The Spiker (3.5 base class, peach)

[Bergor Terraf]

The Spiker

Abilities: Since the Spiker is a melee fighter, Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are all good abilities for you to have.

Races: Spikers come from all races.

Alignment: Spikers may be of any alignment.

Starting Gold: 6d4x10 gp.

Starting Age: As fighter (PH 109).

Hit Die: d10

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int.
Class Skills: The spiker's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), and Tumble (Dex).


The Spiker
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Improved spike strike, spike style

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Bonus feat

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Spiked climb (+2)

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Style upgrade

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Bonus feat

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+2|Spiked climb (+4)

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Style upgrade

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Bonus feat

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+3|Spike style, spiked climb (+6)

10th|
+1/+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Style upgrade

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+3|Bonus feat

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+4|Spiked climb (half speed)

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+4|Style upgrade

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+4|Bonus feat

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+5|
+5|Spike style, spiked climb (no check)

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+5|Style upgrade

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+5|Bonus feat

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+6|Spiked climb (full speed)

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+6|Style upgrade

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+6|Bonus feat, spike master[/table]


Class Features

All of the following are class features of the spiker.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Spikers are proficient with all simple weapons, armor spikes and with all armor and shields (except tower shields).

Improved Spiked Strike : Spiker are experts at using the spikes on their armor. When they attack with them, they are treated as if they had made an unharmed attack with the Improved Unharmed Strike feat (they don't get the effect of this feat if they make a true unharmed attack). Improved Spiked Strike counts as Improved Unharmed Strike for prerequisites.

Spike Style: At 1st level, the Spiker chooses in what manner he will use his armor spikes more effectively. He chooses one of the four Spike Style and gains the first ability from that style. At 9th and 15th level, he chooses a new Spike Style and gains their first ability too.

At 4th level and every three level after (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th), He gains the next ability from each style he knows.

Bonus Feat: Starting at 2nd level and every three levels thereafter, the spiker gains a bonus feat chosen from fighter bonus feat list.

Spiked Climb (Ex) : At 2e level, the Spiker learns to use his armor spikes to help him secure his grip when climbing. He gains a +2 bonus on climb check where his armor spikes could help him (for example : when climbing a wall, but not when climbing a rope). This bonus increases to +4 at 6th level and to +6 at 9th level.

At 12th level, the Spiker gains a climb speed equal to half his base land speed. The rules for creature with a climb speed apply to him (has explained in the climb skill description). At 15th level, he no longer needs to make a climb check, as if under the effects of the spider climb spell. At 18th level, the climb speed becomes equal to the base land speed.

Spike Master (Ex) : The Spiker has attained a level of mastery of the armor spikes almost legendary. The damage from his armor spikes his treated as if they were one size category bigger, their threat range is doubled and their critical multiplier is increased by 1. This stacks with other feats and abilities.


Spike Styles


High Flying

1-Death From Above (Ex) : When you attack an opponent after moving down through the air (after a long jump for example), your attack deals an extra 1d6 damage per 10 feet of vertical movement, up to a maximum equal to your Spiker level.

2-Leaping Porcupine (Ex) : You gain a bonus on jump checks equal to half your Spiker level.

3-Dive Bomb (Ex) : When falling on a square with an opponent in it, has a standard action, you can make him make a reflex save (10+Spiker level). If successful, he gets out of the way in time. If he fails, you attack him (with the benefits of Death From Above), he ends up prone end you take damage as if you had fallen 10 feet less per 5 Spiker levels.

4-Heavy Fall (Ex) : For the purpose of Death From Above, increase vertical distance traveled by 20 feet..

5-Satisfying Crunch (Ex) : After performing a critical with a Dive Bomb, you can try to intimidate every opponent within 30 feet around you.

6-Improved Leaping Porcupine (Ex) : Your bonus on jump checks becomes equal to your Spiker level.

7-Elbow Drop (Ex) : The attack from your Dive Bomb automatically becomes a critical hit and the extra damage from Death From Above becomes d8 instead of d6.

Wrestling

1-Retaining Spikes (Ex) : When an opponent you grapple tries to escape, they receive damage equal to your armor spike damage whether they escape or not.

2-Spiked Grip (Ex) : Gain a bonus of +1 plus your armor spikes enhancement bonus to your grapple check.

3-Iron Maiden (Ex) :As a full round action, make a grapple check against a pinned opponent. If it's successful, you deal damage as normal and the target starts bleeding, loosing 1 HP per round. This bleeding can be stopped with a DC 15 heal check or any magical healing.

4-Bears Grasp (Ex) : You count has one size category bigger for purpose of grappling.

5-Suplex (Ex) : As a full round action, make an grapple check. If your target is bigger than you, make a STR check after the grapple check, with a DC of 15 per size category. If successful, you deal armor spike damage +1d6 per 4 levels of Spiker you have and move your opponent in an adjacent tile. He becomes prone.

6-Improved Iron Maiden (Ex) : Opponents wounded by the Iron Maiden move now loose 2 HP per round.

7-Bloody Hug (Ex) : Every time you deal damage with your armor spikes during a grapple, you have 25% chance of dealing 1 point of con damage.


Dirty fighting

1-Sneak Attack (Ex) : Sneak attack +1d6 (has the rogue ability).

2-Headbutt (Ex) : As a full round action, make a grapple against an opponent. If successful, you deal damage with your armor spikes, break the grapple and the target is shaken for 1d4 rounds.

3-Sneak attack +2d6

4-Double Hand Fist (Ex) : As a full round action, make an attack that is considered two-handed for purpose of damage and power attack.

5-Sneak attack +3d6

6-Hard Head (Ex) : The attack from Headbutt is considered a critical hit and knocks down the target.

7-Improved Double Hand Fist (Ex) : Double Hand Fist stuns target for one round on a critical hit.

Charge

1-Spiked Charge (Ex) : When charging, you get an additional +2 bonus to attack roll, a +2 damage bonus and an additional -2 penalty to AC.

2-Momentum (Ex) : When making a charge, you get +1 damage per 10 feet traveled.

3-Charge Breaker (Ex) : When an opponent charges you, make a reflex save 30 (-5 for each 10 feet he traveled). If successful, you move 5 feet closer to him in his path and make an attack against him. He has the -2 AC from his charge. If you hit him, he loses the benefits of his charge (but can still attack), but still keeps the -2 AC penalty.

4-Long Charge (Ex) : Increase your base speed by 5 feet when charging.

5-Grazing Charge (Ex) : When making a charge, you can hit up to three opponents that you pass by (you don't get the charge benefits on these attacks).

6-Improved Momentum (Ex) : When making a charge, you get +1 damage per 5 feet traveled instead of 10.

7-Body Slam (Ex) : After a charge, you may choose to make the attack a Body Slam. Make an opposed Str check. You get +1 to the check for every 5 points of damage you made. Your opponent gets +4 for each size category bigger than you and a further +4 if he has more than two legs or is otherwise exceptionally stable. If you win, you and your opponent both fall prone. If you loose, only you falls prone.







WARNING!
This is a first draft. Certain abilities could be explained better, some typo and other errors could be present and the whole thing could be heavily overpowered.

PS: if you have better ideas for ability names, speak up!

[Kellus]

Short answer: it has promise. :smallsmile:

Long answer: It's good, but needs work. Still, it's a tightly focused class (almost too much so; see below) which is something that most people miss out on when they're making a class; too many people try to make a class that does everything, all at once. So kudos for that: you've picked a theme and stuck with it.

Now for the actual PEACHing!



The Spiker

I can't say I'm too fond of the name, but I cant actually think of something better right now. Still sounds kind of silly, though.


Abilities : Since the Spiker is a melee fighter, Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are all good abilities for you to have.

Races : Spikers come from all races.

Alignment : Spikers may be of any alignment.

Starting Gold : 6d4x10 gp.

Starting Age : As fighter (PH 109).

More (or any, for that matter) fluff would really be nice. What makes this class special aside from 'fighter that specializes in armor spikes?' A base class needs to be an entire panoply of character concepts that can fit into a single class so that an enormous variety of characters can make use of it. Take a look at the base classes in the books; you'll see that each and every one of them (with the possible exception of the monk, which sucks for this reason and many others) can accomodate a wide range of character ideas. This one suits exactly one kind of character, a warrior that uses armour spikes a lot. Not exactly a broad area.

While I do like the options provided (see below), I honestly think that this idea would work better as a prestige class. In a prestige class you can specialize in various aspects of your character, which would be perfect for this kind of character. And with a little self-restraint, I think you could easily trim the class features to suit a prestige class; I'll be giving my thoughts on each below.[/quote]


Hit Die : d10

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level) : Balance (dex), Climb (str), Craft (int) Escape Artist(dex), Intimidate (cha), Jump (str), Tumble (dex)

Small skill list for 4 + Int skill points. I'd add a few more. Also, you did such a nice job of keeping format up above, why not put in a little extra effort here to make it look professional?

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int.
Class Skills: The spiker's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Mistakes on the table will be highlighted in red.


Table: The Spiker
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Improved spike strike, spike style (Capitals! Only the first word is capitalized in the special chart!)

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Bonus feat

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Spiked climb +2 (Don't write more than you need to on the table. It looks bloated.)

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Style upgrade

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Bonus feat

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+2|Spiked climb +4

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Style upgrade

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Bonus feat

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+3|Spike style, spiked climb +6

10th|
+1/+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Style upgrade

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+3|Bonus feat

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+4|Spiked climb (half speed) (Please, never EVER use double parantheses. It looks really bad. :smallwink:)

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+4|Style upgrade

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+4|Bonus feat

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+5|
+5|Spike style, spiked climb (no check)

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+5|Style upgrade

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+5|Bonus feat

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+6|Spiked climb (full speed)

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+6|Style upgrade

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+6|Bonus feat, spike master[/table]

A few mistakes. I highlighted them in red and added comments where appropriate.



Class Features

Shouldn't be centered. Should have this written afterwards:

All of the following are class features of the spiker.


Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Spikers are proficient with armor spikes and with all armor and shields.

So they aren't even proficient with simple weapons, which wizards are proficient with? It makes no sense. ANYBODY with rudimentary knowledge of combat is proficient with a club. Also, it's interesting to grant them proficiency with tower shields. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's unique as far as I know. Unless it really suits the concept (which it doesn't really) I'd leave tower shields out.

Also, armour spikes are very expensive at 1st level. 50 gp just for them, not including the price of the armour. Somebody that rolls poorly on wealth might well not be able to afford armour + spikes at all. Another reason why it might be better as a prestige class, when they've already got their fancy suit of armour with spikes on it. Then you could just have Weapon Focus (armour spikes) as a prerequisite and be done with it.


Improved Spiked Strike : Spiker are experts at using the spikes on their armor. When they attack with them, they are treated as if they had made an unharmed attack with the improved unharmed strike feat (they don't get the effect of this feat if they make a true unharmed attack). Improved Spiked Strike counts has Improved Unharmed Strike for prerequisites.

Typos aside (unharmed four times in a row, Improved Unarmed Strike is capitalized, improved spiked strike is not, 'has' is 'as') all that this feat (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedUnarmedStrike) actually does for you is let you deal nonlethal damage with armour spikes, which doesn't really make a lot of sense no matter how you cut it. The other benefit of IUS doesn't really apply, since you're already considered armed with armour spikes (they're treated as a martial light weapon). I'd trim this ability.


Spike Style : At first level, the Spiker chooses in what manner he will use his armor spikes more effectively. He chooses one of the 4 Spike Style and gains the first ability from that style. At 9th and 15th level, he chooses a new Spike Style and gains their first ability too.

First should be 1st, 'Spiker' should be 'spiker', '4 Spike Style' should be 'four spike styles'. The only numbers you put as digits in class features for ease of reading are levels and math. Digits draw peoples' eyes, and you need them to pay attention to the crunchy bits. It's true, look in the books.


At 4th level and every three level after (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th), He gains the next ability from every Styles he knows.

Please stop wanton capitalizations! :smalleek: :smalltongue:

Should be 'each style he knows'.


Bonus Feat : Starting at 2e level and every three levels after, the Spiker gains a bonus feat chosen from fighter bonus feat list.

Colon should be immediately after 'Bonus Feat', '2e' should be '2nd', 'after' should be 'thereafter', 'Spiker' should be 'spiker'. Otherwise, just fine.


Spiked Climb (Ex) : At 2e level, the Spiker learns to use his armor spikes to help him secure his grip when climbing. He gains a +2 bonus on climb check where his armor spikes could help him (for example : when climbing a wall, but not when climbing a rope). This bonus increases to +4 at 6th level and to +6 at 9th level.

'2e' should be '2nd', 'Spiker' should be 'spiker', the example isn't needed, and there should be a bonus type. Moreover, this is a very boring class feature. It's hard to get excited as a player about a tiny static bonus like this, especially to such an insignificant skill. By all means, let him climb with them, but I'd be more inclined to give him a climb speed straight off (if it were a prestige class, of course). It's hardly unbalancing when you consider how many people get to fly by 5TH level. :smallamused:


At 12th level, the Spiker gains a climb speed equal to half his base land speed. The rules for creature with a climb speed apply to him (has explained in the climb skill description). At 15th level, he no longer needs to make a climb check, as if under the effects of the spider climb spell. At 18th level, the climb speed becomes equal to the base land speed.

What this ability should actually say is that the spiker gains a climb speed equal to half his land speed, and he gains the ability to take 10 on Climb checks, even if stress or distraction would normally prevent him from doing so. Spider climb should be italicized as spider climb, since it's a spell.

Again, a very boring augmentation. Scouts can get a climb speed in their first few levels with an ACF. By 18th level will ANYBODY actually care about this?


Spike Master (Ex) : The Spiker has attained a level of mastery of the armor spikes almost legendary. The damage from his armor spikes his treated as if they were one size category bigger, their threat range is doubled and their critical multiplier is increased by 1. This stacks with other feats and abilities.

Aside from grammatical problems (sentence flow, among others), this is very underwhelming. 1d6 to 1d8 damage? 1 extra average damage as a CAPSTONE. The crit ability is kind of fun, since it would stack with Improved Critical, but this is still a very boring capstone. Remember that people want a reason to stay in the base class until level 20. What do they get from reaching the top of this class that incites them not to leave for a prestige class 15 levels earlier? It had better be pretty impressive.


Spike Styles

I'd have been inclined to put these up above, but this is fine too. Now, let's take a look at them. Incidentally, if you were in fact doing this as a prestige class, my advice for adapting this would be to require a prerequisite for one of the styles (such as having +1d6 sneak attack for the dirty fighting style or 8 ranks in Jump for the high flying style) and then having them gain different class features as they level up.




High Flying

1-Death From Above (Ex) : When you attack an opponent after moving down through the air (after a long jump for example), your attack deals an extra 1d6 damage per 10 feet of vertical movement, up to a maximum equal to your Spiker level.

Cool but unclear. Maximum of 1d6 damage per spiker level, or maximum damage equal to your spiker level? Needs to be cleaned up. It strikes me there's a feat that does this too, I think from Cityscape. You might want to check it out and see how they worded it.


2-Leaping Porcupine (Ex) : You gain a bonus on jump checks equal to half your Spiker level.

What kind of bonus? Jump should be capitalized since it's a skill. Also, 'Steel Porcupine' would be an awesome name for the class. :smalltongue:


3-Dive Bomb (Ex) : When falling on a square with an opponent in it, has a standard action, you can make him make a reflex save (10+Spiker level). If successful, he gets out of the way in time. If he fails, you attack him (with the benefits of Death From Above), he ends up prone end you take damage as if you had fallen 10 feet less per 5 Spiker levels.

'has' should be 'as', 'end' should be 'and', etc. Try to proofread it a little better. DFA shouldn't be capitalized, etc. Wording is clunky (make him make a), and the DC (although you don't actually say that's the DC) is nonstandard. Should probably follow the formula of 10 + 1/2 your class level + your relevant ability modifier (Dex, presumably?). Also, this ability leaves a bit to be desired rules-wise. If he escapes, what square does he end up in? What if he succeeds? What square does the player end up in? It shouldn't be a standard action to use this ability, it should be whatever kind of action it was to jump. The attack should be part of the jump. Try to anticipate how these rules will actually be used (although I must say, you've done a much better job of that than most people, such as with your clauses in spike mastery).


4-Heavy Fall (Ex) : For the purpose of Death From Above, increase vertical distance traveled by 20 feet..

Grammar. Capitalization. Boring. An extra 2d6 damage. Also doesn't say whether it increases it past your class level limit.


5-Satisfying Crunch (Ex) : After performing a critical with a Dive Bomb, you can try to intimidate every opponent within 30 feet around you.

As far as I can tell, there's no actual attack roll involved with dive bomb. It's a Reflex save, so it's impossible to perform a critical hit with it. 'intimidate' should be 'Intimidate', you should say what kind of action it is to use this ability. Caps. Grammar.


6-Improved Leaping Porcupine (Ex) : Your bonus on jump checks becomes equal to your Spiker level.

'jump' should be 'Jump'. Boring static bonus to skil. 'Spiker' should be 'spiker'.


7-Elbow Drop (Ex) : The attack from your Dive Bomb automatically becomes a critical hit and the extra damage from Death From Above becomes d8 instead of d6.

This whole line is sort of a one-trick pony, isn't it? It's a cool idea, but there are very few times when it's actually feasible to jump on enemies from high above. In any case, as I mentioned before it's impossible right now to get critical hits with dive bomb. Grammar. Caps. 'becomes d8 instead of d6' is unclear. Should be something more like 'uses d8 dice instead of d6 dice'.


Wrestling

1-Retaining Spikes (Ex) : When an opponent you grapple tries to escape, they receive damage equal to your armor spike damage whether they escape or not.

Cool.


2-Spiked Grip (Ex) : Gain a bonus of +1 plus your armor spikes enhancement bonus to your grapple check.

Nice. What kind of bonus? Also, if it uses enhancement bonuses, it should probably be (Su) instead of (Ex). Magical and all, you know.


3-Iron Maiden (Ex) :As a full round action, make a grapple check against a pinned opponent. If it's successful, you deal damage as normal and the target starts bleeding, loosing 1 HP per round. This bleeding can be stopped with a DC 15 heal check or any magical healing.

Neat idea. Missing information, though. Do they stack if you use more than one? Does the full-round action provoke attacks of opportunity? Etc. Grammar: 'loosing' should be 'losing', etc. Caps: 'heal' should be 'Heal', etc.


4-Bears Grasp (Ex) : You count has one size category bigger for purpose of grappling.

Lovely. Grammar.


5-Suplex (Ex) : As a full round action, make an grapple check. If your target is bigger than you, make a STR check after the grapple check, with a DC of 15 per size category. If successful, you deal armor spike damage +1d6 per 4 levels of Spiker you have and move your opponent in an adjacent tile. He becomes prone.

Very poorly written. Grammar. Caps. A DC on a Strength check of 15 per size category is ridiculour. It would require you to roll a DC of 15 on a Strength check to move a Fine-sized creature. You would need a DC 75 Strength check (impossible with under a Strength score of 120) to have a chance of moving a Medium-sized creature. Remember exactly what a Strength check is. Do you have to be adjacent to the target? '4 levels of Spiker you have' should be 'four class levels'. Can you choose the tile? What if there is no free tile? Questions that need to be answered.


6-Improved Iron Maiden (Ex) : Opponents wounded by the Iron Maiden move now loose 2 HP per round.

Grammar. Capitalization. Otherwise, fine, if a bit bland.


7-Bloody Hug (Ex) : Every time you deal damage with your armor spikes during a grapple, you have 25% chance of dealing 1 point of con damage.

Niiiice. Capitalization: 'con' should be 'Con', etc. This is what I like to see: making existing rules work for you, instead of trying to create new ones. This whole line seems much more thought out than the jumping one.


Dirty fighting

1-Sneak Attack (Ex) : Sneak attack +1d6 (has the rogue ability).

Infringing on the rogue's turf. Another reason this should be a prestige class. If you take a class feature from another class, please PLEASE write it out instead of just saying 'has (should be as) the rogue ability'. It just looks lazy, after you've put so much work into this. Take the extra time to make it look presentable and easily readable.


2-Headbutt (Ex) : As a full round action, make a grapple against an opponent. If successful, you deal damage with your armor spikes, break the grapple and the target is shaken for 1d4 rounds.

This seems like it would have worked better in the wrestling category? Since these guys won't be great at grappling... There should really be a grapple bonus inherent in the class itself instead of (or in addition to) that Jump bonus. Anyway, it seems like there should be a save for this. Also, shaken? A shaken condition is the result of fear. Does this stack like other sources of fear? Does this make a shaken target frightened or a frightened target panicked? I like quoting existing rules, but make sure you understand them first.


3-Sneak attack +2d6

Boring. Also, see above.


4-Double Hand Fist (Ex) : As a full round action, make an attack that is considered two-handed for purpose of damage and power attack.

I don't really understand how you're supposed to make a two-handed attack with armour spikes... ... ... ? It's not coming to me. :smallconfused: Otherwise, it's fine. You don't need to say 'for (the purposes, not purpose) of damage and power attack (should be Power Attack), though. That's inherent with two-handedness.


5-Sneak attack +3d6

Yeah.


6-Hard Head (Ex) : The attack from Headbutt is considered a critical hit and knocks down the target.

It's not an attack roll. You can't roll a critical hit with a grapple check. If you want, you can say it 'deals damage as a critical hit', but it can't be a critical hit normally. Also (and this is also relevant to the other auto-crit rule) I'd shy away from auto-crits. There are too many abilities out there that depend on critical hits for activation; plenty of weapon enhancements to start with. You'll notice that there is never, ever a rule in the books to grant free crits. There are plenty of bonuses to critical confirmation, or automatic crit confirmation even, but not automatic critical hits. It's for a reason. Might want to rethink them. Also, information missing about how it works. Does it knock them prone? What do you mean be 'knocks down'? Also, caps.


7-Improved Double Hand Fist (Ex) : Double Hand Fist stuns target for one round on a critical hit.

Cool. Nice ability. Caps.


Charge

1-Spiked Charge (Ex) : When charging, you get an additional +2 bonus to attack roll, a +2 damage bonus and an additional -2 penalty to AC.

Okay.


2-Momentum (Ex) : When making a charge, you get +1 damage per 10 feet traveled.

Minimal use at best. A tiny bonus to damage won't be making much difference. What kind of bonus to damage?


3-Charge Breaker (Ex) : When an opponent charges you, make a reflex save 30 (-5 for each 10 feet he traveled). If successful, you move 5 feet closer to him in his path and make an attack against him. He has the -2 AC from his charge. If you hit him, he loses the benefits of his charge (but can still attack), but still keeps the -2 AC penalty.

Actually a very cool ability. The wording, and the save DC in particular need to be refined, though. It's not immediately clear what this does. Still, very neat. Caps, too. 'reflex' should be 'Reflex'.


4-Long Charge (Ex) : Increase your base speed by 5 feet when charging.

Minimal at best. 5ft. is practically no boost at all. Maybe +10ft. per point of Dexterity modifier?


5-Grazing Charge (Ex) : When making a charge, you can hit up to three opponents that you pass by (you don't get the charge benefits on these attacks).

As in, that are adjacent to you? Do these count as iterative attacks (that is to say, progressively lower BAB on them? Do they count as attacks of opportunity from you? Needs more information.


6-Improved Momentum (Ex) : When making a charge, you get +1 damage per 5 feet traveled instead of 10.

Fine, but still minimal. Especially considering the level you get it at. I could almost accept the first one because hit points are so low that an extra 2 or 3 points of damage might actually help. But at level 16? No.


7-Body Slam (Ex) : After a charge, you may choose to make the attack a Body Slam. Make an opposed Str check. You get +1 to the check for every 5 points of damage you made. Your opponent gets +4 for each size category bigger than you and a further +4 if he has more than two legs or is otherwise exceptionally stable. If you win, you and your opponent both fall prone. If you loose, only you falls prone.

This is actually kind of neat, but it needs to be cleaned up. Poorly written, but the mechanics are sound. I'd combine this, though, with some other ability to let you stand up from prone as a swift or free action. Otherwise you're just putting yourself in a bad spot with minimal rewards. Grammar. Caps. Nice to see you did Str right, though, instead of STR as earlier. :smallsmile:


WARNING!
This is a first draft. Certain abilities could be explained better, some typo and other errors could be present and the whole thing could be heavily overpowered.

PS: if you have better ideas for ability names, speak up!

Overall, this class does have potential. It's tightly focused (almost too focused), although it is definitely underpowered. You could easily condense this into a 10-level fighter prestige class and STILL have to add a few abilities to bring it up to par. Read through my advice, and if you have any questions just let me know. I love the idea, and I'd be glad to try and help make it the best it can be!

Good work! Please don't read any hostility in what I wrote, I'm really just trying to help! :smallsmile:

[Bergor Terraf]

Wow... never thought i'd get such a long and detailed peaching. Thank you Kellus for taking the time to write all this!

Now for the points you raised:


Grammar.

It's a very rough first draft. The only reason I posted it in this state is because I'll be away from home for a couple of days starting tomorrow, but i'll have acess to a computer with a net connection. That way, I could've finished the formating and proofreadng during those days.

I won't do it right now, still a little bit busy around here. But seeing your post, I had to at least respond something.


For the name, it was a placeholder, couldn't think of a better one (though Steel Porcupine does have a nice ring to it...)


More (or any, for that matter) fluff would really be nice. What makes this class special aside from 'fighter that specializes in armor spikes?' A base class needs to be an entire panoply of character concepts that can fit into a single class so that an enormous variety of characters can make use of it. Take a look at the base classes in the books; you'll see that each and every one of them (with the possible exception of the monk, which sucks for this reason and many others) can accomodate a wide range of character ideas. This one suits exactly one kind of character, a warrior that uses armour spikes a lot. Not exactly a broad area.


The fluff will come later. I wanted to add a "fluff coming soon" warning but forgot about it (it was kind of late).As for the concepts i'll try to think of ways to help make different concepts (agile fighter in light armor, big thank in heavy armor maybe?).


Small skill list for 4 + Int skill points

Typo, was meant to be 2 + Int



So they aren't even proficient with simple weapons, which wizards are proficient with? It makes no sense. ANYBODY with rudimentary knowledge of combat is proficient with a club. Also, it's interesting to grant them proficiency with tower shields. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's unique as far as I know. Unless it really suits the concept (which it doesn't really) I'd leave tower shields out.


For the simple weapons, now that I think about it, that was dumb. As for the tower shield, i'll remove it and maybe add a spiked shield style and add it in there somewhere (if it makes sense).


Also, armour spikes are very expensive at 1st level. 50 gp just for them, not including the price of the armour. Somebody that rolls poorly on wealth might well not be able to afford armour + spikes at all. Another reason why it might be better as a prestige class, when they've already got their fancy suit of armour with spikes on it. Then you could just have Weapon Focus (armour spikes) as a prerequisite and be done with it.


I'm still trying to make this work as a base class. To make easier to get those armor spikes, I was thinking of creating a new item, a "spike harness", something like leather straps holding the armor spikes and nothing else (a little like the armor spikes on the image for the reaping mauler looks like they're straped on). Maybe something close to the stats of the padded armor (with armor spikes),with 0 armor bonus for 30 gp.


Typos aside (unharmed four times in a row, Improved Unarmed Strike is capitalized, improved spiked strike is not, 'has' is 'as') all that this feat actually does for you is let you deal nonlethal damage with armour spikes, which doesn't really make a lot of sense no matter how you cut it. The other benefit of IUS doesn't really apply, since you're already considered armed with armour spikes (they're treated as a martial light weapon). I'd trim this ability.


The purpose of this is twofold. First, armor spikes are listed has light weapons. Power Attack doesn't work with light weapons but I wanted players to be able to is it if they wanted. Since it works with unharmed attacks, I decided to treat armor spike attacks as if they were unharmed attacks instead of changing the way the fat works just for this class and maybe missing a similar effect somewhere.

Second, it gives the player the possibility to take feats with Improved Unharmed Strike as a prerequisite and add there effects to armor spike attacks instead of unharmed attacks. I haven't checked yet if it is useful or not, but I tought it could be relevent.


[...]Moreover, this is a very boring class feature. It's hard to get excited as a player about a tiny static bonus like this, especially to such an insignificant skill. By all means, let him climb with them, but I'd be more inclined to give him a climb speed straight off (if it were a prestige class, of course). It's hardly unbalancing when you consider how many people get to fly by 5TH level.

Then i'll try to give him a climb speed right at the start and think of something else to add later. This could also help the High Flying style get height faster.


Aside from grammatical problems (sentence flow, among others), this is very underwhelming. 1d6 to 1d8 damage? 1 extra average damage as a CAPSTONE. The crit ability is kind of fun, since it would stack with Improved Critical, but this is still a very boring capstone. Remember that people want a reason to stay in the base class until level 20. What do they get from reaching the top of this class that incites them not to leave for a prestige class 15 levels earlier? It had better be pretty impressive.


To be honest, I kind of ran out of ideas here. i'll try to squeeze my brain for something in the next couple of days, or hope someone on the boards will come to the rescue:smallbiggrin:



Now for the styles, I knew their explanations were gonna be rough to understand (they were written late at night). But I think the important stuff is there, it only needs to be cleaned up (has said before, it's a rough draft.)

Every style was created the same way: find a cool things to do with armor spikes, group the similar ones together, add other abilities to round out the style and voila! The high flying is meant to recreate "From the third rope!" moments in wrestling, wrestling is just your basic grappling style, dirty fighting is self explanatory, just like charge.


In addition to rewording almost everything and following a lot of your suggestions, here is what I thought of changing.

High Flying

2-Leaping Porcupine (Ex) : You gain a bonus on jump checks equal to half your Spiker level.

What kind of bonus? Jump should be capitalized since it's a skill. Also, 'Steel Porcupine' would be an awesome name for the class.


Probably replace it with a ability to more easily get height with jump checks. This would help when no ledges are nearby. Maybe even add a close saying that if you are already higher than you opponent (say, climbing on the ceiling just above) you can make a jump check to drop with more force, increasing making it as if you fell from higher...

This style will be heavily changed. Ideas are welcome.


Wrestling

5-Suplex (Ex) : As a full round action, make an grapple check. If your target is bigger than you, make a STR check after the grapple check, with a DC of 15 per size category. If successful, you deal armor spike damage +1d6 per 4 levels of Spiker you have and move your opponent in an adjacent tile. He becomes prone.

Very poorly written. Grammar. Caps. A DC on a Strength check of 15 per size category is ridiculour. It would require you to roll a DC of 15 on a Strength check to move a Fine-sized creature. You would need a DC 75 Strength check (impossible with under a Strength score of 120) to have a chance of moving a Medium-sized creature. Remember exactly what a Strength check is. Do you have to be adjacent to the target? '4 levels of Spiker you have' should be 'four class levels'. Can you choose the tile? What if there is no free tile? Questions that need to be answered.


It's supposed to be DC 15 Str check per size category BIGGER. Sorry.



Dirty fighting


1-Sneak Attack (Ex) : Sneak attack +1d6 (has the rogue ability).

Infringing on the rogue's turf. Another reason this should be a prestige class. If you take a class feature from another class, please PLEASE write it out instead of just saying 'has (should be as) the rogue ability'. It just looks lazy, after you've put so much work into this. Take the extra time to make it look presentable and easily readable.


True, that was lazy of me. I'll keep the spirit of sneak attack, but try to make a new version for this class (new activation, mainly)


2-Headbutt (Ex) : As a full round action, make a grapple against an opponent. If successful, you deal damage with your armor spikes, break the grapple and the target is shaken for 1d4 rounds.

This seems like it would have worked better in the wrestling category? Since these guys won't be great at grappling... There should really be a grapple bonus inherent in the class itself instead of (or in addition to) that Jump bonus. Anyway, it seems like there should be a save for this. Also, shaken? A shaken condition is the result of fear. Does this stack like other sources of fear? Does this make a shaken target frightened or a frightened target panicked? I like quoting existing rules, but make sure you understand them first.


This started in my head as "the spiker grabs his enemy by the shoulders and smacks him in the head!" The logical way to translate "grabs by the shoulders" was a grappling check, but I feeled this was more a dirty thing to do.

I'll try to change the condition. How about confused and dazed higher in the style?


4-Double Hand Fist (Ex) : As a full round action, make an attack that is considered two-handed for purpose of damage and power attack.

I don't really understand how you're supposed to make a two-handed attack with armour spikes... ... ... ? It's not coming to me. Otherwise, it's fine. You don't need to say 'for (the purposes, not purpose) of damage and power attack (should be Power Attack), though. That's inherent with two-handedness.

i'll try to change the fluff, maybe a kind of shoulder takle?


Charge (need to find a better name)


2-Momentum (Ex) : When making a charge, you get +1 damage per 10 feet traveled.

Minimal use at best. A tiny bonus to damage won't be making much difference. What kind of bonus to damage?

I'll increase the bonus or even change the ability itself.

In addition to that, ill begin thinking about more styles.


Anyway, i'll try to start the cleaning tomorrow (or today, since it's past midnight here) but no garanties.

And again, thank you Kellus!

[imp_fireball]

The Spiker

I got a name... The Battlecruiser.

He cruises and battles and he's a damage soaker... yah. This class sort of represents a theme that was thinking of for a prestige by the name above - except my PRC had the ability to increase his weight, and wield and bash with two tower shields.

I like the theme. It's got promise and I'd love to use this class.

Also, armored mobility (that eliminates the speed penalty for wearing armor doesn't it?) would be a good feat. Maybe the spiker should have access to fighter bonus feats for that matter (I know it's probably assumed that most martial classes do... but I'm also talking about things like 'greater weapon focus' that state 'fighter only').

[vasharanpaladin]

Can I add something here?

The spiker is, in fact, an LA +0 race introduced in Planar Handbook, and possessed, among other things, DR 2/piercing and natural armor spikes.

That being said, the idea of a spiker with levels in spiker leads me to think that such a build is way too much more spiker than most players can handle. :smallyuk: