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CyberThread
2014-11-06, 05:55 PM
So my one last contribution for the week. The Green Star Adept for a barbarian of all things. The subclass, does lack any sort of flavor text, so I will try to set the mood on how this works. Barbarians are more then just rage machines, but also attached to nature through various ritual like behaviors , we see. Eating animals for and totems and the like.

What am doing of instead of bonding with a animal, we are bonding with a thing. The one thing a barbarian trust more then his rage, is the iron or steel he uses to kill things. So instead of becoming more like the animals he lives around, he becomes more like the weapons he uses. I removed various bad things about the old Green Star. No more costly level up rituals, no more finding rare things, no more becoming metal and hard to heal, and no more half caster and hard entry rules.



So I present to you, the Metal Man Sub-Class, with an optional caster sub-text below.





Green Star Adept Challenge: Barbarian Class




3rd
Green Skin: Your skin starts changing hue, gain a bonus to your unarmored defense. Using a base of 12, instead of 10.

Metal Man: You no longer eat normal food, but instead metals. You gain the ability to avoid sneak and critical hits. Roll a 1d4, if it lands on 1, you are not affected by the extra damage those abilities inflict. You gain advantage against status effect rolls that deal with Sleep and Poison. Gain dark vision out to 60ft, if your race already has access to dark vision, double the range it can normally see.


6th

Metaler Man : Roll 1d4 against stealth and critical hits, on a results of 1 or 2, you are not affected by the extra damage of those abilities. You gain advantage against further status effects rolls, Stunned, Charmed and Petrified. You gain unarmed strikes of 1d4. You gain the ability to use detect metal, similar to detect metal but instead able to sense metal around you, within your vision of 40ft. Gain damage resistance to a choice of non-magical pierce, slashing, or bludgeon damage type.

10th

Harden Metal flesh: Your skin starts changing hue, gain a bonus to your unarmored defense. Using a base of 14, instead of 12

Metalerish Man: Roll 1d4 against stealth and critical hits, on a results of 1 2, or 3, you are not affected by the extra damage of those abilities. You gain advantage against further status effects rolls, blinded, deafened, and frightened. You gain unarmed strikes of 1d6. You no longer need to eat, breathe, or sleep. If you cast spells you must still take time to required by that class to regain spells.

14th


Metalest Man: You are immune to critical hits and sneak attacks. Pick three status effects you have advantage against, you are now immune to them. Your unarmed strikes now do 2d4 damage. You are now an appropriate target for mend and repair object type spells. You are no longer at risk of death from the cause of old age. Gain damage resistance to a choice of non-magical pierce, slashing, or bludgeon damage type.



One Possible add-ons to the sub-class for a person to consider. The Green Star Adept, is supposed to be magical and progress magic. I don’t like the idea, of using eldritch knight like casting, or full casters spell lists, which can be insane a bit. I would rather provide access to a rangers spell list, or a very select couple of spells they can use once per short or long rest, gaining access to them.

Tenmujiin
2014-11-06, 07:35 PM
Gaining what is essentially a +2-4 to ac seems rather broken with bounded accuracy. A dex/con focused barbarian could push his AC to 28 at level 20 by maxing con and dex. Perhaps have the ability instead allow him to use the AC bonus INSTEAD of dex but still stacking with his con? So 12+con, 14+con rather than 12+dex+con, 14+dex+con. It would still be a useful ability since it means he can focus on strength and con completely rather than wanting to also have high dex for AC like a normal barbarian.

Edit: by stealth and critical hits, did you mean sneak attacks and crits?

Mr.Moron
2014-11-06, 07:39 PM
I think beyond the AC bumps the basic template is fine here. I think all the clumsy d4 mechanics need to be replaced by something more elegant though.

CyberThread
2014-11-07, 05:24 PM
Gaining what is essentially a +2-4 to ac seems rather broken with bounded accuracy. A dex/con focused barbarian could push his AC to 28 at level 20 by maxing con and dex. Perhaps have the ability instead allow him to use the AC bonus INSTEAD of dex but still stacking with his con? So 12+con, 14+con rather than 12+dex+con, 14+dex+con. It would still be a useful ability since it means he can focus on strength and con completely rather than wanting to also have high dex for AC like a normal barbarian.

Edit: by stealth and critical hits, did you mean sneak attacks and crits?


While noted not something I would do. Am willing to add that they would be affected by spells that affect metal though.

Yagyujubei
2014-11-07, 05:33 PM
aside from the AC bumps, it seems redundant to grant any resistance to bludgeoning/slashing/piercing, since raging already gives you that, and you'll likely be raging every time you fight, especially by the level you're unlocking these features.

CyberThread
2014-11-07, 05:59 PM
I think beyond the AC bumps the basic template is fine here. I think all the clumsy d4 mechanics need to be replaced by something more elegant though.

No other function really does a 25 , 50 , and 75 precent as nicely as a 1d4.




aside from the AC bumps, it seems redundant to grant any resistance to bludgeoning/slashing/piercing, since raging already gives you that, and you'll likely be raging every time you fight, especially by the level you're unlocking these features.

You are utterly correct. I did it badly and thought that was a path not a main feature. I will rethink that over

TheDeadlyShoe
2014-11-07, 07:43 PM
What about immunity to one type of physical damage, chosen when you start your rage?

Yagyujubei
2014-11-07, 08:43 PM
What about immunity to one type of physical damage, chosen when you start your rage?

probably much, much too strong

CyberThread
2014-11-07, 10:21 PM
What about immunity to one type of physical damage, chosen when you start your rage?


probably much, much too strong

Am going to agree I think it is defensively tanky enough. I think it maybe needs to a small section of metal related spells and blade pact of a warlock.

Hytheter
2014-11-07, 11:13 PM
It seems like every level gives way too many things.

At level 3 you get +2 unarmored AC AND Random defense against crits and sneak attack AND darkvision AND advantage against two status conditions.
At the same level the Totem Warrior gets some minor rituals and either resistance to damage OR the ability to move around in combat more easily OR giving allies advantage. The beserker gets a bonus action attack at the cost of becoming exhausted.
Now those abilities are pretty good, but the Green Star is getting a lot of stuff including an incredible +2 AC.

And then at level 6 you get an increase to your random critical/sneak attack(which for some reason you've started calling stealth) resistance AND advantage against 3 more conditions AND 1d4 unarmed strike AND detect metal AND resistance against a damage type.
At the same level, the Totem Warrior gets increased carry capacity/advantage on STR checks OR improved eyesight OR fast tracking. The Beserker just gets immunity to charmed and frightened while raging. That doesn't look balanced to me.

At level 10 you get another +2 AC AND even greater crit/sneak attack resistance AND against yet another three status conditions AND bigger unarmed attacks AND you dont need to eat breath drink or sleep.
The Totem Warrior gets... commune with nature. The beserker can scare people. Sounds fair.

Then finally at level 14 you get outright immunity to sneak attack and critical hits AND outright immunity to any three status conditions of your choice AND increased unarmed strike AND you can be healed by a cantrip (mending) AND you don't age AND you gain resistance to another damage type.
Totem Warrior gets imposing disadvantage on nearby enemies who ignore him OR short bursts of flight (close to jumping really) OR bonus action tripping. Beserker gets reaction attacks when people hit him.

So overall, the Green Star Adept gets +4 AC (on a class that can already have the highest AC in the game), advantage against pretty much every status effect and immunity to three of them, immunity to critical hits and sneak attacks. Plus a few other goodies like Darkvision, 2d4 unarmed strikes, resistance to two damage types even while not raging, detect metal and healing from cantrips, all while forgoing earthly needs and not aging.

That's a lot of stuff, some of which strikes me as very powerful and it doesn't seem balanced with the other Barbarian subclasses at all.

It seems like you took the Green Star Adept - originally a 10 level presitigle class and tried to cram all of it's features into the 4 subclass levels. That's just not realistic - you need to make some sacrifices when you're adapting 10 levels from 3.5 - where everything was generally more powerful already - into 4 levels in 5e. And yet you're still talking about adding things like spells and pseudo blade pacts? Come on.

Here are my suggestionsto turn things the hell down a notch.

First, Get rid of the 25-100% cirt/sneak attack resistance. For two reasons: 1, sneak attack and crit resistance aren't really things that creatures have anymore. It was common in 3.5 for undead and constructs and the like to be immune to such things but that is no longer the case, so keeping this feature doesn't fit the design sensibilities of 5e and would just be a pointless holdover from 3.5. Secondly, they're pretty awkward and clumsy anyway.

As someone said before, have the unarmored defense become 12+Con, (then 14+Con) replacing the Dex component. This allows the barbarian to neglect his Dex entirely, which is pretty good already (it's the equivelant of another Barbarian with 18 dex, and they can't focus as much on STR and CON to do so) without breaking bounded accuracy. After all, the original Green Star adept lost Dexteriety as he levelled. Since it starts at 2 and ends at 4, maybe base it on the Rage bonus progression?

Decrease the amount of conditions he can resist/become immune to. Maybe allow choices from a list. He definitely shouldn't resist Charmed and frightened, his transformation is physical not mental and not even the original Green Star Adept resisted those conditions.

Those are the worst offenders. A lot of the others are minor or essentially flavour, but there's still a lot of them.
Darkvision seems unnecessary from a flavour perspective; why does turning into metal let you see in the dark? Plus many races get it anyway. He has some object based advantages, so maybe add some object like disadvantages tou counter them; he can be repaired by mending, but he can also be rusted and affected by spells that only affect objects. The original adept couldn't be healed normally, but I think that's too extreme. I also would say have him always have to eat metal to survive, even as he loses the need for fluids and air; it's not mechanical but I think it's a fun thing that shouldn't just go away as you level up. The unarmed strike is kinda cool, but I don't know if it needs to be there. At the very least it should be d8 instead of 2d4; larger dice work better with the barbarian's critical bonus.

If he wants spells or a blade pact he can multiclass to Warlock. he gets all his adept features by level 14 anyway.

That's my thought on the matter. It definitely needs to be weakened a fair bit, but I think you can do so without compromosing the feel of the class.

edit: Here's a toned down and simplified version I put together just now. Still might not be balanced, but should at least be better.

Path of the Green Star Adept

Metallic Exterior
From 3rd level, you must eat at least a quarter of a pound of metal per day in addition to normal food or go hungry.
As a result of your dietary changes, your skin hardens and begins to take on a metallic hue. When unarmored, you may use your Rage Damage bonus instead of your Dexterity Modifier when calculating your AC, making it 10+Con+Rage Damage. Additionally, your unarmed attacks deal d4 damage.

Metallic Interior
From 6th level you no longer need to eat normal food or gain any benefit from it, and must entirely replace your diet with metal, requiring a pound per day. You no longer need to drink water, however.
You gain advantage on saving throws against poison and disease, as well as resistance to poison damage.

Hardened Exterior
From 10th level your skin is almost pure metal. Your resistance to Slashing, Piercing and Bludgeoning Damage applies even while you are not raging and your unarmed strike becomes a D8. You also gain advantage on saving throws to be petrified.

More Metal Than Man
From 14th level you close to being entirely inorganic. You become immune to poison and disease, as well as poison type damage and you no longer age or require sleep. Additionally, you can be targeted by effects that normally only affect objects.

Castaras
2014-11-08, 06:52 AM
Mod of the Apocalypse: Moved to Homebrew Design.

BRKNdevil
2014-11-09, 01:04 PM
You should probably put the 5e tag on this as well. that said, the rest of the comments i pretty much agree with in general.