[preview] Take a look at my Wyrmslayer PrC

[nameless]

This is a preview prestige class of my (distantly) upcoming book on fighting big, beastly things.

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The Wyrmslayer

Where most know fear, the Wyrmslayer knows the difference between life and death. Be it a colossal dragon, a titanic dinosaur, or a slithering worm, a Wyrmslayer is a master hunter. Indeed, he uses his foe's size itself against it. Ducking between giant limbs and out of reach of gigantic muscles, a Wyrmslayer can find a chink in even the thickest armor.

Requirements:

BAB: +6
Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus (any martial or exotic melee weapon), One of the following: [Weapon Specialization, Expertise, or Mobility]
Skills: Escape Artist 4 ranks, Tumble 4 ranks, Climb 8 ranks
Special: Must be medium-sized or smaller.

Class skills: Climb, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Jump, Ride, Swim, Tumble
Skill points per level: 2 + int modifier

BAB: +1 per level (as fighter)
Saves: good Fortitude, good Reflex, bad Will
Hit die: d10

Class abilities (Level):
1: Second Skin +1
2: Slippery
3: Under Reach 5'
4: Evasion, Fearless
5: Second Skin +2, Deadly Grapple
6: Under Reach 10'
7: Resilience
8: Under Reach 15'
9: Second Skin +3
10: Tenacious Grapple

Ability descriptions:
Second Skin - The Wyrmslayer applies the listed bonus to all armor he wears, reducing the check penalty by the listed amount. This bonus is cumulative with all other check penalty reductions. Any armor whose check penalty is reduced to -5 or better is considered medium armor for all purposes instead of heavy, and any armor whose check penalty is reduced to -2 or better is considered light.

EDIT: Oops, I also was supposed to apply Second Skin bonus to the Max. Dex. modifier.

Slippery (Ex): The Wyrmslayer is difficult for large foes to grapple. He may apply his Escape Artist ranks as a penalty against large foes' grapple check (but only when resisting a grapple). This penalty may never exceed the amount a large creature recieves due to size (i.e. +4 for Large, +8 for Huge, etc.).

Under Reach (Ex): The Wyrmslayer uses a large foe's size against it. When the Wyrmslayer is within the threatened area of a creature with natural reach, the squares closer then the furthest threatened square are counted. Large creatures are subject to the Under Reach 5' ability, Huge to the 10' ability, and Gargantuan or larger to the 15' ability. Being 5' closer than the outermost threatened square provides a 1/4 cover bonus against the threatening foe. Being 10' closer likewise provides 1/2 cover. 15' within a threatened area provides 3/4 cover in the same way. Finally, this cover bonus to AC is also applied as a circumstance modifier to the attack rolls of the Wyrmslayer against the enemy whose reach he is under.

Evasion (Ex): As the rogue or monk class ability.

Fearless (Ex): The Wyrmslayer is immune to natural and supernatural fear effects, but not to spells or spell-like abilities that cause fear.

Deadly Grapple (Ex): The Wyrmslayer may use a larger weapon than normal during grapples with large creatures. Instead of allowing light weapons to the Wyrmslayer during grapple attacks, any weapon considered light by the large creature is allowable. Thus a longsword can be used against a Large creature, or a greatsword against a Huge creature.

Resilience: The Wyrmslayer is extraorindarily resilient. He is immune to death by massive damage, and may make a Fortitude save DC 20 once per day to negate a sneak attack or critical hit, causing only normal damage.

Tenacious Grapple (Ex): The Wyrmslayer may initiate grapples regardless of relative size. If he grapples a creature too large to normally grapple, that creature is treated as if it took a -20 to its grapple checks and not being considered grappled itself. The creature may make a grapple action and attempt a true grapple if it wishes. The Wyrmslayer also gains a 9/10 cover bonus as if he were using the Under Reach ability, and gains the commensurate attack bonus.

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I can see that this as being a little verbose in terms of the abilities, but are they easy to understand? I don't think it's too powerful, but I've been fooled before. Criticisms welcome.

EDIT: clarification.

 

[Siggelsworth]

I like the looks of this PrC concept. It has some nice flavor working for it. I might add something less combat oriented to the requirements for it. As it stands, most any typical fighter could qualify for this PrC at 7th Level without having to sacrafice any of his training to pursue --something. You might want to consider a skill focus feat towards some kind of knowledge or even escape artist, something to characterize the character as a potential Wyrmslayer rather than a prospective Gladiator, Red Avenger, or some other PrC that young, aspiring fighters work towards. Perhaps encourage a multi-class rogue or ranger. A Favored Enemy, or an aesthetic equivalent, might be a good requirement.

I really liked Second Skin, Slippery, and Under Reach. You might test them out in a combat session to see if they're properly scaled; however, they seem feasible.

Evasion is an ability that I don't like all classes being able to get their hands on easily. If this is going to be a straight-up fighter, perhaps evasion could be limited to only applying to certain situations, i.e. breath attacks. As in your ability Fearless, the Wyrmslayer's training probably shouldn't benefit against trapped chest or a hostile wizard with fireballs to boot (certainly a different approach to fighting bearded staff-waivers than Gargantuan Flame-throwers with wings).

Resilience could maybe have a higher save. A 13th level fighter-type will have a Fort save +10 or higher with even a moderate Con score. It may not be bad as is, but making the save higher could allow for multiple save attempts per day or something.

Over all, I do enjoy this. It's encouraging to see others being creative with class design; that seems to be what PRESTIGE classes are all about. I hope to see how you feel towards this response. Keep it up.

 

[nameless]

Here's my rebuttals Siggy:

The requirements are purposely a bit generic, which implies a rather broad variety of Wyrmslayers. Some are mid-level fighters (Weapon Spec.) some are smart (Int 13+ Expertise), and some are quick (Dex 13+ Dodge and Mobility). If I were using splatbook feats, I might throw some more in, like Clever Wrestling or Close-quarters Fighting. It does put Barbarians and Rangers on a pretty strict path though. Besides that, Escape Artist and Tumble are cross-class to pretty much everyone. 4 ranks in each of those and 8 in Climb is a big chunk of skill points that most don't invest in.

I agree that Evasion is given out very easily, but I don't mind. They still have to make the Reflex save, which is fairly tough. I wouldn't mind limiting it, but I can't think of an easy way offhand that still keeps the flavor accurate.

I know a DC 20 fortitude save obviously isn't that tough, but he can still only do it once per day. And there's still a significant chance that it fails. It's equitable to Deflect Arrows, except you can use it less often. Besides that, Fortification armor is available and at least as effective as this. I'll consider making the save DC variable somehow though.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

[nameless]

Golly, I was really hoping to get some dialogue on this. Maybe I should make the title more eye-catching?