Okay, I've designed another new PrC and would like comments on balance issues, appropriateness, etc. Please help out!
Kineticist PrC
Kineticist PrC
Spatzimaus said:Short version: prerequisites far too easy, class skill list too generous, and a couple of the abilities are really abusable. Overall, it's a nice concept, though.
Long version:
1> There's already a Psionic PrC named the Kineticist (Mind's Eye, it's the generalization of the Pyro from the PsiHB).
2> Prerequisites: most PrCs don't specify a stat explicitly. Drop the "DEX 13+" part; it's not needed, anyway, since you require Dodge, which needs DEX 13 already.
The prerequisites are FAR too easy. A Human Barbarian or Psychic Warrior can meet them in one level. (The PW has to take Speed of Thought as his bonus Feat, though). A Barbarian 1/Rogue 2 can make it for any race. In general, PrCs aren't supposed to be reachable before level 6 or so.
Require some skill ranks, a BAB minimum, Evasion, whatever you need. Some up-chain Feats like Spring Attack (so that you'd need Dodge AND Mobility first) would help too.
3> What's the Hit Die? I'd say d8 based on the skill points, but if it's d10 then it's way too good.
4> Class Skills: Don't give Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble as class skills unless the class is specifically designed to be Rogue-like. If you want to require ranks of these in the prerequisites, fine, but otherwise drop these. For example, requiring 10 ranks of Tumble solves several problems, and it's an appropriate ability for the flavor. But, there's nothing in the class' abilities that seems sneaky, so H/MS should be dropped.
5> Kinetic Blow: Enhancement bonuses don't stack, like almost all other named bonuses. It's a bad idea to make an exception within a specific type; otherwise, you'd be able to bypass epic-level DR (/+6) easily.
But, if you keep it Enhancement, then the ability isn't as useful at high levels. Instead, I'd just change it to a flat damage bonus, say +2 per point spent. That way it stacks with any existing Enhancement bonus on the item, and doesn't help with attack rolls, versus DR or Sunder.
6> Alacrity: far too cheap, make it at least 1 point per round, maybe 2. Haste is HUGE, at least in 3E, and with almost 60 points you can be permanently hasted for a long time. The 3.5E Haste is far more appropriate for this sort of class anyway, although you'll have to specify that it's self-only.
7> General stuff:
There should be something expanding on the Fast Movement part. Maybe a "spend 1 point to get +10' for one round" ability. Don't require something for the class and then wait until level 10 to do anything with it.
Axelos said:Actually, certain enhancement bonuses do stack: a bow's enhancement stacks with an arrow's enhancement, and a suite of chain mail's enhancement stacks with a shield's enhancement.
Spatzimaus said:I wouldn't worry about the name overlap too much. While in general you want to avoid using the same name as a class in a WotC product, I don't think anyone's going to confuse the two classes. And, it's not a published product, it's just their online thing.
As for bow and arrows, while the attack and damage bonus stack, the enhancement bonuses themselves aren't adding. A +3 bow firing +3 arrows doesn't bypass Stoneskin's DR 10/+5. So, if you wanted your Kinetic Blow ability to work in a similar way (adding to attack bonus and damage bonus but not increasing the actual enhancement bonus) you can do that, but you're probably better off in the long run keeping it simple. That's why I said just add 2 points (or 1d4 if you like randomness) for each point you spend. Besides being a Sneak Attack analog, it's not something you confuse with an Enhancement bonus.
It is going to be a general combat buff, NOT something casters want all the time. It's a group spell now, that gives +1 attack bonus, +1 AC, +1 Reflex, +30' movement, and an extra attack at your full bonus if you take a Full Attack action. Giving a self-only version of this seems like an ideal 10th-level ability for your class.
As for the "he has to be hit first" thing: I pull out an unenchanted dagger and poke myself. There, it's charged.
Maybe you could just explicitly say that no matter how many points you spend you can't get more than 10 rounds per day from it; some sort of fatigue thing. You'd still want to have it cost 1 per round, though.
Axelos said:Let me know what y'all think.
Axelos said:Of course, if your buddy attacks you, he's using one of his attacks to do so.
Oh, and I should probably make the points wear off much more quickly, to prevent "charging up" before battle.
The problem of locking out small races could be solved by instead of requiring 40ft of movement, requiring 'faster than base movement for the race'. You might want to word it better though.Fast movement (which only two core classes get, plus Psychic warrior can get with a Feat, and it rules out small races altogether