Prestige Class-Blade Adept

[Mithril Man]

Hi All,
(I just posted this to the D&D Rules forum but am reposting it here on someone's suggestion)

I'm putting together a prestige class that I want my character to multiclass into. It is sort of a cross between a Blade Dancer and Kensai, with an emphasis on acrobatics, focus on a chosen weapon, and a slight "mystical edge."

Anyways, my group rotates DMs in a shared campaign world--any alt rules, including prestige classes, are subject to group approval. As there really are no solid guidelines for prestige class creation, I'm taking the Blade Dancer as a template for a pretty high-powered prestige class, subtracting some abilities from it, and trying to figure out the requirements.

Rather than go into a long description, I'm only going to say how it differs from the Blade Dancer (as I originally wanted to multiclass into Blade Dancer, but figured I couldn't do it until 10th level--I want to be able to multiclass into Blade Adept by 8th, hopefully).

I took away the overly Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon abilities of the Blade Dancer--ride the wind and enchanted blade I, II and III, as well as toned down the acrobatics and fast movement. I added meditative heal, superior weapon focus, weapon specialization, ki whirlwind attack and nondetection.

The Blade Adept's special abilities by level:

1 - acrobatics (+10), fast movement, leap of the clouds
2- superior weapon focus
3 - meditative heal (heal self at a rate of 1hp per level + Wis bonus per hour meditating--the Blade Adept can meditate instead of sleep)
4 - weapon specialization
5 -
6- acrobatics (+20), acrobatic attack
7 - fast movement
8 - ki whirlwind attack
9 -
10 - nondetection (permanent)

Questions:

1) How powerful is this in relation to the Blade Dancer?
2) What should the requirements be?
3) Any ideas to add or subtract to it?

 

[Crothian]

Hi All,

>>>>Hi, Mithril Man

The Blade Adept's special abilities by level:

1 - acrobatics (+10), fast movement, leap of the clouds

>>That's really strong at level one. And what skills are you grouping with acrobatics? I've seen different lists for Arcobatics. I assume Jump, Balance, and Tumble. But are there others?

2- superior weapon focus

>>>>I'd move Acraboatics to this level. Even things out some.

3 - meditative heal (heal self at a rate of 1hp per level + Wis bonus per hour meditating--the Blade Adept can meditate instead of sleep)

>>>>This is way to powerful. 10th level with a 14 wisdom heals 96 HP in 8 hours. I suggest using the Faster Healing Feat from MotW as guidelines for this type of ability.

4 - weapon specialization
5 -
6- acrobatics (+20), acrobatic attack
7 - fast movement
8 - ki whirlwind attack
9 -
10 - nondetection (permanent)

Questions:

1) How powerful is this in relation to the Blade Dancer?

>>>Yours is way more powerful. Whirlwind attack as a standard action, insane healing ability, free weapon specialization, and permanent non detection.

2) What should the requirements be?

>>>>Bab 6+, Jump, Tumble, and Balance of 6 ranks each, Skill Focus: Jump, Tumble, or Balance, Whirlwind Attack, Weapon Focus, Endurance, Run

3) Any ideas to add or subtract to it?

>>>>I'm unsure at what you are striving for? What's wrong with the Blade Dancer?

 

[Mithril Man]

Re: Re: Prestige Class-Blade Adept

Thanks for the response.

Originally I wanted to multiclass into Blade Dancer, but didn't want to wait until 10th level, which is the minimum he would need to be (my character is almost 7th level now--I was hoping to multiclass by 8th).

Background stuff aside, the general idea is an acrobatic blademaster type, with a mystical edge--thus something like a combo of blade dancer and weaponmaster. I've always liked playing fighter-types who emphasize stealth and quickness over brawn, but unfortunately the D&D rules are more biased towards "Tanks".

I'm thinking of taking out some of the mystical stuff, maybe something like this (with some of your suggestions in mind):

1 - fast movement, leap of the clouds
2 - superior weapon focus, acrobatics (+10)
3 - ?
4 - fast movement
5 - weapon specialization
6 - acrobatics (+20), acrobatic attack
7 - fast movement
8 - ?
9 - ki whirlwind attack
10 - acrobatics (+30), fast movement

This basically comes down to replacing ride the wind, and enchanted blade (I-III), as well as slightly delaying acrobatics, with superior weapon focus, weapon specialization and ki whirlwind...which I feel is significantly less powerful; I almost think I should add something else in--maybe some sort of AC bonus like wisdom mod to AC?

Isn't the idea behind prestige classes that they are slightly more powerful than a normal class (despite what the rules say)? So, if we compared this to 10 levels of fighter, which has 5+ feats and d10 Hit Die, we'd want something with about 6-7 feat-equivalent abilities (including an extra feat for d8 HD instead of d10). So:

Feat-like abilities:
1) leap of the clouds
2) fast movement
3) superior weapon focus
4) acrobatics
5) acrobatic attack
6) ki whirlwind attack

(I give them equal value only because leap and maybe fast movement are probably less valuable than a typical feat, whereas ki whirlwind and maybe sup weapon focus are more.