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View Full Version : Warden Base Class 3.5 D&D (PEACH, emphasis on please)



Batpope Scott
2013-06-13, 03:50 AM
This class is a work in progress, but I would like pointers on what I've already done. This idea seems almost too powerful to me but I've been wrong before.

Warden, Base Class

The Warden is a warrior who knows that he can trust his instincts. He uses the power that he gains through his connection with nature to accomplish his goals and is no push-over when it comes to strength of arms.


{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special |
Invocations|
Fast Movement

1st|+1|+2|+2|+0|Nature's Fury, Faithful Companion, Keen Senses|
-|
+0

2nd|+2|+3|+3|+0|Fast Movement, Woodland Stride, Intuitive Athletics|
-|
+10

3rd|+3|+3|+3|+1|Nature's Fury (+2 Dex), Keen Tracker|
-|
+10

4th|+4|+4|+4|+1|Nature Bond, Fey Skin DR1/Cold Iron|
1|
+10

5th|+5|+4|+4|+1|Nature's Fury (+1AC)|
2|
+10

6th|+6/+1|+5|+5|+2|Controlled Fury +1, Trackless Step|
2|
+20

7th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+2|Lesser Invocations, Woodland Stride|
3|
+20

8th|+8/+3|+6|+6|+2|Fey Skin DR2/Cold Iron, Whirling Charge|
3|
+20

9th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+3|Controlled Fury +2, Nature's Fury(+1AC)|
4|
+20

10th|+10/+5|+7|+7|+3|Blindsense, Venom Immunity|
4|
+30

11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+7|+3|Woodland Stride(Magic)|
5|
+30

12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+8|+4|Fey Skin DR3/Cold Iron, Nature's Fury +4|
5|
+30ft

13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+8|+4|Greater Invocations, Evasion|
6|
+30ft

14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+9|+4|Mettle, Nature's Fury(+1AC)|
6|
+40ft

15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+9|+5|Woodland Stride(Terrain)|
7|
+40ft

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+10|+5|Fey Skin DR4/Cold Iron|
7|
+40ft

17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+10|+5|Timeless Body, Grand Invocations|
8|
+40ft

18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+11|+6|Nature's Fury(+1AC)|
8|
+50ft

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+11|+6|Great Fury|
9|
+50ft

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+12|+6|Fey Skin DR5/Cold Iron, Nature's Champion|
9|
+50ft

[/table]
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d8

Class Skills:
The Warden’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge(Local), Knowledge(Nature)(Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).


Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A barbarian is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Nature's Fury(Su): The Warden's most prominent ability is losing himself in his instincts. A Warden can enter a state of heightened senses, speed and endurance at the cost of his stamina. A Warden may activate Nature's Fury as a swift action, granting the Warden a +2 Bonus to Dexterity, a +1 bonus to AC and a -2 penalty to Will Saves. The Warden can use this ability for a number of rounds equal to (Class level+Wis Mod) and must make concentration checks with a DC of (10+1 per previous round spent over the limit of the Fury) to stay in the Fury.The warden can drop out of the Fury as a free action and when the Fury ends the Warden is fatigued until able to rest for one minute. The Fury can be used as many times per day as the Warden needs, but cannot be used while fatigued or exhausted. The Warden cannot use any skills requiring concentration and cannot use spells or spell-like abilities while in a fury.

For the purposes of prerequisites feats that enhance a barbarians rage, the Nature's Fury ability is to be regarded as rage. When a prerequisite requires a number of uses of rage per day, the Warden counts as having one use at first level and one additional use per four class levels (2 at four, 3 at eight, etc).

At third level, Nature's Fury increases Dexterity by a further +2 and at level 12 the bonus to dexterity increases to +6 and to +8 at level 20. At levels 8, 14 and 18, the AC bonus from Nature's Fury increases by +1.

Faithful Companion: The Warden can obtain a faithful companion, which functions as a Sorcerer's Familiar. Instead of being able to deliver touch spells starting at 3rd level, while the companion is within 60ft the Warden gains the Endurance feat

Keen Senses: A Warden's proximity with his wild side develops senses past the point of a normal member of his race. The Warden gains a bonus on Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival equal to 1+1/4 Class Level.

Fast Movement(Ex): Starting at second level, the Warden gains enhanced speed. This starts as a +10ft bonus, but increases by an additional +10ft every fourth level afterwards (6, 10, 14, 18) ending at a total of a +50ft bonus. This movement bonus stacks with other bonuses to speed. The bonus to speed cannot be used while in armor heavier than light or while carrying a medium or heavy load.

Intuitive Athletics(Ex): The Warden is adept at allowing his instincts to take over when performing physical tasks. When using the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Jump, Ride, Swim or Tumble, the Warden may add the ability score normally used with the skill twice. (For example, the warden applies 2x his strength modifier on a climb or jump check, and 2x his dexterity modifier on balance or escape artist checks)

Woodland Stride: Starting at 2nd level, a Warden may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect him.

At eleventh level, the Warden may ignore even magical plants and snares that would impair his movement or deal damage. He ignores the effects of any magically manipulated natural growth like a magically created briar field or the effects of the entangle spell. The warden also gains a +4 bonus to will saves against the spell-like abilities of fey.

At fifteenth level, the Warden may ignore any difficult terrain.

Whirling Fury(Ex): A Warden becomes more in tune with his instincts over time. At third level, the Nature's Fury ability allows the Warden to make an extra attack with a full attack action at her highest base attack bonus. All attacks made in the round suffer a -2 penalty and the ability does not stack with additional attacks from Haste or similar effects.

At eleventh level, the warden gains an additional extra attack when using the full attack action. This attack is at a -5, like the second attack from a high base attack bonus.

At fifteenth level, the warden gains a third extra attack when using the full attack action. This attack is at a -10, like the third attack from a high base attack bonus.

Keen Tracker: The Warden gains Track as a bonus Feat. If he already had track from another source, he may choose a single feat that he meets the prerequisites for instead.

Nature Bond: A Warden has an innate bond with the world that makes him a force to be reckoned with. At fourth level, a Warden has a Divine Caster level equal to his class level and can use Invocations that work similarly to spell-like abilities. He knows one invocation at fourth level and gains more as he rises in levels, as shown by the table, and can use all of his invocations as at-will spell like abilities. Armor does not interfere with the invocations like it does arcane spells due to a lack of complex somatic components.
Fey Skin: A Warden gains DR1/Cold Iron at 4th level. This DR increases by 1 every four levels afterwards (8, 12, 16, 20) ending at DR5/Cold Iron at twentieth level.

Controlled Fury: The penalty to attacks from using whirling fury is reduced by one at sixth level and becomes nonexistent at level 9. This penalty reduction does not effect the -5 or -10 for additional extra attacks, just the original -2 penalty to all attacks made in the round.

Lesser Invocations(Su): The Warden gains access to Lesser Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.

Tornado Charge: A Warden that reaches 8th level gains the Pounce ability while using Nature's Fury, allowing the warden to make a full attack at the end of a charge.

Blindsense(Su): The Warden can sense creatures without using his eyes. The range for this ability is 15ft + (5ft*Class level)

Trackless Step: Starting at 6th level, a Warden leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

Venom Immunity: The Warden gains immunity to all poisons.

Greater Invocations: The Warden gains access to Greater Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.

Mettle (Ex):At 14th level and higher, a Warden can resist magical and unusual attacks with great fortitude. If he makes a successful Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping Warden does not gain the benefit of mettle

Evasion (Ex):At 13th level, a Warden can avoid even magical and
unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex
saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a
successful save (such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a fireball), he
instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the Warden is
wearing light, medium or no armor. A helpless Warden (such as one who
is unconscious or paralyzed) does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Timeless Body(Ex):After attaining 17th level, a Warden no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place.

Bonuses still accrue, and the Warden still dies of old age when her time is up.

Grand Invocations: The Warden gains access to Grand Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.

Great Fury: The Warden is no longer fatigued after using Nature's Fury.

Nature's Champion: The Warden becomes one with nature and his type changes to Fey. Additionally, the Warden will no longer die of old age.

*Invocations are currently being worked on*

Invocations
All invocations require a standard action to use unless otherwise noted.
Least

Entangling Mists: Summons wispy tendrils that entangle those in it's area.
Least; 2nd
You can summon entangling tendrils of mist that latch on to creatures and objects in the area. This invocation works as the Entangle spell except it does not require plants to use and cannot work differently for using different plants as a result.
Earthen Grasp: Use Earthen Grasp as the spell(Complete Arcane).
Least; 2nd
Summons an earthen hand to grapple the opponent. Used as the spell, Earthen Grasp.
Blast of Sea: Use a gout of water to bull rush an enemy.

Elemental Shroud: Resist elements and augment weapon strikes.

Guiding Winds: Ranged weapons have range increments increased by 50%
Least; 1st
Duration: Ten Minutes per Caster Level
Guiding Winds increases range increments of ranged weapons by 50% and stacks with the effects of similar abilities that increase range like the Far Shot feat.

Fang and Claw: Turn into a wolf, as the spell Aspect of the Wolf(Spell Compendium)



Lesser

Witchwood Step: The subject is under the effects of Blur, as the spell.

Sky Step: Walk on Air, as the spell but only one round.

Quake: Shake the earth and knock targets prone.

Wild Roar: Shout deals damage and deafens.

Briar Field: Create an area field with Briars, dealing damage and slowing targets.

Night's Blessing: Gain darkvision and see in supernatural darkness.

Penetrating Gaze: Gain darkvision and see invisible creatures.

Camouflage: Gain a +10 bonus on Hide checks in natural terrain.

Stony Grasp: Use Stony Grasp, as the spell (Complete Arcane).

Greater

Badger's Claw: Gain claws and burrow speed.

Free Stride: Use Freedom of Movement, as the spell.

Wall of Thorns: As the spell.

Disappear: Use Invisibility, as the spell.

Sea Step: Walk on water, as the spell Water Walk.

Grand

Talon and Feather: Transform into a Giant Eagle.

Sun's Light: Use Daylight, as the spell.

Sylvan Step: Use Tree Stride, as the spell.

Wild Runner: As the spell (Spell Compendium)

blackmage
2013-06-13, 12:39 PM
Well, wow, this is interesting. It's a hybrid of Barbarian, Warlock, Monk, and a little Druid or Ranger. I love the flavor of a wilderness warrior that is enhanced by the power of Nature, and this is definitely a different tack from the Ranger.

I think I may come across a little harsh in my commentary. No harshness is intended, I like this idea and want to help put polish on it.


Hit Die: 1d8
I'm unsure about the low Hit Die. This is a full BAB class that seems designed to be in melee, so I would think 1d10. Or is it supposed to be a skirmisher more than a brawler?


Class Skills:
The Warden’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge(Local), Knowledge(Nature)(Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier
I think Spot should be on this list, it gets boosted by Fury so I assume this is an oversight. Maybe have Hide and Move Silent too?
The points per level is a problem. You're a bit of a caster so you want Concentrate, and you have wilderness/tracking stuff so you want Survival and Know(Nature). Oops, already out of skills. Unless some other class abilities seriously supplement this, the character can only do one or two relevant things outside of combat, and that isn't enough.


Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A barbarian is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).
All good.


Nature's Fury(Su): The Warden's most prominent ability is losing himself in his instincts. A Warden can enter a state of heightened senses, speed and endurance at the cost of his stamina. A Warden may activate Nature's Fury as a swift action, granting the Warden a +2 Bonus to Dexterity and Constitution, a +2 to Spot, Listen, Sense motive and Survival and a -2 penalty to Will Saves. The Warden can use this ability for a number of rounds equal to (Class level+Wis Mod) and must make concentration checks with a DC of (10+1 per previous round spent over the limit of the Fury) to stay in the Fury.The warden can drop out of the Fury as a free action and when the Fury ends the Warden is fatigued until able to rest for one minute. The Fury can be used as many times per day as the Warden needs, but cannot be used while fatigued or exhausted. The Warden cannot use any skills requiring concentration and cannot use spells or spell-like abilities while in a fury.

For the purposes of prerequisites feats that enhance a barbarians rage, the Nature's Fury ability is to be regarded as rage. When a prerequisite requires a number of uses of rage per day, the Warden counts as having one use at first level and one additional use per four class levels (2 at four, 3 at eight, etc).
Well...wow, actually. This is a Rage mechanic that I like! It has a long duration that grows naturally with level progression, within a few levels you can use it for a while fight if you like. There are no uses per day, but it is essentially 1 use per encounter. I also like that it turns 'off' invocations, so in each encounter you choose between your caster side and your combat side. Or, cast a couple buffs or something and then run into the fight.

For the bonuses it actually gives, Dex and Con instead of Str and Con is an interesting one. A skirmisher, or weapon finesse class? The skill bonuses are OK, but wouldn't Sense Motive and Survival require concentration, and therefore not be useable during Fury? And a Will penalty is interesting. I can see a flavor angle, you are wild and unstable and more easily tricked. But it is at odds with the good Will save, and the numerous abilities that are based off Wisdom.


Faithful Companion: The Warden's unique training lures faithful companions to his side and he can use his power to create a link between himself and a creature to uplift it beyond it's kin. A Warden's Faithful companion acts as a familiar for the Warden and bestowing similar benefits. A Warden's companion doesn't have the ability deliver touch spells and instead grants the Warden the effects of Endurance any time they are within 60 ft of each other. If the Warden were to take Endurance as a feat, the +4 bonus on certain checks and saves stack. Endurance from the companion may not be used to qualify for feat or prestige class prerequisites. As a familiar normally gains the ability to deliver touch spells at third level, this extra ability does not manifest until then.
So, you get a Familiar. That seems fine. I'd consider just taking the standard Familiar wording from the Wizard class or something, just so it's more familiar (hah!) and understandable to the reader. I would also simplify the Endurance text, I don't think the stacking is really necessary or all that useful. Here's what I would propose for new wording:
Faithful Companion: The Warden can obtain a faithful companion, which functions as a Sorcerer's Familiar. Instead of being able to deliver touch spells starting at 3rd level, while the companion is within 60 ft the Warden gains the Endurance feat

Fast Movement(Ex): Starting at second level, the Warden gains enhanced speed. This starts as a +10ft bonus, but increases by an addition +10ft every fourth level afterwards (6, 10, 14, 18) ending at a total of a +50ft bonus. This movement bonus stacks with other bonuses to speed.
I like it. I like how it meshes nicely with Woodland Stride. And that it stacks with other bonuses. The only issue with it is the same problem the Monk has. They get a bonus to movement abilities, and then a major combat ability (Flurry) that only works when they stand still. Consider how this and Whirling Fury will interact.


Intuitive Athletics(Ex): The Warden is adept at allowing his instincts to take over when performing physical tasks. When using the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Jump, Ride, Swim or Tumble, the Warden may add his Wisdom modifier as a bonus to the skill.
So this addresses my earlier complaint about needing help in the skill area. But I'm not feeling very warm and fuzzy about this, it only increases your roll by a couple of points, and I'm kind of worrying that it increases MAD. Will talk about this more at the end.


Woodland Stride: Starting at 2nd level, a Warden may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to impede motion still affect him.
I mentioned it above, I like this. Seems to fit great with a nature character, and will actually be pretty darn handy in combat. I'd actually suggest expanding on this. Somewhere there was an ability (I think the wotc community site? can't find it now) that expanded Woodland Stride to also ignore magically-created overgrowth, and I think that would be a great ability to grant at a later level.


Whirling Fury(Ex): A Warden becomes more in tune with his instincts over time. At third level, the Nature's Fury ability increases Dexterity by a further +2 and allows the Warden to make an extra attack at the end of a full attack action while in a Fury. All attacks made in the round suffer a -2 penalty and the ability does not stack with additional attacks from Haste or similar effects. At level 12, the bonus to dexterity increases to +6 and to +8 at level 20.
Abilities scaling with level is good. I somewhat question only increasing Dex and not Con or any of the skill bonuses, but its not a deal-breaker. And, basically you get Flurry while in Fury. Why 'at the end of a full attack action'? The usual wording is 'at her highest base attack bonus', which is clear what bonus this attack should be at. If it's at the end, that makes me think it's an iterative at a -5. Just something to clarify
Again for clarity, I would consider putting the scaling of the Dex bonus in the base Nature's Fury ability, so that Whirling Fury is just about the extra attack and easier to read.


Keen Tracker: The Warden gains Track as a bonus Feat. If he already had track from another source, he may choose a single feat that he meets the prerequisites for instead.
Track! Simple, it fits, I like it.


Nature Bond: A Warden has an innate bond with the world that makes him a force to be reckoned with. At fourth level, a Warden has a Divine Caster level equal to his class level and can use Invocations that work similarly to spell-like abilities. He knows one invocation at fourth level and gains more as he rises in levels, as shown by the table, and can use all of his invocations as at-will spell like abilities. Armor does not interfere with the invocations like it does arcane spells due to a lack of complex somatic components.
I think I like it. It comes in at level 4, like spellcasting does for Ranger/Paladin. The frequency of new invocations seems a little strange, I'd consider just giving a new invocation at every even level, which is simpler, you end up with 9 but that's not a big change. Most 'invocation-focused' class re-writes I have seen here get something like 1 invocation per class level. Since invocations are a side focus to this class, I think 8-9 is a good quantity. I only glanced at the invocation list as you said it is incomplete, but I like that there are not blasty spells, just little enhancements. He's a nature-fighter, so he kills people by attacking not blasting. Try filling out the lists with useful out-of-combat options, the ones you have listed that grant Darkvision are good examples.


Fey Skin: A Warden gains DR1/Cold Iron at 4th level. This DR increases by 1 every four levels afterwards (8, 12, 16, 20) ending at DR5/Cold Iron at twentieth level.
A little DR, nice. Cold Iron/Fey flavor fits well with this wilderness class. This makes up a bit for the lower HP. Nothin' else to say.


Keen Senses: A Warden's proximity with his wild side develops senses past the point of a normal member of his race. The Warden gains a bonus on Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival equal to 1+1/4 Class Level.
Nice, you get a competency boost at some important skills. What's getting me is, this isn't the same skills that are boosted by Fury, or by the earlier Intuitive Athletics. What if you removed the skill boost from Fury, and moved Keen Senses to earlier in the class? You would get close to the same skill boost, but it's always on.


Controlled Fury: The penalty on attacks from using the Whirling Fury ability is reduced by one, reducing the penalty to -1 on all attacks made in the round. The reduction to penalties increases to +2 and +3 at levels 9 and 13, respectively.
So I think what you're going for here is slowly removing the attack penalty, just like Flurry does on the monk. The wording is confusing, it at first says 'reduce penalty to -1', then 'reduction to penalties increases to +2 and +3 at levels 9 and 13', mixing the +s and -s is confusing. So at level 3 your penalty is -2, at level 6 it is -1, and level 9 it is 0, and at level 13 what happens, does it become a bonus? This really isn't worth 3 entries in the character table, it might be more clear if it was all included in the Whirling Fury description at level 3.


Lesser Invocations(Su): The Warden gains access to Lesser Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.
Woo new invocations.


Blindsense(Su): The Warden can sense creatures without using his eyes. The range for this ability is 15ft + (Con Mod*Wis)
I like it, flavorful and useful while scouting, or for sensing an ambush before it happens. The range is a bit weird, usually it is either fixed or based on just one thing, like level. This comes in late enough that I think a flat 30ft is reasonable and useful, and if you'd like its range could be increased with a later ability. 60 ft would be very useful, even doing 120ft at level 16 or something would make for a very interesting and relevant class feature.


Trackless Step: Starting at 6th level, a Warden leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.
Flavorful, excellent minor perk.


Venom Immunity: The Warden gains immunity to all poisons.
Definitely a useful ability.



Whirlwind Fury: A Warden of 11th level is a veritable whirlwind on the battlefield, gaining an additional extra attack while under the effect of Nature's Fury. Unlike the first extra attack, the Great Fury attack confers the benefit of attacking an additional time when attacking with a standard action as well. All attacks made in the round suffer a -4 penalty which can be reduced by Controlled Fury. This attack, like the Whirling Fury attack, does not stack with extra attacks from Haste or similar effects. The second extra attack is made at a -5 like the second attack from a high base attack bonus.
I don't like the wording on this, it is very confusing. It refers to Whirling Fury not stacking with Haste, even though the Whirling Fury text does not specify this. If you feel you need that wording, remove it here and add it to Whirling Fury.
For the second extra attack during a full attack, I would word it as 'You gain an additional extra attack when using Whirling Fury. This attack is made at your highest base attack bonus - 5." Actually, re-reading it now, does the second attack cause the penalty to all attacks for the round to increase to -4??
For the standard action attack, I suggest breaking it out in at least a separate paragraph, if not a completely separate ability listing. Wording as something like "You may make an additional attack when attacking as a Standard Action. All attacks that you make in that round are at a -4 penalty".

I'm unsure of the power level of this, because I'm unsure of how you want it to work. Will look at that later.


Greater Invocations: The Warden gains access to Greater Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.
Woo invocations!


Mettle (Ex):At 14th level and higher, a Warden can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping Warden does not gain the benefit of mettle
So, Mettle is definitely a useful ability, and goes well with your good Fort and Will saves. But, I'm on the fence on it fitting the rest of the class. I'll talk more about it at the end.


Tornado Fury: A Warden of 15th level or higher can make a third extra attack at an additional -2 penalty to all attacks made in the round. The third extra attack is at a -10 penalty, like the third attack from a high base attack bonus.
Okay, reading this now, I think I get how Whirling/Whirlwind/Tornado Fury are all supposed to link up. Each of them grants you another attack during Fury, but each also gives a stacking -2 penalty to all of your attacks. If this is not correct, stop here and ignore everything else.
Power-wise, I think this is a very bad idea. This grants 3 extra attacks, but one is BAB-5, one is BAB-10, and they give EVERY attack a -6 penalty (apparently reduced by Controlled Fury to -3). This is described in Monk discussions as a 'Flurry of Misses', because while you do get many attacks, they are at such a penalty that most of your attacks will fail to hit an equal-level opponent.

I would suggest, first, combining all of the 'extra attacks during Fury' abilities under one ability description so they are easier to read through. Right now there are interactions between 5 different abilities descriptions, each slightly different, so I am certain that my understanding isn't quite the same as yours. Second, the design of the ability should be reconsidered. Helping out with Full Attacks, if you want that to be the focus, can still be done. But fewer penalties (and probably fewer attacks), and instead things like Pounce (can make a Full Attack at the end of the Charge).


Timeless Body(Ex):After attaining 17th level, a Warden no longer takes ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place.

Bonuses still accrue, and the Warden still dies of old age when her time is up.
Another good flavorful perk.


Grand Invocations: The Warden gains access to Grand Invocations, allowing him to learn from that list of abilities.
Woo invocations!


Great Fury: The Warden is no longer fatigued after using Nature's Fury.
This is an excellent near-capstone. In fact, I think it is a better capstone than Nature's Champion, as all that does is a type change. This means you can turn Fury on/off at will, removing a big limitation. I would not blink if this became part of Nature's Champion. Wording is simple and clear.


Nature's Champion: The Warden becomes one with nature and his type changes to Fey. Additionally, the Warden will no longer die of old age.
In good company of other type-change capstones, but it probably has all the same drawbacks. Are there Resurrection restrictions on Fey, or any other surprise 'drawbacks'/'traps' to changing your type? Not dying of old age is a pretty cool perk...but maybe too cool? I'm not aware of any other base class that directly awards you immortality. Not a big deal though.

I would consider adding more punch to the capstone. Moving Great Fury in as part of the capstone would be a very good start, but I'm sure there are other possibilities.


*Invocations are currently being worked on*

Invocations
All invocations require a standard action to use unless otherwise noted.
Least

Entangling Mists: Summons wispy tendrils that entangle those in it's area.

Earthen Grasp: Use Earthen Grasp as the spell(Complete Arcane).

Blast of Sea: Use a gout of water to bull rush an enemy.

Elemental Shroud: Resist elements and augment weapon strikes.

Guiding Winds: Ranged weapons have range increments increased by 50%

Fang and Claw: Turn into a wolf, as the spell Aspect of the Wolf(Spell Compendium)


Lesser

Witchwood Step: The subject is under the effects of Blur, as the spell.

Sky Step: Walk on Air, as the spell but only one round.

Quake: Shake the earth and knock targets prone.

Wild Roar: Shout deals damage and deafens.

Briar Field: Create an area field with Briars, dealing damage and slowing targets.

Night's Blessing: Gain darkvision and see in supernatural darkness.

Penetrating Gaze: Gain darkvision and see invisible creatures.

Camouflage: Gain a +10 bonus on Hide checks in natural terrain.

Stony Grasp: Use Stony Grasp, as the spell (Complete Arcane).

Greater

Badger's Claw: Gain claws and burrow speed.

Free Stride: Use Freedom of Movement, as the spell.

Wall of Thorns: As the spell.

Disappear: Use Invisibility, as the spell.

Sea Step: Walk on water, as the spell Water Walk.

Grand

Talon and Feather: Transform into a Giant Eagle.

Sun's Light: Use Daylight, as the spell.

Sylvan Step: Use Tree Stride, as the spell.

Wild Runner: As the spell (Spell Compendium)
Still in progress, so I'll do this another time.

First though, take a look at the Favored Terrain feature of the Pathfinder Ranger. I think it would make a neat fit alongside the fast movement, woodland stride. It does a little bit of skill boosting, and the untrackable stuff, but it is limited to when you are in one of your Favored Terrains.

Second thought, the Fury stuff as I noted needs a bit of an overhaul. For ease of comprehension, certainly. Very likely a rework to the setup of attacks, penalties, and penalty reductions. What it looks like afterward should depend on what you want this class to excel at. Full attacks? Then it won't look very different. Want more emphasis on mobility or dexterity? Change it more.

Third though, I'm wondering about Wisdom, and the class' good Will save. I feel it's a little out of place, and makes the class schizophrenic on what it wants. It has a good Will save...but gets a Will penalty while in Fury. It has class abilities that care about Wisdom...but only 3, and they're all pretty minor. It's sort of like Wisdom was planned as a focus at the start, but then got cut out. I say, go ahead and cut it out! Divine spellcasters are traditionally Wis-based, but that rule has been broken in various places before, and I think this class has a good reason to break the rule. The next logical thought might be Cha since that is what Warlock and a lot of Invocation classes are, but I think Constitution is actually the best. There is precedent in the Dragon Shaman, and it would reduce your MAD a little bit, all the class needs is the physical stats.

To me, this class 'feels' more like a Ranger or Barbarian than a Druid or Warlock variant, so I would suggest matching their saves (good Fort and Reflex), Hit Die (d10), and going to 4 skill points with some supporting abilities.

I like it. I think there's a great amount of potential here, just keep it coming!

Batpope Scott
2013-06-14, 02:47 AM
First, I would like to apologize for how oddly worded most of the text was. I rushed to finish most of it due to being busy with other things. I'm going to go through and re-word a lot of the abilities since I'm making myself cringe while going over my own work. :smallannoyed:

Secondly, you're probably right about wisdom being something I could get rid of and on the points regarding the fury and fast movement not meshing at all.

Needless to say, I will be going back over this in a few hours but will answer most of the questions as I can if only so I remember later.

Hit Die: I was originally starting off the ranger chassis, which I now remember is a bad idea for a front-line man.

Skills: Skill points could probably serve to be raised as well as adding spot. I'm not sure about Hide/Move Silently, but I'll definitely be thinking about it.

Fury: Thank you, I rather like the fury duration/limit myself. As for the will penalty.... it wasn't very well thought out at the time, but it's probably going to stay.

Familiar: Yeah, that wording's better.

Fast Movement: I'll probably be adding some form of pounce to the class.

Intuitive Athletics: Will probably either make this more dependent on class levels or move it over to doubling the ability mod that presides over the skill. I'm not particularly warm and fuzzy over MAD either.

Woodland Stride: This ability always felt like it was pretty minor to me, or at least very situational. Might consider expanding on it.

Whirling Fury: Oy.... Well, this is kind of a mess isn't it? I originally was basing it off rage, then switched to whirling frenzy, then switched to increasing the attack rate... Let's just say I'll be sorting this out some more. Probably by increasing Con as well and reducing those penalties a bit.

Nature Bond: I did my best to not include anything blasty since that isn't really conducive to being a warrior. I'm positive that invocation progression made sense at one point but I'm pretty sure it doesn't now. The one every even level sounds good.

Keen Senses: I could probably move it back some, it was originally that far back thanks to having scent in the original write-up. That's been nixed, but the ability is still pushed back. My only concern with the senses ability being in the first couple of levels is how front loaded it is that way.

Controlled Fury: I probably should just fold that into the whirling fury ability.

Blindsense: Not sure what I was doing with that range.

Mettle: Likely will be taking the good will save out, so this will be mettle against fort saves. Also likely to add evasion somewhere in here if I give it good reflex.

Great Fury: Glad you like it. Shunting it back to nature's champion would suit me fine.

Nature's Champion: As far as I know, Fey don't have the resurrection restriction and neither do native outsiders to my knowledge. The only thing that could possibly count as a weakness would be getting hit harder by Fey Bane weapons, which is pretty silly to count as a weakness. With so many other ways to beat old age, I think turning into a fey should be one of them at some point. Doesn't really help your combat skills so I'm pretty sure it's fine.

Again, I'll be looking over it again in a few hours.

Batpope Scott
2013-06-15, 06:28 AM
This class has been cleared up like I said I would do, but I know that I need to make more balance changes. This doesn't feel right. :smallannoyed:

blackmage
2013-06-18, 04:31 PM
I agree that it doesn't completely feel right. Two questions for you that might get us on the right path: How do you see this class contributing to a party in combat? And, how do you see this class contributing to a party out of combat?

A couple of invocation ideas, some of these might be redundant with what you already have in your list:
-Resist Energy, as the spell. Limit of one 'casting' active at a time
-Put Scent back in as an invocation.
-Speak with Animals and/or Speak with Plants.
-A Least invocation that grants a single Natural Weapon. Maybe the caster gets to pick: one bite, or one slam, or two claws, etc.
-Goodberry. Yes it would be a 'spammable' heal spell, but it is already limited to healing any single creature a maximum of 8hp each day.
-Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud, if you want to allow a more 'sneaky' build type, this would be a good way for him to create his own cover.
-Wood Shape as the spell, if he's a wilderness guy this would let him 'build' a shelter out of a tree, or make a crude wall, or something else creative.
-Meld into Stone
-Water Breathing
-Ironwood, with either a casting limitation of once per day or a limit to how much wood you can have enhanced at a time

Batpope Scott
2013-06-22, 11:02 AM
The elemental resistance is a little redundant with one already up there.

To be honest, the class isn't really screaming it's purpose at me. In combat, I would think it to be taking a place similar to a ranger, fighter or barbarian and just dealing out weapon damage and sometimes taking it. The way it's set up, that can be done at range and in melee and I like that.

Out of combat, the class doesn't have many skills but it's got a few and it's invocations that I'm thinking will help with little things like scent tracking or elemental resistance.

Kristofthegreat
2013-06-22, 01:10 PM
The elemental resistance is a little redundant with one already up there.

To be honest, the class isn't really screaming it's purpose at me. In combat, I would think it to be taking a place similar to a ranger, fighter or barbarian and just dealing out weapon damage and sometimes taking it. The way it's set up, that can be done at range and in melee and I like that.

Out of combat, the class doesn't have many skills but it's got a few and it's invocations that I'm thinking will help with little things like scent tracking or elemental resistance.

This is just a thought, and I know that I may or may not be way off base. When I read "warden," I thought about what that means...protector. Game of Thrones had "wardens" in the North, South, East, and West. They were supposed to be the protectors of the realm. In Lord Of The Rings, "Rangers" had the same purpose. I see this class easily lending itself to someone in the same way hiring a bounty hunter would...In combat they're OK at dealing out and taking damage. Out of combat, they're trackers.

Would it be possible to add a couple "soft" skills? I'm thinking diplomacy, bluff, and things like that would make them more able to be the person in the party who knows his way around small towns, village settlements, etc; especially since they'll be a character who doesn't age, that could easily lend itself to the overall out of combat usefulness.

I don't think you should do more than you've done with invocations, because those are cool, and I do like the way you've taken an idea or two from multiple classes. Keep up the good work.

Batpope Scott
2013-06-22, 01:52 PM
Keep up the good work.

Yeah, I was going to call it Nature Warden but that was already a PrC. Could put in some actual protection abilities but I'm not sure how I'd want to do it.

Actually, adding those skills might be a good idea.

I still have to do write-up on what they actually do, but I think they're pretty cool ideas.

And thank you. :smallsmile: