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View Full Version : King Arthur. Hercules. Medusa. 18 More. Call power from legends: Servant Soul[3.5]



bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:30 AM
Edit: As of 19/7 this class has moved here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?362608)! Sorry, I needed more room for it. And I edited so much that I would have to reformat the entire thing anyway.


The Servant Soul

Design Goals: This is a class based off of a magical girl anime/manga (http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/kaleid_liner_Prisma_Illya) which is in turn based off of a visual novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/stay_night) (convoluted, I know). In the manga, the main characters are mages who find things called "Class Cards". Each class card represents an idealized hero from history, and they're able to - by first including, then installing, these class cards onto themselves - instantiate weapons and powers from the legends of heroes. Mechanically, this works out a little like a binder/barbarian who contracts vestiges that give different rages, plus weapon conjuration and spells. Hey, I never said it made sense.

Introduction

http://i.imgur.com/vpBqIXJ.jpg?2

“Thou body be mine, thou sword be at my hand! Heed my call in desire and reason! Swear to me now – the hand that protects the balanced circle of control! INSTALL!!”
-Miyu Edelfelt, a Servant Soul

Some people become such heroes of great renown that their legend lives on in an idealized form long after they die and are forgotten as people. The Soul Servant is a person who connects to the Heroic Spirit of a legend and draws power from it. By allowing part of the power of a Heroic Spirit into her soul, a Servant Soul gains abilities related to that hero in an effort to emulate the abilities of that hero in their idealized form. Heroic Spirits exist in group of classes, and a Servant Soul learns to harness abilities from each class in turn.

Adventures: Servant Souls, with their power of sharing the souls of others, are ill-suited to home life requiring them to remain the same person. In addition, the influence of these significant heroes may inspire a Servant Soul to go out and change the world. Because of this, most Servant Souls, either on the road or sedentary, are visible agents in the world around them.

Characteristics: The Servant Soul is primarily a melee combatant, with 5 unique melee weapons to choose from built into her power. Her weapons will grow in power as she levels, and eventually she’ll gain the ability to change herself in specialized ways when wielding each one. Her most powerful attacks, the Noble Phantasms, can only be used sparingly but will alter the course of a battle every time.
Servant Souls have diversity in use, although said diversity is very strictly regulated. They can fight ranged, but are only proficient with longbows, and only while including them; they can cast spells, but their caster level is low except when installing Caster. Their class will give them additional abilities, but only one or two at a time, each tied to specific heroic spirits. Still, having 7 unique options allows a Servant Soul to perform many tasks for a party, both in and out of combat.

Alignment: Most Servant Souls are good, emulating the heroes of legend. But for every time a child cheered the tyrant in a bedtime story, there was another evil hero, and the possibility of a Servant Soul following her. Similarly, while it requires some focus to bind oneself with a Heroic Spirit, a looseness of mind can help when adapting oneself to multiple. Because of this, powerful Servant Souls can come from any alignment.
However, not all heroic spirits are equally adaptable. Servant Souls that change alignment risk losing their contracts, as their patrons turn from their new philosophies.

Religion: Many Servant Souls were taught at monasteries or temples, and will often be religious as a result. However, a Servant Soul is as pious as she was before learning the class, her skills not requiring any special devotion to deities. The most common deities worshipped by a non-human Servant Soul are the deities of their race, such as Corellon Larethian and Moradin. Human Servant Souls will worship strong deities that lend themselves well to heroism, such as Pelor for Servant Souls shining as beacons of light, St. Cuthbert for Servant Souls bringing justice to the untamed, or Erythnul for the servants that make spectacle of slaughter.

Background: Servant Souls are not very organized, but learning the class does require another Servant Soul teaching the basic precepts and helping the acolyte bond to her first heroic spirit. Some of these teachers will take up residence in temples to their god or other friendly ones, offering to train devotees that don’t have the desire to become clerics or paladins; others wander the road, rarely taking apprentices. Servant Souls are welcome anywhere their alignment would allow them normally.

Races: Humans, with their large numbers, adaptable nature and unabashed hero-worship, are commonly found among the ranks of Servant Souls. Elves, with their long lives, are known to produce heroic spirits with which to share power. Dwarves, with long histories and many heroes to choose from, are also apt to train as devotees of the past. Other common races are rare among the Servant Souls.

Other Classes: Much of a Servant Soul’s outlook depends on her alignment, but they share abilities with spellcasters foremost. With Arcane casters they can discuss their own spells, whereas with divine casters they can bond over drawing power from extraplanar entities. While Servant Souls often make it a habit of hitting people with metal, their outlook is nothing like that of a barbarian, fighter or rogue.

Role: Although lacking the strong hit point pool associated with fighters, a Servant Soul is commonly found among first- and second-line attackers. Most of a Servant Soul’s abilities relate to striking with weapons, so she will spend her battles with the general goals of hitting her opponents, making her a damage dealer first and foremost. However, she also has a moderate casting ability and some abilities associated with stealth, so her versatility is greater than most other attackers.

Game Rule Information
Abilities: Constitution determines how long a Servant Soul can include and install heroic spirits, as well as her hit points and fortitude save, making it the most important ability for most Servant Souls. A Servant Soul uses intelligence to cast spells both normally and when installing the Caster spirit, and other spirits use either strength or dexterity to hit with their weapons.

Difficulty: Moderate.
Starting Gold: 2D4*10 GP (50 GP).
Alignment: Any; but, see Servant Souls and Alignment, below, for servant souls that change alignments.
Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills
The Servant Soul’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Servant Soul
http://i.imgur.com/LdBswHZ.png?1

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Servant Soul.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Servant Soul is proficient with all simple weapons, as well as light and medium armor. She is also proficient with all weapons summoned through her servant soul class abilities, or any weapons used as a function of her servant soul class abilities.

Although servant souls cast arcane spells, she may freely wear light armor without a risk of her Servant Soul spells failing from it.

Spells: A Servant Soul casts spells as a bard, but with intelligence as the primary casting ability, determining durations, spell effectiveness, bonus spells, and the like. Her caster level is equal to half of her Servant Soul level, except when installing, at which point her caster level increases to her full class level. Her spells by day are listed on table: The Servant Soul. A Servant Soul ignores arcane spell failure chances for wearing light armor when casting her Servant Soul spells. Servant Souls incur no penalty for casting spells while holding a weapon granted by any Servant Soul class feature.

Spells Known: A Servant Soul begins play knowing two 0-level spell and two first-level spells from the Servant Soul spell list. At every new Servant Soul level, she learns one new spell from the Servant Soul spell list, which must be within the level of Servant Soul spells she can cast.

Every time a Servant Soul contracts a heroic spirit, she gains access to one special spell of each level, based on that spirit’s class. She automatically learns all spells on the heroic spirit’s spell list of levels she can cast, and every time she gains access to a new level of Servant Soul spells, she automatically learns her heroic spirit’s spells of that level as well. In general, these are the only spells that a Servant Soul can use while installing that spirit.

Heroic Spirits: A Servant Soul can, one by one, form contracts with heroic beings of legend. A first-level Servant Soul begins play contracted to a single heroic spirit of her choice. As she levels, she may contract another spirit every odd-numbered level until 13, as seen on Table: The Servant Soul. Each of these spirits must be of a different spirit type (Spirit types are Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber). These contracts determine which heroic spirits she can include and install, as well as allowing her to learn new spells.
Shifting alignments can cause Heroic Spirits to terminate their contract; see Servant Souls and Alignment, below.

Heroic Spirit Include (Su): This ability allows a servant soul to manifest a weapon favored by a heroic spirit she knows. As a conjuration (creation) ability, this allows her to summon a facsimile of the original weapon to her, but her limited magical capacity will inhibit the power of the resulting weapon and the powers it grants. This ability is activated as a move action, and summons a weapon of the given type of a size able to be wielded by her. As seen below, the benefits of this weapon increase as the Servant Soul levels. At level 10, using includes is a free action.

The weapon lasts for one round per constitution bonus of the Servant (minimum 1) plus an additional round for every two class levels the Servant possesses (minimum 1). Each known servant’s special weapon can be included once per encounter (once per five minutes outside encounters).

All granted weapons have the following properties: Masterwork and a +1 enhancement bonus per 3 levels (rounded down) to a maximum of +5 at 15th level. In addition, each weapon has specific special abilities, as outlined in the heroic spirit description. Each weapon created is unique and thus any abilities it has do not depend on other weapons previously summoned.

Additional includes cannot be used while installing a servant, and installing a servant different from the one whose weapon you wield removes from creation any weapons currently included.

Every class’s Include also allows for a separate ability, known as a noble phantasm. Usage of a noble phantasm will immediately end the Include upon its completion. If used during an Install, the noble phantasm will reduce the duration of the Install by a set number of rounds. If there are not enough rounds left in the Install, the noble phantasm will still trigger, and end the Install upon its resolution. Unless otherwise noted, all listed noble phantasms are full-round abilities that do not provoke attacks of opportunity, and any noble phantasm with a save DC use the DC 10 + 1/2 the user’s class level + the user’s constitution modifier. Almost all noble phantasms are supernatural abilities, although some instead call within the servant soul special reserves of strength and speed, as extraordinary abilities.

At the end of the Include, any weapons created through it disappear from existence.

Eschew Materials: A Servant Soul must be able to cast spells with weapons in one hand. At 2nd level, she gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat to simplify her casting.

Heroic Spirit Install (Su):A Servant Soul of sufficient level is capable of manifesting a small amount of a heroic spirit’s power, effectively infusing her soul with a hero’s for a short period of time. This has the effect of summoning the hero’s weapon, as well as changing the appearance of the Servant’s garb to appear more closely to be the hero, returned from beyond. This lasts an amount of time equal to half of her class levels (minimum 1) plus her (new) constitution modifier (minimum 1), and can be used once per day with every heroic spirit the Servant Soul access to. This takes a standard action to activate initially, but this reduces to a move action at 14th level. Dismissing an Install early, unless otherwise noted, is a free action.

All installs will give a bonus to one or more abilities used by the spirit, and most will grant a bonus to either fortitude or reflex saves. This will grant a bonus to that save type equal to the difference between the base will save granted by the servant soul’s class levels and the base save of the save specified in the spirit’s description. Effectively, it will temporarily turn the class’s base save from poor progression, to good progression, for the duration of the install. For instance, a level 10 servant soul has a base reflex save of +3 and a base will save of +7. When installing Assassin, who gives a bonus to reflex saves, she gains a +4 bonus on her reflex saves. Installing a heroic spirit also increases the servant soul’s caster level to her class level, although most spirits restrict the spells that can be cast.

When a servant soul installs a heroic spirit, she includes that servant’s weapon for free, gaining access to the include’s noble phantasm. The include, and the weapon, will last as long as the install. Because of this, a Servant Soul may not install a heroic spirit whose weapon she cannot include (due to having included it too recently), even if she has not yet installed it that day. Using the include’s noble phantasm in the install will reduce the duration by the specified number of rounds.

In addition, a servant installing gains access to a new noble phantasm for each class. Using these noble phantasms will reduce the duration of the Install, just as the other noble phantasms do. As with other noble phantasms, if not enough rounds are left in the Install, the phantasm will conclude and terminate the install. Unless otherwise noted, all phantasms are full-round actions. Unless otherwise specified, any noble phantasm with a save DC uses the DC 10 + 1/2 the user’s class level + the user’s constitution modifier. Almost all noble phantasms are supernatural abilities.

Bonus Servant Soul Feat: At 8th level and every five levels after (13th and 18th levels), a Servant Soul gains a bonus Servant Soul feat for which she meets the prerequisites.

Heroic Spirit Mastery: This ability allows a Servant Soul to master a heroic spirit, although some restrictions apply. Every other level from 15 to 19, a Servant Soul may choose one of her 7 heroic spirits to master. Mastery of a spirit does the following:

Every mastered spirit grants a Servant Soul one more heroic spirit install per day (from 7 before gaining any heroic spirit mastery, to 8 at level 15, 9 at 17, and 10/day at level 19).

Mastery of a spirit allows a Servant Soul to use more than one of her installs per day on that spirit. For instance, a 15th level Servant Soul who had mastered assassin could install assassin twice and all other servants once, or assassin 5 times and 3 other servants once in a day, or any combination so long as she remains within her correct installs per day and only installs un-mastered spirits once. However, she cannot install the same spirit again before its weapon can be re-included (and thus, a Servant Soul can normally only install the same heroic spirit once per encounter).

Heroic Transcendence: At level 20, a Servant Soul becomes a heroic being of legend. She changes her creature type to outsider (native) and ceases taking penalties from aging. An intrinsic part of reality, she does not die unless killed.

In addition, she may choose a heroic spirit for which she has taken heroic spirit mastery. If she does, she may summon that spirit’s weapon at any time by making a full-round action, and is considered proficient with it. If the weapon leaves her possession for more than one round, it disappears. If she summons another weapon, the first disappears. These instantiations are considered the same weapon for purposes of daily abilities.
Although this is a weapon normally granted by heroic spirit includes, she may not use any noble phantasms unless she is in the appropriate include or install. When she includes or installs a heroic spirit with this weapon held or on her person, this weapon is temporarily removed, but returns when the include or install ends.
Every time she refreshes her spells, she may change which heroic spirit grants her weapon. It must be a spirit with which she has heroic spirit mastery.

Servant Soul Spell List
0: Cure Minor Wounds, Daze, Detect Magic, Electric Jolt (SpC), Flare, Inflict Minor Wounds, Read Magic, Resistance
1: Cure Light Wounds, Inflict Light Wounds, Kelgore’s Fire Bolt (PHBII), Thunderhead (SpC), Sleep, Swift Expeditious Retreat (PHBII)
2: Combust (SpC), Cure Moderate Wounds, Electric Loop (SpC), Hideous Laughter, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Protection from Energy
3: Corporeal Instability (SpC), Cure Serious Wounds, Fireball, Fly, Inflict Serious Wounds, Lighting Bolt
4: Arc of Lightning (SpC), Channeled Pyroburst (PHBII), Cure Critical Wounds, Freedom of Movement, Inflict Critical Wounds, Phantasmal Killer
5: Earth Reaver (SpC), Harm, Heal, Moonbow (SpC), Overland Flight, Wrack (SpC)

Heroic Spirits
http://i.imgur.com/oZ1D6XL.jpg
Archer (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Archer_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Archer spirit summons a quiver of 40 arrows and a composite elvencraft (RotW) longbow (with a strength bonus equal to the user’s, maximum +5) crafted to strike down her opponents from safety. The bow becomes Seeking at 7th level, Force at 11th level, and Distance at 16th level.

A Servant Soul including archer has the ability to use the noble phantasm Caladbolg, shooting a conjured sword from her bow. As a full-round action, she must first shoot her bow at a target within her maximum range, taking only half of the normal penalty for range increments. If she succeeds on a touch attack against her target, her bow deals 1d6 damage per two class levels (minimum 1D6), in addition to the enhancement bonus and any strength bonus from the longbow being composite. Use of this phantasm during an install reduces the remaining install duration by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Archer will gain the appearance of wearing a dark breastplate and a red trench coat. She receives a +2 bonus to dexterity, with an additional +2 per 10 class levels (+2 before level 10, +4 between levels 10 and 19, and +6 at level 20). In addition, she gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves (as specified in the Heroic Spirit Install description), as well as access to the Precise Shot feat while wielding a longbow for the duration of the Install. She is also under the effects of the Arrow Mind (SpC) spell for the duration of the install (with caster level equal to her class level). However, when installing Archer, a Servant Soul cannot cast any spells not on the Archer spell list.

Installing Archer gives access to a noble phantasm called Rho Aius, a wall made to block all attacks. Using this noble phantasm is an immediate action, and creates a wall of force with caster level equal to the Servant Soul’s class level. However, this wall is dismissed immediately upon conclusion of the Install (or after 1 round, whichever is longer). Using this ability reduces the remaining Install by 2 rounds.


Archer’s Spells: 1 – Guided Shot (SpC), 2 – Splinterbolt(SpC), 3 – Ring of Blades (SpC), 4 – Quill Blast (SpC), 5 – Blade Barrier

Assassin (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin_%28Fate/Zero%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Assassin spirit summons daggers designed to weaken and incapacitate her target. The weapon takes the form of a Gauntlet of Infinite Blades (MIC) with 0 charges capable of producing masterwork daggers, which after level 2 are magical daggers with the given enhancement bonus. At level 7, the gauntlet gains 2 charges, as well as the ability to give a dagger drawn from it the Diseased (UE) special ability by using one charge (this replace the gauntlet’s written power in the MIC). At level 11, the gauntlet gains four additional charges and the ability to give any dagger drawn from it the Wounding special ability by expending two charges. At level 16, the gauntlet increases for the last time to a total of 8 charges, and gains the ability to add Deadly Precision (MIC) to a dagger drawn from it by expending one charge.

A Servant Soul including assassin can use the noble phantasm Delusional Heartbeat to instantly incapacitate a foe. To do this, she must first make a ranged touch attack on a single living target within 30 feet. If it hits, that target must make a will save. If the target fails, he is dazed for 2D3 rounds. At 5th level, the target is instead dazed for 1d3 minutes and stunned for 2d3 rounds. At 10th level, the target is dazed for 1d6 minutes, stunned for 1d3 minutes, and put to sleep for 2d3 rounds. At 15th level, the target is dazed for 1d12 minutes, stunned for 1d6 minutes, asleep for 1d3 minutes, and paralyzed for 2d3 rounds. The usage of this ability during an install reduces the install’s duration by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: Installing Assassin will give a servant soul loose, flowing blue clothes and seem to cloud her in shadow. A Servant Soul installing Assassin gains a bonus to dexterity equal to 2 plus 2 per 10 levels (rounded down), a bonus on attack rolls equal to one fourth her class level (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. In addition, she also gains the Dark template (ToM), access to the Weapon Finesse and Quick Draw feats while using daggers, and +1D6 sneak attack per four class levels. However, when using the install, she is unable to cast any spells not cast from the Servant Soul’s Assassin spell list.

Installing Assassin gives a Servant the noble phantasm Zabaniya: Illusion. This phantasm creates and controls a duplicate of her, with one quarter her hit points and nonmagical copies of all of her equipment (except for the gauntlet of infinite daggers, which works as normal except that every dagger it creates is non-magical). Treat this as a conjuration (creation) effect with a caster level equal to her class level. Upon creation of the double, which occupies her space, either she or the double (her choice) takes a single 5-foot step. The double lasts exactly as long as the Assassin install lasts or until reduced to 0 hit points, at which point it disappears. The double cannot cast spells or use any supernatural abilities or phantasms, and may not terminate her Assassin install. Assassin cannot create more than one double at a time. Using this noble phantasm reduces the time remaining in the install by 2 rounds.


Assassin’s Spells: 1 – Ray of Enfeeblement, 2 – Spectral Hand, 3 – Mind Poison (SpC), 4 – Shivering Touch (FB), 5 – Night’s Caress (SpC, cast as though it has no [Evil] Descriptor)

Berserker (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Berserker_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Berserker spirit summons a longaxe (CAdv) made to beat the opponent with raw power. It becomes Sizing (MIC) at 4th level, Berserker (MIC) at 7th level, Domineering (MIC) at 11th level, and Brutal Surge (MIC) at 16th level.

A Servant Soul including Berserker has access to a noble phantasm called Nine Lives, which allows her to make multiple attacks quickly. This ability is activated as a swift action at the start of her round. If she spends the round performing a full attack, she can make a second full attack action with the same bonuses to attack. Unlike other include noble phantasms, Nine Lives cannot be used during her install; only during Berserker’s Include can this ability be used.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant Soul installing Berserker wears powerful metal bracers and her skin gains an adamantine sheen. She receives a bonus on her constitution of 2 plus 2 per 10 servant soul levels, increasing the duration of her install appropriately for her new constitution bonus. In addition, she gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains the Diehard and Steadfast Determination (PHBII) feats, powerful build (allowing her to include a larger weapon), damage reduction/adamantine equal to 2 per class 5 class levels, and Spell Resistance equal to 10 plus her class level for the duration of the install. However, while Berserker is installed, the Servant Soul may not cast spells, use magical items requiring activation, or use any skill that requires dexterity, intelligence, constitution, or charisma (except balance, escape artist, intimidate and ride). Installing berserker counts as Rage. Unlike other installs, a Servant Soul may not end her Berserker install prematurely, nor can she use the noble phantasm from her include (Nine Lives).

When a Servant is installing Berserker, she gains access to a passive ability referred to as the God Hand. God Hand is activated any time a Berserker servant would be reduced to or below -10 hit points. When this happens, she must make a fortitude save equal to her negative hit points minus four. If she succeeds this save, her number of rounds remaining reduces by 3, and then her hit points are reset to twice the number of rounds remaining in her install (minimum 0).

Berserker's Spells: 1 – Enlarge Person, 2 – Lion’s Charge (SpC), 3 – Crown of Might (PHBII), 4 – Stoneskin, 5 – Draconic Might (SpC)

Caster (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Caster_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Caster spirit summons a dagger made to cut through opponent’s powers. The dagger becomes Dispelling (MIC) at 7th level, Banishing (MIC) at 11th level, and Greater Dispelling (MIC) at 16th level.

A Servant including Caster can use the noble phantasm Rule Breaker. Doing so allows her to take control of spells cast by opposing spellcasters. To use this ability, she must first target an active conjuration spell with conjured material within 60 feet of her location (such as a summoned monster attacking her). She then spends a full round attempting to wrest control from the original caster. Both she and the caster make opposed rolls, each adding their caster level and relevant ability modifiers (intelligence for the Servant Soul). A Servant Soul gets -3 on this check, due to the difficulty of the task. If the Servant Soul meets or exceeds the roll made by the original caster, she gains control of the spell. Although the spell still uses the original duration and other effects determined at time of casting (such as orders to a called entity), it now treats her as the caster, allowing her to order a summoned creature, dismiss a wall, or perform any other action allowed by the caster. Using this ability in an install reduces the install by a number of rounds chosen by the Servant Soul (ranging from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5), giving her a +3 bonus on her roll for each round eliminated. She may not reduce the install by more than 1 round unless she has that many rounds remaining in her install.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant Soul installing Caster will gain a long, dark, hooded robe to wear over her clothing for the duration of the transformation. She gains an intelligence bonus of 2 plus 2 per 10 class levels. Like all spirits, installing caster grants a bonus on her servant soul caster level equal to half her class level (rounded up, to a maximum of her character level). She also gains Fly 40 (Perfect) for the duration of the install as a supernatural ability. Every round during the Install (lasting from the start of her turn to the end of the turn before hers in the next initiative order), she gains the ability to apply up to 4 levels of metamagic effects to the spells she casts without increasing cast times or spell levels, chosen from this list: Consecrate Spell (+1, CDiv), Corrupt Spell (+1, CDiv), Empower Spell (+2), Enlarge Spell (+1), Fortify Spell (+1-+4, CArc), Heighten Spell (+1-+4), Maximize Spell (+3), Searing Spell (+1, Sand), and Quicken Spell (+4). Multiple metamagics can be applied to the same spell as long as she has enough metamagic levels remaining that round to use them all, and she need not have the metamagic feats to use these in this way during the install, although using any normally, even during the install, requires the feat in question. Installing caster places no restrictions on casting servant soul spells, although other spells are still restricted.

Installing Caster gives access to a noble phantasm known as Argon Coin. Except as noted here, treat this as using a Summon Monster spell with a caster level equal to her class level. Using this phantasm allows her to summon a True Dragon with an alignment within 1 step of her own. This dragon must have HD equal to or less than her class level. It obeys her commands and will attack her enemies to the best of its ability until the Install ends, when it is dismissed automatically. Using this reduces the duration of an install by 3 rounds.

Caster’s Spells: 1 – Magic Missile, 2 – Blast of Force (Spc), 3 – Force Missiles (SpC), 4 – Wings of Flurry (RotD), 5 – Disintegrate

Lancer (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Lancer_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Lancer spirit summons a spear that delivers devastating attacks and imparts luck on the wielder. At level 4, his weapon is coated in Kaorti Resin, increasing its critical modifier to x4. It becomes Lucky at 7th level, Parrying (MIC) at 11th level, and Maiming (MIC) at 16th level.

A Servant Soul including Lancer can use the noble phantasm Gae Bolg, the spear of barbed death. When it is used, target a threatened enemy. This target is automatically struck by the Servant’s spear. This strike deals damage as though it were a critical hit. Using this attack during an install decreases the remaining duration by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant Soul installing Lancer will change her armor to appear as cobalt blue plate mail and bracers. She receives a bonus to strength equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. In addition, she gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by four (rounded up), a bonus on reflex saves, and access to the Deflect Arrows feat (usable only with a spear) for the duration. However, while installing Lancer, a Servant Soul cannot cast spells except for the spells from the Lancer List.

Installing Lancer gives access to a noble phantasm named Gae Bolg, the Spear of Striking Flight. When using this phantasm, the Servant may move up to her double move in any direction (provoking no attacks from leaving her starting square), and then throw her spear up to 100 feet. Anyone within 20 feet of where the spear lands takes 1D6 points of force damage per class level (with a reflex save equal to 10 + half her class level + her strength modifier for half damage) as the spear explodes in a violent shockwave. At the end of the attack, the spear reforms in her hand. Usage of this noble phantasm reduces the duration of the install by 3 rounds.

Lancer’s Spells: 1 – Jump, 2 – Stretch Weapon (PHBII), 3 – Blink, 4 – Greater Blink (SC), 5 – Brilliant Weapon (SC)

Rider (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Rider spirit summons a spiked chain designed to keep foes under control. The chain becomes Paralyzing (MIC) at 7th level, Collision (MIC) at 11th level, and Sweeping (MIC) at 16th level.

A Servant Soul including Rider can use the noble phantasm Blood Fort Andromeda. When activated, it deals 1d6 damage per three class levels to anyone within 30 feet of her (fortitude save negates). This is negative energy damage, although it has no effect on undead. She then gains hit points equal to half of the damage dealt, rounded down for every target. Treat this phantasm as a necromancy spell with caster level equal to her class level. Using this during an install reduces the duration by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant Soul installing the Rider spirit gains a black bodysuit and a blindfold that does not impair her vision. She gains a bonus to dexterity of 2 plus 2 for every 10 class levels, a bonus on attack rolls equal to one per four class levels (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. She also gains the Weapon Finesse feat for the duration of the Install. A Servant Soul installing Rider must then choose whether to install Mounted or Unmounted, the choice affecting the remaining abilities she receives during the Install. While installing either form of Rider, a Servant Soul cannot cast spells, excepting spells from the Rider spell list.

If a Servant Soul chooses to install Rider Unmounted, she gains an untyped improvement to her base move speed equal to +10 feet per 5 levels and the Spring Attack feat during the install. At level 15 and above, she also gains the Bounding Assault feat for the duration of the install.
A Servant Soul installing Rider unmounted gain access to the noble phantasm Breaker Gorgon, where she lifts her blindfold and turns her foes to stone. Treat this ability as a gaze attack with a range of 30 feet. The first round it is in use, the Servant must spend the turn removing her blindfold, and can take no actions besides the gaze; subsequent rounds allow her to move normally while retaining the gaze attack, unless she chooses to dismiss it (a free action). Any creature with less than half of her hit dice is turned to stone (no save); all other creatures must make a fortitude save. Failure means any creature with less than her hit dice are turned to stone; creatures with her hit dice up to double her hit dice are knocked unconscious; and creatures with more than double her hit dice are dazzled. All rounds where Breaker Gorgon is active incur an additional 2 round penalty on the duration of the Install.

If a Servant Soul chooses to install Rider mounted, she gains the Mounted Combat and Animal Affinity feats, as well as a +4 competence bonus on ride checks during the install. In addition, during the install, she summons and automatically mounts a Pegasus mount. This Pegasus will only be summoned if there is room for it and disembodies when it dies, at the end of the install, or when the Servant Soul dismounts. Treat the Pegasus as an animal companion, with the Servant Soul’s effective druid level equal to her Servant Soul level minus six. The Pegasus wields a Mouthpick (LoM) Lance of appropriate size and with the same enhancement bonus as her included spiked chain.

A Servant Soul installing Rider mounted gains access to a noble phantasm called Bellerophon. To use this, she makes a charge attack at an enemy at least 20 feet away as a full-round action. At the end of this charge, after her attack, her Pegasus makes a single attack on the charged enemy with its lance, which automatically hits and deals damage as though it were a critical hit. Using this reduces the remaining time of the install by 4 rounds.

Rider’s Spells: 1 – Whelm (PHBII), 2 – Daze Monster, 3 – Hold Person, 4 – Mind Fog, 5 – Hold Monster

Saber (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night))
Heroic Spirit Include: The Saber spirit summons a bastard sword designed to strike down her enemies. At level 7, it gains the Magebane special ability. At level 11, it gains the Holy or Unholy special ability, whichever is suited to the Servant’s alignment (neutral servants get to pick which their weapon instantiates). At level 16, it gains the Holy Surge (or Unholy Surge) special ability.

A Servant Soul with including Saber can use a noble phantasm called Excalibur (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zDt40QiY_4), firing a deadly beam of energy. She uses this phantasm by making an attack roll, and it fires in the form of a 60 foot line attack, dealing 1d6 points of holy (or unholy damage, for evil and by choice for neutral Servant Souls) damage per two Servant Soul levels to any beings within the affected squares. Such beings can attempt a reflex save (with a save DC equal to her attack roll) to take half damage from the attack. Using this attack while installed reduces the duration of the install by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing the Saber spirit gains the appearance of wearing a steel kilt or dress and gauntlets over elegant, dark-colored formal clothes. She receives a bonus to strength of 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains spell resistance equal to 10 + her class level and the benefits (but not the drawbacks) of the Mage Slayer feat (CArc) while installing, and after level 14, the benefits (but not the drawbacks) of Pierce Magical Concealment (CArc). However, while installing Saber, a Servant Soul cannot cast any spells not from the Saber spell list.

Installing Saber gives a noble phantasm called Avalon. This ability is activated as an immediate action, and transports the Servant to a safe spot on the astral plane for up to one round, avoiding any attacks that were pending against her. At the end of the full round or when dismissed (a free action), she reappears in the spot she was in when she activated the ability. If that square is occupied, she reappears in the closest unoccupied square, determined randomly if there are multiple. Treat this ability as a Plane Shift with a caster level equal to her class level. Every use of this ability reduces the duration of the install by 3 rounds.

Saber’s Spells: 1 – Lesser Deflect (PHBII), 2 – Deflect (PHBII), 3 – Energy Aegis (PHBII), 4 – Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, 5 – Antimagic Field

Servant Souls and Alignment
While a Servant Soul can find beings of all types from which to draw power, not all of them are equally flexible. A Servant Soul who changes her alignment by one step has half a chance to lose favor with a Heroic Spirits she’s bonded, and can no longer Include or Install any lost spirit (which spirits are lost are determined randomly; roll separately for every step change in alignment). She must perform a special ritual of at least 1 day, during which she spends at least 8 hours in meditation, to contract a new heroic spirit. She may choose which class of spirit she contracts from all of the ones she lost. She may perform this as many times as necessary to gain back all of the spirits she lost. New classes of heroic spirit may not be contracted in this way.

Any spirits gained back are mechanically equivalent to the ones lost. Changing alignments is not a shortcut to the Alternate Hero feat.

If she loses access to any Heroic Spirits for which she has taken feats (such as Unlimited Include), then she may apply the feat to the new Heroic Spirit of the same class without penalty.

Epic Servant Souls
An epic Servant Soul is the pinnacle of devotions, always fashioning herself to learn more from the heroes of old. Either famous or infamous, an epic Servant Soul will be known wherever she goes.
Hit Die: D8.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int Modifier
Spells: A Servant Soul’s caster level is equal to half of her class level, as normal. Her spells per day do not increase past 20th level, but she gets a new spell known every level, as normal.
Heroic Spirit Include: The duration of this ability continues to scale with level, as normal.
Heroic Spirit Install: At level 22, installing becomes a swift action. Those with the Quicker Install feat can instead install as a free action.
Durations and other level-based effects continue to scale based on level, as normal. However, bonuses on attack rolls and saves stop increasing after 20th level.
At level 22, installing any servant that grants bounding assault also grants rapid blitz for the duration of the install. Installing any servant that grants improved two-weapon fighting also grants greater two-weapon fighting for the duration of the install.
Caster: When installing caster, add Enhance Spell [Epic] (+4) to the list of metamagics available for her metamagic use.
Bonus Servant Soul Feat: A servant soul gains a bonus servant soul feat for which she meets the prerequisites at 23rd level and every five levels after (28th, 33rd, etc.).
Heroic Spirit Mastery: At 21, 23, 25, and 27, a Servant Soul masters a new heroic spirit, to a maximum of all heroic spirits mastered and 14 installs per day at level 27. If she gained access to further spirits through feats, she may continue to master spirits every other level.
Bonus Feats: An epic Servant Soul gets one bonus feat every fourth level past 20 (24, 28, etc.).
Epic Servant Soul Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Blinding Speed, Damage Reduction, Devastating Critical, Dire Charge, Distant Shot, Epic Prowess, Epic Speed, Epic Spell Penetration, Exceptional Deflection, Great Constitution, Spell Knowledge

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:31 AM
Alternative Class Features

Class Specialist
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul will only contract heroic spirits of a single class (Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider or Saber). However, she will become more powerful with those spirits.
Level: 1st
Replaces: If you select this class feature, do not contract with more than one class of heroic spirits. This prevents you from taking their includes, installs, or spells.
Benefit: Every time you would normally get a new heroic spirit or heroic spirit mastery, you may do one of two things. You may contract a heroic spirit of your chosen class, or you may take a bonus servant soul feat for which you meet the prerequisites. Your heroic spirits are considered separate, similar to how the feat Spirit Duality treats them. Starting at level 17, you may choose to take heroic spirit mastery for one known spirit instead.

Legacy Hero
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul gives up the weapons granted by her heroic spirits in exchange for increased fighting ability.
Level: 1st
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you gain no weapons from heroic spirit includes (or the ability to summon weapons or treat things like weapons). Essentially, heroic spirit includes grant nothing but the ability to use a phantasm. Heroic Spirit Install inherits its weapons from include, and therefore you cannot summon weapons with either. You also no longer gain bonuses on attack rolls for installing any spirits.
Benefit: If any noble phantasms require an attack roll or use of a weapon, you may use any weapon of the appropriate type (melee, thrown or ranged) in that phantasm. In addition, you gain full base attack bonus.

Initiate Soul
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul gives up her spellcasting in exchange for access to the sublime way. She leads her contracted martial spirits in this new form of battle.
Level: 1st
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain spellcasting.
Benefit: You gain the ability to use maneuvers. Servant soul levels count as levels in an initiator class.
Maneuvers and Stances Known: A Servant Soul starts knowing 2 maneuvers and 1 stance of the white raven discipline. Each time she gains access to a heroic spirit, she may learn 2 maneuvers and one stance ofd that sprit class’s school, which are then associated with that spirit. She must have the necessary initiator levels and prerequisites to learn all maneuvers and stances. The spirit class / Discipline pairs are shown below:
http://i.imgur.com/NEid9Uk.png
Every time the servant soul levels up, she may swap a maneuver or stance of the appropriate discipline on a spirit she has contracted, or in her base white raven maneuvers. If she knows fewer than 4 maneuvers on another spirit or in her base maneuvers, she may also add a maneuver of the appropriate discipline to that spirit or to her white raven base maneuvers.

Base Maneuvers Readied: Out of combat, she may have 2 known white raven maneuvers readied as well as one maneuver of each spirit she has contracted, and she may be in any stance she knows. She may spend a full-round action to swap or recover one maneuver within these bounds. Maneuvers readies are modified by Heroic Spirit Include and Heroic Spirit Install, discussed below.

Heroic Spirit Include: When she includes a heroic spirit, she automatically readies one maneuver of that spirit. Once per round during the include, if she used any maneuver in the previous round, she may ready another maneuver of the spirit as a free action. When leaving the include, she swaps her maneuvers readied for 2 random known white raven maneuvers as well as one random maneuver from each known spirit. Weapons gained from Heroic Spirit Include count as weapons in the discipline of the heroic spirit class for purposes of all maneuvers.

Heroic Spirit Install: When she installs a heroic spirit, she automatically swaps to the stance of that heroic spirit. She readies all maneuvers associated with that spirit but unreadies all other maneuvers. In addition, during installs, she may pay a number of rounds of her install equal to a maneuver’s level to learn that maneuver and ready it once during the install. The maneuver must be of the appropriate school and she must meet the required initiator level and prerequisites. When leaving an install, she replaces her readied maneuvers with two random white raven maneuvers and one random maneuver from each contracted spirit.

When entering a caster install, she does not unready all other maneuvers. When leaving caster install, she may choose which maneuvers to ready (they must still be 2 white raven maneuvers and one from each contracted spirit).

Martial Soul
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul gives up her spellcasting in exchange for stronger powers in combat.
Level: 1st
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain spellcasting. In addition, installs no longer increase attack rolls or saves.
Benefit: You have full base attack bonus, good fortitude and reflex saves, 6+Int skill points per level (x4 at first level), and a D12 Hit die.

Sealing Enforcer
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul gives up her ability to master heroic spirits in exchange for the ability to borrow the talents of a being with the strength of a heroic spirit.
Level: 15th
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain heroic spirit mastery.
Benefit: At 15th level, you gain familiarity with Bazett Fraga McRemitz, presented below:

Bazzett Fraga McRemitz (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Bazett_Fraga_McRemitz)
Heroic Spirit Include: The Bazett spirit uses unarmed strikes of a monk of her class level. These strikes gain the enhancement bonus to attack and damage of her normal weapons, and are considered magical. In addition, all of her unarmed attacks against living targets gain the Brilliant Energy ability.

A servant soul including Bazzett is capable of extraordinary feats of power. As a swift action, she can increase all physical abilities by +6, and gain a +10 foot increase to her base land speed and a +4 dodge bonus to armor class. These bonuses last 1 round. This reduces the duration of an install by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: Installing Bazzett grants a servant soul a fitted burgundy suit and black gloves covered in arcane marks. She gains a bonus to all physical ability scores equal to 2 plus an additional 2 for every 10 class levels. In addition, she gains a bonus to fortitude and reflex saves, a bonus to attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and the power attack, cleave, and leap attack feats for the duration of the install. While installing Bazzett, she may cast spells only from the Bazzett list.

Installing Bazzett grants the noble phantasm Fragarach, the Retaliator. This can be used one of two ways, both immediate actions. First, it can be used when an opponent attacking her scores a critical threat. If used in this way, the opponent rolls the critical confirmation roll. If it beats their own armor class, they score a critical on themselves with their own attack; if not, the attack is a miss. The second way it can be used is if she is subject to a spell or effect and has just rolled her save. She may wait until she after she finds out whether her save is a success or a failure to activate this power. The spell or effect automatically fails, and instead affects its own source if possible. The source makes the save normally. For instance, a charm or compulsion spell would be voided, but have no effect, because there is penalty for having charmed oneself. An area of effect spell will fail to go off normally, and affect the caster of the spell as though they were the only one inside the spell’s range. Either use reduces the duration of the install by 5 rounds.

Bazzett’s Spells: 1 – Mighty Wallop (RotD), 2 – Bull's Strength, 3 – Greater Mighty Wallop (RotD), 4 – Indomitability (SC), 5 –Transformation

Spiritual Dilettante
By selecting this class feature, a servant soul continues to contract new heroic spirits instead of forming deeper bonds with their current ones.
Level: 15th
Replaces: if you select this class feature, you do not gain heroic spirit mastery.
Benefit: At 15th level and every two levels afterwards, gain familiarity with a new spirit. This works otherwise like the feat Spirit Duality.

Servant Soul Feats
All Servant Soul feats have Heroic Spirit Include as a prerequisite ability.

http://i.imgur.com/s6uOnTK.png

Alternate Hero [Servant Soul]
You can contract two heroic spirits of the same class.
Benefit: Choose a heroic spirit you are familiar with. You may choose to gain familiarity with another spirit of the same class. However, this does not change the number of heroic spirits you can manifest at one time. Every time you refresh spells, you must choose 1 heroic spirit you cannot access for the day. If you choose to access two of the same class, their includes and installs count separately, allowing you to use both back to back, as though they were different types.
For instance, if a servant soul takes this ability at level 6 while she knows caster, lancer, and berserker, she could take Black Knight berserker using this feat. Every morning as she wakes, she decides which berserker she would like to include, and this determines which berserker’s spells she can use. If she wants to use both berserkers one day, she can instead exclude caster or lancer for the day, and treat the two berserkers as her 3rd and 4th spirits.
Mastery of a heroic spirit applies to only one spirit. You may master both heroes of the same class separately, however.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time you do, choose an alternate version of a spirit with which you are familiar. You add this spirit to spirits known, but must now exclude another spirit from your repertoire every time you prepare spells, and cannot use that spirit for the rest of the day, as above.

Crystallized Memory [Servant Soul]
One spirit’s noble phantasms gain incredible power.
Prerequisite: Prana Concentration, Familiarity with spirit
Benefit: Choose one spirit with which you are familiar. Save DCs of Noble phantasms from that spirit increase by an additional 3.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. It does not stack. Each time, select a different spirit with which you are familiar.

Empowered Install [Servant Soul]
With care, you can bind a fraction more power from certain types of heroes.
Prerequisite: Heroic Spirit Install
Benefit: Choose a type of heroic spirit. When installing spirits of that type, if the install would grant you a bonus to one or more ability scores, all ability score increases granted by the install are now 4 higher. (Spirit types are Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber.)
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. It does not stack. Each time, select a different type of spirit.

Extraordinary Contract [Servant Soul]
Your ability to call on the power of heroes surpasses traditional understanding of magic.
Prerequisite: Heroic Spirit Install
Benefit: Using Heroic Spirit Include and Heroic Spirit Install are extraordinary abilities for you. Any weapons involved are still considered magical, any spells invoked during installs or as noble phantasms are still spells, and any persistent magical effects (such as gaining Fly) are still supernatural.

Faster Phantasm [Servant Soul]
You can create miracles more easily.
Benefit: All full-round noble phantasms are instead standard actions to activate. This has no effect on phantasms that are not full-round actions to activate.
If a full-round noble phantasm is a melee attack (a single attack roll with a weapon to deal damage), it can now be used in a charge.

Increased Output [Servant Soul]
You can create miracles more easily.
Benefit: Choose a type of heroic spirit. When including spirits of that type, you may use the noble phantasm twice before the include is dismissed. If the noble phantasm consumes a variable number of rounds, you are assumed to have spent the minimum. (Spirit types are Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider, and Saber.)
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. It does not stack. Each time, select a different type of spirit.

Phantasmal Pounce [Servant Soul]
You can use more phantasms when charging.
Prerequisite: Faster Phantasm
Benefit: If a full-round noble phantasm is multiple melee attacks (attack rolls with a weapon to deal damage), it can now be used in a charge.

Prana Concentration [Servant Soul]
Your noble phantasms can become more potent.
Benefit: The save DCs for your noble phantasms increase by 1.

Reinforced Bond [Servant Soul]
Despite straying from the path, you are able to maintain a connection with your patron spirits.
Prerequisite: Heroic Spirit Install
Benefit: Treat your servant soul level as 7 higher for the purposes of your Heroic Spirit Install ability for purposes of duration, granted ability increases, and other level-based effects besides increases to attacks or saves. This cannot increase your effective level higher than your character level.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Its effects stack. Every time it increases your effective level by 7 more, but never past your character level.

Spirit Affinity [Servant Soul]
You bind a closer contract to a heroic spirit, allowing you to borrow slightly more of her power.
Prerequisite: Familiarity with the chosen Heroic Spirit
Benefit: Pick a Heroic Spirit. Includes and installs with this spirit last 3 rounds longer than otherwise.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. It does not stack. Every time you take this feat, choose a different Heroic Spirit to apply it to.

Spirit Devotion [Servant Soul]
You form a binding contract with a single heroic spirit, giving you more of her power in exchange for the power of others.
Prerequisite: Spirit Affinity with the chosen Heroic Spirit
Benefit: Include and installs with the chosen Heroic Spirit last 4 more rounds in addition to the benefit from Spirit Affinity. Includes and installs of all other heroic spirits suffer a -2 round penalty. You may Install the chosen spirit 1 more time per day. Even if you have heroic spirit mastery with another spirit, you cannot use the extra Install granted by this feat on another spirit, meaning that if you use all installs in a day, at least one must be with this spirit.
Noble phantasms of the chosen heroic spirit reduce the rounds of heroic installs by 1 fewer (minimum 1 round). This reduction has no effect on phantasms that reduce every round they are active, such as Rider’s Breaker Gorgon.

Spirit Duality [Servant Soul]
You can maintain a grasp on an additional heroic spirit.
Prerequisite: Alternate Hero
Benefit: Choose a spirit from a class where you are familiar with more than one spirit (through Alternate Hero). You may always prepare spells and include weapons from the chosen spirit. If you have Heroic Spirit Install, you may install that spirit once per day. These are in addition to your normal spirits from which you include, install, and know spells. In effect, this overrides the limitations placed when you gained familiarity with this spirit using alternate hero, and allows you to treat the new spirit just as you treat all of your others.
Special: The extra install interacts with heroic spirit mastery just like an install from any other heroic spirit.

Spirit Specialization [Servant Soul]
By unbinding another heroic spirit, you are able to form a deeper contract with your chosen hero.
Prerequisite: Spirit Devotion with the chosen Heroic Spirit, Spirit Mastery of the chosen spirit, Empowered Install with the class of the chosen spirit
Benefit: Includes and Installs with the chosen Heroic Spirit last 5 more rounds, in addition to the benefits from Spirit Affinity and Spirit Devotion. However, every time you take this feat, choose a different servant you would otherwise have access to. You exile that spirit, and may no longer include or install any spirit of that class.
You may include and install the spirit once every 2 minutes. You gain two fewer installs per day, but installs with this spirit no longer count towards your installs per day.
Special: In addition to no longer being able to include or install the Heroic Spirit you chose to exile, the spells given to you by contracting the spirit are also removed from your spell list (unless you gained them through another source). If you have no further spirits to exile, this feat grants no benefit.
You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, it grants you 5 additional rounds when installing the chosen Heroic Spirit, but you must exile another Heroic Spirit. You may not take this feat for more than one spirit.

Strengthened Connection [Servant Soul]
By honing your skills, you are able to better the weapons you gain from your patrons.
Benefit: Treat your Servant Soul level as 7 higher for purposes of the Heroic Spirit Include ability, up to your character level. This increases the duration of the summon as well as a weapon’s enhancement bonus and special abilities.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Its effects stack. Every time, it increases your effective servant soul level for includes, but never to above your character level.

Quicker Install [Servant Soul]
You may summon heroic powers more quickly.
Prerequisite: Heroic Spirit Install ability
Benefit: Installing is a faster action for you. If it would normally be standard action, it instead requires only a move action; if it is normally a move action, it requires only a swift action.

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:33 AM
Servant Soul Lore
Characters with ranks in knowledge (Nobility And Royalty) can research Servant Souls to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
DC 10: They originate from myths and legends. People who have accomplished great exploits and have been acknowledged as heroes. A Servant Soul seeks to emulate the heroes of old.
DC 15: Every heroic spirit has their own personal armament, a weapon so powerful it can accomplish miracles. These miracles are known as noble phantasms, and Servant Souls wield the phantasms of the spirits they contract.
DC 20: A Servant Soul can obtain a copy of “a fraction of a hero’s power”. Their own existence can be partially overwritten with this false summon. In other words, to become a hero. That is their true power. (http://i.imgur.com/aO3OThN.png)
DC 25: A Character that succeeds in a check this successful should learn information about specific Servant Souls in the world.

Servant Souls In The Game
Servant Souls can fit easily into any campaign setting, for what setting lacks heroes? All that the Servant Soul needs is the ability to contact and draw power from these legends. Their presence can easily be added by the fact that they tend to keep low numbers and a somewhat lower profile than the heroes that power them.

Adaptations
The most obvious way to adapt this class is to simply change the source of their power: With very little work, the Servant Souls could be recast as divine crusaders, with seven different types of holy vengeance at their fingertips. Even if their arcane spellcasting is kept, this does not preclude the ability to draw power from the gods. While Clerics can become a powerful force in melee themselves, even they are unable to dish out the guaranteed damage of Lancer or take the beating of Berserker.

Sample Encounter
An encounter with a Servant Soul should give her enough time to use multiple of her installs and summons, showcasing her ability to use multiple types of powers, and possibly spellcasting as well. The Servant Soul should engage enemies with low health, such as spellcasters, in melee, using her powerfully damaging Phantasms. If she finds herself at a loss, she can back off and attack with powerful ranged effects (Lancer makes an excellent retreat, since Lancer’s noble phantasm allows a Servant Soul to move double her normal speed while performing devastating attacks).

EL 8. Miyu Edelfelt became a mage by accident, but soon learned the power of Heroic Spirits and set off to learn their use. Miyu fights only for her friends, so she may fight adventurers if she thought that they were after a magical item that a companion needed, or one with destructive powers that she feels the need to secure for their safety. As a friend, Miyu will gladly help the party eliminate a threat to the common good, nearby towns, or anyone she treasures. She does not look forward to fighting but, due to her trusting nature, can be tricked into attacking those that do not deserve it.

Miyu Edelfelt CR 8
Female Human Servant Soul 8
NG Medium Humanoid
Init +1; Senses Listen +11, Spot +0
Languages Common, Draconic
AC 19, Touch 12, Flat-footed 18 (+1 Dex, +6 armor, +1 Deflection, +1 Natural Armor)
HP 63 (8 HD)
Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +8 (+1 against Energy Drain, death spells, death effects, and inflict spells)
Speed 20 ft. (4 squares)
Base Atk +6; Grp +9
Special Actions Heroic Spirit Include (Su, Move Action, duration 7 rounds with Lancer, Rider and Caster, 10 with Saber), Heroic Spirit Install (Su, Move Action, duration 7 rounds with Lancer, Rider and Caster, 10 with Saber), Haste 3/day, Belt of Healing activation
Servant Soul spells Known (CL 4th):
3rd (1/day) – Blink, Energy Aegis (PHBII), Force Missiles (SpC), Lighting Bolt (DC 14), Hold Person (DC 14)
2nd (3/day) – Blast Of Force (SpC) (DC 13), Combust (SpC) (DC 13), Cure Moderate Wounds, Daze Monster (DC 13), Deflect (PHBII), Inflict Moderate Wounds (DC 13), Protection from Energy, Stretch Weapon (PHBII)
1st (5/day) – Cure Light Wounds, Jump, Kelgore's Fire Bolt (PHBII) (DC 12), Lesser Deflect (PHBII), Magic Missile, Sleep (DC 12), Whelm (PHBII) (DC 12)
0 (4/day) – Detect Magic, Cure Minor Wounds, Read Magic
Abilities Str 16, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 8
Feats Battle Caster, Quicker Install, Eschew Materials, Power Attack, Faster Phantasm, Spirit Affinity (Saber)
Skills Concentration +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +2, Knowledge (History) +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +6, Listen +11, Spellcraft +12, Use Magic Device +10
Posessions Healing Belt, +1 Glamered Speed Light Fortification Breastplate, Ring of Protection +1, Amulet of Natural Armor +1, Cloak of Resistance +2, Handy Haversack, Least Crystal of Lifekeeping, Gauntlets of Ogre Power
http://i.imgur.com/fJMUqqG.jpg

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:34 AM
Alternative Heroic Spirits
The first time a Servant Soul learns a new spirit of any one of the seven types, she may choose to learn one of the alternate heroic spirits discussed below. Once made, this decision cannot be changed. Every alternative spirit includes an Include (with weapon and noble phantasm), an Install (with a noble phantasm), and a spell list to replace all game information of the original spirit.

Use these if you want to make the Servant Soul class more flexible, but be wary, because it’s easy to lock yourself out from abilities you will later find very useful. Consider the Alternate Hero feat.

Fate/Apocrypha Archer: Atalanta (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Archer_of_Red)
Atalanta, the Chaste Huntress, replaces normal Archer (Emiya), and is the archer of choice for servant souls that need strong ranged damage combined with devastating mental compulsions.

Heroic Spirit Include: A servant soul including Atalanta, the Chaste Huntress summons a quiver of 40 arrows and a composite longbow with a strength bonus equal to her own, up to +5. It becomes Precise (MIC) starting from 7th level, and Splitting (CoR) starting from her 13th level.

A Servant Soul including Atalanta can use Seven Arrows of the Big Dipper, a barrage of arrows ventilating a target. As a full round action, she makes a full attack with her bow, and gains extra attacks (and attack penalties, as appropriate) equivalent to the Flurry of Blows of a monk her level. For instance, a 9th level Servant Soul gains one extra attack at her highest bonus and no penalty. However, she must use all of these attacks on as few targets as possible, switching targets only when her current target drops or is killed. Use of this ability during an install reduces the duration by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing Archer Atalanta appears to wear green armor and a single leather bracer. She receives a bonus to dexterity equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. Her movement speed increases by 10 feet for every 6 class levels, and for every arrow that damages a living enemy, she gains 1 hit point for every 4 damage dealt. However, while installing Archer, a Servant Soul cannot cast any spells not from the Archer Atalanta spell list.

Installing Archer gives a servant soul the noble phantasm Complaint on the Arrow. To use this ability, she must be under the open sky, and must fire an arrow straight up as a full-round action. At the start of her next turn, a barrage of arrows falls from the sky in a 20 foot radius area of her choice, centered somewhere within 200 feet of her current location. This attack deals 1D8 piercing damage per class level to anybody within the area (reflex half; DC 10 + 1/2 servant soul level + dexterity bonus). Anybody that fails the reflex save and takes damage from this attack is constricted by the arrows in their body and the arrows on the ground, and is considered flat-footed for the rest of the round. This ability reduces the remaining install duration by 3 rounds.

Archer Atalanta’s Spells: 1 – Incite (SpC), 2 – Mindless Rage (SpC), 3 – Miser’s Envy (SpC), 4 – Confusion, 5 – Song of Discord

Fate/Apocrypha Archer: David (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/David)
David, King of Israel, replaces normal Archer (Emiya), and is the preferred archer for servant souls that need would rather suppress than kill those they face.

Heroic Spirit Include: A servant soul including David summons 40 sling bullets and a sling. The sling becomes Merciful (MIC) at 7th level, Paralytic Burst (MIC) at 11th level, and Impact (MIC) at 16th level.

A Servant Soul including David can use the noble phantasm Hamesh Avanim, a storm of rocks that can end a fight before it starts. Use of this ability during an install reduces the duration by two rounds. As a full-round action, she makes a full attack with her sling, and gains extra attacks (and attack penalties, as appropriate) equivalent to the Flurry of Blows of a monk her level. She can always load sling bullets as a free action during this attack. Each sling bullet deals an additional 1D6 damage for every 4 servant soul levels, but all damage from this phantasm is nonlethal regardless of whether she is currently using her sling as Merciful. Using this during an install reduces the install’s duration by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing Archer David appears to wear simple leather armor and sandals. She receives a bonus to dexterity equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. She gains the benefits of the Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot feats, and can load sling bullets as a free action, while installing. If at least 15th level, she gains the benefits of the Improved Precise Shot feat for the duration of the install. However, while installing Archer, a Servant Soul cannot cast any spells not from the Archer David spell list.

Installing Archer gives a servant soul the noble phantasm Chest of the Covenant. In order to use this, she must make a melee touch attack against a foe. This attack deals 1D6 holy damage per servant soul level (or unholy damage from evil servant souls; neutral aligned servant souls may choose) and exhausts the target. If the target succeeds a fortitude save, it deals half damage and fatigues them instead. This ability reduces the duration of an install by 2 rounds.

Archer David’s Spells: 1 – Sanctuary, 2 – Shield Other, 3 – Divine Insight (SpC), 4 – Tongues, 5 – Mass Sanctuary (SpC)

Fate/Apocrypha Assassin: Jack the Ripper (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin_of_Black)
Jack replaces normal Assassin (Hassan), and specializes in shutting down and destroying enemies one by one.

Heroic Spirit Include: Jack the Ripper’s assassin spirit summons a cleaver-shaped handaxe in one hand and a dagger in the other. Both weapons become Revealing (MIC) at 7th level, gain the Mindcrusher (MiC) property at 11th level, and become Vanishing (MiC) at 16th level. In addition, at the end of any attack, full attack or phantasm in which the servant soul threw her dagger, it disappears from its current location and reforms in her hand. This does not allow her to throw it more than once in a full attack.

A servant soul including Assassin Jack can use the Holy Mother of Dismemberment, a deadly incapacitating attack. To use it, she must throw her dagger as a full-round action at a target within her maximum range, taking only half of the penalty for throwing at a distance. If the dagger hits, roll for damage normally. The target must make a fortitude save with DC equal to the damage that was rolled. If the target fails, he is dazed for 2D3 rounds. At 5th level, the target is instead dazed for 1d3 minutes and stunned for 2d3 rounds. At 10th level, the target is dazed for 1d6 minutes, stunned for 1d3 minutes, and put to sleep for 2d3 rounds. At 15th level, the target is dazed for 1d12 minutes, stunned for 1d6 minutes, asleep for 1d3 minutes, and paralyzed for 2d3 rounds. This attack deals no damage; the damage roll was to determine the save DC only. Use of this ability during an install reduces the duration by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Assassin Jack appears to wear a black vest and wrapped bandages on her forearms. She receives a bonus to dexterity equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves, a bonus to saves against all mind-effecting affects equal to her class level divided by three. She gains the benefits of the Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Point-Blank Shot, and Double Hit feats, and 1D6 Sneak Attack damage per 5 levels. If at least 15th level, she gains the benefits of the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat for the duration of the install. However, while installing Assassin, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Assassin Jack spell list.

Installing Assassin give a servant soul the noble phantasm Darkened Misty Metropolis, control over the mist around her. She may use this as a free action at the start of her turn. To use the noble phantasm, she can pay one, two, or three rounds of her install, and must have at least that many rounds remaining. If she pays one round, she can see through all foglike and mistlike effects, both mundane and supernatural, as though they were not there until the start of her next turn. If she pays two rounds, she gets that benefit, but also can move without fog or mistlike effects impeding her. If she pays three rounds, she gains both previous benefits, takes no damage from any fog or mist effects, and automatically succeeds any save forced on her by being within the range of a fog or mist-based spell or effect.

Assassin Jack’s Spells: 1 – Obscuring Mist, 2 – Fog Cloud, 3 – Stinking Cloud, 4 – Solid Fog, 5 – Cloudkill

Fate/Stay Night Assassin: Sasaki Kojiro (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin_%28Fate/stay_night%29)
Kojiro replaces normal Assassin (Hassan), and specializes in smart defense and quick, penetrating strikes.

Heroic Spirit Include: Sasaki Kojiro’s assassin spirit summons a katana (mechanically equivalent to an Elven Courtblade from Races of the Wild) that moves too fast to be tracked. It becomes Eager (MIC) at 7th level, Blurstrike (MIC) at 11th level, and gains Defensive Surge (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Kojiro can use Tsubame Gaeshi, a deadly technique of striking multiple times at once. This technique can only be used when standing on solid ground. As a full round action, she makes a full attack with her sword, and gains extra attacks (and attack penalties, as appropriate) equivalent to the Flurry of Blows of a monk her level. For instance, a 9th level Servant Soul gains one extra attack at her highest bonus and no penalty. Use of this ability during an install reduces the duration by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Kojiro’s Assassin appears to wear purple-colored formal underclothes designed to be worn under heavier armor. She receives a +2 bonus to strength and dexterity, with an additional +2 to each ability for every 6 Servant Soul levels, not for every 10 levels like most heroic spirit installs. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She is also under the effect of a Mind Blank spell for the duration of the install, with a caster level equal to her class level, and gains the benefits of the Combat Expertise and Combat Reflexes feats for the duration of the install. However, while installing Assassin, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Kojiro Assassin spell list.

Installing Assassin gives no additional noble phantasms or abilities.

Kojiro Assassin’s Spells: 1 – Foundations of Stone (SpC), 2 – Mountain Stance (SpC), 3 – Know Opponent (SpC), 4 – Nature’s Rampart (SpC), 5 – Zone of Respite (SpC)

Fate/Apocrypha Berserker: Frankenstein’s Monster (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Frankenstein)
Frankenstein’s Monster replaces normal Berserker (Heracles), and excels in taking magical punishment while shocking her enemies.

Heroic Spirit Include: Frankenstein’s Berserker summons a heavy mace that shocks her foes into submission. It becomes Shocking at 7th level, Shocking Burst at 11th level, and Psychokinetic (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Frankenstein’s Berserker gains the noble phantasm Lighting Tree of Crucifixion. As a full-round action, she plants the handle of her mace in the ground, and the head detonates. This deals 1D6 damage to all creatures within 30 feet of her, and half of that to all creatures within 60 feet. Half of this damage is electricity and half of it is force (reflex half). However, she herself takes the phantasm’s force half of damage (no save). Use of this power during an install reduces the duration by 1 round.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Frankenstein’s Berserker wears loose, white clothing and has visible metal bolts in her head. She receives a bonus on constitution equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 servant soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her servant soul level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus to fortitude saves. She also gains immunity to any spell or ability allowing spell resistance for the duration of the install, with the following exceptions: Any electricity damage heals her instead of damaging her; and any fire damage deals full damage to her. She does not get a save against electricity or fire damage, but can save against any other effects of these spells normally. During this install, she may not cast any spells, use magical items requiring activation, or use any skill that requires dexterity, intelligence, constitution, or charisma (except balance, escape artist, intimidate and ride). Installing berserker counts as Rage.

A servant soul installing Berserker gains the ability Scream of the False Lifeform. Use of this ability is a full-round action, during which she lets loose an unearthly wail. Anybody within 30 feet is affected. Those with fewer hit dice than half of her class level are dazed for 1D4+1 rounds (no save); those with hit dice equal or greater than half of her class level, up to hit dice equal to her class level, must make a will save or be nauseated for 1D4 rounds; and those with more HD than her class level must make a will save or be staggered for 1D3 rounds. This ability reduces the duration of her install by 3 rounds.

Frankenstein’s Berserker’s Spells: 1 – Shocking Grasp, 2 – Electric Vengeance (PHBII), 3 – Orb of Electricity, 4 – Greater Electric Vengeance (PHBII), 5 – Ball Lighting (SpC)

Fate/Zero Berserker: Black Knight (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Berserker_%28Fate/Zero%29)
Black Knight Berserker replaces normal Berserker (Heracles), and forms a more flexible, slippery battle bruiser.

Heroic Spirit Include: The Black Knight Berserker spirit does not summon a weapon, but rather grants the ability to use anything around as a weapon with power equal to his strongest weapons. While including or installing Black Knight Berserker, a servant soul is capable of using any weapon or item around her as her weapon, with an enhancement bonus equal to her normal included weapons. Any improvised weapon can be used as a simple, martial, or exotic weapon that it superficially resembles. The emulated weapon is unable to make ranged attack (except for being thrown). For instance, a broom handle can be used as a rapier or longsword, a piece of rope can be used as a whip or spiked chain, a plank of wood can be used as a bastard sword or greatsword, or a broken bottle can be used as a dagger or kukri. The power of the Include will imbue the weapon with the ability to act as a weapon of the same type, including in hit points and hardness. In addition, this weapon deals an additional 1D4 damage starting at class level 4, which becomes 1D6 at level 8, 1D8 at level 12, 1D10 at level 16, and 1D12 at level 20. Any improvised item can only emulate one type of weapon per round, and only one item can be treated as Berserker’s weapon at a time. If wielding a weapon that is already magical, Berserker’s granted enhancement bonus and bonus damage override any enhancement bonus and special weapon abilities already present on the weapon.

Black Knight Berserker grants an including servant soul the ability to use Protection of the Fairies, a noble phantasm preventing harm. This noble phantasm is activated as an immediate action, and grants the Servant Soul a +10 bonus on the next saving throw she makes within the round. If she makes no saving throws by the end of the round, the effect is wasted. If used during an install, this ability reduces the duration of the install by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Black Knight Berserker appears to be covered in dark-colored plate armor and surrounded by a black shadowy fog. She receives a bonus to strength and constitution equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 servant soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her servant soul level divided by 4 (rounded up), resistance to all energy types equal to her class level, evasion as a rogue of her class level, and Mettle (CWar) as a Hexblade of her class level. During this install, she may not cast any spells, use magical items requiring activation, or use any skill that requires dexterity, intelligence, constitution, or charisma (except balance, escape artist, intimidate and ride). Installing berserker counts as Rage.

Installing Berserker gives the servant soul the noble phantasm For Someone’s Glory, affinity with the shadows around her. Once per round, she may apply quicken spell and Still Spell to a single spell on the black knight berserker spell list without increasing its level or casting time, which she can then cast. This is the only way she may cast spells while installing black knight berserker. Using this phantasm reduces her install by a number of rounds equal to the level of the spell quickened.

Black Knight Berserker’s Spells: 1 – Shadow Mask (SpC), 2 – Shadow Spray (SpC), 3 – Shadow Phase (SpC), 4 – Shadow Conjuration, 5 – Shadow Evocation

Fate/Extra CCC Caster: Hans Christian Anderson (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Caster_%28Fate/Extra_CCC%29)
Anderson Caster replaces normal Caster (Madea), and supports his allies with powerful healing magic.

Heroic Spirit Include: Anderson’s caster does not give a weapon when included. Rather, the servant soul gains a wand of Cure Minor Wounds with charges equal to her class level. When the included weapon would be +1, she instead includes a wand of Cure Light Wounds. When the included weapon would be +2, she gets a wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. When the included weapon would be +3, her wand becomes a wand of Cure Serious Wounds. At +4, the wand becomes a wand of Cure Critical Wounds. When weapons would be +5, she gets a Scepter (LEoF) of Heal.

Anderson Caster grants a servant soul the noble phantasm Marchen Meines Lebens, the power to help her allies better tell their story. It is used as an immediate action. When used, a single ally within 60 feet, which can be she, gains the ability to reroll a single attack, save or check any time within the next round. If the reroll is used, the target must accept the result, even if it is worse. If not used within 1 full round, the reroll is wasted. Use of this ability during an install reduces the duration of the install by 2 rounds. This ability may not be used to reroll a roll that was already rerolled, by this ability or another.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Anderson Caster diminishes slightly in size and dons a bowtie, a vest and a striped shirt. She receives a bonus on intelligence equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 servant soul levels. Like all installs, she gains a bonus on her servant soul caster level equal to half her class level (rounded up, to a maximum of her character level). She radiates a heroic aura, granting all allies within 60 feet a morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear equal to 1 for every 4 class levels. Installing caster places no restrictions on casting servant soul spells, although other spells are still restricted.

Installing Caster gives the servant soul the ability to support and heal her friends using High Speed Aria. As a swift action, she may give up a number of rounds in her install in order to cast a conjuration (healing) spell (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/spells&tablefilter=healing) from the cleric spell list of level equal to the rounds lost. The level of the spell cannot exceed the highest level of servant soul spell she can cast, and she must have at least that many rounds in her install. The spell must have a verbal component, it must have a cast time of no greater than 5 rounds, and she must provide any expensive material components as well as pay any XP cost associated with the spell.

Anderson Caster’s Spells: 1 – Remove Fear, 2 – Harmonic Chorus (SpC), 3 – Allegro (SpC), 4 – Greater Resistance (SpC), 5 – Heroes’ Feast

Fate/Zero Caster: Bluebeard (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Caster_%28Fate/Zero%29)
Bluebeard, or Gilles De Rais, replaces normal Caster (Madea), and allows for unlimited, but unpredictable, spellcasting power.

Heroic Spirit Include: Including Bluebeard Caster does not grant a servant soul a traditional weapon. Rather, she gets a staff that acts like a Tentacle Rod (MIC), except as noted here. The rod has one tentacle plus one for each +1 enhancement bonus granted her included weapons. The rod uses her normal melee attack bonus. Each tentacle gets a bonus to hit and to damage equal to the enhancement bonus on her included weapons. The rod’s Slow effect triggers if 3 tentacles hit the same target, and uses her normal save DC.

A servant soul including Bluebeard Caster is more adept at magecraft. This ability is used as part of casting a servant soul spell that she knows and has the intelligence to cast, although she need not have a spell slot for it. The spell is treated as normal level when cast, but uses a lower-level spell slot. She may reduce the level of the spell slot consumed by up to 1 per 4 servant soul levels (minimum 0). If she has no slots of that level remaining, she may use a higher-level slot to cast it, as normal. If she has no spell slots of that level or any higher level spell slots, she may not cast the spell. If used as part of an install, this reduces the duration by 1 round.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Bluebeard Caster appears to wear a bulky, unwieldy dark cloak with a thick, red-accented collar, and holds a book in the hand not holding her rod of tentacles. She receives a bonus on intelligence equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 servant soul levels. Like all installs, she gains a bonus on her servant soul caster level equal to half her class level (rounded up, to a maximum of her character level), and a bonus on concentration checks and saves against all mind-affecting effects equal to her class level divided by 3. She also gains a 30-foot Fear Aura for the duration of the install, which frightens enemies with HD of less than half of her class level and shakes enemies with HD up to her class level if they fail a will save to resist. These effects last for 3D10 rounds, but if still active, will end 1 round after the end of her install. A creature that makes the save is immune to her Fear Aura for 24 hours. Installing caster places no restrictions on casting servant soul spells, although other spells are still restricted.

Installing Caster gives a servant soul the noble phantasm Prelati’s Spellbook, an infinite font of magical power. As a standard action, she may open the book conjured with her install. In any subsequent rounds of the install, she may choose to cast a servant soul spell powered by the book instead of powered by her spells per day. She may do use this to cast a spell even if she has no remaining spell slots of that level, but she must retain the minimum ability scores to cast it. If she casts a spell using Prelati’s Spellbook as her power source, she may not cast that spell again in any fashion for a number of rounds equal to 1D4 + 1/2 the level of the spell. The round spent opening the book reduces the remaining rounds in her install by 1.

Bluebeard Caster's Spells: 1 – Spirit Worm (SpC), 2 – Summon Swarm, 3 – Girallon’s Blessing (SpC), 4 –Vipergout (SpC), 5 – Spider Plague (SpC)

Fate/Apocrypha Lancer: Vlad III (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Lancer)
Vlad III, the Lord Impaler, Lancer of Black, replaces normal Lancer (Cú Chulainn), and is a heroic spirit with fantastic anti-army phantasms and the ability to steal the life of his foes.

Heroic Spirit Include: Installing Vlad Lancer gives a servant soul a longspear that drains the life force of her foes. The weapon becomes Bloodfeeding (MIC) at 7th level, Vampiric (MIC) at 11th level, and Shattermantle (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Vlad Lancer can call upon a technique called Demonic Defender. To use this ability, she concentrates for a full round and disrupts the magic in the air around her. From the start of this action until the start of her next turn, any enemy within 90 feet that attempts to cast or concentrate on a spell, or use a spell-like ability, takes 1D6 negative energy damage per servant soul level (or positive energy if they are undead). They may make a will save to avoid this damage, but if they were casting or concentrating on a spell, the DC is increased by the level of the spell. Usage of this power during an install reduces the install by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing the Vlad Lancer wears dark royal robes and seems to chill the air around her. She receives a bonus to constitution equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains fast healing equal to her constitution bonus for the duration of the install. In addition, all enemies within 30 feet of her are shaken unless they succeed a will save; they may try at the start of the install if within range, or every time they enter the range. Success makes one immune to this effect for 24 hours. This lasts for the duration of the install or until they leave the range, and is a mind-affecting effect. However, while installing Lancer, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Vlad Lancer spell list.

Installing Lancer gives a noble phantasm of the Kaziki Bei, the field of spears. This is a full-round action where the servant soul shoots magical spears from the earth to impale her enemies. To use it, she reduces the duration of the install by 2 rounds and fires spears from the ground in a 30 foot radius, centered somewhere at most 200 feet from her location. Anybody within this area takes 1D6 magical piercing damage for every 2 servant soul levels (reflex half) and, if they fail and take damage, they are also pinned to their current location, and must make a strength check (a move action at the same DC) to free themselves. The next round, if the servant soul has rounds remaining and wishes to continue the effect, she deducts 3 rounds from her install, and everybody within the 30 foot radius takes 1D6 damage per servant soul level, while anybody from 30-40 feet takes 1D6 per two levels. The reflex save, and impalement with a strength check to free, are the same within these areas. The next round, if she has rounds remaining and wishes to annihilate any survivors, the servant soul may deduct 4 rounds from her install. This deals 1D10 damage per servant soul level to everybody within 40 feet of the phantasm’s center, while anybody 40-50 feet from the center takes 1D6 damage per level. The same reflex save, impalement, and strength checks to free themselves apply. Only the first round of the phantasm requires a full-round action, as both following rounds require only that she will the effect to continue.

Vlad Lancer’s Spells: 1 – Chill Touch, 2 – Ghoul Touch, 3 – Vampiric Touch, 4 – Contagion, 5 – Fleshshiver (SpC)

Fate/Zero Lancer: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Lancer_%28Fate/Zero%29)
Diarmuid replaces normal Lancer (Cú Chulainn), and is a heroic spirit famous for his ability to puncture through all armor, and deal wounds that never heal.

Heroic Spirit Include: The Diarmuid Lancer spirit summons either or both of two weapons, which can be used singly or together. The first is a one-handed spear (treat this as a trident) able to circumvent all defense. It gains Impaling (MIC) at 7th level, Transmuting (MIC) at 11th level, and Ghost Touch at 16th level. The second is a shortspear that gains Weakening (MIC) at 7th level, Enervating (MIC) at 11th level, and Stygian (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Diarmuid Lancer can call upon a noble phantasm called Eye of the Mind. She may activate this power when flanking an enemy. She makes a normal full attack, but the bonuses for flanking are increased by an additional +2 to attack and damage for every 4 servant soul levels. In addition, anybody flanking with her gains these bonuses until the start of her next action. If used during an install, this reduces the rounds remaining by 2.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing the Diarmuid Lancer spirit gains the appearance of wearing a form-fitting teal breastplate and acrobatic boots. She receives a bonus to strength equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains spell resistance equal to 10 + her class level and the benefits of the Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Defense and Double Hit feats while installing. If she is at least 15th level, she gains the Improved Two Weapon Fighting feat while installing. For the duration of the install, her shortspear is treated as having the Cursed Blade (SpC) spell on it, with a caster level of her class level. However, while installing Lancer, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Diarmuid Lancer spell list.

Installing Lancer gives a noble phantasm of the Mystic Face. This is a full-round action where the servant soul gazes at a target and attempts to overpower their will. Treat this as a Dominate Person, with a caster level equal to her class level, except that it lasts only until the end of the install and it uses the standard save DC for noble phantasms. If she is at least 16th level, treat this as a Dominate Monster spell instead. A servant soul must reduce the rounds remaining in her install by a variable amount of at least one and at most four, although she cannot reduce it by more than the number of rounds remaining in her install. For each round reduced, she adds +1 to the save DC of this effect and +2 to any checks for overcoming spell resistance.

Diarmuid Lancer’s Spells: 1 – Countermoon (SpC), 2 – Earthbind (SpC), 3 – Suppress Breath Weapon (SpC), 4 – Spark of Life (SpC), 5 – Ghost Trap (SpC)

Fate/Apocrypha Rider: Saint George (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_unused_Fate/Apocrypha_Servant_designs#Saint_George)
George replaces normal Rider (Medusa), and is the favored spirit for servant souls like flashy smiting of their chosen foes.

Heroic Spirit Include: St. George’s Rider spirit summons a fullblade (AEG) that smites his favored foes. It gains Bane (Dragon) at 7th level, Dragondoom (MIC) at 10th level, Fiercebane (Dragon) at 13th level and Binding at 16th level.

A servant soul including Rider St. George can call upon a noble phantasm called Interfectum Dracones, slayer of dragons. She throws a lance of light from her sword as a ranged touch attack against a target within 60 feet, taking no penalties for distance within this range. If she hits, she rolls damage as though she had struck her target with her sword in melee, but does an additional 1D6 points of holy damage (for good servant souls) or unholy damage (for evil servant souls; neutral servant souls may choose) to the target for every two class levels. Use of this phantasm reduces the duration of an install by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing Rider St. George appears to wear rust-colored, serpentine-themed full-plate under a cross-emblazoned surcoat. She receives a bonus to strength equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains benefits of the diehard and mounted combat feats, and a +4 competence bonus on ride checks for the duration of the install. As part of the process of installing, she summons a Phantom Steed (as the spell, using her servant soul caster level, although the caster level is considered her class level for purposes of dispels) in her square and may automatically mount it. She also gains spell resistance equal to 10 + her class level for the duration of the install. However, while installing Rider, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Rider St. George spell list.

Installing Rider gives a servant soul the noble phantasm Abyssus Draconis: Thou Shalt a Serpent Become. To use it, she sends a blast of power out from her surcoat at a non-dragon target within 200 feet. The target must make a fortitude save and a will save. If the fortitude save fails, their features change to be slightly more draconic, and they are treated as being a creature of the dragon type for purposes of spells and effects (such as the servant soul’s weapon) for the remainder of her install. If they fail the will save, they are staggered for one round. This is a transmutation effect. A servant soul using this power reduces the duration of her install by 2 rounds.

Rider St. George’s Spells: 1 – True Strike, 2 – Fell the Greatest Foe (SpC), 3 – Antidragon Aura (SpC), 4 – Hide From Dragons (SpC), 5 – Vulnerability (SpC)

Fate/Extra Rider: Francis Drake (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_%28Fate/Extra%29)
Nero replaces normal Rider (Medusa), and is the favored spirit for servant souls that need large-scale control of the environment around them.

Heroic Spirit Include: Francis Drake’s Rider spirit summons a pair of hand crossbows to dispatch enemies from a distance. Both become Aquatic (MIC) at 4th level, Quick-Loading (MIC) at 7th level, Doom Burst (MIC) at 11th level, and Knockback (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Rider Drake can call upon a noble phantasm called Golden Wild Hunt, in which massed cannons fire onto the battlefield, decimating enemy lines. She designates an area no more than 200 feet away as the target, and anybody standing within 40 feet of the chosen spot takes 1d6 damage/two levels (reflex half). In addition, anybody within 10 feet of the designated center who failed the save and took damage also catches on fire. Use of this phantasm reduces the duration of an install by 3 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing Rider Drake’s spirit appears to wear a brown choker collar and a garish captain’s coat over long boots. She receives a bonus to dexterity equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. She also gains benefits of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for the duration of the install. Starting level 15, she gains the benefits of the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat while installing. However, while installing Rider, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Rider Drake spell list.

Installing Rider gives a servant soul the noble phantasm called Night of the Storm. This is activated as a full-round action, during which the sky fills with clouds. This activation round reduces the install’s remaining rounds by an additional 2. For the remainder of the install, she may use a move action to either change the winds within 200 feet of her (this acts otherwise like Control Winds, except that its effects end when the install ends) or to lance lighting down from the clouds to her enemies. When summoning lighting, she may designate either one target, or two targets within 30 feet that have a clear line of space between them, all targets being within 200 feet of herself. These targets take 1D6 electricity damage for each of her servant soul levels, and are stunned for a number of rounds equal to her constitution modifier, minimum one (Reflex half for the damage, a fortitude save negates the stun). She may alter the winds and call lighting in the same round if she wishes to use two actions to do so, but she may not call lighting twice in a round. After the initial round, this phantasm does not require more rounds of the install to function.

Rider Drake’s Spells: 1 – Endure Elements, 2 – Gust of Wind, 3 – Control Water, 4 – Eye of the Hurricane (SpC), 5 – Tidal Surge (SpC)

Fate/Apocrypha Saber: Joan of Arc (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Ruler_%28Fate/Apocrypha%29)
Joan of Arc replaces normal Saber (Heroic Spirit Arturia), and is the favored spirit for servant souls that value intelligence gathering and control.

Heroic Spirit Include: The Joan of Arc Saber spirit summons a longsword made to destroy illusions before her. The sword becomes Illuminating (MIC) at 4th level, Illusion Bane (MIC) at 7th level, Illusion Theft (MIC) at 11th level, and Resounding (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Joan of Arc Saber can call upon a noble phantasm called La Pucelle. When used, flames from her sword conjure a pyre under her feet, which sears her enemies. This attack deals divine damage if she is good and vile damage if she is evil, with neutral servant souls able to choose. All enemies within 30 feet take 1D6 damage per servant soul level (reflex half), but she takes 1D6 fire damage every two servant soul levels herself (no save). If used during an install, this reduces the duration by three rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing the Joan of Arc Saber spirit gains the appearance of wearing polished half-plate over a black doublet waistcoat. She receives a bonus to strength and charisma equal to 2 plus 2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains spell resistance equal to 10 + her class level, and a bonus to all charisma-based skills except for bluff equal to her class level divided by three, for the duration of the install. During the install, she also gains regeneration 1 (bypassed by all types of energy damage). However, while installing Saber, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Joan of Arc Saber spell list.

Installing Saber gives a servant soul an ability called Revelation. This ability is activated as a swift action, and costs one to three rounds, although she cannot reduce her install by more rounds than remain. If she reduced her install by one round, she gains low-light vision, darkvision, blindsense 30 feet, and a +2 enhancement bonus to spot until the start of her next round. If reduced by two rounds, she gains superior low-light vision, darkvision 120, blindsight 60, and a +4 enhancement bonus to spot until the start of her next action. If reduced by three rounds, she gains the above as well as the effects of a True Seeing spell and a +6 enhancement bonus to spot until the start of her next action.

Joan of Arc Saber’s Spells: 1 – Spontaneous Search (SpC), 2 – Analyze Portal (SpC), 3 – Arcane Sight, 4 – Locate Creature, 5 – Telepathic Bond

Fate/Extra Saber: Nero (http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Playable_Saber_%28Fate/Extra%29)
Nero replaces normal Saber (Heroic Spirit Arturia), and is the favored spirit for servant souls that value overpowering offense and crippling their enemies.

Heroic Spirit Include: The Nero Saber spirit summons a greatsword designed to destroy her enemies with powerful strikes. This sword becomes Keen at 7th level, Impedance (MIC) at 11th level, and Screaming (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Nero Saber can call upon a noble phantasm called Aestus Estus. When activated as part of an attack, she adds her intelligence bonus to hit and her servant soul level as a modifier to damage. If used during an install, this reduces the duration by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A Servant installing the Nero Saber spirit gains the appearance of wearing flowing red formal clothes over a discreetly armored frame. She receives a bonus to strength equal to 2 plus for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. She also gains spell resistance equal to 10 + her class level and the benefits of the feat power attack while installing. However, while installing Saber, a servant soul cannot cast any spells not from the Nero Saber spell list.

Installing Saber gives a noble phantasm called Domus Aurea. This is a full-round action where the servant soul attacks a single enemy with her greatsword. If the attack succeeds, the target is struck with a -2 curse penalty to attacks, skill checks, ability checks, and saves, as well as a -1 penalty to Armor Class. The next round, the target may attempt a fortitude save. Success means that the save remains unchanged, whereas failure causes the curse to worsen to -4/-2 (to rolls and AC respectively). The third round, the target may attempt another saving throw at the same DC. Success means that the curse remains unchanged, whereas failure causes it to worsen by another -2/-1 (to rolls and AC, respectively). The fourth round, the target may reattempt the save, and a successful save ends the curse; the curse ends regardless the round after. Using this phantasm reduces the rounds remaining in the install by 3.

Nero Saber’s Spells: 1 – Shock and Awe (SpC), 2 – Zeal (SpC), 3 – Haste, 4 – Dirge of Discord (SpC), 5 – Dirge (SpC)

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:35 AM
Iconic Spirits
http://i.imgur.com/QYNXMly.jpg
This set of heroic spirits represents some of the iconic characters in Dungeons and Dragons.

Archer: Soveliss
Soveliss, Elven Ranger, replaces normal Archer (Emiya), and is a strong choice for Servant Souls that spend time in the wilderness.

Heroic Spirit Include: Archer Soveliss’s spirit summons en elven double bow (AEG) with a quiver of 40 arrows built to strike fast and hard. It becomes Hunting (MIC) at 7th level, and Exit Wound (CW) at 11th level, and the arrows become Assassination (CiS) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Archer Soveliss can use the noble phantasm Out Of Sight. This is a full-round action. During it, she makes a hide check, and is considered hidden, even by those observing her, even if she has no cover or concealment, unless they see her with a spot check. If she has no cover or concealment she gets a -2 on this hide check. If used during an install, this reduces the duration by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Soveliss appears in sturdy leather and a green cape, with huge numbers of things slung over her shoulders. She gains a +2 bonus to dexterity with an additional +2 for every 10 servant soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. In addition, she gains Favored Enemy (+2) towards a single creature type, which works identically to the ranger ability, and may be chosen by her every time she installs. If at least 16th level, she instead gains favored enemy (+4) towards one type and (+2) towards a second. She also gains Wild Empathy, Woodland Stride, and Trackless Step (as a druid). While installing Soveliss, she may not cast any spells except for those on the Archer Soveliss spell list.

Soveliss’s install allows use of the noble phantasm Sure Strike. This is during a single attack. Any arrows from that attack that strike a target force the target to make a fortitude save and a will save at her normal phantasm DC. A target that fails a fortitude save takes 1D6 constitution damage, while a target that fails a will save takes 1D3 damage to each mental ability. This reduces the duration of an install by 2 rounds.

Archer Soveliss’s Spells: 1 – Primal Hunter (DM), 2 – Primal Instinct (DM), 3 – Primal Senses (DM), 4 – Primal Speed (DM), 5 – Bloodfreeze Arrow (CoR)

Assassin Lidda
Lidda, Halfling Rogue, replaces normal Assassin (Hassan), and is the premier choice for skilled Servant Souls.

Heroic Spirit Include: Assassin Lidda’s spirit summons a shortsword for emergencies. It becomes Hideaway (MIC) at 4th level, Last Resort (CW) at 7th level, and Finesse (ECS) at 13th level.

A servant soul including Assassin Lidda can use the noble phantasm Old Rogue New Trick. As a free action, she may choose one skill trick she qualifies for but does not have. She gains it and may start using it in the next round. At the end of her next round she loses it, but if it takes multiple turns to use, she may continue its current use. Use during an install reduces the duration of the install 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Lidda appears to be wearing earth-tone skintight leathers and entirely too many belts. She gains a +2 bonus to dexterity with an additional +2 for every 10 servant soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves. In addition, she gains a bonus to all skills for the duration of the install equal to her class level divided by 3. For purposes of skill trick prerequisites and use of trained-only skills, she is considered to have this many additional ranks in all skills. While installing Lidda, she may not cast any spells except for those on the Assassin Lidda spell list.

Lidda’s install allows use of the noble phantasm Footpaddin’. She may activate this when using a skill that requires multiple rounds to complete or requires her to slow some activity. The number of rounds to complete her task, or the amount she is penalized by the skill use, is halved with no penalty. For instance, instead of moving silently reducing her speed by half, it reduces her speed by one quarter. If this phantasm reduces an action by 1 or 2 rounds, it requires that many rounds from her install. In all other cases it requires 3 rounds from her install.

Assassin Lidda’s Spells: 1 – Immediate Assistance (CM), 2 – Improvisation (SpC), 3 – Heroism, 4 – Unfailing Endurance (DotF), 5 – Greater Heroism

Berserker Krusk
Krusk, Half-Orc Barbarian, replaces normal Berserker (Heracles), and specializes in demoralizing enemies.

Heroic Spirit Include: Berserker Krusk’s spirit summons a terrifying greataxe. It becomes Fear Burst (MH) at 7th level, and Frightful (DaD) at 13th level.

A servant soul including berserker Krusk can use the noble phantasm Roar as a swift action. This allows her to make an intimidate check to demoralize any single foe within 60 feet. If used during an install, reduce the install duration by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Krusk appears in animal hides ornamented with bones of her enemies, along with random items strapped to her limbs. She gains a +2 bonus to strength with an additional +2 for every 10 servant soul levels. She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on fortitude saves. In addition, she gains a frightening presence, and any foe that is within 30 feet of her while she attacks or performs a special attack must make a will save or be shaken until the round after the end of her install. If their total hit dice is less than half of her class level, they are instead frightened. Any foe that was shaken when this effect started will instead be frightened (or panicked), and any foe that was frightened will become panicked (or cowering), as appropriate. Anybody that succeeds on this save will be immune to the effect for the remainder of the install. In addition, she gains spell resistance equal to 10+ her class level, and a bonus to intimidate checks equal to 1/2 her class level. However, while Berserker is installed, the servant soul may not cast spells, use magical items requiring activation, or use any skill that requires dexterity, intelligence, constitution, or charisma (except balance, escape artist, intimidate and ride). Installing berserker counts as Rage.

Krusk’s install unlocks the noble phantasm Indomitable. As a move action, she targets an enemy within 60 feet. That enemy takes -4 to all saves and rolls against intimidate and fear effects for 2D6 rounds. This ability has a different effect if the foe is immune to fear. In that case, Incomitable allows her fear and intimidate effects to pierce that immunity, but the enemy gets a +4 on saves and rolls to resist them. This reduces her install by 1 round.

Berserker Krusk’s Spells: 1 – Cause Fear, 2 – Scare, 3 – Fear, 4 – Greater Rebuke (SpC), 5 – Wail of Doom (SpC)

Caster Mialee
Mialee, Elven Wizard, replaces normal Caster (Madea) and specializes in wide spell access to fit any situation.

Heroic Spirit Include: Mialee’s caster spirit summons a staff with charges equal to her class level, capable of using charges to cast spells. At first it can only expend a single charge to cast Mage Hand. When her summoned weapon would be +1, it gains the ability to use 2 charges to cast Mage Armor. When it would be +2, it can use 3 charges to cast Acid Arrow. When it would be +3, it can use 4 charges to cast Lightning Bolt. When it would be +4, it can spend 5 charges to cast Cone of Cold. When it would be +5, it can spend 6 charges to cast Dismissal.

A servant soul including Mialee can use the noble phantasm Renewal. This grants her included staff one additional charge. If used during an install, this reduces the install by one round. Use of this power also prevents the staff from disappearing from existence for 1 full round, even if the current include or install ends.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Mialee’s Caster appears frail, and wears clothing with many odd points jutting out and a seemingly endless number of pockets. She receives a +2 bonus to intelligence, with an additional +2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She also gains the benefits the feat Spell Penetration, and the feat Spell Focus for a single school of her choice. In addition, once per turn, she may apply a single metamagic feat from the following list to a single spell she is casting, without increasing its effective level or casting time: Silent Spell, Still Spell, or Ghost Touch Spell (Gho).

A servant soul installing Mialee can use the noble phantasm Spell Pact. In order to do this, as a full-round action, she first pays between 1 and 10 rounds of install, and must have that many remaining. She then chooses a spell level that is equal to or lower than the highest level servant soul spell she can cast, and is at most half the number of rounds she paid (a 0-level spell is considered 1/2 level for this purpose). She may then choose a wizard spell of the appropriate level. She may cast the chosen spell so long as she begins casting before the end of her next turn. She must provide all components and foci of the spell except for those covered under Eschew Materials, including XP components, if any.

Caster Mialee’s Spells: 1 – Distract Assailant (SpC), 2 – Sonorous Hum (SpC), 3 – Spell Enhancer (SpC), 4 – Spell Matrix, Lesser (SpC), 5 – Surge of Fortune (CC)

Lancer Ember
Ember, Human Monk, replaces normal Lancer (Cú Chulainn) and uses special attacks to circumvent her enemy’s guards.

Heroic Spirit Include: Ember’s Lancer spirit summons a Monk’s Spade (SoS) built for many unconventional utilities. The spade becomes Disarming (CW) at 7th level, Grasping (AEG) at 11th level, and Sweeping (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Ember can use the noble phantasm Overpower. This is used as a free action while performing a special attack. It grants her a bonus equal to half her class level to the next touch attack or opposed roll made as part of the special attack. If used during an install this reduces it by three rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Lancer Ember wears simple wrappings over much of her body, and her skin ripples with power. She receives a +2 bonus to strength, with an additional +2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), as well as a bonus on fortitude and reflex saves. She also gains the benefits the feats Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Sunder, and Improved Trip. Her base land speed increases by 10 feet for every 5 servant soul levels. During the install she can only cast spells from the Lancer Ember spell list.

A servant soul installing Ember can use the noble phantasm Ensnare. It is activated as a swift action upon completing a melee attack. If the target of her attack is a legal target for the maneuver, she may immediately initiate a bull rush, disarm, grapple, sunder, or trip attack against that enemy. Begin the attack as though any necessary touch attacks had already been succeeded. To use this, she pays 2 rounds from her install. If she has at least 3, she can instead pay 3, and her opponent cannot react to turn the attack on her if her opposed check fails (falling prone from a bull rush, being disarmed while disarming, or being tripped while tripping). This does not protect against other negative circumstances, such as being pinned after initiating a grapple.

Lancer Ember’s Spells: 1 – Fist of Stone (SpC), 2 – Fearsome Grapple (SpC), 3 – Entangling Staff (SpC, treats the Monk’s Spade as a staff), 4 – Heart of Earth (CM), 5 – Irresistible Force (Gho)

Rider Alhandra
Alhandra, Human Paladin, replaces normal Rider (Medusa) and focuses on undead foes and powerful charges.

Heroic Spirit Include: Alhandra’s Rider spirit summons a Lance built to kill enemies in one strong strike. The lance becomes Valorous (UE) at 7th level, Fierce (AEG) at 11th level, and Charging (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Alhandra can use the noble phantasm Circle of Life, in which she creates a burst of positive energy. This heals all living creatures within 30 feet by 1D6 per 2 class levels and harms undead by the same amount; any creature can make a will save to halve the healing or damage. If used during an install this reduces it by two rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Rider Alhandra appears dressed in scale mail with spiked pauldrons and bracers. She receives a +2 bonus to strength and charisma, with an additional +2 for every 10 Servant Soul levels. She gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), as well as a bonus on fortitude saves. If there is room, she may instantly summon and mount a heavy warhorse, which is advanced as though she were a druid of her servant soul level minus three, and she gains the benefits of the feats Mounted Combat, Ride-by Attack, and Spirited Charge. During the install she can only cast spells from the Rider Alhandra spell list.

A servant soul installing Alhandra can use the noble phantasm Channel. This is used as a standard action. It allows her to turn undead as a good cleric of her servant soul level. It reduces the time of the install by 2 rounds.

Rider Alhandra’s Spells: 1 – Detect Undead, 2 – Spawn Screen (SpC), 3 – Spark of Life (SpC), 4 – Incorporeal Nova (SpC), 5 – Life’s Grace (SpC)

Saber Vadania
Vadania, Half-Elf Druid, replaces normal Saber (Arturia) and connects close to nature.

Heroic Spirit Include: Saber Vadania’s spirit summons a scimitar for melee or ranged use. The scimitar becomes Throwing at 7th level, Returning at 10th level, Dessicating (MIC) at 13th level, and Desiccating Burst (MIC) at 16th level.

A servant soul including Vadania can use the noble phantasm Shifter’s Speech as a swift action. For 3 rounds, she can speak normally and cast spells that require speech unless physically gagged or within the area of a silence effect. Use during an install reduces the install’s duration by 2 rounds.

Heroic Spirit Install: A servant soul installing Saber Vadania immediately transforms into a small or medium animal with HD less than or equal to her class level, acting otherwise like the Druid’s Wild Shape ability. She gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), as well as a bonus on fortitude saves. She can turn into large animals starting at 10th level, tiny animals at 13th level, huge animals at 16th level, and diminutive animals 19th level. During the install she can only cast spells from the Saber Vadania spell list.

A servant soul installing Alhandra can use the noble phantasm Conjure Clasp. This phantasm is a free action upon installing Vadania and cannot be used any other time. To use it, she reduces the duration of her install by any number of rounds. She may make that many worn items not merge with her form when she enters the install. These items, if necessary, change size and shape to fit her new form so long as it makes sense that the form be capable of wearing that type of item.


Saber Vadania’s Spells: 1 – Hide From Animals, 2 – Woodland Veil (RotW), 3 – Control Temperature (FB), 4 – Repel Vermin, 5 – Antilife Shell

Prestige Classes

Spiritual Vassal
http://i.imgur.com/1DZQ5yC.jpg?2
Sometimes a servant soul reveres one heroic sprit above all others. Pledging herself to her borrowed ideals, she gains increased power and abilities from her lord or lady.
Hit Die: D8

Requirements
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Feats: Spirit Devotion with selected spirit.
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast her chosen spirit’s second-level spell.

Class Skills
The spiritual vassal has the same class skills as the servant soul.
Skill Points At Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Spiritual Vassal
http://i.imgur.com/TFTogUp.png

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the spiritual vassal prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A spiritual vassal gains no proficiency in any weapons or armor.

Spellcasting: When a new level in spiritual vassal is gained, the character gains an increased caster level, new spells known and new spells per day as though she had gained a level in a spontaneous spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefits of this class. She must choose which class to apply this benefit to when she takes her first level of spiritual vassal. She does not gain this benefit on her fifth level in the class.

Heroic Spirit Include: Levels in spiritual vassal stack with levels in servant soul for determining the heroic spirit include benefits for spiritual vassals.

Chosen Install: If the character does not have heroic spirit install before entering the spiritual vassal prestige class, the class does not grant it. However, levels in spiritual vassal stack with levels in servant soul for determining the benefits of heroic spirit install for their chosen spirit.

Attunement: A first level spiritual vassal can connect more closely with her lord. She gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with her spirit’s weapon, and gains a +1 bonus to her caster level when casting spells from her heroic spirit’s spell list. These bonuses increase to +2 at third level and +3 at fifth level.

Spiritual Resonance: A second level spiritual vassal is a better receptacle for the energy her lord provides. Includes and installs with her chosen spirit last 1 additional round. This increases to 2 rounds at fourth level.

Superior Crafting: A second level spiritual vassal can summon stronger weapons. When including her chosen spirit, the enhancement bonus of the weapon is 1 higher. In addition, she may at the time of include choose to summon a weapon made of adamantine, alchemical silver, or cold iron. These changes also change any ammunition summoned with the weapon.

Heroic Body: A third level spiritual vassal gains a +2 ability increase to any abilities increased in her chosen spirit’s install.

Spirit Mastery: A fourth level spiritual vassal gains spirit mastery with her chosen spirit. This works exactly like the servant soul ability, above. If she does not have heroic spirit install, this grants her 1 install per day.

Apotheosis: A fifth level spiritual vassal can maintain her heroic spirit include for any length of time and can dismiss and restart her include as a free action, but only with her chosen spirit. However, this comes with two caveats: Any weapon with abilities that refresh daily can only refresh these abilities once every encounter, and heroic spirit include phantasms can only be used once every encounter (or twice with the appropriate feat).
She may also choose to gain the appearance of her install when including her chosen spirit, but gains no other benefits of her install unless using the install ability.

Spiritual Boon: A fifth-level spiritual vassal gains a special boon, based on the class of her chosen spirit. These benefits are always active, except when installing a different spirit.

Archer: A spiritual vassal of an archer-type spirit gains a +5 bonus to spot and deals +5 damage with all projectiles. In addition, once per round she may fire an arrow or other projectile as a 100-foot line attack, hitting all opponents in the affected squares, although they may make a reflex save (DC 10+1/2 her character level + her dexterity modifier) for half damage. This is an attack, and may be used as part of a full attack.

Assassin: A spiritual vassal of an assassin-type spirit gains a +5 bonus on move silently, as well as a +2D6 increase to sneak attack. In addition, she gains concealment.

Berserker: A spiritual vassal of a berserker-type spirit gains temporary hit points equal to half of her character level. At the start of her turn, her last round’s temporary hit points are removed and replaced with new ones. In addition, she gains +4 to resist bull rushes, disarms, overruns, and trips, and a +4 bonus to grapple checks. She gains proficiency with heavy armor, and may use medium or heavy armor without incurring spell failure for her servant soul spells. As with all spiritual boons, this does not apply when installing spirits other than her chosen spirit.

Caster: A spiritual vassal of a caster-type spirit gains an additional spell per day of every level she can cast. These are added to the class she chose when using spiritual vassal to advance spellcasting. In addition, unlike all other spirits, caster gains an additional level of spellcasting at fifth level.

Lancer: A spiritual vassal of a lancer-type spirit gains an additional 5 feet of reach. If huge size or above, she instead gains 10 feet of reach. She also gains 1 additional attack of opportunity per round.

Rider: A spiritual vassal of a rider-type spirit gains a +20 foot increase to her move speed, as well as the move speed to all mounts she rides and all vehicles she drives. In addition, once per round when performing an action that would provoke an attack of opportunity, she may choose to not provoke an attack from a single opponent.

Saber: A spiritual vassal of a saber-type spirit gains +5 to balance, climb, jump, and tumble and may use all skills untrained. In addition, she gains a +2 bonus to her armor class, which is either sacred or profane, depending on her alignment. She may use medium armor without incurring spell failure for her servant soul spells.

Spiritual Vassal Lore
Characters with ranks in knowledge (Nobility And Royalty) or Knowledge (The Planes) can research Spiritual Vassals to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
DC 10: A spiritual vassal is a person deeply connected to a single spirit or heroic ideal.
DC 15: By pledging fealty to a historical of mythological figure, a spiritual vassal learns to draw on more of their power.
DC 20: Unlike a servant soul, a spiritual vassal can hold onto a single spirit all day.
DC 25: A Character that succeeds in a check this successful should learn information about specific spiritual vassals in the world.

Spiritual Vassals In The Game
Spiritual Vassals belong anywhere servant souls can be found. As long as it’s possible for someone to sign seven contracts, it’s possible for someone to give seven times the devotion to one.

Adaptations
The most obvious change to make to spiritual vassal is to change the boons granted by each class. While each one was designed to be tailored to the class’s general strength, this does not mean every servant can make use of each one. Sasaki Kojiro, for instance, has little synergy with the assassin boon to stealth skills and sneak attack (although concealment is always welcome). Matching the boon to the player’s chosen spirit and play style can make this class go from skipped to essential.

Sample Encounter
An encounter with a spiritual vassal of sufficient level will almost always begin with them already in the garb of their lord, and players with knowledge (history) or knowledge (nobility and royalty) may roll a DC25 check to recognize it. If they do, they will instantly understand the outlook and general abilities of who they are meeting.

EL 9. Kuro Von Einsbern began her life in the shadow of her sister. After she contracted heroic spirit Archer, she set out on her own. Hotheaded and brash, but never mean, Kuro is ruthless to those she thinks mean her ill will, and would rather get rid of them than ask them their real intentions.

When in combat, her goal is to get out of reach and keep firing. She does no good in melee combat, and if forced into it she will use her spells to lash out at those around her. Otherwise, she will use her magical items to evade enemies and pelt them with ever more arrows as she runs.

Kuro Von Einsbern CR 9
Female Human Servant Soul 4/Spiritual Vassal 5
N Medium Humanoid
Init +2; Senses Listen -1, Spot +16
Languages Common, Sylvan
AC 19, Touch 14, Flat-Footed 15 (+4 Dex, +4 Armor, +1 Natural Armor) (+5 against Ranged Attacks)
HP 62 (9 HD)
Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +10
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee +3 Elvencraft Longbow +10/+5 (1D6+4)
Ranged +3 Seeking Composite Elvencraft Longbow (+1 Strength Bonus) +13/+8 (1D8+9) (Can substitute 1 attack/round for 100 foot line attack, DC 18 Reflex Save for anybody in affected squares for half damage)
Base Atk +6; Grp +8
Special Actions Heroic Spirit Include (Su, Move Action, Unlimited duration with Archer, can use noble phantasms once per encounter or every two minutes, no cooldown on include otherwise), Heroic Spirit Install (Su, Move Action, Duration 18 rounds with Archer, can install once every two minutes, +8 Dexterity), Healing Belt activation(Standard to heal), Chronocharm activations(Immediate to reroll certain rolls or move), Bracers of Quick Strike activation (Swift for extra attack), Anklet of Translocation activation (swift to move), Hawkfeather Armor activation (standard to fly or boost charisma), Potions
Servant Soul spells Known (CL 4th):
3rd (1/day, DC 14) – Ring of Blades (SpC), Fly
2nd (3/day, DC 13) – Splinterbolt (SpC), Combust (SpC), Cure Moderate Wounds, Hideous Laughter, Protection From Energy
1st (5/day, DC 12) – Guided Shot (SpC), Cure Light Wounds, Kelgore's Fire Bolt (PHBII), Swift Expeditious Retreat (PHBII)
0 (4/day) – Detect Magic, Light, Read Magic
Abilities Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10
Feats Spirit Affinity (Archer), Spirit Devotion (Archer), Eschew Materials, Faster Phantasm, Empowered Install (Archer), Spirit Specialization (Archer)
Skills Concentration +14, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (Religion) +13, Spellcraft +13, Spot +17, Use Magic Device +10
Possessions Hawkfeather Armor (+1 Natural Armor), Lesser Crystal of Arrow Protection, Healing Belt, Bracers of Quick Strike, Anklet of Translocation, Gloves of Spell Disruption (+2 Dex), Chronocharms of the Horizon Walker, Grand master, and Celestial Wanderer, Robe of Resistance +3, 3 Potions of Cure Light Wounds, 2 Potions of Shield of Faith

http://i.imgur.com/kN4WCNc.jpg?1

Theurgic Servant
While the spirit Caster is built for raw arcane power, it is limited by the spells and spell progression of the Servant Soul. Some enterprising Servant Souls have learned to harness the power of the Caster spirits and infuse them with magical power from another source.
Hit Die: D4

Requirements
Heroic Spirits: Must have contracted at least one Caster-class spirit.
Heroic Spirit Include: Must be able to summon magical weapons.
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast second-level spells from a class other than servant soul.

Class Skills
The theurgic servant’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points At Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: The Theurgic Servant
http://i.imgur.com/bsthT2P.png

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the theurgic servant prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A theurgic servant gains no proficiency in any weapons or armor.

Spellcasting: The theurgic servant advances the spellcasting of two classes. The first is servant soul. When a character gains a new level, assuming she can cast spells as a servant soul, she may advance her servant soul spellcasting by one level for purposes of spells per day and spells known. In addition, her servant soul caster level increases by two, when not installing a heroic spirit, to a maximum of her character level. This replaces any caster level increases granted by installing heroic spirits. She gains none of these benefits at level 6 of this class.

In addition, the theurgic servant advances the spellcasting of another class. This class must be able to cast second-level spells when the first level of theurgic servant is gained, and cannot be changed. Its caster level, spells per day, and spells known increase every level of the class after level one.

Caster Include: All features of Heroic Spirit include are advanced at every level of theurgic servant as though gaining a level in servant soul, but for caster spirits only. This means that, for instance, a servant soul 3/wizard 3/theurgic servant 7 would be able to include caster as a free action, and summon a +3 weapon, but would need a move action to include other heroic spirits she knows and they would only have +1 weapons.

Theurgic Casting: At second level, a theurgic servant can use spells from other spellcasting classes while installing heroic spirits. She may cast spells of a spell level up to her level in theurgic servant while installing a heroic spirit. (Heroic Spirit Include never restricts spellcasting.)

Theurgic Phantasm: Any time a theurgic servant of at least third level uses a noble phantasm from a caster-class spirit, if that noble phantasm can apply to a spell she can cast, she may apply it to a spell from her other casting class. However, the level of the spell she is affecting must be, at most, half of her theurgic servant class level. Any ability that costs or retains spell slots can be transferred to a prepared caster by costing or retaining prepared spells of the appropriate level.

Heroic Spirit Install: A theurgic servant of at least 4th gains heroic spirit install, as the servant soul ability. Levels in servant soul and theurgic servant stack to determine duration and abilities granted by the install.

Extra Caster: At fifth level, and again at tenth level, a theurgic servant can choose a caster-class spirit with which she is not familiar. She gains familiarity with that servant. If she already has alternate hero or spirit duality for that spirit, she may select a single bonus feat for which she meets the prerequisites.

Theurgic Install: At sixth level, a theurgic servant can apply any changes to spellcasting gained in heroic spirit installs to spells of her other casting class. However, she may only use spells of a level up to half of her theurgic servant class level. Any ability that costs or retains spell slots can be transferred to a prepared caster by costing or retaining prepared spells of the appropriate level.

Bonus Metamagic Feat: At seventh level, a theurgic servant gains a bonus metamagic feat for which she meets the prerequsites.

Theurgic Metamagic: A theurgic servant of at least eighth level can power metamagic with servant soul spell slots. She may apply a metamagic feat she knows to a spell of her other casting class by sacrificing a servant soul spell slot of the same level or higher as the level increase of the metamagic feat. She may apply this only once to a spell, although a prepared caster can apply it to a spell prepared with other metamagic feats. She must be able to cast a spell of the modified level, even if the spell is still being cast from the same spell slot.

If she is applying this ability to a prepared spell, its casting time increases. Any spell with a casting time measured of one round or more requires double the casting time. Any spell that is cast as a standard action is instead cast as a full-round action. Any spell cast as a move action is used as a standard action, and all other spells are cast as move actions. If the applied metamagic feat changes the casting time, it changes this altered casting time.

Heroic Spirit Mastery: A ninth level theurgic servant gains heroic spirit mastery for a single caster spirit with which she is familiar. This works like the servant soul ability.

Caster Fusion: A tenth-level theurgic servant gains the ability to recharge her spellcasting with her other casting classes. She may remember any spell cast, or any spell slot expended, from either of her two casting classes by expending a prepared spell or spell slot of the same level or higher from the other class. This works otherwise like Mage’s Lucubration, although it can be used with spell slots instead of spells. Use of this ability is a swift action.

Playing a Theurgic Servant

Advancement
While many theurgic servants may go back to whatever base casting class they were in before joining, others have some unique prestige classes. A prepared caster can go into Ultimate Magus to continue advancing the casting of both of her classes. A spontaneous caster, however, has the option to go into Spiritual Vassal for the Caster spirit, which grants full spellcasting and additional spells per day. This will also grant an additional heroic spirit mastery if she enters using a second caster spirit, +2 intelligence, and other benefits. Still others may enter Legacy Champion or Uncanny Trickster in order to use caster’s abilities with higher levels of spells.

Theurgic Servant Lore
Characters with ranks in knowledge (Arcana) or Knowledge (History) can research Theurgic Servants to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including the information from lower DCs.
DC 10: A theurgic servant blends their own spellcasting powers with a contract to heroic beings of legend.
DC 15: Theurgic servants can be arcane or divine. They gain abilities like empowering spells on the fly or casting spells from either magical reserve.
DC 20: Unlike most servant souls, a theurgic servant sees their heroic contracts as a means to an end. They use their heroic spirit’s power to increase their primary abilities, and are spellcasters to the core, ill-suited for martial combat.
DC 25: A Character that succeeds in a check this successful should learn information about specific theurgic servants in the world.

Theurgic Servants In The Game
Theurgic Servants are an adaptable class. They make an excellent prestige class for wizards due to their intelligence focus, but can help other practitioners of the arcane arts. They can also be used as an easy way for a cleric or other divine spellcaster to increase their metamagic abilities. Anywhere servant souls teach how to contract heroic spirits, there can be spellcasters interested for their own ends.

Adaptations
With a little bit of work, Theurgic Servants could be molded into a psionic prestige class, for servant soul/psions, although this may require some modification of the heroic spirit’s abilities to adapt to powers. Other alterations could include shuffling the abilities gained at each level, or even trading them out. Allowing the feat-for-familiarity trade to be optional instead of mandatory means a player that only likes one caster can stock up on extra metamagic feats.

Sample Encounter
Theurgic Servants behave in most respects as normal mages, and have the same inclinations as mages may have. However, if a fight begins, they may start reading their spells from a very magical book, or don dark robes and cast spells twice as fast. After a combat ends, a theurgic servant will often take out a wand and begin to heal the wounded.

EL 12. Luvia Edelfelt is a prideful, fiercely competitive mage who nonetheless commands respect from those around her, due to her mastery of the arcane arts. She is careful to always act proper among her superiors, but can lash out at those she considers threats to her standing. Despite this, she does care for those that can tolerate her eccentricities.

Luvia Edelfelt CR 12
Female Human Servant Soul 1/Wizard 3/Theurgic Servant 8
CN Medium Humanoid
Init +1 (+6 with Nerveskitter); Senses Listen +1, Spot +5
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven
AC 17, Touch 11, Flat-Footed 16 (+1 Dex, +6 Armor) (20% miss chance)
HP 70 (12 HD)
Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +15 (Ring of Counterspelling: Greater Dispel Magic)
Active Spells Greater Resistance, Hero’s Feast, Extended Overland Flight, Extended Greater Mage Armor
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), Fly 40 ft, Average Maneuverability
Base Atk +5; Grp +4
Special Actions Heroic Spirit Include (Su, Move Action, Duration 5 rounds with Caster Bluebeard, 14 rounds with Caster Madea, 2 Noble Phantasms per include), Heroic Spirit Install (Su, Standard Action, Duration 4 rounds 1/day with Caster Bluebeard, 13 rounds 2/day with Caster Madea), Anklet of Translocation activation (Swift, 10 foot teleport), Third Eye Clarity activation (Immediate, immunity to negative conditions), Gloves of Fortunate Striking activation (Swift, reroll attack), Healing Belt Activation (Standard, heal self or touch)
Servant Soul spells Known (CL 12th):
3rd (3/day, DC 20) – Cure Serious Wounds, Force Missiles (SpC), Girallon’s Blessing (SpC)
2nd (5/day, DC 19) – Combust (SpC), Cure Moderate Wounds, Electric Loop (SpC), Protection from Energy, Blast of Force (SpC), Summon Swarm
1st (6/day, 4 Remaining, DC 18) – Cure Light Wounds, Swift Expeditious Retreat (PHBII), Kelgore’s Fire Bolt (PHBII), Magic Missile, Spirit Worm (SpC)
0 (4/day, DC 17) – Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Read Magic
Wizard Spells Known (CL 10th):
5th (DC 22) – Baleful Polymorph, Dominate Person (Cast: Overland Flight)
4th (DC 21) – Greater Invisibility, Solid Fog, Black Tentacles (Cast: Greater Resistance (SpC))
3rd (DC 20) – Dispel Magic x2, Fireball, Explosive Runes (Cast: Greater Mage Armor (SpC))
2nd (DC 19) – Minor Image, Glitterdust, Alter Self, Invisibility, Ray of Stupidity x2 (SpC)
1st (DC 18) – Nerveskitter (SpC) x3, Charm Person, Grease, Shield
0 (DC 17) – Light, Acid Splash, Mending, Ray of Frost
Abilities Str 8, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 24, Wis 12, Cha 10
Feats Strengthened Connection, Extend Spell, Empower Spell, Increased Output, Spirit Affinity (Caster Madea), Split RaySpirit Devotion (Caster Madea)
Skills Concentration +17, Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +22, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +22, Spellcraft +22, Spot +5, Use Magic Device +15
Possessions Headband of Intellect +6, Minor Cloak of Displacement, Third Eye Clarift, Ring of Counterspelling, Anklet of Translocation, Gloves of Fortunate Striking, Healing Belt, Horn of Plenty, Spellbook.
Spellbook 0 – All; 1st – Obscuring Mist, Charm Person, Shield, Shock and Awe, Sleep, Mount, Nerveskitter, Grease; 2 – Invisibility, Alter Self, Web, Glitterdust, Ray of Stupidity, Minor Image; 3 – Dispel Magic, Explosive Runes, Haste, Greater Mage Armor, Fireball; 4 – Greater Mirror Image, Black Tentacles, Dimension Door, Minor Creation, Solid Fog, Lesser Geas, Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, Greater Resistance, Orb of Electricity; 5 – Teleport, Dominate Person, Baleful Polymorph, Overland Flight, Duelward

http://i.imgur.com/UtT4NE7.png?1

Class Design
Goals

Tier-3 power level
Capable striker also able to sub into other party roles, containing many utility abilities.
A spellcaster with shaped and limited powers and spell lists
Able to multiclass but reward single-classing heavily. A player should want all 20 levels.
Balance spirits against each other. Some may dominate others for certain play-styles, and some are tilted towards low/high level play, but all are viable and no servants are clearly better than the others.
Introduce a unique play-style with its own mechanics and a few unique abilities
No overlap: No two spirits should occupy exactly the same niche in combat. No two servants should get the same weapon. No two weapons should share an ability. No spell should be repeated. More basically, no servant soul should have a spell that duplicates its weapon powers, install buffs, or phantasms.
The extended heroic spirit list should unlock a variety of different playstyles, from concealment modifiers, to powerful healing, to unlimited spellcasting, to powerful curses. Servants contain single-target and area effects, melee and ranged damage, weapon and spells, offense and defense.
A party can consist of 3 servant souls with essentially no overlap in abilities, or 3+ servant souls with functionally no overlap in combat styles. Lacks trapfinding, but has small amounts of stealth; can do a small amount of blasting or a large amount of healing using caster; and strong in melee using the majority of servants, or at range with Archer or Rider.
Faithfulness to the source material, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya
Faithfulness to the source material, Fate/Stay Night


Major Version Changes
1.0: Release
1.1: Tweaked Spells per day, added flavor blocks.
1.2: Changed Caster’s noble phantasms, tweaks.
1.3: Huge spell list revisions.
1.4: Changed and updated feats list, other tweaks.
1.5: Tweaked Assassin’s includes.
1.6: Updated and changed feats, overhauled Assassin’s include.
1.7: Alternative servants, large reorganization, added pictures
1.8: Alternative servants, massive cleanup, removed extraordinary include as a feat – it’s an instantaneous conjuration past level 10, the feat is redundant. Extraordinary install was rolled into “Ext. Contract”. Changes to the base Spell list. “Spirit Duality” feat added.
2.0: Includes 1/Encounter; Removed feats Extra Include and Unlimited include; added feats Crystallized Memory, Empowered Install, Increased Output, Prana Concentration. Updated Install save bonuses to explicitly give bonus equaling the difference between “poor” and “good” save progressions. Increased ability boosts slightly. Updated a few installs (scaled bonuses, changed some servants’ granted save, round up on Caster’s caster level increase).
2.0.1: Berserker gets Steadfast Determination from PHBII; replaced Archer's force damage spells with piercing damage/Sword spells. Small clarification/debuff to Anderson Caster's include and install. Added new feat "Phantasmal Pounce".
2.1: Clarified Archer’s include phantasm. Fixed issue with Extraordinary Contract. Buffed Saber’s CL when installing. Altered Saber’s metamagic access. Increased caster level across the board when installing. Updated Miyu’s statblock, which had grown increasingly out of date. Gave Ripper sneak attack (less than Hassan!).
2.1.1: Clarified Arcane Spell Failure language. Clarified language on spirit contracts. Changed Assassin's includes... again.
2.2: Fixed typo on Spirit Devotion. Changed two Assassin include phantasms to debuff instead of killing. Added new prestige class: Spiritual Vassal. Tweaked epic heroic spirit mastery.
2.2.1: Fixed error on Miyu statblock. Slight tweak to Spiritual Vassal’s superior crafting and Spirit Mastery. Clarified issue in Spirit Specialization. Added Spiritual Vassal pictures and fluff, including a statblock for level 9 Kuro Von Einsbern (and she is MEAN). Added four alternative class features: Class Specialist, Legacy Hero, Martial Soul and Spiritual Dilettante.
2.3: Added a new prestige class (Theurgic Servant) as well as a new alternative class feature (Sealing Enforcer). Fixed an issue in Kuro’s stat block (feat qualifications).
2.4: Introducing 7 new heroic spirits, based on the D&D Iconics! In order to accommodate them, Berserker (Heracles) slightly changed weapons. Also buffed the Class Specialist ACF (mastery arrives, albeit late), Martial Soul ACF (increased HD and skills), and Sealing Enforcer ACF (Brilliant Energy is optional), and introduced a new ACF: Initiate Soul. Removed typos from Theurgic Servant.
2.4.1: Fixed typos and clarified language in Vadania’s include and install, and buffed her install. Buffed Krusk’s install. Buffed Black Knight’s spells, and swapped Arturia’s 5th level spell. Fixed a typo on Saber Joan’s entry.

Balance Notes: Why is the Servant Soul tier 3?
Simply put, because it has no powers that could rival a full caster. The spell list contains 6 spells per level + 5 more per servant. So the average servant soul would know a total of 75 spells. This sounds like a lot until you realize that under the majority of combat situations, only 5 of them can be used. In addition, although I occasionally cribbed from level+1, their spells only go to level 5. The most powerful spells on their spell list are Heal/Harm, Wrack, Freedom of Movement, Break Enchantment, plus some alternate hero spells (Shadow Conjuration, Song of Discord, Hero’s Feast).

The class is MAD as hell and not going to take it anymore. Designed for largely melee fighting with a D8 HD and light armor, meaning that it requires Dex and Con to not keel over and explode. The class uses weapons on nearly all Spirits and all of the weapons use STR (including composite bows, slings, and spiked chains). The class casts its spells off of Int, and has some limited utility in its skill list as well. CON makes a comeback when it comes to noble phantasm save DCs. A servant soul can maybe justify dumping WIS or CHA.

The class is feat-heavy. Not as bad as some I’ve seen, but I can’t justify building a Servant Soul pre-epic and not including Quicker Install. Faster Phantasm is a gimme pick as well. In general, I’d say a Servant Soul needs Battle Caster to boost its pitiful AC, and power attack of course, especially since when fighting it has full BAB but with 3/4 BAB worth of attacks. Even if some installs give a few bow feats or what have you, the class needs some investment, even given the bonus feats throughout its career (I’d recommend spending one on Extraordinary Contract so you’re not borked in AMF – It’s pretty feat-taxy).

The class similarly punishes multiclassing. When I build classes I like to make a class you want to take 20 levels in, due to its solid progression of power and abilities you can’t pass up. I avoided the concept of “dead levels” entirely, making sure that every level contained at least one goodie (discrete class feature, iterative attack, spell level). I made feats for if a player really wanted to multiclass, but if you want the full power of the Spirits you possess, you need to take 2 of them every 7 levels – in other words, all of your feats. If somebody wanted to dip the class for 1 level and spend half of his feats on Strengthened Connection for a single kickass weapon + phantasm, I won’t stop him. I don’t think it’s a good build, but I won’t stop him. Giving up two of the 3 noteworthy abilities - installs at 6, mastery at 15 – makes the class somewhat dull.

So when does the class peak in power? Level 4, with Lancer’s noble phantasm, Gae Bolg, dealing 4D8+6*STR as a full attack. Every level after that is just diluting that beautiful, beautiful damage spike with increased monster HD.

Special thanks
Nekomata2 was my collaborator, balance adviser, and playtester when developing the class. Any errors found in the class are his fault entirely mine.

Amechra
2013-08-25, 05:44 AM
OK, I just skimmed, but this is freakin' awesome.

I do want to comment that Assassin's Include should have a smoother scaling on the charges; heck, you could even do the following:

Assassin Include: bla bla bla You gain the ability to conjure a mundane dagger at will as part of an attack action (include whatever other boilerplate necessary).

At Xth level, you may expend a spell slot of at least 1st level when conjuring a dagger with this ability to add the Venemous quality to the dagger.

At Yth level, you may expend a spell slot of at least 2nd level when conjuring a dagger with this ability to add the Wounding quality to that dagger.

And so on and so forth.

EDIT: I think you need a different limit on the Includes; 1/hour is rarely used, because it is one of the easier timeframes to just slip by.

Consider: if it was once every X rounds, well, any time you focus on rounds, you know how many rounds pass (since pretty much everything uses them for duration); if it was 1/day, well, that's easy to keep track of.

But 1/hour? I've played as a class that had 1/hour abilities and it was a mess.

May I suggest making them all 1/encounter? You can fluff it as the fact that Heroes respond to conflict, thus allowing you to draw their power once again.

SECOND EDIT: And you might as well just have the bonus to ability scores from Install be +2, and then explicitly state that it increases to +4 at 12th level (and perhaps +6 at 20th? You might as well...) It looks neater, that's all.

The-Mage-King
2013-08-25, 10:26 AM
First off.


Wow.


Just wow.



Now that that's out of the way, I just gave this a skim.


I think the spells chosen for Archer are unfitting, first off.


I'd suggest more like...


Hawkeye (SpC), Whirling Blade (SpC), Lesser Weapon Augmentation (ECS, Infusion), Arrow Storm (SpC), and Blade Barrier.

That gets some of the fluff from both the inherent archiness of the Servant Class, as well as, well... Archer himself. 'course, LWA, while useful, isn't exactly the best option, but that was a five-minute hack together of thematic spells.



Other than that, I agree with Amechra's analysis regarding Include limits and Install scaling.

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 05:41 PM
OK, I just skimmed, but this is freakin' awesome.

I do want to comment that Assassin's Include should have a smoother scaling on the charges; heck, you could even do the following:

Assassin Include: bla bla bla You gain the ability to conjure a mundane dagger at will as part of an attack action (include whatever other boilerplate necessary).

At Xth level, you may expend a spell slot of at least 1st level when conjuring a dagger with this ability to add the Venemous quality to the dagger.

At Yth level, you may expend a spell slot of at least 2nd level when conjuring a dagger with this ability to add the Wounding quality to that dagger.

And so on and so forth.

It's a thought, but frankly, the Gauntlet is easier to write from an elegance standpoint, it has built-in rules for weapon lifetime and draw actions, etc. And the charge scaling was mostly because all of the daggers are already +5, and in almost every case, I don't see why you'd need all 3 weapon abilities on the same dagger. Spread the charges out and you can use them when they matter; damage isn't Assassin's strong suit in the first place. And if it is, then just take 8 deadly precision daggers in a row.

I definitely wouldn't spend spells. The spell progression of the servant soul is based on the duskblade, except with new spell levels 1 level earlier, and about half the spells per day. If I had 1st and 2nd level spells in the double digits like duskblades, spending slots would be a gimme.



EDIT: I think you need a different limit on the Includes; 1/hour is rarely used, because it is one of the easier timeframes to just slip by.

Consider: if it was once every X rounds, well, any time you focus on rounds, you know how many rounds pass (since pretty much everything uses them for duration); if it was 1/day, well, that's easy to keep track of.

But 1/hour? I've played as a class that had 1/hour abilities and it was a mess.

May I suggest making them all 1/encounter? You can fluff it as the fact that Heroes respond to conflict, thus allowing you to draw their power once again.

It's a thought. 1/Day for includes is obviously too little. I picked 1/Hour mostly because I could progress it using feats. I could probably change it to 1/Encounter but:

I'd have to remove Extra Include. What could it do, make them 2/encounter? That removes scarcity altogether and basically doubles the class's power. 1/Encounter already eliminates 80% of the planning required to play (until level 6 when daily installs come). See also: 1 per Encounter is just a fluffed way of saying 1 per 5 minutes. Currently you need 2 feats to get there for a single servant, so that would be adding some amount of power to the class (although admittedly in only the fringe situations where that would come up).
Similarly, Unlimited Include is gone. With both of those eliminated, suddenly giving extra feats is iffier too. And dropping the bonus feats creates a dead level at 18, which is against my design goals. Yes, I know that nobody would stay in the class for 17 levels and then drop it because of a dead level, but I stand by my design goal.
Similar issues with Spirit Specialization. The idea is that if you're level 15+, you can basically specialize hard in 1 heroic spirit and walk around as them all day, if you choose to allocate your feats to do such. If you scale by encounter the progression, instead of being linear, is all out of whack.


And yes, this is somewhat of a cop-out answer. "There are moving parts! It's all coupled! I would have to do work!" But the point is, the feat progression is one of my favorite parts of the class. It essentially allows a player to willingly regress from the versatility of tier 3, to awesome power in one area, but flexibility edging closer to a tier 4. I like having that available, but I wouldn't just want it to be "take one feat and done". You know? So I don't know what I'd replace that with. I mean, you could make Extra/Unlimited include be something like "You can use it 2/Encounter but you must have 10 rounds between the end of one and the start of the next." And now you're in an even worse spot, because instead of walking along the overworld and having the GM tell you "an hour has passed", you're ticking clocks down on the 4 includes you blew through in the last 5 rounds from phantasm cycling, and you're doing this as a versatile class that has to make decisions mid-combat. Basically, Starting at 1/Encounter - a power level that requires 2 feats to get for a single servant in the current build - means you can't go up, so feat progressions would need to be massively retooled or people could get Spirit Specialization using their bonus feats alone (Affinity at 8, Devotion at 13, Specialization at 18).

If there's a fix for those issues - perhaps some feats to buff servants in some new ways - then I'd be fine replacing the include time feats with it.



SECOND EDIT: And you might as well just have the bonus to ability scores from Install be +2, and then explicitly state that it increases to +4 at 12th level (and perhaps +6 at 20th? You might as well...) It looks neater, that's all.
Among other tendencies, I really like making everything scale smoothly and logically into epic (even though I never run or play in games of those levels). If I take this suggestion, I'd probably say "Goes to +4 at 10th level and +6 at 20th level" so that in the epic entry I'd be able to clarify that the bonuses continue to be awarded linearly. Obviously, this would buff levels 10 and 11, a change about which I feel nothing. At 11th level a barbarian is already rocking +6 to two abilities... of course, rage is all numerical, and thus lacks the mechanical fun of a class like this.

Although, it worries me that I thought this class was fairly high in tier 3, yet 1 of your suggestions is to reduce bookkeeping by buffing the class significantly, and another is to reword some stuff... and also buff it because why not. Does it look underpowered to you? I've only done limited playtesting, and none at level 15+, so your thoughts are appreciated.


First off.


Wow.


Just wow.
I'm hoping that's a good wow.


Hawkeye (SpC), Whirling Blade (SpC), Lesser Weapon Augmentation (ECS, Infusion), Arrow Storm (SpC), and Blade Barrier.

Possibly. I tried to keep spells granted each servant onto as tight a mechanical theme as I could, to justify giving them such large numbers of spells known. I also tried to avoid duplicating anything. No spells duped between servants, no weapon abilities (although I may have missed one or two on the last rounds of revision), And definitely no duplicates between spells granted and servant features gained without them (barely any duplicate granted feats, too). That's why Fate/Zero Lancer didn't get Cursed weapon as a spell - because it fit mechanically to grant the power persistently, but only during installs.

With that in mind:

Hawkeye could work, but honestly once you have a distance weapon, do you need another +50% on range? It feels to me like an unnecessary duplication. Granted, it would come far earlier in the cycle.
Whirling blade is right out. If someone installs archer, I don't want them putting their bow down. I know it's not 100% faithful to the original source, but it's much more fitting to the mechanical niche I was placing archer in. And whirling blade requires a slashing weapon, so they can't even hit with the nonmagical quarterstaff of their elvencraft bow.
Lesser weapon augmentation also doesn't fit the niche. This class is designed to be used with a weapon that hits +9 by level 16. If they need more agumentations than that, something is wrong. And it doesn't fit the combat flow to summon a weapon the first round of combat, then spend it buffing your already-pretty-good weapon. The only real use of weapon aug would be to buff a non-servant soul weapon. In other words, it's a nice way of ignoring all of your class features...
Arrow Storm could work, actually. I was going to give it to F/A Archer Atalanta until her list got solidified as mind-affecting. Although since I would like a theme for the class list, it would be a bit awkward to mesh with force affects.
Blade barrier could work. It would provide an interesting counterpoint to Rho Aius.


Some amount of Archer's spell list was to ensure nontrivial blasting options when installing caster, but I'll give some thought to reforming it.

---

One other goal of the class is to allow multiple distinct builds. Among other things, that means nothing should obviously overpower the rest. There are 21 servants, and although some (like David) wouldn't work well for specialization in your standard adventuring party, the class still hopefully supports a number of valid playstyles - among them, spamming alternate hero and spirit duality for expanded options, or spirit specialization for a servant of your choice. Hopefully, I've made a class with as many valid builds as fighter, but without needing 30 splatbooks to do so.

How would you build a Servant Soul? While it's very dependent on party makeup, I tried to make it subbable into a number of roles. My favorite is to take Anderson as your first caster (Alternate Hero and maybe Spirit Duality later for Madea, because her metamagics are great for blasting). Taking Anderson = You can do arbitrary amounts of out-of-combat healing, plus once a day cast Panacea, Restoration, or even (at level 16) Raise Dead and Revivify as a cleric. (Anderson was annoying to design, because I had to give him a bunch of cool stuff even though it's obvious nobody would use him mid-combat, so most of it was wasted.) I'm also partial to all of the Archers at midlevels, and Riders at high levels, so I'd probably never even get to the Spirit Affinity line of feats, too busy expanding my repertoire...

The-Mage-King
2013-08-25, 06:25 PM
I'm hoping that's a good wow.


Oh, it is. I've always said Nasuverse fans are insane in the good way. You proved it again. :smalltongue:


Possibly. I tried to keep spells granted each servant onto as tight a mechanical theme as I could, to justify giving them such large numbers of spells known. I also tried to avoid duplicating anything. No spells duped between servants, no weapon abilities (although I may have missed one or two on the last rounds of revision), And definitely no duplicates between spells granted and servant features gained without them (barely any duplicate granted feats, too). That's why Fate/Zero Lancer didn't get Cursed weapon as a spell - because it fit mechanically to grant the power persistently, but only during installs.

Entirely reasonable design goals.



With that in mind:

Hawkeye could work, but honestly once you have a distance weapon, do you need another +50% on range? It feels to me like an unnecessary duplication. Granted, it would come far earlier in the cycle.
Whirling blade is right out. If someone installs archer, I don't want them putting their bow down. I know it's not 100% faithful to the original source, but it's much more fitting to the mechanical niche I was placing archer in. And whirling blade requires a slashing weapon, so they can't even hit with the nonmagical quarterstaff of their elvencraft bow.
Lesser weapon augmentation also doesn't fit the niche. This class is designed to be used with a weapon that hits +9 by level 16. If they need more agumentations than that, something is wrong. And it doesn't fit the combat flow to summon a weapon the first round of combat, then spend it buffing your already-pretty-good weapon. The only real use of weapon aug would be to buff a non-servant soul weapon. In other words, it's a nice way of ignoring all of your class features...
Arrow Storm could work, actually. I was going to give it to F/A Archer Atalanta until her list got solidified as mind-affecting. Although since I would like a theme for the class list, it would be a bit awkward to mesh with force affects.
Blade barrier could work. It would provide an interesting counterpoint to Rho Aius.


Some amount of Archer's spell list was to ensure nontrivial blasting options when installing caster, but I'll give some thought to reforming it.

Well, I was throwing ideas out for you. Those sprung to mind as fitting for Archer, so... :smalltongue:

Amechra
2013-08-25, 06:42 PM
That last spoiler wasn't me. :smallbiggrin:

The thing is, the difference between 1/encounter and 1/hour is less "I am more powerful" and more "I have more staying power."

Also, you'd still specialize; after all, with Spirit Specialization, you can't Install a spirit more than once a day.

I said "add the +6 at 20th" because I misread it as an enhancement bonus; I do think you could get away with your combat Installs increasing your BAB to full and increasing a save to the Good progression, rather than having discrete scaling bonuses.

As for how I would handle Extra Include and Unlimited Include... Well, you could have them give you an extra use of your Noble Phantasm before your Include ends. Give them slightly stricter requirements, and they end up being just fine.

Of course, one suggestion I'd make is that Installing gives you a "free" Include effect, that doesn't count towards your encounterly allowance, that you can only use to activate a Noble Phantasm. As it is, round accounting is kinda fiddly.

So, what I'm suggesting is:

Include: Lasts X rounds, you can use your Noble Phantasm once.
Install: Get the benefits of Include; you may use one of two Noble Phantasms once for free, expend the Include effect to use it a second time, and end the Install effect to use it one more time.

Then rename Unlimited Include and Extra Include to Extra Phantasm and Unlimited Phantasm. Have Extra Phantasm let you use the Noble Phantasm once without expending your Include while both Including a spirit and Installing it, and then Unlimited Include gives you another use of it for free.

So you go from:

Free
Include
Install

to

Free
Free
Free
Include
Install

You could also then make the durations something like, I don't know, a flat minute each (Spirit Specialization increases it to 5 minutes each), since you wouldn't have to spend rounds to do stuff.

Anything that has a cost in rounds per round would instead use up a "use" every round or two.

Thoughts?

bekeleven
2013-08-25, 10:04 PM
The thing is, the difference between 1/encounter and 1/hour is less "I am more powerful" and more "I have more staying power."

I see it as, either you're just walking along outside and probably won't fight twice in an hour, or you're in some sort of dungeon or what have you with a possibility of doing so.

In the first case you barely change, in the second you go from phantasm cycling every round to sticking around with weapons and blowing phantasms when your durations are up, since you're keeping half of your includes on the docket for ambushes. I would definitely call it more powerful.


I said "add the +6 at 20th" because I misread it as an enhancement bonus; I do think you could get away with your combat Installs increasing your BAB to full and increasing a save to the Good progression, rather than having discrete scaling bonuses.

The BAB I kept as an untyped bonus because I didn't want to grant iterative attacks. You're only mimicking the warriors of old. I think giving the class a 4th iterative attack would make it too good a choice when compared to other full BAB classes, especially the tier 4s that it's already mostly outshining. Also, none of the warriors are grapplers, so it's purely a bonus to attack rolls. For simplicity's sake, I could reword the save bonus, since that's effectively what it does.


As for how I would handle Extra Include and Unlimited Include... Well, you could have them give you an extra use of your Noble Phantasm before your Include ends. Give them slightly stricter requirements, and they end up being just fine.

I could see doing this. Replace Unlimited Include with a feat saying, "Choose a spirit with which you are familiar. When including that spirit, you may use their noble phantasm twice before the include is automatically ended. If the phantasm consumes a variable number of rounds, you must use the minimum." This could lead to an odd case where at low levels/low con bonus the include would allow more phantasms than the install, but the clarifying wording would just overcomplicate things.


Of course, one suggestion I'd make is that Installing gives you a "free" Include effect, that doesn't count towards your encounterly allowance, that you can only use to activate a Noble Phantasm. As it is, round accounting is kinda fiddly.

So, what I'm suggesting is:

Include: Lasts X rounds, you can use your Noble Phantasm once.
Install: Get the benefits of Include; you may use one of two Noble Phantasms once for free, expend the Include effect to use it a second time, and end the Install effect to use it one more time.

...

Anything that has a cost in rounds per round would instead use up a "use" every round or two.

Thoughts?

I definitely don't like this one. Each phantasm has an opportunity cost and I don't want to equalize them. Gae Bolg uses 3 rounds, while the Lighting Tree of Crucifixion uses 1 round, because one is one of the largest sources of combat power for the class and the other is an aoe that hurts you with no save. And that's not because I couldn't equalize them. It's because the class is more interesting to play, and builds more interesting to plan, when the molds aren't all identical.

So to sum up, a possible revision to the class:

Make includes 1/Encounter.
Remove Extra Include and Unlimited Include.
Add a feat that allows a second phantasm per include.
Potentially add another feat buffing a servant, just to make Spirit Specialization more rare - and more rewarding, of course. Potential ideas: Increase ability boost while using a specific spirit; increase bonuses to attack or saves (penalizes specializing in Caster); flat DC increase to saves with a spirit's phantasm (doesn't improve the straight martial spirits that much... or Casters for that matter). Maybe implement all of the above as feats, but only use the ability increase as a prerequisite for specialization?


And other notes:
Simplify wording on base save increases.
Potentially simplify wording on ability boosts.

Debihuman
2013-08-26, 03:35 AM
The point of 3.5 was never to round up to a number; you do that in many places and it seems to be an unfair advantage.

Debby

bekeleven
2013-08-26, 04:51 AM
The point of 3.5 was never to round up to a number; you do that in many places and it seems to be an unfair advantage.Would it stop being an unfair advantage if I instead gave +2 to an ability with an additional +2 for every 12 levels, rounded down? Because to me it just looks more verbose*.


*And like it advances marginally slower in epic levels.

Amechra
2013-08-26, 05:23 AM
The system starts breaking down about 15th level anyway.

Balancing anything around Epic is, well...

It is mildly absurd.

Because Epic doesn't work, on a Mathematical level.

Debihuman
2013-08-26, 05:26 AM
Would it stop being an unfair advantage if I instead gave +2 to an ability with an additional +2 for every 12 levels, rounded down? Because to me it just looks more verbose*.


*And like it advances marginally slower in epic levels.

If you are getting a benefit every 12 levels you are at most getting it twice since this class only has 20 levels. However, I was more concerned with things like this: " She also gains a bonus on attack rolls equal to her class level divided by 4 (rounded up), and a bonus on reflex saves equal to her class level divided by three (rounded up)." Other classes get bonuses too but have to round down.

Debby

Amechra
2013-08-26, 05:40 AM
Debihuman, those bonuses are roughly equivalent to saying that they get full BAB and an extra good save while they are Installing them.

Debihuman
2013-08-26, 05:57 AM
And your point about rounding up or down is what exactly?

Amechra
2013-08-26, 09:28 AM
That it really doesn't factor into balance one way or another?

Someone who has 3/4th BAB and gains a bonus of 1/4[Ceiling] of their level literally has the same attack bonus as someone with 1/1 BAB, but without the 4th iterative attack or any of the other bonuses BAB gives you (like a larger Power Attack limit, and so on and so forth.)

In other words, it still is within the same bounds as full BAB.

For the save bonus, it becomes slightly more... "awkward", since it essentially is a smooth grade instead of a 2 + half level. You end up with a save bonus 1 point higher than someone with a good save bonus... at level 19.

Quite frankly, your statement was a kneejerk reaction. While rounding down is the assumption, that just means that you have to explicitly call out the exceptions.

EDIT: Also, think of it this way: Rogues get a number of sneak attack dice equal to half their level rounded up. It doesn't explicitly state that, but that is the formula used.

What I'm curious about is why the "Practiced Spellcaster" type feat gives you a +7 bonus to your effective level rather than the standard +4.

bekeleven
2013-08-26, 10:03 AM
What I'm curious about is why the "Practiced Spellcaster" type feat gives you a +7 bonus to your effective level rather than the standard +4.

That's because there are 2 such feats, 1 for includes and 1 for installs. Technically, if I wanted to balance it with practiced spellcaster, they'd both give +8. I wanted to allow for someone dipping for a weapon and pumping it or, conversely, finding a weapon so cool that they decide to stop advancing servant soul and instead just pump their existing installs through feats.

As a side note, "Highest level spell that can be cast" is also half level, rounded up, for all tier 1 casters. You also round up crafting times. (ok, these are getting pretty obscure)

Debihuman
2013-08-26, 12:15 PM
"Rounding Fractions
In general, if you wind up with a fraction, round down, even if the fraction is one-half or larger.

Exception: Certain rolls, such as damage and hit points, have a minimum of 1."

It's counter-intuitive to round up for that reason. That's all I was saying about it. The fact that you had written (rounded up) at total of 61 times just seemed silly (spell checker on Word caught it).

Debby

bekeleven
2013-08-26, 01:07 PM
Updated Servant Soul to 2.0. Changelog is as follows:


2.0: Includes 1/Encounter; Removed feats Extra Include and Unlimited include; added feats Crystallized Memory, Empowered Install, Increased Output, Prana Concentration. Updated Install save bonuses to explicitly give bonus equaling the difference between “poor” and “good” save progressions. Increased ability boosts slightly. Updated a few installs (scaled bonuses, changed some servants’ granted save, round up on Caster’s caster level increase).

Debi, you'll be happy to know that although 21 instances of the phrase "rounded up" remain the the class, they refer to only 2 mechanically distinct powers: All servants besides caster use rounding to increase their attack bonus up to their class level, and all caster servants use it to increase their caster level up to their class level.

I haven't taken archer spell changes off the table, but I wanted to deal with what people saw as more glaring mechanical issues first.

bekeleven
2013-08-29, 11:59 AM
After looking, I propose this as an alternative, non-force-damage spell list for Archer:

1 - Guided Shot (SpC), although Hail of Stone (SpC) would've been nice if it dealt piercing.

2 - Splinterbolt (SpC)

3 - Ring of Blades (SpC) with an option on Word of Binding (SpC)

4 - Quill Blast (SpC), or Sudden Stalgmite (SpC)

5 - Blade Barrier or possibly Wall of Iron

Think it's mechanically consistent?



As a side note, while looking through, I found Gutsnake and Crawling Darkness for bluebeard, but I'm not sure his list has room...

Fearan
2013-09-02, 04:40 AM
It's so nice to see some love for TYPE-Lunacy. Would someone be willing to run a playtest for it?

Morph Bark
2013-09-02, 08:15 AM
Looks like your table is gone. Perhaps you should put it into a coded table? Here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205677) a tutorial and empty table provided.

bekeleven
2013-09-02, 08:57 AM
It's so nice to see some love for TYPE-Lunacy. Would someone be willing to run a playtest for it?

Me and Nekomata2 have tested the class, but I'm not sure we've ever done so in a campaign that ran to level 7+, so Install was barely if at all touched upon.

I tend to use homebrew whenever a DM allows, mostly because I design the type of class I really like playing: Powerful but not game-breaking, with tons of versatility and combat options. I'm currently in a campaign playing a level 6 Shifter (the other class I've posted on GitP).



Looks like your table is gone. Perhaps you should put it into a coded table? Here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205677) a tutorial and empty table provided.

Thanks for the heads up, my cache was lying to me.

And I considered the coded tables... I just think they look really ugly. There's no accounting for taste, I suppose.

Morph Bark
2013-09-16, 04:43 AM
Okay, having read through now, I have to say that the Assassin's Noble Phantasm is way too powerful. You can use it right away, right? At level 1? An instant kill at level 1 (which always has a 5% chance of succeeding) is wicked strong. Also, you forget to mention the DC of the save.

bekeleven
2013-09-16, 02:42 PM
Okay, having read through now, I have to say that the Assassin's Noble Phantasm is way too powerful. You can use it right away, right? At level 1? An instant kill at level 1 (which always has a 5% chance of succeeding) is wicked strong. Also, you forget to mention the DC of the save.


Unless otherwise noted, all listed noble phantasms are full-round abilities that do not provoke attacks of opportunity, and any noble phantasm with a save DC use the DC 10 + 1/2 the user’s class level + the user’s constitution modifier.

In order to use it the player has to make a supernatural move action round 1 to include. The next round they must be within 30 feet of a living target not immune to death attacks, take a full-round action, succeed a touch attack with a +0 BAB, then they can force a save with a DC of maybe 12 or 13.

Given that Grease is a standard, Color Spray is a standard, Sleep is a single round as opposed to 1.5, and all of those require a single check or save to lose (with no touch attack), I don't see it as possessing unfair encounter-ending power. Those spells all have a 5% guaranteed chance of ending an encounter; this one has 0.25% chance.

And of course, if a person selects Assassin as their only servant known at level 1, than they start with 50GP (generally enough buy armor, about half of most martial classes) and the weapon granted by their class is... a masterwork dagger. So they'll be largely useless in combat except for their attack-then-save- two round combo to maybe take out a single enemy.

Personally I'd select Archer, Lancer or Rider as my first spirit.

Thanks for the feedback!

Fizban
2013-09-23, 10:37 AM
Posting while reading cause it's easier that way, though there's a risk some of these may have been addressed. Oh, and wall of text warning I guess.

For Installing, why not use the same language for attack bonus as for save bonuses? The idea of "increase bonus as if you had high instead of low" is much easier to understand and I would prefer having the attack bonus flow naturally rather than suddenly jumping every 4 levels. The only reason not to do it that way is if you want to keep their iterative attacks reduced so that even with a full bonus they're still attacking less, which could be a thing. Edit: which apparently was indeed the point, nevermind then.

The Include line "any abilities it has do not depend on other weapons previously summoned" makes it sound like there could be choices of what abilities the weapon gets, which may be true for some, but I think the more important part you wanted to emphasize is that each time you summon a weapon it has full daily and charged abilities-so stating that outright would be good.

The base spell list strikes me as a bit odd, or rather a few spell choices do. Nothing wrong with the heal/lightning/fire/bare utility theme, but why is Corporeal Instability on there (and at a reduced level)? That does not strike me as magical girl at all, nor do I remember it coming up in the other shows. You also don't get Pyroburst or Earth Reaver until their damage is rather poor, Pyroburst capping at CL 10 when you don't get it until CL12, and Earth Reaver being a fixed 7d6 that you don't get until 16th. And flight, considered such a fundamental ability, doesn't become available until 16th either, when Overland Flight is normally supposed to start at level 9 or 10. (Edit: am I blind?) So is the class idea sticking to the written levels of spells and thus getting them way later than everyone else, or was it supposed to be Bard-like and get the important spells at a lower level so they show up on time?

Pre-Edit: okay, so I got to Caster and found out I'd missed the 1/2 caster level at the start. Makes me sad but probably for the best. Once again I think it would be easier to just say "increase caster level to Servant Soul level," but I suppose a multiclassed odd level build could eke out an extra CL there. It also has the early flight I was looking for and that free metamagic with the CL boost should go a long way towards making you feel powerful even if you're using lower-tier spells-and gives a reason to be very careful with what spells you add.

I'd also want to see more choice in energy types since in DnD you're generally supposed to have your pick, but it's not hard to add more if we know where to place them. Snowball Swarm, Ice Burst, and Ice Flowers for example. Unless being crippled in choice of energy is a deliberate choice to make you look to your servants of course. The class spell list is so short it looks more like a prestige class list-having to pick 4 of 6 spells at each level means it's very possible you'll have to take spells you don't want, which drives me nuts. I'd want to see at least 8 spells, with energy options like fireball/lightning bolt and mirror spells like cure/inflict only counting as one "option" on the list: enough that you can ignore blasting and still have two people with only one spell in common.

On Assassin, I don't mind using the Gauntlet of Infinite Blades as a template, but using the Venemous property in conjunction is really awkward. You have to use a swift action to make a dagger which lasts for 3 rounds, then wait till next round to use a swift action to poison it for one attack, then end up wasting a charge of poison on the third round because it disappears before you can use it. Actually having to refresh the daggers every three rounds is a bit of a pain if you're trying to melee with them for some reason, and if you TWF you basically won't have any swift actions. I'm also a bit confused on the Zabinya: Illusion phantasm: I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be able to attack and flank with it since it's a conjuration and you didn't prohibit attacking, but since it has illusion in the name and the only time you normally see the word "duplicate" is Mirror Image it ought to be more specific.

Berserker: Domineering has a lame flat DC and you can't use Lion's Charge while berserking, but Domineering affects every hit and the Install is for tanking not charging so neither of those is actually a problem. God Hand is complicated but not much more than say, Stance of Unyielding Fortitude. Big weapon will be terrifying. That's about it.

Caster's Dispelling weapon is pretty weird since it doesn't work out like an actual weapon. Dispelling normally has a CL of 5, which would make this a great out of combat dispel spam, but in combat it's terrible since you have to hit with a crappy weapon in order to get the dispel (when most things you want to dispel make people harder to hit). However, since the enhancement bonus of a weapon increases it's caster level, you actually start at CL6 on your dispel, then go to CL9 at 9th and cap at +10 dispel at 12th-but you still have to hit with a no-bonus dagger. Greater Dispelling is normally a great ability since it's got a high CL for a low bonus, but again we don't get it until 16th when it's bonus is no longer noteworthy, and since CL of an enhancement bonus caps at 15h (from +5x3), we'll quickly be lagging behind on dispel checks again, and it's even more painfully obvious that the base dagger isn't doing anything. Once again the question: is the dagger supposed to be effective at dispelling in combat, or is it intended to lag behind?

Caster's spell list: summon monster, really? I don't think I would ever cast it except to ride the hippogriff off SM2. With the delayed levels it's just plain terrible for any combat use and is really only good for utility. True, summoning a dragon with Argon Coin takes care of combat, but it's just demoralizing to see one of your "domains" be so useless. Can't even try to quicken spam since that doesn't work with the casting time. Pretty much just whining though, since assuming fire and lightning aren't terrible in the campaign then the CL boost+free metamagic+dragon summoning is enough.

Rider: Sweeping at 16th is ludicrously underwhelming. Even with a tripping build you can have trouble at that level, a flat +2 is nothing. Maybe give it Brutal Surge that does trips instead of bull rushing? The Gorgon phantasm is the first one I've seen that seems overpowered on it's own, it's just nasty. Save or die on everything in 30' every round for a minimum of 2 rounds if you do nothing else, doesn't cost you any attacks once you start it up, and if they've got more HD than you you don't even need Stone to Flesh to get the loot. Unless they're allowed to avert or close their eyes before being forced to make the first save (the way it's phrased I always figured you'd have to do that on you action but it might be possible in response) it just sounds way too good. Did it come up in playtesting? Moving on, the pegasus mouthpick lance is where I have to put my foot down on referencing only pre-written weapons: mouthpick wepaons are stupid. I can take Dispelling and Sweeping and juggling swift daggers, but just give this guy "a horn attack that is equivalent to a lance with the same properties" and be done with it. I also hate Daze Monster but I suppose it is useable in a fashion.

Saber: heh, for some reason I find it amusing that the flagship character is anti-mage. All good here except for the spell list: Lesser Deflect is terrible and Deflect is okay, but with 1/2 caster level they're both trash, and Break Enchantment never does what it's supposed to (either the spell you want to dispel ends before you finish casting, or it's probably immune to Break Enchantment).

Epic: always nice to see proper epic work. Caster's gonna need a lot more than that since +10 dice on 10-15 dice isn't much better than maximize, but anyone actually playing that high can probably figure out how they want to go about it (not like I've ever played that high either).

Feats: I think Extraordinary Contract is either trying to be a prerequisite of itself, or you missed putting in the Extraordinary Include feat. Or something. Very good spread of feats with specializations, bonuses, multiclassing, everything. I see now why you called it a feat hungry class.

Other: holy crap something that's not knowledge (arcana) for once! Awesome. I'm not sure how Miyu is getting Install as a free action at level 8-did I miss something or is it the classic "all examples are wrong" problem? I'm also sad that she's carrying CL boosted Barkskin potions alongside an Amulet of Natural armor, but I suppose it's not useless. I am amused that your spell list design notes point out everything I just spent forever typing.

So this is the part where I give my overall thoughts on the class. Uh, it's awesome? Seriously, we seem to have some excellent magical girl hombrewers on GitP what with the Tome of Radiance and now this (plus whatever I miss since I'm not on much). It's so professionally together that I could glance at it and figure I'd allow the whole thing, and after reading the main class I was not disappointed (I don't like using the word "professionally," but well there's homebrew and then there's "better than a book.") It was also extremely awesome that right after I finished the show I wandered over to GitP and saw. . . this. Oh hey you know how you thought that was a cool mechanic in that nice show? Well this dude went and wrote a whole supplement for it that's ready to roll with 3 options for each class card. So now you have your Fate flavor while being a badass and knowing that you're using magical girl mechanics. It's made of win.

bekeleven
2013-09-23, 03:31 PM
For Installing, why not use the same language for attack bonus as for save bonuses? The idea of "increase bonus as if you had high instead of low" is much easier to understand and I would prefer having the attack bonus flow naturally rather than suddenly jumping every 4 levels. The only reason not to do it that way is if you want to keep their iterative attacks reduced so that even with a full bonus they're still attacking less, which could be a thing. Edit: which apparently was indeed the point, nevermind then.Yep. Help people hit with their attacks but without the divine power boost of increasing grapples, iteratives, or power attacks.


The Include line "any abilities it has do not depend on other weapons previously summoned" makes it sound like there could be choices of what abilities the weapon gets, which may be true for some, but I think the more important part you wanted to emphasize is that each time you summon a weapon it has full daily and charged abilities-so stating that outright would be good.Possibly. The point was that I tried to balance a few lower-powered servants by giving them weapons with daily powers. F/0 Lancer is a good example - he has a hard time standing up to the default lancer, the most powerful striker form in the class.


The base spell list strikes me as a bit odd, or rather a few spell choices do. Nothing wrong with the heal/lightning/fire/bare utility theme, but why is Corporeal Instability on there (and at a reduced level)? That does not strike me as magical girl at all, nor do I remember it coming up in the other shows. You also don't get Pyroburst or Earth Reaver until their damage is rather poor, Pyroburst capping at CL 10 when you don't get it until CL12, and Earth Reaver being a fixed 7d6 that you don't get until 16th.1/2 CL means that they are basically useless in CR-appropriate encounters unless installing Caster anyway. That said, I could look into replacing them with something with higher dice caps. Corporeal Instability was included to get a fort-targeting debuff that level; the spell itself was somewhat arbitrary except that I find it inherently amusing.

And flight, considered such a fundamental ability, doesn't become available until 16th either, when Overland Flight is normally supposed to start at level 9 or 10. (Edit: am I blind?) So is the class idea sticking to the written levels of spells and thus getting them way later than everyone else, or was it supposed to be Bard-like and get the important spells at a lower level so they show up on time?I never hesitated to drop spells a level, but I don't recall dropping any two levels, if that answers your question in a roundabout way.


Pre-Edit: okay, so I got to Caster and found out I'd missed the 1/2 caster level at the start. Makes me sad but probably for the best. Once again I think it would be easier to just say "increase caster level to Servant Soul level," but I suppose a multiclassed odd level build could eke out an extra CL there. It also has the early flight I was looking for and that free metamagic with the CL boost should go a long way towards making you feel powerful even if you're using lower-tier spells-and gives a reason to be very careful with what spells you add.Since normal CL rounds down (everything in D&D rounds down unless otherwise specified, thanks for the reminder debihuman!) there is no extra CL "corner case". The reason I left the language like that is in case somebody took practiced spellcaster, which to be honest, is a pretty good feat for this class.


I'd also want to see more choice in energy types since in DnD you're generally supposed to have your pick, but it's not hard to add more if we know where to place them. Snowball Swarm, Ice Burst, and Ice Flowers for example. Unless being crippled in choice of energy is a deliberate choice to make you look to your servants of course. The class spell list is so short it looks more like a prestige class list-having to pick 4 of 6 spells at each level means it's very possible you'll have to take spells you don't want, which drives me nuts. I'd want to see at least 8 spells, with energy options like fireball/lightning bolt and mirror spells like cure/inflict only counting as one "option" on the list: enough that you can ignore blasting and still have two people with only one spell in common. It's not a move to deliberately shut down alternative energy choices but rather a move to emphasize the spirit spell lists. A standard servant soul build is getting 23 spells from their default list and 35 from their spirits, and alternate hero can increase that (either situationally or with spirit duality) by 7 a pop.


On Assassin, I don't mind using the Gauntlet of Infinite Blades as a template, but using the Venemous property in conjunction is really awkward. You have to use a swift action to make a dagger which lasts for 3 rounds, then wait till next round to use a swift action to poison it for one attack, then end up wasting a charge of poison on the third round because it disappears before you can use it.A very good point. I forgot that venomous requires a swift activation. I'll swap it out with something.


Actually having to refresh the daggers every three rounds is a bit of a pain if you're trying to melee with them for some reason, and if you TWF you basically won't have any swift actions.Since there are so other good forms for TWF (such as Jack The Ripper and Diarmuid) I assume anybody trying to TWF with Hassan is making the best of a bad situation already. Come to think of it, adding sneak attack might give Ripper a hilarious boost.

I'm also a bit confused on the Zabinya: Illusion phantasm: I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be able to attack and flank with it since it's a conjuration and you didn't prohibit attacking, but since it has illusion in the name and the only time you normally see the word "duplicate" is Mirror Image it ought to be more specific.I tried to make the names of the phantasms less engrish-y, but I didn't change them too much. The original name for the doubles phantasm is "Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion". I was hoping people could see past the name.


Berserker: Domineering has a lame flat DC and you can't use Lion's Charge while berserking,These are intentional. The goal was an unkillable spirit with high damage but situational or limited secondary effects. Also, his phantasm was originally a full-round action, but I changed the action type so it couldn't be used with Faster Phantasm.

but Domineering affects every hit and the Install is for tanking not charging so neither of those is actually a problem. God Hand is complicated but not much more than say, Stance of Unyielding Fortitude. Big weapon will be terrifying. That's about it.You've captured berserker's essence.


Caster's Dispelling weapon is pretty weird since it doesn't work out like an actual weapon. Dispelling normally has a CL of 5, which would make this a great out of combat dispel spam, but in combat it's terrible since you have to hit with a crappy weapon in order to get the dispel (when most things you want to dispel make people harder to hit). However, since the enhancement bonus of a weapon increases it's caster level, you actually start at CL6 on your dispel, then go to CL9 at 9th and cap at +10 dispel at 12th-but you still have to hit with a no-bonus dagger. Greater Dispelling is normally a great ability since it's got a high CL for a low bonus, but again we don't get it until 16th when it's bonus is no longer noteworthy, and since CL of an enhancement bonus caps at 15h (from +5x3), we'll quickly be lagging behind on dispel checks again, and it's even more painfully obvious that the base dagger isn't doing anything. Once again the question: is the dagger supposed to be effective at dispelling in combat, or is it intended to lag behind?The dagger is a cool tool, but I always figured that if you were in melee as Caster something was wrong. The spirit's class is 100% spellcasting-focused, but the spirit itself just happens to have a dagger as her special weapon so I wanted to give it something thematic with her phantasms.


Caster's spell list: summon monster, really? I don't think I would ever cast it except to ride the hippogriff off SM2. With the delayed levels it's just plain terrible for any combat use and is really only good for utility.Correct. Caster has the best raw install power and a solid install phantasm so I gimped everything else a bit.

True, summoning a dragon with Argon Coin takes care of combat, but it's just demoralizing to see one of your "domains" be so useless. Can't even try to quicken spam since that doesn't work with the casting time. Pretty much just whining though, since assuming fire and lightning aren't terrible in the campaign then the CL boost+free metamagic+dragon summoning is enough.


Rider: Sweeping at 16th is ludicrously underwhelming. Even with a tripping build you can have trouble at that level, a flat +2 is nothing. Maybe give it Brutal Surge that does trips instead of bull rushing? The Gorgon phantasm is the first one I've seen that seems overpowered on it's own, it's just nasty.


Rider (ライダー , ?), Mounted Knight, is one of the seven normal Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War. Servants placed within this class are those known for riding mounts, living beasts or human constructs, during their lives. They generally have lower attributes compared to the Three Knight Classes, but the abilities of the mounts described in their legends compensate by granting them powerful Noble Phantasms or abilities.
TLDR: Every rider is supposed to be a chump spirit with mid-tier abilities at best, but exceptionally OP noble phantasms.


Save or die on everything in 30' every round for a minimum of 2 rounds if you do nothing else, doesn't cost you any attacks once you start it up, and if they've got more HD than you you don't even need Stone to Flesh to get the loot. Unless they're allowed to avert or close their eyes before being forced to make the first save (the way it's phrased I always figured you'd have to do that on you action but it might be possible in response) it just sounds way too good. Did it come up in playtesting?Nope! The playtesting was rather limited. But I'll be playing it again in my current campaign if my shifter dies. (that, or a binder)


Moving on, the pegasus mouthpick lance is where I have to put my foot down on referencing only pre-written weapons: mouthpick wepaons are stupid. I can take Dispelling and Sweeping and juggling swift daggers, but just give this guy "a horn attack that is equivalent to a lance with the same properties" and be done with it. I also hate Daze Monster but I suppose it is useable in a fashion.Daze monster is another part of the "punish Rider for having a good phantasm". It's supposed to be a frontloaded spirit.


Saber: heh, for some reason I find it amusing that the flagship character is anti-mage. All good here except for the spell list: Lesser Deflect is terrible and Deflect is okay, but with 1/2 caster level they're both trash, and Break Enchantment never does what it's supposed to (either the spell you want to dispel ends before you finish casting, or it's probably immune to Break Enchantment).Saber's supposed to be similar to berserker in build, but replace some innate ability to take a hit with some sneaky avoidance and a bit more DPS - especially against casters. And if you want to talk about a low caster level... try casting spells with you've got mage slayer-line feats out. It's probably feasible to get your CL down to 0 with Saber.


Epic: always nice to see proper epic work. Caster's gonna need a lot more than that since +10 dice on 10-15 dice isn't much better than maximize, but anyone actually playing that high can probably figure out how they want to go about it (not like I've ever played that high either).Epic was just a "because I can" throw-in. I doubt it will be played as well. But since I designed so many mechanics around making a player single-class I figured, why not?


Feats: I think Extraordinary Contract is either trying to be a prerequisite of itself, or you missed putting in the Extraordinary Include feat. Or something.Copyediting error. Nothing to see here, move along.

Very good spread of feats with specializations, bonuses, multiclassing, everything. I see now why you called it a feat hungry class.Thanks! I sort of eyeballed the various power levels of the feats. Some (Faster Phantasm, cough cough) are too good to not take while others - the ones that boost across the board - I tried to vary between universal, in-class, and single-spirit with R^2=.4 corresponding to feat power. Basically what I'm saying is, let me know if there are feats nobody would ever take, and it's no trouble to make them apply more often.


Other: holy crap something that's not knowledge (arcana) for once! Awesome. I'm not sure how Miyu is getting Install as a free action at level 8-did I miss something or is it the classic "all examples are wrong" problem?I resent that! This example was perfectly correct a year ago when written for Servant Soul 1.4. And I remembered to update it when I made changes a full 70% of the time. That's a passing grade!
[/QUOTE]I'm also sad that she's carrying CL boosted Barkskin potions alongside an Amulet of Natural armor, but I suppose it's not useless.[/QUOTE]I may have just randomly rolled those. Again, it was a year ago.

I am amused that your spell list design notes point out everything I just spent forever typing.I'm devious that way.


So this is the part where I give my overall thoughts on the class. Uh, it's awesome? Seriously, we seem to have some excellent magical girl hombrewers on GitP what with the Tome of Radiance and now this (plus whatever I miss since I'm not on much). It's so professionally together that I could glance at it and figure I'd allow the whole thing, and after reading the main class I was not disappointed (I don't like using the word "professionally," but well there's homebrew and then there's "better than a book.") It was also extremely awesome that right after I finished the show I wandered over to GitP and saw. . . this. Oh hey you know how you thought that was a cool mechanic in that nice show? Well this dude went and wrote a whole supplement for it that's ready to roll with 3 options for each class card. So now you have your Fate flavor while being a badass and knowing that you're using magical girl mechanics. It's made of win.

Thanks!

So, change list:

1. Assassin's include needs a weapon rework
2. Fix Extraordinary Contract (done)
3. Rebuild Miyu, probably from the ground up to be safe (if you want to do this.... :smalltongue:)
4. I'm probably going to fix Saber's phantasm to not require an attack roll AND a save. Touch and save minimum, or just save on its own. Include phantasms are only 1D6/2 anyway. (done)

And other notes:

Possibly decrease rider's power more to compensate for the phantasms
Replace corporeal instability on spell list? Damage spells with higher dice caps?
Possibly reword the "you can spam dailies" clause in the include overview
Rename or clarify Assassin's phantasm maybe?
Possibly give Assassin Jack sneak attack.

Fizban
2013-09-23, 08:50 PM
That said, I could look into replacing them with something with higher dice caps. Corporeal Instability was included to get a fort-targeting debuff that level; the spell itself was somewhat arbitrary except that I find it inherently amusing.
I actually love Pyroburst (though normally I'd expect Flame Strike), Arc of Lightning would be perfectly fine if you didn't need a second target (I'd have given it a clause where you can arc off yourself with no damage because why should a caster ever fail? :smallsigh:), and Earth Reaver is awesome at it's intended level. I just went in expecting Duskblade casting base when it's more Paladin until you Install Caster and become Duskblade+free metamagic. Aside from Ray of Exhaustion which doesn't hurt much besides melee I can't think of a single target fort or lose spell at 3rd either. Even Nauseating Breath is still a cone. Edit: oh hey, Icelance could pull like triple duty there.

I never hesitated to drop spells a level, but I don't recall dropping any two levels, if that answers your question in a roundabout way.
Since normal CL rounds down (everything in D&D rounds down unless otherwise specified, thanks for the reminder debihuman!) there is no extra CL "corner case". The reason I left the language like that is in case somebody took practiced spellcaster, which to be honest, is a pretty good feat for this class.
More of my caster bias: I didn't even think about how proper rounding would interact since I'm used to just CL=level. Indeed, Practiced Spellcaster (and the Illumian race) are amazing with half-ish casters.

It's not a move to deliberately shut down alternative energy choices but rather a move to emphasize the spirit spell lists. A standard servant soul build is getting 23 spells from their default list and 35 from their spirits, and alternate hero can increase that (either situationally or with spirit duality) by 7 a pop.
But even if you choose the spirits you don't get to pick the spirit's spells. There are enough servants and feats that two Servant Souls can take entirely different options, but if they take the same servants and feats they're left with a huge overlap in base spell picks. I prefer having enough options to fully customize every aspect I'm allowed to pick, and currently the only area where that can't be done is the main class list. It doesn't show up as much in actual play, but when making a mid-high level build it's annoying to see that you had to take the same stuff as some other guy because there were no other options. I'll admit that with so many more spells on the servant lists it's probably a massive pain trying to avoid any duplicates, which would only be made worse by expanding the base.

Since there are so other good forms for TWF (such as Jack The Ripper and Diarmuid) I assume anybody trying to TWF with Hassan is making the best of a bad situation already. Come to think of it, adding sneak attack might give Ripper a hilarious boost.
True, obviously I haven't read the full descriptions for the alternates yet.

I tried to make the names of the phantasms less engrish-y, but I didn't change them too much. The original name for the doubles phantasm is "Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion". I was hoping people could see past the name.
Eh, the part about it having copies of your weapons as well points people in the right direction. Something like "takes actions as directed" or "makes attacks as if it were you" would be enough.

The dagger is a cool tool, but I always figured that if you were in melee as Caster something was wrong. The spirit's class is 100% spellcasting-focused
Indeed, all doubts are gone once you hit that free metamagic. Maybe it's something about when I read homebrew than brings up tiers: they usually have hyper-efficient abilities that are all supposed to be at full power, so I'm not expecting intentional trade-offs.

And if you want to talk about a low caster level... try casting spells with you've got mage slayer-line feats out. It's probably feasible to get your CL down to 0 with Saber.
That makes it even worse then: Deflect/Lesser are both based entirely on caster level. You mentioned giving "spells so it just won't die," but the only Saber spells that even work are Energy Aegis and Lesser Globe (which is a standard action and stationary). What about say, a Swift or Immediate Shield (as shield but only lasts 1 round of course) and False Life? A couple books have set a precedent for just declaring the existence of swift/immediate versions of spells when they don't want to reference another book. I'd recommend Mystic Aegis but it's also based on CL so it won't do it's job, and Antimagic Field is probably just too absolute for this class. Maybe Ray Deflection somewhere?

3. Rebuild Miyu, probably from the ground up to be safe (if you want to do this.... :smalltongue:)
Ha!

4. I'm probably going to fix Saber's phantasm to not require an attack roll AND a save. Touch and save minimum, or just save on its own. Include phantasms are only 1D6/2 anyway. (done)
*Squints* I don't think it's changed from last night but I didn't see any attack roll requirement then. Just line of damage with DC=attack roll, 's good, very bard chic.

bekeleven
2013-09-25, 07:54 AM
But even if you choose the spirits you don't get to pick the spirit's spells. There are enough servants and feats that two Servant Souls can take entirely different options, but if they take the same servants and feats they're left with a huge overlap in base spell picks. I prefer having enough options to fully customize every aspect I'm allowed to pick, and currently the only area where that can't be done is the main class list. It doesn't show up as much in actual play, but when making a mid-high level build it's annoying to see that you had to take the same stuff as some other guy because there were no other options. I'll admit that with so many more spells on the servant lists it's probably a massive pain trying to avoid any duplicates, which would only be made worse by expanding the base.This is mainly an excuse to make every part of the spirit picks matter. I was afraid somebody would ignore the spirit's spell lists - and they still could - but they can't ignore every one because they get 1 spell per level without them.


Eh, the part about it having copies of your weapons as well points people in the right direction. Something like "takes actions as directed" or "makes attacks as if it were you" would be enough.Yeah, I'll throw in some qualifying language.


That makes it even worse then: Deflect/Lesser are both based entirely on caster level. You mentioned giving "spells so it just won't die," but the only Saber spells that even work are Energy Aegis and Lesser Globe (which is a standard action and stationary). What about say, a Swift or Immediate Shield (as shield but only lasts 1 round of course) and False Life? A couple books have set a precedent for just declaring the existence of swift/immediate versions of spells when they don't want to reference another book. I'd recommend Mystic Aegis but it's also based on CL so it won't do it's job, and Antimagic Field is probably just too absolute for this class. Maybe Ray Deflection somewhere?To do you one better: What if I just specified Saber got the benefits "but not the drawbacks" of the feats?


Ha!Worth a shot.


*Squints* I don't think it's changed from last night but I didn't see any attack roll requirement then. Just line of damage with DC=attack roll, 's good, very bard chic.Yeah, I misread it, my bad.

Fizban
2013-09-26, 06:09 AM
This is mainly an excuse to make every part of the spirit picks matter. I was afraid somebody would ignore the spirit's spell lists - and they still could - but they can't ignore every one because they get 1 spell per level without them.
I can't deny that yeah, I am kind of ignoring the servant lists at the moment, and I'm rather fixed on Cater-Medea and that sweet free metamagic. The only servant that gives spells suitable for blasting if Frankenstein's Monster, and while it's nice enough it's just like "Hey, too bad if you wanted Hercules or anything that's not lightning." While picking one servant to get spells to use with another servant is a combo idea, the way you're isolating them I would think it's not an intended requirement. I'd expect that if Caster didn't supply the good spells then it wouldn't need them, but even with caster you're stuck on fire and lightning with low die caps and no way to ignore energy resistance*. With Fortify Spell and Heighten Spell the idea of bashing through resistances is already there, could we get some Searing or Consecrate/Corrupt Spell in there?

*With the Demons we're fighting in my game right now it's abundantly clear just how much you can't blast without some way to do that. Putting top tier untyped spells on the main list would go against keeping the focus on the servants, and like I said I don't know if you intend servant spell comboing to be a thing. And I like to think I'm taking the moral high ground by dealing direct damage instead of spamming quickened save or-lose.

To do you one better: What if I just specified Saber got the benefits "but not the drawbacks" of the feats?
Even without the drawbacks (which is a good idea btw) it'd still be at 1/2 caster level. Deflect would only be +1 AC/4 character levels, and Lesser Deflect would be +1/6, and only against one attack. They were written assuming a Duskblade and thus full caster level and tons of low level slots, but they're useless for a Servant Soul unless you're installing Caster and desperate, or a very high level. Basically you'll never convince me they're worth having on the list. Unfortunately the only spells I know of comparable level are Wings of Cover and Deflection Field, one of which is absolutely broken and the other being a psionic power and not a spell. The pwntastic Saber list would probably be: Deflection Field-Arcane, Wings of Cover, Energy Aegis, Ruin Delver's Fortune, and Antimagic Field, and it would be a bad bad idea.

Worth a shot.
If I was just filling in a character sheet maybe, but I'm terrible at filling in statblocks and I "hate" the newer version so it'd be multiple fails. And actually helpful :smalltongue:

bekeleven
2013-09-26, 10:01 PM
I can't deny that yeah, I am kind of ignoring the servant lists at the moment, and I'm rather fixed on Cater-Medea and that sweet free metamagic. The only servant that gives spells suitable for blasting if Frankenstein's Monster, and while it's nice enough it's just like "Hey, too bad if you wanted Hercules or anything that's not lightning." While picking one servant to get spells to use with another servant is a combo idea, the way you're isolating them I would think it's not an intended requirement. I'd expect that if Caster didn't supply the good spells then it wouldn't need them, but even with caster you're stuck on fire and lightning with low die caps and no way to ignore energy resistance*. With Fortify Spell and Heighten Spell the idea of bashing through resistances is already there, could we get some Searing or Consecrate/Corrupt Spell in there?Makes a decent amount of sense. (done) I'd add that if you read the thread you'd notice that Archer used to be full of force effects, and one reason was to power caster. He currently has a list based around physical damage, but it's a bit short range to reflect his standard modus operandi.

So yes, especially in the core 7, there's a real weakness in blasting. Ideas to solve it:
1. Swap caster's list to SM I, II, IV, V and VII. A bit silly to look at, really.
2. Build Caster a list (partially)based around Archer's old spells. Something like Magic Missile, Blast of Force, Force Missiles, Wings of Flurry (we've got built-in dragon themes), and disintegrate. (done)

I'll think about putting SM I-V on the main class spell list, but probably not.


Even without the drawbacks (which is a good idea btw) it'd still be at 1/2 caster level. Deflect would only be +1 AC/4 character levels, and Lesser Deflect would be +1/6, and only against one attack. They were written assuming a Duskblade and thus full caster level and tons of low level slots, but they're useless for a Servant Soul unless you're installing Caster and desperate, or a very high level. Basically you'll never convince me they're worth having on the list. Unfortunately the only spells I know of comparable level are Wings of Cover and Deflection Field, one of which is absolutely broken and the other being a psionic power and not a spell. The pwntastic Saber list would probably be: Deflection Field-Arcane, Wings of Cover, Energy Aegis, Ruin Delver's Fortune, and Antimagic Field, and it would be a bad bad idea.

If I was just filling in a character sheet maybe, but I'm terrible at filling in statblocks and I "hate" the newer version so it'd be multiple fails. And actually helpful :smalltongue:

I did not know Ruin Delver's Fortune. Looks like a good match for Saber at level 3 or 4.

That said, I went ahead and just buffed all servant soul caster levels when installing (the clause is under "spells"). Caster remains the only one able to cast from the whole list (including servantless spells) and, of course, the metamagics.

I still need to fix the issue with Assassin's weapon abilities and rebuild Miyu (Edit: done).

Fizban
2013-09-27, 01:11 AM
Something like Magic Missile, Blast of Force, Force Missiles, Wings of Flurry (we've got built-in dragon themes), and disintegrate. (done)
Meh, terrible, terrible, holy crap, booyah! That should do the job nicely, since the lower spells are so weak they only need to be backup when fire/lightning won't work, and the wings and disintigrate will let you wreck face at high levels when you finally get them. And it saves trying to put in yet another metamagic effect.

Edit: oh, hadn't noticed that you did put in Consecrate/Corrupt. I also hadn't noticed those were reprinted in Complete Divine. And while I'm thinking about it, Caster probably needs a clause where it only applies to Servant Soul spells. Just in case someone decides to use it in gestalt or go into Ur-Priest or something.

That said, I went ahead and just buffed all servant soul caster levels when installing (the clause is under "spells"). Caster remains the only one able to cast from the whole list (including servantless spells) and, of course, the metamagics.
Huh, that works. Certainly gives another incentive for wanting to install any particular servant, and makes it so caster has less of a monopoly on caster levels. Cool.

bekeleven
2013-12-26, 05:51 PM
2.2: Fixed typo on Spirit Devotion. Changed two Assassin include phantasms to debuff instead of killing. Added new prestige class: Spiritual Vassal. Tweaked epic heroic spirit mastery.

First (of many?) Servant Soul prestige classes created: The Spiritual Vassal. For when you hate versatility, come get a little power! 4/5 casting and advances includes, but not installs, of other spirits. Also grants no new spirit familiarity and delays mastery... but you get to be awesome with one guy.

The Tygre
2013-12-28, 03:01 AM
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OKQih2CCqQM/Tb80z6qeICI/AAAAAAAABIs/e1o2fUxA0XQ/s320/jaw-drop.jpg

Why am I just now finding out about this?!

bekeleven
2013-12-29, 03:28 AM
Why am I just now finding out about this?!

Thanks, for what I assume is a compliment!

Servant Soul 2.2.1 Released:


2.2.1: Fixed error on Miyu statblock. Slight tweak to Spiritual Vassal’s superior crafting and Spirit Mastery. Clarified issue in Spirit Specialization. Added Spiritual Vassal pictures and fluff, including a statblock for level 9 Kuro Von Einsbern (and she is MEAN). Added four alternative class features: Class Specialist, Legacy Hero, Martial Soul, and Spiritual Dilettante.

The ACFs are just a few ideas I had kicking around: Legacy Hero is inspired by a Servant Soul ditching her weapons for a legacy weapon, Martial Soul is an obvious trade (I may up it to D12), and the other two are obvious trades using abilities I essentially declared equivalent during the class-design phase.

Kuro's build combines Spirit Specialization (happy I got rid of [Epic]) and Spiritual Vassal. The result is a servant soul that has only a single heroic spirit until level 10, but is able to perma-include, and nearly perma-install as long as they don't use phantasms too much. Feat-starved, of course... Might be a good candidate for Class Specialist, actually, since you can trade another spirit of the same class for spirit specialization.

Next prestige class idea: Requires familiarity with Caster and ability to summon magical weapons + 2nd-level casting from non-SS source. Progresses Servant Soul casting 7/10 and other casting 9/10. Weak chassis with high will.
Grants ability to use spells from their other casting class in installs, up to class level.
Grants ability to apply Caster phantasms that use spells on spells in their other casting class, up to 1/2 level in this class (So at max level, 5th level spells for free quicken during Caster).
Will progress includes and installs, but grants installs a little late to account for EQ tricks.
Probably will need a capstone.

Iconic will be Luvia.

bekeleven
2013-12-31, 03:12 AM
2.3: Added a new prestige class (Theurgic Servant) as well as a new alternative class feature (Sealing Enforcer). Fixed an issue in Kuro’s stat block (feat qualifications).

Finally gave into Nekomata2's urging and made a playable Bazzett McRemitz (if I were actually building her, I'd probably go DMM Persister or Master of Nine or something) as an alternative crowning class feature. Fragarach look fun, but you trade a lot for it, and it's not unbalanced at the level you get it.

Also made another prestige class! Note that this is designed to be tempting to full casters, so I had to justify losing 2 wizard levels with some delicious abilities. Like all nonterrible wizard prestige classes, it's roughly tier 1 given a sensible entry. It gets metamagic adjustments similar to Anima Mage, but with metamagic adjustment caps, cast time increases, and it works all day. I'm not sure if it's worth 2 caster levels and a feat to get in at high op levels. Thoughts?

Mavakith
2013-12-31, 07:11 AM
WOW, this is just excellent work!

Would you consider making Gilgamesh as an Alternate Archer spirit, or maybe a PrC that can only include / install Gilamesh?

bekeleven
2013-12-31, 07:37 PM
WOW, this is just excellent work!

Would you consider making Gilgamesh as an Alternate Archer spirit, or maybe a PrC that can only include / install Gilamesh?

Possibly. Gate of Babylon would look something like the existing AoE attacks (Vlad or Drake's most likely), but me and nekomata have been over EA and Enkidu and can't figure out a ruleset to make them both balanced and concise.

A prestige class may be the way to go, although given how D&D is built, it will be a challenge to adapt Enkidu at all. And Enkidu is very much one of Gilgamesh's iconic abilities. We can ditch Ea by saying he can use other servant's phantasms or something, but we need to make some form of Enkidu. Perhaps just CC that has bonuses Vs. Outsiders and dragons?

Currently working on a spells -> maneuvers ACF. I think it looks nice but it's more text than I want in an ACF. The premise:

Each class of spirit has a martial discipline, and the servant soul base has another. Intimidate added to class list. Full initiator levels.
Maneuvers and Stances Known: Each spirit starts with 2 maneuvers and 1 stance. Every odd level, a SS can add a maneuver to 1 spirit (max of 4), trade 1 maneuver out on another spirit, and trade out a stance on a third spirit. Treat SS base as a spirit for this calculation.
Maneuvers readied: 2 base + 1 from each spirit. When including a spirit, you auto-ready all of their maneuvers you know. When installing a spirit, you auto-ready all of their maneuvers you know, but lose all readied manuevers from other spirits. Caster will have special rules regarding this.
Recovery mechanic: Built into includes and installs. When including, get all maneuvers of that spirit. When installing, all maneuvers recover for free every round. When leaving install or include, randomly get two SS base maneuvers and 1 from each spirit. (this may change)
Stances: 1 per spirit. When installing, autoswap to that spirit's stance. When leaving install, you MAY swap back.
Special: When installing, may use any maneuver from the spirit's school so long as you meet the prerequisite level and maneuvers known. Subtract rounds from install equal to manuever's level.





Discipline
Key Concepts
Skill
Class


Desert Wind
Speed, Fire
Tumble
Archer


Devoted Spirit
Strength, Devotion
Intimidate
-


Diamond Mind
Intelligence
Concentration
Caster


Iron Heart
Weaponry, Martial
Balance
Saber


Setting Sun
Judo, Perception
Sense Motive
Lancer


Shadow Hand
Illusion, Shadow
Hide
Assassin


Stone Dragon
Endurance, Force
Balance
Berserker


Tiger Claw
Instinct, Animals
Jump
Rider


White Raven
Teamwork, Leadership
Diplomacy
SS Base

bekeleven
2014-06-25, 06:50 PM
2.4: Introducing 7 new heroic spirits, based on the D&D Iconics! In order to accommodate them, Berserker (Heracles) slightly changed weapons. Also buffed the Class Specialist ACF (mastery arrives, albeit late), Martial Soul ACF (increased HD and skills), and Sealing Enforcer ACF (Brilliant Energy is optional), and introduced a new ACF: Initiate Soul. Removed typos from Theurgic Servant.

D&D Iconics time! This was tricky, since the iconic abilities were (a) generic, and (b) generic in ways that overlapped existing spirit roles. Archer already has ranged DPS, assassin has flanking DPS and stealth, rider has an ubercharger, etc. So for each iconic I just emphasized some spin on their abilities. For instance, Lidda is the most skilled of the iconics, so that's her niche. Soveliss lives in the wilds. Krusk is scary. Mialee has pockets knows crappy spells knows a ton of spells.

Some Iconics, I found, were impossible to make into interesting spirits. What's there to say about Regdar besides he has a greatsword? His feats at level 15 are Cleave, Dodge, Combat Expertise, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (Longbow), Improved Critical (Greatsword), Improved Initiative, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Longbow), Weapon Focus (Greatsword), and Weapon Specialization (Greatsword). Really not giving me much to work with here, Regdar. Hence why Saber is Vadania.

Some of the niches seemed overly specific or reaching, which suggests to me that I'll soon be out of spirit ideas. This works well, given that 3 of my opening posts ran into character limits when I was updating today. I think if I add nontrivial content in the future, I'll have to remake the thread. It didn't begin with prestige classes, ACFs, or nearly this number of feats...

Fizban
2014-06-27, 05:29 AM
Ooooooh, new Servants yay! Was kinda hoping you'd go with the rest of the Fate characters you had and then fill in with other anime/manga, but this could be good. Druid Saber eh? Be back when I've read them and such.

Return of Edit: well those are different. Also: holy wall of text I think I've been here for two hours. Please excuse the rampant parenthesis and other confusing stream of thought edits.
-Soveliss might be the most conventional, just a different way to dish out archer damage.
-I. . . would never use Lidda. Skill tricks are extremely limited, the phantom ranks aren't enough to qualify for the ones that are worth using, and I can't think of any skills where the time reduction would be useful enough to matter. I suppose you could qualify for tricks above your level, but that's not much. The spells are okay though.
-Krusk has frightful presence. He's good enough at it, but it's not very punchy to me. I'd use Frankenstein's Monster if I wanted a lockdown Berserker. Also, first Berserker with no real toughness.
-Caster Mialee? But what about Hennet? Lidda doesn't have nearly as many belts as him! Interesting access to Mage armor, Lightning Bolt and Cone of Cold sufficient "unlimited" blasting. I'd have gone with Transdimensional Spell rather than Ghost Touch, but technically that wouldn't help against actual Shadows and such. I generally don't like abilities that end up being "one casting of one spell of your choice" because one spell is likely not enough, but that's what the staff is for so it works. I wonder if you picked spells for the spell list that had Mialee in their pictures?
-I was wondering if you'd do an actual Monk, but then you gave her a Monk's Spade so she's still technically a lancer, ha! Not sure what book SoS is. Very nice having a combat maneuver servant option, though it means the Lancer slot is now even more packed. Reliable auto-crits and force damage, the only DR piercing weapon, the best AoE that's not Control Wind, and now the only option for trip/disarm/bull rush/grapple (grapple would be a bad idea since the attack bonus doesn't help grapple, but you gave it spells that overturn that). Now that I think about it though, combat maneuvers are weak enough I wouldn't want to unless I was extremely confident in the murderocity of my other spirits. Spell list very strong though, could compensate.
-Next we have Alhandra, first rider with an actual lance, so much charge. I assume that her phantasms are weaker (turning? blech) because her lance charge is maxed. I'd grown weary of the pwnzor that is Drake's Control Wind+lightning spam in my head so I figured I'd go with Medusa, but Alhandra could get the nod (assuming we make it to level 13 for my last spirit and there's reason to think I could lance charge in endgame).
-And Vadania, with possibly the shortest writeup of any spirit. I don't understand the throwing/returning on the scimitar (also there's a lot of typo's from copy/paste), but the other non-Arturia Sabers are a bit lower on straight damage as well and it's interesting. More problematic is the wild shape install: medium animals include the full variety are pretty balanced against characters of the same HD, but they will not last until even mid game. Standing full attack might stay competitive if they included the weapon's enhancement bonus, but without that you need large forms available. I get that the power comes from picking a form with pounce or swim or flight to suit the situation, but improved grab won't even work against medium creatures, and flying or swimming forms will deal so little damage it practically negates having the right form for fighting. So it's basically pounce with no bonus damage or nothing. For a 1/day ultimate ability it ends up weaksauce. Using HD=level would be enough for size scaling if it weren't for the damnable Brown Bear and it's ludicrous 27 strength and d8/2d6 weapons at 6HD. Maybe size up every 10 levels instead of the usual stat bonus? I wouldn't want to make a long specific list just to specifically delay Brown Bears, but I also like having a Spirit that can give you some melee even if your melee stats (str/dex AC) aren't so great so I wouldn't want to take that away. A simple Enlarge effect could make a decent hack but obvious hacks don't feel right. I could see potential in making her include the medium and the install has a progression through bears and elementals as well, but that would cost her her iconic scimitar (her entry's also missing a visual description for the install if she's allowed to do so without wild shaping). While having a phantasm to cast while in the wild shape is cool, none of Vadania's spells are worth much once you've gone beast mode and a non-verbal but noisy spell is otherwise extremely niche (making the include into medium animals would make that useful, except it would end the include which you could do as a free action so I guess not. I'd also want Conjure Clasp to tranform armor. Oh, and we've also got the first Saber without Spell Resistance, which reminds me the "monk" didn't have it either.

I still think I would have preferred moar animez, if for no other reason than to preserve the mystique of the heroic spirits being not from the DnD world, but you've managed to twist the generic class iconics into useful options themselves which wouldn't have worked with flashy anime characters. I like the simple damage option of Soveliss, I like the existence of Lidda even if she sucks, I like having a fear based spirit even if the Monster's wail is better, I like Mialee's complete divorcing of her caster ability from your own caster ability (even if it means we don't get Hennet and his pants made of belts and awesome), I like Ember's combat maneuvers and rock-solid spell list, I like Alhandra's being an actual Rider with a lance, and I like Vadania because she looks cool and has wild shape. I feel like all of them are a heck of a lot weaker than the Fate heroic spirits, presumably because they're based on core dnd mechanics rather than anime pwnage. Half of what makes Berserker and Saber worth is is the SR/anti-spell abilities, but neither of those have it here. Wild shape's versatility rivals the Black Knight's "any weapon ever" and could surpass it with large forms, but it leaves you defenseless compared to the pile of non-physical defenses the other bruisers get.

A more general specific note, I've noticed a number of spells on the spirit lists that are basically just skill bonuses. I feel like these are wasted slots just to damp the overall power level of lists, like a lot of older domains seem to do. Woodland Veil is only a +5 bonus on two skills in a specific area type, even if it's broad it's just not worth it unless you're stuck with it. The Black Knight's Shadow Form spell seems pretty cool, but it's main gimmick of letting you squeeze through walls with Escape Artist doesn't work since Escape Artist isn't on the Servant Soul's class list. Without that it's just some +4 skill checks (same competence bonuses that don't stack with the items you bought if you cared about the skill), and a Blur effect that's weaker than the Shadow Form spell he's already got (granted, it does have a longer duration, but Blur is 2 levels lower). I agree with the point that they're not supposed to be maximum optimized, but I guess I'd like confirmation on the various spells that feel worthless. And while I'm talking spells, did you ever decide on Saber Arturia regarding the immobility of Globe of Invulnerability, uselessness of Break Enchantment, and possible addition of Ruin Delver's Fortune? I've got two more levels for you to buff it before it hits game :smallamused:

Finally, while I wasn't very interested in the initiator variant I took a look at it. Aside from my being pretty sure the main Desert Wind boosts don't work with bows, that's a ton of bookkeeping. Swapping and learning a maneuver every level, and randomizing maneuvers from every single pool every time you end an include or install. I'm also pretty sure that with a quick Crusader dip and/or some Martial Study feats you'll be a far better Master of Nine than any Master of Nine ever was. I won't call it broken, but that's mostly because it's hard to wrap my head around what you can do with that other than "probably whatever you want."

bekeleven
2014-06-28, 02:41 AM
Ooooooh, new Servants yay! Was kinda hoping you'd go with the rest of the Fate characters you had and then fill in with other anime/manga, but this could be good.Can't make another complete set of characters from Fate, and I want to stick to sets.

Now, there are a number of iconics, but there's limited information about them. One of the best information sources is the book Enemies and Allies, 3.0, which showed the builds made when playtesting the edition. This book contained Alhandra, Devis, Ember, Hennet, Jozan, Krusk, Lidda, Mialee, Nebin, Regdar, Soveliss, Tordek, and Vadania. Basically, those are the only iconics with more than the occasional PHB illustration to tell us what they do, so I selected all spirits with that in mind.


-Soveliss might be the most conventional, just a different way to dish out archer damage.
With other heroic spirits, I could have spirits tackle the same problems from slightly different directions. For instance, all the berserkers were tanks in different ways. The thing is, I have so little connecting these characters to mechanics like "Magical Defense Rank A" and "B-Rank Anti-Army Phantasm" that I could basically do whatever I wanted, so I tried to make each one occupy a unique niche. Soveliss was "be a ranger", which in this instance includes nature, favored enemies, and ambushes. I've done ambushes before on assassins, but Soveliss has no ability limiting him to 30 feet (even his weapon's sneak attack WSA is unbounded). So, that was my spin on Archer.


-I. . . would never use Lidda. Skill tricks are extremely limited, the phantom ranks aren't enough to qualify for the ones that are worth using, and I can't think of any skills where the time reduction would be useful enough to matter. I suppose you could qualify for tricks above your level, but that's not much. The spells are okay though.You may have noticed in the characters I listed that Lidda is the most skilled. Rangers and Bards in 3e had only 4+int skill points, and she's the only rogue. So, Niche established! Her spells let her retry skill checks, get bonuses to skills, and make extended checks.

My goal with Lidda - as you can see by her extremely crappy weapon - was to make an Assassin spirit that could be used out of combat. I know the class is mostly combat-focused (just like D&D) but at this point I'm confident I could build a SS for a politics game and it would be viable, even fun.

Previous assassins could sneak, but Lidda can do that just about as well, plus everything else - knowledges, diplomacy, etc. And can rush those skills trivially, to boot. If you're not in it for combat, definitely the best choice.


-Krusk has frightful presence. He's good enough at it, but it's not very punchy to me. I'd use Frankenstein's Monster if I wanted a lockdown Berserker. Also, first Berserker with no real toughness.I envision Krusk as being used by a servant soul that threw a couple ranks into intimidate and took Never Outnumbered. Then you enter Krusk, give an enemy or two penalties to saves, spam phantasms for a couple of rounds, and coup de grace cowering foes.

Note that his skill-phantasm and his frightful presence stack with themselves and each other (at least until an enemy makes a save). And the frightful presence makes people panic and cower. Go nova or go home with Krusk. I might give him Skill Focus (Intimidate) or put the skill onto the class list.

Once again, it was hard to make a niche for Krusk that nobody else was occupying, especially no other berserker. As-is, I think he's the strongest SOL-spamming berserker and one of the strongest spirits to do so overall.

-Caster Mialee? But what about Hennet? Lidda doesn't have nearly as many belts as him! Interesting access to Mage armor, Lightning Bolt and Cone of Cold sufficient "unlimited" blasting. I'd have gone with Transdimensional Spell rather than Ghost Touch, but technically that wouldn't help against actual Shadows and such. I generally don't like abilities that end up being "one casting of one spell of your choice" because one spell is likely not enough, but that's what the staff is for so it works. I wonder if you picked spells for the spell list that had Mialee in their pictures?The spells on the staff are taken from her list of prepared spells at 15th level. I tried to pick spells that are flashy, iconic, not very good, and have no stockpile uses (I removed Wall of Ice at one point).

This is because, with access to every wizard spell up to 5th level, Mialee is by far the strongest heroic spirit for single-classed servant souls. Combined with her list of strong spell-synergy spells (including Surge of Fortune, possibly the strongest spell on any Servant Soul list), Mialee is incredibly good, especially out of combat where the phantasm time isn't a problem.

I also made Soveliess stockpile things, as a side note. His 5th level spell can be cast on off-days and lasts forever.

-I was wondering if you'd do an actual Monk, but then you gave her a Monk's Spade so she's still technically a lancer, ha! Not sure what book SoS is. Very nice having a combat maneuver servant option, though it means the Lancer slot is now even more packed. Reliable auto-crits and force damage, the only DR piercing weapon, the best AoE that's not Control Wind, and now the only option for trip/disarm/bull rush/grapple (grapple would be a bad idea since the attack bonus doesn't help grapple, but you gave it spells that overturn that). Now that I think about it though, combat maneuvers are weak enough I wouldn't want to unless I was extremely confident in the murderocity of my other spirits. Spell list very strong though, could compensate.Initially I had Alhandra as Lancer and Ember as Rider, but eventually swapped them at Nekomata2's suggestion.

Obviously Ember's statblock doesn't use a monk's spade - it does just Javelins, and I tried to make that work, but no luck - but I decided on Spade+Combat Maneuvers for a couple of reasons. One is unarmed strike is used by Sealing Enforcer. Another is that I wanted Grappling to be Ember's Niche because it's a niche everyone thinks monks occupy (see my sig), including the designers of 3rd edition. I expanded that to all combat maneuvers eventually, since grappling is rather limited.

A few more notes on Ember:
-No monk weapons have reach, but 5 levels in spiritual vassal can fix that. Servant Soul can now be a reliable melee lockdown!
-I waffled, and still waffle, between +1/2 Class Level and a flat +8. I mean, it sucks that the phantasm can't do much at low levels. The thing is that the difference between you and the tarrasque's grapple or trip modifier is a lot larger than the difference between you and a pickpocket at low level. I would do +2/3 Level if I thought I could get away with it, but nothing in the game scales like that.


-Next we have Alhandra, first rider with an actual lance, so much charge. I assume that her phantasms are weaker (turning? blech) because her lance charge is maxed. I'd grown weary of the pwnzor that is Drake's Control Wind+lightning spam in my head so I figured I'd go with Medusa, but Alhandra could get the nod (assuming we make it to level 13 for my last spirit and there's reason to think I could lance charge in endgame).
Alhandra was pretty much the only Enemies+Allies pick that fit Rider... Or Lancer. Ember was backup for both, but in the end Alhandra's actual mount use placed her in Rider.

Like ALL characters in E+E, her build was totally generic. This comes from being generic intentionally (building the most generic characters to test the core mechanics) and from being built only out of the 3.0 PHB. Basically, the people that built her never saw a need for her to do anything besides have paladin class abilities and charge feats.

Well, turn undead is a paladin class ability. So Alhandra became Mounted Charge + Anti-Undead. Which works since Undead are immune to crits. Avoid constructs, elementals and plants and you've got a trick up your sleeve no matter what! I didn't make her into a complete ubercharger (I avoided the Rhino's Rush spell or making any charging phantasms), but then I felt sorry for her, so I gave her unlimited out of combat healing. She is the second spirit to have this, after Caster Anderson. Move over Binders!


-And Vadania, with possibly the shortest writeup of any spirit. I don't understand the throwing/returning on the scimitar (also there's a lot of typo's from copy/paste), but the other non-Arturia Sabers are a bit lower on straight damage as well and it's interesting.[QUOTE]Really? I consider Nero the best anti-unit DPS saber. She gets a greatsword, and her phantams are a Smite and a harsh debuff.

Oh, and the scimitar is an inside joke. Did you know one of the many problems for 3e's "balance" is... wait for it... the playtester of the only Druid character was too lazy to do math and never wild shaped? True story! In her 15th level stat block she has a +2 Throwing Returning Keen Scimitar, Point-Blank Shot, Far Shot, Weapon Focus (Scimitar), and Improved Critical (Scimitar). And not natural spell.

Long story short, that's why the scimitar is throwing and returning.
[QUOTE=Fizban;17688526]More problematic is the wild shape install: medium animals include the full variety are pretty balanced against characters of the same HD, but they will not last until even mid game. Standing full attack might stay competitive if they included the weapon's enhancement bonus, but without that you need large forms available. I get that the power comes from picking a form with pounce or swim or flight to suit the situation, but improved grab won't even work against medium creatures, and flying or swimming forms will deal so little damage it practically negates having the right form for fighting. So it's basically pounce with no bonus damage or nothing. For a 1/day ultimate ability it ends up weaksauce. Using HD=level would be enough for size scaling if it weren't for the damnable Brown Bear and it's ludicrous 27 strength and d8/2d6 weapons at 6HD. Maybe size up every 10 levels instead of the usual stat bonus? I wouldn't want to make a long specific list just to specifically delay Brown Bears, but I also like having a Spirit that can give you some melee even if your melee stats (str/dex AC) aren't so great so I wouldn't want to take that away. A simple Enlarge effect could make a decent hack but obvious hacks don't feel right. I could see potential in making her include the medium and the install has a progression through bears and elementals as well, but that would cost her her iconic scimitar (her entry's also missing a visual description for the install if she's allowed to do so without wild shaping). While having a phantasm to cast while in the wild shape is cool, none of Vadania's spells are worth much once you've gone beast mode and a non-verbal but noisy spell is otherwise extremely niche (making the include into medium animals would make that useful, except it would end the include which you could do as a free action so I guess not. I'd also want Conjure Clasp to tranform armor.I might give the natural attacks an enhancement bonus, which would make the form perfectly viable in combat. Then you have the form's movement, natural armor, and physical stats along with your bloated HD, BAB, and equipment. The form is already a decent tank, given that Servant Souls should have crazy overenchanted armor already due to not needing to buy weapons.

But mainly the class was meant for utility. As-is it's the best Servant Soul scout, and it's passable in other situations as well. That meets my requirements for a spirit: Each spirit has to be the best pick in at least some non-contrived situations and builds.

Oh, also, I am very familiar with Wild Shape, and therefore got scared of it. When I play with friends I'm the only one that refers to master of many forms as tier 2. I don't want this class to be tier 2. It's possible I was too reactionary.


Oh, and we've also got the first Saber without Spell Resistance, which reminds me the "monk" didn't have it either. Well, none of the builds in Enemies+Allies had SR, but I might have been thinking too literally there. I mean, I wasn't exactly faithful in other ways.


I still think I would have preferred moar animez, if for no other reason than to preserve the mystique of the heroic spirits being not from the DnD world, but you've managed to twist the generic class iconics into useful options themselves which wouldn't have worked with flashy anime characters. I like the simple damage option of Soveliss, I like the existence of Lidda even if she sucks, I like having a fear based spirit even if the Monster's wail is better, I like Mialee's complete divorcing of her caster ability from your own caster ability (even if it means we don't get Hennet and his pants made of belts and awesome), I like Ember's combat maneuvers and rock-solid spell list, I like Alhandra's being an actual Rider with a lance, and I like Vadania because she looks cool and has wild shape. I feel like all of them are a heck of a lot weaker than the Fate heroic spirits, presumably because they're based on core dnd mechanics rather than anime pwnage.The opposite, in fact! The spirits I built first got all the core mechanics, and each set after is forced into slightly more obtuse niches.

Half of what makes Berserker and Saber worth is is the SR/anti-spell abilities, but neither of those have it here. Wild shape's versatility rivals the Black Knight's "any weapon ever" and could surpass it with large forms, but it leaves you defenseless compared to the pile of non-physical defenses the other bruisers get.

A more general specific note, I've noticed a number of spells on the spirit lists that are basically just skill bonuses. I feel like these are wasted slots just to damp the overall power level of lists, like a lot of older domains seem to do. Woodland Veil is only a +5 bonus on two skills in a specific area type, even if it's broad it's just not worth it unless you're stuck with it. The Black Knight's Shadow Form spell seems pretty cool, but it's main gimmick of letting you squeeze through walls with Escape Artist doesn't work since Escape Artist isn't on the Servant Soul's class list. Without that it's just some +4 skill checks (same competence bonuses that don't stack with the items you bought if you cared about the skill), and a Blur effect that's weaker than the Shadow Form spell he's already got (granted, it does have a longer duration, but Blur is 2 levels lower). I agree with the point that they're not supposed to be maximum optimized, but I guess I'd like confirmation on the various spells that feel worthless. And while I'm talking spells, did you ever decide on Saber Arturia regarding the immobility of Globe of Invulnerability, uselessness of Break Enchantment, and possible addition of Ruin Delver's Fortune? I've got two more levels for you to buff it before it hits game :smallamused:Globe of Invulneability has a nice thematic connection to me. And I'm still not taking Ruin Delver's Fortune because that hard-references Charisma, and Servant Souls aren't supposed to need charisma (except Alhanda, who buffs it). I could do "Ruin Delver's Fortune (spell uses Int for effects)", but I'm trying to only use qualified spells only when I really have no other clue what to put into the slot. Despite how it may look, I spent hours on Hassan and Ember's spell lists, and those decisions were not easy.

Soveliss and Vadania got shafted intentionally on spells. Soveliss is nature so he got 5 nature spells. Vadania is versatile so she got 5 less versatile spells.

Black Knight, however, was a hack job. I basically chose those spells because their names included "Shadow" and they weren't completely useless to the class. I'm also open to alternatives on Saber's list, although I think it's passable as-is.


Finally, while I wasn't very interested in the initiator variant I took a look at it. Aside from my being pretty sure the main Desert Wind boosts don't work with bows,...No maneuvers work on bows. I could've done white raven or something doesn't interact with weapons, but the fluff made no sense.

that's a ton of bookkeeping. Swapping and learning a maneuver every level, and randomizing maneuvers from every single pool every time you end an include or install. I'm also pretty sure that with a quick Crusader dip and/or some Martial Study feats you'll be a far better Master of Nine than any Master of Nine ever was.Maybe with dips, but the class itself doesn't get 8 schools until 15th level natively. MO9 has cheaper entries.

I won't call it broken, but that's mostly because it's hard to wrap my head around what you can do with that other than "probably whatever you want."
I definitely want to playtest that variant (I haven't). The up-to-2-maneuvers per level is because in most combat situations you can only use a small subset of maneuvers, and it's often determined randomly.

If I were building an Initiate Soul I'd definitely use the Crusader Cards method to track readied maneuvers. The choices of what gets readied was really hard to make, but I am very happy with the decision to make it so that including and installing are the only viable in-combat refreshes. It's possible to include-cycle to roll the dice on your maneuvers, but in most cases it's a desperation move.

And yes, while you don't get 8 schools until 15th level, you do get the schools you want pretty quickly. So it's adaptable to many builds, all of them tier 3 - just like Servant Soul itself.

For reference, here's a quick breakdown I made to prove to myself that all SS have some use. Feel free to disagree with me about specific assignments, but it satisfied me at least.



Anti-Unit
Atalanta
Hassan
Krusk
Madea
Ember
Medusa
Nero


Anti-Army
Atalanta
Jack
Frankenstein
Gilles
Vlad
Medusa
Arturia


Support
David
Sasaki
Frankenstein
Anderson
Diarmuid
Alhandra
Vadania


Tank
Emiya
Sasaki
Heracles
Anderson
Vlad
Alhandra
Arturia


Skirmisher
Emiya
Jack
Krusk
Madea
Cu
George
Vadania


Utility
Soveliss
Lidda
Black Knight
Mialee
Diarmud
Drake
Joan



And, of course, each has specific areas in which they'll shine (Alhandra vs. undead, Joan of Arc and Arturia Vs. Spirits, Drake underwater, etc).
My pick for the most powerful of each class is probably Emiya, Jack, Frankenstein, Mialee, Cu, Medusa, Vadania. But it depends on what situations you tend to find/place yourself in. Except Mialee.

Fizban
2014-06-28, 05:21 AM
I envision Krusk as being used by a servant soul that threw a couple ranks into intimidate and took Never Outnumbered. Then you enter Krusk, give an enemy or two penalties to saves, spam phantasms for a couple of rounds, and coup de grace cowering foes.

Note that his skill-phantasm and his frightful presence stack with themselves and each other (at least until an enemy makes a save). And the frightful presence makes people panic and cower. Go nova or go home with Krusk. I might give him Skill Focus (Intimidate) or put the skill onto the class list.
Yeah, noticed the stacking already or I'd have completely dismissed him. I didn't even realize Intimidate was missing from the main list though, how are you supposed to Initimidate when it's opposed by BAB (inflated on NPCs and monsters by extra hit dice) without even having proper max ranks? Not expecting to fear stack them of course since presence doesn't work above your own HD, but still. Making a dude cower and then finishing him off is a cool idea, but you can only sneak attack cowering foes, not coup de grace since they're not fully helpless (too much squirming).

stockpile
I love your use of the word stockpile, I have a list of stockpile-able spells myself with that in the title.

a niche everyone thinks monks occupy (see my sig), including the designers of 3rd edition.
I've been meaning to read that. My own monk fixes revolve around jacking up their AC, since that's what I see as the biggest difference in perception: the dodgy martial artist that should be harder to hit than the guy in fullplate has no AC so he dies first. I was also considering a bonus on combat maneuvers, but no one in my group picked it so I didn't bother finalizing.

Which works since Undead are immune to crits. Avoid constructs, elementals and plants and you've got a trick up your sleeve no matter what! I didn't make her into a complete ubercharger (I avoided the Rhino's Rush spell or making any charging phantasms), but then I felt sorry for her, so I gave her unlimited out of combat healing. She is the second spirit to have this, after Caster Anderson. Move over Binders!
Uh, the lance multiplier works on everything, it's not a crit. Alhandra would be my go to against anything not flying that's 10' or more away, with both Quicker Install and move action at 14th, and the combination of "less than 1 round summon gets one standard action" plus "when limited to only one standard action you may partial charge" should let you swift install, free mount up, and charge for 2+1+1=4x damage (lance+spirited+valorous). Cu doesn't even work on non-organ dudes.

Really? I consider Nero the best anti-unit DPS saber. She gets a greatsword, and her phantams are a Smite and a harsh debuff.
I'm probably focusing to much on Arturia's Holy+Magebane, I tend to assume Holy will be always on because fighting evil is what I do, and we're pointed at a Lich right now so I probably should have taken her over Hassan for level 9. But I refuse to deviate from my build! No Power Attack until 12th!

Oh, and the scimitar is an inside joke. Did you know one of the many problems for 3e's "balance" is... wait for it... the playtester of the only Druid character was too lazy to do math and never wild shaped? True story! In her 15th level stat block she has a +2 Throwing Returning Keen Scimitar, Point-Blank Shot, Far Shot, Weapon Focus (Scimitar), and Improved Critical (Scimitar). And not natural spell.
Long story short, that's why the scimitar is throwing and returning.
Somehow, even having heard the stories such as "the guy who wrote Sorcerers thought they were dumb and hated them," I still would have assumed that the Druid player at least used Wild Shape once or twice. Clearly my expectations were too high. I do kinda like the scimitar though, even if it is a joke. To me, Vadania is mostly characterized by her awesome picture, which focuses on hide armor and a scimitar (Druids in my head are characterized by a parade of OP spells and Grizzly Bears for days).

I might give the natural attacks an enhancement bonus, which would make the form perfectly viable in combat. Then you have the form's movement, natural armor, and physical stats along with your bloated HD, BAB, and equipment. The form is already a decent tank, given that Servant Souls should have crazy overenchanted armor already due to not needing to buy weapons.

But mainly the class was meant for utility. As-is it's the best Servant Soul scout, and it's passable in other situations as well. That meets my requirements for a spirit: Each spirit has to be the best pick in at least some non-contrived situations and builds.

Oh, also, I am very familiar with Wild Shape, and therefore got scared of it. When I play with friends I'm the only one that refers to master of many forms as tier 2. I don't want this class to be tier 2. It's possible I was too reactionary.
If they do get to keep their armor then yeah it'd be solid tank, but Wilding Clasps don't do that so armor needs it's own line, otherwise as you already know most animals have terrible AC. Not so sure about the over-enchanted armor since I replaced the weapon budget with ability enhancers, but I don't have Vadania. I have to mostly disagree on the utility, though it's partially because I'm playing a generalist while I think you're usually assuming either a high level or a specialist. Wild Shaping once per day for maybe 1 minute is not a strong utility in my book. The Black Knight is versatile because you can fake any exotic weapon with the include, multiple weapons in every battle, and Mialee's one spell is at least the perfect spell. One small or medium animal is not nearly as perfect or versatile, and many of the uses you'd want such a body for require a lot more than 1 minute of time (such as scouting farther than around the corner), compared to Mialee's spell of any duration and the Black Knight's all day spam. I know it's not the intended comparison, but when the claim is utility and all transforming ultilities last for at least minutes/level, it comes up short. The only rounds duration I know of is Bear Warrior, which is for mauling.

I can relate to fearing those leet mechanics, though I know I've not nearly as much actual play experience as you: my reaction to being pointed at a Lich, a full spellcaster with massive defense abilities, when my Servant Soul is the biggest caster in the party and I only have one weapon that can pierce that DR was rather extreme. And just in taking in the Servant Soul class fully before building one I was pretty sure it was gonna be broken, until I put the stats and features on the page and realized how thin I was spread.

I'm curious regarding Masters of Many Forms, have you played one? I would think that aside from the obvious power of all those options the reason it's so strong is being based on Wild Shape's hours/level duration. If the duration was cut to 1 minute at a time the power should drop considerably, as would be the comparison for an Install. Side note: is the Wild Shape action included in the install, or do you have to spend another turn activating it after installing. I assume the former, because the latter would suck.

Globe of Invulneability has a nice thematic connection to me. And I'm still not taking Ruin Delver's Fortune because that hard-references Charisma, and Servant Souls aren't supposed to need charisma (except Alhanda, who buffs it). I could do "Ruin Delver's Fortune (spell uses Int for effects)", but I'm trying to only use qualified spells only when I really have no other clue what to put into the slot. Despite how it may look, I spent hours on Hassan and Ember's spell lists, and those decisions were not easy.

Soveliss and Vadania got shafted intentionally on spells. Soveliss is nature so he got 5 nature spells. Vadania is versatile so she got 5 less versatile spells.

Black Knight, however, was a hack job. I basically chose those spells because their names included "Shadow" and they weren't completely useless to the class. I'm also open to alternatives on Saber's list, although I think it's passable as-is.
Oh I never doubted Hassan or Ember, it's mostly the Black Knight whom I otherwise so love to abuse, that gets my ire. And when I looked again the only spell that really bugs me on Vadania is the Woodland Veil: Tempreature Control is like Control Winds in that you can stack it with existing weather for surprises and abjuration barriers are useful. I hadn't actually looked at Ruin Delver's Fortune in a while and forgot the charisma hard coding, but I'd still like an example of why you like Globe of Invulnerability there cause I can't really see it myself and I want to understand. Standing untouched as a barrage of fireballs and magic missiles fails is cool, but in practice it should only stop one or two spells before they wise up.

As for the Black Knight, Shadow Mask fits him perfectly, and Shadow Phase is a strong buff. Shadow Spray on the other hand, is one of those spells that bug me where the targets you want to hit with it will all make the save because fort save. A str damage spell that you'd use on the Mage instead of the fighter. It's not really bad, but I wouldn't mind having Net of Shadows on there in it's place, especially if it got an extend in exchange for the level bump (though now that I think about it, I really want to fort-daze a wizard). Shadow Form is the only one that I think really needs the replacing. Shadow Well is the first power candidate (I've had plans for a [shadow] sorcerer and hoo boy would he use that), but it doesn't match and is likely too strong. Moving to Complete Mage, Nightmare Terrain is solid and I could see the Black Knight spraying his phantasm everywhere to clog up the field.

For Arturia's 5th level spell, I still don't have any bright ideas. Stalwart Pact? Superior Resistance? Tortoise Shell? Indomitability? Greater Blink would fit the "never die" theme, but you already gave it to Lancer (and at a reduced level!). I actually almost like Break Enchantment there, except for it not working with the 1 mintue cast time and caster level dependancy so you have to use it during install.

...No maneuvers work on bows.
Mongoose boosts from Tiger Claw, but that's it.



Anti-Unit
Atalanta
Hassan
Krusk
Madea
Ember
Medusa
Nero


Anti-Army
Atalanta
Jack
Frankenstein
Gilles
Vlad
Medusa
Arturia


Support
David
Sasaki
Frankenstein
Anderson
Diarmuid
Alhandra
Vadania


Tank
Emiya
Sasaki
Heracles
Anderson
Vlad
Alhandra
Arturia


Skirmisher
Emiya
Jack
Krusk
Madea
Cu
George
Vadania


Utility
Soveliss
Lidda
Black Knight
Mialee
Diarmud
Drake
Joan


Huh, I hadn't fully considered building that way. I saw the possibility of course, but if I wanted a specialist I'd just go with the class specialist since having all 7 classes compels me to maximize my options. It makes for more of a 5th wheel where you can only do each potential role properly a couple times per day based on where you have overlapping spirits for the role, but I'm fine with that.

My pick for the most powerful of each class is probably Emiya, Jack, Frankenstein, Mialee, Cu, Medusa, Vadania. But it depends on what situations you tend to find/place yourself in. Except Mialee.
As much as I want to love Cu, I think I may regret it if the force booms don't work out. . . until I remember how much I'm gonna hammer that Greater Blink once I get it. I'm not as impressed by one perfect spell so I'll stick with Medea over Mialee for power, but with the caveat that I'm itching to try her now that she's out. I just can't agree with Vadania though (without enhancement bonus claws or armor until edited, after that she's got the power and the options are worth losing SR), the main SS spell list has Fly available and frankly I don't even count underwater combat since no adventure sends you down without preparation that I've ever seen. But then most of my experience is with printed modules that rarely have situations where one instance of small wild shape will make much of a difference, and it doesn't change how the second (third?) SS is gonna have some Vadania spec just because she's cool.

bekeleven
2014-06-28, 04:54 PM
Response:
1 - Wilding Clasps (the 3.5 version) work on armor, and so does Vadania's phantasm. If you think "Items or equipment" is less ambiguous I can swap the wording.

2 - I went with Shadow Phase over Well, Walk, etc. because I chose 5 spells that make you more shadowy, not ones that randomly make shadows do other stuff around yuo. Well, except Shadow Conjuration, which can be used either way. I can swap Phase out with Spectral Weapon for the lulz, allowing the soul to gain a mini-weapon summon when not including the spirit. Either that, or shove 4 and 5 down a level and put Shadow Evocation in at 5th level, thus making Black Knight the ultimate utility berserker.

3 - Stalwart Pact allows for stockpiling, and I was trying to keep from HP regen with her, although with temp HP it could slip in under the radar. Superior Resistance would suck at the level servant souls unlock 5th-level spells - unless you plan on single-classing and not buying any resist bonuses for 15 levels. Tortoise Shell doesn't feel "magic" enough for me, I'd prefer if it gave a deflection or something. Indomitability is already used by Sealing Enforcer.

I soft-banned conjuration(healing) from SS spell lists, due to Anderson having them all on his pseudo-spell-list. However, he can only grab spells up to 5th level, so if there's a good 6th-level one. Zealot Pact would kind of fit the holy/unholy Arturia dichotomy, but explicitly uses deity's alignment, which I don't like. Also, it uses XP.

Say, how about Glimpse of the prophecy? That, or your suggestion of Antimagic Field last page, seem decent.

4 - MoMF is, without spells, the strongest melee class in game if the correct forms are chosen. It's also the strongest spell-less scout and transport. However, most of the tier 2 tricks require durations (a few don't - like (ex) spellcasting, infinite zombies, and one or two others).

Basically none of these tricks are doable with animal forms alone, and Vadania doesn't allow for MoMF entry. So I should relax and throw her a bone. She'll be a melee beast, but that's OK, Lancers and most Sabers/Riders are too.

TODO:

Arturia: Glimpse of the Prophecy 5th level? Bonus on AC and saves, rare bonus type, discharge for bonus on a save. Not quite as strong as Surge of Fortune but it's a daily cast instead of R/L. Fits OK fluffwise.

Black Knight: Think about changing 3rd level spell (Spectral weapon? Shadow Evocation?)

Joan: Fix typo (bonus on will saves -> fort).

Krusk: SR. Also 1/2 level to intimidate so he at least beats Lidda at his own game. I view SR as a small buff since it's annoying to disable, but Krusk's style fits it, since he'll only be installed for a few rounds.

Vadania: Change "Lance" typo, unlock large forms at 10, Tiny at 13, and huge at 16. Should make a decent replacement for WSAs. All attacks will count as magic, but I'm not giving them explicit enhancement bonuses, that's what the attack roll bonus is for. Change Clasp wording.



Final thought:

And just in taking in the Servant Soul class fully before building one I was pretty sure it was gonna be broken, until I put the stats and features on the page and realized how thin I was spread.
This quote encapsulates everyone's first Servant Soul build, including mine. There just wasn't quite enough of, well, anything.

Fizban
2014-06-29, 01:10 AM
1 - Wilding clasps prevent the item from melding into your form, which is a problem when armor does not automatically reshape. Humanoid armor cannot be reasonably used by animals aside from primates, so Wilding Clasps don't work for armor. That's why there's a bunch of different armor abilities specifically for wild shaping. They also wouldn't work for weapons, or probably even rods unless the animal has really big paws that can grab on, but that's why we have worn utility items.

2 - I don't like seeing Shadow Conjuration with it's duplicating 3rd level spells showing up so late anyway, having it earlier and picking up SE at 5th would not disappoint me in the slightest. As much as I love Spectral Weapon I'd prefer to keep seeing Shadow Phase there: with SS proficiencies it's pretty boring and wants Power Attack, a dependency that annoys me, and having a simple miss chance spell without Cu is a good thing.

3 - I wasn't being too serious with those, just looking at defensive spells in the SC. Glimpse of the Prophecy has the same problem as her other spells with using a fraction of your fractional caster level, which was fixed for the immediate action spells by giving full CL on all installs but would then require you to prebuff with Caster or spend a round in combat casting what's meant to be an hours buff. I also tend to want to disagree with Insight being a "rare" type, simply because so many people have decided it's rare that it shows up everywhere. Morale and insight are all over items and various classes, such that you can pick one because it's "rare" and then immediately have a party member doing the same thing. Pet peeve anyway. On the other hand, I kinda like the "that's a terrible idea!" of using Antimagic Field when you rely on magic weapons and Su abilities. Challenging people that are better than you in raw numbers without magic because rule of suicidal awesome, nice having the option even if I'd never use it. Clarification: Extraordinary Contract covers including/installing and phantasms that duplicate spells, but it doesn't say what happens to non-spell Su phantasms, which from what I understand is all of them.

Krusk - Coolio.

Joan - Huh, I'd thought that was weird but intentional as she's all info and insight.

Vadania - the reason I suggested the enhancement bonus was for the damage, not the hit bonus, so when I hear "that's what the attack bonus is for" it turns into "lol why u no power attack?" Large forms Grizzly Bear at 10th has more than enough strength to make up for both, but telling me to power attack to make up for medium animal damage is :smallfurious: (That's not what you meant, but it can be read that way and I go wagh!) Also, did you catch the bit about weather the wild shape activation is part of the install action?

Even though I supported large forms myself, the devil's advocate sees an opening. Making a spirit's install more like an existing ability makes it less unique and phantam-y, while sticking with the medium limitation and giving enhancement bonus is arbitrarily different and enhanced like a lot of phantasms. And it gives the "opportunity" to see if one could match a demon or nightshade or whatever with just a +5 Leopard (DR says no). It is less versatile though, and I don't think the +5 Leopard will match even a Dire Tiger let alone an Elephant or Giant Squid.

bekeleven
2014-06-29, 08:42 PM
1 - Wilding clasps prevent the item from melding into your form, which is a problem when armor does not automatically reshape. Humanoid armor cannot be reasonably used by animals aside from primates, so Wilding Clasps don't work for armor. That's why there's a bunch of different armor abilities specifically for wild shaping. They also wouldn't work for weapons, or probably even rods unless the animal has really big paws that can grab on, but that's why we have worn utility items.This depends on how you interpret "could be reasonably worn by the new form." I mean... horses, trolls, and tarrasques can all wear chain armor, but they can't all wear medium humanoid chain shirts. Since the clasp works on, say, necklaces (which have to stretch and possibly contort), I figured your armor was malleable as well.


2 - I don't like seeing Shadow Conjuration with it's duplicating 3rd level spells showing up so late anyway, having it earlier and picking up SE at 5th would not disappoint me in the slightest. As much as I love Spectral Weapon I'd prefer to keep seeing Shadow Phase there: with SS proficiencies it's pretty boring and wants Power Attack, a dependency that annoys me, and having a simple miss chance spell without Cu is a good thing. To be absolutely clear: Power Attack is essential for all melee characters in D&D and I don't think most servant souls are an exception. Power attack dependency is not an intrinsically terrible thing. It just means you're a melee class.


3 - I wasn't being too serious with those, just looking at defensive spells in the SC. Glimpse of the Prophecy has the same problem as her other spells with using a fraction of your fractional caster level, which was fixed for the immediate action spells by giving full CL on all installs but would then require you to prebuff with Caster or spend a round in combat casting what's meant to be an hours buff. I also tend to want to disagree with Insight being a "rare" type, simply because so many people have decided it's rare that it shows up everywhere. Morale and insight are all over items and various classes, such that you can pick one because it's "rare" and then immediately have a party member doing the same thing. Pet peeve anyway. On the other hand, I kinda like the "that's a terrible idea!" of using Antimagic Field when you rely on magic weapons and Su abilities. Challenging people that are better than you in raw numbers without magic because rule of suicidal awesome, nice having the option even if I'd never use it. Clarification: Extraordinary Contract covers including/installing and phantasms that duplicate spells, but it doesn't say what happens to non-spell Su phantasms, which from what I understand is all of them.
1 - Glimpse of the Prophecy only uses CL for one part of the spell effect, and isn't the reason I'd take the spell.
2 - Name all-day buffs or magical items that grant insight to AC or saves. Trust me, you're undervaluing glimpse of the prophecy.


Joan - Huh, I'd thought that was weird but intentional as she's all info and insight.By strict reading of the servant soul save boosts, a boost to will saves equals +0 to will saves.


Vadania - the reason I suggested the enhancement bonus was for the damage, not the hit bonus, so when I hear "that's what the attack bonus is for" it turns into "lol why u no power attack?" Large forms Grizzly Bear at 10th has more than enough strength to make up for both, but telling me to power attack to make up for medium animal damage is :smallfurious: (That's not what you meant, but it can be read that way and I go wagh!) Also, did you catch the bit about weather the wild shape activation is part of the install action?
1 - When I posted the class nearly a year ago, my meta analysis included the fact that the class is feat hungry, where I listed some required feats, including "power attack of course." My Iconic build took power attack at level 3.

Furthermore, most combat will probably happen inside installs. The only real difference between this class and a full BAB class after level 6 is that this class power attacks worse (well, and iteratives). That's deliberate. Power attack is a huge part of combat rules for martial characters, and planning things for or against it makes sense for that reason.

2 - Hence getting new form sizes.

3 - I thought using the same wording as installs would make it clear that it was part of the install action. e.g, "When you install Heroic Spirit X, you look like a scantily clad female version of historical figure X." "When you install vadania, you're a bear." Same sentence structure and all. Well, the wording has changed.


2.4.1: Fixed typos and clarified language in Vadania’s include and install, and buffed her install. Buffed Krusk’s install. Buffed Black Knight’s spells, and swapped Arturia’s 5th level spell. Fixed a typo on Saber Joan’s entry.

Epsilon Rose
2014-06-29, 11:01 PM
Hey, I've seen this class a number of times and it always strikes me as really cool. Unfortunately, every time I go to build something with it, I get struck by how weak some of the phantasms seem.
For example: Excalibur, which seems like it should be fairly powerful, does less damage then a rogue's sneak attack (it follows the same damage track, but doesn't get weapon damage, strength bonuses, enchantments, buffs, or iterative attacks), requires both an attack roll and reflex save for half, and is usable only a a limited number of times per day. Maybe I'm missing something, but that doesn't really seem like a very good option. I realize you get other benefits from having Arturia equipped (like better saves, spells and attack), and Avalon looks nice, but that just makes Excalibur itself worse, since it takes away from all of that. This class seems like it should be focused on it's heroic spirits and, by extension, their noble phantasms, so a deficiency in such an iconic phantasm is a bit worrisome.

On a completely unrelated note, is there any chance of a PrC that combines this with Tome of Radiance? It seems like it would be a natural fit, since they're both based on magical girls and equipping spirits would seem to have some parallels with activating a radiant armament, particularly with the Empath and it's personas.

Fizban
2014-06-30, 01:10 AM
This depends on how you interpret "could be reasonably worn by the new form." I mean... horses, trolls, and tarrasques can all wear chain armor, but they can't all wear medium humanoid chain shirts. Since the clasp works on, say, necklaces (which have to stretch and possibly contort), I figured your armor was malleable as well.
Horses and other animals can wear chain barding, which must be made for an appropriate animal shape. There's a big different between lengthening a necklace so it fits and reshaping a chain shirt so it works on a bird or shark.

To be absolutely clear: Power Attack is essential for all melee characters in D&D and I don't think most servant souls are an exception. Power attack dependency is not an intrinsically terrible thing. It just means you're a melee class.
I could try and argue about weather the designers even used it considering your example regarding the druid, but I'm already fully aware that two-handed power attack is the strongest way to deal melee damage. But I don't agree with building everything assuming all melee characters will take it, because the more that happens the more the few people who don't want to will be forced to anyway: if you make a class that assumes you're TWF without giving TWF that's not cool.
There's nothing wrong with this class, and in fact the inflated enhancement and ability scores mean it can do without power attack longer. I'm making do with base damage+inspire courage from our bard and whatever items I can wrangle up, and our warblade tank had his power attack retconned into combat expertise after the first couple sessions.

1 - Glimpse of the Prophecy only uses CL for one part of the spell effect, and isn't the reason I'd take the spell.
2 - Name all-day buffs or magical items that grant insight to AC or saves. Trust me, you're undervaluing glimpse of the prophecy.
The "main" effect is +1 AC and +1 saves, which is not worth a 5th level spell, even with that duration. To my eyes, the main effect of the spell is the discharge, and the flat +1's are just to make you feel better for spending a (normally) 6th level spell on one future roll. As a Servant Soul where it's costing my highest level spell for a couple +1's? No way. As for other sources, well there's an Ioun Stone in core for +1 insight AC at 5,000gp that's pretty popular, but I wasn't aiming for constant items, just pointing out that it's very popular for a rare choice.

1 - When I posted the class nearly a year ago, my meta analysis included the fact that the class is feat hungry, where I listed some required feats, including "power attack of course." My Iconic build took power attack at level 3.
Furthermore, most combat will probably happen inside installs. The only real difference between this class and a full BAB class after level 6 is that this class power attacks worse (well, and iteratives). That's deliberate. Power attack is a huge part of combat rules for martial characters, and planning things for or against it makes sense for that reason.
Assuming you have appropriate installs available. We're currently fighting constructs and undead, so I can't use Hassan (who can't power attack anyway), Cu is only middling, and Emiya is on reserve duty for when we screw up and need a wall of force (and can't power attack anyway). That leaves Heracles, who has a bit of trouble with skeletons, and the Black Knight whom I have to hold back in case we find the Lich since only the Black Knight and the Monster can break Lich DR. (Medea is of course non-melee). Obviously I could have built to have 4 two handed spirits by now, but I did not, so at the moment most of my combat is not installed. And that's my choice, but I'm just pointing it out. I just disagree with building the class assuming everyone will take power attack. It might make sense to assume a fighter or warblade would and their bonus feats would support that, but is it so illogical that when you've deliberately made the class "worse" at power attack (I don't think they're actually any worse at it myself) and there's no bonus feats to get it without impacting their general feats, that someone might leave it off?

Back to the original point regarding medium animals, everyone talks about power attack assuming two-handed, but natural weapons only get +1/-1 like normal. It's basically the worst way to improve claws, and without any enhancements you'd be stuck with just full BAB+4 or so to try and dump into that.

And that's where I'll stop arguing about power attack before the thread is completely derailed.

3 - I thought using the same wording as installs would make it clear that it was part of the install action. e.g, "When you install Heroic Spirit X, you look like a scantily clad female version of historical figure X." "When you install vadania, you're a bear." Same sentence structure and all. Well, the wording has changed.
Before, it said "may transform," indicating that you could choose not to.

bekeleven
2014-07-05, 12:52 AM
Hey, I've seen this class a number of times and it always strikes me as really cool. Unfortunately, every time I go to build something with it, I get struck by how weak some of the phantasms seem.
For example: Excalibur, which seems like it should be fairly powerful, does less damage then a rogue's sneak attack (it follows the same damage track, but doesn't get weapon damage, strength bonuses, enchantments, buffs, or iterative attacks), requires both an attack roll and reflex save for half, and is usable only a a limited number of times per day. Maybe I'm missing something, but that doesn't really seem like a very good option. I realize you get other benefits from having Arturia equipped (like better saves, spells and attack), and Avalon looks nice, but that just makes Excalibur itself worse, since it takes away from all of that. This class seems like it should be focused on it's heroic spirits and, by extension, their noble phantasms, so a deficiency in such an iconic phantasm is a bit worrisome.

On a completely unrelated note, is there any chance of a PrC that combines this with Tome of Radiance? It seems like it would be a natural fit, since they're both based on magical girls and equipping spirits would seem to have some parallels with activating a radiant armament, particularly with the Empath and it's personas.

Well, first of all, I think you're somewhat undervaluing excalibur. The ability is an AoE and the save is based off of your attack roll, meaning the enemy will basically never make it (since attack rolls scale so much faster than saves). And of course, you can use it against constructs, undead, and people that can see you. And from more than 30 feet away.

But yes, per-target it deals less damage. That's because Include Phantasms are scaled to be roughly the power of 2nd level spells. if they do damage it's D6/2 Levels. The only exceptions are the phantasms that deal D6/Level then deal D6/2 Levels in backlash damage to themselves. All in all, AoE include phantasms are mook-killers (Blood Fort Adromeda is classified as "Anti-Army", Lightning Tree of Crucifiction is "Anti-Army", Excalibur is "Anti-Fortress", which I guess could deal more against objects...) while AoE Installs are powerhouses against CR-appropriate foes as well (Atalanta, Vlad, Cu...).

Saber's main power is punching mages in the face. Magebane sword with mage slayer feats, cast AMF if you're that level, then get up close and personal. And if they nuke you can Avalon, come back as a free action on your next turn, and continue.

I like Tome of Radiance, and in fact list it before the Servant Soul in my Magical Girl classes index. But while I have a cursory understanding of the mechanics, I feel like I'd have to take a course or two before I felt competent enough to build a class mixing the two subsystems, neither of which is trivial.


Horses and other animals can wear chain barding, which must be made for an appropriate animal shape. There's a big different between lengthening a necklace so it fits and reshaping a chain shirt so it works on a bird or shark.I don't see an incredible difference, but either way the language has been updated.


I could try and argue about weather the designers even used it considering your example regarding the druid, but I'm already fully aware that two-handed power attack is the strongest way to deal melee damage. But I don't agree with building everything assuming all melee characters will take it, because the more that happens the more the few people who don't want to will be forced to anyway: if you make a class that assumes you're TWF without giving TWF that's not cool.

There's nothing wrong with this class, and in fact the inflated enhancement and ability scores mean it can do without power attack longer. I'm making do with base damage+inspire courage from our bard and whatever items I can wrangle up, and our warblade tank had his power attack retconned into combat expertise after the first couple sessions. I know what you mean. When I built the Dashing Dualist I went back and forth a dozen times over whether I should grant weapon finesse as a bonus feat. After all, the class gives the entire TWF tree as bonus feats meaning the user wouldn't need high dex - but at the same time, the mechanics suggest the person using the class would probably want it.

I ended up giving finesse. The class also has a class feature that explicitly buffs power attack, which is not granted as a bonus feat, although the class does get some fighter bonus feats. The player will take it anyway, was my thought. And if they don't, then it doesn't hurt them to have the option.

For this class, 1 assassin, all berserkers (let's count black knight), 3.5 Lancers (Diarmuid has options), 3 riders, and 3.5 sabers (Vadania is include-only) use a weapon that can be 2H power-attacked. That's a total of about 15/25 Servants. However, a ton of viable builds can get by without any real power-attacking: A build that goes into Spiritual Vassal for one of the 10 remaining spirits, a Theurgic Servant, a Class Specialist for Archer, Assassin, or Caster, or an Initiate Soul are all servant soul builds that can ditch power attack without any real problems. So can builds based around the remaining servants: for instance, a Vlad Spirit Devotee that focuses on nuking every battlefield wouldn't spend much time rolling attacks, nor would a Krusk bully build, nor would a ranged skirmishing St. George. A straight standard Soul 13 with Atalanta, Hassan, Krusk, Madea, Diarmuid, Drake, and Vadania, or any other similar combination wouldn't spend much time rolling two-handed attacks.

I consider Power Attack fairly necessary for the standard un-ACFed, un-PrCed, 7-spirit Servant Soul that I initially built, in that in combat it gives good scaling damage from more than phantasms and spells, and the to-hit generally stays high enough. However, since I built the class I've added 6 ACFs, quadrupled the spirits, and added 2 prestige classes that can ignore two-handed melee damage as the primary battle winner.

So I consider Power Attack very good for the "Standard" Servant soul, but in practice, anybody building the class would find it useful in fewer builds than Weapon Finesse is to Dashing Dualists. I'm not going to name a specific cutoff - 90% of Dualists are high dex, while 75% of Servant Souls build around 2-handed weapons - it's more of a feeling I get about the utility of the feat. And the class already grants multiple bonus feats (they were added in 1.7, where they replaced an inspire aura that was eventually rolled into Caster Anderson). I think most servant souls can use Faster Phantasm, but some builds don't really need it, like a Saber Class Specialist. So I leave it to the player what they spend their 3 additional feats on. One can be the thing they preempted with power attack. I won't judge.

Anyway, Vadania doesn't need power attack returns at 2:1 for two reasons. One is that, hey, 2 claws and a bite. The other reason is, hey, huge forms.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.


The "main" effect is +1 AC and +1 saves, which is not worth a 5th level spell, even with that duration. To my eyes, the main effect of the spell is the discharge, and the flat +1's are just to make you feel better for spending a (normally) 6th level spell on one future roll. As a Servant Soul where it's costing my highest level spell for a couple +1's? No way. As for other sources, well there's an Ioun Stone in core for +1 insight AC at 5,000gp that's pretty popular, but I wasn't aiming for constant items, just pointing out that it's very popular for a rare choice.I'm a sucker for spells that give me something without combat actions, but I admit that given the Soul's highest spell level is 5, it's a it underwhelming at that level.


Before, it said "may transform," indicating that you could choose not to.

Yeah, when I was writing that I noted "I guess someone could choose not to transform, and just install Vadania and get literally no benefit from it." Then I put it out of my mind because it was, at most, an easter egg that people might notice. Anyway, the language was changed.

As a side note, I've gotten my shadowrun group into an all-magical-girl D&D one-shot in a few days. The party thus far:

Draconic Human Class Specialist (Lancer) Servant Soul 7
Dragonborn Draconic Warforged Martial Soul Servant Soul 7
[race?] Initiate Soul Servant Soul 7
Goliath Class Specialist (Saber) Servant Soul 7

I was unable to tempt anybody into my prestige classes, although the Lancer has Spirit Devotion (Cu), which is one step from Vassal.

As another note: A Vadania Spiritual Vassal spends all day looking like a bear. THINK ABOUT IT!

Jammyamerica
2014-07-05, 01:34 AM
Great!!!


Yep. Help people hit with their attacks but without the divine power boost of increasing grapples, iteratives, or power attacks.

Possibly. The point was that I tried to balance a few lower-powered servants by giving them weapons with daily powers. F/0 Lancer is a good example - he has a hard time standing up to the default lancer, the most powerful striker form in the class.

1/2 CL means that they are basically useless in CR-appropriate encounters unless installing Caster anyway. That said, I could look into replacing them with something with higher dice caps. Corporeal Instability was included to get a fort-targeting debuff that level; the spell itself was somewhat arbitrary except that I find it inherently amusing.
I never hesitated to drop spells a level, but I don't recall dropping any two levels, if that answers your question in a roundabout way.

Since normal CL rounds down (everything in D&D rounds down unless otherwise specified, thanks for the reminder debihuman!) there is no extra CL "corner case". The reason I left the language like that is in case somebody took practiced spellcaster, which to be honest, is a pretty good feat for this class.

It's not a move to deliberately shut down alternative energy choices but rather a move to emphasize the spirit spell lists. A standard servant soul build is getting 23 spells from their default list and 35 from their spirits, and alternate hero can increase that (either situationally or with spirit duality) by 7 a pop.

A very good point. I forgot that venomous requires a swift activation. I'll swap it out with something.

Since there are so other good forms for TWF (such as Jack The Ripper and Diarmuid) I assume anybody trying to TWF with Hassan is making the best of a bad situation already. Come to think of it, adding sneak attack might give Ripper a hilarious boost.
I tried to make the names of the phantasms less engrish-y, but I didn't change them too much. The original name for the doubles phantasm is "Zabaniya: Delusional Illusion". I was hoping people could see past the name.

These are intentional. The goal was an unkillable spirit with high damage but situational or limited secondary effects. Also, his phantasm was originally a full-round action, but I changed the action type so it couldn't be used with Faster Phantasm.
You've captured berserker's essence.

The dagger is a cool tool, but I always figured that if you were in melee as Caster something was wrong. The spirit's class is 100% spellcasting-focused, but the spirit itself just happens to have a dagger as her special weapon so I wanted to give it something thematic with her phantasms.

Correct. Caster has the best raw install power and a solid install phantasm so I gimped everything else a bit.





TLDR: Every rider is supposed to be a chump spirit with mid-tier abilities at best, but exceptionally OP noble phantasms.

Nope! The playtesting was rather limited. But I'll be playing it again in my current campaign if my shifter dies. (that, or a binder)

Daze monster is another part of the "punish Rider for having a good phantasm". It's supposed to be a frontloaded spirit.

Saber's supposed to be similar to berserker in build, but replace some innate ability to take a hit with some sneaky avoidance and a bit more DPS - especially against casters. And if you want to talk about a low caster level... try casting spells with you've got mage slayer-line feats out. It's probably feasible to get your CL down to 0 with Saber.

Epic was just a "because I can" throw-in. I doubt it will be played as well. But since I designed so many mechanics around making a player single-class I figured, why not?

Copyediting error. Nothing to see here, move along.
Thanks! I sort of eyeballed the various power levels of the feats. Some (Faster Phantasm, cough cough) are too good to not take while others - the ones that boost across the board - I tried to vary between universal, in-class, and single-spirit with R^2=.4 corresponding to feat power. Basically what I'm saying is, let me know if there are feats nobody would ever take, and it's no trouble to make them apply more often.

I resent that! This example was perfectly correct a year ago when written for Servant Soul 1.4. And I remembered to update it when I made changes a full 70% of the time. That's a passing grade!
I'm also sad that she's carrying CL boosted Barkskin potions alongside an Amulet of Natural armor, but I suppose it's not useless.[/QUOTE]I may have just randomly rolled those. Again, it was a year ago.
I'm devious that way.



Thanks!

So, change list:

1. Assassin's include needs a weapon rework
2. Fix Extraordinary Contract (done)
3. Rebuild Miyu, probably from the ground up to be safe (if you want to do this.... :smalltongue:)
4. I'm probably going to fix Saber's phantasm to not require an attack roll AND a save. Touch and save minimum, or just save on its own. Include phantasms are only 1D6/2 anyway. (done)

And other notes:

Possibly decrease rider's power more to compensate for the phantasms
Replace corporeal instability on spell list? Damage spells with higher dice caps?
Possibly reword the "you can spam dailies" clause in the include overview
Rename or clarify Assassin's phantasm maybe?
Possibly give Assassin Jack sneak attack.[/QUOTE]

Fizban
2014-07-05, 03:35 AM
Hmn, hmn, I see *head nodding*. I find your various responses sufficient to conclude.^


As a side note, I've gotten my shadowrun group into an all-magical-girl D&D one-shot in a few days. The party thus far:

Draconic Human Class Specialist (Lancer) Servant Soul 7
Dragonborn Draconic Warforged Martial Soul Servant Soul 7
[race?] Martial Soul Servant Soul 7
Goliath Class Specialist (Saber) Servant Soul 7

I was unable to tempt anybody into my prestige classes, although the Lancer has Spirit Devotion (Cu), which is one step from Vassal.
Aww, I was all excited to see some of the other magical girl classes. Also confused at being disappointed in four Servant souls. I'm skeptical about maintaining the awesome with four at once, but with the specialists there won't be as much overlap so I guess they'll all have room for awesome without too duplicates.

You mention a list of other magical girl classes: aside from the Servant Soul I've got the Tome of Radiance and The Magical Girl that floated through the front page recently, and I basically count Warlocks as well. What other magical girl classes do you have?

As another note: A Vadania Spiritual Vassal spends all day looking like a bear. THINK ABOUT IT!
o.O

^Actually I could still go for some clarification on Extraordinary Contract re: non-spell phantasms becoming Ex or still Su? I'm guessing Su since you've made sure the weapons still lose their magic properties, but there's a bit of a lawyer hole, or maybe you intended Caladbolg/Excalibur/Zabinya/etc to remain useable?

Epsilon Rose
2014-07-05, 12:03 PM
Well, first of all, I think you're somewhat undervaluing excalibur. The ability is an AoE and the save is based off of your attack roll, meaning the enemy will basically never make it (since attack rolls scale so much faster than saves). And of course, you can use it against constructs, undead, and people that can see you. And from more than 30 feet away.
You make a good point about the save being based on your attack roll, but I think you're overstating its power. It does have significantly better odds of hitting then a normal spell, but a rogue has similar odds of hitting with their first strike (anydice analysis using average ref and ac for a lv 10 monster (http://anydice.com/program/3fc9)). I also think you're overvaluing it being an aoe, since it's a line. It will be difficult to hit more then 2 enemies without also hitting an ally (and even that might not be feasible), meaning that a rogue (baring haste, twf, or other means of extra attack) will get the same number of hits at lv 8 and and extra hit at 15. There's also the fact that hitting one target for more damage is significantly more valuable then hitting two targets for less. As for it being esier to hit, that is true, but not as much as you claim. Rogues can also get SA on people who can see them, it just requires them being flat footed or flanked (which isn't hard cause). Creatures being immune to SA is a bigger issue, though there are annoying workarounds for the majority.

Over all, you're trading a good deal of single target damage and repeatability for slightly better range and a few more valid targets. That doesn't seem like a good trade.


But yes, per-target it deals less damage. That's because Include Phantasms are scaled to be roughly the power of 2nd level spells. if they do damage it's D6/2 Levels. The only exceptions are the phantasms that deal D6/Level then deal D6/2 Levels in backlash damage to themselves. All in all, AoE include phantasms are mook-killers (Blood Fort Adromeda is classified as "Anti-Army", Lightning Tree of Crucifiction is "Anti-Army", Excalibur is "Anti-Fortress", which I guess could deal more against objects...) while AoE Installs are powerhouses against CR-appropriate foes as well (Atalanta, Vlad, Cu...).
But Excalibur isn't even a really good mook killer. It can only, reliably, hit two targets and if it's capable of killing them then a wand of fireball or a rogue firing arrows from hiding could do the same but better.


Saber's main power is punching mages in the face. Magebane sword with mage slayer feats, cast AMF if you're that level, then get up close and personal. And if they nuke you can Avalon, come back as a free action on your next turn, and continue.
Casting AMF seems like a distinctly bad idea. Since includes are SU, you'd lose your weapon and bonuses. Even without that, you'd still be going from a gish to a guy with medium (or psudo-full) bab and a masterwork sword. I'm not sure that's a great improvement.

Pierce concealment is nice, but mage slayer is really only +1 to will saves, because a caster can just take a 5ft step and cast normally and there's nothing you can do about it.

Avalon is also nice, but it doesn't actually let you kill your target, merely escape death 2 or 3 times (at level 10; at level 20 this would be 4 or 5) all of which must be used in one fight.


I like Tome of Radiance, and in fact list it before the Servant Soul in my Magical Girl classes index. But while I have a cursory understanding of the mechanics, I feel like I'd have to take a course or two before I felt competent enough to build a class mixing the two subsystems, neither of which is trivial.

Fair enough. I wonder how well an acf that replaces casting with illuminations and merges includes and radiant armaments would work?

bekeleven
2014-07-05, 10:36 PM
Aww, I was all excited to see some of the other magical girl classes. Also confused at being disappointed in four Servant souls. I'm skeptical about maintaining the awesome with four at once, but with the specialists there won't be as much overlap so I guess they'll all have room for awesome without too duplicates.

You mention a list of other magical girl classes: aside from the Servant Soul I've got the Tome of Radiance and The Magical Girl that floated through the front page recently, and I basically count Warlocks as well. What other magical girl classes do you have? I gave the players my list of magical girl classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=16237388&postcount=226) and encouraged them to be creative. The closest we got was Nekomata2 going Swordsage before deciding on Initiate Soul.


^Actually I could still go for some clarification on Extraordinary Contract re: non-spell phantasms becoming Ex or still Su? I'm guessing Su since you've made sure the weapons still lose their magic properties, but there's a bit of a lawyer hole, or maybe you intended Caladbolg/Excalibur/Zabinya/etc to remain useable?My intention when writing it as for phantasms that purely self-buff to remain (Ex), such as Nine Lives, God Hand, Gae Bolg (Barbed), Seven Arrows, Hamash Avanim, Darkened Misty Metropolis, Tsubami Gaeshi, Protection of the Faeries, Magecraft, Eye of the Mind, etc. But it's left up to DM adjucation mostly because I didn't want to have to fit all that into paragraphs of text. If I standardized all spirit entries with [Include Weapon: XXX], [Include Phantasm: YYY], [Install: ZZZ], [Install Phantasm: ΘΘΘ], then I'd put (Ex) or (Su) in front of each phantasm.


You make a good point about the save being based on your attack roll, but I think you're overstating its power. It does have significantly better odds of hitting then a normal spell, but a rogue has similar odds of hitting with their first strike (anydice analysis using average ref and ac for a lv 10 monster (http://anydice.com/program/3fc9)). I also think you're overvaluing it being an aoe, since it's a line. It will be difficult to hit more then 2 enemies without also hitting an ally (and even that might not be feasible), meaning that a rogue (baring haste, twf, or other means of extra attack) will get the same number of hits at lv 8 and and extra hit at 15. There's also the fact that hitting one target for more damage is significantly more valuable then hitting two targets for less. As for it being esier to hit, that is true, but not as much as you claim. Rogues can also get SA on people who can see them, it just requires them being flat footed or flanked (which isn't hard cause). Creatures being immune to SA is a bigger issue, though there are annoying workarounds for the majority.

Over all, you're trading a good deal of single target damage and repeatability for slightly better range and a few more valid targets. That doesn't seem like a good trade.


But Excalibur isn't even a really good mook killer. It can only, reliably, hit two targets and if it's capable of killing them then a wand of fireball or a rogue firing arrows from hiding could do the same but better.Talked it over with Nekomata2. We decided a charge time to power up was the solution. Look for that being edited in soon.


Fair enough. I wonder how well an acf that replaces casting with illuminations and merges includes and radiant armaments would work?

TODO:

Excalibur: Charged for 1R, deals 1D6/Level and ignores hardness. Charged for 2R, Deals 1D10/Level, ignores hardness and DR, bypasses Regen. In addition, all forms are -1R (currently -2R). Serves as an out-of-combat dungeon destroyer a la mountain hammer, as well as an anti-troll panic button.
Drake: Fix Typo. Drake is not Nero.
Some new Servants are being planned with Nekomata2. I've also got 2 feats I want to throw in for synergizing Berserker/Barbarian multiclasses. Looking for more PrC ideas...

Epsilon Rose
2014-07-06, 12:16 AM
Talked it over with Nekomata2. We decided a charge time to power up was the solution. Look for that being edited in soon.



TODO:

Excalibur: Charged for 1R, deals 1D6/Level and ignores hardness. Charged for 2R, Deals 1D10/Level, ignores hardness and DR, bypasses Regen. In addition, all forms are -1R (currently -2R). Serves as an out-of-combat dungeon destroyer a la mountain hammer, as well as an anti-troll panic button.
Drake: Fix Typo. Drake is not Nero.
Some new Servants are being planned with Nekomata2. I've also got 2 feats I want to throw in for synergizing Berserker/Barbarian multiclasses. Looking for more PrC ideas...

Charging sounds like a good idea and, judging from how long it took Arturia to fire and all of the particle animations in the Fate/zero caster fight, thematically appropriate. That said, while this does feel like a reasonable amount of damage for an attack, you might want to make the two round version scale harder. After all, giving up 2 or 3 rounds of combat, particularly at higher levels and while making a giant target of yourself, is quite a bit of an investment*. It also messes with targeting since your opponents will probably be able to figure out that a good bit of unpleasantness will becoming their way and position themselves accordingly. Also, ignoring DR won't actually do anything, unless it strips DR, since Excalibur does holy damage and DR only effects physical damage. Ignoring ER would be more useful, but I'm not sure how many things actually have resistance to holy damage. I do like that it ignores hardness and being able to ignore regen also bumps it up a few notches in terms of usfulness.

On a completely unrelated note, I kinda feel like trying my hand at making a base class that combines Includes/Installs and Illuminations. It will probably be pretty basic, but I think they can go together fairly well. That said, I felt like I should ask your permission first and also if you had any thoughts on how you want it placed (I could put it in this thread, the Tome of Radiance thread [which already has a lot of content] or it's own thread).

*Any dice for comparison. (http://anydice.com/program/3fd7)

Fizban
2014-07-06, 07:15 AM
I gave the players my list of magical girl classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=16237388&postcount=226) and encouraged them to be creative. The closest we got was Nekomata2 going Swordsage before deciding on Initiate Soul.
*SAVED*

My intention when writing it as for phantasms that purely self-buff to remain (Ex), such as Nine Lives, God Hand, Gae Bolg (Barbed), Seven Arrows, Hamash Avanim, Darkened Misty Metropolis, Tsubami Gaeshi, Protection of the Faeries, Magecraft, Eye of the Mind, etc. But it's left up to DM adjucation mostly because I didn't want to have to fit all that into paragraphs of text. If I standardized all spirit entries with [Include Weapon: XXX], [Include Phantasm: YYY], [Install: ZZZ], [Install Phantasm: ΘΘΘ], then I'd put (Ex) or (Su) in front of each phantasm.
Aha. That's enough to go on if/until you get around to that then. Although if we run into antimagic I'll probably just laugh because I'm the only caster! (Seriously, there's already been three caster-bugging features that we only noticed because bardic knowledge. Monster eats magic swords? I summon a new one. Spellwarped? I don't even cast just shot bow till ded. Cl penalty on my buffs? That skeletal dragon was literally impossible for us to survive without foreknowledge so the DM had to fake the numbers anyway).

Talked it over with Nekomata2. We decided a charge time to power up was the solution. Look for that being edited in soon.
Excalibur: Charged for 1R, deals 1D6/Level and ignores hardness. Charged for 2R, Deals 1D10/Level, ignores hardness and DR, bypasses Regen. In addition, all forms are -1R (currently -2R). Serves as an out-of-combat dungeon destroyer a la mountain hammer, as well as an anti-troll panic button.
Some new Servants are being planned with Nekomata2. I've also got 2 feats I want to throw in for synergizing Berserker/Barbarian multiclasses. Looking for more PrC ideas...
*I need a jaw drop smiley seriously these smileys are nice but what*
I guess I should have brought it up before the game started, all the contents and the changes and my builds already built, you're killin' me. Maybe I can swap Hassan back since I haven't actually used him yet, even more reason to want Saber right the heck now (but assassin-ness. . .) I would suggest using the same language as the PHB2 channeled spells for new Excalibur, with an extra note on if you can release it outside of your turn or not, but then that's assuming it can be fired before your next turn. It could work with full round action charge-> start next turn: fire y/n?, if n full round action charge. We'll see what you come up with :smallbiggrin:

bekeleven
2014-07-06, 03:26 PM
Thanks for the feedback! I was actually thinking that the charging would be a standard action and count as concentrating on a spell, so you could still reposition yourself during it. And yes, DR pen is useless, I always forget that.

Releasing out-of-turn is an interesting idea I hadn't thought of, and it seems balanced since giving up rounds you could be punching people makes most things not OP.

Edit: For those wondering, Servant Soul 3.0 has been released, and can be found here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?362608). It adds content, reorganizes the entire presentation, and fixes massive numbers of issues.


3.0: Seven new heroic spirits from the Fate franchise! Shirou, Li Shuwen, Lu Bu, Tamamo-no-Mae, Elizabeth Bathory, Iskander, and Gawain. Added new ACF: Devoted Soul. Reworked Saber’s Excalibur attack to be much more versatile. Greatly simplified Nero’s Domus Aurea. Buffed Mialee’s, Atalanta’s, Sasaki’s include phantasms, as well as David’s install phantasm. Upped all Archers to 60 ammo. Added new feats: Subsumed Rage and Install Universale. Alternate hero has been tweaked. Allowed transition from includes to installs (it’s come up in play). Massive reorganization of the class and spirits, and cleaning up of language.