Working on a class to match a character concept

[MissingDividends]

Hey all. It's been awhile since I've been around, but some of my friends are pulling me back into roleplay.

What my DM has me working on at the moment is a new class for our upcoming campaign.

The inspiration is a "absent minded professor"/librarian/scholar grandfatherly character. Knows a lot about most things, a little bit about most of the rest, and (at the least) where to find information about obscure stuff. Very vocal kind of guy, short tempered but calculated, likely to forget silly things like eating/sleeping when there's research to be done. More likely to pull out a piece of parchment and make the calculations for a 'rube-goldbergian' style effect than he is to resort to direct violence (has a mentality of 'outsmart, not outwork'). You get the idea.

Is there an published class (or prestige class) that would work for this? (We couldn't come up with anything and we've read the majority of the mainstream rule books, so I suspect the answer to this is 'no', hence the choice of board to post in. We looked at wizard, but didn't want it to be a magic-focussed class. Bard was by far the closest to what we were looking for, but the bardic music just didn't fit.)

Would there be a way to modify the bard class to be more fitting for something like this? (perhaps a prestige class?)

If not, does anyone have a class (or prestige class) already made that would work (or could be adapted) for this?

--MissingDividends

PS - I think I used to have a short little guide for character class balancing (A point system based checklist that assigned different weightings to hit dice, skills points, abilities/feats, etc), and I think I found it on here. I went digging through my stuff when someone first mentioned this idea, but I couldn't find it. I tried looking through the archives, but the search isn't terribly helpful. A point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

You might get more suggestions with a little more background - is this a fantasy campaign, d20 modern, a horror setting? Using straight WOTC rules or a variant?

Other than that, there have been a variety of class evaluation and/or design systems floating around.

If you just want to customize, I'd suggest going with a point-buy system. Mutants and Masterminds works well for superheroes, but isn't compatible with much else. BESM works well for anime characters, but is only semi-compatible with most other systems. Eclipse: The Codex Persona is compatible with 3.0, 3.5, Modern, and a lot of other systems, but its a fairly hefty chunk of material, rather than a simple class. On the other hand, you can pick it up as Shareware at RPGNow, so it doesn't cost anything. The BESM system reference document used to be available, but I've no idea where you'd get it now. Mutants and Masterminds, well I don't know if its SRD was ever released independently of the main book.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Well, how about Wizard [Diviner] going to Loremaster. . .? I know it's probably not it, but it sprung to mind straight away.

There are a number of non-musical Bard-like classes out there, if that's more your thing (you mentioned that class, and the music problem.)

What are they going to bring to the party, in terms of effectiveness in combat and dealing with other typical in-game problems? The concept sounds cool, but the nitty gritty, what's the go there?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I have the BESM SRD on my computer somwehere....<does a quick search>

Ah, found it.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

There's the Bardic Sage variant from Unearthed Arcana (but is fully reprinted in the SRD here:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantBardicSage

It replaces the bard's spellcasting stat, from Cha to Int, gives you a few bonus Divination spells both available and known, Good Will saves instead of Fort/Ref, and a +2 bonus to Bardic Knowledge (though your Music is a little less potent). And remember, Bardic Music doesn't have to be singing, it can be based off of any Perform skill. So Perform (Oratory) would fit perfectly for the droning professor type (Fascinate) or just someone with good advice (Inspire Competence and Courage). A 1st level spell called Joyful Noise from the Book of Exalted Deeds (I believe variants of it are found elsewhere, though) gives your Inspire Courage an extra +1 in exchange for a measly 1st level spell, its definitely worth it if you're buffing up your companions. A well-placed Sleep or Enthrall spell could end a battle before it gets too physical and might seem up your character's playing style.

If you're looking for a more Indiana Jones type, the Factotum is another class from the Dungeonscape handbook that's an Int-based "Jack of All Trades" kindof class. It's a little underpowered which is why I didn't suggest it at first, but it's sure interesting.

The Archivist from Heroes of Horror might also be good, it's kind of a wizardly divine spellcaster-they study tomes of divine knowledge/the nature of divinity to gain their spellcasting ability, if it makes any sense. They're a multiple stat dependent class, based around Int and Wis, d6 HD and poor BAB, no turning but they have in exchange an ability called Dark Knowledge which affects outsiders, aberrations, undead (and others if you get a feat). It basically allows you to grant either a bonus to attack, AC, saves or similar, along with a little snippet of information (Bardic Lore with a kick). I hear they're a blast to play, especially in a Lovcraftian type way

It's really difficult to design a character that can actually contribute without doing a direct physical action, one method of reaching this is to create a build that works off of buffing your companions. Bard has a lot of useful spells but it seems like if you're not taking advantage of the Rogue-ish BAB it has you're not using the class to its full potential. If you can convince your DM, maybe letting you play an Int- instead of Cha- based Marshal (Miniature's Handbook) and multiclass with one of the options above to help the party even more (Marshal is an aura based class if you haven't seen it before, you can give your allies little benefits like +X damage to all attacks while flanking or +X bonus to Trip or Disarm attempts.

Come to think of it though, a well-made Rogue with a focus on magic items could even work if you want an absent-minded guy who pulls out the right trinket at the right time to help. And Sneak Attack might fit the character if you take it as discerning vital spots in an intelligent manner.

Hope that helps!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

From your description, one of the first thoughts I had was Bard...but they do have their obvious quirks.

However, have you considered "Cleric"?

1) Your PC is "grandfatherly"- when you say that, I hear "wise"- a clerical trait.

2) If the cleric takes the Knowledge domain, he'll have all Knowledge skills as class skills...

3) He can qualify for Loremaster just as easily as a specialist mage

4) He can wear armor.

You might also check out the Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved Akashik- its something between bard & rogue, and lends itself nicely to the scholar role.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Cloistered Cleric, into Loremaster. A lot more skill points, and still light armor, same BAB as wizard would be though. Doesn't the cloistered cleric get the Knowledge Domain automatically?

 

[Aus_Snow]

[edited]

oops, was going to post 'Cloistered Cleric' as above, but got delayed before actually posting.

never mind.

oh, and yes, they do get Knowledge domain. See here.

 

[Shazman]

Factotum from Dungeonscape might work.

 

[smootrk]

Archivist from Heroes of Horror might do well... a scholarly type but focused on divine/planar/occult/undead types.