New Core Class: The Scholar
- Thread starter Anabstercorian
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Sollir Furryfoot
Explorer
I definately know what its like working so many hours on a project without getting much commentary back, thus, I will do my best to critique.
This class is very interesting, and the abilities fit the theme well, however it is much too weak as is in my opinion. It falls into the same pit trap as players who want to play wizards who craft objects, and artificers from Eberron in the sense that in campaigns with little or no down time they will be unable to use alot of their abilities. Furthermore, in combat, they are even less useful than a bard, which is saying something.
How to make them more useful in combat without trampling on the class' flavor is the real problem though. My suggested changes would be to add in a feature similar to the "Secret" ability of the Loremaster, although more scaled so perhaps a PC could eventually pick up Sneak Attack +1d6 or Evasion or Stunning Blow or Slippery Mind or the ability to cast a spell on a different spellcaster's list once per day (although I'd be wary of such an ability). Bonus feats would fit, especially Spell Mastery and metamagic (although not item creation) feats. Perhaps expand on the book ability and make them into an entirely new (or at least a variant on) some type of magic item, as I imagine wondrous item books are far and few inbetween. Another idea would be to give them increasing power over language-allowing them to use Power Word-type spells and also other [Language] dependent effects like Holy Word/Blasphemy and similar.
Boosting up their spell list is another idea-How about adding spells like Sanctuary, Silence (<insert joke about librarians>) which would give them some combat options but also spells that could potentially be used to store books or items or similar such as Rope Trick/Leomund's Secret Chest/Mordekainen's Mansion. Glyph spells would fit in as well. I think improving their HD to d6 would be a change that will better the class without being too flavor-altering. Perhaps an ability called "Smart Defense" in later levels which allows them to add their Int bonus to their AC when lightly armored or less.
To give them something no other class gets, perhaps allow them to either gain or give Insight bonuses. Perhaps allow them to "Aid Another" from a distance by giving an ally advice, giving that ally an insight bonus equal to the scholar's Int or Wis bonus to either attack or AC.
Quick comparison to bard:
Worse HD, 1 good save vs. bard's 2, slightly better skill points, worse BAB, worse spells, potentially tied knowledge scores (Depending on how a DM interprets Bardic Knowledge) and the bard gets musical abilities as well as the ability to wear light armor and cast. Mind over body changse the HD part a bit, but the bard still gets healing spells.
Also, back to the wizard/artificer comparison is that they both still have abilities to use when they don't have much down time, the wizard's role being obvious I think and the artificer gaining the ability to temporarily enchant item with spells as well as increase the power of his charged items. Thus I don't think it'd be unbalanced buffing up the Scholar some.
Edit-For cramming, perhaps allow them to, a certain # of times per day (perhaps 1 per point of Int mod) they can prepare any spell available to them as a full round action (or 2 full round actions) or make it an entirely new ability all together, giving an additional use every couple of levels.
Hope this helps-I'm excited to see what you'll do to this class when it's finally revised.
This class is very interesting, and the abilities fit the theme well, however it is much too weak as is in my opinion. It falls into the same pit trap as players who want to play wizards who craft objects, and artificers from Eberron in the sense that in campaigns with little or no down time they will be unable to use alot of their abilities. Furthermore, in combat, they are even less useful than a bard, which is saying something.
How to make them more useful in combat without trampling on the class' flavor is the real problem though. My suggested changes would be to add in a feature similar to the "Secret" ability of the Loremaster, although more scaled so perhaps a PC could eventually pick up Sneak Attack +1d6 or Evasion or Stunning Blow or Slippery Mind or the ability to cast a spell on a different spellcaster's list once per day (although I'd be wary of such an ability). Bonus feats would fit, especially Spell Mastery and metamagic (although not item creation) feats. Perhaps expand on the book ability and make them into an entirely new (or at least a variant on) some type of magic item, as I imagine wondrous item books are far and few inbetween. Another idea would be to give them increasing power over language-allowing them to use Power Word-type spells and also other [Language] dependent effects like Holy Word/Blasphemy and similar.
Boosting up their spell list is another idea-How about adding spells like Sanctuary, Silence (<insert joke about librarians>) which would give them some combat options but also spells that could potentially be used to store books or items or similar such as Rope Trick/Leomund's Secret Chest/Mordekainen's Mansion. Glyph spells would fit in as well. I think improving their HD to d6 would be a change that will better the class without being too flavor-altering. Perhaps an ability called "Smart Defense" in later levels which allows them to add their Int bonus to their AC when lightly armored or less.
To give them something no other class gets, perhaps allow them to either gain or give Insight bonuses. Perhaps allow them to "Aid Another" from a distance by giving an ally advice, giving that ally an insight bonus equal to the scholar's Int or Wis bonus to either attack or AC.
Quick comparison to bard:
Worse HD, 1 good save vs. bard's 2, slightly better skill points, worse BAB, worse spells, potentially tied knowledge scores (Depending on how a DM interprets Bardic Knowledge) and the bard gets musical abilities as well as the ability to wear light armor and cast. Mind over body changse the HD part a bit, but the bard still gets healing spells.
Also, back to the wizard/artificer comparison is that they both still have abilities to use when they don't have much down time, the wizard's role being obvious I think and the artificer gaining the ability to temporarily enchant item with spells as well as increase the power of his charged items. Thus I don't think it'd be unbalanced buffing up the Scholar some.
Edit-For cramming, perhaps allow them to, a certain # of times per day (perhaps 1 per point of Int mod) they can prepare any spell available to them as a full round action (or 2 full round actions) or make it an entirely new ability all together, giving an additional use every couple of levels.
Hope this helps-I'm excited to see what you'll do to this class when it's finally revised.
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Interseting class if IMO a bit weak
If it were my class I probably would drop the spells and up HD to 6
Also instead of a Wizards weapon proficiencies I would with Simple weapons and Light Armor -- and maybe a class ability --- combat learning that would grant Martial weapon proficiencies -- say 1 per point fo INT bonus
If it were my class I probably would drop the spells and up HD to 6
Also instead of a Wizards weapon proficiencies I would with Simple weapons and Light Armor -- and maybe a class ability --- combat learning that would grant Martial weapon proficiencies -- say 1 per point fo INT bonus
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The class looks weak. Every D&D game I've ever been in has a fair bit of combat, and this character has no ability there. It would take a very special player to play this class in most games, it seems more like an NPC class, on par with an Expert/Adept multiclass.
It looks like all the melee power of a wizard, half the spells of a bard. Are the skills this character has worth the massive tradeoff in spell power compared to playing, say, a Loremaster? Just about every other character class can customize based on the style of the game - hack-n-slash or chatty-social. This class can't.
In most games I've played in, only a couple Knowledge skills come up nearly every session, and many don't come up ever in the campaign. What's the point of playing a character who's only good at one thing when the thing he's good at may not ever come up?
Something this specialized may work better as a prestige class. Consider reworking it as a Loremaster variant, with full spell casting progression but entry requirements that don't include previous spellcasting levels.
It looks like all the melee power of a wizard, half the spells of a bard. Are the skills this character has worth the massive tradeoff in spell power compared to playing, say, a Loremaster? Just about every other character class can customize based on the style of the game - hack-n-slash or chatty-social. This class can't.
In most games I've played in, only a couple Knowledge skills come up nearly every session, and many don't come up ever in the campaign. What's the point of playing a character who's only good at one thing when the thing he's good at may not ever come up?
Something this specialized may work better as a prestige class. Consider reworking it as a Loremaster variant, with full spell casting progression but entry requirements that don't include previous spellcasting levels.
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