FLAVOR CLASSES: They're Ba-ack!!!

[handforged]

Here are all of my classes, plus two more, in a complete/revised form. I am still open to suggestions and balance issues.
jmucchiello, the first one is just for you.

Blacksmith

HD: d6
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0

Skills: 4+Int; Appraise, Craft(armorsmithing, blacksmithing, weaponsmithing)

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Blacksmith may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

Weapon Proficiency (Ex): The Blacksmith is proficient with any simple or martial hammer-based melee weapon.

Heavy Arm (Ex): The Blacksmith can produce items quicker because of innate talent with metal. The Blacksmith creates Craft check * Item DC silver pieces of product each day, but only with Masterwork tools and a trained assistant (appropriate Craft skill at 6 ranks).




Chosen

HD: d6
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +2

Skills: 2+Int; Craft(any), Knowledge(Religion), and Profession(any)

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Chosen may choose any one skill from the class skill list for this class to be a permanent class skill.

Domain (Su): Pick one domain of your deity, you gain the domain ability of that domain.

Divine Gift: Pick one of the following abilities, granted by your deity.
-Four Orisons per day, prepared as a Cleric.(Sp)
-One Level One Spell per day, prepared as a Cleric.(Sp)
-Turn/Rebuke Undead once per day as a cleric of your level.(Su)




Herbalist

HD: d6
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0

Skills: 4+Int; Heal, Knowledge(Nature), Profession(Herbalist), Survival/Wilderness Lore

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Herbalist may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

Herbal Remedy (Sp): Twice per day the Herbalist may cast the Goodberry spell as a spell-like ability. All effects are as the spell.

Hearty Resistance (Ex): Due to frequent exposure to harmful natural toxins over the years the Herbalist gains a +4 circumstance bonus to saves against organic poisons, including monster poisons but not mineral poisons or poison gas.





Mason

HD: d6
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0

Skills: 4+int; Climb, Craft(stonework, brickwork), Knowledge(Architecture), and Profession(Mason)

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Mason may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

One Eye on the Wall (Ex): The Mason is granted a +2 circumstance bonus to notice unusual stonework and can also automatically tell whether or not a given surface is level. This ability is otherwise identical to the Stonecunning ability of Dwarves. See p14-15 of PHB for Dwarves Stonecunning Ability.

Sturdy Construction (Ex): Any wall or structure that the Mason builds or oversees(with a number of workers equal or less than his level) gains one additional point of hardness and fifteen Hit Points per 10ft by 10ft section. See p107 of DMG for walls stats.




Pirate

HD: d8
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will, +0

Skills: 6+Int; Balance, Climb, Jump, Profession (sailor), Rope Use, Swim

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Pirate may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

Sea Legs (Ex): The Pirate gains a +2 bonus to Balance, Climb, and Jump checks when on board a ship or other water vessel.

Rascally Reputation (Ex): The Pirate's fearsome reputation grants him a +2 bonus to Intimidate checks.




Touched

HD: d6
BAB: +0
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +2

Skills: 6+Int; Concentration, Knowledge(any, picked separately), Spellcraft, Scry

Permanent Class Skills (Ex): The Touched may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

Susceptibility (Su): Due to the familiarity of mental visions, the Touched suffer a -4 penalty to Will saves against Mind-Affecting Illusions and Enchantments.

Vision (Sp): The Touched may Scry as the spell Scrying once per day for one minute, but cannot cast spells through the vision. The visions come to the Touched as mental images, and require no focus.


~hf

 

[Frostmarrow]

Rat Catcher

A rat catcher makes his living catching rats and other vermin. Usually the community pays the rat catcher a copper sum for each rat caught and killed. Typically the rat catcher carries a stick, with dead rats tied to it by their tails.

HD: 1d8
BAB +0
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +0

Weapon & Armor Proficiency: The Rat Catcher is proficient in the use of the club and the hand crosbow.

Skills: 4+Int; Climb, Handle Animal, Knowledge (local), Spot, Wilderness Lore.

Permanent skills (Ex): The Rat Catcher may choose any two skills from the class skill list for this class to be permanent class skills.

Disease Immunity (Ex): A Rat Catcher is immune to all diseases. This does not include magical diseases such as Mummy's rot or Lycanthropy.

Quick Eyes (Ex): The Rat Catcher gains a +2 competence bonus to hit when attacking tiny creatures or smaller.

 

[The Proconsul]

Just noticed that subject has surfaced again.

GREEAATTT!!!!

I for one wouldn't mind at all if my meager contributions would be published anywhere in any form .... *bows humbly*

Edit: As to the Herald: I was assuming he would point out the might and authority of his lord. Probably should be restricted to work only on people actually recognising thath might.

 

[jmucchiello]

Typically the rat catcher carries a stick, with dead rats tied to by their tails.
The Rat Catcher is proficient in the use of the hand crosbow.

Shouldn't he also be proficient with the club, too? This is another problem with most of these classes: No weapon or armor proficiencies. Every class except the most bookwormish of classes should get simple weapon prof. The pirate (above) should get light armor prof.

The Rat Catcher gains a +2 competence bonus to hit when attacking tiny creatures or smaller.

... lose "competence" and add " to offset the creature's size bonus to AC".

Much better formatting, guys. Frostmarrow: capitalize (Ex), (Sp) and (Su) when listing what kind of ability a class feature is.

I for one wouldn't mind at all if my meager contributions would be published anywhere in any form .... *bows humbly*

That's 5.

 

[handforged]

Re: weapon and armor proficiencies

what if there was a blanket rule that stated that all classes gain access to Simple Weapons, rather than listing it in each class? For now at least, that should suffice, in publication, it would be quite simple to paste a weapon proficiency section into each class.

Armor should probably be handled on a class by class basis, but could also be added by the end-all be-all editor with the mighty delete/balance key. As long as everyone agrees on the final version of each of their classes in relation to the total product, I think it would be fine, for a certain someone to balance the classes as he sees fit.

The pirate (above) should get light armor prof.

I would think actually that the pirate wouldn't wear armor for fear of it pulling him down if he got knocked in, even light armor.

~hf

 

[jmucchiello]

I would think actually that the pirate wouldn't wear armor for fear of it pulling him down if he got knocked in, even light armor.

True, but that doesn't mean they aren't proficient with its use. I'm thinking more like Vyking Pirates instead of parrot-owning pirates. When you're taking over ships at sea you would not wear armor but you would when you pillaged a shore town.

Proconsul: Thanks for coming aboard but I need your name for the copyright notices.

Iron_Chef, demiurge1138 & HalfElfSorcerer still waiting to hear from you.

 

[jmucchiello]

Here's a basic layout. It would be nice if the entries lacking flavor (with the colorful TODO) were giiven flavor. I did some editing on the hedge wizard and a few others but there are a few where I would lower the skills to 2 + Int.**

Also, it would nice to have a sample 3rd or 5th level character to put after the class features.

Anyway, I only included entries from people who have chimed in. There are 3 more pages of material waiting (mostly on Iron_Chef)

I won't be working on this for a while. I have paying work to get done. I just thought I show you where I thought this idea could go. (And no complaints about the lack of bookmarks. I did this fast.)

** A note on skills. I thinkk instead of one more class skill that skill points provided it should be more like 2, 3 or even 4 more class skills than skill points provided. Imagine a 1st level character with 16 Int. If the class has 4 + Int skil points and only 5 skills. If he maxes out all 5 skills he still has 8 skill points to spend.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Anyway, I only included entries from people who have chimed in. There are 3 more pages of material waiting (mostly on Iron_Chef)

Who, me?

 

[Graf]

Graf- I like your wording and its clarity and have edited my entry to include it.

Cool. I think working together is going to make a big difference.
Speaking of....

On to specific complaints:

I assume you mean criticisms?

The court magus seems to have an ability (apprehend the invisible thread) which goes directly against the established mechanics for a skill, and with little reason to do so.

Brilliant catch. I'd missed that. The SRD is kinda vague...
(and my DCs were apparently too generous, I've jacked them to brutal levels to match the DC 25 in the SRD)

How's this
Apprehend the invisible thread (Ex)
A court magus has been trained to be keenly attuned to the tell-tale signs of magical influence and receive a competence bonus of 2 to any sense motive checks related to detecting enchantment. They are so alert to the presence of enchantments that they have a chance to notice such effects even if they are not actively looking for them. They may automatically make a sense motive check if they interact with someone under the influence of enchantment magic (per the SRD, Skills II). The DM may roll this check in secret and only inform the player the check was made if they are successful.
Futhermore they have a chance of noticing if someone they are interacting with was under the effect of an enchantment spell in the past 24 hours even if they are no longer under the effects of the spell (whether the spells duration expired, the spell was dispeled or some other reason). The DC for this check is 25 + the enchanting spellcaster's charisma bonus (if any).
If a magus who is aware of magical influence (through a sucessful sense motive check or other means) may spend a minute in conversation with the affected person to determine the extent and sort of influence exercised, by making a Spellcraft check against a DC of 30. They may also attempt to determine the identity of the influencing individual by making a Sense motive check with a DC of 35.

Other stuff:
Giving access to simple weapons for all classes would really be a big power-up to arcane classes. If a wizard can't use a mace then I don't think a hedge wizard should be able to.
(In other words I'm for a class-by-class choice, with most classes giving very little).

I would like to include enworld in the credits as well. Morrus/enworld/the rules forums deserves the PR (even if he/it/it doesn't need it). But I know squat about legal releases, the difficulty involved in getting them, etc. Is it a tremendous pain-in-the-butt?
[If the Ct. Mag. & Hedge Wiz. are included then not including some sort of mention of SKR's fractional advancement stuff is not an option. I'll be happy to handle informing him. Since he OGL'd the idea specifically to give people more options when creating prestige classes I don't think he'll mind.]

I like the miner (though I might tinker a bit with it). I see a miner as being precisely the sort of class we should include. It a profession filled with people who are not inclinded, necessarily, toward adventuring but who will frequently wind up in dangerous situations similar to those experienced by adventurers. I mean... in any world where there is an Underdark it's just about the most dangerous occupation someone can have.
Furthermore a lot of people playing the "older races" (dwarves and elves) will want a character to have had a previous background. A dwarven miner who got seperated on a deep dig, or whose clan had to escape after their clanhold fell to goblins is a great character concept.

I do agree with Joe that permenently adding skills should be limited to 1 or 2. I would suggest giving the miner some sort of ability to ignore obect hardness or digging skill (similar to what the character Priggle the Deep Gnome scout from Piratecat's Storyhour has). maybe ignore one point of object hardness for every point of bab when using a pick or mining instrument, or something like that?
(i.e. a power that starts weak, scales up and makes them murder on stone walls or something else)

I -don't- think aiming for "balance with the expert" is a good idea. Depending on what character choices you have and the use of skills you get in the game the expert can be pretty powerful. I'm getting one low-magic game going and one of the fighters tried to get a level of expert, which would have given him the skills of a 12 level fighter (but with much better skill access of course).
There are lots of NPC oriented books availible, and DMs can give NPCs the stats and abilities they want and rarely fully stat out your average baker, miner, rat catcher anyway.

I may be misundertanding you but making a flavor class level "not count" against someone's level total is going to p.o. DMs. I wouldn't consider a class that "lets you do neat stuff but doesn't cost anything". Constructing a flavor class which takes away stuff (-1 bab, -(total hps/class level) hit points) might be an option but it would require the kind of design work I haven't got time for.
(I think it goes with out saying that a flavor class without any mechanical effects is just a character background.)

I think sticking to reasonable, not generally applicable bonuses, to non-combat activities and smaller bonuses to combat situations which occur infrequently (fighing in front of crowds, trying to knock down a wall) will yeild a more broadly useful set of classes.

 

[jmucchiello]

Giving access to simple weapons for all classes would really be a big power-up to arcane classes. If a wizard can't use a mace then I don't think a hedge wizard should be able to.
(In other words I'm for a class-by-class choice, with most classes giving very little).

I agree.

I would like to include enworld in the credits as well. Morrus/enworld/the rules forums deserves the PR (even if he/it/it doesn't need it). But I know squat about legal releases, the difficulty involved in getting them, etc. Is it a tremendous pain-in-the-butt?

I'm assuming this would just be somewhere in the forward. "Special thanks to ENWorld for providing a forum where ideas can be made real." I'm sure Morrus will grant use of his trademark (ENWorld) for such a comment.

If the Ct. Mag. & Hedge Wiz. are included then not including some sort of mention of SKR's fractional advancement stuff is not an option. I'll be happy to handle informing him. Since he OGL'd the idea specifically to give people more options when creating prestige classes I don't think he'll mind.

I don't know anything about SKRs fractional advancement rules and rather than look them up I rewrote those sections in the Court Magus and Hedge Wizard/Friar. (Go back and read my PDF if you missed that.) If what I wrote is functionally equivalent to what you wanted, we don't have to use his fractional class OGC. If you prefer his stuff, I'll go look at it and include the relevant entries in the legal section. If his stuff is OGC we don't have to contact him about using it. If his stuff is not OGC then we shouldn't be looking at it for a solution any more so than we would use the DMG stuff.

I -don't- think aiming for "balance with the expert" is a good idea. Depending on what character choices you have and the use of skills you get in the game the expert can be pretty powerful.

My point was that taking an occupation class should not be better than taking a level of Expert.

I may be misundertanding you but making a flavor class level "not count" against someone's level total is going to p.o. DMs. I wouldn't consider a class that "lets you do neat stuff but doesn't cost anything". Constructing a flavor class which takes away stuff (-1 bab, -(total hps/class level) hit points) might be an option but it would require the kind of design work I haven't got time for. (I think it goes with out saying that a flavor class without any mechanical effects is just a character background.)

I don't know who said this first but I would assume this means that a Clr4/Rog3/Miner has a character level of 7 but has xp of an 8th level character. I don't think this is a good idea because some of the abilities these classes have are pretty powerful. You might convince me that the first of these classes does not contribute to CR (must like the first level of an NPC class does not contribute to CR).