[Prestige Class] Walker in White

[Nareau]

A player in my game recently submitted this as a prestige class his barbarian is interested in taking. Any feedback would be greatly welcomed.

Requirements
Alignment: Any non-evil, non-chaotic
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, Perceive 3 ranks
Feats: Blind-Fight, Alertness
Special: None of the Walker in White’s special abilities function if the Walker in White can see.

Level.....BAB.......Fort....Ref.....Will.......Special
1st........1........0........2........2........Blindsight
2nd........2........0........2........2........Whitesense +1
3rd........2........1........3........3........Improved.Feint
4th........3........1........3........3........Whitesense +2
5th........3........2........4........4........White Tunic
6th........4........2........4........4........Whitesense +3
7th........4........3........5........5........Greater Improved Feint
8th........5........3........5........5........Whitesense +4
9th........5........4........6........6........White Guard
10th.......6........4........6........6........Whitesense +5



Class Skills
The Walker in White’s class skills (and the key abilities for each skill) are Athletics (str), Bluff (cha), Knowledge (religion) (wis), Perceive (wis), Sense Motive (wis), and Tumble (dex)
Skill points at each level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features
Blindsight (Ex): At 1st level, Walkers in White gain Blindsight. This represents his “sixth sense” that allows him to fight as though he could see a distance of 5 feet. This distance increases by 5 feet for every level after the first.

Whitesense (Ex): At 2nd level, the Walker gains a +1 Insight bonus to attack rolls and AC. For every two levels after the second, this bonus increases by +1; this bonus cannot exceed the maximum dex bonus allowed by the armor they are wearing.

Improved Feint: At 3rd level, a Walker in White gains Improved Feint as a bonus feat. This feat allows him to feint as a move action once per round. He needs not have any of the prerequisites normally required for this feat.

White Tunic (Su): At 5th level, a Walker in White can fashion a special linen tunic. By performing a special ritual to bleach the garment, the tunic becomes a dazzling white. In daylight or brightly lit areas, it gives the Walker in White a +1 circumstance bonus to AC. This bonus only functions against creatures that are using sight to target the Walker.

Greater Improved Feint: At 7th level, a Walker in White gains Greater Improved Feint as a bonus feat. This feat allows him to feint as a free action once per round. He needs not have any of the prerequisites normally required for this feat.

White Guard: At 9th level a Walker in White can craft or modify a piece of non-armor equipment (such as a robe, weapon, or bracer) and afterwards use that item to give himself a +2 shield bonus to AC. The Walker must be intimately familiar with the item.

 

[Anabstercorian]

Interesting... It doesn't seem unbalanced, really. Tell us more about this class.

 

[Ferret]

Tell us more. It doesn't seem like there is a very strong underlying theme. That is my only problem.

 

[Nareau]

What? You actually want the flavor text?! OK, here goes:

Campaign is a mix of African and Japanese mythology. Only humanoid race on the continent are elves, although hanyou (half-spirits) are fairly common. The character in question is a half-dongo (earth spirit) barbarian whose mother (whom he's never met) is blind.

My biggest concern is giving any PC blindsight. I was considering making it 5' blindsight/3 levels, and 5' blindsense/level instead.

WALKER IN WHITE
On a quiet road of Eshu a band of thieves see a man tapping his staff before him as he walks. A white cloth is wrapped around his eyes and his robes are dusty and worn. The theives, seeing an easy mark rush in to mug the blind man. Before they make their first strike the traveler fells one of the brigands with a swift crack of his cane. He shrugs off his robes revealing a blindingly bleached white tunic and both blind and unarmored proceeds to disarm and drop each of his assailants.

When the fight is over he removes his blindfold and ties up the muggers, leaving them for the authorities. He picks up his cane just as one of the thieves comes-to. He gives him a wink and a smile, puts his blindfold back over his eyes, and continues his blind walk along the quiet desert path.

A Walker in White is a suprisingly adept warrior, showing what can only be called a sixth sense in battle. This preternatural sense is paid for by the forfeit of one of the original five, namely sight. Through training and devotion, a Walker in White tunes his entire body to sense the world around him, and react to it more intuitively. By following the teaching’s of Obatala and humbling themselves they can transform a penalizing disability into an advantage in combat.

Most Walkers are engolo (monks), though gamba (fighters) and nanala (rogues) have also chosen to don the white robes. Kuitika (paladins) and n’anga (clerics) of Obatala have also been known to take up the bleached mantle. Ruga (barbarian) and dembe (ranger) Walkers are not unheard of, but the mchawi (wizards), sei (sorcerers), ngoma (bards) and banga (druids) are generally not interested in becoming the mostly melee oriented Walker.


Spider

 

[Arkhandus]

Hrmm.... You never specified their hit dice or proficiencies, and you listed their Base Attack Bonus incorrectly.....it should start at +0, then increase by +1 at each even-numbered level in the class, reaching +5 at 10th-level.

I would put them at a d8 hit die I think, being kind of generous, though Blindsight is fairly potent compared to normal sight. I dunno what proficiencies would be appropriate for them, perhaps no new proficiencies. I would suggest setting the Blindsight at 5 feet per 2 Walker levels, rounded up. So it would max out at 25 feet by 10th-level, but still start at 5 feet for 1st-level. However, the usefulness of Blindsight to PCs is difficult to judge sometimes...... So it may or may not be fine as-is at 5ft./level.

 

[yennico]

The prc seems balanced.
Spellcasters will not enter this prc because they get no spellcaster level progression.
Classes with Fighter BAB will loose -5 to bab for two good saves and some abilities.
All fighting classes have a good fortitude save. With this prc ta fighter or barbarian get three not so good saves (instead of 12-6-6 8-8-8).

What is the percieve-skill ? I have not found this skill in the srd.

I agree with Arkhandus. Blindsight 5ft. per level is to powerful.

White Tunic: Does a white walker have to wear only this tunic to get the benefit.
Can he wear this tunic below his armor?

 

[Nareau]

Hrmm.... You never specified their hit dice or proficiencies, and you listed their Base Attack Bonus incorrectly.....it should start at +0, then increase by +1 at each even-numbered level in the class, reaching +5 at 10th-level.

Ah, good catch on the BAB. I'm not sure I like the slow BAB progression, since this is supposed to be a fighting class. I might be tempted to reduce the insight bonuses to hit and instead give them as BAB (making the class more powerful).

I would put them at a d8 hit die

I agree. d6 or d8, depending on how many other things are allowed/nerfed in the end.

I dunno what proficiencies would be appropriate for them, perhaps no new proficiencies.

I'm thinking light armor and martial weapons would make sense. Not that many sorcerers are going to take the class...but it fits with the "feel" of the class, and isn't too great a benefit.

What is the percieve-skill ? I have not found this skill in the srd.

Sorry, that's a house-rule. We combine Move Silently and Hide into a skill called Sneak, and Spot and Listen into a skill called Perceive. Makes for more useful skills, more skill points for other things, and fewer dice being rolled. It also makes it easier for a person to sneak up on a group (since the group essentially has 1/2 as many chance to detect them, and the sneaker has 1/2 as many chances to screw up).

White Tunic: Does a white walker have to wear only this tunic to get the benefit.
Can he wear this tunic below his armor?

Given the nature of the power, I would rule that the tunic must be fully visible to gain any benefit from it.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Spider

 

[Yeoman]

As written it looks pretty good, my suggestions would be to change the Blindsense to +5' every other level, but start it at 10' or so. Also I think it would be fine with an average BAB and D8 Hit Die with that change.