DC's PrC reworking thread


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Wow, I am _very_ impressed. You really know how to make some prestige classes there buddy. And since you asked, allow me to offer some feedback. :)


Thief-Acrobat
Much improved over the print version. But where that was too weak this one is slightly over powered. The big problem is the sneak attack; by giving the full progression what does a rogue loose out on by going Thief-Acrobat? 20 skill points, Uncanny Dodge v. traps (they already have the best UC, Dex bonus to AC) and 3 special abilities. And the Acrobatics ability more than makes up for the 20 skill points.

So I would recommend only giving sneak attack 3 times (3rd, 6th, and 9th). After all, the Thief-Acrobat is supposed to be the ultimate second-story man, why should he be as combat-effective as a straight rogue? I would also consider droping the special ability at 7th and maybe the free Expert tactician. Though that might under-balance it again.

Spellsword
Not only did you fix the print version you did it in only 5 levels! Good job. I only have two suggestions. First, keep the requirement of BAB +3 but make the arcane casting requirement "Ability to cast arcane spells of 2nd level or higher." That means that you have to be at least a Ftr 2/Wiz 3 or Ftr 1/Sorc 4 instead of a Ftr 3/Wiz 1 to get in. Second, I would put some limit on Channel Spell. Maybe 3 times per day or once per day per Spellsword level. But some limit should be there because the possibility of taking a full attack action and casting an attack spell every round all day long just seems to me to be too much (espically if you are building on the Sorc)

Blood Magus
Hmm. 9 levels of casting? Hard to tell without playtesting but that might be a bit much when combined with his class abilities. Espically since Blood Component makes up for most of the worst effects of loosing out on caster levels. I would maybe consider only giving him 8 levels of casting but not less than that.

Contemplative
The original was broken, this most definitely is not. Maybe you might consider a d4 hit die, espically since you are going for a "divine wizard" but I dont think that that change is a gamebreaker.

Shadowdancer
Nods

Arcane Archer
Perfection is a beautiful thing.

Acolyte of the Skin
Hmm. Maybe "Glare of the Pit" should deal 1d6 per level of damage and/or allow a reflex save for half. 1d8 per level with no save is prety impressive. Otherwise, good job.

Gnome Artificer
I'm not too fond of tinker gnomes but I LOVE this prc. Great job.



All in all some great work. Consider all of these yoinked ;) :p and keep it up. I'd love to see more.
 

Thief Acrobat

See, here I was worried it wasn't enough. The Acrobatics is relatively minor, when you consider magic items (which for skills, are insanely cheap and broken), and balancing and jumping at high levels is rarely done, as flying is easy to get. Plus, most of the Tumble DCs are pretty low.



Spellsword

This one I had trouble with. I wanted it so it could be taken early, and a fighter 2/wizard 2 mutliclass seemed to be the best way to get into it. Maybe a +2 BAB, second level arcane spells, and base fort +3?


Blood Magus

I had trouble deciding on this one, as well. Blood Component and the other abilities are good and all, but caster levels are very important. It'll be something I'll consider, though.



Contemplative

Personally, I feel if I drop the HP any more it wouldn't be as worth taking. Thats two less points on adverage for HP, less BAB, and less fort saves- making it best probally to be just a wizard.



Acolyte of the Skin

Its meant to be impressive, its one of the best abilities.:p I'm not so sure on making it 1d6 with a save, as that will just make it a toned-down fire orb type spell. You have to remember here, its fire damage- it may just be in my games, but a lot of monsters (and adventurers!) have a good deal of fire resistance.


Thanks for the praise, I'm hoping to get the Assassin (one that can actually make people stay dead), Hunter of the Dead, and Fate Spinner up next.:)
 
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Devoted Defender -witty commentary goes here-

Devoted Defender
Devoted Defenders are trained warriors that protect their allies from harm.


Requirements
To become a Devoted Defender, the character must fulfill the following requirements.
Base Attack Bonus:+5
Skills: Listen 4 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks, Spot 4 ranks
Feats: Weapon Focus (any melee weapon), Alertness

HD: d12
Base Attack Bonus:: 1/HD (as fighter)
Saves: Good fortitude, Good reflex, bad will
Class Skills
The Devoted Defender's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Innuendo (Wis), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis)< Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Search (Int), and Spot (Wis). See Chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook for skill descriptions.


Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A devoted defender is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all types of armor, and shields.

1st: Defend Charge, Harm's way
2nd: AC Bonus +1,
3rd: Defend the Weak 1/day
4th: Second Charge, AC Bonus +2, Damage Reduction 1/-
5th: Defensive Strike +1 , Deflect Attack
6th: AC Bonus +3, Defend the Weak 2/day
7th: Defensive Strike +2 , Deflect Attack +1
8th: Third Charge, AC bonus +4, Damage Reduction 2/-
9th: Defend the Weak 3/day, Defensive Strike +3
10th: AC bonus +5, Swap Damage, Defensive Strike +3, Deflect Attack +2


Defend Charge (Ex) : At first level, a devoted defender may set a "charge" every battle when he rolls iniative. This charge may be a person or animal (including the Devoted Defender's mount) and special abilities only work on your charges as listed below. The devoted defender gains the ability to set another charge at every fourth level (2 at level 4, 3 at level 8).

Harm's Way (Ex) : Beginning at 1st level, the devoted defender may elect to place herself in the path of danger in order to protect her charge. Any time that you are within 5 feet from one of your charges, and your charge suffers an attack, you may become the target of that attack in his place (even if you are normally not within reach of the attack). You must declare this before the attack roll is made.

AC Bonus : At 2nd level, a devoted defender gains a +1 dodge bonus to armor class. This bonus increases by 1 for every two extra levels of devoted defender possessed.

Damage Reduction (Su) : At 4th level, a Devoted Defender gains Damage Reduction 1/-. This increases to 2/- at 8th level.

Defend the Weak (Sp) : At 3rd level, a devoted defender gains the spell-like ability to cast Shield Other on all his charges as a standard action, once per day. This ability can be used twice per day at level 6, and three times per day at level 9.

Defensive Strike (Ex) : At 5th level, a devoted defender can make an attack of opportunity against any opponents within reach who attack one of her charges in melee. You gain a +1 bonus to hit on this attack, which increases to +2 at level 7, and +3 at level 10. This ability can be used once per round.

Deflect Attack (Ex): Beginning at 5th level, the devoted defender can attempt to parry a melee attack against her charge. She must be within 5 feet of her charge to attempt this and holding a melee weapon or shield to deflect the attack. Once per round when your charge would normally be hit with a melee weapon, you make an opposed attack roll at your highest base attack bonus against the attacker. If you beat the attacker, you deflect the blow. You gain a +1 bonus on this attack roll at 7th level, and a +2 bonus at 10th level.

Swap Damage (Su) : At 10th level, a devoted defender may draw out the damage from any of his charges, and have it inflicted on himself. As a full-round action, a devoted defender may heal one of his charges within 60' a number of damage, and damage himself for the same amount. Ability score damage, negative levels, poison, and other effects may also be transferred in this way. This is a supernatural ability.


I'm really unsure about this one, as I liked the devoted defender to begin with, but inspiration called, and I answered. I'm also guessing that theres a crazy loop in Swap Damage somewhere, but I just don't know where. ;)
 
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You have good stuff here, and I wouldn't be commenting if I wasn't considering putting it all into my Big Book o' House Ruled Rules. But I tend to come across as very critical. But that's why you've come, isn't it? To see if others can rip your classes to shreds in ways you might want to patch? Here we go...

Thief-Acrobat
I agree with argo that Sneak Attack comes in too often. It should cap out at 3-4d6. The purpose of this class is to be a Thief-Acrobat, and so it should not be competitive as a back-stabber with a straight Rogue- that's the reason to advance as Rogue. Such conflicts are a simple check on the balance of a class- would you consider leaving it to focus on another specialty?

Yes, magic can certainly help a character's mobility- but a character who goes for the mobility magic shouldn't put all his training in bouncing around in combat. If he can fly and has a Ring of Jumping, this class is not such a good idea in the first place. And a lower-level character gaining levels and magic should invest that gold more in increasing his AC and damage output, since it is his specialty to be bouncing around not his magical gimmick. If the DM isn't giving any need for the key skills of this class in the game because of magic, plot, or otherwise, then this class is simply a bad one for that particular game.

The 7th level Special Ability is also too general- the Rogue is the generalist, this guy should be more specific. So, which of the Special Ability powers is most relevant to the adventuring style of the Thief-Acrobat? Why, its 'Roll with the Blow' or whatever power it is. Essentially, last-minute tumbling to avoid death. That seems perfect, while Opportunist and Slippery Mind represent off-specialty powers.

Lastly, copy and paste the Tumble skill entry in OA under this class. Either they should be added to the game, or this
character has a special ability to use 'Enhanced Tumbling'. Doing so, incidentally, would make the Defensive Fighting bonus obsolete- I notice your numbers there are the same as the upper Tumbling synergy.

Spellsword
Whenever a class has a full BAB, I think it should have a BAB +4 requirement as a minimum. I also think anything which has a full, or near-full spell progression should require at least 2nd level spells. I think one or the other should be required here... that extra level of suffering without the class is a good thing, its at that point that a character will really start to feel the burn of his multiclass, which you want so the prestige class is properly appreciated.

  The saving throw requirements look pretty strange, its not a typical convention that they are used that way. And simply by multiclassing for the other requirements they'll be met anyway. I suggest just dropping them.

  Requiring proficiency in all weapons and armor is a little strange. It is tantamount ot saying 'you must have at least one warrior level.' Well, what about the 15th level Elven wizard that spent all character feats on combat prowess. It might not be the best build, but it is meant to be a viable way at creating a spellcaster. I suggest replacing that requirement with Weapon Proficiency[any martial], Armor Proficiency, and Combat Casting. This establishes the character's martial credentials as well as his extra training in cool-headed spellcasting in combat, which such a character must obviously have.

Channel Spell: Very cool, but its a little overpowered. Any spell? The Spell Storing weapon enhancement caps out at 3, IIRC. The Quicken Spell feat is +4, so I suggest limiting this power to spells of 5th level and lower.

Bonus Feats: Good Fort, Will, BAB, Hit Points, and Caster Levels is a pretty darned good ability. Adding on a bonus feat is cake- mostly to help the character keep up with the fighting or the magic. However, it seems to me that both feats might be overdoing it. Also, given the nature of this class, I think the character should be forced to decide between extra combat feats and pursuing additional magic studies. I'd make the 4th level feat 'Fighter or Wizard' and drop the 5th level bonus feat. Having no special power in the 5th level might be bothersome, but in this case its okay.

***

Well, that's all I've had time to read and think about so far. If you like I'll post more on the others :)
 

Man, if you're only ripping two of them to shreds, I guess I'm doing a pretty good job, huh? ;)


Thief-Acrobat

For the sneak attack: Right now, I think its pretty well balanced... but the more i think about it, the more I want to put something else in. I think I'll lower the SA dice to 4, combine Fight Anywhere and Move Anywhere, and put something else at level 10...

For the rogue special ability, the original version had Improved Evasion, although I see Defensive Roll fitting as well. Thats why I changed it. I see the changes I'll make fitting in...



Spellsword

Truly, you have to admit, Fighter/Wizard multiclass simply sucks. I had meant for this PrC to be more of a "early boost", to help balance it out.

Again, I find myself agreeing that +4 BAB and 2nd level spells may be better, so a Fighter1/Wizard3 is the quickest way to get in.

And no, I don't particularly want to remove the "all martial weapons" restriction, I think you should have to give up at LEAST two levels of spellcasting before you get Automatic Still Spell (what it would have costed anyway just to take the feat, basically). So I'll leave that one in, but change the other requirement.




I'll try to have all the changes made, and a new word document up by tommorow (its midnight here now). Thanks for all the input. :)
 

You know, you can hit edit on your posts and directly change them online.

And I haven't gone after the others yet because I haven't had time to read farther. Just read through the Blood Magus, and nothing obvious occurred to me. Actually, one thing did. There's no voodoo in that class. Never was. Its the main thing I always thought should be changed about it- get someone's blood, and you can use it to cast one spell at a massively boosted DC, or freely metamagicked, or something.

Thief-Acrobat:
I had forgotten about Improved Evasion. Problem is, a higher level Rogue will have that... and I hate classes with repeat benefits.

Spellsword:
+4 BAB and 2nd level spells means 3 wizard and 3 fighter, so it would be reached as 7th character level. I suppose the BAB should remain +3- the 2nd level spells represent the requisite skill with magic to take this class, elite combat ability can come later.

A pure wizard that wanted this class would have to be at least 8th level for +4 BAB, 6 for +3 BAB. He would also need to meet some feat requirements, at least 2. More could be added, say 3-4. Thinking about it, I can see Martial Weapon Prof, Armor Prof, Weapon Focus, Still Spell, and Combat Casting is good feat requirements. With that number of feats, it takes essentially all a human wizard's feats to get at this class early.

I guess the designed hit to caster levels is a good idea, but its that kind of munchkin balancing that rubs me the wrong way.
 

You know, you can hit edit on your posts and directly change them online.

I know, and I am, I just meant that I want to put changes/other PrCs in it.




Spellsword

+3 BAB and 2nd level arcane spells definitly seems the way to go here.
And I still do want to make it so you need at LEAST one Fighter level, it really seems the best way to go... -2 caster levels for Automatic Still Spell is still a trade-off, but only 1 caster level seems too cheap.



Blood Magus

Hmm... vodoo is a neat idea, but the only problem is that it would be hard to impliment. If it has a long range (like Nightmare) it would be unbalanced with Sanctum Spell, but if it had a short range it would be hard to use... plus, it would be a rarely used ability unless you use it on a BBEG. Maybe I can whip up a vodoo PrC, though. Cool idea.:cool:
 
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The other thing apparently missing from the Blood Magus is the ability to sacrifice someone else's blood. That's the big thing that seems to be missing throughout magic. I suppose it must have been covered in Vile Darkness, but why have a blood-magic based PrC that can't cut the hero's henchman for power?

Contemplatives:
If you are a character meant to be totally emersed in magic, d4 is the way to balance that. Unless part of the magic involves a HP cost, like the Blood Magus.

Simple Weapon Proficiency: This is reduntant, and it makes no sense. The splat books did this sort of thing a lot- giving weapon proficiencies to prestige classes based on what they would use. But would a contemplative lacking training in weapons have spent a good part of his time practicing with maces and the like? No. His cleric levels taught him all of physical warfare he ever wanted to know.

You know, all this class really gives up is Turn Undead. And it gets some sort of power at every level in addition to spellcasting advancement. That's okay in this case, but it is a very overpowered class. Part of its balance is certainly that the god's eye is on your behavior, and you may be punnished or cut off for misuse of your powers.

Shadowdancer:
As in the contemplative, you give out all manner of reduntant proficiencies. Which proficiencies does the rogue not have that a Shadowdancer should? Those are the ones to list here. Maybe Scythe. :)

If this character is based on the rogue, then they will certainly have one or two uncanny dodges by the time they take levels in this class. What does the extra one or two provide them here? Nothing?

k, bye.
 
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