[3.5 Base Class] Not one step back!

[Flickerdart]

The Commandant

Bormag dragged his club along the ground with one hand, and snatched apples from the grove around the ogre raiding party, stuffing the fruit into his mouth as he walked. No one opposed them - the villagers must had fled as soon as they saw the raiding party on the horizon, as they always did; Bormag's fearsome reputation ran faster than the fastest horse he had ever seen, largely because they ate the last of that horse two days back. But as the apple trees receded and Bormag saw the village, he almost choked on an apple. A line of armed men stood between the ogres and the village, and it took more than a moment to spot the frightened faces of farmers and fishermen behind their warrior's demeanour. A man with a white cloak stood behind them, atop an ox cart, with a golden horn in his hand. Bormag had barely enough time to decide that the horn would look great attached to his helmet before the man blew it, and the villagers tore into the raiding party with a ferocity that Bormag had never seen before and would never get a chance to see again.

Hit die: d8

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Utterances Known|Maximum Utterance Level Known

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Commanding style, utterances|1(+1)|
1

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Chain of command +1, command focus|2(+1)|
1

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Strength of the loyal|2(+2)|
1

4th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Chain of command +2|3(+2)|
2

5th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Chain of command 20ft|3(+3)|
2

6th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+5|Lieutenant|4(+3)|
2

7th|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+5|Battlefield mastery +1|4(+4)|
3

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+2|
+6|Chain of command +3|5(+4)|
3

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+3|
+6|Tactical movement 1|5(+5)|
3

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+3|
+7|Improved chain of command, chain of command 30ft|6(+5)|
4

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+3|
+7|Battlefield mastery +2|6(+6)|
4

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+8|Chain of command +4, lieutenant|7(+6)|
4

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+4|
+8|Tactical movement 2|7(+7)|
5

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+4|
+9|Greater chain of command|8(+7)|
5

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+9|Chain of command 40ft, Battlefield mastery +3|8(+8)|
5

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+10|Chain of command +5|9(+8)|
6

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+10|Tactical movement 3|9(+9)|
6

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+11|Lieutenant|10(+9)|
6

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Battlefield mastery +4|10(+10)|
6

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Chain of command +6, chain of command 50ft|11(+10)|
6[/table]

Class features:

Class skills (4+INT modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Architecture and engineering) (Int), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility and royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis).

Commanding Style: At 1st level, every commandant must decide on a particular style of command to specialize in - either Silken Glove or Iron Hand. Choosing a style grants the commandant access to that lexicon. A commandant also learns extra utterances from that lexicon in addition to the standard amount of utterances known from the Lexicon of the Glorious Strategist (bonus utterances are indicated with "(+X)" on the table). The associated skill of the command style (diplomacy for Silken Glove, intimidate for Iron Hand) is always a class skill for a commandant, even if he multiclasses later. The commandant may use the associated skill of his commanding style to qualify for feats instead of Truespeak.

Utterances (Sp): A commandant can command his troops with more than words, learning how to reach enemy and ally alike with inspirational commands or terrifying threats. A commandant must succeed on a skill check (diplomacy for commandants of the Silken Glove and intimidate for commandants of the Iron Hand) in order to successfully activate an utterance, with the DC equal to 15+(CR*2) of his target. If an utterance affects more than one creature, roll one check for each creature affected. If an utterance has no creature as target, the DC is 25+commandant level. The DC to use a specific utterance increases by 2 for every time the utterance is successfully used in a given encounter. The DC to save against an utterance, if it offers a save, is 10 + the commandant's Charisma modifier + utterance level.

Chain of Command (Ex): The commandant's presence inspires his men, and his own confidence is likewise driven by their performance. A commandant of 2nd level or higher gains a +1 morale bonus to Charisma checks for every ally within 10 feet, to a maximum of half his class level. Every ally within 10 feet of the commandant (but not the commandant himself) gains a +1 bonus to skill checks (for Silken Glove commandants) or attack rolls (Iron Hand commandants). The bonus to skill checks or attack rolls increases by +1 every fourth class level (+2 at 4, +3 at 8, and so on). The range of this ability increases by 10 feet every 5 class levels.

Command Focus: A 2nd level commandant gains a bonus feat depending on his choice of command style: Skill Focus (Diplomacy) for Silken Glove commandants and Skill Focus (Intimidate) for Iron Hand commandants.

Strength of the Loyal (Ex): If an ally within the range of the chain of command ability of a 3rd level or higher commandant is affected by a mind-affecting effect, the commandant may, as an immediate action, roll an opposed Charisma check against the source of the effect (or caster level, if source has no Charisma). If the commandant wins the check, the effect is countered and dispelled.

Lieutenant: At 6th level and every 6 levels thereafter, a commandant may designate any friendly creature as a lieutenant. Friendly creatures within 10 feet of a commandant's lieutenant receive half the bonus that the commandant's chain of command class feature provides to the commandant's allies (minimum 1). The lieutenant loses this ability if he becomes hostile to the commandant or is slain, and the commandant must choose another lieutenant.

Battlefield Mastery (Ex): Any creature affected by the chain of command ability of a 7th level or higher commandant receives a +1 bonus to initiative. This bonus increases every fourth class level thereafter (+2 at 11th, +3 at 15th, +4 at 19th).

Tactical Movement (Ex): At 9th level, a commandant can position an ally of his choice before combat begins, moving him up to that ally's move speed. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and must start and end within the commandant's chain of command class feature's range. A commandant may move up to two allies when he reaches 13th level, and up to three allies at 17th.

Improved Chain of Command (Ex): A 10th level commandant may grant a bonus to armour class (Silken Glove) or damage rolls (Iron Hand) with his chain of command class feature. Switching the type of bonus is a swift action. The commandant's lieutenants (if any) may change their bonus independently of the commandant.

Greater Chain of Command (Ex): At 14th level, the commandant may instead grant a bonus to all saves (Silken Glove) or threat range (Iron Hand) with his chain of command class feature, equal to half the bonus he would usually grant.

[Flickerdart]

Lexicon of the Glorious Strategist
1st
Battlefield Medicine: Stabilize ally, or slay dying enemy
Mighty Bellow: Magnify sound, or muffle sound
Perfect Timing: As synchronicity, or enemy must delay
Fleet of Foot: Target treats terrain as even ground, or target 10ft square becomes difficult terrain
Liquid Courage: Ally gains +2 to save, or enemy gains -2 to save

2nd
Battle Challenge: Enemy must attack target of your choice, or ally receives bonuses against target
Combat Augury: See if action will succeed, or target enemy is confused
Pincer Strike: Flanked enemy is shaken, or ally is not considered flanked
Tactical Shift: Allies may take 5ft step, or move enemies 5 feet
Voice in the Darkness: Ally shares sight, or enemies are blinded

3rd
Call to Arms: Ally's sheathed weapon deals extra damage or enemy cannot draw weapon
Do As I Say: Target may imitate feat, or enemy must repeat action
Hive Consciousness: Targets gain traits of hive insects, or targets lose traits of hive insects
Road Less Travelled: Target gains special movement mode, or target loses special movement mode
Relay Net: Give orders telepathically, or read thoughts
Sudden Ambush: Ally bursts from cover, or enemy is mired in terrain

4th
Call the Weak Spot: Target creature's actions provoke AoO or target creature cannot make AoOs
Cunning Plan: Reveal enemy weakness, or strength
Combat Divination: Scry, or detect scrying
Die By The Sword: Enemy's weapon attacks wielder, or ally's weapon absorbs impact
Not As I Do: Target believes you have taken a different action, or target is compelled to act as you suggest

5th
Covering Fire: Attacks screen allies from AoO, or enemies cannot enter squares
Harrying Call: Enemy must make concentration checks or lose action, or allies can take action without AoO
Lethal Impact: Target ally's next attack deals sneak attack damage, or target ally is immune to precision damage
Magic Serves: Reshape area effect, or enlarge area effect

6th
Confound Foe: Target is trapped in a mental maze, or target is free to move
Encore: Target rerolls last failed save, or target rerolls last successful save
Massed Volley: One attack becomes many, or attacks deal cumulatively increasing damage
Surging Vitality: Ally gains cumulative bonus to rolls, or enemy gains cumulative penalty to rolls
Master Plan: As foresight, or dominate target creature

Lexicon of the Iron Hand
1st
Another One Bites the Dust: Allies gain bonuses when enemy dies, or enemies are shaken
Not A Step Back: Allies gain combat prowess when standing still, or allies gain bonuses when charging

2nd
Binding Terror: Target is paralyzed with fear, or target is able to move
On Pain of Death: Ally gains bonus to action, or enemy must follow command or take damage

3rd
Die When I Tell You: Target ally fights while below 0HP, or target enemy is slain by next attack
Run, Cowards: Target enemy is frightened or target ally takes a move action

4th
Greater Good: Allies gain smite ability, or allies gain damage reduction/lawful
No Prisoners: Allies gain bonus against shaken, frightened or panicked enemies, or ally gains temporary HP.

5th
Bloody Vengeance: Enemy takes double the damage it just dealt, or enemy gains conditions inflicted
Desperate Measures: Injured ally fights with renewed vigour, or injured enemy becomes weaker

6th
Crush Will: Target fails next save, or target succeeds next save
Primal Fear: Target creature becomes vulnerable to fear, or target creature becomes immune to fear

Lexicon of the Silken Glove

1st
Alarums: Ally is no longer flat-footed, or enemy is distracted
Tactical Retreat: Teleport ally to you, or enemy must retreat

2nd
Common Tongue: Target understands commands despite lack of language, or target cannot communicate
Stalwart Shield: Protect ally by taking damage, or divide damage among enemies

3rd
Heroic Stance: Target counts as larger, or smaller
Call Reinforcements: Summon allies to fight for you, or one target ally appears to be many

4th
Army of One: Target receives bonuses for enemies it threatens, or target receives penalties for enemies threatening it
Fighting the Good Fight: Allies gain smite ability, or allies gain damage reduction/good

5th
Bonds of Camraderie: Target creature receives benefits of familiar, or target creature's bond with its master is severed
White Flag: Target enemy surrenders, or target ally is immune to attack

6th
Maintaining Reserves: Target ally's 1/day ability is not expended, or target enemy loses a 1/day ability
Honeyed Tongue: Target creature becomes vulnerable to compulsions, or target creature becomes immune to compulsions
Utterances

Alarums
Lexicon of the Silken Glove (Compulsion)[Mind-Affecting]
Level: 1
Casting time: 1 immediate action (normal) or 1 standard action (reverse)
Duration: Instantaneous (normal) or 1 round (reverse)
Saving Throw: None (normal) or Will negates (reverse)

Normal: At your call, your ally is warned of the sudden danger you have seen.

Target creature is no longer flat-footed.

Reverse: As you point and shout, your foe turns to follow, paying no heed to the battle as he seeks out the phantom threat.

Target creature with 7HD or fewer is dazed for 1 round.


Another One Bites The Dust
Lexicon of the Iron Fist [Fear, Mind-Affecting]
Level: 1
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: None

Normal: As another enemy buckles and falls, you encourage your allies to advance, lest they end up just like it.

You may use this utterance only if an enemy was dropped (reduced to 0hp or below) in the previous round or during this round. All allies gain a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage for every enemy dropped during the encounter. If another enemy dies, the bonus increases by +1.

Reverse: You make it perfectly clear to your enemies that they will soon share the fate of their fallen friend.

You may use this utterance only if an enemy was dropped (reduced to 0hp or below) in the previous round or during this round. All creatures that were friendly to that enemy and are aware of its death are shaken for the duration of this utterance.


Army of One
Lexicon of the Glorious Strategist
Level: 4
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 minute
Saving throw: None

Normal: Your encouraging shout bolsters your ally - he is a great hero easily capable of taking on twice the number of the foes that swarm him.

Target creature gains a +2 morale bonus to attack, damage, AC and saves for every enemy creature he threatens (or adjacent to him, if he does not threaten squares). A swarm counts as a single creature. The bonus increases or decreases as enemies move closer or away.

Reverse: Your enemy is surrounded by the swords of your men, and its resolve is weakened as steel comes at it from every direction.

Target creature receives a -2 morale penalty to attack, damage, AC and saves for every enemy creature that threatens it. A swarm counts as a single creature. The bonus increases or decreases as enemies move closer or away.


Battle Challenge
Lexicon of the Glorious Strategist (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: 2
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: Encounter
Saving throw: None, but see text

Normal: With a boisterous laugh and a scathing insult, you provoke an enemy into battle with your chosen champion.

Target creature must attack one of your allies in preference to all others. An opponent affected by this utterance does not have to move to attack your ally in melee if doing so would provoke attacks of opportunity against him. In such a case, he can use ranged attacks against the designated ally or attack any opponents he threatens. This effect lasts until the enemy is slain or chooses to decline the challenge. An enemy that declines the challenge cannot attack you or the ally you have designated.

Reverse: That creature must die. You know it, and now your ally knows it too, and will do his best to do the deed.

Your target receives a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls against the target creature for every 2HD difference between their hit dice totals (minimum +1).


Battlefield Medicine
Lexicon of the Glorious Strategist (Necromancy) [Healing, Death]
Level: 1
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: Instantaneous (normal), instantaneous/10 minutes per HD of subject; see text (reverse)
Saving throw: Will negates (harmless) (normal), Will negates (reverse)

Normal: Your words calm your dying friends, slowing the flow of blood that they'll probably need later on.

All friendly creatures within 30 feet of you are healed 1 hit point.

Reverse: A quick order and a cut in the right place grants mercy to your dying enemies.

You slay a dying creature as per the death knell spell, and gain all associated benefits.


Binding Terror
Lexicon of the Iron Hand [Fear, Mind-Affecting]
Level: 2
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 round/level; see text (normal), instantaneous (reverse)
Saving throw: Will negates; see text (normal), none (reverse)

Normal: Your threat freezes your foe in its place as he struggles not to void his bowels, much less move.

Target creature is affected as though with hold person, except as noted here.

Reverse: If your ally stays paralyzed, he might get killed, but even worse, he'd have disobeyed your order.

Target paralyzed, stunned or dazed ally receives another save against that effect. If the effect had no saving throw, it is dispelled at the start of the next round. This utterance may only remove one effect per use.

Bloody Vengeance
Lexicon of the Iron Hand (Necromancy) [Fear, Mind-Affecting]
Level: 5
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: Instantaneous (normal), 1 round/level (reverse)
Saving throw: None

Normal: Your enemy reels with the impact of the damage it just dealt.

Target creature takes damage equal to double what it dealt on its last turn. The damage is untyped, and not affected by any damage reduction.

Reverse: The blow just dealt to one of your foes invigorates your ally with new resolve to continue the battle.

Target creature gains temporary hit points equal to twice the damage it dealt on its last turn.


Bonds of Camraderie
Lexicon of the Silken Glove
Level: 5
Casting time: 1 standard action
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving throw: Will negates (harmless) (normal), will negates (reverse)

Normal: You forge a fleeting magical connection between yourself and one other creature.

Target creature gains all the benefits of being your familiar, using your caster level as effective wizard level to determine the abilities it gains. If it is slain, you do not lose any XP.

Reverse: You fill the mind of your enemy with doubt, muddling its connection with a companion.

Target creature loses the benefits of being a familiar, animal companion, special mount or similar. The creature performs the last action it was ordered to do if it retains the intelligence to complete it. The creature regards its master as friendly, but considers its survival more important.

Utterances are still works in progress

[Flickerdart]

Reserved post (more utterances? PrC? Feats? I dunno)

[Thinker]

The Commandant class itself is alright. It doesn't seem overpowered and it doesn't look like a replacement for the Marshal, either. I will reserve final judgment for the completion of the utterances. I do have a couple of critiques.

My first problem is with Chain of Command. Does the bonus that the Marshal receives from nearby allies only apply to Charisma checks and not to Charisma-based skill checks as well? If so, it is not that beneficial for the Commandant. Also, the range on Chain of Command is pretty small. 10-ft plus 10-ft per 5 Commandant levels is going to be negligible throughout most of the game. It will also require extra attentiveness from the players, both for the Commandant's level and to remember if they're in range. I think a better alternative is to simply make it a flat 60-ft and keep the bonuses provided based on level.

The Lieutenant feature is nice, but I think it could use a bit of a boost as well. Starting off at half of the CoC's bonus is good, but I think that it should raise to the full bonus at some point.

For your Utterances, they are a bit vague. As it stands now, I have no idea what range they work at. Secondly, I have no idea what sort of action is needed to cast an utterance (though the default for Sp is a standard action I think). Also, the skill check required to cast the utterance is annoying and falls into some of the same traps as the Truenamer, namely that they will be either trivial or difficult, depending on character selections. Most of the time they will be trivial. I'm not sure why you would want buffs to only work some of the time and you already have a save mechanic built in, giving a second chance of failure for each offensive utterance. If you want to limit how often utterances are used, do one of the following: Use an "utterance pool" that is basically like a magic point system with some sort of recharge system or use a fire and forget style with either an X/encounter recharge or once per X rounds recharge.

I would also like to see more for the Commandant to do during combat, but maybe once you've finished the utterances we'll see more of that. Good work so far.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah, I should have specified like the Truenamer does - all utterances are anywhere in line-of-sight and standard actions respectively, except I'm adding different actions for them. I've considered making them only usable within the range of CoC, making lieutenants more beneficial to have.

The CHA check bonus is intended to be for skills as well, which is why the area of CoC is small - so that the party actually has to stay in a certain range to make the commandant's utterances easier to use. I'll consider making it scale faster, however.

Uttering is a skill check because I wanted to do a skill-based (originally, Intimidate-based) system for casting.

[Thinker]

Yeah, I should have specified like the Truenamer does - all utterances are anywhere in line-of-sight and standard actions respectively, except I'm adding different actions for them. I've considered making them only usable within the range of CoC, making lieutenants more beneficial to have.

The CHA check bonus is intended to be for skills as well, which is why the area of CoC is small - so that the party actually has to stay in a certain range to make the commandant's utterances easier to use. I'll consider making it scale faster, however.

Uttering is a skill check because I wanted to do a skill-based (originally, Intimidate-based) system for casting.

I really don't think that a skill-based system can work in 3.5e very easily. I think the best way would be one DC provides one benefit, while a tougher DC provides a better one. This way you can have crowning moments of awesome with good rolls, but are not utterly useless otherwise.

Rather than a regular skill, you could also consider using a different check that scales like skills (+1/level) and adds your charisma bonus, but isn't susceptible to all of the optimization that skills are.