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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class New Marshal in need of capstone for 3.x homebrew(PEACH)



Chaosvii7
2014-10-07, 08:28 AM
'Sup, playgrounders? I'm coming at you with this first homebrew class I've developed for my 3.X/4e/5e homebrew mish-mash. I've got the core foundation built, I just need to bring races, classes, feats, and spells in line with the new system. Normally I'd start with the core classes and then make the splatbook stuff, but I had a very potent brainstorm in the middle of the night and was compelled to go out-of-order and make the Marshal first and foremost.

A brief backstory on the Marshal and it's chassis: I've been working on brewing this system all summer, amidst the 5e hype. I wanted to make something that had big numbers, but not a ton of pointless modifiers, as well as trying to solve some of the essential problems of 3.x and Pathfinder that wizards become young gods by the time the typical Fighter gets their fourth attack in a round. The Marshal came about because I found the Adrenaline Boost ACF for the 3.5 Marshal and said "Well why can't the marshal in my system have both those things?" Also, when I was planning the ToB conversion for this system I decided to rename the Swordsage to the Samurai(as most of the classes I want to convert need new, generic names). Because the CW Samurai would get the axe because of the pecking order(not that anybody would have missed it), I took the Staredown ability and threw that into the mix. Then I made all of these abilities mechanically relevant and powerful et voila! I had this potent brainstorm in which I brought all of these things together and created this, the brand new Marshal.

Obviously the class wouldn't make sense if I didn't provide context on the homebrew I've been working on, so I included a summary of the changes that the system will be making. I'll eventually type just this info up and then build the core around that, but I wanted to see how this Marshal was looking because It was the product of a very strong font of inspiration.



This is an attempt to better blend design philosophy from previous editions, as well as adding in influences of 4th and 5th editions to the core 3.5. I myself am not aiming to make it fall in line with a particular tier of the tier system, but I am designing it with caster vs. mundane balance strongly in mind.
I'd like it to be compatible with 3.5 at a reasonable level. That is to say, if you took this class and converted the skills and saves and HP back to 3.5 standards, how would this class compare with the others?
Classes are in part balanced around two things - how many dead levels they possess, and how many levels they get more than one class feature. Spellcasters and classes with supernatural abilities suffer more dead levels, whereas characters that err more towards the mundane side will have low to no dead levels. To that effect, mundanes have more levels where they gain more than one class feature or similar benefit. In order for a class to be mundane, it needs to be unable to give itself most if not all of the core utilities that 3.5 spells and magic items give, including but not limited to: Flight, mind blank, immunity to fear/charm/poison/fatigue/sleep/ability damage(drain is gone)/death effects, DR, Fortification, Miss Chance, Spell Resistance, Evasion/Mettle, auto-succeed on checks, massive bonuses to skills, etc.
Immediate actions are now called Reactions. This should be fairly obvious, but I'm listing it here just in case.
BAB and iterative attacks are currently still a part of the game. I'm not sure if the BAB system will be incompatible with the goal I'm working towards, but if anybody wants to suggest alternatives then I'd be willing to listen to the suggestions.
F/R/W is replaced with Mind, Body, and Spirit. These work like a hybridization between 3.5's saves and 4e's defenses. Each one uses the better of two modifiers(Inspired by 4e) plus class bonuses(just like 3.5). Body uses either Strength or Constitution, Mind uses Intelligence or Wisdom, and Spirit uses Dexterity or Charisma. When you're targeted with special attacks(life drain, ray of enfeeblement, combat maneuvers), you use the Passive version of that score - 10 + that stat.
Status conditions are less "You have a -x penalty to do this and that", and more "You cannot do this or that" - conditions are prohibitors, but the math typically behind status conditions is more or less gone. If you're blind, you cannot target creatures. If you're poisoned, you always fail Body saves(does not affect your passive Body score). So on, so forth. Gets rid of the unwanted mountain of math.
A best-of-both-worlds between 4e and 5e's skill system. At 1st level you are trained in a set number of skills, and you add your level to checks with those skills. Any skill that isn't trained uses half your level(min. 0). I mashed a ton of skills into bigger skills(the list for the consolidated skills is below). There is no trained-only skills; Every character has a baseline competency with every skill. Skill Focus currently lets you take 10 with that skill in any situation.
Characters generally have more starting hit points, and Constitution as an individual score is more important for this reason. Classes get max HP of their hit die plus their Constitution SCORE, which means that your 1st level adventurer is going to be fairly beefy as long as they have a positive Constitution.
Out of combat healing just like 5th edition, including the mechanic of short and long rests. It makes hit dice more useful, so it's a welcome feature. It also solves some of the mundane problems by allowing them to catch their breath, regain their senses, patch up their wounds, and recall some of their abilities.
Feats are being deleted and/or reworked as appropriate to curve the power towards classes that get a greater volume of feats(read: mundanes). Most all feats have a benefit that scales with the character, and also allows for combining a large number of 3.5 feats into one(Two-Weapon Fighting is a single feat now, which grants more attacks based on your BAB). Metamagic will probably not be a feat-based system, if it exists at all.
Magic Items are generalized and streamlined to make the system a lot easier to understand and use. Magic Items have an enhancement bonus that represents the quality of the item, but it only goes up to +4. Masterwork is now +1, with artifact-level items being in the +4 range. Things like weapon and armor enchantments are tiered, meaning that you need to have a minimum enhancement bonus to put that ability on the weapon(which costs gold to do so, and most weapons don't have qualities on them). I don't know if and how I'm going to deal with typical wondrous items like cloaks and bracers and amulets and belts and capes yet, but I hope to make it work in the same vein.
I'll hopefully get a comprehensive list of the core mechanics changes up soon, but the Marshal came to me in a sort of font of inspiration and I had to get it done because otherwise I'd lose everything I'd thought up. I also believed this Marshal to be a good example of the power level I'm shooting for with the homebrew.





Acrobatics(Balance, Tumble, Jump)
Athletics(Climb, Ride, Swim)
Bluff(Bluff, Disguise)
Diplomacy
Intimidate
Insight(Gather Information, Decipher Script)
Knowledge: Arcana, Knowledge: Religion, Knowledge: History, Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Planes, Knowledge: Dungeoneering
Performance(all of them, rolled into one)
Perception(Listen, Spot, Search)
Sleight of Hand(Disable Device, Escape Artist, Forgery, Open Lock)
Spellcraft(Spellcraft, Use Magic Device)
Stealth(Hide, Move Silently)
Survival(Handle Animal, Heal, Survival)



And with that preface out of the way, here is the actual class itself:

The New Marshal(PEACH) (https://docs.google.com/document/d/17zFMdrXnc1FKknJ_A-1cEdwd59ZULdtdbTecy8w5Ca4/edit?usp=sharing)

I'm looking for a comparison of this class at it's base value(replace the homebrew stuff with 3.5-appropriate mechanics using the power of your imagination, if you will) and where it falls in line with JaronK's 3.5 tier system.
I NEED CAPSTONES. I am looking for suggestions for a 19th and 20th level ability, respectively. I'd like the 19th level ability to be one that further enhances the Marshal's auras like Double Aura and Swift Aura did. The 20th level capstone is totally up to interpretation.
What do you think of BAB/iteratives? What mechanics could you suggest to replace or enhance it to make it more balanced towards mundanes?
From a mechanical standpoint, does the Marshal need an increase in any stats? Or does it need new or more different features?



I am willing to listen to any critique, comments, and concerns on the class. Do you think it's powerful compared to the 3.5 tier system? Do you think it works well with itself and it's abilities? Would you feel safe and inspired if this Marshal were a real person commanding you?

Also anything you want to say on the current skeleton of the homebrew system would be wonderful as well.

Chaosvii7
2014-10-09, 02:56 AM
Bumping to get this back on the first page. So since it's been two days with no replies, does that mean that I've made the perfect 3.x base class?

Amnoriath
2014-10-09, 09:09 AM
Bumping to get this back on the first page. So since it's been two days with no replies, does that mean that I've made the perfect 3.x base class?

Well you first need auras for us to see how it enhances the other players. Is it better than the original, of course it is, but is it all that different, not really. In my opinion that is why you haven't got much of a reply. I mean a White Raven Crusader or Warblade is still better at being the idea of a Marshal than this is. Again, this isn't to say it doesn't have its advantages and definitely is playable but what you have is a mundane that is still fairly passive with a couple okay active abilities.

Chaosvii7
2014-10-09, 05:02 PM
Well you first need auras for us to see how it enhances the other players. Is it better than the original, of course it is, but is it all that different, not really. In my opinion that is why you haven't got much of a reply. I mean a White Raven Crusader or Warblade is still better at being the idea of a Marshal than this is. Again, this isn't to say it doesn't have its advantages and definitely is playable but what you have is a mundane that is still fairly passive with a couple okay active abilities.

Alright, I'll get auras out later tonight, then. Thanks for the input!

Extra Anchovies
2014-10-27, 11:25 PM
Suggested capstone, since the new Marshal is still a Cha-based leader-type:

With Me! (Ex): At 20th level, a Marshal has become so adept a battlefield commander that their leadership shows even before the fighting begins. If a Marshal is able to act in a surprise round, all allies within 30 feet are able to act in the surprise round as well, their actions resolving immediately after the Marshal's in the initiative order. When a Marshal takes their first action in normal combat rounds, they may choose a number of allies within 60 feet equal their Charisma bonus, minimum 1. The Marshal then assigns each of these allies a new place in the initiative order equal to or less than the Marshal's own place in the initiative order.