New Core Class: The Sentinel - Still needs critiquing

[Angel Tarragon]

The Sentinel
Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: D8

Class Skills
The sentinel's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis) and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level:
(4 + Int modifier) x 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level:
4 + Int Modifier

[b]Class      Base      Fort  Ref   Will
Level  Attack Bonus  Save  Save  Save   Special[/b]
  1         +0        +2    +0    +0    Favored Weapon, Improved Unarmed Strike
  2         +1        +3    +0    +0    Iron Will, Vigilant Defender
  3         +2        +3    +1    +1    Endurance, Toughness
  4         +3        +4    +1    +1    Combat Veteran
  5         +3        +4    +1    +1    Armor Mastery (Medium)
  6         +4        +5    +2    +2    Toughness
  7         +5        +5    +2    +2    Defensive Roll 1/Day
  8       +6/+1       +6    +2    +2    Fortified Stance 1/Day
  9       +6/+1       +6    +3    +3    Toughness
 10       +7/+2       +7    +3    +3    Armor Mastery (Heavy)
 11       +8/+3       +7    +3    +3    Fortified Stance 2/Day
 12       +9/+4       +8    +4    +4    Toughness
 13       +9/+4       +8    +4    +4    Defensive Roll 2/Day
 14       +10/+5      +9    +4    +4    Improved Fortified Stance 3/Day
 15     +11/+6/+1     +9    +5    +5    Toughness
 16     +12/+7/+2    +10    +5    +5    Spell Resistance
 17     +12/+7/+2    +10    +5    +5    Improved Fortified Stance 4/Day
 18     +13/+8/+3    +11    +6    +6    Toughness
 19     +14/+9/+4    +11    +6    +6    Defensive Roll 3/Day
 20     +15/+10/+5   +12    +6    +6    Greater Fortified Stance 5/Day

Class Features
The following are class features of the sentinel.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The sentinel is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Favored Weapon: At 1st level the sentinel must select one specific weapon to become their weapon of choice. When wielding their favored weapon the sentinel gains a bonus on her attack rolls with it as shown on the Favored Weapon Attack Bonus table below.

[sblock=Favored Weapon Attack Bonus Table]

[b]        Favored
Class   Weapon
Level   Bonus[/b]
1-4     +1
5-8     +2
9-12    +3
13-16   +4
17-20   +5

[/sblock]
Improved Unarmed Strike: At 1st level the sentinel gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.

Iron Will: At 2nd level, the sentinel gains Iron Will as a bonus feat.

Vigilant Defender (Ex): Starting at 2nd level the sentinel is able to stand her ground against all enemies, warding the spot where she makes her stand to prevent foes from slipping past and attacking those she protects. If an opponent attempts to use the Tumble skill to move through a threatened area or the sentinel's space without provoking attacks of opportunity, the Tumble check DC to avoid the sentinel's attacks of opportunity increases by an amount equal to the sentinel's level.

Endurance: At 3rd level the sentinel gains Endurance as a bonus feat.

Toughness: At 3rd level and every three levels thereafter the sentinel gains Toughness as a bonus feat.

Combat Veteran (Ex): At 4th level the sentinel possesses enough battle experience to understand tactics, strategy, and combat conditions fairly well. Her combat instincts are also well honed, and altogether this provides the sentinel with a bonus to her Initiative checks, attack rolls for attacks of opportunity and Armor Class equal to one quarter her sentinel level. The AC bonus is a dodge bonus, and is lost whenever the sentinel is immobilized or denied a Dexterity bonus to AC, whether or not the sentinel's Dexterity modifier is positive. Furthermore, this AC bonus only applies against one foe at a time, chosen at the start of the sentinel's turn.

Armor Mastery (Ex): Starting at 5th level the sentinel is able to wear any medium armor like a second skin, allowing her to ignore the standard speed reduction. At 10th level the sentinel ignores the speed reduction imposed by heavy armor as well.

Defensive Roll (Exl): Starting at 7th level, once per day, when the sentinel would be reduced to 0 hit points or less by damage in combat (from a weapon or other blow, not a spell or special ability), she can attempt to roll with the damage. She makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC = damage dealt) and, if successful, takes only half damage from the blow. She must be aware of the attack and able to react to it in order to execute her defensive roll. If she is in a situation that would deny her any Dexterity bonus to AC, she can’t attempt a defensive roll.

At 13th level and every six levels thereafter, the sentinel is able to make one extra defensive roll per day.

Fortified Stance (Ex): At 8th level, when the sentinel is aware of an incoming attack at least one rounds ahead of time, she can assume a fortified stance. When in a fortified stance, the sentinel is 25% less likely to suffer from a critical hit. If the sentinel is struck while in a fortified stance, but the enemy does not score a critical then any damage dealt to the sentinel is decreased by 25%. The ability only lasts for one round and can only be used once per day.

At 11th level and every three levels thereafter, the sentinel can use her fortified stance one additional time per day.

Improved Fortified Stance (Ex): At 14th level, when the sentinel is in a fortified stance, she is 50% less likely to suffer from a critical or takes 50% less damage when struck by a foe.

Spell Resistance (Su): At 16th level, the sentinel's prolonged exposure to magic has given her the ability to resist its effects. The sentinel gains Spell Resistance equal to 10 + half her sentinel level. In order to affect the sentinel with a spell or spell-like ability, a spellcaster must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level; see page 177 in the PHB) that equals or exceeds the sentinel’s Spell Resistance.

Greater Fortified Stance (Ex): At 20th level the sentinel reaches the pinnacle of this ability. When the sentinel assumes a fortified stance she is 50% less likely to suffer from a critical or takes 50% less damage when struck by a foe.

 

[Siberys]

Armiger has been used before as a name for an armor/defense master. From IH, IIRC.

Veteran, Guardian, Vindicator, Warden, Sentinel (I like this one...), etc.

 

[Arkhandus]

Let's see.....

Siberys already gave the only good name suggestions I could think of, too.

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but you gave the class an odd number of skill points. Just in case that was a typo, I'm mentioning it.

In the Spell Resistance section, you mention a Spellcraft check, when it should be a caster level check.

The class is a bit weak for the first two levels. Maybe give it the monk's Still Mind ability at 2nd-level? Or just a +1 or +2 on Will saves at 1st-level? Or give it the unarmed/grappling damage of a 1st-level monk (just not improving beyond that; a decent boxer but not a pro). (Edit: Or maybe give it a grapple check bonus at 1st-level, like +2 or +4, so if they need to, they can wrestle a troublemaker to keep them from harming someone the character's supposed to be guarding?).

Only definite problem I see in it is the wording of the Fortified Stance stuff. Where you say it negates a critical, you should really be clear that you mean it turns the critical hit into a normal hit, as opposed to just negating the attack altogether.

Also, it needs to be clearer on how/when you use the ability. Does it take any kind of action to enter a Fortified Stance? How long does it last? Do you have to set it against a particular attack that you're somehow expecting a few rounds ahead of time? Do you have to ready an action for something? Do you just declare the use of the Fortified Stance on your turn and then choose an attack 2+ rounds later to apply it against, when aware of the enemy beforehand? If no such attack comes within that time, does it just not expend the Fortified Stance use and return you to your normal non-stance?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

class updated

 

[monboesen]

Giving out the toughness feat at every third level seems to have almost the exact same effect as increasing its HD by one step (over the entire 20 levels there is a difference of 3 HP). So why not aim for simplicity, ditch the toughness feats and increase the class HD to d10?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Giving out the toughness feat at every third level seems to have almost the exact same effect as increasing its HD by one step (over the entire 20 levels there is a difference of 3 HP). So why not aim for simplicity, ditch the toughness feats and increase the class HD to d10?

Poor rolls can still happen.

 

[Zelc]

Fortified Stance (Ex): At 8th level, when the sentinel is aware of an incoming attack at least one rounds ahead of time, she can assume a fortified stance. When in a fortified stance, the sentinel is 25% less likely to suffer from a critical hit. If the sentinel is struck while in a fortified stance, but the enemy does not score a critical then any damage dealt to the sentinel is decreased by 25%. The ability only lasts for one round and can only be used once per day.

At 11th level and every three levels thereafter, the sentinel can use her fortified stance one additional time per day.

This ability is poorly worded. What type of action is it to assume a Fortified Stance? What does it mean to be aware of an incoming attack 1 round in advance? How does the 25% less chance to suffer from crits work? Does it work like the Fortification ability? If so, and the critical hit is negated, does the Sentinel then take only 25% of the normal hit damage?



As far as I can tell, this class seems to suffer from the Monk problem. It gets lots of abilities, but none of them are very good. It's tough to kill, but it doesn't actually present a threat so a smart enemy will just ignore it and the player doesn't have much fun. There really isn't anything good to dip either, unless you just want the feats for prereqs. I think it's too weak.