the blaster (3.5 D&D, PEACH with a little WIP) better, and slightly more balanced

[bobthe6th]

changed a lot, but a link to the first thread for the curious...
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12041760#post12041760


but introducing the barbarian of the magic world....

The Blaster

The blaster has magic thrumming in his veins. He casts magic like a musician improvises, he makes it up as he goes. A wizard summons energy by ritual, a warlock as a set number of tricks, and the psion finds powers in his mind. The blaster does all of these things at once, shaping the power of his mind heart and soul through improvised rituals. The result is more often then not explosive, and that is the way he likes it!

races: Any race can produce blasters, but they all most always have a blood tie to a higher power. This power could be as symple as having a pit fiend for a father, or as complex as a long lost fae ancestor. Blasters are very common among humans, as humans are far more interbred then any other race (heh, centaurs) and among the savage races. Powerful savage mages are often blasters. Blasters are more common in times of strife, as their latent powers are more suited for combat. Many tieflings and dragon blooded become blasters.

other classes: blasters are close to sorcerers and warlocks. they are closer to their power granting ancestors then sorcerers, but still farther than warlocks. as such, they often are at odds with the two classes. they find wizards to serious, as the heavy study of magic takes most of the fun out of it. the wizards dislike the blaster, finding them shallow and undisciplined. melee classes enjoy the artillery support of the blaster, and stealthy classes enjoy the distraction.

role: the blaster is really just that, good at blasting. they take the place of magical blasting, and with little effort can be a nice anti-air cannon so the rest of the party doesn't need ranged attacks. with the proper metamagic, the blaster can gain some versatility, but it can never really fill the place of a beguiler or enchanter. with his mediocre hit die and light normal protection, a blaster is often forced to remain in the back of the party.

abilities: the main stat of a blaster is charisma. it is the center of most of its abilaties. with the lowish hit die the blaster benefits from a high constitution. as the blaster often goes lightly armored, a high dex helps keep his AC up.

{table=head] level | base attack bonus | fort | ref | will | special
1st | +0 | +0 | +0 | +2| blasting
2nd | +1 | +0 | +0 | +3| between the blasts, blasting augmentation
3rd | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3|
4th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4| between the blasts...
5th | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4| augmentation mastery
6th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5| between the blasts...
7th | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5|
8th | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6| between the blasts...
9th | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6|
10th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7| between the blasts..., augmentation mastery
11th | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7|
12th | +6/+1 | +4 | +4 | +8| between the blasts...
13th | +6/+1 | +4 | +4 | +8|
14th | +7/+2 | +4 | +4 | +9| between the blasts...
15th | +7/+2 | +5 | +5 | +9| augmentation mastery
16th | +8/+3 | +5 | +5 | +10| between the blasts...
17th | +8/+3 | +5 | +5 | +10|
18th | +9/+4 | +6 | +6 | +11| between the blasts...
19th | +9/+4 | +6 | +6 | +11|
20th | +10/+5 | +6 | +6 | +12| between the blasts..., augmentation mastery
[/table]

hit die: d8

skills: (4+int mod.)x4 at first level

class skills: (Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (all, taken individually), Profession, Spell craft, Use Magic Device).

weapon and armor proficiencies: a blaster is proficient with light armor and light shields. a blaster is also proficient with all simple weapons, and one martial weapon of his choice.

blasting(SP):the blaster can create destruction. this is a ray with a range of 60 feat. it is a ranged touch attack that affects a single target, and allows no saving throw. this blasting deals 1d6 damage/level. this blasting is treated as a spell equal to the blasters blaster level/2 rounded down, to a minimum of 1. blasting is subject to spell resistance, though feats that help a caster overcome spell resistance apply to the blasting. blasting deals full damage to objects.

between the blasts...(SP): starting at 2nd level the blaster starts to learn to do more than blast. he learns a set of magical tricks separate from blasting. when a blaster first learns a trick, he gets the most basic version. at 6th 12th and 18th levels he gains use of more comblex versions of the trick. he selects one trick every even level. he selects his tricks from the list bellow.

blasting augmentation(SP):starting a 2nd level the blaster can augment his blasting with additional power. this takes the form of a pool of augmentation points, refreshable with one round of concentration. the pool contains a number of augmentation points equal to the blasters level*2+ his charisma modifier. only up to the blasters level in augmentation points may be spent on one blast. the augmentation points can be spent on the following augmentations

area affect:
the blaster chooses one of the following forms. the size of the area is equal to 5'*the number of points placed in it*the areas modifier. as the blast is now an area of affect, it dosn't require a ranged touch attack. it now has a reflex save for half damage, with a DC equal to the effective spell level of the blast+10+the blasters charisma modifier.
burst: normal
cone: normal
line: *2
cilander: diameter as normal, height *2

damage type:
the blaster chooses one of the following damage trees. for one point he can use the lowest damage type in the tree. for 4 points he can use the secound damage type in the tree. for 9 points he can use the highest damage type in the tree.

elimental(fire, cold, acid, electricity)>sonic>half divine(the blast deals half damage, but bypasses any resistance/DR)

mundane (slashing, bludgeoning, piercing)> force> shreding (treat as force, but causes a massive damage saving throw at 25+ damage)
need more damage trees

range:
the blaster gets additional range for his blasts equal to 5'*his charisma modifire*the number of augmentation points invested.

targets:
for each augmentation point invested, the blast has another target. this combined with the area of affect augmentation can create overlapping blast area, but the damage from the blast is only applied to any given target once.

wall:
this augmentation can't be applied along with the area of affect or target augmentations. this augmentation creates a wall of blast, with a a hight equal to 5'*the amount of augmentation points invested. the wall is twice that in length. the wall has to be contiguous, but can be shaped however the blaster wishes. the wall blocks line of sight. the wall lasts until the blasters next turn.

rider affect:

need some help here... need a list of affects.

augmentation mastery(SP): at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels, the blaster selects one type of augmentation. all blast he casts may augmented with up to half his level in augmentation points in that augmentation group. this bonus can stack, but dosn't allow the blaster to put more than his level in augmentation points into that augmentation group.






tricks:
Come Apart: by focusing his power, the blaster can cause more specific destruction.

least form:the blaster may deal damage to an object with a touch attack. this deals 3/level damage that ignores hardness.

lesser form:the blaster can now do this damage at close range with a ranged touch attack. the damage increases to 4/level.

better form:the blaster can now deal this damage to all the objects a creature has equipped. he must hit the creature with a ranged touch attack at medium range. the damage increases to 5/level.

master form:the blaster can now deal this damage to all objects in a 20ft burst. this burst can be centered in any square within long range. the damage increases to 6/level

Push:by focusing raw kenetic energy, the blaster can lift himself.

least form:the blaster can take a swift action to concentrate before he makes a jump check. if he does, he can deal his normal blasting damage in nonlethal damage to himself. his check gets a bonus equal to the amount of damage taken.

lesser form: the blaster now take 1d6 non lethal damge to grant himself a 60ft flight speed with good maneuverability that round.

better form: the baster no longer take damage when he activates his flight speed.

master form: the blasters flight speed increases to perfect



least form:

lesser form:

better form:

master form:



need sugestions on more tricks...

[lothofkalroth]

you need to give the blaster more than just raw destruction. I understand it's supposed to be an unleashed magical dynamo, but if the only thing you were ever good at was mass destruction, you would have a hard time finding a job. You might want to expand that skill list and give blasters more skill points.

At the moment they're like powerful mages who can only use evocation. Seems pretty restrictive. You might want to come up with different kinds of blasts like shaped blast or healing blast, that kind of thing.

Hope this helps.

[bobthe6th]

thank you for the feed back! will try to respond...


I am planing to add some utility spells to the between the blast ability... but I need some ideas on that. I want to leave it weaker as far as utility is concerned, as it is meant to be a focused blast mage... but perhaps a bigger skill list would help.

as for the shaped and healing blasts... well meta can do nearly anything. and by level 19 this class gets 9 meta feats, along with a nifty ability to use them.
but adding healing feels a bit off focus to me...

hope i can get some more feed back

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm a little unclear about the mechanics. His blast deals 1d12/2 character levels elemental damage by default in a 5 foot burst. Improving the area of effect or damage type lowers the damage die used. He has a die pool equal to character level + Charisma modifier, which he can use to either add damage or metamagic. Yes?

I think it works, but it's a bit convoluted, and I think it might actually weaken the class a bit. Remember, to be really viable you're going to want to be able to do a lot of damage. Also, your real class feature doesn't kick in until second level, which is a little suboptimal.

My suggestion for simplifying things? Your blast deals a flat d6/level. You have a "Blast Pool" equal to your character level plus your Charisma modifier, with a limited number of refills per day (say, one-half Charisma modifier). All improvements to your blast cost points from this pool.

I might not actually allow metamagic feats to apply to blasts, with either system. The balance of such things is already wonky and prone to abuse, and depends on conservation of resources and suchlike. Here, where I have a huge reservoir of points that can be refilled in less than thirty seconds, there's nothing to stop me from blowing all my dice pool on a twinned repeating maximized fire blast, vaporizing the current encounter, refreshing my pool, and doing that all day. That's not a high-level thing or anything, either-- with an 18 Charisma, I could do so at level SEVEN, for... oh... (4*10)*2 *2 = 160 slashing damage over two turns. There are CR TEN monsters that don't have that much health. If I spend my normal character feats on Ability Focus (no reason not to), I can get the save DC up to 25, as a human. Avoid that.

That's an extreme example, but... yeah. It wasn't hard to come up with, either. Blasting should be effective, but not to one-shot-everything levels, which isn't fun for the rest of the party.

To compensate, turn the "meta blast" ability into a series of blast essence invocation type dealies. Then, you can add more balanced Blast Pool costs, avoid ridiculous metamagic tricks, and give the potential for more interesting tricks. Set people on fire! Panic them! Blind them! And so on.

As for Between the Blasts powers, I see three categories: personal mobility buffs, such as flight, personal defense (limit these), and 'fun' abilities. Look at the warlock for ideas.

[bobthe6th]

The defalt should be touch... any way I could make that clearer? The tex of blasting came together to over the corse of a few days, so I should re order it. The gist was meant to be that blasting works like a spell, but isn't a spell slot you can sacrafise.

I need to think about the meta... I wanted a simple way to add rider affects, without walls of text.

A flat d6/2 level seems a little boring, and open to the same weakness as a warlock. It tickles anything level apropriate, moreso at higher levels. 1.5 damage/level, even doubled is rather light.

The nova abilaty is kind of crazy... but the idea was that in combat three rounds is a lot.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The defalt should be touch... any way I could make that clearer? The tex of blasting came together to over the corse of a few days, so I should re order it. The gist was meant to be that blasting works like a spell, but isn't a spell slot you can sacrafise.
Re-write the paragraph, knowing all that you do now. Make tables for the progressions- that should make them easier to read.

Also, I suggest you make the default a ranged touch, so that you're not as much of a liability when your blast pool runs out.


A flat d6/2 level seems a little boring, and open to the same weakness as a warlock. It tickles anything level apropriate, moreso at higher levels. 1.5 damage/level, even doubled is rather light.
I meant d6/level, period. It actually works out to the same average damage as d12/2 levels. It's still no more than a normal spellcaster can do, so I don't recommend decreasing the damage as you increase the area of the spell.

[/quote]The nova abilaty is kind of crazy... but the idea was that in combat three rounds is a lot.[/QUOTE]
It is, and you'd never do it in combat. The problem is that you can go nova in such a way that you can essentially end combat in one round. Out of combat, 18 seconds is nothing. That's why I suggest limited refills, and probably a longer refill time-- say, 10 minutes of meditation.

[bobthe6th]

redisine of the page waits till the weekend probably... along with a lot of the editing.

will add an effect tree, to be put in place of the meta. going to tie it to the blasting pool.

now the blasting pool seems a little shallow for a ten minute refill, way to shallow for a limited times per day. as is, it lets him deal 2 dice/level damage 1 time + charisma mod/level times. think I might make it twice level, to make it less of a thing to nova... or perhaps a one round reload, to make it a viable action in a protracted battle. with out meta letting it nova as hard, it should be less of an issue.

as for a flat 1d6/level... it seems a bit like the blasters previous incarnation. with that the blaster can go all day blasting at full strength every round... which means it needs some heavy nerfing. as is, it can blast with a lot of versatility but you lose power the more you augment. this way a blaster can kill tons of mooks... but it really should be able to, as that is the base of blasting.

[Grod_The_Giant]

as for a flat 1d6/level... it seems a bit like the blasters previous incarnation. with that the blaster can go all day blasting at full strength every round... which means it needs some heavy nerfing. as is, it can blast with a lot of versatility but you lose power the more you augment. this way a blaster can kill tons of mooks... but it really should be able to, as that is the base of blasting.

So? At 10th level, 10d6 averages to 30 damage. There are plenty of CR 10 monsters with three to five times that much health, regardless of spell resistance, energy resistance, saves, and so on. You're not doing any more damage than a wizard casting fireball or orb of force, and you don't have the option of battlefield control, save-or-dies, or anything like that-- you can just hit things. Unless your typical adventuring day includes more than two or three encounters, by mid-levels, casting fatigue isn't a huge issue.

I don't necessarily think that the blast pool should add extra dice-- it should add secondary effects, metamagic-type effects, and so on. It should pay for the changes to damage type and area. That sort of thing.

[bobthe6th]

point... shows my ignorance of steady play... so perhaps a pool equal to character level*2+charisma modifier? then with a 16 in charisma a first level blaster has a pool of 5 points, that can be used to do meat stuff to his spells. at 10th it has a pool of 23(probably more as charisma his casting stat...). and a twentieth level blaster has a pool of 43... seems to work. perhaps to keep massive areas down, all the augments cost the square of there level? then to make it a normal damage burst is one point, but to make it a force blast it costs 9. otherwise the areas get crazy. a first level blaster with a cone of blast 80' long is a bit cheesy...

if thats the pool, then I think a single round refile seems fair... as it should run out fairly often, and be needed to be effective.

rider affects will need some thought... perhaps each affect cost some amount of specialization. so you can get a rider affect every odd level? or less as that totals 10 riders at twentieth... not sure yet.

[bobthe6th]

ok so major changes...

blasting now reads much like eldrich blast.

no more metamagic.

augmentation pool, with a system simaler to the psionc metamagic. with a full round action required to regain full blasting capabilities.



so, simplified... thinking that the damage needs a way to be increased. 1d6 level is a bit weak at higher levels... perhaps add a d6s by taking non lethal damage? cap it as equal to caster level, and you could nova... but take a good bit of damage in the process...