These classes are for a 3.5 PBP campaign I intend to run. I'll post descriptions for them soon.
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These classes are for a 3.5 PBP campaign I intend to run. I'll post descriptions for them soon.
Walker: Walkers are the scouts and wanderers of the tribes. Some of them were banished from their people, others remain with them as guides. All Walkers know the ways of the wood better than others do, and wield subtle powers within the wild lands. How much of their ability is simple knowledge of the wild, and how much is actual magic is sometimes uncertain. Their healing spells are usually
As Ranger, except that they do not cast spells, instead gaining at-will spell-like abilities (only usable in relatively untamed areas, which are fortunately very common in this world) as follows:
4th level: Choose 1 spell from 1st level list below to cast as spell-like ability at will.
6th level: Choose 2 spells from 1st level list below to cast as spell-like abilities at will.
8th level: Choose 2 spell from 1st level list below and 1 from 2nd to cast as spell-like abilities at will.
10th level: 2 1st, 2 2nd
11th: 2 1st, 2 2nd, 1 3rd
12th: 2 1st, 2 2nd, 2 3rd
14th: 3, 2, 2, 1 4th*
15th: 3, 3, 2, 2*
17th: 3, 3, 3, 2*
18th: 4, 3, 3, 2*
19th: 4, 4, 4, 3*
20th: 4, 4, 4, 4*
*4th level are usable a specified number of times per day rather than at will
Lists:
1st:
-Animal messenger
-Calm animals
-Detect animals or plants
-Detect poison
-Endure elements
-Speak with animals
2nd:
-Charm animal
-Cure minor wounds (only one use per wisdom modifier per subject per day)
-Hide from animals
-Pass without trace
-Speak with plants
3rd:
-Command plants
-Commune with nature
-Darkvision (personal only)
-Delay poison (only one use per subject per day)
-Repel vermin (only one use per subject per day)
-Tree shape (requires cooldown time equal to duration in tree shape)
4th:
-Cure light wounds (2 uses per wisdom modifier)
-Cure moderate wounds (1 use per wisdom modifier)
-Neutralize poison (2 uses per wisdom modifier)
-Protection from energy (1 use per wisdom modifier)
-Remove disease (1 use per wisdom modifier)
-Summon nature's ally II (1 use per wisdom modifier)
Walkers can use the Favored Environment variant from Unearthed Arcana.
Sneak: Thieves, robbers, and wary combatants of the forest, Sneaks often pretend to be Walkers in order to avoid suspicion. In the tribes where they are accepted, they often play the roles of Walkers, scouting ahead of the tribe. They use the woods to their advantage in fights, often utilizing guerrilla tactics to avoid taking hits.
Uses stats of Wilderness Rogue (from Unearthed Arcana) which is as follows:
The wilderness rogue prefers to put her skills to use in the great outdoors, rather than in cramped alleys and dungeon corridors. In many ways, she is similar to the traditional ranger, though with less combat savvy and with none of the ranger's divine link to the natural world.
Class Skills
Remove the following rogue class skills from the wilderness rogue's class skill list: Appraise, Diplomacy, Decipher Script, Forgery, and Gather Information.
Add the following skills to the wilderness rogue's class skill list: Handle Animal, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Ride, and Survival.
Class Features
The wilderness rogue has all the standard rogue class features, except as noted below.
Special Abilities
Add woodland stride (as the 7th-level ranger ability), camouflage (as the 13th-level ranger ability) and hide in plain sight (as the 17th-level ranger ability, requires the rogue to already have the camouflage ability) to the list of special abilities that can be chosen by the wilderness rogue.
Raider: Exactly like Barbarian. Can choose to use the Bear, Boar, Dragon, Eagle, Lion, Serpent, and Wolf totem variants from Unearthed Arcana.
Spinner: Spinners are often tribe leaders or their advisers, and are the most integral magic-user in tribal society. They are less feared than Binders, and more social than Senders. While they are not incredibly powerful in open combat, they tend to wield their magic to confuse and manipulate their foes, and their powers of divination at later levels give them a chance to plan ahead for situations. Their spells usually involve elaborate gesticulations
As a druid, except as noted:
-Has familiar (like wiz/sor) instead of animal companion (however, the protocol for a slain animal companion is used for that of the Spinner's familiar.)
-Can use all wizard spells in the Divination, Enchantment, and Illusion schools, which are cast as one level higher than normal
-Doesn't have healing or resurrection spells*
-Cannot learn metamagic feats
-Doesn't have the Wild Shape ability
-Arcane spell failure chance applies to their spells*
-Material components in their spells are replaced by somatic*
*added
Sender:
As Druid, except that Wild Shape ability is called Sending, and creates the creature a Druid would Wild Shape into, which instead the Sender controls, leaving the Sender's body senseless and entirely helpless. The creature is normal for its type.
Binder: As cleric, except for these differences:
-Doesn't have access to domains
-Cannot summon dinosaurs, giant vermin, outsiders that aren't good or evil, or anything else that would be vetoed in a stone age setting.
-All spells require a divine focus component, which is a receptacle that the Binder stores spirits within.
-Any unused spell may be changed at any point for one of equal or lower level with a ritual taking one minute per spell replaced, and requiring relative peace.
-Spells of summoning or creating (not counting those that create energy) always take at least one minute to cast.
-If the walker grabs cure minor wounds, he can heal anyone up to full as an at-will ability given enough time. You sure you want that?
-Are the Spinner and Sender spell lists supposed to be so similar (both contain the entire druid spell list)?
Do you know of the Shaman and Spirit Shaman classes?
You may already know this, but there's already a class called the binder. Tome of Magic. Good class, too.
Coincedentally, also rather fitting for a Stone Age setting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyntonian
I thought so too. Check the Homebrewed Vestiges thread, there's some vaguely shamanistic ones there. I'd recommend Charn and Chinua, the wolf and the hare. They seem fitting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morph Bark
Psychic powers seem to me like something that would be found earlier on than magic, maybe have some Psionics in there?
Probably just take the standard psionic classes, remove all metapsionics and have augmentations cost more and you can use more power points per power.
Why only good and evil outsiders summonable? What makes a Slaad so much less appropriate than a Solar? Solar's are based on abrahamic religions, which isn't going to come into being for thousands of years IRL. Really, more amoral creatures like the slaad are far more belief-appropriate, and elementals are practically perfect - inscrutable nature spirits. Things like the fey would also be included here.
Also, why not giant vermin? I've got no problem with these houserules, but you said anything that would be vetoed in a stone-age setting is vetoed, yet that seems to be a pretty subjective measurement. We'd need a better list than that to play.
Additionally, in DnD history, before there was Good vs Evil, there was Chaos vs Law, making those actually more appropriate in that sense. It really depends on what kind of vibe you want to go for though, and it seems Repaermirg wants to moreso get closer to Earth-style Stone Age-isms, hence the no-dinosaur rule.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jzadek
Yeah, I could understand the dinosaurs bit. Just everything else seemed a bit arbitrary, and if he wants to be close to stone-age beliefs, innaccurate.
In-universe, solars are actual beings native to a particular plane, so what exact real-life beliefs inspired them isn't all that important.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jzadek
The basic concept of religion-as-morality rather than religion-as-natural-forces might be a bit more relevant, though, as IRL that also wasn't present in the stone age AFAIK.
Well, the first religions were built upon animal worship and the dead, later becoming, it seems (this part is a lot more based on guess-work) to be focussed on fertility and harvest goddesses, with a focus on the mother figure. The first found shaman is thought to have been a woman. This matriarchal worship seems to have continued in the Minoan religion.
Really, though, there's a big gap between the animal worship and the bronze age when the ancient Egyptians, Minoans and Babylonians were starting to consolidate themselves, which began to take the form of more stereotypical polytheistic religions.
So you're right that nature worship of an elemental nature isn't a belief we know they have, but is thematically appropriate given the integral part nature played in their beliefs. Until later Bronze Age myth, good and evil weren't such a prominent concept, either.
That isn't too relevant, as it could just be that that's how it happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jzadek
Now, if there are several dozen women shaman found that predate the first man shaman found, that would prove something.
I'm not posing it as proof, just an interesting note, given their apparent worship of mother figures. Contrasting it to the patriarchal churches of today, it's intriguing that older religions may have had a matriarchal bent.
We might be getting off-track with this discussion.
Back on topic, how about the Adept rather than the Spinner? It seems like the Spirit Shaman (Comp. Divine) would fit very well in the setting, also. The Scout (Comp. Adventurer) would also fit very well, and the Warlock (Comp. Arcane) would probably be the most fitting arcane class. The actual Totemist (Magic of Incarnum) and Dragon Shaman (Player's Handbook II) could also be appropriate.
Thugs and Wild Shape Ranger are other interesting options.
Yitzi- Yeah, I realized the healing thing, and changed it. The spell lists are supposed to be similar, yes, because both classes are based on Druid. The Sender is kind of reclusive, and the Spinner is basically what the Sender would be if it were the social type.
Morph Bark- Yes, and I considered including Spirit Shaman, but decided not to because, as Yitzi pointed out, there are already two classes with the Druid spell list.
Wyntonian- I knew a bit about it, and thematically they are similar. (didn't remember it when I named it, though) The classes could use a Cleric-based class, though, so I decided not to use ToM Binder.
Jzadek- I meant creatures of the Outsider type, so Elementals would not be included in that category. I don't like Slaadi and those ant-things, which are the only MM outsiders for law-chaos. If they had better ones, I would have allowed them. I opted out the giant vermin just because I think it's really stupid to summon a really big bug. I think you're right about the fey, though, and I'll eventually create a table which includes some things from the Nature's ally table, as well as some extras.
Erikun- I hadn't thought of Warlock, and I agree that that would work well. As for the others, I've generally considered them and/or have something similar. Adept wouldn't quite fit the idea behind Spinner, and is less powerful.
It should be noted that some classes could (and very well may) be adapted as prestige classes, if they're a bit too specific for a pan-tribal system.
Another one:
Caster: An arcane mage, bound to a great beast, the Caster wields formidable combat magic, but has a limited spell selection. They are found among the more violent tribes, particularly those who worship fierce deities and spirits.
I will post the stats later. They are basically Warlocks who give up invocations to gain Sorcerer spells.
why look something smiler
warlock without invocations...
I haven't seen the stats yet, but why "great beast" in particular? Fey were said to exist in the world, and they're all about pacts.