aimlessPolymath
2017-09-12, 11:02 AM
This is an attempt to rebuild the Cleric in a similar way to what I did with Druids in my Shaman, addressing the issue of T1 characters by shifting around their power and versatility. While it's still T1 or T2, ideally its power and versatility has been moved around, out of the spellcasting, and into class features. Once this is done, the class features can then be modified or nerfed in more discrete amounts, giving greater control of the powerlevel of the class. As a side effect, class features provide more flavorful and unusual abilities than pure spellcasting.
Unfortunately, I ran out of ideas for higher-level abilities, so it's currently designed as a prestige class, until I work out higher level abilities.
Prerequisites:
4 ranks in Knowledge(Religion)
Chassis:
HD: d8
Skills: As cleric
LevelBABFortRefWillAbilities
1+0+0+0+2Blessing +1, Rally
2+1+0+0+3Spellcasting
3+2+1+1+3Domain
4+3+1+1+4Gift
5+3+1+1+4Blessing+2
Proficiencies: A Priest gains no new proficiencies.
Blessing: At 1st level, a Priest gains the ability to bless others. This is a ritual requiring one minute of talking and praying with a single creature, and grants them a blessing lasting 24 hours. A blessing provides either a +1 bonus to attack rolls, a +1 bonus to saving throws, a +1 bonus to AC, or a +1 bonus to a particular skill. Each deity has an associated skill; when priests of that deity provide a blessing boosting that skill, the bonus is +1 more than normal. A priest can take 10 minutes instead with a blessing; if they do, they can choose one:
-The benefits last one week
-All creatures within hearing range who are attentive to the priest are blessed.
If they take 1 hour and 40 minutes instead, they gain both benefits. If the blessing takes place within a church or temple of the priest's deity, the bonuses are increased by one. At fifth level, increase the benefits granted by Blessing by 1.
All bonuses granted by a Blessing are sacred(for good or neutral Priests) or profane(for evil Priests) bonuses. A creature can only receive one blessing at a time; new blessings supersede old ones.
One of my goals with these class "fixes" was to move the class identity away from spellcasting, as mentioned before. As part of this, no class gets spellcasting at 1st level. This particular feature fulfills several functions for the Priest:
-The ability to moderately contribute to the group through small buffs.
-A social ability- the priest is now called upon to bless endeavours, and might be approached by someone looking for a blessing. There's no reason for a PC to refuse, either, since it doesn't expend spells.
-A touch of identity to religions through the minor extra bonus, giving worshippers of gods a touch more uniqueness than just domains
-Justification for weekly services in a temple- I really like this because it rewards players for behaving in a particularly archetypal way.
Rally: As a standard action, a priest can grant (level + Cha) temporary hit points to all allies within 30 feet. If they are currently granted a bonus from a Blessing, its bonuses are increased by 2 for one round. The temporary hit points last for one minute.
I really, really, hate Channel Energy for what it meant for out-of-combat healing. This feels better to me. It blocks around one attack, so focused fire is an effective counter. I'm considering putting a 1d4 round cooldown on it
Spellcasting is as the bard, but with one extra spell per day and spell known of each level, drawn from the cleric list. It is only gained starting at 2nd level. It's Charisma based.
I'll flesh this out later with a full table, but just see Shaman in my sig if you need a reference. I'm working on developing this so that the cleric is a two-stat class like the Shaman, but I went with Charisma based here because of the community themes of the class.
Domain At 3rd level, a priest chooses a domain from those his deity provides, gaining its domain spells, and its granted power. They do not gain domain slots. Instead, the domain spells are added to the priest's spell list. If they already know the domain spell, they may choose another cleric spell to replace it.
Gift: At 4rh level, a priest learns a unique power.
Exorciser: As long as the priest physically holds someone, they are continually affected by a protection from evil, except for the AC and save bonus, or the protection from summoned creatures.
Ward: In a process taking 10 minutes and 1 gp of materials, the priest may create a trinket that protect homes it is placed in. If it is placed over a doorway or other opening in a building, then outsiders, undead, incorporeal creatures or any creature which is possessed or affected by a compulsion effect cannot enter the building through the doorway unless invited by someone inside. They can still attempt to break down the building in other methods, or find an unwarded opening.
Knight's Honor: The priest learns a special Blessing that can only be granted to lawful creatures. When granted, it provides a pool of "virtual" temporary hit points equal to the target's level * the Priest's Charisma bonus, which stack with normal hit points. While it lasts, all damage dealt to the target is reduced to the minimum possible roll, and the remainder diverted to these "virtual" hit points. For example, if they were dishonorably attacked by a rogue, taking 6d6+2 damage, and the roll was 16, they would only take 8 points of damage, and the other 8 would be directed to the virtual hit points. This Blessing is not affected by Rally. Only one creature can have this Blessing at once. If it lasts more than one day, the hit points refresh at the same time that the priest regains spells.
Something I noticed: The majority of bonuses which "take advantage" of their opponents, e.g. sneak attack, provide dice bonuses (1d6/2 levels), while "honorable combat" bonuses generally provide a static bonus (+1/level). This destroys the former, while barely impacting the latter.
Resistance: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to saving throws though Blessings, they also provide the target with energy resistance to one energy type, chosen when the blessing is applied. The resistance is five times the value of the bonus.
Piercing: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to attack rolls through Blessings, they also provide a bonus to weapon damage rolls, Concentration checks, and caster level checks to overcome spell resistance, as well as doubling the bonus to attack rolls on rolls to confirm critical hits.
Resiliency: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to AC through Blessings, they also provide DR/magic with a value equal to the blessing bonus, and double the AC bonus against critical hits.
Valor: Whenever the Priest provides a creature with a Blessing, the creature gains a +4 bonus to saving throws against fear (in addition to whatever bonus it normally provides). Furthermore, the creature's attacks are treated as being magic and the priest's alignment for the purpose of overcoming DR.
Choir:
As you perform a Blessing, you or someone you choose on your behalf may make a Perform check. If multiple people attempt this check, use only the highest result. If you succeed, you may choose a skill. The resulting Blessing adds to this skill in addition to whatever effect it normally has, but with a bonus limited by the check result.
Result
Maximum bonus
10 or less
+0
11-15
+1
16-20
+2
21+
+3
A work in progress. Ideas are welcome for fleshing this out, new Gifts.
Thoughts? Ideas for expanding this to higher levels? PEACH
Unfortunately, I ran out of ideas for higher-level abilities, so it's currently designed as a prestige class, until I work out higher level abilities.
Prerequisites:
4 ranks in Knowledge(Religion)
Chassis:
HD: d8
Skills: As cleric
LevelBABFortRefWillAbilities
1+0+0+0+2Blessing +1, Rally
2+1+0+0+3Spellcasting
3+2+1+1+3Domain
4+3+1+1+4Gift
5+3+1+1+4Blessing+2
Proficiencies: A Priest gains no new proficiencies.
Blessing: At 1st level, a Priest gains the ability to bless others. This is a ritual requiring one minute of talking and praying with a single creature, and grants them a blessing lasting 24 hours. A blessing provides either a +1 bonus to attack rolls, a +1 bonus to saving throws, a +1 bonus to AC, or a +1 bonus to a particular skill. Each deity has an associated skill; when priests of that deity provide a blessing boosting that skill, the bonus is +1 more than normal. A priest can take 10 minutes instead with a blessing; if they do, they can choose one:
-The benefits last one week
-All creatures within hearing range who are attentive to the priest are blessed.
If they take 1 hour and 40 minutes instead, they gain both benefits. If the blessing takes place within a church or temple of the priest's deity, the bonuses are increased by one. At fifth level, increase the benefits granted by Blessing by 1.
All bonuses granted by a Blessing are sacred(for good or neutral Priests) or profane(for evil Priests) bonuses. A creature can only receive one blessing at a time; new blessings supersede old ones.
One of my goals with these class "fixes" was to move the class identity away from spellcasting, as mentioned before. As part of this, no class gets spellcasting at 1st level. This particular feature fulfills several functions for the Priest:
-The ability to moderately contribute to the group through small buffs.
-A social ability- the priest is now called upon to bless endeavours, and might be approached by someone looking for a blessing. There's no reason for a PC to refuse, either, since it doesn't expend spells.
-A touch of identity to religions through the minor extra bonus, giving worshippers of gods a touch more uniqueness than just domains
-Justification for weekly services in a temple- I really like this because it rewards players for behaving in a particularly archetypal way.
Rally: As a standard action, a priest can grant (level + Cha) temporary hit points to all allies within 30 feet. If they are currently granted a bonus from a Blessing, its bonuses are increased by 2 for one round. The temporary hit points last for one minute.
I really, really, hate Channel Energy for what it meant for out-of-combat healing. This feels better to me. It blocks around one attack, so focused fire is an effective counter. I'm considering putting a 1d4 round cooldown on it
Spellcasting is as the bard, but with one extra spell per day and spell known of each level, drawn from the cleric list. It is only gained starting at 2nd level. It's Charisma based.
I'll flesh this out later with a full table, but just see Shaman in my sig if you need a reference. I'm working on developing this so that the cleric is a two-stat class like the Shaman, but I went with Charisma based here because of the community themes of the class.
Domain At 3rd level, a priest chooses a domain from those his deity provides, gaining its domain spells, and its granted power. They do not gain domain slots. Instead, the domain spells are added to the priest's spell list. If they already know the domain spell, they may choose another cleric spell to replace it.
Gift: At 4rh level, a priest learns a unique power.
Exorciser: As long as the priest physically holds someone, they are continually affected by a protection from evil, except for the AC and save bonus, or the protection from summoned creatures.
Ward: In a process taking 10 minutes and 1 gp of materials, the priest may create a trinket that protect homes it is placed in. If it is placed over a doorway or other opening in a building, then outsiders, undead, incorporeal creatures or any creature which is possessed or affected by a compulsion effect cannot enter the building through the doorway unless invited by someone inside. They can still attempt to break down the building in other methods, or find an unwarded opening.
Knight's Honor: The priest learns a special Blessing that can only be granted to lawful creatures. When granted, it provides a pool of "virtual" temporary hit points equal to the target's level * the Priest's Charisma bonus, which stack with normal hit points. While it lasts, all damage dealt to the target is reduced to the minimum possible roll, and the remainder diverted to these "virtual" hit points. For example, if they were dishonorably attacked by a rogue, taking 6d6+2 damage, and the roll was 16, they would only take 8 points of damage, and the other 8 would be directed to the virtual hit points. This Blessing is not affected by Rally. Only one creature can have this Blessing at once. If it lasts more than one day, the hit points refresh at the same time that the priest regains spells.
Something I noticed: The majority of bonuses which "take advantage" of their opponents, e.g. sneak attack, provide dice bonuses (1d6/2 levels), while "honorable combat" bonuses generally provide a static bonus (+1/level). This destroys the former, while barely impacting the latter.
Resistance: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to saving throws though Blessings, they also provide the target with energy resistance to one energy type, chosen when the blessing is applied. The resistance is five times the value of the bonus.
Piercing: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to attack rolls through Blessings, they also provide a bonus to weapon damage rolls, Concentration checks, and caster level checks to overcome spell resistance, as well as doubling the bonus to attack rolls on rolls to confirm critical hits.
Resiliency: Whenever the Priest provides a bonus to AC through Blessings, they also provide DR/magic with a value equal to the blessing bonus, and double the AC bonus against critical hits.
Valor: Whenever the Priest provides a creature with a Blessing, the creature gains a +4 bonus to saving throws against fear (in addition to whatever bonus it normally provides). Furthermore, the creature's attacks are treated as being magic and the priest's alignment for the purpose of overcoming DR.
Choir:
As you perform a Blessing, you or someone you choose on your behalf may make a Perform check. If multiple people attempt this check, use only the highest result. If you succeed, you may choose a skill. The resulting Blessing adds to this skill in addition to whatever effect it normally has, but with a bonus limited by the check result.
Result
Maximum bonus
10 or less
+0
11-15
+1
16-20
+2
21+
+3
A work in progress. Ideas are welcome for fleshing this out, new Gifts.
Thoughts? Ideas for expanding this to higher levels? PEACH