The Graviton

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First Post
Well... One can say I'm in the PrC mood today... Anyhow, this is just one I thought of while watching a ball in the physics laboratory.





The Graviton

There was little twinge in the air. Rhodiprex was not aware of the presence of his master, and so he set forth to engage the goblins in what would seem like a fair fight. He set forth against the four goblins with his keen scimitar and started slash at the goblins’ skin. Just as he applied the necessary force to the scimitar, he started to rotate endlessly about, just as if he had no contact with the ground, and he rotated round and round.
“Patience, Rhodiprex, patience!”
Rhodiprex turned red and the illusions disappeared. It now seemed as though he moved more lightly on the ground.

The Graviton is a master of gravitation, being able to manipulate the very essence of gravity, the gravitons. His powers reflect his endless study of the force with which we all interact with daily. Manipulating this force may be useful on numerous occasions where a traditional approach would be futile.

The Graviton may choose one class feature from his former class, with which he continues to advance. If he chooses Spell Progression, the BAB and Saves are weak, if he chooses BAB, Spell Progression is not present and Saves are weak and so on.

Requirements:
Knowledge: Physics: 9 ranks
Balance: 5 ranks
Jump: 5 ranks
Feats: Iron Will, Dodge

Hit Die: D6
Class skills: As Wizard, including: Balance and Jump

Class features:
1. Personal Field
2. Graviton Flux
3. X
4. Feel the Path
5. X
6. Deplete Gravitons
7. X
8. Graviton Manipulation
9. X
10. Graviton Vortex, Graviton Control

Personal Field: With this ability the Graviton may change the way gravity affects him, making himself heavier, lighter and such. The force change equals level*10%, so that the gravity affecting a 1st level Graviton wanting to get lighter is: 90%, which also means he can jump higher and walk for a longer time without exhaustion. This per cent may only be added to or subtracted from the initial gravity.

Graviton Flux: When a Graviton chooses to use this ability, the gravity on an object changes randomly, making the object behave unpredictably. Using this ability on a weapon, makes it nigh impossible to use, and an attacker suffers a -6 penalty to attack rolls and -2 penalty to damage rolls. This ability is usable Graviton level/2 times per day.

Feel the Path: This ability makes it easier for a character to make an object hit when he throws it or shoots it. By controlling the gravity on the object, the path is closer to the designated one. The character gets a +2 bonus to hit when throwing or shooting, or gives another persons throw a similar bonus. Usable Graviton level/2 times per day.

Deplete Gravitons: This ability makes a sphere with a radius of Graviton level * 10 ft where the gravity doesn’t affect creatures or objects. No gravitons are here, so everything is completely weightless. Usable Graviton level/4 times per day.

Graviton Manipulation: This ability makes a Graviton able to affect the gravitation in a larger area. The area is a sphere with a radius of Graviton level * 20ft, and the change in gravity is up to Graviton level * 5% starting at 100%. Usable Graviton level/4 times per day.

Graviton Vortex: Using this ability will make an object have an enormous amount of gravitons that affect creatures near the object. The object will attract people with an acceleration of up to Graviton level * 5m/s^2. The area affected of the object is: Sphere of Graviton level * 5 ft radius. Usable 2 times per day.

Graviton Control: This ability is a stronger version of Graviton Manipulation. The change extends to Graviton level * 20 % starting at 0%, meaning that negative gravity may also be created, but the sphere has a radius of 100 ft, instead of 20ft*level. The force may also be an external one in a specified direction.
 

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Better luck this time

Tried to post this yesterday, but the site went down.

Possible Graviton Class Ability

Graviton Strike

A Graviton can massively increase the graviton flow in a concentrated space for an instant, thereby making a weapon weigh many times its normal weight just at the point of impact. When using this power, the Graviton may add their class level to the damage done by a single melee strike. The use of this power must be declared before the attack roll is made and the power is still expended even if the attack misses.

The wild fluctuations in gravity are extremely wearing on the body of the Graviton. This power can only be used a number of times per day equal to the Graviton's Con modifier (minimum of one)
 

Nice idea!

I hope these quesitons and comments help.

How long do these effects last, rounds, minutes, hours, days, etc?
Do any of these powers have a saving throw to avoid being affected by them?

Personal Field:
I think 10% is a bit high for a first level ability. I would probably make it 5%/level.

Graviton Flux:
If this ability lasts a long time (1 round/level or more) it seems to be pretty powerful. In my group we usually only have one or maybe two fights a day during a dungeon crawl and less during urban adventures.

Feel the Path:
I like this ability, with the +2 bonus I don’t think it unbalances the class.

Deplete Gravitons:
I can see how this would completely mess up combat for everyone except the Graviton. Never having been weightless myself I can’t say how hard it is to fight but I imagine it would be very difficult. I think a good example from literature can be seen in Ender’s Game. Some of the combat training sequences are described in zero-g. They take the characters a while to get used too. Just getting hit by a missile weapon would cause the creature/character to go flying (spinning) off into space.
That being said, I am not sure how to change this so it is more in balance. I think the first step would be to reduce its usage to no more than 1/day. The other option would be to allow a will save to avoid the affects of the Graviton Depletion.

Graviton Manipulation:
Again with this one I think the number of uses per day is a bit much.

Graviton Vortex:
Does the graviton vortex scale with level? You also mention the area of affected being Sphere of Graviton level * 5ft radius, what is a Sphere of Graviton? I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere else.

Graviton Control:
How often can this be used? Is the radius fixed at 100 ft or is it 100 ft/level. It looks like the radius is fixed, which I like. When you say the force may also be external one in a specified direction I am not sure what you mean. I think you are saying you could have a spot where gravity is now stronger than one-g therefore things/people/creatures are being attracted to that location instead of the ground.

Anyway, those are my random musings on the subject. I think the idea is great, not to mention I can see ways to really throw my PCs a curve ball by using an NPC based on this class. I think it needs a little more balance mostly in the number of uses of powers. As mentioned at the start how long do these powers last?
 

One small point that might be worth looking into:

Graviton Flux: When a Graviton chooses to use this ability, the gravity on an object changes randomly, making the object behave unpredictably. Using this ability on a weapon, makes it nigh impossible to use, and an attacker suffers a -6 penalty to attack rolls and -2 penalty to damage rolls. This ability is usable Graviton level/2 times per day.

If I was playing this class, I think I would be tempted to use this ability on my enemy's shoes rather than his weapon. Perhaps you could write up some specific penalties for this use of the power?
 

Nice class.
I'd like to suggest few clarifications:

Deplete Gravitons: instead of usage 1/4 graviton levels/day, I would give usage 1/day at 6th level and 2/day at 8th.
Some save would be appropiate, perhaps REF (for getting out of the area, before the gravitons leave)

Graviton Manipulation: same thing, instead of 1/4 graviton levels/day, I'd prefer 1/day at 7th level and 2/day at 9th.

What is the effect of Graviton Vortex game mechanically? Damage as from falling? Affected unable to move without succesfull STR check?
 

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