The Thought Artist [Base Class, PEACH]

[Kellus]

The Thought Artist

The mind, that ocean where each kind,
Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and others seas.


The mind is a vast and strange place, full of abstract ideas and convoluted thought. Thought artists focus on clarity of thought and realization of ideas in physical manifestations. These perceptive thinkers literally give life to ideas and thoughts, letting their dreams and thoughts walk around.

Adventures: Thought artists generally adventure for knowledge and the chance to test their abilities. They are generally eager to put their mental creations to the test and see how they can be improved upon.

Alignment: A thought artist may be of any alignment. Lawful thought artists seek to use their realized ideas to help society and bring the world to a higher state of order. Chaotic thought artists sow convoluted thoughts and spread confusion. Good thought artists use their mental creations to help those in need, while evil thought artists try to use their awakened dreams to wrest power from those whose thoughts are less clear.

Religion: Many thought artists respect Boccob for his love of knowledge, or Wee Jas for her willingness to delve into forgotten secrets.

Races: Thought artists can come from any culture. The are often heroes among the elves, who spend the centuries perfecting clear and logical thought.

Role: Thought artists rarely fight themselves. Instead, they can bring into realization a wide variety of creations to fight on their behalf.

Game Rule Information

Abilities: Constitution is important for a thought artist to think clearly; strong of body, strong of mind. Intelligence gives thought artists a wider variety of skills to take advantage of their open mind and give their creations more options.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d4.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Table: The Thought Artist
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Attention

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Attention, thought realization, concept|3

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Concept|5

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+3|Attention to detail, concept|7

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Concept|9

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Concept, modified memory|11

6th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Concept|13

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Concept|15

8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Concept|17

9th|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+6|Concept|19

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Concept|21

11th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
+7|Concept|23

12th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|Concept|25

13th|
+6/+1|
+4|
+4|
+8|Concept|27

14th|
+7/+2|
+4|
+4|
+9|Concept|29

15th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+9|Concept|31

16th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Concept|33

17th|
+8/+3|
+5|
+5|
+10|Concept|35

18th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Concept|37

19th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+11|Concept|39

20th|
+10/+5|
+6|
+6|
+12|Concept, instant actualization|41[/table]

Class Skill: The thought artist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Speak Language (n/a), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

All of the following are class features of the thought artist.

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: Thought artists are proficient with all simple weapons, as well as with light armour. They are not proficient with shields of any kind. Thought artists do not cause arcane spell failure with any of their abilities, as they are supernatural in nature.

Attention (Su): Thought artists must pay attention to their creations lest they break apart into the constituent ideas that make them up. At 1st level a thought artist has 3 points of attention to invest in creations. No creation may ever have more points of attention invested in it than the thought artist who created it has levels in this class. Attention invested in a creation remains there until the thought artist stops paying attention to it. As a swift action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, a thought artist may dissolve a single creation and return the attention points invested in it to her attention pool. If a creation is destroyed, it is also dissolved and the attention returned to her. A creation must always have at least 1 point of attention invested in it.

Thought Realization (Su): As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a thought artist can coalesce her ideas into a solid being. This requires a Concentration check against a DC of 10 + the attention invested in the being. Success indicates that the creation appears in an unoccupied square of the thought artist’s choice within 25ft. of the thought artist. Failure indicates that the action is wasted, but the thought artist may try again later with no penalty.

A thought artist may have any number of creations at a time, so long as the combined total of the attention invested in them does not exceed her total amount of attention, as shown on Table: The Thought Artist. Each creation must be realized seperately.

There is no time limit on creations, but the creation breaks apart if it moves more than 50ft./level away from the thought artist. Creations cannot normally speak, but can communicate telepathically with the thought artist. Creations follow the telepathic requests of the thought artist that realized them.

All of a thought artist’s creations may act, taking their full allotment of actions in any given round. However, they may not take any actions on the turn in which they are first realized. Creations are always realized with full hit points.

Concept: A thought artist learns various concepts that allow her greater flexability when realizing her thoughts. A concept is a type or subtype. A thought artist may select any type of monster whenever she gains a level in this class; from now on, she may realize creations with this type. The types of monster that may be selected are: aberration, animal, construct, dragon, elemental, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, outsider, plant, undead, and vermin.

To select a subtype when learning a new concept, a thought artist must already know a type known to her which can receive the subtype.

The following types can receive the corresponding subtypes.

Table: Types and Subtypes
{table=head]Type|Applicable Subtypes
Any Type|Aquatic, Cold, Fire, Swarm
Elemental|Air, Earth, Water
Outsider|Air, Chaotic, Earth, Evil, Good, Lawful, Water[/table]

The type and subtype(s) applied to a creation are chosen when it is first realized, and may not be changed thereafter. The type and subtype(s) chosen determine what special attack and qualities can be given to the creation (see Building Creations, below), as well as some of its traits.

To select an aligned subtype (Chaotic, Evil, Good, Lawful), the thought artist must have that alignment component herself. If the thought artist’s alignment ever changer, she may select an appropriate replacement alignment subtype in place of one that becomes invalid.

Once a thought artist has selected a concept, she may not change it.

Attention to Detail (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a thought artist can make perfect copies with her creations. She may make a Disguise check when realizing a creation with a +5 bonus, to disguise the creation as a specific being with the same type and subtype. Otherwise, this follows all the normal rules for the Disguise skill; it simply uses a different medium.

Modified Memory (Su): Beginning at 5th level, a thought artist can correct an idea while it is still realized. As a standard action, she may reallocate 1 point of attention in one of her creations with a touch. This allows her to restructure one of its abilities, and also heals it to full health. This does not allow her to alter the amount of attention invested in the creation.

Instant Actualization (Su): At 20th level, a thought artist becomes truly ingenious in her art. She may choose to realize more than one creation in the same full-round action, but increases the DC of the Concentration check required by 5 per additional creation.

[Kellus]

Building Creations

Creations have the following statistics.

Type: Untyped. Thought artists gain access to many powerful types and subtypes of creatures as they advance.

Size: Small. By investing attention in a creation, its size can be increased or decreased. This costs 1 point of attention per size category increase or decrease from Small. This change in size provides all the benefits a size change normally does, with the exception of modifying ability scores. As a being of pure imagination, size is not neccessarily equatable with ability. To see the ramifications of different sizes, refer to Table 4-2: Changes to Statistics by Size, on page 290 of the Monster Manual

HD: A creation has HD equal to the amount of attention invested in it in any way. No matter what its type, a creation receives 1 hit point per Hit Die. A creation can receive bonus hit points from a high Constitution score and from feats such as Toughness or Improved Toughtness.

Speed: 30ft. (land speed). By investing attention in a creation, its land speed can be increased. This costs 1 point of attention per +10ft. movement speed.

Base Attack Bonus: A creation uses the thought artist’s Base Attack Bonus. By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, it’s Base Attack Bonus increases by 2. This allows additional iterative attacks for a high Base Attack Bonus. Unlike normal natural attacks, the attacks made by a creation gain iterative attacks for a high Base Attack Bonus.

Attack: A creation has one primary attack form, chosen from the following list: bite, claw, gore, slam, slap, talon, and tentacle. A creation’s attack roll is equal to 1d20 + its Strength modifier + its size modifier (default +1) + a perfection bonus.

By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, a thought artist may grant it an additional secondary attack form. Creations with more than one attack form qualify for the Multiattack feat.

Alternatively, 1 point of attention can be invested to grant a creation a +3 perfection bonus to all attack rolls. This bonus stacks; by investing further attention, the creation gains a higher bonus on attack rolls.

Creations may not wield manufactured weapons.

Damage: A creation’s attacks deal damage based on its size, as shown on the following table:

Table: Creation Damage by Size
{table=head]Size|Damage
Fine|1
Diminutive|1d2
Tiny|1d3
Small|1d4
Medium|1d6
Large|1d8
Huge|2d6
Gargantuan|2d8
Colossal|4d6[/table]

In addition, the creation adds its Strength modifier to the damage. If it only has one attack form, it adds 1 1/2 times its Strength modifier to the damage.

By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, a thought artist may allow it to deal 5 additional points of damage with one of its attack forms.

Armour Class: A creation’s armour class is equal to 10 + its Dexterity modifier + its size modifier (default +1) + natural armour + dodge. By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, the thought artist may increase its Armour Class by 3, dividing this between a natural armour bonus and a dodge bonus as she likes.

Space: Space increases or decreases with the size of the creation.

Reach: Reach increases or decreases with the size of the creation. In addition, by investing 1 point of attention, a creation’s reach for all of its attack forms increases by 5ft.

Traits: A creation has basic traits based on its type and subtype; for example, plants are immune to critical hits, and creations with the Fire subtype are immune to fire damage.

Special Attacks: A creation begins with one basic special attack appropriate to its type or subtype. By investing attention into a creation, a thought artist may grant it additional special attacks. A basic special attack costs 1 point of attention, an advanced special attack costs 2 points of attention, and an expert special attack costs 3 points of attention. Special attacks are described in detail below.

Special Qualities: A creation begins with one basic special quality appropriate to its type or subtype. By investing attention into a creation, a thought artist may grant it additional special qualities. A basic special quality costs 1 point of attention, an advanced special quality costs 2 points of attention, and an expert special quality costs 3 points of attention. Special qualities are described in detail below.

Saving Throws: A creation has saving throws based on its type and HD. To see the saving throws of different types, refer to Table 4-1: Creature Improvement by Type, on page 290 of the Monster Manual. In addition, a thought artist can invest 1 point of attention into a creation to improve its saving throws by a total of +4; this may be divided between the creation’s saves as the thought artist sees fit. Additional attention allows a larger bonus to allocate.

Abilities: A creation begins with ability scores of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. The thought artist may allocate these scores as she desires when the creation is first realized. By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, the thought artist may allocate 4 additional ability points into any set of ability scores of her choice.

Undead do not begin with an ability score of 8 (Con), but each point of attention only adds 3 points to be allocated for these creations. Oozes and vermin do not begin with their an ability score of 8 (Int), but each point of attention only adds 3 points to be allocated for these creations. Constructs do not begin with an ability score of 8 or 10 (Con and Int), and only gain 2 ability points from each point of attention.

Skills: A creation has no skill points, but may make any skill check using ranks the thought artist has in the appropriate skill. By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, a thought artist can grant it a +5 perfection bonus to one skill of her choice in which she has ranks.

Feats: A creation begins with one feat it qualifies for, including Monster feats. Unlike normal creatures, it does not gain additional feats as its HD advance. By investing 1 point of attention into a creation, it may gain another feat for which it qualifies.

Alignment: A creation has the same alignment as the thought artist that realized it.

[hr]

Special Attacks

Basic Special Attacks: 1 point of attention

• Breath Weapon (Su): Creation gains a breath weapon; either a line or a cone. Their range with this attack increases with their size, just like for a True Dragon. This ability may be used once every 1d4 rounds, and deals 1d6 damage of a selected energy type per every 2 points of attention invested in the creation. The save DC is Con-based.
• Constrict (Ex): Creation deals additional damage with a successful grapple, as shown on Table: Creation Damage by Size, above.
• Enhanced Attack (Su): Creation gains a +1 equivalent ability for one of its attack forms. This ability may be taken more than once, to add another equivalent ability to one of the creation’s attacks. Unlike normal enhancements, this does not proved a numerical enhancement bonus, only equivalent abilities. In the same vein, this ability may be selected twice to add a +2 equivalent ability to one of its attack forms, and so on. You may not have an enhancement bonus on an attack form above +10.
• Rake (Ex): Creation gains the Rake ability, and may use all of its attacks against a grappled target.
• Spell-Like Ability: Creation gains a spell-like ability of a spell of a spell level up to 1/2 of the total attention invested in it (maximum 3rd level). This spell may be used once per encounter. The save DC is Cha-based. If the ability requires a material component or an XP component, the thought artist must pay it as normal.
• Swarm Attack (Ex): Creations with the Swarm subtype don’t make normal attacks. Instead, they deal 1d6 damage as a swarm attack. In addition, they may receive this special attack multiple times, increasing their swarm attack damage by 1d6 damage each time. The Swarm subtype can only be applied to Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creatures.

Advanced Special Attacks: 2 points of attention

• Crush (Ex): Creation may crush opponents it flies or jumps on as a standard action. This may only be used against opponents three or more size categories smaller than the creation. This affects as many creatures as can fit under the creation’s body. Creatures in the affected area must succeed on a Reflex save or be pinned, automatically taking bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the creation moves off them. If the creation chooses to maintain the pin, treat it as a normal grapple attack. Pinned opponents take damage from the crush each round if they don’t escape. This attack deals damage based on the creation’s size (see above, Table: Creation Damage by Size), as well as 1 1/2 times its Strength modifier. The save DC is Con-based.
• Improved Grab (Ex): Creation may make a grapple check against a target it hits with a melee attack as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity.
• Pounce (Ex): Creation may make a full attack if it charges.
• Powerful Charge (Ex): Creation deals an additional 1d6 damage with attacks made in charges, in addition to other benefits and drawbacks.
• Spell-Like Ability: Creation gains a spell-like ability of a spell of a spell level up to 1/2 of the total attention invested in it (maximum 6th level). This spell may be used once per encounter. The save DC is Cha-based. If the ability requires a material component or an XP component, the thought artist must pay it as normal. No matter how many unique creations a thought artists makes in a day, she may only grant two spell levels per thought artist level of spell-like abilities in any given day.

Expert Special Attacks: 3 points of attention

• Energy Drain (Su): Creation deals a negative level with its melee attacks. The save DC is Cha-based.
• Spell-Like Ability: Creation gains a spell-like ability of a spell of a spell level up to 1/2 of the total attention invested in it (maximum 9th level). This spell may be used once per encounter. The save DC is Cha-based. If the ability requires a material component or an XP component, the thought artist must pay it as normal.
•Swallow Whole (Ex): Creation gains the Swallow Whole ability; being in its stomach deals bludgeoning and acid damage each round based on its size (see above, Table: Creation Damage by Size). Its stomach AC is equal to 10 + 1/2 its natural armour bonus.
•Trample (Ex): Creation gains the Trample ability; its trample deals damage based on its size (see above, Table: Creation Damage by Size), plus 1 1/2 times its Strenght modifier. The save DC is Str-based.

[hr]

Special Qualities

Basic Special Qualities: 1 point of attention

• Amphibious (Ex): Creation receives a swim speed equal to half of its land speed, as well as a +8 bonus on Swim checks, and it may always take 10 to avoid some special hazard or perform a special action. In addition, it may breathe water as well as air. Creations with the Water subtype gain this ability automatically, but their swim speed is equal to their land speed. Creations with the Aquatic subtype gain this ability automatically, but do not receive the ability to breathe water as well as air.
• Blindsense (Ex): Creation receives blindsense to 30ft.
• Energy Resistance: Creation has resistance to one specified energy type, equal to the total attention invested in it.
• Evasion (Ex): Creation takes no damage if it makes a Reflex saving throw against an effect for half or partial damage.
• Fast Healing (Ex): Creation receives fast healing 1.
• Mettle (Ex): Creation takes no damage or effect if it make a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an effect for half damage or partial effect.
• Power Resistance (Su): Creation has power resistance 10.
• Scent (Ex): Creation gains the Scent special quality.
• Speech (Ex): Nonmindless creation may speak Common.
• Spell Resistance (Su): Creation has spell resistance 10.
• Turn Resistance (Su): Undead creation receives a +4 bonus against turning.

Advanced Special Qualities: 2 points of attention

• Climbing (Ex): Creation receives a climb speed equal to half of its land speed, as well as a +8 bonus on Climb checks, and it may always take 10 to avoid some special hazard or perform a special action.
• Damage Reduction (Ex): Creation receives damage reduction 5/-.
• Energy Immunity (Su): Creation receives immunity to one specified type of energy damage.
• Fast Healing (Ex): Creation receives fast healing 3.
• Improved Evasion (Ex): Creation has Evasion, and also takes half damage if it fails a Reflex saving throw against an effect that allows a Reflex save for half damage.
• Power Resistance (Su): Creation has power resistance equal to 5 + total attention.
• Spell Resistance (Su): Creation has spell resistance equal to 5 + total attention.

Expert Special Qualities: 3 points of attention

• Blindsight (Ex): Creation receives blindsight to 30ft.
• Burrowing (Ex): Creation receives a burrow speed equal to half of its land speed. It may choose to leave its tunnels open or to collapse them as it burrows.
• Fast Healing (Ex): Creation receives fast healing 5.
• Flight (Ex): Creation receives a fly speed equal to half of its land speed, with average maneuverability.
• Damage Reduction (Ex): Creation receives damage reduction 10/-.
• Improved Mettle (Ex): Creation has Mettle, and also takes the lesser effect if it fails a Fortitude or WIll saving throw against an effect that allows such a save for half damage or partial effect.
• Power Immunity (Su): Creation has immunity to any power that allows power resistance.
• Magic Immunity (Su): Creation has immunity to any spell that allows spell resistance.

[Parvum]

Curse you, making things that I'm not sharp enough to pick up on immediately! I didn't notice what the total HP was. You might want to bold that, because three HP maximum for a level one character really helps with the power issue.

That said, the fact that you can choose any power you want from the list (the special qualities/attacks) might be overdoing it, and makes them somewhat TOO adaptable. They might need to have a limited selection there.

The 'that said' having been said, I can't wait to make swarms of dragons and dwarves! I only pray that Speech let's you make ridiculously squeaky voices.

[Lochar]

A thought artist may have any number of creations at a time, so long as the combined total of the attention invested in them does not exceed her thought artist level. Each creation must be realized seperately.
So the numbers you give for attention are at the moment useless.

At level 1 I can only have 1 creation with 1 attention invested, 2 useless attention.
Level 2 I can have 2 creations with 1 attention, or 1 creation with 2 attention, 3 useless attention again.

And so on and so forth. At 20th level, there's 21 wasted attention, as I can only have max of 20 attention as the combined total of the attention invested in each of them.

[jindra34]

So the numbers you give for attention are at the moment useless.

At level 1 I can only have 1 creation with 1 attention invested, 2 useless attention.
Level 2 I can have 2 creations with 1 attention, or 1 creation with 2 attention, 3 useless attention again.

And so on and so forth. At 20th level, there's 21 wasted attention, as I can only have max of 20 attention as the combined total of the attention invested in each of them.
I think what he said was that each could have points equal to their level.

[Lochar]

I figured as much, but the wording is off for the ability. Might want to clear up the wording.

[MisterSaturnine]

This is incredibly cool. Great job! :smallbiggrin:

[Vadin]

2 cookies, sir. 2 cookies.

[Baron Corm]

Unless I'm reading it wrong, the amount of hit points or special qualities involving surviving don't really matter, because you can just make a new one. There should be some sort of limit on this, such as times per day, or once every 2d4 rounds, or something. The creations are at the moment invulnerable.

Edit: Also, Modified Memory: a standard action to heal it to full health? That doesn't sound very good...

[jindra34]

Unless I'm reading it wrong, the amount of hit points or special qualities involving surviving don't really matter, because you can just make a new one. There should be some sort of limit on this, such as times per day, or once every 2d4 rounds, or something. The creations are at the moment invulnerable.

Or maybe getting only a certain percentage of points back from a broken one...

[Kellus]

Unless I'm reading it wrong, the amount of hit points or special qualities involving surviving don't really matter, because you can just make a new one. There should be some sort of limit on this, such as times per day, or once every 2d4 rounds, or something. The creations are at the moment invulnerable.

Not true; without defensive abilities creations are very fragile, and remaking them is not especially easy. It takes a full round action in the middle of combat to make a new creation, and the newly-made construct doesn't even get to act on that round. The thought artist's best bet is to make his creations before battle and try and keep them alive the whole way through with her modified memory ability. She can make new ones on the spur of the moment, but it leaves her completely vulnerable in the middle of combat.

I also edited a couple things earlier today on my lunch break; the hp of creations is now emphasized, and the error Lochar found is fixed.

Thanks, guys! :smallsmile:

[Vadin]

The Companion, 4 Attention
Small Outsider/Dragon
Hit Dice: 4HD+4 (8 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (+1 size, +0 natural armor, +2 Dex), touch 13, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +Your BAB/+(Your BAB-5)
Attack: Slam +(Your BAB-1) (1d4-1)
Full Attack: Slam +(Your BAB-1) (1d4-1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Darkvision out to 60 ft., Scent OR Speech, Fast Healing 1, Dragons are immune to magic sleep and paralysis
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +5
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 14
Skills: As Thought Artist, one skill the Thought Artist has ranks in gains a +5 perfection bonus
Feats: None
Alignment: As Thought Artist

Though the particular images of two Companions are never the same, Companions tend to follow a certain pattern. They are typically small, alert Outsiders or Dragons who attentively follow their master's every whim and wish. Occasionally they are granted the ability to speak, though it is far more common to increase their sense of smell so they're better guards and scouts.




An inexpensive companion for characters who want a wise-cracking little monster to follow them around and be bait for traps and monsters.

[TheLogman]

I'm wary of giving them that many skill points and giving them all class skills. They are effectively better skillmonkeys than rogues, who were built for skillmonkeying, and could just be picked up for UMD, and their abilities ignored. Plus, with the creatures, the Artist effectively could have a mini-army of nano-bots that let them bend the magic items of the world to their will.

Having said that, I would suggest the Artsy skills, Knowledge, Profession, and maybe the communication skills, but not much more, and limiting their skill points by a lot.

Having said both those things, a very cool class, and I don't usually support classes that summon things to do stuff for them, because it slows down Game Play, but this one is pretty good.

[Baron Corm]

I dunno... I think this needs to be read over and the ramifications of some of these abilities need to be thought over.

I can get a wish spell with no material component for 1 point

I can get +20 weapon enhancement equivalents (including epic enhancements according to the rules)

I can get a Strength score of 95, or a Strength score of 83 with 4 attacks, or a Strength score of 75, 4 attacks, and pounce

I can have all of these things on two different creatures, and can re-create them both in one round

The - an undead gets in Constitution is actually a drawback since you can't increase it and it is equal to a 10, and yet you give them less ability points, and your constructs are going to be half as strong as other types even though Intelligence is mostly useless and they have the same drawbacks

Possibly other things

Edit: Found other things. It's much more efficient to invest in damage and attack separately, so Strength will probably never be put into, and the numbers above get huge. +75 damage per attack with 16 BAB and pounce.

Also, natural attacks don't usually get iterative attacks, so is the mention that iterative attacks can be gotten related to the fact that creations can use manufactured weapons but it wasn't mentioned? Or do they get iterative attacks with natural attacks?

[Kellus]

I dunno... I think this needs to be read over and the ramifications of some of these abilities need to be thought over.

I can get a wish spell with no material component for 1 point

I can get +20 weapon enhancement equivalents (including epic enhancements according to the rules)

I can get a Strength score of 95, or a Strength score of 83 with 4 attacks, or a Strength score of 75, 4 attacks, and pounce

I can have all of these things on two different creatures, and can re-create them both in one round

The - an undead gets in Constitution is actually a drawback since you can't increase it and it is equal to a 10, and yet you give them less ability points, and your constructs are going to be half as strong as other types even though Intelligence is mostly useless and they have the same drawbacks

Possibly other things

Edit: Found other things. It's much more efficient to invest in damage and attack separately, so Strength will probably never be put into, and the numbers above get huge. +75 damage per attack with 16 BAB and pounce.

Also, natural attacks don't usually get iterative attacks, so is the mention that iterative attacks can be gotten related to the fact that creations can use manufactured weapons but it wasn't mentioned? Or do they get iterative attacks with natural attacks?

Thanks for the help! Spell-like abilities now are broken into three tiers, and require the expenditure of costly material components and XP as normal.

Equivalent enhancement bonuses also now cap at +10, just like normal weapon bonuses.

Yes, you can realize both creations in one round... At 20th level. And not even, since it's a swift action to dismiss one creation; you can't take two swift actions in the same round. So in one round at 20th level you can indeed dismiss one creation and respend the attention in new creation(s).

Yes, oozes, undead, vermin, and especially constructs do get less ability score points. Of course, they have fewer abilities to divvy these between, and they have all of the excellent traits that come with having no Constitution or Intelligence score.

Okay, so you realize a creation with +75 to damage, 16 BAB, and pounce at 20th level. 15 attention into damage, 3 into BAB, and 2 into pounce. Okay. Assuming you put the 15 in Strength, this means that you have an attack bonus on your first iterative attack of +19. At 20th level. If you're hitting much of anything with a +19 attack bonus at 20th level, I'd be quite surprised. Sure you can do tons of damage, but you can hardly connect with your first attack on a charge, let alone the other three. In addition, you have an AC of... 13? +1 size and +2 Dex, assuming the 14 goes into Dex. You have 20 or 40 hp, depending on where that 13 goes. You have no special abilities or feats to speak of.

TheLogman, good call on skills. I always forget how ridiculous Use Magic Device is. I'll work out a class skill list pronto.

[Parvum]

I can get a wish spell with no material component for 1 point

I'm pretty sure wish is above second level, although paying only 3 points to get it does seem a bit little. But they do need to spend BOTH material and XP components. The spellcasting should have some sort of extra limit, such as 'no spells that cost XP or summon other creatures'.

The other abilities might also do with caps, although I'm not sure how. They should still be allowed to optimize, but it might get ridiculous when nearly every single point is going into damage with just enough into accuracy to succesfully attack. This might be a time to introduce a Primary Ability.

EDIT: D'oh! Dino-ninja'd!

NITPICKING:


Special Qualities

• Flight (Ex): Creation receives a fly speed equal to half of its land speed, with average maneuverability.

Aren't fly speeds usually double the land speed?

[Fizban]

Kellus, you sir, are a god among kobolds. This is awesome.

I hate to say it, but the spell like ability needs more limits. You can get a spell equivalent to the highest level a sorcerer can cast, of your choice, from any list, at will... Give it a spell list, or force choosing a list of usable abilities, or *cringe* put a /day limit on them, or something. Otherwise you've got any spell, ever, usable at will outside of combat, and a couple in combat as well.

Oh, and I'm a bit confused on rake. Normally it just give extra natural weapons that you can only use in a grapple (or sometimes underwater or while flying, or when pouncing, etc.), so what does this one do?

And while I'm complaining, someone's probly gonna say it has dead levels. No worse than a full caster really, but just gaining more power and another creature type is pretty bland, considering that there's only so many useful creature types.

Edit: whoops, posted without thinking. Well it wasn't quite a week old yet...

[Kellus]

Fixed some typos, put in a class skill list (that doesn't involve Use Magic Device) and put a per day limit on spell-like abilities.

As for rake:


A creature with this special attack gains extra natural attacks when it grapples its foe. Normally, a monster can attack with only one of its natural weapons while grappling, but a monster with the rake ability usually gains two additional claw attacks that it can use only against a grappled foe. Rake attacks are not subject to the usual -4 penalty for attacking with a natural weapon in a grapple

A rake for a creation works a little differently.


Creation gains the Rake ability, and may use all of its attacks against a grappled target.

A creation with the rake ability can use all of its natural attacks, if it has more than one, against a grappled opponent instead of only one as is normal for natural attacks. I can't just arbitrarily give it free claw attacks, since there's no guarantee that the thing even has claws. It could have paralytic suckers or something, I dunno. :smalltongue:

Any other comments?

[Parvum]

Water/aquatics get swim, so perhaps the other subtypes should come with standards as well. Earth Glide (outsiders/elementals) or burrow(everything else) for earth, fly for air (still think that should be double land speed...) etc.

You can have quite a few scouts with this, and you can assign several abilities to each. Have a limit on the number of creations you can have outside of encounters, such as one +1 every five levels, with only a small amount of attention investable over long periods when the Artist isn't paying much attention.

For those who think that the ability to access so many abilities is too much without a limit, how about this:

When a creation dies, it's attention is not returned. Instead, a thought artist regenerates attention constantly (but slowly). They can increase the recharge rate by concentrating for the round. This would also help with a few dead levels (faster recharge rates and ability to regain more and more with concentration).

[Kellus]

I don't like the idea of a limit on creations at a time, but the slower regeneration of attention is an excellent idea, and does help with the whole 'build a new one every turn' problem. I'll see what I can figure out. Thanks!

[Parvum]

Yes, oozes, undead, vermin, and especially constructs do get less ability score points. Of course, they have fewer abilities to divvy these between, and they have all of the excellent traits that come with having no Constitution or Intelligence score.

Yes, mindless and constitutionless are nice traits, but there is really no point with the right type (variety of natural immunities) and the right investment of attention. And there will probably be very little dividing of abilities, an Artist will use whatever they need (Need damage and accuracy? Strength. Need survivability? Dex.) meaning that all 4 will likely go into one stat since you can move them around. If you want to make something hurt, you make a dragon with +4 strength, or a construct with +2, both dealing the same damage- minus differences in abilities.

Can there be a way to add/remove mindlessness? Really, just for the novelty of having an ooze be the smartest member of the party when you want to be perverse. Nothing says 'the wizard bugged me' like having a gelatinous cube beat them in an arithmetic contest.

And the overland limit was just to avoid 21 scouts combing the area with blindsight, ensuring the Artist will never be surprised by anything short of Teleport Legion. I'm just not sure how this can be avoided...