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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 3469228" data-attributes="member: 13966">Alright, my initial thoughts.First of all, your class has the same basic stats (hit dice, skill points, base attack, and base saves) of a Fighter but with the addition of strong Will saves, along with slightly better class skills.  That's two minor advantages so far.Secondly, the class name is just a bit odd, y'know.  It should at least be hyphenated as Dragon-Bound.  Oh, also: the skill list has an oddity, in that it lists Diplomacy (Dragon); there is no such skill.  It should just be listed as Diplomacy.  This is the skill used to deal with any intelligent creatures socially.Thirdly, I'm assuming you meant for the Rider's Blade to be a melee weapon, so my notes regarding it further down in this post include some mention of that.  If you do not intend it to necessarily be a melee weapon, then just remove the word "melee" or mentions of "in melee" where applicable in my suggestions about such.Fourthly, I'll mention now that epic-level material for a class should be kept separate from the basic description of the class; so mentions of spells or other things they may get at epic levels should be left out and kept purely in the separate Epic Dragon Bound section.Fifthly, I'll just let you know that I'm not going to nitpick over every spelling and grammar error; I'll point out a few errors, but I'm not going to focus on it.  Minor omissions like leaving out some apostrophes are no big deal for an unpublished piece of gaming material.Sixthly, overall, without looking over the dragon, the Epic material, or the feats or custom spells, here's my impression of the class' stats: By himself, the Dragon Bound is balanced or a bit weak perhaps, compared to a Ranger, but I haven't checked through the spell list yet so I'm not sure if that makes a difference in this assessment.  Those may make the class a bit too strong, but I doubt it.However, the thing that pushes this class over the edge is the Dragon it recieves as an ally; the Dragon and its related benefits (both its own and those it grants the Dragon Bound, besides the Rider's Blade stuff) are too powerful.  I don't care if you don't like that assessment, it's a hard fact; as it stands right now, the dragon is too much.There is no subtle balance there; even if loss of the dragon killed the character, it would still not be enough of a drawback to make up for the power boost the dragon provides.  Especially since spells from other characters could help keep the dragon alive and well (Death Ward, Bear's Endurance, Spell Resistance, Invisibility, Displacement, Haste, etc.).  The class itself is fine, but the addition of a powerful dragon companion is far too much.If you intend to use this class in any kind of reasonable game, you'll have to weaken the dragon's advancement and weaken the Dragon Bound class itself.  Most likely this means dropping the Dragon Bound's hit dice to d6 or d8 (preferably d6) since they rely on their dragon companion to help out and take some of the burden off of themselves in a fight.The class should probably have its Fortitude save, or its Will save (one or the other) reduced to a weak progression (such that the class will have exactly the same saving throws as a Fighter, or instead the same saving throws as a Sorcerer).  The Rider's Blade will probably need to have its advancement slowed, receiving a +1 enhancement bonus per 6 levels in the class or thereabouts.  And the Dragon Bound will probably need to have his number of spells per day slightly weakened, so he might end up with, perhaps, 2 spells per day of each spell level from 0th to 4th, by 20th-level in the class.I don't even know what might need changing about the dragon, or the feats, or the Epic progression, or the custom Dragon Bound spells.  I might get around to looking through that stuff later.This description does not make much sense.  What does the part "and so the class a dragon bound gains has to include the Dragon (If the Dragon Bound wanted to be a Netherese Archanist he could, but only if he gained the ability’s exclusively on the dragon back)." mean?  As far as I can tell it is gibberish with no clear meaning.This doesn't make sense either.  Logical sense, that is.  There should not be any restriction against gaining armor and shield proficiencies otherwise, such as through feats.  It just does not make any sense.  The only thing you could restrict here is whether or not the Dragon Bound would be able to cast spells in different armors and shields.  That is something your Armored Casting ability could provide, but it should not prevent the Dragon Bound from choosing to learn and wear better armors or shields (this would just limit their spellcasting ability in them).This is a bit poorly worded.  And for reference, you call the character "the rider" initially here, when it should call them "the Dragon Bound".  The line "They know all their spells" doesn't make sense with what's mentioned later about mastering a spell's true name and essence.Also, the line "They get a bonus of cha towards there spells, and when the dragon hatches they use the lower bonus out of the two" needs to be reworded.  It should say "The Dragon Bound gets bonus spells per day based on Charisma, as a Sorcerer does.  When his dragon hatches, the Dragon Bound uses either his Charisma or his Dragon's, whichever is lower, to determine bonus spells per day."Next, the line "A Dragon Bound and dragon share spells they can each cast spells and they have a combined list (not two different lists)." is odd and should be rephrased, to say "A Dragon Bound and his dragon share their spellcasting ability; the dragon may cast spells available to the Dragon Bound, and casts from the same set of spell slots."Further, the line "They need not meditate to gain spell points, just get a good nights sleep, and be on good terms with their Dragon." should be reworded as "They need not meditate or study to regain their spell slots each day; a Dragon Bound only needs to remain on good terms with his dragon, and get at least 8 hours of sleep each night (or equivalent rest if the Dragon Bound's race does not sleep)."You misspelled Dragon Bound here (bold emphasis mine): "The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Dragon Bound's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Dagon Bound's Charisma modifier."Also, you mention at the beginning "Beginning at 1st level, the rider is able to cast a number of arcane spells taken from there list.", yet later in the paragraph you state "The Dragon Bounds caster level starts at level 4 as 1, and increases by 1 each level from there."  Do they gain spellcasting ability at 1st-level in the class or 4th-level?  From their spells per day, it looks like they don't gain spellcasting ability until 4th-level.  In which case, the first line of the paragraph should be changed to reflect that.  Unless you intend to change the spells per day to provide some 0-level spells at 1st-level in the class.Technically, you should mention in the first line "its true name and essence" rather than just its true name.  Also, the second line should say "Dragon Bound do not need any material, focus, or somatic components for their spells, instead they use only verbal components (and must pay any experience point costs, if required by a spell).  The Dragon Bound only ignores material, focus, and somatic components for his spells when his Armored Casting class feature applies (see below)."This is just unusual and poorly worded.  First, the time needed to learn a spell is rather short, and pretty much negligible; it hardly takes any time at all to learn a spell's true name and essence.  So why bother?  If it's so quick to learn and so easy, why even require any study or skill checks?  If you want to keep the mechanic, you should at least make it less meaningless.  The time needed should be much longer, and the Difficulty Class should probably be a bit higher.  Also, note that the class doesn't gain 5th-level spells, so it shouldn't be on the list of DCs.  Furthermore, you don't mention what Knowledge skill is used; is it a Knowledge (Arcana) skill check?  Normally that is what would be expected, but this class does not currently have Knowledge (Arcana) as a class skill.Secondly, for some specific oddities/misspellings in this section: you misspelled 'minutes' in the first sentence; next, saying 'the use per day is lost; next, you don't need to include the line where it says 'there is no negative in using this check and failing', it is an unnecessary clarification; next, the part where it says "At levels 4,7,10,14, and 23, the dragon bound gets his levels worth of checks that require no time only a roll" should be reworded.  The mention of level 23 should be excluded.  It should say "At levels 4, 7, 10, and 14 in this class, the Dragon Bound may roll a number of Knowledge (Arcana) checks equal to his level, to learn the true name and essence of Dragon Bound spells without spending any time in study, of any spell levels the Dragon Bound has access to at that time."I won't comment on the dragon stuff right now, that'll come later.This is kind of oddly worded.  Also, it should state in the second line "This weapon is made of his dragon's magic; the Dragon Bound must choose a specific type of melee weapon for it to be, such as a longsword or a quarterstaff."The line where it mentions bonuses should say "The Rider's Blade receives a magical enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls, but only while the Dragon Bound holds it."  Then it can go on to mention what amount the bonus is, as you already have written.  Fix the parts where it mentions 'enchantment bonuses' to say 'enhancement bonuses' as it should be.The later part where it says "But only one blade gets the elemental blade line.  The other gets the +x to attack you see here." should instead say "If the Dragon Bound chooses two light weapons as his Rider's Blades, then he must choose only one of them to receive the enhancement bonus from this class feature.  However, only the other weapon receives the Elemental Blade and Explosive Blade abilities, when normally granted by this class."The second line here should say "At 1st-level he gains proficiency in all light armors and the buckler shield, as well as gaining the ability to cast Dragon Bound spells while using these armors and shields without requiring somatic, material, or focus components."You misspelled 'fourth'.  The first line should end after it says "making it the same hue as the dragon."The other part of it should be made into a separate sentence that says "The Rider's Blade now gains an energy aura when desired, which functions as per the Shock magic weapon quality, except that the energy type used is the same energy as his dragon's breath weapon.  For instance, if the Dragon Bound's dragon deals fire damage with its breath weapon, then the Rider's Blade would have a fire aura and thus deal bonus fire damage."The last line should say "This is considered a supernatural ability of the Dragon Bound, and only functions while he wields his Rider's Blade in melee."This just needs to mention at the end "Fresh Breath is a supernatural ability."Improved Armored Casting: A Dragon bound is trained in armored combat as well as spell casting, and has found an exercise to use medium armor. So at level 10 he can use medium armor, and light shields.</blockquote>The second line should read "A 10th-level Dragon Bound gains proficiency in all medium armors as well as light shields, and may cast his spells from this class while using such armor and shield, without requiring somatic, material, or focus components."Explosive Blade: At 15th level, the Rider’s blade becomes even more powerful and glows brightly with the color of his dragon. This time it gains the ‘burst’ ability and is also considered supernatural.[/QUOTE]This should say, in the second line, "This time the Rider's Blade gains an energy burst, which functions as per the Shocking Burst magic weapon quality, except that the burst of energy damage belongs to the same type as the Elemental Blade feature of this class.  Explosive Blade is a supernatural ability of the Dragon Bound; it only functions when the Dragon Bound wields his Rider's Blade in melee."Greater Fresh Breath: By 16th level, the Dragon Bound has become so used to his dragon’s breath weapon; he now is immune.[/QUOTE]The last part of this should say "his own dragon's breath weapon; he is now immune to it (but not other dragons' breath weapons)."Blood Oath: At level 20, the Rider’s bond to his Dragon becomes so strong he undergoes an incredible transformation. He becomes more draconic. His teeth and nails become sharper, but not sharp enough to attack with, and his skin take on a slight tint identical to his dragon’s color. Regardless of race, all scars, blemishes and disfigurations disappear. Non-magical diseases are cured. all negative levels are restored and all stat cuts vanish. He also become stronger, quicker and wiser, gaining a +2 bonus to Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom.[/QUOTE]This is a rather potent boost.  It should be a +1 increase to the three ability scores, most likely.  Also, it should be specified as a +1 natural increase; calling it a bonus implies something different, and is confusing.  Thirdly, you should change the 'all negative levels are restored and all stat cuts vanish' part to say "All negative levels are removed, all ability score damage is healed, and all ability drain is healed." assuming that's what you mean for it to do.Greater Armored Casting: A Dragon bound is trained in armored combat as well as spell casting, and has found an exercise to use heavy armor. So at level 20 he can use heavy armor, and heavy shields.[/QUOTE]The second line should read "At 20th-level onward, the Dragon Bound is proficient in all heavy armors and heavy shields.  Additionally, he may henceforth cast spells from this class while using such armor and shield, without requiring somatic, material, or focus components."I'll look over and comment on other things later.[/QUOTE]

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