The Æther Knight:

[Faeroar]

The Æther Knight takes his familiarity with the plains and applies it to himself, unhinging himself from reality, and taking on the shifting facade of the planar otherworld. They call on the Æther, the area between the plains and use its energy to perform remarkable feats of magic. Usually a Ranger, an Æther Knight begins his journey by taking either a flaming coal for fire, a smooth stone for water, a rough stone for earth or a fluted stone for air, and making a concentration check DC 25 (retry once per day).

By focusing their mind an Æther Knight can manifest their new heritage, in the form of supernatural abilities.


Constitution(CON) 13

BAB 3

4 ranks Knowledge The Planes

8 ranks Concentration

Ability to cast Divine Spells

Must perform the ritual with a simple effigy representing their element of choice.


Class Features:

1d8 hit die

4+int skill points

This class grants no new Proficiencies

Class Skills:
Concentration
Craft
Handle Animal
Hide
Knowledge (Dungeoneering)
Knowledge (Nature)
Knowledge (The Plains)
Listen
Move Silently
Profession
Search
Sleight of Hand
Spot
Survival



Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10


BAB
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7
+8
+9
+10


Fort
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1
+2
+2
+2
+3
+3


Ref
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7


Will
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4
+5
+5
+6
+6
+7


Special
Aether Body, Weightless, Plane Shift
Manifest Element(1d8)
Fast Movement
Superior Focus
Swim Speed
Unparalleled Focus
Freedom of Movement
Intense Focus, Manifest Element(2d8)
Fly Speed
Supreme Focus


Spellcasting
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
-
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
-
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class






Æther Body: The Æther Knight loses all types and subtypes and gains the Outsider type and an Elemental subtype of your choice.

(1) Weightless: An Æther Knight has the option to, at any time replace the following checks with a concentration check of the same DC: Climb, Jump, Swim or Balance.

(1) Plane Shift: You gain plane shift at will as an SLA.

(2) Manifest Element: At will - Your natural weapons, unarmed attacks and any weapons you wield can now deal 1d8 extra damage of the type of your elemental subtype. The extra damage increases to 2d8 at level 8.


Fire
Water
Air
Earth


Fire
Cold
Electric
Acid




(3) Fast Movement: Your base land speed increases by 10 ft. This stacks with other speed boosts, such as the barbarian Fast Movement class feature.

(4) Superior Focus: You gain your CON modifier to your AC, anything that would negate your DEX bonus also negates your CON bonus.

(5) Swim Speed: You gain a swim speed equal to your land speed.

(6) Unparalleled Focus: 1/day you may make a concentration check in place of an initiative check.

(7) Freedom of Movement: You continuously benefit from Freedom of movement, as the spell.

(8) Intense Focus: 1/encounter you may add your CON bonus to any roll, natural 1 is not an automatic failure for this roll.

(9) Fly Speed: You gain a fly speed equal to your land speed, perfect maneuverability.

(10) Supreme Focus: SLA- gain the incorporeal subtype 2/per day for a number of rounds equal to the result of a concentration check or less.

[Faeroar]

Let me know what you think, I want to know if it's too strong or too weak and why, I want to know if the fluff sounds good, and I want to know if you think you'd have fun playing an Æther Knight!

[lesser_minion]

I can see a handful of things that you might want to look at:

You might want to transpose the class table, so that it's more like the books.
The base attack bonus is blank for level 10.
What hit dice, skill points, class skills, and weapon/armour proficiencies does this class grant?
You can't be resurrected if you take levels in this, due to the outsider type. Was that intentional?
With the exception of the outsider stuff, clerics don't appear to sacrifice much if they take this, and while none of the benefits are incredible, it's still better saves, BAB, and a couple of extra tricks at no cost to what is your most important class feature by far.
You can't meet the concentration requirement until level 10, making the first level of this class your 11th character level. That might be a bit late.
If you take ranger right up until you qualify for this class, you'd enter it at level 12 and be unable to finish it, due to the Knowledge (the Planes) skill requirement. That's at odds with the idea that aether knights are usually rangers.

[Faeroar]

I can see a handful of things that you might want to look at:

You might want to transpose the class table, so that it's more like the books.
The base attack bonus is blank for level 10.
What hit dice, skill points, class skills, and weapon/armour proficiencies does this class grant?
You can't be resurrected if you take levels in this, due to the outsider type. Was that intentional?
With the exception of the outsider stuff, clerics don't appear to sacrifice much if they take this, and while none of the benefits are incredible, it's still better saves, BAB, and a couple of extra tricks at no cost to what is your most important class feature by far.
You can't meet the concentration requirement until level 10, making the first level of this class your 11th character level. That might be a bit late.
If you take ranger right up until you qualify for this class, you'd enter it at level 12 and be unable to finish it, due to the Knowledge (the Planes) skill requirement. That's at odds with the idea that aether knights are usually rangers.



If you mean make it vertical, it was, and it was horrible to look at.
Thank you.
Well why don't I forget to describe the class features while I'm at it.:smallmad:
I was not aware, but I don't mind.
I was thinking about druids, but you're absolutely right, I've removed 2 caster progression levels.
I made it a level 11 class because I didn't want to introduce flight too early, and I'm not sure what level would be appropriate.
There's only 6 ranks in knowledge the plains, shouldn't a ranger be able to get that at level 10 with full progression?

[lesser_minion]

If you mean make it vertical, it was, and it was horrible to look at.
Thank you.
Well why don't I forget to describe the class features while I'm at it.:smallmad:
I was not aware, but I don't mind.
I was thinking about druids, but you're absolutely right, I've removed 2 caster progression levels.
I made it a level 11 class because I didn't want to introduce flight too early, and I'm not sure what level would be appropriate.
There's only 6 ranks in knowledge the plains, shouldn't a ranger be able to get that at level 10 with full progression?


OK, I must have misread the Knowledge (the Planes) thing, I thought it was 7.

As for the entry point, I wouldn't massively worry about introducing flight too early -- the basic fly spell is limited, but it comes online at level 5 or 6. At the moment, you've set it up so that your fly speed comes online at level 17, at which point Gate and Wish are available to casters. If you shuffle the movement stuff around, I think you could potentially make this a level 6 class without too many issues.

The special requirement might itself be a problem though -- a 5th level ranger travelling to the elemental plane of fire and performing a ritual there might be a bit tricky. It might be worth watering that down a little (e.g., "a ritual must be performed somewhere with a strong association to a particular element").

[Faeroar]

OK, I must have misread the Knowledge (the Planes) thing, I thought it was 7.

As for the entry point, I wouldn't massively worry about introducing flight too early -- the basic fly spell is limited, but it comes online at level 5 or 6. At the moment, you've set it up so that your fly speed comes online at level 17, at which point Gate and Wish are available to casters. If you shuffle the movement stuff around, I think you could potentially make this a level 6 class without too many issues.

The special requirement might itself be a problem though -- a 5th level ranger travelling to the elemental plane of fire and performing a ritual there might be a bit tricky. It might be worth watering that down a little (e.g., "a ritual must be performed somewhere with a strong association to a particular element").

So I've reduced the entry to level 6, and to compensate I've swapped levels (6+7) for (8+9) perfect flight now comes on at level 14, and freedom of movement at level 12.

In the opening text the new ritual is described a little more, and is now possible for level 6s.

[lesser_minion]

So I've reduced the entry to level 6, and to compensate I've swapped levels (6+7) for (8+9) perfect flight now comes on at level 14, and freedom of movement at level 12.

In the opening text the new ritual is described a little more, and is now possible for level 6s.

OK, I think I'd probably push Plane Shift back a bit for a 6th level entry class. Since it's equivalent to a 5th-level spell, it should probably come online somewhere between 9th and 10th level, and probably even later than that since you can use it as often as you want. Your class features will also need special ability types. Aether Body should be extraordinary; Plane Shift is spell-like; and all of the other class features could be put down as Supernatural.

I'd also suggest not removing all subtypes with aether body -- especially not ones that indicate certain special abilities, such as Shapechanger and Psionic, since those special abilities aren't going anywhere.