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The Shadowmind
2010-05-09, 09:10 PM
Welcome to the first installment of Yet Another X Fix. With your host the insane and mad Shadowmind. As always I'm aiming for Tier 3. So for today we are attempting a homebrew fix with the well know to be interesting, but not quite there class: The Hexblade.

If anything is not explicitly stated, then it functions exactly like the normal hexblade abilities.
Alignment:Chaotic or any nongood.
Hit Die:1d10



{table=head]Lvl|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|1|2|3|4
1|+1|+2|+0|+2|Hexblade's Curse 1/day,|-|-|-|-
2|+2|+3|+0|+3|Arcane Resistance, Luck reversal|-|-|-|-
3|+3|+3|+1|+3|Mettle, bonus Feat|-|-|-|-
4|+4|+4|+1|+4|Dark Companion|1|-|-|-
5|+5|+4|+1|+4|Hexblade's Curse 2/day|1|-|-|-
6|+6/+1|+5|+2|+5|Stolen luck,Bonus Feat|2|-|-|-
7|+7/+2|+5|+2|+5|Greater Hexblade's Curse|2|-|-|-
8|+8/+3|+6|+2|+6|Greater Dark Companion|2|1|-|-
9|+9/+4|+6|+3|+6|Bonus Feat|2|1|-|-
10|+10/+5|+7|+3|+7|Hexblade's Curse 3/day|2|2|-|-
11|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+7|Strike of Unluck|2|2|1|-
12|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+8|Aura of Unluck 1/day,Bonus Feat|2|2|2|-
13|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+8|Greater Luck Reversal|2|2|2|-
14|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+9|Draining Aura|3|2|2|1
15|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+9|Hexblade's Curse 4/day,Bonus Feat|3|2|2|2
16|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+10|Aura of Unluck 2/day|3|3|2|2
17|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Dire Hexblade's Curse,Dark Luck Strike|3|3|3|2
18|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|Dire Companion,Bonus Feat|4|3|3|2
19|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|Dire Luck reversal|4|4|4|3
20|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Hexblade's Curse 5/day,Aura of Unluck 3/day|4|4|4|4[/table]

Luck reversal(Su) at level 2 a Hexblade can as an immediate action,a hexblade can expend one of his curses per day to get a +2 luck bonus on his, attack, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 round.

Greater Luck reversal(Su)At level 13 a Hexblade can as an immediate action,a hexblade can expend one of his curses per day to get a +4 luck bonus on his, attack, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 round.

Dire Luck reversal(Su)A At level 16 a Hexblade can as an immediate action,a hexblade can expend one of his curses per day to get a +6 luck bonus on his, attack, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for 1 round.

Bonus Feat, at level 3 and every three levels after(6,9,12,15,18), which must be selected for the following list:Battle Hexing,Combat Casting, Extra Cursing,Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation), Greater Spell Penetration, Spell Focus, (Enchantment, necromancy, or transmutation), Spell Penetration, or any feat that is listed as a fighter bonus feat.

Dark companion As the ACF in PH2.

Greater Dark Companion The penalty to saves and AC by the dark companion increases to -4, or the area the the -2 to Saves and AC increase to all enemies in a 15ft' radius centered on the Dark Companion. You can choose which at the start of each day.

Dire CompanionAll enemies next to the Dire Comanion take a -6 penalty to their saves and AC, or all enemies in a 15ft' radius centered on the dark companion take a -4 penalty to their saves and AC, a hexblade can choose which at the start of each day.

Hexblade curse, a hexblade can use his curse ability a number of times per day equal to 1+1/5 hexblade level+CHA mod, as a swift action.

Stolen luck, At 6nd level, a hexblade gains a luck bonus equal to his Charisma bonus (if any) on Fort. and Will saving throws

Dark Luck Strike(Su)At level 17 as a free action a number of times eual to his caster level a Hexblade can expend a curse use to adds his charisma modifier to all melee or range weapon damage rolls for one round.

Strike of Unluck(Su)At level 11 if a hexblade successfully hits an opponent with a melee attack, they can expend one use of their curse's per day to inflict the target with Bestow Curse as a supernatural ability, the Will save for this ability is equal to 10+1/2Hexblade level.

Draining Aura(Su)At level 14 all enemies within a 10ft radius around the Hexblade become fatigued.This ability has no effect on a creature that is already fatigued. A hexblade can end or start this ability as a swift action.


***
Battle Cursing
Prerequisite: Ability to cast hexblade spells.
Benefit: You can cast most of your hexblade spells faster than normal. If the spell normally requires a standard action, you can cast it as a swift action. If it normally requires a full round to cast, you can cast it as a standard action. Spells with longer or shorter casting times are not affected by this feat.
(Yeah, it is Battle Blessing adapted for Hexblade use.

Extra Cursing,
Prerequisite: Hexblade Curse ability, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: When you take this feat, you gain two extra attempts to curse per day.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.
***


Questions? Commented? Apple Pie? Technically within the rules Flaming? Be honest folks on what do you think of it.

Tibbaerrohwen
2010-05-10, 09:53 AM
I don't think anyone can doubt that the Hexblade desperately needs a fix to be on par with the Bat-man Wizards and Clericzillas out there.
I'm glad you got rid of a bunch of the empty levels and kept the Hrxblade progression basically the same, while uping the class's effectiveness and keeping the basic flavour of the class.
With the new abilities you've added, you've drastically increased the ability of the Hexblasde to acts a suplimental/combat class, buffing and de-buffing foes while working very well as a martial class.
One issue I have with the class is the progression. It feels like you've packed allot into the beginning, and then stuffed everything else at the very end of the class. I can see how this maintains the balance of the class, because otherwise Dire Comanion and Dire Luck Reversal become too powerful. It may be better to reduce the power the abilities and space them more evenly.
I noticed that you increased the amount of time per day that the Hexblade can curse. However, I had figured that the purpose of the bonus feats were to do exactly this. If you have both I fear the class looses balance.
Also, the Draining Aura ability is a nice touch. I did not notice a save for it, however, which I think is a must for any such ability.
Finally, the abilities, such as Stolen Luck and Dark Luck Strike, may be a bit much if they are passive abilities. Since you haven't encorporated any useage of the Hexblade's spells, it may be a good idea to make the abilites an immediate action with bonus based on sacrificed spell slots.
Overall, I think it is a good fix, simply over-powered. Keep at it and best of luck on future endeavors.

The Shadowmind
2010-05-10, 05:23 PM
I might bump up Dire Companion to come 2 levels sooner, and Dire curse as well to fit the the improved companion coming a level after the improved curse pattern I was going for. The Dark Luck strike ability was added as a last movement thing when I realized there was a empty level that I didn't notice because the old curse progression was there. I might change the Dark Luck Strike to be a 1/round free action taking a curse charge to use, that would weaken it greatly.
I might change Stole luck to give the CHA to save to only Fort. and Will, thus keeping Reflex saves as the Hexblades weak point. As it is it isn't much stronger than the Paladins Divine Grace ability, but it comes later.

I didn't intend the Draining Aura to have a save, since it's purpose was to weaken an opponent that got into melee range, and completely stop charge builds, unless that charger had a way of avoiding the Fatigued condition. Might make the save same as the curse ability and trigger upon entering the aura. Might make the Draining Aura become a ACF that replaces the Aura of Unluck.

The reason I didn't focus on spells other than the rip off paladin feat for free quicken, was the hexblade doesn't have enough spells to fuel many spell use abilities which is why I gave him more curses and alternate abilities to use those curses one.

A hexblade 10 with 20 CHA, and took nothing but the extra curses starting at level 6 would have 20 curses to use, which maybe is a bit much in theory, not sure in practice.

If anyone knows how the CR 5,10,15,20 tier test runs, could they try to run the hexblade and see where this version lands?

Thinking of these changes:
Dire Hexblade's Curse->level 17
Dire Companion->18
Dire Dire Luck reversal-> 19.
Greater Luck reversal->16
Draining Aura-Will save, DC equal to curse.
Stole luck-CHA to Fort. and Will only.
Dark Luck Strike-takes a curse use to use.

Pechvarry
2010-05-10, 07:59 PM
HIYA!!!! <excessive insanity here>

Some initial thoughts and suggestions:

Add levels gained to the text of the Luck Reversal line of abilities so I don't have to dig through the table trying to find it.

Also, Greater Luck Reversal comes all of 3 levels earlier than Dire. I understand it's plugging a dead level so I dunno what I'd change about it. Perhaps have it swap places with Dark Luck Strike or Draining Aura. Buff abilities as appropriate in their new level 17 home.

Rename Battle Cursing to Battle Hexing. I know you have the whole anti-Paladin thing going on there, Blessing/Cursing and all. But they use Curses and spells. Their spells could be characterized as hexes and such, but to have a Battle Cursing feat not affect their Curse class features is a bit counter-intuitive.

Additionally, reading Stolen Luck got me thinking about the Luckstealer (RotW) Prestige Class (a fun 1-level dip for Hexblades, incidentally) and now I think it'd be neat to have a Hexblade with reduced curses/day but a "refresh mechanic" for them -- a way to draw them out of opponents. Though I don't know how, yet...

Oh well. While that sits in my brain, I must note that I like your version quite a bit. Good deal, sir.

The Shadowmind
2010-05-10, 08:40 PM
Okay renamed the Battle cursing to Battle Hexing, which is a better name, then swapped the Dark Luck Strike with Greater Luck reversal, and buffed Dark Luck Strike. And, made the changes I was already going to make. Reduced the number of curses Extra cursing gives by 1 to make it slighly less useful, but still being a useful feat if you are using the curse powered abilities.

The new Dark Luck Strike now allows the Hexblade a nova ability and makes caster level a bit more important and with the nerf to Extra Cursing makes when using the ability a question of tactics.

Cieyrin
2010-05-11, 12:35 PM
Interesting.

The only thing I really see I think needs tweaking is the Luck Reversal chain should probably provide a Luck bonus, rather than an unnamed one, given you're pushing luck and all. :smalltongue:

The Shadowmind
2010-05-11, 08:27 PM
I guess a luck bonus would fit better fluff wise, and reduce the power slightly by a small reduction in the number of things to stack with.