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Working on a new base class (ToB, Bo9S style)
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<blockquote data-quote="Zachariah" data-source="post: 3691124" data-attributes="member: 51048"><p>Thanks Arkhandus, for the welcome and the great amount of feedback! It was very useful. Didnt really experience it as blund, just straight to the point. In my case a rather appreciated way of receiving feedback. So no probs. </p><p>I have been away for some days so my reply time wasn’t that fast either.</p><p></p><p>I have to say, my post was a bit of a mess. Posted it very late in the night, and it contains some errors. Which I noted when reading through your comments. It’s a shame really, I have the class partly described in a word .doc, which is a lot clearer then the post. But I didn’t have it at hand when I made the post.</p><p></p><p>Also, I want to note that im a bit short on time. Im planning on starting the campaign soon, and nothing from the Bo9S will be used. Except for the thinks I picked out for the sake of creating this class. So I just copy some maneuvers from other schools, and rename them, tweak them a bit. It takes a lot of time (for me at least) to make all the maneuvers required for a school. And some excising ones just fit in great with what I have in mind for this class.</p><p></p><p>Now back to the class stuff. I Decided to simply call it Blademaster. I'll walk through your comments and give my view/opinion. </p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Actually I dont conclude that. Like I said, the Blademaster is a class much like the monk. He is physically competent, with an agile but strong body and mentally well trained. The thing is, if I follow that concept, it ends up with all saves high. Which may be to much for this class. If I must drop one, then it will be probably be Fort.</p><p></p><p>Hit Dice: 1d8, this seems right to me as well</p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>True, I prefer not to. The thing is that creating such a class takes a lot of time, and my campaign is starting soon. I still need to prepare some campaign stuff as well. Plus the description of the ability fits the class very well. The blademaster mental discipline is made for battle, at some point it seems right that his wisdom modifier (battle intuition) adds up besides the regular Armor Bonus (Ex). (forgot to mention that he has the armor bonus as the monk) </p><p></p><p>No he is not proficient with all the swords. Im currently working on a list. So far it contains: Long Sword, Bastard Sword (yeah he will need to pick the exotic weapon feat for this), katana. More will be added. Maybe ill put in only katana like weapons (asian swords), seems to fit the theme better IMO. But that might be to limited. So as for now that’s it.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Ok, fair enough. This is how it is described.</p><p> <strong>Blade Synchronization (Ex):</strong> A Master of Blades is able to synchronize his blades, unlocking his full potential when in battle. When the Master of Blades is wielding two identical blades, from his class proficiency list, he doesn’t receive the –2 penalty to his off-hand attack, for not using a light off-hand weapon.</p><p></p><p>Yeah the “two weapon focus” and “two weapon block” are suppose to be Two-weapon fighting and Two-weapon Defense. My bad. This is what I meant:</p><p>He starts with an ability called Dual Blade Mastery (Ex). The Blademaster’s mainhand BAB also automatically apply to his offhand. So his mainhand and Off-hand attacks are the sam. In addition, it grants an Armor Bonus equal to the number of main hand attacks he can make. The penalty for fighting with two weapons still applies (the –2 to all attacks). So, for example a level 3 Blademaster would have the following attacks: +3 Main / +3 Off , and the –2 to both for dual wielding, but that calculated lose from his BAB.</p><p>Essentially this ability is the same as granting the following feats at the given levels:</p><p>Lvl 1: Two-weapon fighting and Two-weapon Defense</p><p>Lvl 6: Improved Two-weapon fighting and improved two-weapon defense</p><p>Lvl 11: Greater Two-weapon fighting and Greater Two-weapon Defense (from Complete Warrior)</p><p>Lvl 16: Perfect Two-weapon fighting and Perfect Two-weapon Defense (Epic..?)</p><p>That’s what I meant by “At level 6, 11 and 16 this increases by one step each”.</p><p></p><p>Note that this ability is only in effect when wielding two swords of the same type and not wearing armor. The defense part is this class his equivalent to the monks +Armor. It might still be an option to spread out the defense and offence gain to decrease the jumps in power. For example: Dual Blade Offence and Dual Blade Defense. Keeping the offence on 1, 6,11 and 16 since this is an offensive class. The defense 2 or 3 levels later. What do you think?</p><p>Another thing is that I was thinking of making his Attack roll bonus, which is normally based on STR, based on his DEX modifier. As with Ambidexterity. Because normally the Two-weapon fighting feats require a lot of dex. This way the player needs to focus more on dex aswell. His damage bonus still goes on STR. I think it fits this class well.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>I was thinking of giving him the deflect arrow feat, I read about somewhere, cant recall where though. As it makes sense that he can deflect them with is blade skills. Reflex safe against ranged attacks for half damage or something. Improved for no damage?</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Done so, forgot to mention it in my post. Added the anti-stacking stuff.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Good point. Ill keep that in mind. But the class is about weapon balance and offense, so that’s why I keep the offhand attack on those levels. As I suggested before, maybe a split up.</p><p></p><p></p><p>*Starts to look up wtf the feint mechanic is…. Finds nothing in DM Guide or PM* Sounds cool, but what does feint do?</p><p></p><p> </p><p>These Ideas I like. Sounds cool. I had the same idea for a stance, but thought it might be to strong. In the end it resulted in the Equilibrium stance. The max level prolly needs to roll out of play testing.</p><p></p><p>The Two Blade Blitz fits the theme as well. I totally forgot about that combat mechanic, being only able to make a single attack. Nice suggestion, ill use it. The level im not sure of yet.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The reason behind it is that the Blademaster makes use of Ki energy to initiate/power his martial moves. As far as I know Ki is spiritual energy, something drawn from the soul. So a good Blademaster generates positive Ki and a evil negative. The maneuvers function on that specific Ki. But yes, as you mentioned, lawful neutral is also an option. To keep it simple I just gave that class a choice between Cleansing Swords or Cursed Fangs. You do realize that Balanced Blades is available to all blademasters, its not alignment restricted. It is the neutral ground for all blademasters.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>I prefer to stay away from most elemental skills. Because he doesn’t have any theme connection with it, as a Ki user and not a magic user. Wind may be possible though, using sonic as energy type (as sound is result of vibrations and movement in/of air). Slicing the air that he creates gust or cutting effects. But that’s rather neutral and fits just as well into Balanced Blades.</p><p>__________________________________</p><p></p><p><strong>One important thing to know is, In order for the Blademaster to initiate his maneuvers from his disciplines he must wield two swords of the same type, and wear no armor or shield.</strong></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Yeah it is more effective for sure. It is a standard action strike. Can you combine maneuvers with power attack? Because in that case this might be a bit to powerful early?</p><p></p><p>Moved to level 3 for now.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Vile damage can only be healed by magic cast within the area of a consecrate or hallow spell.” So its pretty powerful. Maybe a bit too much for the function of this ability. With the current given information about the requirements for performing a maneuver, the ranged attack issue is fixed. </p><p>So level 2 without the vile damage.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Range I forgot to mention, but it was 60 ft. Its pretty much based on Shadow Noose (page 79). But this is a stronger, so I upped it a level. This is the Description:</p><p></p><p>Darksoul Fang</p><p>Cursed Fangs (Strike)</p><p>Level: Master of Blades 7</p><p>Prerequisite: Three Cursed Fangs maneuvers.</p><p>Initiation Action: 1 full-round action</p><p>Range: 60 ft.</p><p>Target: One creature</p><p></p><p><em>You hold your blades up, crossing each other. As you initiate a fast slice through the air, black ki energy covers your weapons. Releasing a wave of red steaming darkness ripping forward, ravaging everything in its path.</em></p><p></p><p>As part of this maneuver you make a ranged touch attack. If it hits, your opponent takes 8d6 points of damage. In addition, he must make a successful Will save ( DC 17 + your Wis modifier) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. Becoming shaken is a mind-affecting fear effect. This maneuver is a supernatural ability.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Blade of Overpowering Evil</p><p>Cursed Fangs (Strike)</p><p>Level: Master of Blades 8</p><p>Prerequisite: Three Cursed Fangs maneuvers.</p><p>Initiation Action: 1 full-round action</p><p>Range: Melee Attack</p><p>Target: One creature</p><p>Duration: 1 round</p><p></p><p>If your target is non-evil, you gain a +8 bonus on your attack. If it hits, this attack deals an extra 6d8 points of damage and you gain benefits as if your under the effect of an Unholy Aura spell for one round. In addition, if the target is up to one size class larger then you, it must make a successful Fortitude save ( DC 18 + your Wis modifier) or be knocked prone.</p><p></p><p>I’ll keep it at 8, if it ends up to be overpowered in game it can always be nerfed then. </p><p></p><p> </p><p>Ok, I just simplified it to:</p><p></p><p>Equilibrium – Stance – Balanced Blades</p><p>Whenever you make a single strike maneuver you may make one extra normal off-hand attack, using your maximum attack modifier. Two-weapon fighting penalties apply normally.</p><p>_______________________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p></p><p>Im in need of a health steeling effect, vampiric touch like. Any suggestion for such a maneuver of level 4, or close by?</p><p></p><p>Seriously Arkhandus, I really appreciate your great amount of feedback, it helped me immense. I hope you will be able to help shape this class a bit more.</p><p></p><p>Gratz!</p><p>Zach.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zachariah, post: 3691124, member: 51048"] Thanks Arkhandus, for the welcome and the great amount of feedback! It was very useful. Didnt really experience it as blund, just straight to the point. In my case a rather appreciated way of receiving feedback. So no probs. I have been away for some days so my reply time wasn’t that fast either. I have to say, my post was a bit of a mess. Posted it very late in the night, and it contains some errors. Which I noted when reading through your comments. It’s a shame really, I have the class partly described in a word .doc, which is a lot clearer then the post. But I didn’t have it at hand when I made the post. Also, I want to note that im a bit short on time. Im planning on starting the campaign soon, and nothing from the Bo9S will be used. Except for the thinks I picked out for the sake of creating this class. So I just copy some maneuvers from other schools, and rename them, tweak them a bit. It takes a lot of time (for me at least) to make all the maneuvers required for a school. And some excising ones just fit in great with what I have in mind for this class. Now back to the class stuff. I Decided to simply call it Blademaster. I'll walk through your comments and give my view/opinion. Actually I dont conclude that. Like I said, the Blademaster is a class much like the monk. He is physically competent, with an agile but strong body and mentally well trained. The thing is, if I follow that concept, it ends up with all saves high. Which may be to much for this class. If I must drop one, then it will be probably be Fort. Hit Dice: 1d8, this seems right to me as well True, I prefer not to. The thing is that creating such a class takes a lot of time, and my campaign is starting soon. I still need to prepare some campaign stuff as well. Plus the description of the ability fits the class very well. The blademaster mental discipline is made for battle, at some point it seems right that his wisdom modifier (battle intuition) adds up besides the regular Armor Bonus (Ex). (forgot to mention that he has the armor bonus as the monk) No he is not proficient with all the swords. Im currently working on a list. So far it contains: Long Sword, Bastard Sword (yeah he will need to pick the exotic weapon feat for this), katana. More will be added. Maybe ill put in only katana like weapons (asian swords), seems to fit the theme better IMO. But that might be to limited. So as for now that’s it. Ok, fair enough. This is how it is described. [B]Blade Synchronization (Ex):[/B] A Master of Blades is able to synchronize his blades, unlocking his full potential when in battle. When the Master of Blades is wielding two identical blades, from his class proficiency list, he doesn’t receive the –2 penalty to his off-hand attack, for not using a light off-hand weapon. Yeah the “two weapon focus” and “two weapon block” are suppose to be Two-weapon fighting and Two-weapon Defense. My bad. This is what I meant: He starts with an ability called Dual Blade Mastery (Ex). The Blademaster’s mainhand BAB also automatically apply to his offhand. So his mainhand and Off-hand attacks are the sam. In addition, it grants an Armor Bonus equal to the number of main hand attacks he can make. The penalty for fighting with two weapons still applies (the –2 to all attacks). So, for example a level 3 Blademaster would have the following attacks: +3 Main / +3 Off , and the –2 to both for dual wielding, but that calculated lose from his BAB. Essentially this ability is the same as granting the following feats at the given levels: Lvl 1: Two-weapon fighting and Two-weapon Defense Lvl 6: Improved Two-weapon fighting and improved two-weapon defense Lvl 11: Greater Two-weapon fighting and Greater Two-weapon Defense (from Complete Warrior) Lvl 16: Perfect Two-weapon fighting and Perfect Two-weapon Defense (Epic..?) That’s what I meant by “At level 6, 11 and 16 this increases by one step each”. Note that this ability is only in effect when wielding two swords of the same type and not wearing armor. The defense part is this class his equivalent to the monks +Armor. It might still be an option to spread out the defense and offence gain to decrease the jumps in power. For example: Dual Blade Offence and Dual Blade Defense. Keeping the offence on 1, 6,11 and 16 since this is an offensive class. The defense 2 or 3 levels later. What do you think? Another thing is that I was thinking of making his Attack roll bonus, which is normally based on STR, based on his DEX modifier. As with Ambidexterity. Because normally the Two-weapon fighting feats require a lot of dex. This way the player needs to focus more on dex aswell. His damage bonus still goes on STR. I think it fits this class well. I was thinking of giving him the deflect arrow feat, I read about somewhere, cant recall where though. As it makes sense that he can deflect them with is blade skills. Reflex safe against ranged attacks for half damage or something. Improved for no damage? Done so, forgot to mention it in my post. Added the anti-stacking stuff. Good point. Ill keep that in mind. But the class is about weapon balance and offense, so that’s why I keep the offhand attack on those levels. As I suggested before, maybe a split up. *Starts to look up wtf the feint mechanic is…. Finds nothing in DM Guide or PM* Sounds cool, but what does feint do? These Ideas I like. Sounds cool. I had the same idea for a stance, but thought it might be to strong. In the end it resulted in the Equilibrium stance. The max level prolly needs to roll out of play testing. The Two Blade Blitz fits the theme as well. I totally forgot about that combat mechanic, being only able to make a single attack. Nice suggestion, ill use it. The level im not sure of yet. The reason behind it is that the Blademaster makes use of Ki energy to initiate/power his martial moves. As far as I know Ki is spiritual energy, something drawn from the soul. So a good Blademaster generates positive Ki and a evil negative. The maneuvers function on that specific Ki. But yes, as you mentioned, lawful neutral is also an option. To keep it simple I just gave that class a choice between Cleansing Swords or Cursed Fangs. You do realize that Balanced Blades is available to all blademasters, its not alignment restricted. It is the neutral ground for all blademasters. I prefer to stay away from most elemental skills. Because he doesn’t have any theme connection with it, as a Ki user and not a magic user. Wind may be possible though, using sonic as energy type (as sound is result of vibrations and movement in/of air). Slicing the air that he creates gust or cutting effects. But that’s rather neutral and fits just as well into Balanced Blades. __________________________________ [B]One important thing to know is, In order for the Blademaster to initiate his maneuvers from his disciplines he must wield two swords of the same type, and wear no armor or shield.[/B] Yeah it is more effective for sure. It is a standard action strike. Can you combine maneuvers with power attack? Because in that case this might be a bit to powerful early? Moved to level 3 for now. “Vile damage can only be healed by magic cast within the area of a consecrate or hallow spell.” So its pretty powerful. Maybe a bit too much for the function of this ability. With the current given information about the requirements for performing a maneuver, the ranged attack issue is fixed. So level 2 without the vile damage. Range I forgot to mention, but it was 60 ft. Its pretty much based on Shadow Noose (page 79). But this is a stronger, so I upped it a level. This is the Description: Darksoul Fang Cursed Fangs (Strike) Level: Master of Blades 7 Prerequisite: Three Cursed Fangs maneuvers. Initiation Action: 1 full-round action Range: 60 ft. Target: One creature [I]You hold your blades up, crossing each other. As you initiate a fast slice through the air, black ki energy covers your weapons. Releasing a wave of red steaming darkness ripping forward, ravaging everything in its path.[/I] As part of this maneuver you make a ranged touch attack. If it hits, your opponent takes 8d6 points of damage. In addition, he must make a successful Will save ( DC 17 + your Wis modifier) or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. Becoming shaken is a mind-affecting fear effect. This maneuver is a supernatural ability. Blade of Overpowering Evil Cursed Fangs (Strike) Level: Master of Blades 8 Prerequisite: Three Cursed Fangs maneuvers. Initiation Action: 1 full-round action Range: Melee Attack Target: One creature Duration: 1 round If your target is non-evil, you gain a +8 bonus on your attack. If it hits, this attack deals an extra 6d8 points of damage and you gain benefits as if your under the effect of an Unholy Aura spell for one round. In addition, if the target is up to one size class larger then you, it must make a successful Fortitude save ( DC 18 + your Wis modifier) or be knocked prone. I’ll keep it at 8, if it ends up to be overpowered in game it can always be nerfed then. Ok, I just simplified it to: Equilibrium – Stance – Balanced Blades Whenever you make a single strike maneuver you may make one extra normal off-hand attack, using your maximum attack modifier. Two-weapon fighting penalties apply normally. _______________________________________________________________________ Im in need of a health steeling effect, vampiric touch like. Any suggestion for such a maneuver of level 4, or close by? Seriously Arkhandus, I really appreciate your great amount of feedback, it helped me immense. I hope you will be able to help shape this class a bit more. Gratz! Zach. [/QUOTE]
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