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View Full Version : Pathfinder Barrier World Prestige Classes - Need feedback/advice



Silus
2014-07-24, 08:20 AM
Several things to note:
1) This is my first attempt at Prestige classes, so please bear in mind that I'm diving into uncharted waters here.
2) This is for a homebrew setting, the information for which can be found in my signature. Suggestions not pertaining to this entry can be posted in the second link in my signature (I love suggestions and 9/10 I'll run with it, so suggest away)
3) I honestly have no idea how this class will work out at all so please bear with any stupid mistakes on my part. I'm still learning.


Queen's Guard

OBJECTIVE OF THIS PRESTIGE CLASS
Ok, um, take a Magus, give it Heavy Armor with 0% Arcane Spell Failure, a selective "I'm gonna protect you" buff and abilities more or less pulled from the Devoted Defender PrC from 3e (Bodyguard stuff). Turn them from a pure combat damage class and shift them towards a more defensive support class that can still put out the violence. I tried to make this PrC open ended enough to allow for a good deal of martial characters to take levels in this class, though it also accommodates for Magus and other spellcasting classes as well. At least I think it does.

DESCRIPTION
Within the nation that is the Queen's Lands, the Queen's Guard fills the role of police, guards and standing army. Each Guard is easily worth a handful of standard soldiers, as each Guard is trained to be tough as nails and competent in at least some combat magic. While being a magic user isn't strictly required, it is most beneficial for the tasks assigned to the Queen's Guard.

ROLE
The Queen's Guard are primarily front-line tanks assigned to protect more vulnerable targets such as spellcasters and lightly armored combatants. (More to be added later)

HIT DIE
D10

REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Antagonize, Combat Reflexes
Armor Proficiency: Must be proficient with at least Light armor.
Alignment: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral or True Neutral
Special: Must have officially sworn to protect the Queen, the Queen's Lands and the citizens therein.

Class Skills

The Queen's Guard class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Local)(Int), Knowledge(Nobility)(Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis) and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 2+Int

QUEEN'S GUARD


Level
BAB
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special
Spellcasting


1st
+1
+1
+0
+0
Defender's Charge +1, Armored Arcana, Shield Proficiency
+1 of Existing Class


2nd
+2
+1
+1
+1
Bodyguard
-


3rd
+3
+2
+1
+1
Defender's Charge +2, Always Ready
+1 of Existing Class


4th
+4
+2
+1
+1
Bonus Feat, "Get Behind Me!"
-


5th
+5
+3
+2
+2
Defender's Charge +3, Armored Arcana (Greater)
+1 of Existing Class


6th
+6/+1
+3
+2
+2
Bonus Feat, Always Ready
-


7th
+7/+2
+4
+2
+2
Defender's Charge +4
+1 of Existing Class


8th
+8/+3
+4
+3
+3
Bonus Feat, "Get Behind Me!" (improved),
-


9th
+9/+4
+5
+3
+3
Defender's Charge +5
+1 of Existing Class


10th
+10/+5
+5
+3
+3
Protector of the God Queen, Bonus Feat
-



Defender's Charge (Ex): The Queen's Guard declares one person in a combat as your "charge", giving the Queen's Guard bonus weapon damage against creatures threatening them plus a bonus to spell penetration. The "charge's" AC improves when the Queen's Guard is adjacent to them, and they may cast personal spells on them at touch range at 1/day+(1/2 class level). The bonuses to weapon damage, spell penetration and the Charge's AC increase by +1 every odd level, capping at +5 at lvl 9. These bonuses stack with other Queen's Guard, count as Moral bonuses, and switching/denoting charges is a free action.

Armored Arcana (Ex): At level 1, Queen's Guard no longer suffers Arcane Spell Failure with shields, barring Tower Shields and no longer suffers Arcane Spell Failure with the next "rank" of armor (If a Queen's Guard does not incur Arcane Spell Failure with Light Armor, Armored Arcana bumps that to Medium). In the event the Queen's Guard did not have the ability to negate Arcane Spell Failure in Light Armor, they gain the ability to do so in Light Armor. At level 5 the "rank of armor increases (Light becomes Medium, Medium becomes Heavy) and Tower Shields are no longer subject to Arcane Spell Failure.

Shield Proficiency: The Queen's Guard gets proficiency with shields and Tower Shields.

Bonus Feat: The Queen's Guard receives a bonus feat at levels 4, 6, 8 and 10, the choices of which are restricted to those that are allowed by the Fighter Class. Queen's Guards may count their levels as Fighter levels for purposes of feats equal to 1/2 non-Queen's Guard class levels + Queen's Guard levels (A lvl 8 Fighter, lvl 4 Queen's Guard would count as a lvl 12 Fighter for purposes of Fighter Feats). Queen's Guard with the Fighter Training class feature from Magus count as 1:1 for levels (A lvl 10 Magus, lvl 4 Queen's Guard would therefore count as a lvl 14 Fighter for purposes of Fighter Feats)

Bodyguard: At level 2, the Queen's Guard gets the Bodyguard Feat for free.

Always Ready (Ex): At level 3, a Queen's Guard has become experienced enough that they can smell an ambush coming a mile away. As such, they retain their Dex bonus when caught flat-footed. At level 6 the Queen's Guard can no longer be flanked (That meaning no bonuses are gained for flanking a Queen's Guard).

"Get Behind Me!" (Ex): At level 4, as a move action, the Queen's Guard, if adjacent to their charge, may "gift" their charge an immediate Withdraw action at have the charge's speed. At level 8 this ability allows for the charge to move at full speed.

Protector of the God Queen (Su): Such is their devotion to their charges and the Queen that a Queen's Guard is all but unshakeable. At level 10, the Queen's Guard gains immunity to Fear and Charm effects. In addition, they gain two abilities:

Firstly, when an adjacent ally is attacked, the Queen's Guard may opt to split the damage between themselves and the ally at a 50/50, 60/40 or 70/30 split with the Guard taking the majority of the damage.
Second, should the Queen's Guard be damaged, they automatically reflect 10% of the damage back at the source without need of an attack roll.

Silus
2014-07-24, 08:52 AM
Wyrm Hunter

DESCRIPTION

ROLE

HIT DIE


REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Amateur Gunslinger or a Grit feat, Big Game Hunter
Skills: Survival 5 Ranks
Weapon Proficiency: Must be proficient with any of the following: Golem Stopper Rifle, Pilum-Lance
Special: Must have taken down a Gears Waste construct of Huge size or greater

Class Skills

The Wyrm Hunter's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (Dungeoneering)(Int), Knowledge (Nature)(Int), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 4+Int

WYRM HUNTER


Level
BAB
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special


1st
+1
+1
+1
+0
-


2nd
+2
+1
+1
+1
-


3rd
+3
+2
+2
+1
-


4th
+4
+2
+2
+1
-


5th
+5
+3
+3
+2
-


6th
+6/+1
+3
+3
+2
-


7th
+7/+2
+4
+4
+2
-


8th
+8/+3
+4
+4
+3
-


9th
+9/+4
+5
+5
+3
-


10th
+10/+5
+5
+5
+3
-

Silus
2014-07-24, 08:53 AM
Flesh Shaper

DESCRIPTION

ROLE

HIT DIE


REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus:
Feats: Spell Focus (Transmutation)
Skills: Heal 5 Ranks
Spells: Able to cast 3rd level arcane spells or 3rd level Extracts

Class Skills

The Flesh Shaper's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Disguise (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (Arcana)(Int), Perception (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 4+Int

FLESH SHAPER


Level
BAB
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special


1st
+0
+1
+0
+1
-


2nd
+1
+1
+1
+1
-


3rd
+1
+2
+1
+2
-


4th
+2
+2
+1
+2
-


5th
+2
+3
+2
+3
-


6th
+3
+3
+2
+3
-


7th
+3
+4
+2
+4
-


8th
+4
+4
+3
+4
-


9th
+4
+5
+3
+5
-


10th
+5
+5
+3
+5
-

Silus
2014-07-24, 08:54 AM
Principality Priest/ess

DESCRIPTION

ROLE

HIT DIE
D8

REQUIREMENTS
Feats: ?
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) 5 Ranks
Spells: Able to cast 3rd level Divine Spells

Class Skills

The Principality Priest's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Religion)(Int), Linguistics (Int), Sense Motive (Wis) and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 2+Int

PRINCIPALITY PRIEST


Level
BAB
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special


1st
+0
+1
+0
+1
-


2nd
+1
+1
+1
+1
-


3rd
+1
+2
+1
+2
-


4th
+2
+2
+1
+2
-


5th
+2
+3
+2
+3
-


6th
+3
+3
+2
+3
-


7th
+3
+4
+2
+4
-


8th
+4
+4
+3
+4
-


9th
+4
+5
+3
+5
-


10th
+5
+5
+3
+5
High Alpha's Blessing



High Alpha's Blessing: You have done such great things for the Principality and the Church of the Moon and are rewarded with the greatest boon a Priest or Priestess of the Moon can obtain: Lycanthropy. The Priest gains the Afflicted Lycanthropy template, their lycanthropic type based off their initial choice at level 1. They do not, however, gain the Curse of Lycanthropy.

Silus
2014-07-24, 08:55 AM
NIGHT WITCH

DESCRIPTION
Despite their name, Night Witches are not really witches, nor do they have any explicit magical powers. Night Witches serve the Queen as scouts, skirmishers and raiders, mostly used with keeping an eye on the border between the Queen's Lands and the Principality of the Moon. Not all Night Witches serve the Queen however, as some are self-taught individuals that longed to fly. The only real requirement is a set of wings and the will to use them, and most Flesh Shapers are willing to accommodate aspiring Witches, for a price of course.

ROLE
The Night Witch serves the role of high speed, high maneuverability, lightly armored skirmisher. Their role in combat is providing a multitude of attacks while always being in the right spot to support their allies. While this class works well for martial melee classes such as Barbarian, Fighter or Rogue, other classes such as Gunslinger, Magus, Ranger or even some casters will be able to get use out of becoming a Night Witch.

HIT DIE
D8

REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Fly 5 Ranks, Stealth 5 Ranks
Special: Must have a flight speed (Either naturally or via grafts)

Class Skills

The Night Witch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Slight of Hand (Dex), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks At Each Level: 4+Int

NIGHT WITCH


Level
BAB
Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Special
Aerial Superiority Bonus


1st
+1
+0
+1
+0
On Wings of Death, Aerial Superiority
+0ft


2nd
+2
+1
+1
+1
Got To Go Fast, Skirmisher +1d6
+10ft


3rd
+3
+1
+2
+1
Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat
+15ft


4th
+4
+1
+2
+1
Leaf on the Wind, Skirmisher +2d6
+20ft


5th
+5
+2
+3
+2
Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat
+25ft


6th
+6/+3
+2
+3
+2
Feather Wall, Skirmisher +3d6
+30ft


7th
+7/+3
+2
+4
+2
Cloud Born, Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat
+35ft


8th
+8/+4
+3
+4
+3
Leaf on the Wind, Skirmisher +4d6
+40ft


9th
+9/+4
+3
+5
+3
Accomplished Flier, Free Aerial Feat
+45ft


10th
+10/+5
+3
+5
+3
Zephyr Dance, Skirmisher +5d6
+50ft



On Wings of Death (Ex): At level 1, the Night Witch becomes adept at attacking while on the wing. The Night Witch may, when declaring a Full Attack, move up to their movement speed between each attack, the total movement of which may not exceed their total movement speed. This ability is only usable while flying and incurs Attacks of Opportunity as per normal, though a Night Witch may use acrobatics as per normal to avoid the attacks. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

Aerial Superiority (Ex): As the Night Witch adapts to the rigors of winged-combat, their flight speed increases little by little. Every level the Night Witch gains additional Fly Speed up to a maximum of +50ft.

Got To Go Fast (Ex): At level 2, the Night Witch becomes harder to hit as they become more and more of an accomplished flier. While flying, and upon moving at least 10 feet, a Night Witch gains 1/2 their Night Witch level as AC vs Attacks of Opportunity. This counts as a Dodge Bonus.

Skirmisher (Ex): At levels 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, the Night Witch progressively becomes more adept at attacking things while flying, able to deal more damage while moving. A Night Witch receives the Skirmish damage bonus after moving at least 10ft prior to the attack and only works while flying. This damage does not stack with Sneak Attack, and only one such ability may be used at a time. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

Accomplished Flier (Ex): At levels 3, 5, 7 and 9, the Night Witch gains a slew of abilities to reflect their ever increasing competence with flying.

At level 3, the Night Witch no longer suffers penalties from flying or operating in high wind conditions. This affects conditions up to "Windstorm" level.
At level 5, the Night Witch has learned to dodge attacks even while moving at high speed. They no longer take penalties while using Acrobatics while moving at full speed through a threatened area.
At level 7, the Night Witch has spent so much time above the clouds that they can move through them like they were open air. They ignore concealment offered by smoke, fog and cloud effects (other effects work as normal however).
At level 9, the Night Witch's wings have become powerful enough to be able to kick up dust and debris with little effort. If the Night Witch hovers within 20 feet of the ground in an area with lots of loose debris, the draft from its wings creates a hemispherical cloud with a radius of 60 feet. The winds generated can snuff torches, small campfires, exposed lanterns, and other small, open flames of non-magical origin. Clear vision within the cloud is limited to 10 feet. Creatures have concealment at 15 to 20 feet (20% miss chance). At 25 feet or more, creatures have total concealment (50% miss chance, and opponents cannot use sight to locate the creature). This functions as the Hover feat, but is not subject to the size-requirements. If the Night Witch already has the Hover feat, increase the hover height range from 20 feet to 30 feet (30 being the maximum hight to use this ability) and increase the radius of the cloud to 80 feet.


Free Aerial Feat: At levels 3, 5, 7 and 9, the Night Witch may choose a feat from the following list for free regardless of prerequisites: Flyby Attack, Hover, Wingover, Metallic Wings, Stretched Wings (Please note that Metallic Wings and Stretched Wings are racial feats. For the purposes of the free feat, the racial requirements are also waived).

Leaf on the Wind (Ex): At levels 4 and 8, the Night Witch learns to read the wind and airflows about them as they fly. Their flight maneuverability increases by one step at level 4, and again at level 8.

Feather Wall (Ex): At level 6, the Night Witch has become adept at using their wings for more than just flying. When on the ground (i.e. not flying), the Night Witch may add half their levels in Night Witch to their AC as a Deflection Bonus. Alternatively, they may use their wings for offensive purposes as two Wing Buffet attacks, dealing 1d4 damage and dealing Bludgeoning damage. If the Metallic Wings feat was taken, the Night Witch adds an additional +2 to their AC atop the 1/2 level and counts it either as a Shield or a Deflection bonus (Choice is up to the Witch upon declaring the "stance") and their Wing Buffet attacks increase to 1d6 and deal Slashing damage in addition to Bludgeoning damage. Only one stance may be used at a time and must be declared during the Night Witch's turn (If attacking with the wings, they do not get the AC bonus for example). The Night Witch may only change stances at the beginning of their turn.

Cloud Born (Su): Staying up in the sky of the Barrier World has...consequences, though not all bad. In fact, some of them are quite good. At level 7, the Night Witch is able to manipulate, move and destroy cloud, fog or gaseous effect as if it were solid. Options are as follows:

You may, as a move action, move a cloud, fog, or other gaseous effect up to your movement speed in any direction you can move yourself. You
move with the gaseous effect, which must be within your reach when you start and end. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity. For the purposes of dragging/pushing, each square "counts as" 5lb (To help ensure that Night Witches don't just pick up entire fog banks and walk off with them).
As a standard action, you may attack a cloud, fog, or magical gaseous effect with a natural attack (provided it is within reach) and destroy a 5ft section of the gaseous. Attacking such an effect is considered an attempt to Dispel and must roll 1d20+Character Level+Strength versus the target of 10+Caster Level. Success not only clears the 5ft space, but also dispels the entire effect. Failure still clears the targeted 5ft square.
May treat clouds, fogs and gaseous effects, magical or otherwise, as solid objects. The extent of this ability is left up to the DM.


Zephyr Dance (Ex): At level 10, the Night Witch becomes a master of the skies. Once per day, the Night Witch may double their total number of attacks when making a Full Attack action. If used in conjunction with On Wings of Death, they may make an additional attack between movements. Cannot be used with armor heavier than Light.

Dracomortis
2014-07-24, 09:34 AM
REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Antagonize, Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard
Armor Proficiency: Must be proficient with at least Light armor and Shields.
Alignment: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral or True Neutral
Special: Must have officially sworn to protect the Queen, the Queen's Lands and the citizens therein.
This may just be personal preference, but I'm not a fan of prestige classes having feats as prerequisites unless their class features are dependent upon or directly interact with those feats. The ones you have listed here are at least related to the Queen's Guard's role, which is good, but they still feel like a heavy tax. Most players will try to get into a prestige class as early as possible, meaning they'll be picking up Queen's Guard at 7th level; unless they've gained a bonus feat through some means before that point, they literally have to spend all of their feats to qualify. A magus actually has to use up four feats (or take a dip in another class) in order to gain the required shield proficiency.


Defender's Charge: The Queen's Guard declares one person in a combat as your "charge", giving the Queen's Guard bonus weapon damage against creatures threatening them plus a bonus to spell penetration. The "charge's" AC improves when the Queen's Guard is adjacent to them, and you can spend an arcane point to cast personal spells on them at range or at touch. The bonuses to weapon damage, spell penetration and the Charge's AC increase by +1 every odd level, capping at +5 at lvl 9. These bonuses stack with other Queen's Guard and switching charges is a free action.
Although you stated in the OP that you intended this to be a prestige class for a magus, none of the prerequisites actually require you to take magus levels, so you may wish to clarify that arcane points are a magus class feature and not something the Queen's Guard is supposed to automatically have. (I don't know how experienced your players are, but someone unfamiliar with the magus' class features might very well read Defender's Charge and assume that arcane points are something the prestige class is supposed to grant.) You state that you can cast personal spells on your charge "at range"; what is the intended range? Short/medium/long spell range? A set number of feet?

Also, there seems to be a slight disconnect between the text and the table; the text states that you start off with a +1 bonus and that it increases at every odd level (capping at +5 at 9th), but the table seems to indicate that you don't get the +1 bonus until 3rd and that it caps at +4 at 9th.


Armored Arcana: At level 1, Queen's Guard no longer suffers Arcane Spell Failure with shields, barring Tower Shields and no longer suffers Arcane Spell Failure with the next "rank" of armor (If a Queen's Guard does not incur Arcane Spell Failure with Light Armor, Armored Arcana bumps that to Medium). At level 5 the "rank of armor increases (Medium becomes Heavy) and Tower Shields are no longer subject to Arcane Spell Failure.
I would clarify that if the Queen's Guard did not previously have the ability to ignore spell failure, that they gain the ability to do so in light armor.


Bonus Feat: The Queen's Guard receives a bonus feat at levels 4, 6, 8 and 10, the choices of which are restricted to those that are allowed by the Fighter Class. Queen's Guards may count their levels as Fighter levels for purposes of feats equal to 1/2 non-Queen's Guard class levels + Queen's Guard levels (A lvl 8 Fighter, lvl 4 Queen's Guard would count as a lvl 12 Fighter for purposes of Fighter Feats). Queen's Guard with the Fighter Training class feature from Magus count as 1:1 for levels (A lvl 10 Magus, lvl 4 Queen's Guard would therefore count as a lvl 14 Fighter for purposes of Fighter Feats)
No real issues here, although a magus 10/Queen's Guard 10 is going to be able to qualify for any fighter feat in the game despite having zero levels of fighter. I don't personally have a problem with this, but I could see a fighter player being a little peeved that one of the main perks of his class was given to someone else.


Always Ready: At level 3, a Queen's Guard has become experienced enough that they can smell an ambush coming a mile away. As such, they retain their Dex bonus when caught flat-footed. At level 6 the Queen's Guard can no longer be flanked (That meaning no bonuses are gained for flanking a Queen's Guard).
No problems here either, although do note that the Queen's Guard is effectively immune to sneak attacks as a result of this ability. It fits flavor-wise, and isn't a balance concern -- there are plenty of other ways to become immune to sneak attacks -- just be aware of it if you intend to throw these guys at your party and you have a rogue.


"Get Behind Me!": At level 4, as a Full Round action, the Queen's Guard, if adjacent to their charge, may switch places with them without incurring an attack of opportunity. At level 8 this ability becomes a move action.
This ability seems really underwhelming; you and your charge are essentially taking 5-foot steps, except that you can only move to one specific spot and you spent your entire turn doing it. Best case scenario would be if your charge has already acted this turn, in which case you effectively grant them an extra 5 feet of movement at the cost of your entire turn, which is pretty bad. Not only that, but this ability doesn't seem to accomplish its intended goal (which is presumably getting your charge out of harm's way): if they're adjacent to you and they have to move into the square you were just in, chances are they're still range of whatever you're fighting. I would make this a move action from the start, and perhaps allow the charge to move into any adjacent square rather than having to move to where the Queen's Guard was. For the 8th level upgrade...perhaps allow the charge to move farther?


Protector of the God Queen: Such is their devotion to their charges and the Queen that a Queen's Guard is all but unshakeable. When adjacent to their charge, the Queen's Guard gains +5 to their Will save towards fear effects and anything regarding mental domination (Charm Person, Dominate, Suggestion, etc).
This feels pretty underwhelming for a capstone ability that you can't get until at least 16th level; by comparison, paladins gain total immunity to fear at level 3 and charm effects at level 8 while also granting a +4 bonus against those effects to all allies within 10 feet. I'd either just grant outright immunity to those effects (without the requirement of being next to your charge) or perhaps even come up with a new ability -- perhaps something like the 3.5 knight's Shield Ally ability, which allowed them to take some of the damage from an attack aimed at an adjacent ally.

Silus
2014-07-24, 10:16 AM
This may just be personal preference, but I'm not a fan of prestige classes having feats as prerequisites unless their class features are dependent upon or directly interact with those feats. The ones you have listed here are at least related to the Queen's Guard's role, which is good, but they still feel like a heavy tax. Most players will try to get into a prestige class as early as possible, meaning they'll be picking up Queen's Guard at 7th level; unless they've gained a bonus feat through some means before that point, they literally have to spend all of their feats to qualify. A magus actually has to use up four feats (or take a dip in another class) in order to gain the required shield proficiency.

Possibly take out the Shield requirement, drop the Feat requirements down to just Antagonize and Combat Reflexes and give Bodyguard as a Bonus Feat at lvl 2?



Although you stated in the OP that you intended this to be a prestige class for a magus, none of the prerequisites actually require you to take magus levels, so you may wish to clarify that arcane points are a magus class feature and not something the Queen's Guard is supposed to automatically have. (I don't know how experienced your players are, but someone unfamiliar with the magus' class features might very well read Defender's Charge and assume that arcane points are something the prestige class is supposed to grant.) You state that you can cast personal spells on your charge "at range"; what is the intended range? Short/medium/long spell range? A set number of feet?

Well I switched the range up to simply "touch" as the Queen's Guard needs to be next to their charge for their bonuses to kick in. Also tacked on a bit noting that Arcane Points are a Magus Class Feature. Think I should allow for the Queen's Guard to get an Arcane pool at bare minimum and let Magi increase theirs as per normal? I'm thinking it'd allow other caster classes to drop personal spells as well on a charge so many times per day.


Also, there seems to be a slight disconnect between the text and the table; the text states that you start off with a +1 bonus and that it increases at every odd level (capping at +5 at 9th), but the table seems to indicate that you don't get the +1 bonus until 3rd and that it caps at +4 at 9th.

Ah, good point. It's been fixed now =D



I would clarify that if the Queen's Guard did not previously have the ability to ignore spell failure, that they gain the ability to do so in light armor.

Aaaaaaand clarified =D


No real issues here, although a magus 10/Queen's Guard 10 is going to be able to qualify for any fighter feat in the game despite having zero levels of fighter. I don't personally have a problem with this, but I could see a fighter player being a little peeved that one of the main perks of his class was given to someone else.

Possibly take out the stacking of 1:1 and have the Magus 10/Queen's Guard 10 only count as a lvl 15 Fighter or something? Or simply don't allow them to stack at all?


This ability seems really underwhelming; you and your charge are essentially taking 5-foot steps, except that you can only move to one specific spot and you spent your entire turn doing it. Best case scenario would be if your charge has already acted this turn, in which case you effectively grant them an extra 5 feet of movement at the cost of your entire turn, which is pretty bad. Not only that, but this ability doesn't seem to accomplish its intended goal (which is presumably getting your charge out of harm's way): if they're adjacent to you and they have to move into the square you were just in, chances are they're still range of whatever you're fighting. I would make this a move action from the start, and perhaps allow the charge to move into any adjacent square rather than having to move to where the Queen's Guard was. For the 8th level upgrade...perhaps allow the charge to move farther?

So like...maybe a half-speed-withdraw-maneuver-gift? Like "I use my move action to give my charge a free Withdraw action at half their movement" with the level 8 being full speed withdraw?


This feels pretty underwhelming for a capstone ability that you can't get until at least 16th level; by comparison, paladins gain total immunity to fear at level 3 and charm effects at level 8 while also granting a +4 bonus against those effects to all allies within 10 feet. I'd either just grant outright immunity to those effects (without the requirement of being next to your charge) or perhaps even come up with a new ability -- perhaps something like the 3.5 knight's Shield Ally ability, which allowed them to take some of the damage from an attack aimed at an adjacent ally.

Hmm...What of a pain-split type ability with some versatility? Shield Ally, so any damage dealt to an adjacent ally gets split to the Queen's Guard, coupled with a slight damage bounce (Maybe 10% damage) if the Guard is attacked directly? Would make things kinda silly if the party decides to field a pair of Queen's Guard (Make each other their charges and use this ability to nullify the damage via split, then deal back 10% that damage back to the monster).

Possibly tack on the Fear and Charm Immunity as well?

Silus
2014-07-24, 08:04 PM
Welp, the Night Witch class is moooooostly done (and needing some feedback) and I've gone and added the Class Skills to the other classes.

jiriku
2014-07-24, 09:09 PM
I get the impression this is Pathfinder-based homebrew. I'd suggest adding that descriptor to the thread so that readers understand the context of the homebrew. As it is, there's a lot of weirdness going on with saving throws and skill points and prerequisites that are strange for 3.5 material, but I don't know Pathfinder all that well and I'm not sure if I should mention those things or not.

You might consider creating five separate threads for these classes and introduce one class per thread. Threads with multiple classes in them often get very limited feedback, especially for the classes that are buried in the third and fourth posts. It's clear that you've put a lot of time and effort into this and are planning to put in a lot more. I'd hate to see it go without responses or feedback.

My initial take is that the Queen's Guard is way more powerful than the Night Witch. Do you intend for all these classes to be power-equivalent, or is it ok if some of them outshine others?

Silus
2014-07-24, 10:39 PM
I get the impression this is Pathfinder-based homebrew. I'd suggest adding that descriptor to the thread so that readers understand the context of the homebrew. As it is, there's a lot of weirdness going on with saving throws and skill points and prerequisites that are strange for 3.5 material, but I don't know Pathfinder all that well and I'm not sure if I should mention those things or not.

You might consider creating five separate threads for these classes and introduce one class per thread. Threads with multiple classes in them often get very limited feedback, especially for the classes that are buried in the third and fourth posts. It's clear that you've put a lot of time and effort into this and are planning to put in a lot more. I'd hate to see it go without responses or feedback.

My initial take is that the Queen's Guard is way more powerful than the Night Witch. Do you intend for all these classes to be power-equivalent, or is it ok if some of them outshine others?

I was using some of the core prestige classes as a base with some of the prerequisites and the saves (I've never made a prestige class before, soooooo yeah), so that may have something to do with it.

And I suppose I'll get around to making threads for each of the individual classes when they get to a point that I can post them somewhere. My only real "ugh" issue is that, at least in my experience, homebrew threads around here just sorta....sit.

Edit: Also, any suggestions for what I can do to improve the Night Witch? Was thinking of giving it an ability that when it moves (it should always be moving) that it gets increasing degrees of cover against attacks or something similar.

Edit2: Also, went ahead and edited the Queen's Guard, so now it has 2+Int for skills and half the spellcaster progression.

Dracomortis
2014-07-24, 11:33 PM
Class features for both prestige classes need to be denoted as either extraordinary or supernatural; they mostly seems like (Ex) abilities with the possible exception of the Queen's Guard's Protector of the Queen, which might be (Su) due to its ability to automatically reflect damage, even on a ranged attack.

jiriku
2014-07-25, 12:53 AM
I'd say Queen's Guard is reasonable at 7/10 caster levels. However, I'd recommend adding a bonus type to Defender's Charge. A morale bonus seems appropriate.

Silus
2014-07-25, 04:34 AM
Someone in another thread suggested this change to make the class less Magus-specific:


Defender's Charge: A queen's guard is devoted to protecting those under her care. She can declare a creature as her charge as a swift action. The charge gains a +1 to AC as long as the queen's guard is adjacent to it. The queen's guard also gains a +1 bonus to weapon damage rolls and rolls to overcome spell resistance against creatures who threaten her charge. These bonuses increase by 1 at 3rd level and every two levels thereafter. Once per day, she can cast a spell with a range of personal on her charge.


Ought I run with it? I was kinda considering having it 1/Day +Spellcasting Stat mod (So a Cleric would be 1/Day +Wis Mod).

Dracomortis
2014-07-25, 05:08 AM
Ought I run with it? I was kinda considering having it 1/Day +Spellcasting Stat mod (So a Cleric would be 1/Day +Wis Mod).

I see no issue with it, although if you're going to give it multiple daily uses I would base it off of class level instead of casting stat so that every Queen's Guard has the same number of uses; maybe 1 + half class level per day?

Silus
2014-07-25, 05:17 AM
I see no issue with it, although if you're going to give it multiple daily uses I would base it off of class level instead of casting stat so that every Queen's Guard has the same number of uses; maybe 1 + half class level per day?

That'd probably work better. I can't really think of ways this can be abused as the only spells would be spells of a "Personal/Self" nature, though I could be wrong.