Expert (PC version)

[Evoker]

The Expert is an interesting NPC class, and probably the most powerful. However, it is flat out worse than a Rogue. This is an upgrade to the Expert to put it on the level of a PC class. Comments and suggestions are welcome! I am not 100% on the balance of this class, so I really want feedback.

Devoted Expert



Level:
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th


Base Attack Bonus
+0
+1
+2
+3
+3
+4
+5
+6/+1
+6/+1
+7/+2
+8/+3
+9/+4
+9/+4
+10/+5
+11/+6/+1
+12/+7/+2
+12/+7/+2
+13/+8/+3
+14/+9/+4
+15/+10/+5


Fort Save:
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6


Ref Save:
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3
+3
+4
+4
+4
+5
+5
+5
+6
+6
+6


Will Save:
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7
+7
+8
+8
+9
+9
+10
+10
+11
+11
+12


Special
Skill Focus
Heavy Training

Bonus Feat
Jack of All Trades(+1)

Instruction(+2, 1 hour)
Heavy Training
Bonus Feat
Jack of All Trades(+2)

Instruction(+4, 1 hour)

Bonus Feat
Jack of All Trades(+3)

Instruction(+6, 8 hours)

Bonus Feat
Jack of All Trades(+4)



Regular experts can be encountered in any farming village, working as craftsmen. However, some experts take up the challenge and danger of adventure, serving as highly useful allies to other adventurers. These Devoted Experts gain far more skill than their common counterpart.
Hit Die:d8

Class skills:
At first level, a Devoted Expert chooses any 15 skills to be class skills. This can include up to 3 skills unique to another class. Craft, Knowledge, and Profession skills must be chosen individually, but each one only counts as one half of a skill. For example, Craft(Pottery) and Craft(Weaponsmithing) together would only count as one skill out of a total of 15.

Skill Points at 1st level: (9+Int modifier)*4.
Skill Points at each additional level: 9+Int mod.

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Devoted Expert is proficient in the use of all simple weapons, and one Martial weapon, chosen at first level. They are also proficient with all light armor.

Skill focus: At first level, the Devoted Expert gets the Skill Focus feat for free.
Heavy training: At second level, the Devoted Expert chooses one class skill. His maximum ranks in that skill is now 3+level+1/2 Devoted Expert Class Levels. At eighth level, the Devoted Expert chooses a second skill to apply this modification to.
Bonus Feat: at 4th level and every 5 levels thereafter, the Devoted Expert gains a free feat from the following list: Skill Focus, Track, Area of Expertise*, Skill Mastery*, Practiced Speed*. Feats marked with an asterisk are new, and will be detailed in the New Feats section.
Jack of all trades: At 5th level, the Devoted Expert gains a +1 bonus to all skill checks that are class skills that he has no ranks in. This increases by +1 every five levels thereafter. Starting at tenth level, the Devoted Expert adds 1/2 of the Jack of All Trades bonus to non-class skills that they have no ranks in.
Instruction: At 7th level, the devoted expert gains the ability to impart some of his knowledge unto others. If the Devoted expert has more ranks in a skill than the target of this ability, the Devoted Expert can spend 5 minutes discussing tips and tricks. This gives the target of the ability a +2 bonus on all checks using that skill made within the next minute. This bonus increases to +4 at 12th level, and +6 at 17th level. In addition, at 17th level the bonus lasts 5 minutes. No one creature can benefit from more than one instruction bonus at a time.



Feats:
Area of Expertise:
Prerequisites: One Stat 14 or higher, Skill Focus, must be a Devoted Expert
Benefit: When you take this feat, choose one stat that is 14 or higher. You gain a +1 bonus on all skill checks using that stat.

Skill Mastery:
Prerequisites: Skill Focus, must be a Devoted Expert level 3 or higher.
Benefit: Choose one skill with Skill Focus applied to it. You gain an additional +2 bonus to that skill.
Special: You may take this feat three times. Each time, it applies to a different skill.

Practiced Speed:
Prerequisites: Devoted Expert level 7 or higher.
Benefit: Choose a number of skills equal to 1+your int modifier(minimum one). When taking twenty with those skills, you only take 10 times the normal time, rather than 20. Furthermore, you may always take 10 with those skills, even if the situation would otherwise not permit it.

[Maat Mons]

I'd just go with factotum's "all skills are class skills" thing. And "exclusive skills" were ditched in the 3.5 revision. Is this specifically a 3.0 class?

I wouldn't name the one ability "jack of all trades," since that is also the name of a feat (Complete Adventurer, p. 110). Additionally, I don't really see why the expert's ability couldn't be upped to the same power level as the Bardic Knack alternative class feature (Player's Handbook II, p. 35).

And, speaking of bardic knack the ability to make untrained checks with skills that are normally "trained only" also has potential as a class feature.

I wouldn't call the one feat "skill mastery." That term is more commonly used to refer to an ability to take 10 on a skill during combat.

I suspect that upping the max skill ranks might open up some sort of issue, though I can't think of anything specific.

How do you feel about skill tricks? You could have a mechanic to allow a single skill trick to be used more than once per encounter. Or grant skill tricks without requiring the character to sacrifice skill points.

[Evoker]

I don't know half of what you are talking about. I only have the 3 core books.

[aimlessPolymath]

Factotum was a class introduced in... I forget which book. Their whole deal was being a jack-of-all trades, so they got all class skills. Giving the same to this class would not be unbalancing, and removes a somewhat complicated part of selecting the skill list.

Related to this, I would rework the Heavy Training class feature to a generic +1/2 level to selected skills- the skill point management doesn't seem like it would play well.

[jqavins]

The Instruction ability takes ten minutes to use and provides a small skill bonus that lasts only one minute (or five minutes at near epic level). That seems poor. If there's time for a Devoted Expert and student to sit together and do this, then the devoted expert could have simply made the skill check ten times over!

I'd make the bonus last hours, maybe two of them, or one, or four, or 1d4, or something like that. Then, this can be done in advance of the expert and student splitting up when there's reason to anticipate that the student is going to need it soon. Make it one skill per student, so they can't pile up bonuses on lots of things with hours to use them. At 17th level, this time can be extended to all day. A +2 bonus to one skill, even all day, won't seriously upset anything.

[Evoker]

The Instruction ability takes ten minutes to use and provides a small skill bonus that lasts only one minute (or five minutes at near epic level). That seems poor. If there's time for a Devoted Expert and student to sit together and do this, then the devoted expert could have simply made the skill check ten times over!

I'd make the bonus last hours, maybe two of them, or one, or four, or 1d4, or something like that. Then, this can be done in advance of the expert and student splitting up when there's reason to anticipate that the student is going to need it soon. Make it one skill per student, so they can't pile up bonuses on lots of things with hours to use them. At 17th level, this time can be extended to all day. A +2 bonus to one skill, even all day, won't seriously upset anything.

The bonus does increase with level, but I will re-do the timing.

[Maat Mons]

I don't know half of what you are talking about. I only have the 3 core books.

Bardic Knack is an alternative class feature from Player's Handbook II. A bard using this variant loses Bardic Knowledge, but he gains the ability to use 1/2 his bard level (rounded up) in place of his skill rank for determining his modifier on skill checks. The one limitation is that it does nothing to get around any "trained only" requirement a skill might have.

Jack of All Trades is a feat in Complete Adventurer. It allows a character to ignore the "trained only" limitation on skills.

Skill tricks were introduced in Complete Scoundrel. They are 1/encounter abilities that you can acquire by spending skill points.

[King of Nowhere]

I seee one problem with the "jack of all trades": you get a substantial bonus to all skills in which you have no ranks. but! You take 1 rank in a skill, you lose, like, a +4 bonus. You should rework it in a way that does not discourage training.

A way to do that could be to change the wording there to "the jack of all trades bonus is applied to all skills, reduced by half the skill points he invested in the skill". Not a smooth way to say it, but an example can make it better:
SO, you have a +4 bonus from jack of all trades. You spend 2 ranks on the skill. This reduces the bonus on that skill by 2/2, so you only get a +3 from it. In total, you have +3 from jack of all stats, and +2 from ranks, total +5, which is better than +4, so you can still congratulate yourself on using those skill points. and when you have 8 ranks in the skill you stop getting bonusesfrom jack of all trades, so it does not affect your maximized skills.

Incidentally, I also made a remake of the expert class, albeit that one focuses completely on a single skill and is intended to make npcs with skills that the adventurrers cannot replicate