(New Base Class) Here comes a new CHALLENGER!
Hi! I'm the guy from the new reincarnate table on the SRD:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/reincarnate
/Shameless plug
I've been working on a new base class. This class is inspired by the characters from fighting games, mainly Mortal Kombat and Street fighter (there is also some dragon ball thrown in for good measure).
This class hasn't been tested yet but I got a ton of feedback on it from a series of posts on a big Pathfinder facebook group. Once I have enough feedback I'll do a playtest.
Before we begin, two notes:
1- On Combo: The class has the ability to perform two melee attacks AS A STANDARD ACTION ON LEVEL 1. I know this is technically more powerful than what the monk/unchained monk/brawler can do. But please have an open mind! Each of those clasess has access to other goodies, so please don't compare them solely on these grounds.
2-E8: This class has been made for E8, so only the first 8 levels have been mapped out. You might notice some mention of abilities gained on later levels here and there, but the first 8 levels are the focus of the class (once that's been done I'll move on to the remaining 12).
So, without further ado, I give you:
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The Challenger
"Here comes a new Challenger!"
Overview: From all walks of life come the Challengers. From the lowly oppressed classes to the highest echelons of society. And they all have one thing in common: a burning desire to be the best at what they do. And the thing they do, make no mistake, is fighting. Honing their bodies as if they were mighty weapons, these athletic and vigorous combatants scour the lands looking for their equals, to engage in a battle of fists, spirits and wills. Be certain that there WILL be a champion, and she will be unstoppable.
Role: A Challenger is a highly mobile melee burst damage dealers. She relies on STR for accuracy and damage and CHA for her more supernatural abilities. A decent DEX is important for AC while a decent CON is important for staying power.
Alignment: Any
HD: d10
BAB: Good
Saves: Good FORT and REF
Skill Points 4 + INT
Class Skills: The Challenger's class skills are Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Disguise, Fly, Heal, Intimidate, Kw (Geography), Kw (History), Kn (Local), Perception, Profession, Sense Motive, Stealth, Survival, Swim
Weapon and armor Proficiency: A Challenger is not proficient in any weapon or armor, nor she needs to; her body is a lethal armament beyond comprehension. Because of this, her unarmed strikes are considered to have the Deadly weapon Quality (giving them a +4 to the DCs of the Coop-de Grace attempts they make). She always deals full STR damage with unarmed strikes, even when made with the off-hand.
Class Features
Combo: A quick dash and a rapid succession of punches or kicks is oftentimes enough to end most encounters. Challengers gain Improved Unarmed strike as a bonus feat on lvl 1. As a standard action, a Challenger can make a Combo, which consists of two unarmed attacks. If one of them hits, it deals 1d4+STR modifier damage. If both of them hit, the second deals 1d6+STR modifier damage. At 8th level, the Combo gains an extra attack. If the 3 of them hit, the third deals 1d8+STR modifier damage. At 16th level the Combo gains a final attack. If the 4 of them hit, the fourth deals 1d10+STR modifier damage. They are treated as a single attack for the purposes of Damage Reduction.
But the Shirt on Your Back: Travelling light along the road is dangerous for most people. Challengers, on the other hand, are never caught off guard. At first level, a Challenger can treat any clothes she is wearing as masterwork studded leather armor (Armor 3; Max DEX modifier 5; Armor Check Penalty 0; Arcane spell failure 15%; Light Armor) and gains proficiency with it. She is treated as not wearing armor for all other purposes. At fourth level and every 4 levels thereafter, the base AC provided by this feature improves by one. She loses this benefit any time she is wearing any armor or shield.
Adept Dodger: The grueling training that a Challenger endures leaves her on a state of constant alert. At first level, she gains Dodge as a bonus feat. At fifth level she gains Mobility as a bonus feat. At Ninth level she gains Sidestep as a bonus feat. At thirteenth level she gains Improved sidestep as a bonus feat. If she would gain any of these feats and she already has it, she may instead select any other combat feat that she qualify for in place of it.
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Specialty: The road to supremacy is a varied one. At second level, a Challenger must choose a Specialty from the following options. Any time a save is called to resist an effect caused by a Challenger class ability (such as a Specialty or a Challenger Talent), the DC is 10 + 1/2 challenger level + CHA modifier:
-Mortal Combatant (Ex): Focusing all their might on a single punch is enough to bring most opponents to their knees. As a full-round action, a Challenger can perform a powerful uppercut. She makes an unarmed melee attack against an enemy. If it hits, it deals 2d6+STR*1.5 damage and the enemy must make a FORT save or be knocked prone. Power attack increases this damage as if this was a two handed weapon.
-Tournament Fighter (Ex): Boasting one's prowess properly is a key combat tactic most people neglect. As a Standard action, a Challenger can perform a taunt to an enemy up to 60' away who must make a WILL save. If the target fails he must attack the Challenger on his next turn. Weather the save is successful or not, the Challenger gains a bonus to her AC and Saves against attacks from the target equal to her CHA bonus. She also gains this bonus on attack and damage rolls against him until the end of her next round. This is a language-dependent mind-affecting effect. This also counts as attacking the opponent for the purposes of Power Meter.
-Z Warrior (Su): The Energy of the self can be expressed and released in many different, oftentimes deadly, ways. As a full-round action, a Challenger can gather his inner power and project an energy attack. This attacks takes whatever form the Challenger desires (a ball of energy, a blast of cold, a torrent of fire, etc). Its range is 10' per challenger level and point of CHA bonus (so a 4th level challenger with a CHA bonus of +3 would have a range of 70'). The target must make a REF save or receive 1d8 damage per 2 Challenger levels (Max 5d8 at 10th level) + CHA modifier; with minimum damage on a successful save. Regardless of the form this attack takes, it always deals force damage.
Challenger Talent: As her combat style begins to develop, a Challenger perfects her unique movement pool. At second level and every even level thereafter, a Challenger may choose a Challenger Talent from the list at the bottom.
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Power Meter: As the battle heat up so does a Challenger's desire to win it. At third level, whenever a Challenger attacks a worthy opponent (Max 1 per round) she gains a Power Bar up to a maximum of 3. At the end on any round in which the Challenger wasn't in combat with a worthy opponent, she losses any Power Bars she had. While she has at least one Power Bar she may stand up from prone as a swift action (it still generates attacks of opportunity) and all of her unarmed attacks count as magic weapons. A worthy opponent is any creature whose CR is at least equal to the Challenger's character level - 2, but any creature regardless of CR that damages the Challenger counts as a worthy opponent too. Any type of offensive action that would break invisibility counts as attacking for the purpose of gaining a Power Bar. Furthermore, the Challenger chooses one from among these options.
-Fatality: With one gruesome display of gore you end the combat. By spending 3 Power Bars as full-round action, a Challenger can perform a Coup de grace against an opponent within her natural reach even if the target is not helpless. This doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity from that opponent. Instead of the normal save DC, the DC of this attack is the damage dealt + CHA modifier + 4 (for the Deadly weapon Quality of their Unarmed strikes).
-Bombardment: A barrage of energy leaves destruction on its wake. By spending 2 Power Bars as a full-round action, a Challenger can shoot a mighty blast of power that deals 1d8 force damage per level (Max 10d8) to all enemies on a 10' burst within Medium range. The enemies get a REF save for half damage.
-Power-up: Beware Challengers once they enter "The Zone". By spending any amount of Power Bars as a swift action, a Challenger gains a competence bonus equal to the amount of Power Bars spent to her attack rolls, damage rolls, armor class and saving throws. She also removes the Shaken and/or Sickened condition from herself if she spends at least 1 Power Bar, the Dazed and/or Staggered condition if she spends at least 2 and the Confused of Stunned condition if she spends at least 3. These bonuses last an amount of rounds equal to her CHA modifier (Min 1).
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The Road of Life: Having walked the distance of the horizon, Challengers are knowledgeable people. At fourth level a Challenger can apply her CHA bonus to her Knowledge (Local) checks. She also chooses a WIS or INT based skill, other than perception, and can apply her CHA bonus to it too.
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Round two: There are always reasons to keep fighting. At fifth level, whenever a worthy opponent reduces a Challenger to half her hit points, the Challenger can immediately, as a free action, gain an amount of temporary hit points equal to her level + her CHA modifier. These hit points last for one minute. This effect can't happen more than once per hour.
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Improved Specialty: Honing their skills to super-humanoid levels, their prowess gains more perfection still. At sixth level, a Challenger can choose a second specialty from the list of specialties she gains at second level. Alternatively she can improve her chosen specialty on the following way:
-Mortal Combatant: The damage increases to 4d6+STR*2. Power attack increases the damage of this attack by +4 for every -1 penalty on the attack roll.
-Tournament Fighter: The taunt can be performed as a Move Action.
-Z Warrior: The opponent is sickened for 1 round per CHA modifier. This effect occurs even o a successful save.
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The Hero's Journey: The deeds of the Challenger have reached far and wide by this point, and so did she. At seventh level, a Challenger gains Skill focus on any one skill as a bonus feat. As long as she has less than half her hit points, she gains Fast Healing equal to her CHA modifier (minimum 1).
Improved Power Meter: Charging one's power is a well kept secret of those who attain it. At seventh level, whenever a Challenger is in combat with a worthy opponent she gains a power bar at the begining of her turn instead of after attacking him. Additionally, she may choose a new Power Meter option from her choices at third level, or may have her previous Power Meter choice improve in the following way:
-Fatality (Ex or Su): The Fatality can be performed to an opponent within 60'. If the fatality is not performed against an opponent within natural reach, then it is considered a Supernatural ability.
-Bombardment: The opponents are blinded for 1 round on a failed save. On a successful save, they are instead dazzled for 1 round per CHA modifier.
-Power-up: The bonus increases to 1 + the amount of Power Bars expended.
Challenger Talents
Swift feet: Your base speed increases by +10'. You must be 4th level to select this talent.
Beast of Burden: Your carrying capacity doubles. You also gain a bonus to your CMB and CMD equal to your CHA modifier.
Heroic Landing: You always take minimum damage from falls. Standing up from a prone position doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Monkey Leaps: You may add your CHA modifier to your acrobatics checks. You also double any distance (both vertical and horizontal) that you jump.
Evasion: You gain evasion as a rogue of your level.
Test Your Might: You deal double damage to objects. At 6th level your unarmed attacks overcome Silver and Cold Iron Damage reduction.
Request Assistance: As a move action you may have an ally that threatens the same enemy as you perform an Aid Another action. This doesn't cost your ally any action and is performed immediately. You can't use this on the same ally more than once per day.
Improved combo: The damage dice of all your combo attacks improves by one step (1d4 to 1d6. 1d6 to 1d8. 1d8 to 1d10. 1d10 to 1d12). You may select this talent more than once, but the damage of a single attack may not increase above 1d12. You must be 6th level before selecting this talent a second time.
Teleport: As a move action you may teleport up to your speed. You may use this ability CHA bonus times per day. You must be 6th level to select this talent.
Gather Power: When you take a total defense action you gain one power bar. You must be 4th level to select this talent.
Re: (New Base Class) Here comes a new CHALLENGER!
The attack rate scaling for Combo looks a bit strange, and doesn't match up to normal BAB progression. Would change 4th attack to level 15 so that it matches Average BAB progression +1 attack.
Wording on DR beating is "Sum the damage from these attacks before applying Damage Reduction", I think.
But the Shirt on Your Back is a very nice ability that I might steal.
Specialties:
Mortal Combatant is actually inferior to a regular Combo under most circumstances.
Tournament Fighter is rather neat as a "tank" ability, or for peeling off single targets.
Z Warrior range is a little odd-looking, but not unbalanced. No attack roll? Save means minimum damage instead of half, so evasion doesn't trigger.
Will cover Challenger Talents later, maybe.
Power Meter:
While Power-up says it removes the Dazed/Stunned condition, you can't take the swift action to activate it if you have either condition. The same issue occurs to a lesser extent with Confusion.
The Road of Life: No comments. Looks fine.
Round Two: Immediate action, not free. Minor benefit at most.
Imp. Specialty: The ability to continue focusing or branch out is nice. However, while Z Warrior and Tournament Fighter scale OK with level due to having natural damage scaling in the first case and a CC effect in the second, Mortal Combatant is just bad at this point if you only take it once (well, it was bad before). Suggest giving it natural damage scaling, and just giving the Power Attack benefit at this point.
Also, more generally, Mortal Combatant is in a strange place where it's either strictly better than punching with Combo, or strictly worse. Whichever is better will obviously be picked all the time other than weird awkward corner cases that don't add much value. This is not the case with the other two, which have times and places to be used. Suggest rethinking its place.
Hero's Journey: Skill Focus is strange on its own- suggest making it a class skill if it wasn't already.
Imp. Power Meter: Free charge could unintentionally combo with Gather Power- intended?
The upgrades involved here don't really seem great other than Power-up (which becomes useful after only 1 round of punching). Blind 1 round is not a lot of power for having spent 2 rounds of just punching people (compare to, say, slow). Fatality gets some range- could alternatively make it a standard action to use.
Not going in-depth on the specialties, just to note that Request Assistance is pretty bad- it works out to +2 per day per ally on one attack, which is miniscule. I would rather have Weapon Focus, and that's saying something.
Design thoughts, correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Generally, it looks like the focus of the class is to skirmish with Combo and use Adept Dodger to survive while building up a supply of Combo Points, then using them to do your Big Thing. Within that scheme, the various class features do the following things:
Specialties are things you do while you wait. They change your "default action"- the thing you do that's more "you" than being a fighter who full attacks every round and nothing else. There's already something for that- your Combo, which is a fun feature with lots of rolls to make, but these are alternatives that you might or might not use depending on the situation- except for Mortal Combatant, which might replace it completely or be ignored. They aren't a major source of power, and are pretty replacable if you have something better to do- except for Tournament Fighter, which is an extremely good defensive "tanking" feature that can "stun" an enemy, leaving them uselessly spending their resources against your AC.
Power Meter things are your big cool thing that changes the flow of the battle in your favor. Each of them lets you deal with a different role- single-target disabling (death is the ultimate debuff), area damage on par with Fireball (if not the same area), and sustained combat via a substantial "numbers" buff. The upside to this is that it lets you fill a role that might not be covered well by your party- the lack of a rogue, wizard, and fighter, respectively. The downside is that there's a possibility that you won't do very well in the wrong fight, because (respectively) there are other people nearby who can disrupt your coup-de-grace, the enemies are too spread out to hit/too few of them in the fight, and the buff not being relevant or noticed.
The Road of Life and Hero's Journey are a bit strange, and look like they were just put in to be decent at something other than fighting.
And then there are Talents. I'm not sure what they're supposed to do other than generic "be better at X". I'm not sure where they fit in this paradigm.
Re: (New Base Class) Here comes a new CHALLENGER!
Nice feedback! I'll break down my comments and changes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
The attack rate scaling for Combo looks a bit strange, and doesn't match up to normal BAB progression. Would change 4th attack to level 15 so that it matches Average BAB progression +1 attack.
Wording on DR beating is "Sum the damage from these attacks before applying Damage Reduction", I think.
Since the class was designed with E8 in mind, gaining the third attack at 8th level works as a "capstone" of sorts. I want to playtest the class before changing this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
But the Shirt on Your Back is a very nice ability that I might steal.
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
Specialties:
Mortal Combatant is actually inferior to a regular Combo under most circumstances.
Tournament Fighter is rather neat as a "tank" ability, or for peeling off single targets.
Z Warrior range is a little odd-looking, but not unbalanced. No attack roll? Save means minimum damage instead of half, so evasion doesn't trigger.
You are right about Mortal Combatant not being better than combo most times, so I changed it:
*-Mortal Combatant (Ex): Focusing all their might on a single punch is enough to bring most opponents to their knees. As a full-round action, a Challenger can perform a powerful uppercut. She makes an unarmed melee attack against an enemy. If it hits, it deals 1d6 per 2 challenger levels (minimun 2d6)+STR*1.5 damage and the enemy must make a FORT save or be knocked prone. Power attack increases this damage as if this was a two handed weapon.**Changed damage to scale with level**
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
Power Meter:
While Power-up says it removes the Dazed/Stunned condition, you can't take the swift action to activate it if you have either condition. The same issue occurs to a lesser extent with Confusion.
Clarified that you can use Power-up even when those conditions prevent you from taking Swift Actions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
Imp. Specialty: The ability to continue focusing or branch out is nice. However, while Z Warrior and Tournament Fighter scale OK with level due to having natural damage scaling in the first case and a CC effect in the second, Mortal Combatant is just bad at this point if you only take it once (well, it was bad before). Suggest giving it natural damage scaling, and just giving the Power Attack benefit at this point.
Also, more generally, Mortal Combatant is in a strange place where it's either strictly better than punching with Combo, or strictly worse. Whichever is better will obviously be picked all the time other than weird awkward corner cases that don't add much value. This is not the case with the other two, which have times and places to be used. Suggest rethinking its place.
Ok, so Mortal Combatant changed again:
-Mortal Combatant: The damage dice increase to d8s and the strenght bonus to damage increases to STRx2. Power attack increases the damage of this attack by +4 for every -1 penalty on the attack roll. **Change the damage bonus to making all dice d8s**
As of right now, if you CAN use Mortal Combatant against an enemy (remember that it is a full-round action) then you should use it over Combo. But combo lets you take a move action too, so there's that. They aren't mutually exclusive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
Imp. Power Meter: Free charge could unintentionally combo with Gather Power- intended?
The upgrades involved here don't really seem great other than Power-up (which becomes useful after only 1 round of punching). Blind 1 round is not a lot of power for having spent 2 rounds of just punching people (compare to, say, slow). Fatality gets some range- could alternatively make it a standard action to use.
The combo between Gather power and charging at the begining of your turn is intentional, yes. I want to playtest the class before making changes to these improvements. I once DMed a game where one guy was using the rules from Path of War and had a 1 round blind effect and it was super powerfull. I did increase the AOE of Bombardment to 20' (the same as fireball) though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
aimlessPolymath
Design thoughts, correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Generally, it looks like the focus of the class is to skirmish with Combo and use Adept Dodger to survive while building up a supply of Combo Points, then using them to do your Big Thing. Within that scheme, the various class features do the following things:
Specialties are things you do while you wait. They change your "default action"- the thing you do that's more "you" than being a fighter who full attacks every round and nothing else. There's already something for that- your Combo, which is a fun feature with lots of rolls to make, but these are alternatives that you might or might not use depending on the situation- except for Mortal Combatant, which might replace it completely or be ignored. They aren't a major source of power, and are pretty replacable if you have something better to do- except for Tournament Fighter, which is an extremely good defensive "tanking" feature that can "stun" an enemy, leaving them uselessly spending their resources against your AC.
Power Meter things are your big cool thing that changes the flow of the battle in your favor. Each of them lets you deal with a different role- single-target disabling (death is the ultimate debuff), area damage on par with Fireball (if not the same area), and sustained combat via a substantial "numbers" buff. The upside to this is that it lets you fill a role that might not be covered well by your party- the lack of a rogue, wizard, and fighter, respectively. The downside is that there's a possibility that you won't do very well in the wrong fight, because (respectively) there are other people nearby who can disrupt your coup-de-grace, the enemies are too spread out to hit/too few of them in the fight, and the buff not being relevant or noticed.
The Road of Life and Hero's Journey are a bit strange, and look like they were just put in to be decent at something other than fighting.
And then there are Talents. I'm not sure what they're supposed to do other than generic "be better at X". I'm not sure where they fit in this paradigm.
Well, that's pretty much spot on. The talents are minor customisation thingies, for variety's sake. Road of Life and Heroe's Jurney (notice the generic names) are just out-of-battle utility. I'll replace them with something more exciting if I can come up with it.
