the PCs was nearly killed twice; once when he was brought to -10 and stabilized, and another when he was at 0, trying to run away and drink a potion. He said it was an edge-of-his-seat sort of nailbiter, and End Game that was fun.
So I want to simulate a class who's all about putting your ass in line with fire, so you can do your thing, and look cool doing it.
It would either be a Base class or a PrC. The shtick is "Die Hard" or "Shoot'm Up", running off the Action Hero mold. The class is structured around putting yourself directly in danger, doing almost stupid things, and pulling off impressive effects. Not necessarily a front-line fighter, but someone who leaps out of hiding or is on the front line to use their abilities regardless.
The first limitation for the class is that they can't wear armor. Or maybe light armor. You never see Bruce Willis or the like donning Kevlar - they have to put their ass on the line. In exchange, they would likely pick up something like Damage Reduction, and possibly the monk's "Unarmed AC" for having a high charisma.
The second that just occurs to me is that they can't use standard weapons. Or they can, but only so many times a day. In exchange, they will receive "Improvised Weapon" or "This is a Knife"; improvised weapons, or weapons that do a d4 of damage (knife, punching dagger, kukri, dart, etc) have a damage progression that is similar to the monk's unarmed damage progression. The reason being, action heroes either pick something up off the ground and beat someone in the skull at the last minute, or they have a small weapon like a pistol that they somehow kill everyone with.
The class would be a sundry list of effects.
One that comes to me is "Yippy Ki Yay Mindflayer" - If you incur an AoO from an enemy, you can immediately counter-attack. If Their attack hits you, your counter-attack does double damage.
Another that comes to mind is trying to simulate an action hero's battlefield tricks. Often they'll do something ballsy they just think of while using the environment - using a Car to kill a helicopter, or several smart cover/run/shoot that there to cause that to happen type trick. So it would either be 1/day or 1/encounter things like area effect damage (You cause something to fall over on someone), or bonuses like making the area difficult terrain while you have some sort of net benefit while fighting in it. But I don't know how to make these balanced against spells or other effects that can far outshine them.
An idea that just strikes me is that the lower your hit points, the more something increases. Like maybe damage or to-hit?
So I want to simulate a class who's all about putting your ass in line with fire, so you can do your thing, and look cool doing it.
It would either be a Base class or a PrC. The shtick is "Die Hard" or "Shoot'm Up", running off the Action Hero mold. The class is structured around putting yourself directly in danger, doing almost stupid things, and pulling off impressive effects. Not necessarily a front-line fighter, but someone who leaps out of hiding or is on the front line to use their abilities regardless.
The first limitation for the class is that they can't wear armor. Or maybe light armor. You never see Bruce Willis or the like donning Kevlar - they have to put their ass on the line. In exchange, they would likely pick up something like Damage Reduction, and possibly the monk's "Unarmed AC" for having a high charisma.
The second that just occurs to me is that they can't use standard weapons. Or they can, but only so many times a day. In exchange, they will receive "Improvised Weapon" or "This is a Knife"; improvised weapons, or weapons that do a d4 of damage (knife, punching dagger, kukri, dart, etc) have a damage progression that is similar to the monk's unarmed damage progression. The reason being, action heroes either pick something up off the ground and beat someone in the skull at the last minute, or they have a small weapon like a pistol that they somehow kill everyone with.
The class would be a sundry list of effects.
One that comes to me is "Yippy Ki Yay Mindflayer" - If you incur an AoO from an enemy, you can immediately counter-attack. If Their attack hits you, your counter-attack does double damage.
Another that comes to mind is trying to simulate an action hero's battlefield tricks. Often they'll do something ballsy they just think of while using the environment - using a Car to kill a helicopter, or several smart cover/run/shoot that there to cause that to happen type trick. So it would either be 1/day or 1/encounter things like area effect damage (You cause something to fall over on someone), or bonuses like making the area difficult terrain while you have some sort of net benefit while fighting in it. But I don't know how to make these balanced against spells or other effects that can far outshine them.
An idea that just strikes me is that the lower your hit points, the more something increases. Like maybe damage or to-hit?
Thanks!
