The Bez-Kismet; or, a rebalanced Hexblade with a much more original name!

Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages! Outsiders and Eldritch Abominations too!

Better looking?

Dunno if you have missed me or not, but one thing's for sure: I haven't missed you. As usual, here I provide for a class that need a bit of twinking, but one that is loved by most people as-is.

...Or that is, "as is" including some fixes. Of course.

So...what in essence implies a Hexblade? Is it the curses? The fact that it's an arcane gish (of some sort) that does mostly debuffing? The idea was mostly a combination of the two: a warrior, somewhat like a Paladin, which could use magic spells and cold steel, a very strong debuffer, and a modestly resistant combatant: pretty much the first official gish, with a feel of its own. The biggest problem is not with the class, but in the book that it was released; that would be the Complete Warrior (tm) sourcebook, a book notorious for being the first official 3.5 experiment, and where the people were so green that they didn't ventured too forth. From them, the Hexblade is actually the better of the trio, considering the Swashbuckler is mostly a dipping class for smart fighters (no pun intended) and the Samurai...well, aside from Takahashi no Onisan, very rarely you can do much with it.

So, why the Hexblade and not the Swashbuckler (since the Samurai has already been retooled, to be precise)? Because the Hexblade is cool, but I feel it could do better. Hopefully, this will be better than the original, but still having a pretty reasonable feel to the original.

So, without further ado, I shall introduce to you...the:

BEZ-KISMET

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...lednarTwem.jpg

Niam Tsinogatna, a bez-kismet. Pic...found on the Internets, but it probably is from Hyung-tae Kim if you look at it pretty closely...

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So...why "Bez-kismet"? Why not keep it as Hexblade and used such a bizarre, obviously intended term?

Well, first of all: excuses for all Serbians, Croatians, Bosnians and people who might get this a bit and blatantly realize this is wrong. Yes, it is grammatically wrong and I realize it, but I do it to make the class sound cool.

The story of the name comes from a very unlikely source: the Biskmatar, from Final Fantasy Tactics. While stumbling upon its meaning, I stumbled upon the words "Bez" and "Kismet", which roughly translate to "without" and "fate"; hence, a person "without fate", or someone who's not manipulated by fate. This fit to an extent the concept of the Hexblade, which dealt with spreading misfortune and using it as a weapon. The concept took that one step further and applied it to fate, as someone who uses misfortune as a way to defy fate.

Now...if someone is willing to make a much better translation, something that sounds reasonably good and that can sound less offensive to the above-mentioned people, by all means go for it. I'd go with Biskmatar, but it already has a pretty defined connotation (and people would go with "hey, this doesn't look anything like the Biskmatar I know!", so I want to be creative on the name for once...) I might consider it and make it better, or at least grammatically correct while still mysteriously sounding. If someone from those regions of Europe (or several) is willing to help, much better!

MAKING A BEZ-KISMET (or, what has and what hasn't changed from the Hexblade):

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Abilities: The most notable of the abilities, as you'll see, is Charisma. Being the driving force behind the spells, the supernatural abilities and pretty much everything behind it, Charisma should be one of the primary abilities. Strength is a second important stat, because the Bez-kismet in essence is a martial character; Constitution has a bit more importance because not only it defines the amount of HP the character will have and the Fortitude saving throw, but also the Concentration skill for its limited spellcasting.
Races: Humans, as usual, suit bez-kismet pretty well. A human usually has a knack for making its own destiny, forging its own fate; to be deprived of a specific fate is to make it and forge it. Any race with a penchant for Charisma, a good arm and no moral qualms may also join: this may lead a few spellscales (Races of the Dragon) to pursue the path of facing destiny, a cruel twist to their ever-changing nature.
Amongst savage or lesser known humanoids, tieflings gravitate towards this path. Aasimar with less than noble ideals, or whom has faced reality in the face and finds it disappointing may also become gifted in the arts of the bez-kismet.
Alignment: Any non-Good. So...why not add Good? Most of the abilities of the bez-kismet are cruel, or questionable. Facing fate is not a decision easily done by good people; only brutal circumstances would lead to adopt the pathways that lead to the sword that defies fate. Most bez-kismet are cynical in nature, knowing that they are facing a force of the multiverse that has greater control over the world, and end up being mostly distrustful people, hard to make friends. The most amiable bez-kismet end up being usually neutral, knowing the practical value of a partnership but wary of creating too much empathy that destiny could use against it.
Starting Gold: as Sorcerer
Starting Age: as Sorcerer

Class Skills: The bez-kismet’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (any) (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int) and Spot (Wis)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

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Not so different from the original. Knowledge (the planes) implies a connection between the bez-kismet's knowledge and abilities, to outer beings interested in the fate (or lack of fate thereafter) of the individual. Sense Motive...well, a bez-kismet is not the most trustworthy of people. Certainly, he won't be trusting everyone, and will be on the eye for any bizarre event even in speech. Listen and Spot are abilities of perception, which should be useful for the bez-kismet if he feels he's being hunted.

Hit Die: d10

THE BEZ-KISMET

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	+1	+2	0	+2	Curse of the Fateless	2	-	-	-	-
2nd	+2	+3	0	+3	Bonus feat, Miser's Fortune	2	-	-	-	-
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Aura of Misfortune	3	0	-	-	-
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	Step into the Unknown (move speed)	3	0	-	-	-
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Improved Curse of the Fateless	3	1	-	-	-
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	Bonus Feat, Aura of Dissonance	3	1	-	-	-
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Tainted Wounds	4	1	0	-	-
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	Mettle	4	2	0	-	-
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Aura of Misfortune, Step into the Unknown (+10 ft.)	4	2	1	-	-
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	Bonus Feat, Baleful Curse of the Fateless	4	2	1	-	-
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+7	Denial of Grace	5	2	1	0	-
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+8	Aura of Negation	5	3	2	1	-
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+8	Improved Mettle	5	3	2	1	-
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+9	Bonus Feat, Step into the Unknown (double move)	5	3	2	2	0
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+9	Aura of Misfortune, Dire Curse of the Fateless	5	3	3	2	1
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+10	Spell Resistance	5	4	3	2	1
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Destiny Bond	5	4	3	3	2
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Bonus Feat	5	4	4	3	2
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Step into the Unknown (+10 feet speed)	5	4	4	3	3
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Hex of Ending Death	5	4	4	3	3

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Upon the biggest things you'll notice are..."the Hexb...I mean, the bez-kismet has now 0-level spells?!?!?!?"

Yes, they do. I'll explain a bit later why they get them.

Aside from that, they get a whole heck of nifty features: pretty much one ability for each level. Old favorites such as mettle remain, while some are moved around.

You'll notice that there are several auras, but that the "Aura of Unluck" is absent. You'll notice, as well, why that had to happen. Aura of Unluck was a pretty awesome class feature, but it was: (a) gained pretty late and (b) excellent, but at the level a bit of a joke. Don't worry, though: it's meant to be better.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bez-kismet.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Bez-kismet are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light and medium armor, and with light shields.
Because the somatic components required for bez-kismet spells are simple, the bez-kismet may use his spells while wearing light or medium armor, and while using a light shield. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a bez-kismet wearing heavy armor or using a heavy or tower shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass bez-kismet still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

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One of the things that the original hexblade had was troubles with armor. They didn't have Mage Armor to justify the lack of proper armor, and medium armor is used very few times. While bez-kismet still have no heavy armor proficiency, they do have the ability to fight and cast in medium armor without ASF, which is pretty much the same.

Another thing I added were light shields. Hexblades could use a proper shield right at the beginning, perhaps while they are still under their 0-level spells, and use simple gestures to cast with one hand, which is what they presume are "simple gestures". This allows a hexblade, with weapon and light shield and medium armor to cast spells without ASF even if holding the shield on one hand; technically, the hexblade's casting ability should not be limited, or fixed with a feat (*coughcoughSomaticWeaponrycoughcough*) in order to be useful.

Spells: A bez-kismet casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a bez-kismet must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bez-kismet’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the bez-kismet Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a bez-kismet can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table above. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. When the table above indicates that the bez-kismet gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level.
The bez-kismet selection of spells is extremely limited. A bez-kismet begins play knowing two 0-level spells of his choice. At most new bez-kismet levels, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated below. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a bez-kismet knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers below are fixed.)
A bez-kismet can learn any sorcerer/wizard spell from the enchantment, illusion, necromancy and transmutation schools, and conjuration spells with the calling or summoning descriptor. However, a bez-kismet is incapable of learning spells with the good descriptor. A bez-kismet may also choose other spells from different schools of the sorcerer/wizard spell list but as indicated below; furthermore, he can learn unique spells not available on the sorcerer/wizard spell list.
Upon reaching 8th level, once per week and at every three class levels afterwards, a bez-kismet can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. A bez-kismet may swap only a single spell at any given moment, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the specified level.

Table: Bez-Kismet spells known

Level	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	2	-	-	-	-
2nd	2	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	11	-	-	-
4th	3	21	-	-	-
5th	3	2	-	-	-
6th	3	3	-	-	-
7th	4	3	11	-	-
8th	4	3	21	-	-
9th	4	4	2	-	-
10th	4	4	3	-	-
11th	5	4	3	21	-
12th	5	4	3	2	-
13th	5	5	4	3	-
14th	5	5	4	3	21
15th	6	5	4	3	2
16th	6	5	4	4	3
17th	6	5	5	4	3
18th	6	6	5	4	4
19th	7	6	5	5	4
20th	7	6	5	5	5

¹ Provided the bez-kismet has sufficient Charisma to have a bonus spell of this level.

As noted above, a bez-kismet needs not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.

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This is a really big change within the hexblade, now renamed bez-kismet.

The main changes to the spellcasting include full caster level (so that their spells are usable at full power), an expanded class list (taking from spells of illusion, necromancy and transmutation as well as a few other spells that enhance gishes) and a reduction at some key spells, so that they get them at appropriate levels. While it remains an arcane spellcaster first and foremost, the wealth of options you can get through spellcasting serves as an appropriate exchange for the flavor.

I chose spellcasting because of its practicality, and because the original hexblade had arcane spells. There are some ACFs that exchange some of that flavor, but the idea is that the bez-kismet should be quite practical in terms of how it should work. Being a retooling, I usually attempt to keep some stuff untouched while fixing others.

UPDATE: A bez-kismet can cast spells of 1st level at 3rd level, and those of 2nd level at 7th level.

Curse of the Fateless (Su): The bez-kismet is a warrior shunned by fate. Either by defiance or by determination, the bez-kismet alters the fortune of people, cursing them into terrible misfortune. Albeit the bez-kismet opposes the whim of fate, forces beyond his knowledge ensure that he does not suffer from its terrible consequences by equaling the fighting ground.
As a swift action, a bez-kismet may unleash a curse upon his foe. The target must be visible to the bez-kismet and within 60 feet. The target of a curse of the fateless takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls saves, ability checks and skill checks for the rest of the encounter and for a number of rounds equal to the bez-kismet’s class level afterwards. A successful Will save (DC 10 + ½ the bez-kismet’s class level + the bez-kismet’s Cha modifier) negates the effect though a curse attempt is not wasted if the target saves successfully.
Multiple curses of the fateless don’t stack, and any foe that successfully resists the effect cannot be affected by the same curse for 24 hours. Any effect that removes or dispels a curse eliminates the effect of a curse of the fateless.
At 1st level, a bez-kismet can use his curse of the fateless a number of times per day equal to 1 + his Charisma modifier. At 5th level, and every five levels afterwards, the bez-kismet gains an extra use of his curse of the fateless per day.

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The hexblade's curse, now renamed into a much cooler name! But...in essence, it's the same thing.

One of the usual things while watching hexblade fixes is that they bring up a small "fix" list done by the original creator of the class, Mike Mearls. This is because otherwise the class abilities of the hexblade would be pretty underwhelming, specially one as the hexblade's curse which should be the key ability of the bez-kismet.

Now, at the moment, the curse of the fateless looks almost word by word as the hexblade's curse, and it's meant to be so; it is basically the same ability, except with Mearls' fix added in. However, you'll notice that each level in which the bez-kismet would gain an extra daily use, the name differs. That's good: that is because it's meant to be improved at each level. So: with a good Charisma, a 1st level bez-kismet would have up to 5 uses a day for its signature ability; in later occasions, this might increase up to 11 uses per day, which is not a slouch.

However, the key is later, and later is where I'll explain a bit more how this ability changes.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level, and every four levels after that, a bez-kismet gains a bonus feat in addition to those he obtains by means of improving levels. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats, reserve feats (see Complete Mage) or from the list provided below. A bez-kismet must still meet the prerequisites for a bonus feat, as usual. For purposes of fighter level prerequisites, a bez-kismet is considered to have a fighter level equal to his class level -5.
Bez-Kismet Bonus Feat List: Arcane Defense, Arcane Mastery, Arcane Preparation, Combat Casting, Eschew Materials, Extra Slot, Extra Spell, Greater Spell Focus, Greater Spell Penetration, Ranged Spell Specialization, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, Touch Spell Specialization.

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This is an expansion to the list of bonus feats the old hexblade had access, and which were pretty unassuming: now, you can either get fighter bonus feats or reserve feats, so you can mix and match to your tastes. This reduces the feat starvation of the class even more, and at the moments where they starve the most, without stealing the fighter's spotlight.

Miser’s Fortune (Su): At 2nd level, a bez-kismet’s miserable fortune is such that it cannot plunge any lower. Whenever he receives a penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks or ability checks, he may ignore part of this penalty, to an amount equal to 1 + 1 per three class levels after the second. This penalty reduction applies to all penalties separately, and does not affect penalties to ability scores. A penalty cannot be reduced to lower than 0 by means of this ability (hence, the bez-kismet cannot gain a bonus by means of this ability). While under the effects of a penalty, however, a bez-kismet cannot benefit from luck bonuses.

Furthermore, if the bez-kismet successfully curses an opponent, he may add his Charisma modifier to all damage rolls done to it. This benefit applies regardless of the method of cursing, but only through use of the Curse of the Fateless class feature.

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Magikeeper made this ability less fluffy and more useful. Kudos.

So, basically, you now get to reduce penalties gained from any source, and this reduction increases depending on the class level, which makes it much more powerful (and less dip-tastic). However, the character loses luck bonuses, which basically means his fortune (or lack of it) is resisting the penalties.

UPDATE: Because of the playtest results from Nine and Gareth, I decided to boost their damage potential a bit. It depends on using their curses, but given that they WILL use their curses because it's a swift action, it's a win-win situation.

Aura of Misfortune (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a bez-kismet unmakes the fortune of his enemies. This manifests as an aura that has a small distance, but that slowly increases in size as the bez-kismet progresses.
Projecting an aura is a swift action, and the bez-kismet can only project one aura at a time. An aura remains in effect until the bez-kismet uses a free action to dismiss it or he activates another aura in its place. A bez-kismet can have an aura of misfortuneactive continually; thus, an aura can be in effect at the start of an encounter even before he takes his first turn.
A bez-kismet that acquires this ability must choose from one of the auras presented below. Unless otherwise noted, the range of the aura is of 60 feet. As a bez-kismet progresses in levels, he learns to manifest more auras and the size of his auras increase; at 9th level, he gains the ability to manifest one more aura from the list and his aura increases to 75 feet; at 15th level, a bez-kismet gains the ability to manifest another aura and his area of effect increases to 90 feet. Opponents within the area of effect of the aura must have line of effect to the bez-kismet in order to be affected by it. The bez-kismet’s aura is dismissed if he becomes unconscious or slain, but otherwise it remains in effect even if she is incapable of acting.
All of the aura’s penalties start at -1, and increase by 1 for every three class levels of the bez-kismet. If the bez-kismet has the ability to manifest other kinds of auras (such as the dragon shaman’s draconic auras from Player’s Handbook II or the marshal’s major auras from Miniatures Handbook, but not the marshal's minor auras or draconic auras from Dragon Magic acquired through feats), his auras increase in power: for every two points of bonus from other auras, the bez-kismet’s aura of misfortune’s penalties increase by 1, and for every two points of penalty from the auras of misfortune, all other auras’ bonuses increase by 1. Unless otherwise indicated, all penalties are luck penalties.
Apathy: luck penalty on all Will saving throws
Debilitation: luck penalties on attack rolls and damage rolls.
Frailty: luck penalty on all Fortitude saving throws
Hesitation: luck penalty on all Reflex saving throws
Lethargy: reduction in speed equal to five times the penalty provided by the aura. This applies to all speeds, except flight speeds in which the reduction is equal to 10 times the penalty. A character’s speed can be reduced to 0 by means of this ability.
Recklessness: luck penalty on Armor Class. A character under the effects of this aura may not make 5 ft. steps.

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Remember when I said that there was something like Aura of Unluck, but better? Here's that "better".

The Aura of Misfortune is basically an aura you manifest, which provides a pretty solid penalty to the opponent, and every now and then the aura's area of effect increases. Part of the reason why the Marshal, the Dragon Shaman and the aura-based classes are considered weak is because of this specifically: too small area of effect. At 60 feet radius, the AoE should be enough to cover virtually every opponent without being in much range.

Now, and this is crucial: you'll notice that the penalty scales pretty quickly, to the point that an 18th level bez-kismet will provide a base penalty of -6 depending on the active aura. That...well, pretty much makes the Marshal worthless (or at least the system it uses). That is intentional; not that I hate the Marshal, but the aura-provided bonuses have a pretty odd progression. Now, if you consider the aura's penalties are a tad too severe, make it so that it gains a point at 3rd, 9th, and 15th level: that way, they won't steal the shine of the Marshal or Dragon Shaman.

Step into the Unknown (Su): At 4th level, a bez-kismet gains the ability to escape from various situations by warping the space around himself. A bez-kismet is convinced of the certainty of death, but he refuses to believe his death is predestined to happen at the whim of fate.
As a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, a number of times per day equal to his Charisma modifier, a bez-kismet can teleport a small distance away from its current location (up to his land speed). He may use this ability even if he’s grappled, pinned, immobilized, dazed or stunned, and even if he does not have line of effect to the location, but not if he’s paralyzed, petrified, unconscious or otherwise helpless.
At 9th level, the bez-kismet gains a bonus of 10 feet to his land speed for purposes of determining the maximum range of teleportation. At 14th level, he may use this ability as a full-round action and move up to twice his effective land speed, as if making a double move action. At 19th level, the bez-kismet gains an actual bonus of 10 feet to any of his speeds, which can be duplicated if making a double-move teleport and that stacks with the earlier effective bonus to speed for purposes of determining the maximum teleportation range. At each of these levels, the bez-kismet may use this ability two more times per day.

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Step into the Unknown is a nifty movement ability, at the lines of the Monk's Abundant Step or the infinitely better Conjurer's Abrupt Jaunt Wizard ACF. It takes your move action (preventing full attacks) and has limited uses per day, but it still has some utility when tactical teleportation is needed.

Improved Curse of the Fateless (Su): At 5th level, the curse inflicted by the bez-kismet increases in potency. The penalty on on attack rolls, damage rolls saves, ability checks and skill checks increases to -4, and the duration of the curse last for an amount of minutes equal to the bez-kismet’s class level afterwards (if the creature manages to escape). Alternatively, the bez-kismet may impose a -4 penalty to a single ability score (this penalty stacks with the penalty from Bestow Curse), but the penalty only lasts for a number of rounds equal to the bez-kismet’s class level (if the creature manages to escape).

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Basically, this is the old Improved Hexblade's Curse with a twist: now, the bez-kismet can place one of two different curses instead of the same curse. The curse becomes much more powerful and retains its utility as compared to before, and that goes without mention that penalties are very rarely resisted, in comparison to ability damage and ability drain.

By the time you reach Dire Curse of the Fateless, you'll figure out what I'm trying to do with this ability. But it should be clear by now :P

Aura of Dissonance (Su): At 6th level, a bez-kismet impedes the use of magic upon his surroundings. The bez-kismet imposes a circumstance penalty on caster level to any enemy spellcaster when using a spell equal to the penalty provided by his aura of misfortune (see above). Reduction of caster level by means of this aura's effect does not prevent spellcasters from accessing their highest spell levels (an exception to the norm), except as follows. If the spellcaster fails a Will saving throw (DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the bez-kismet's class level + the bez-kismet's Charisma modifier), it may not use spells of the highest level it can cast while they are within the range of the aura of misfortune.

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So...this aura could easily go in the list above, but I consider that it would be an aura that most people would choose, and for good measure. Furthermore, there's a high chance that they won't try to change said aura in any case they find a spellcaster. Thus, this aura is provided separately from the other three auras you can get by virtue of class levels.

Now, this aura is meant to hinder enemy spellcasters, and with a strong reason: by 6th level, spellcasters can already cause big trouble within a game. While this doesn't remove much power from a spellcaster, it makes spells less durable and it also makes some attack spells a bit less powerful. For example: Fireball loses two entire dice of damage, while spells such as Haste and Alter Self lose two entire rounds of duration. Range of spells becomes a bit smaller, and if capable of using mass spells, they affect one less character.

UPDATE: Now it only limits spellcasters to be unable to cast their highest-level spells, and the effect is resistable.

Now: I concur that this is a pretty strong ability, and that perhaps the effect is a bit too powerful for what it means (and it would be a lot less powerful if the corollary of preventing spellcasters from using their highest level spells would be removed), so a bit of opinion is welcome. There's a much more powerful ability six levels later, just mentioning.

Tainted Wounds (Su): At 7th level, a bez-kismet can taint the wounds of creatures struck by his weapons, making them much more difficult to heal.
By sacrificing a daily use of the curse of the fateless class ability, the weapons of the bez-kismet become tainted weapons for a number of rounds equal to half the bez-kismet’s class level. Whenever the bez-kismet strikes a creature with a weapon tainted by this ability for the first time, the creature must make a Fortitude saving throw against a DC equal to 10 + ½ the bez-kismet’s class level + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier. If the creature fails its saving throw, any wound dealt by the bez-kismet does not heal naturally, and magical healing is impaired. Any healing spell, as well as fast healing and regeneration are reduced to half their effectiveness. Healing spells restore half the amount of hit points (but only hit points) it would normally heal, and fast healing/regeneration only heal half the normal amount of hit points it would heal per turn.
This effect lasts for 24 hours, or until the creature is treated with a Remove Curse, Break Enchantment or similar ability. If the creature succeeds on the saving throw, it is immune to the effect of this ability for the remainder of the rounds the bez-kismet holds this ability and for 24 hours afterwards.

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UPDATE: With the removal of the Baneful Aura of Misfortune, Tainted Wounds has taken that task. Not only that, it's a flat 50% reduction in all HP healing. It's easy, less noggin' breaking, and effective with everything: Cure X Wounds spells will be weaker, but not entirely weak, while Heal spells will take a severe hit (and with Aura of Dissonance, even more!). Fast Healing will take only a moderate hit, except for the Tarrasque which all of a sudden will only heal 20 of its HP, instead of the whopping 40.

Though...thinking about the Tarrasque, I'm this close to say that, if you use Tainted Wounds on the Tarrasque, it loses ALL its regeneration. Just because the Tarrasque is overrated :P

Mettle (Ex): Beginning at 8th level, if a bez-kismet makes a successful Will or Fortitude save that would normally reduce the save’s effect, he suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a saving throw entry of “partial” or “half” are affected by this ability, and only for purposes of Will and/or Fortitude saves with these descriptors.

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Not much to say: the Bez-kismet deserves mettle, it retains mettle. It has already high Fort and Will saves, it is meant to be a frontline tank, so why not grant it this ability?

Baleful Curse of the Fateless (Su): At 10th level, the curses of the bez-kismet not only improve further, but also cause physical harm whenever they are resisted. The penalty on on attack rolls, damage rolls saves, ability checks and skill checks increases to -6, and the duration of the curse last for an amount of hours equal to the bez-kismet’s class level afterwards (if the creature manages to escape). If the target creature succeeds on the saving throw, the curse of the fateless ability is not wasted (as usual), but the creature takes damage equal to twice the bez-kismet’s class level plus his Charisma modifier (unless the creature has the mettle ability, in which case it takes no damage).

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By the time this ability is acquired, you can deal basically 5 20 + Cha mod. damage, which would be a solid 9-11 24-26 points of damage as a swift action. Now, you can deliver curses of the fateless without worrying that there won't be any effect.

If there are good things about 4th Edition, is that they made some abilities work even if they missed. Same thing should apply to some of the 3.5 edition classes and characters. Since it's a swift action, an effect that only applies at a miss, and an ability that can't be spammed, it's meant to be pretty annoying; the more annoying it is, the more hate it'll provoke, and the more chances they'll try to neutralize you, which is the idea for a tank, no?

Denial of Grace (Su): At 11th level, a bez-kismet becomes slightly resistant to magic spells. A bez-kismet gains a bonus against spells, spell-like abilities, psionic powers, psi-like abilities and mysteries (whether they are cast as arcane spells, spell-like or supernatural abilities) equal to his Charisma modifier.

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Denial of Grace is basically the Arcane Resistance of the old Hexblade, but several levels later. It's meant to be a powerful ability (you get a bonus to saves on effectively five different types of abilities, including the entire line of mysteries), but with the catch that you'll be effectively barred from getting buffs. It's a zero-sum benefit: either get really high saves and protect yourself from some nefarious spells, or keep your spells low to prevent having buffs fail on you. Still, you *can* buff yourself, so it's not a bad idea....

Aura of Negation (Su): At 12th level, a bez-kismet negates a creature’s chances to incline the odds to its favor. When using a spell, spell-like ability, psionic power, psi-like ability or mystery (provided it is used as a spell or spell-like ability) that provides any kind of bonus, a creature within the aura of misfortune of the bez-kismet must succeed on a Concentration check equal to 13 + the bez-kismet’s class level + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier or botch the spell. This ability does not affect supernatural abilities that provide a bonus.

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Basically, aura of negation prevents people from being buffed by spells, psionic powers or mysteries (but not supernatural abilities) cast within area. This is meant to be the improved version of Aura of Dissonance: super-buffers within the area are basically nullified, and it takes only a friendly cast of Dispel Magic to halt them in their tracks.

So...why 13? It makes sense: a Concentration check, at its base, is equal to the ranks in Concentration, plus its Constitution modifier, plus a d20 roll. With this, your Charisma effectively negates the creature's Constitution for purposes of the roll, your own class level negates the ranks in Concentration, and what's left is basically the spellcasting succeeding on a roll of 10 or more (or less; it's basically a roll of 10 +/- the difference between your stats and the creature's own). With a much higher Charisma than Constitution (as expected), the creature will be forced to have insanely high bonuses in Concentration or have its buffs fail.

Now, seeing this ability and the earlier ability: are they strong abilities? Certainly, they won't destroy the hegemony of a spellcaster, but it will make them less effective within the area of a bez-kismet, which is the intention.

Improved Mettle (Ex): At 13th level, a bez-kismet’s mettle ability improves. He still takes no effect on a successful Will or Fortitude save that has the “partial” or “half” descriptor, but henceforth he takes only the partial effect or half the damage on a failed save.

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Not much to say here: if they got mettle, it makes sense that they get improved mettle. After all, they're staying within the class, and they're getting pretty resistant to various spells in any case; why not grant them one more resistance?

Dire Curse of the Fateless (Su): At 15th level, a bez-kismet’s curse becomes mortally crippling; such is the nature of the curse. The penalty on on attack rolls, damage rolls saves, ability checks and skill checks increases to -8, and the duration of the curse is permanent. The bez-kismet may instead reduce a single ability score to 1, or grant a -8 penalty to two ability scores, and the curse lasts for the entire encounter and for a number of hours equal to the bez-kismet’s class level afterwards. Alternatively, the subject of the curse has a 50% to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action. This last effect lasts for the entire encounter and for a number of rounds equal to the bez-kismet’s class level afterwards.
Spells such as Break Enchantment and Limited Wish cannot remove this curse while it remains on the creature, but a spellcaster using Miracle, Wish or Remove Curse (the latter cast by a spellcaster with a caster level equal or greater to the bez-kismet’s class level) can remove this curse.

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Still don't get it? Well, lemme be nice with you: this is basically making Greater Bestow Curse (or is it Bestow Greater Curse) as a swift-action supernatural ability. By now, any curse applied to a creature is potentially fatal, and the original curse becomes permanent (the others have different durations, though).

So, an ability such as this truly merits the somewhat restrictive daily uses, but it makes sense; a spellcaster can only use this ability a few times per day, as a standard action, and it'll still have less chances of success than yours (unless it blatantly cheats on its save DC, that is), with the caveat that if the effect fails, you still deal damage AND have a full-round worth of actions. It's neither insanely strong nor insanely weak: in fact, although it attacks, so to speak, the strongest save of a spellcaster it has a reasonable chance of ending a battle with them immediately.

Too much speak of spellcasters...no, I don't hate spellcasters, but I think it's time that martial characters and hybrids get nice toys against them.

Spell Resistance (Su): A bez-kismet of 16th level or higher gains spell resistance equal to 15 + his class level. Unlike other forms of spell resistance, a bez-kismet cannot voluntarily lower (or reactivate) his spell resistance during an encounter; only in or out of battle.

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Yep...spell resistance. A pretty decent, pretty high spell resistance (SR 31 right when you get it, for example). UPDATE:A bit less stupid restriction, but a reasonable one: your spell resistance is much more difficult to activate or deactivate.

This also still doesn't work exactly against SR: No spells, unless those have saving throws (in which Denial of Grace applies), but Aura of Dissonance still works for that. So they may depend on orbs against you, some of those horrible, horrible orbs they use, but those orbs will be weaker in average.

Destiny Bond (Su): At 17th level, a bez-kismet defies fate even if it perishes, by means of a death curse. If a creature uses an ability that instantly kills or destroys the bez-kismet, the creature must make a Fortitude saving throw with the ability’s DC, plus the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier, or suffer the same effects as the bez-kismet. Thus, if a sorcerer with Charisma 24 uses Finger of Death (a 7th level spell for sorcerers) against a bez-kismet with Charisma 24, and the bez-kismet is slain, the creature must make a Fortitude save with a DC of 29 or be slain instantly as well. This ability does not activate if the bez-kismet is slain by means of ability damage, ability drain or energy drain, but it activates if the bez-kismet is petrified or slain by a coup-de-grace.

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For anyone who asks: yes, I took this one from Pokemon. Just because it's an awesome ability.

So basically: you manage to fail an instant-kill ability? That might hardly happen with some spells, but it works with others; the idea is that a spellcaster (or any creature, actually) will think it twice before trying to kill you, but it'll still need to take you out of the battle because you're making their chances of combat more difficult. So: if you die by means of plain coup-de-grace, Disintegrate (you'll take 5d6 damage, but if you still die because of that the other guy becomes Disintegrated as well), Implosion, Finger of Death...you name it. Why have Death Ward when you can get the best kind of death-ward?

That goes without mentioning that you add your Charisma modifier to the save DC. What this means is that the guy is probably screwed, since if it managed to instantly kill you, whom has high Fort and Will saves, it might instantly kill them as well (unless they are insanely lucky enough, right?)

Hex of Ending Fate (Su): At 20th level, the bez-kismet develops a terrifying new power when someone is bound to his curse; to unravel the binds of fate and attempt to end an accursed person’s life. As a standard action, if a creature is under the effect of a curse of the fateless, the bez-kismet may decide to end this effect prematurely. The creature then must make a Will saving throw, against a DC of 10 + ½ the bez-kismet’s class level + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier or perish instantly, its body destroyed in the process. A creature that perishes because of this ability cannot be revived by means of raise dead or resurrection spells; only a true resurrection, wish or miracle spell can revive the character. If the saving throw succeeds, the creature no longer suffers the effects of the curse (and may not be affected by the curse of the fateless for 24 hours, as if it had successfully resisted the curse in first place).
If a creature is immune to death effects by any reason, it instead takes an amount of damage equal to the bez-kismet’s class level times his Charisma modifier, and if the creature’s HP reaches 0 because of this ability, the creature is likewise destroyed.

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Capstone ability, and I intended this one to be sick.

So you have the BBEG cursed, with a miserable Will save, and otherwise making your life impossible? All of this depends on a well-timed gamble? Good: make this gamble worthwhile. Either kill the guy, or remove his curse. It's a clever, risky, and tasty method of ending a creature's life, and it'll leave you thinking whether to use this ability or keep the curse ongoing, sapping its life slowly.

However...what if you can't kill it? Simple, you take an insane amount of damage. Since this is a capstone ability, that means you deal at the very least 20 points of damage, and that is if you play a bez-kismet wrong. If you play it right (and I assume you do), you'll be dealing something along the lines of 140-180 points of damage in a single blow. That should be enough to kill most creatures, especially if they have taken damage before. If they manage to survive (or make the save), then things get harder, but by no means impossible; that well-timed curse might have just weakened the creature enough already.

Also: it can be done in a single round. Two saves, and if it already failed your Will save for the curse, chances are it'll die on the first round. This is also the ultimate taste of irony: you depend on luck for one of your abilities, but by now you've essentially given the finger to luck, so chances are that you've just changed their fate.

Bez-Kismet Spells
As mentioned before, a bez-kismet learns to cast an amount of spells from certain schools within the sorcerer/wizard spell list, with a few exceptions. However, a bez-kismet’s spell list differs from that of a sorcerer by means of spells that the latter cannot normally learn. As well, a bez-kismet may lean spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list with an effective spell level lower than the usual.

The following spell list is a compilation of all the spells that bez-kismet may cast alongside the sorcerer/wizard spell list, as well as spells that are reduced from level. All of these spells are on the hexblade spell list (located in page 115 of the Complete Warrior sourcebook). For other sources than the mentioned above, a bez-kismet may cast spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list and the hexblade spell list. If a spell is in both lists, the bez-kismet may learn the spell at the lowest level by which the spell may be cast; for example, if a spell is 3rd level on the sorcerer/wizard spell list but 2nd level in the hexblade’s spell list, the bez-kismet can learn the spell as a 2nd level spell (regarded that the bez-kismet has the ability to learn spells of that level). Restrictions on spells are also extended to these spell lists; a bez-kismet can only choose from the enchantment, illusion, necromancy and transmutation schools plus conjuration spells of the calling or summoning subschool, and he may not cast a spell with the [Good] descriptor (with a few exceptions).

Spell Level	Added, level reduced or unique spells
0	arcane mark**, detect magic**, light**, prestidigitation**, read magic**
1st	alarm**, dispel magic**,-, entropic shield**, hideous laughter-, identify**, phantom threat**, protection from chaos**, protection from evil**, protection from good**, protection from law**, undetectable alignment**, unseen servant**
2nd	darkness**, glitterdust**, protection from arrows**, rage-, resist energy**, see invisibility**
3rd	arcane sight**, dominate person-,greater dispel magic**, hound of doomN, magic circle against chaos**, magic circle against evil**, magic circle against good**, magic circle against law**nondetection**, phantom steed**, protection from energy**, repel vermin**, stinking cloud**, wind wall**
4th	baleful polymorph-, break enchantment**,-, contact other plane**,-, cursed blade**, detect scrying**, dimensional anchor**, dimension door**, dominate monster-, scrying**, sending**,-, solid fog**

^-: reduced from base sorcerer/wizard spell level
^N: exclusive Bez-Kismet spell
**: added to Bez-Kismet spell list

When determining whether spells from other schools may be learned by the bez-kismet, use the above list as an example. As a rule of thumb, a bez-kismet rarely uses damaging evocation spells, and may have access to certain abjuration or divination spells (specifically those that reveal magical auras, or serve to protect oneself). The DM decides whether those spells from other books may also be added to the bez-kismet spell list.

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This will need only a little bit of explanation, but it should be enough.

First and foremost, this isn't the only spells the Bez-Kismet can cast. Think of it as with the Duskblade: the spells that can be cast are a bit hidden, and are more than what appear on the official part of the spell lists.

Now, as follows: when learning a spell, a Bez-Kismet can learn spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, but given that it's one of the four schools mentioned OR from the subschools mentioned. Also, no [Good] spells: while this may seem a bit weird, given that casting a [Good] spell has no actual restriction (unless you're a Cleric) and pretty much doesn't do anything for your alignment, it adds a bit of flavor. I mean, have you asked where the Bez-Kismet gains its powers? Still, there are some [Good] spells tucked on the list above (namely, Protection from Evil and Magic Circle against Evil given that both also double as barriers to keep evil creatures at bay and whatnot, and evil summoners are keen on using them for deals when using Planar Binding for evil creatures). Yes, it might sound a bit silly, especially since there is no hard-coded restriction in case of arcane spellcasters, but it's not like it's going to kill you...

Wait, I winded up a bit. In any case: if you want, say...Spirit Worm from Spell Compendium, you can get it as a Bez-Kismet spell. Or Heroics, Or Wraithstrike. You can get it, no questions asked.

The idea is as follows: limited spell lists are cool for flavor, but eventually they serve as the third (fourth?) reason why half-spellcasters suck: they rarely get support from other sourcebooks, while sorcerers and wizards and clerics and druids gain at least a new spell every sourcebook. That should remedy the situation a bit, although it won't be the decisive factor on the power of the earlier classes. They'll still have lower-level spells and they'll earn their higher level spell slots much later than full spellcasters. In this case, they resemble the bard a bit, whose spellcasting is pretty reasonable even though they have up to 6th level spells: they have full caster level and a much wider selection of spells than before. This should make them a bit more "half" spellcasters and less "not even close to 1/4th spellcaster".

And remember: if you can't learn the spell, you can still use a wand or scroll or staff with it. That should be reasonable enough while you keep your aura active and your curses flying.

UPDATE: Lowered Dispel Magic to a 1st level spell and Dominate Person as a 3rd level spell. Added Greater Dispel Magic as a 3th level spell and Dominate Monster as a 4th level spell. Any other good additions to the list would be appreciated.

ALTERNATE CLASS FEATURE: Shadowcursed
Instead of tapping into the powers of the arcane, you tap the unrivaled power of the Plane of Shadows. Just as the light cannot defeat the shadows, Fate cannot defeat you.
Level: 1st
Replaces: Spellcasting
Benefit: The bez-kismet gains the ability to use fundamentals and mysteries.
Fundamentals (Su): A bez-kismet learns two fundamentals at first level. At 3rd level, and every four levels afterwards, the bez-kismet can learn another fundamental. Each fundamental is a supernatural ability that can be used three times per day. A bez-kismet can choose a fundamental more than once, increasing the number of uses of this ability by three. The save DC for the fundamentals is equal to 10 + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier.
Mysteries and Paths: Beginning at 3rd level, a bez-kismet gains the ability to use mysteries. At 3rd level, a bez-kismet gains the ability to use mysteries from one path, and may choose a new path at level 7th, 11th, 14th and 17th. A bez-kismet begins capable only of choosing mysteries from the apprentice paths; at 14th level, a bez-kismet becomes capable of casting mysteries from the initiate paths and all of his apprentice path mysteries become spell-like abilities.
A bez-kismet may use each mystery from a single path once per day; at 14th level, he may use his apprentice mysteries three times per day. A bez-kismet may, instead of choosing a new path at any given level, may choose from any of his already chosen paths; if doing so, he progresses further down his path as if he had gained the ability to choose initiate mysteries, turning those specific mysteries into spell-like abilities and gaining the ability to cast them three times per day. A third choice of the same path allows the bez-kismet to treat his mysteries as supernatural abilities, usable five times per day. A bez-kismet may not choose the same path more than three times. A character that chooses to delve further down a path gains no further uses of his mysteries at 14th level (effectively, he sacrifices to an extent his progression in other paths for greater understanding of a single one), except as follows. After 14th level, if the character decides to delve further into his apprentice mysteries, he is treated as if he had already progressed further down his path once (thus, a 13th level bez-kismat that has progressed upon a path three times gains no benefit from the enhancement at 14th level, but a 14th level bez-kismat can sacrifice his path choice at 14th level on an apprentice path and treat said path’s mysteries as supernatural abilities usable 5/day).
The Difficulty Class for a bez-kismet’s mystery is equal to 10 + the mystery’s effective spell level + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier. If the bez-kismet’s mysteries become supernatural abilities, the saving throw DC for these mysteries becomes 10 + ½ the bez-kismet’s class level + the bez-kismet’s Charisma modifier. Although the bez-kismet has no actual caster level, it is treated as if having a caster level equal to his class level for purposes of determining the effect of mysteries.
Bonus Feats: since the bez-kismet has exchanged his spellcasting ability, it cannot use reserve feats, nor most of the feats presented above. The bez-kismet can still choose fighter bonus feats, but it can also choose from the feats located in pages 136-129 of the Tome of Magic sourcebook.

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And here's the first ACF. And we got...mysteries? Wait, mysteries?

Yep, mysteries. They're a bit loathed because they aren't as awesome as binding, or as hit/miss and aneurysm inspiring as truenaming, but they would evoke the feel of a warrior of darkness. Mind you, the bez-kismet is not a warrior or darkness, but the feel of the class and the fluff of mysteries leads to a bez-kismet that uses more...shadowy magic (pun intended).

However, the system is a bit different. I'm not using the original version, and only bits and pieces of the proposed Shadowcaster fix. However, I found a system that works pretty well close to what mysteries should intend: if the term "Spherelock" sounds similar...well, something along those lines.

Basically, instead of learning a single mystery, you learn an entire path. However, you only get a very limited amount of choices: by count, you basically get 15 mysteries (the actual shadowcaster learns up to 21-22, IIRC, out of 60; 22/69 if you consider the Cityscape web enhancement). Up until 14th level, you can only use initiate mysteries, and you can only use them 1/day. Once you reach 14th level, you gain access to initiate mysteries and all of your apprentice mysteries leap to 3/day.

However, you can get more uses of mysteries by choosing the same path once again. It's basically like the ability of shadowcasters of choosing the same mystery once again to get a new set of uses per day. However, instead of getting another daily use, you get two extra daily uses (from 1/day to 3/day). Furthermore, you gain the ability to upgrade them: from spells to spell-like abilities to supernatural abilities. So basically, it'd be: 1 spell/day, 3 SLA/day, 5 (Su)/day progression. So you can choose to delve into a lot of mysteries (and more powerful mysteries at that) or into a specific set which you can use more times per day.

Now, the disclaimer: this method is a bit incomplete, and it draws from a source I'm still getting familiarized with. By all means, it'll seem complicated and incomplete; that is intentional. The key point is to refine this idea into something simpler but useful, that abridges what already exists (Tome of Magic mysteries) with the system that I feel works best for it (the sphere/path system). Comments, ideas or questions would be much appreciated. MUCH appreciated.

ALTERNATE CLASS FEATURE: Pact of the Fateless
Some bez-kismet draw their abilities from their own misfortune, tapping into a source of power to defy the whim of Fate. You, however, make pacts with beings of greater power to face your misfortune.
Level: 1st
Replaces: Spellcasting
Benefit: The bez-kismet gains the ability to use invocations, as if it were a warlock (see Complete Arcane). As well, his curse of the fateless ability alters significantly.
At 1st level, the bez-kismet gains the ability to use a single invocation of least grade. He cannot choose eldritch blast shape or eldritch essence invocations, for he does not possess the eldritch blast ability. At 3rd level, and again at 7th, 11th, 14th and 17th level, he may choose a new invocation from the least grade. Beginning at 11th level, the bez-kismet can take invocations of lesser grade, and at 17th level he may choose a greater invocation. He may use each of these abilities as a spell-like ability at-will, restricted by the rules of invocations. His effective caster level for these invocations is equal to his class level.
Furthermore, his curse of the fateless class ability turns into an invocation. Instead of using his curse of the fateless ability for a limited number of uses per day, he may use this ability at-will; however, it behaves as a spell-like ability and it can only be done as a standard action. Whenever he gains an improvement to this class ability, he gains the full benefit except for the extra uses per day (as he can use this ability at-will).
Bonus Feats: since the bez-kismet has exchanged his spellcasting ability, it cannot use reserve feats, nor some of the feats presented above. The bez-kismet can still choose fighter bonus feats, and may choose feats that enhance spell-like abilities (such as Ability Focus); as well, he may choose Extra Invocation as a bonus feat, but only if he complies with the requisites, as usual.

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And this is the second ACF: a Bez-Kismet using invocations. Warlocks get a bit more love, but they aren't so appreciated as classical magic or psionics.

Basically, instead of the huge amount of spells on your disposal, you focus on a smaller amount of invocations you can use per day. The warlock gets only moderate love, but it gets a bit more love than shadowcasters or truenamers in that regard.

However, most if not all invoking classes have a damage-dealing invocation that they always get. Warlock gets Eldritch Blast, Dragonfire Adept gets a Breath Weapon that deals fire damage. The Bez-Kismet is more of a tank mixed with debuffing, so adding a sneak-attack-ish ability will seem a bit out of the blue given that their damage method is closer to your typical warrior than to your typical rogue. So what's the solution? Make their signature ability, Curse of the Fateless, an invocation.

So, basically, that would be the rough equivalent of having Bestow Curse, a bit more limited but eventually upgraded to Greater Bestow Curse. However, it has been downgraded a bit: no more swift action, but a standard action instead. Still, a standard action [Greater] Bestow Curse that can be used at-will isn't a bad idea.

Now, the idea is to use it with the already existing invocations, but if there are new invocations that can be used by Warlocks, they'll have access to them. Homebrew that makes upgrades or changes to existing invocations are welcome too.

As usual: comments, queries, opinions? Best name evar, or "an insult to the language"? A good try at making a great class awesome, or just blew it out of proportion? Placed "hexblade" where I should have placed "bez-kismet"?

First, I absolutely love ALL of your class remodels, and your Monk is now the Official Version for ALL my games. Think you could go work on Duskblade after you're done with this class?

Second, this class is, literally, the ultimate Anti-Spellcaster style person, and would likely walk ALL OVER every spell caster I can think of. I don't think this is a bad thing, but you may want to make certain things (Aura of Dissonance and such) affect EVERY spellcaster, and then have it repress-able. Yes, it means you'll get a dirty look from your spell casters, but it's a bit more of a balancing factor.

Response to guy above me: I do not agree with the friendly fire idea. Screwing your party members is not a way to balance anything. See Frenzied berserker. It angers people OOC.

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I really like this class. Some comments though:

Cha race + Middle Age and/or mage blooded for a starting cha of 22.
Take a level of marshal, pick any lesser aura (+6 bonus, so +3 to aura)
Take 7 levels of Bez-Kismet (Aura + 2 I think? It’s not very clear but you say +6 at 18..)
At 8th level Cha will be 24, toss on a +2 Cha boosting item for a total Cha modifier of +8, which is +4 to aura.

+6, which is the magic number to reduce all speeds by 30ft with Lethargy. And that’s being reasonable. It’s possible to have a much higher charisma much earlier and preventing enemies from moving can be very deadly. Perhaps a penalty to initiative instead? Or simply reducing them to a minimum of 5ft (Which is still awesome).
Lethargy: Enemies take a penalty on movement speed equal to five times the penalty provided by the aura (minimum 5ft). This applies to all speeds

Also, you may want to remove the multiclass benefit on the aura (but not to the auras of other classes) and just have ½ cha added to the aura. Otherwise Marshal is such an obvious dip it hurts (I don’t think a pure BK can match a BK with one level in marshal.) Basically, Marshal exists as an awesome dip class. Having the auras combine like this only makes marshal an even better dip class. It won’t make the hypothetical single class marshal player feel any less worthless. Changing the ½ cha to something the BK already gets make Marshal a fun dip but not a necessarily optimal one.

A big issue, though, is what happens when Aura of Dissonance gets to be this large. Spellcasters lose their 3 highest spell levels at level 8-9? I would disconnect this from the penalties of the other auras and have it simple be -1 per three class levels with no other way to raise it. Or -2 per six levels to ignore "is his level odd or even?" questions. Or maybe just remove the casting negation and keep the higher bonus. -3,4 to caster level at level 6 is going to seriously hurt a mage.

On another note, could the recklessness aura also prevent enemies from taking 5ft steps? I don’t feel it is on par with the other auras as it is and removing 5ft steps seems to be in flavor for it.


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One more thing. In a world where Bez-Kismets are an important class the "Miser’s Fortune" ability would mostly be used as a dip to screw with BKs (Many of their penalties are luck penalties, including all of their auras). I'm not sure if that is a good thing for a 2nd level ability.

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Originally Posted by DythTheKobold

First, I absolutely love ALL of your class remodels, and your Monk is now the Official Version for ALL my games. Think you could go work on Duskblade after you're done with this class?

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Umm...thanks? Especially for the Monk: I'm thinking of revising it a bit, but I'd love to see some actual playtesting on it. Sadly, I don't have a gaming group in my area that can serve as guinea pigsscientists...

I'm not sure if I'll go with Duskblade at any moment. IMO, Duskblade could use some help but it's already pretty good, given the abilities it uses. I could make it a revision, but it's not exactly on my plans, so I can't say I will (not to mention I already have some other classes and PrCs I've already done and that I'd love to present.

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Second, this class is, literally, the ultimate Anti-Spellcaster style person, and would likely walk ALL OVER every spell caster I can think of. I don't think this is a bad thing, but you may want to make certain things (Aura of Dissonance and such) affect EVERY spellcaster, and then have it repress-able. Yes, it means you'll get a dirty look from your spell casters, but it's a bit more of a balancing factor.

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I'll have to agree with the poster below:

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Originally Posted by Magikeeper

Response to guy above me: I do not agree with the friendly fire idea. Screwing your party members is not a way to balance anything. See Frenzied berserker. It angers people OOC.

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Given that you're already shooting yourself in the foot because of the Denial of Grace and Spell Resistance applying even to your allies' spells, and that you already are the unluckiest person in the entire perimeter (barring a lesser level Bez-Kismet, that is), that would be annoying the entire party. At least a bit of teamwork should prevail.

Now, if you wish to apply that in your gaming group and everyone agrees, then it shouldn't be a bad idea. However, straight from the package, it shouldn't dent your allies: the Bez-Kismet is the one whom Fate despises, not the allies of the Bez-Kismet (though a Bez-Kismet is kind of a solitary guy in any case ;) )

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Originally Posted by Magikeeper

I really like this class.

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Um...thanks again |-_-|& ? Think of this as a sweatdrop, please...

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Some comments though:

Cha race + Middle Age and/or mage blooded for a starting cha of 22.
Take a level of marshal, pick any lesser aura (+6 bonus, so +3 to aura)
Take 7 levels of Bez-Kismet (Aura + 2 I think? It’s not very clear but you say +6 at 18..)
At 8th level Cha will be 24, toss on a +2 Cha boosting item for a total Cha modifier of +8, which is +4 to aura.

+6, which is the magic number to reduce all speeds by 30ft with Lethargy. And that’s being reasonable. It’s possible to have a much higher charisma much earlier and preventing enemies from moving can be very deadly. Perhaps a penalty to initiative instead? Or simply reducing them to a minimum of 5ft (Which is still awesome).
Lethargy: Enemies take a penalty on movement speed equal to five times the penalty provided by the aura (minimum 5ft). This applies to all speeds

Also, you may want to remove the multiclass benefit on the aura (but not to the auras of other classes) and just have ½ cha added to the aura. Otherwise Marshal is such an obvious dip it hurts (I don’t think a pure BK can match a BK with one level in marshal.) Basically, Marshal exists as an awesome dip class. Having the auras combine like this only makes marshal an even better dip class. It won’t make the hypothetical single class marshal player feel any less worthless. Changing the ½ cha to something the BK already gets make Marshal a fun dip but not a necessarily optimal one.

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Hmm...I should have cleared that. I remember the Marshal has Minor and Major Auras; the intention is that it only affects Major Auras. I'll fix that.

So technically, you'd need a dip of 7 levels in Marshal to get a -1 on the Auras of Misfortune penalties and +1 to the Major Auras bonuses of the Marshal. So technically, it shouldn't be an obvious dip. But thanks for clearing that out.

And yes: Lethargy is meant to be THAT awesome. However, by the time you can reduce the speeds of people to 30 feet, pretty much everyone has a method to increase those speeds. So it'll be more of an annoyance than anything else, unless they have less than 30 feet or stacking speed penalties, in which...well, they're sitting ducks (but they can still weave and dodge)

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A big issue, though, is what happens when Aura of Dissonance gets to be this large. Spellcasters lose their 3 highest spell levels at level 8-9? I would disconnect this from the penalties of the other auras and have it simple be -1 per three class levels with no other way to raise it. Or -2 per six levels to ignore "is his level odd or even?" questions. Or maybe just remove the casting negation and keep the higher bonus. -3,4 to caster level at level 6 is going to seriously hurt a mage.

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Hmm...good call. The aura, after all, is different from the others but one that pretty much all bez-kismet will have, so it makes sense that it works differently from the others.

I'm thinking on the lines of "on a failed Will save, the spellcaster cannot cast spells of its highest spell level while within the aura" as a secondary ability of the Aura of Dissonance. It also makes it have a better thematic link to Aura of Negation, which is meant to be the idea.

Then again, the increase depends on exploiting the multiclass benefit. That reminds me: Draconic Aura + dragonblooded will be nasty. Lemme go fix that...

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On another note, could the recklessness aura also prevent enemies from taking 5ft steps? I don’t feel it is on par with the other auras as it is and removing 5ft steps seems to be in flavor for it.

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Another good call. It really adds to the feel of recklessness that the aura should inspire.

It just felt a bit... unwieldy, fluff-wise, for him to have this sort of "disrupt magic" aura and have it not affect... everyone.

Well, now that the loopholes for massive low level auras have been removed Aura of Dissonance is okay. I don’t even think it needs the will save, but some people would probably disagree with that. Will save means that psions get hit harder than arcane casters, while no save would let the existence of the overchannel feat even it out (Psions can’t spend more power points than ML, so the aura will always effect them like the original aura did).

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I think you made your post while I was editing in my critique of Miser’s Fortune. Namely the fact that the ability’s main use is to screw with other Bez-Kismets. I thought about it some more, and although I like BKs being able to resist other BKs, giving them the ability to ignore the auras at level 2 felt wrong. But on the other hand I as a player wouldn't want to gain it instead of a higher level ability. Also, the ability is somewhat ill-defined. What if instead the 2nd level ability did something like the following:

Miser’s Fortune(Su): At 2nd level, a bez-kismet’s miserable fortune is such that it cannot plunge any lower. Whenever the Bez-Kismet would receive a penalty to an attack, skill, saving throw, or check from a magical source, he may reduce that penalty by an amount up to ½ his class level. A Bez-Kismet that uses this ability loses any luck bonuses he is benefiting from for 1 round.

It keeps up that anti-magic theme, the luck theme, and results in high-level BKs laughing off the curses of lower level ones (at least until the curses start hitting ability scores). The luck loss is for flavor.

EWP: Wait, why does Denial of Grace grant a luck bonus? I think it should be unamed - having it be a luck bonus flies in the face of the rest of the flavor text.

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Lethargy… well, it may not be a problem at level 18. You basically need enhanced movement to be a challenge at that level. But what about level 12? That’s a -20 penalty to movement. Aura of dwarf slaying? There isn’t any reason why the BK can’t be using a bow… granted, letting the poor enemy move 5ft each round is just as pointless… I don’t know, something bugs me about this ability. I think it would be better off as a penalty to initiative and related skills and checks that also reduced opponent’s move speeds as though they were carrying a medium load. Sorta like a reverse motivate dexterity, only with movement cutting instead of a higher bonus. This would have the added advantage of being more effective on faster opponents.

A possible way to word it:

Lethargy: All opponents are treated as if they were carrying a medium load, except without a maximum dex bonus and that the check penalties are instead equal to the aura penalty. This penalty also applies to initiative modifiers.

This ability would also sink most flying creatures. Take that, required flight magic items!

... Hit dice isn't listed <<

What the guy above me said, but I think d10, as the Hexblade.

Looks great, though the Bestow Greater Curse copy still lacks the most awesome thing; creating your own curse. That's just one of the most awesome features of the spell. :smallfrown:

Just a question I'm not sure of, before I read the rest of the class: how common are luck penalties, actually? From what I know, most penalties tend to be unnamed.

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Originally Posted by DythTheKobold

It just felt a bit... unwieldy, fluff-wise, for him to have this sort of "disrupt magic" aura and have it not affect... everyone.

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There's a need to strike a balance between fluff and crunch. It's...difficult, of course, and getting to the precise point is brutal as heck, but sometimes, fluff has to recede in order to make the crunch a bit less nonsensical.

What I mean is: while the Bez-Kismet, by fluff, is expected to be a loner, circumstances will determine that he'll be tagging along a party, and thus has to be capable of teamwork. Even with the strong anti-magician flavor of the BK, eventually the party will have to depend on magicians for one thing or another: be it a big blast, a key spell that holds the enemy in place, or even a single buff to make the battle less dangerous. Hurting your own spellcasters erodes that feeling of teamwork, whether it exists or not: your spellcasters will ask you, as a player and perhaps as a character, to move out of the way or change/deactivate your aura in order to have them do their work. With this, you won't bother them, and the enemy spellcasters won't bother you.

Of course, that doesn't apply to bez-kismet NPCs: you'll definitely want one of those guys out of the field ASAP or else your spellcaster will be a sitting duck.

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Originally Posted by Magikeeper

Well, now that the loopholes for massive low level auras have been removed Aura of Dissonance is okay. I don’t even think it needs the will save, but some people would probably disagree with that. Will save means that psions get hit harder than arcane casters, while no save would let the existence of the overchannel feat even it out (Psions can’t spend more power points than ML, so the aura will always effect them like the original aura did).

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Well, the ones that'll be hit less will be Wis-using spellcasters, to be precise. Wizards and sorcerers will have large Will saves, but they won't have that much of a high Wisdom score compared to, say, Clerics and Druids which have Wisdom as their highest score. Ardents will have no problem either, given that they have good Will scores and high Wis.

Arguably, manifesters won't have much of a trouble with Aura of Dissonance. As you've stated, Overchannel is basically a method in which they can resolve part of the dent in their ML (given psionics/magic transparency), and most manifesters use their lower-level spells for effective blasting and buffing. Temporarily losing the ability of casting their highest-level powers will be mostly a nuisance, as they'll still be capable of using their lower level spells with reduced effectiveness. They are hurt more by the loss of ML than by the loss of high-level powers, while spellcasters are hurt more by the loss of higher-level spell slots than by the loss of CL.

So, it gets mostly balanced. And raising saves is much quicker than raising save DCs, in any case (though Aura of Dissonance is worthwhile enough to strengthen).

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Originally Posted by Eldan

Just a question I'm not sure of, before I read the rest of the class: how common are luck penalties, actually? From what I know, most penalties tend to be unnamed.

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I'll answer this out of order, since I find that this post and Magikeeper's take on Miser's Fortune are linked.

Currently...there are none. That I know of, at least. The closest one is Prayer, which grants a luck bonus but an unnamed penalty, and a few feats that also grant penalties.

The biggest hurdle of working with penalties is that pretty much every penalty is untyped. In theory, there should be morale penalties, sacred penalties, profane penalties, amongst others. In theory, penalties that have a similar source don't stack, but since all penalties are untyped, they either never stack or always stack, which causes a bit of a headache. Case in point: Bestow Curse + Mind Fog, for example, can stack to make your Wis reach 1 almost instantly. A single ability that deals Wis damage either sends you into coma (because you take damage beyond your current Wisdom score) or does technically nothing (since you're dealing damage to your maximum Wis, but the two penalties, although stacking, cannot reduce the Wis score below 1, so a creature with penalties driving Wis to -1 won't be affected by the Wisdom damage).

So...I presume where your question lies (it means the ability is effectively useless), but given how the following post deals with it, I decided that it was best to answer yours first before continuing.

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Originally Posted by Magikeeper

I think you made your post while I was editing in my critique of Miser’s Fortune. Namely the fact that the ability’s main use is to screw with other Bez-Kismets. I thought about it some more, and although I like BKs being able to resist other BKs, giving them the ability to ignore the auras at level 2 felt wrong. But on the other hand I as a player wouldn't want to gain it instead of a higher level ability. Also, the ability is somewhat ill-defined. What if instead the 2nd level ability did something like the following:

Miser’s Fortune(Su): At 2nd level, a bez-kismet’s miserable fortune is such that it cannot plunge any lower. Whenever the Bez-Kismet would receive a penalty to an attack, skill, saving throw, or check from a magical source, he may reduce that penalty by an amount up to ½ his class level. A Bez-Kismet that uses this ability loses any luck bonuses he is benefiting from for 1 round.

It keeps up that anti-magic theme, the luck theme, and results in high-level BKs laughing off the curses of lower level ones (at least until the curses start hitting ability scores). The luck loss is for flavor.

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Hmm...not only flavor, but it makes sense. As mentioned before, although the game allows for luck "penalties", by default most penalties become untyped, so the ability would end up being useless (except for Bez-Kismet attacks, which are by default luck penalties). I'd make it similar to the growth progression of Aura of Dissonance; essentially, you can reduce the penalty by 1 + (1 per three class levels after 2nd) points; effectively making you highly resistant to penalties as your level increases, and making Bez-Kismet penalties still work out against those of lower level. However, they get a hit to their luck. I'd...go far as saying that while you're resisting those penalties, you cannot gain a luck bonus (basically, your luck, bizarre as it may seem, is canceling your penalties).

That goes without mention that the Bez-Kismet will still suffer from Mind Fog, since that penalty is a circumstance penalty...

I'll be taking this under consideration, actually.

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EWP: Wait, why does Denial of Grace grant a luck bonus? I think it should be unamed - having it be a luck bonus flies in the face of the rest of the flavor text.

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Could be, but you might also consider it's a bit of a joke (the Bez-Kismet is meant to face fate, and it gets a luck bonus...so it's basically its bad luck protecting him). Since it also blocks your allies' spells, it can be considered bad luck.

Then again, it's pretty similar to Divine Grace and Arcane Resistance in execution, so perhaps it's best untyped. Perhaps even resistance, but that would make it a bit pointless (since it would be the effect of an 8th level spell, minimized, and unable to stack with other resistance bonuses).

Then again...it might be deactivated with Miser's Fortune, so...I'll think about it.

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Lethargy… well, it may not be a problem at level 18. You basically need enhanced movement to be a challenge at that level. But what about level 12? That’s a -20 penalty to movement. Aura of dwarf slaying? There isn’t any reason why the BK can’t be using a bow… granted, letting the poor enemy move 5ft each round is just as pointless… I don’t know, something bugs me about this ability. I think it would be better off as a penalty to initiative and related skills and checks that also reduced opponent’s move speeds as though they were carrying a medium load. Sorta like a reverse motivate dexterity, only with movement cutting instead of a higher bonus. This would have the added advantage of being more effective on faster opponents.

A possible way to word it:

Lethargy: All opponents are treated as if they were carrying a medium load, except without a maximum dex bonus and that the check penalties are instead equal to the aura penalty. This penalty also applies to initiative modifiers.

This ability would also sink most flying creatures. Take that, required flight magic items!

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It may seem a bit off, but it has a very reasonable line of thought: as a tank and as a debuffer, the idea is to keep people within your grasp.

While it may seem a bit unfair for dwarves that have reductions to movement (although, at the very end, they can just activate Boots of Speed and get the benefit of Haste), it works for other people. Most notably: strafing dragons, people using Fly-by Attack, and people trying to run away from warriors in order to force the latter to use attack actions (if melee) or driving them to use bows. Reductions on speed are appreciated by most people, but specifically for melee warriors (think on the Monk, please!)

Making it an initiative penalty, then a skill check and load penalty makes it less useful. Basically, it'll be useful in the first round, and afterwards it'll lose some power, as the check penalties will be pretty circumstancial. That also depends on whether you treat the aura of Lethargy as applying to attack rolls, Str checks and Dex checks or only to the smaller list of ACP-affected skills (Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble), since the latter would be moderately weak and the former would be a bit redundant (you'd already have a penalty to Initiative as your Dex checks would be penalized, and you'd be also dabbling on the benefit of the aura of Debilitation). Furthermore, reduction by Medium load is a flat 1/3rd, which means that it won't keep people from moving away without much trouble, the original idea of Lethargy.

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Originally Posted by Ferrin

Looks great, though the Bestow Greater Curse copy still lacks the most awesome thing; creating your own curse. That's just one of the most awesome features of the spell. :smallfrown:

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Well, it's a swift-action supernatural ability (or a standard-action spell-like ability that can be used at will if using the Path of the Fateless ACF), so it's reasonable.

I declined to allow the Dire Curse of the Fateless to allow for custom curses because it leads to minor exploitation. Certainly, you could allow for creative curses (reduce movement to 5 ft. would be a reasonable curse, for example), but it depends on far too much creativity (not something I'd shun) and some time to consider it (hence less time playing, which is not something I'd like either). So I kept it simple, and added the 10th level and 20th level abilities to make it unique and different to the Bestow Greater Curse spell.

Still: you *can* use Bestow Curse and be creative with it: after all, you can choose from all Necromancy spells on your spell list, and Bestow Curse just happens to be one of them. Heck...I should consider lowering it to a 3rd level Bez-Kismet spell.

@Hit Die: it's a d10, just like old Hexblade. I usually put the Hit Dice between the skill list and the table, so I must have forgotten. Thanks for pointing that out.

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Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar

It may seem a bit off, but it has a very reasonable line of thought: as a tank and as a debuffer, the idea is to keep people within your grasp.

While it may seem a bit unfair for dwarves that have reductions to movement (although, at the very end, they can just activate Boots of Speed and get the benefit of Haste), it works for other people. Most notably: strafing dragons, people using Fly-by Attack, and people trying to run away from warriors in order to force the latter to use attack actions (if melee) or driving them to use bows. Reductions on speed are appreciated by most people, but specifically for melee warriors (think on the Monk, please!)

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Heh. Monk gets nuked by medium loads and you can’t fly with a medium load without feats. Making it a heavy load would also weaken running away (x4->x3 with lower speed) and prevent natural flight (and even some spells) without multiple feat investment (I think). So for the purposes you outlined a heavy load would be sufficient. I chose the 1/3 penalty as that has the largest effect on the enemies you have in mind – really fast ones. The current aura is extremely strong against slow enemies. The current aura gives a -20 penalty at level 12, which is the same as forcing a heavy load on a speed 60 creature. If everyone actually has boots of speed / haste / etc the aura will generally be about the same – and much more useful at lower levels.

If the issue is that most enemies will not have a speed of 50+, then we return to the aura’s amazing power against slow enemies. The issue I have with lethargy is not that it prevents people from moving away from you. The issue is that is prevents enemies that aren’t very fast from ever reaching you. Heavy load blocks flight, weakens running, and wrecks any ability that can’t be done with a heavy load (monks, barbarian fast movement, …). It basically messes up any attempt to give the BK the run-around which is what the ability appears to be trying to do. Unless the goal was to freeze enemies in place while you kill them with ranged attacks I think heavy load would do the job.

The load penalties would be the small list of skills, yes. Only moderately useful but tumble+balance+Jump+Escape Artist + hide+move silently are pretty much the best skills to lower in combat… what else matters? Bluff and concentration aren’t dex based.

Anyway, new suggestion:

Lethargy: All opponents are treated as if they were carrying a heavy load for all purposes, except without a maximum dex bonus to armor class and that the check penalties are instead equal to the aura penalty. This penalty also applies to initiative modifiers.
Note: Creatures with natural flight speeds can only fly while carrying no more than a light load.

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Yeah, I noted the luck bonus while checking to see if my version of Miser’s fortune would remove any later class abilities. Power-wise it comes at such a late level that making it unnamed would be just fine. Turbo dipping isn’t going to reach it.

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On a different note, why only 2+int skills? The class doesn’t really use int for anything, so 4+int would be fine IMO. I don’t see why melee classes can’t have skills, really. Rogue gets 8+int so it wouldn’t be skin off their backs.

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Still: you *can* use Bestow Curse and be creative with it: after all, you can choose from all Necromancy spells on your spell list, and Bestow Curse just happens to be one of them. Heck...I should consider lowering it to a 3rd level Bez-Kismet spell.

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I like this idea. In fact, perhaps they could get Bestow Curse as a 2nd level (level 8) spell and Bestow Greater Curse as a 4th level (14th level) spell? They are the curse class and BGC wouldn't wreck a game that isn't seeing other 8th-level spells for some reason.

Made some changes to the abilities:

--Auras: removed Baneful, split Doom into three separate auras. Lethargy remains as is, except it's more dangerous to flying creatures. I find that heavy load still doesn't provide what I seek, since I don't find any trouble having people effectively locked down because of lack of movement. Most of the insanely huge speeds are on fly speeds, so doubling the penalty on flying creatures should suffice.

--Tainted Wounds: made it a 50% flat reduction on received healing. I find it's a bit more appropriate to the ability itself, plus it reminds me of an ability used on an MMORPG which adds a similar condition. (If curious: Ragnarok Online's Critical Wounds)
--Curse of the Fateless: decided to boost Baneful Curse of the Fateless. Now it should be roughly as strong as the other steps.

--Denial of Grace/Spell Resistance: now less restrictive. Spell Resistance still has limitations, but they are less silly. Denial of Grace has no restrictions at all. If you liked the original flavor, you have my permission to keep it (Denial of Grace forces a save on spells with "harmless" on the saving throw description)

--Step into the Unknown: minor boost. Now, the 9th level effective increase on teleportation range is doubled along with the rest of the land speed when using the "double-move teleportation".

--Spells: added two more spells, and lowered the spell levels of two more.

Still undecided: increase skill points to 4 + Int and add more skills. It seems to be useful and favorable, but it kinda makes 2 + Int skill points a bit pointless in existence. I might consider raising skill points if the skill list increases appropriately. Also, whether I should make the Aura of Dissonance's hindrance on spell levels increase with class levels: first highest spell level at 6th, first and second on 12th level, and highest three on 18th level. It does require a Will save, after all, and it makes a spellcaster facing a Bez-Kismet extremely weak.

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Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar

Made some changes to the abilities:
--Auras: removed Baneful, split Doom into three separate auras. Lethargy remains as is, except it's more dangerous to flying creatures. I find that heavy load still doesn't provide what I seek, since I don't find any trouble having people effectively locked down because of lack of movement. Most of the insanely huge speeds are on fly speeds, so doubling the penalty on flying creatures should suffice.

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Right. Well, splitting doom is probably a good idea. Although it was the only one whose power level was on par with the new Lethargy (flight being the primary way of going above 30ft).

Okay, I’ll try to approach this from another angle: This is a class with many anti-caster abilities. Why does it have an aura that requires either casting or long-ranged attacks to survive? Yes, the tactic has counters, but the class is designed to be awesome against the primary way of dealing with aura of lethargy. With the fly nuke this now hits most foes at level 18. Spells? Aura of Negation, Dissidence, etc. Magic items? Dispel magic as a first level spell. Also, enemy loot tax is good anyway.

Say, there is a second-level necromancy spell with a no save -10 to movement speed. Why not start freezing people in place at level 12? Level 8 if they are below 25 to start with. Perhaps it isn’t the strongest tactic, but it is super annoying. Using the freeze-kill tactic is slow and boring but this class makes it optimal against many foes. Load up on anti-ranged attack stuff (there is a ton of it) and go to town.

Basically, the ability might not be broken, but it has been given to a class designed to counter the counter. My heavy load suggestion was weaker, yes. But why in the name of the luckless does the class need an ability that beats the crap out of slow moving foes? Or really, “magic-less foes that can’t move really fast” which is what it comes down to at high levels.

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Tainted Wounds: made it a 50% flat reduction on received healing. I find it's a bit more appropriate to the ability itself, plus it reminds me of an ability used on an MMORPG which adds a similar condition. (If curious: Ragnarok Online's Critical Wounds)

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Looks good.

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--Curse of the Fateless: decided to boost Baneful Curse of the Fateless. Now it should be roughly as strong as the other steps.

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Looks fine.

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--Denial of Grace/Spell Resistance: now less restrictive. Spell Resistance still has limitations, but they are less silly. Denial of Grace has no restrictions at all. If you liked the original flavor, you have my permission to keep it (Denial of Grace forces a save on spells with "harmless" on the saving throw description)

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The flavor text still talks about penalties that no longer exist :P. Looks fine though.

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Step into the Unknown: minor boost. Now, the 9th level effective increase on teleportation range is doubled along with the rest of the land speed when using the "double-move teleportation".

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Sounds good.

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--Spells: added two more spells, and lowered the spell levels of two more.

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Looks fine. Dispel at 1st is very flavorful for this class (although if you every make a divine version you have archivist problems).

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Still undecided: increase skill points to 4 + Int and add more skills. It seems to be useful and favorable, but it kinda makes 2 + Int skill points a bit pointless in existence. I might consider raising skill points if the skill list increases appropriately.

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If nothing else, please have 4 + int skills. If you do add skills, balance + climb + jump would be good choices. No reason to not have them. Perform could work.

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Also, whether I should make the Aura of Dissonance's hindrance on spell levels increase with class levels: first highest spell level at 6th, first and second on 12th level, and highest three on 18th level. It does require a Will save, after all, and it makes a spellcaster facing a Bez-Kismet extremely weak.

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Well, the ability already grows stronger as spells increase exponentially in power. I think hitting top 2 spell levels would be fine at level 18. How the progression should work to get to that point I don’t know. You could still remove the save and have the first spell loss be at level 12 and the second at level 18. :D Otherwise, 1st spell loss at 6th, 2nd spell loss at 18th. Which is a rather strange progression I admit.


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I don't like being a broken record, but aura of lethargy is the only thing I dislike about the class.

Great re-write on the Hexblade! I love the flavour and the abilities seem all usefull and powerfull whitout being overpowered! I never had any special love for the hexblade but i may actualy use the Bez-Kismet next time I need an anti-caster!:smallsmile:

Sorry if I couldn't deliver a much...swifter answer, but I had to ponder on the new approach to answer.

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Originally Posted by Magikeeper

Right. Well, splitting doom is probably a good idea. Although it was the only one whose power level was on par with the new Lethargy (flight being the primary way of going above 30ft).

Okay, I’ll try to approach this from another angle: This is a class with many anti-caster abilities. Why does it have an aura that requires either casting or long-ranged attacks to survive? Yes, the tactic has counters, but the class is designed to be awesome against the primary way of dealing with aura of lethargy. With the fly nuke this now hits most foes at level 18. Spells? Aura of Negation, Dissidence, etc. Magic items? Dispel magic as a first level spell. Also, enemy loot tax is good anyway.

Say, there is a second-level necromancy spell with a no save -10 to movement speed. Why not start freezing people in place at level 12? Level 8 if they are below 25 to start with. Perhaps it isn’t the strongest tactic, but it is super annoying. Using the freeze-kill tactic is slow and boring but this class makes it optimal against many foes. Load up on anti-ranged attack stuff (there is a ton of it) and go to town.

Basically, the ability might not be broken, but it has been given to a class designed to counter the counter. My heavy load suggestion was weaker, yes. But why in the name of the luckless does the class need an ability that beats the crap out of slow moving foes? Or really, “magic-less foes that can’t move really fast” which is what it comes down to at high levels.

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I don't like being a broken record, but aura of lethargy is the only thing I dislike about the class.

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Each aura deals with one particular point that not only affects casters, but also other characters. Debilitation deals mostly with fighters; the reduction is pretty lackluster, but then again melee combat is pretty lackluster unless you're using ToB, racking up static damage, delivering as much SA dice as possible or somehow deliver a tactic that requires melee attacks (or ranged attacks, as well). The divided Doom auras each deal with a major defense: Fortitude, Reflex and Will. From that, only Will is expected to be a caster strong suit; the rest are mostly enhanced through Superior Resistance + stat enhancer + few other spells (and that's basically the bare-bones version). And Recklessness deals with high AC characters.

Lethargy seems like the odd one out there, stronger than the rest, but there's two reasons for it. One is because it deals with skirmishers specifically: those who move and attack. Be it the inefficient Spring Attack, the more efficient Fly-By Attack, strafing maneuvers, Skirmish, amongst others, this is meant to be the aura against them. However, there's another use for Lethargy, one that needs yet another approach to use it. And afterwards, an explanation on mechanics.

The second tactic is, effectively, lockdown. Having a character pretty much pinned to the ground does wonders for preventing perimeter breach, since it forces the character to either teleport or resort to less effective attacks, barring having the Bez-Kismet stand there and get all the pummeling (which it can resist, what with having d10 and strong AC). It's sort of the same lockdown provided by trippers, but far more potent and easier to counter.

Now, the difficulty lies in making the ability worthwhile and not a mild annoyance. That, I feel, is the problem with percentage-based speed reductions, such as what happens with medium and heavy loads; it remains a flat reduction, which can't increase nor decrease. It has its effectiveness, of course: it allows for a much more significant reduction on speed which penalizes the high-speed character, while leaving low-speed characters merely annoyed at moving slightly slower. And as well, it also allows for adjusting the penalty to changes in speed: Haste, for example, becomes needed but still less useful when the new speed acquired is reduced. However, the problem lies in being specifically fixed, much like all other speed reductions; it is a fixed reduction on a mathematically mutable ability, which is meant to worsen as time progresses.

I might cave into the proposal, but I feel that a mere 1/3rd speed reduction is not enough. Since it's really difficult to determine a speed reduction by means of percentage, this makes it hard to link the percentage progression through level (as in, 5-10% at level 3 and so on), but I might just apply the 1/3 flat speed reduction as if a heavy load, and apply the check penalty as if wearing heavy armor with Armor Proficiency (heavy), as per your second (modified) proposal. I'd love to go with 33% + 5 ft/2 levels progression, though; I feel it's the closest thing to a compromise, since eventually you'll find ways to force a speed lockdown. I might also limit speed reduction to 5 feet, since by the moment you're forced to move only five feet as a move action, that pretty much seals everything in stone (it's almost as bad as a lockdown).

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Looks fine. Dispel at 1st is very flavorful for this class (although if you every make a divine version you have archivist problems).

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Goodness gracious, no! Bez-Kismet is strictly an arcane class. Although, this may bode badly with other class ideas I might have...

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If nothing else, please have 4 + int skills. If you do add skills, balance + climb + jump would be good choices. No reason to not have them. Perform could work.

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Hmm...I know I had a good reason why Balance, Climb and Jump were dropped as class skills, but for the love of goodness I can't remember. Just adding those three should make the amount of class skills reasonable enough for a 4+Int skill point selection. I was also suggested to add Sleight of Hand (odd, I know, but it lends to the vibe of the guy that fights smart and dirty) and Gather Information (even odder, since I find someone unsettling as the weirdest person to go look for information).

I'll ponder on the Lethargy revision and the alteration to skill points and skills. I should also make a bit of space in the first post: I swear that when I made the edit where I cut Doom in three auras, the amount of info I added went well over the 50,000 limit (I think it's 50,000 word limit), and I had to cut quite a bit to make it short enough to post. And as you can see, it's insanely huge (although spoilered for your convenience)

I was considering posting my remake of a Hexblade and then saw this. >.> Now I feel inferior. Some questions for clarification:

Your capstone, Hex of Ending Fate. Do you sacrifice the curse before or after the effect kicks in? This is to say, does the opponent suffer the curse's -8 to saves for figuring out whether or not they're about to be reduced to chunky salsa?

Really love the idea of the shadowcasting variant. Do you think, at some point, you could post a progression with your system changes for the actual shadowcaster? I was never satisfied with the writer's fixes and have a feeling what you're outlining here would be perfect.

Also really like the invocation version but I have a question. It looks like, the way you have it worded, you gain a least and a lesser invocation at level 11. Similarly, it looks like you gain a least and a greater at 17. Is this correct? or is it supposed to be those levels for invocations, with 11 and 17 for opportunities to choose from next level up?

I'm assuming the latter, but can't be sure...

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Originally Posted by Pechvarry

I was considering posting my remake of a Hexblade and then saw this. >.> Now I feel inferior.

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Aww, shucks.

Still: that doesn't mean you shouldn't make yours. The idea is to work on the concept of the Hexblade, but it should also have a flavor of its own. So even if you really appreciate my work, it doesn't mean you should "feel inferior" or anything. In fact: even I feel inferior to the works of other people (whom they are, I'll keep reserved).

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Some questions for clarification:

Your capstone, Hex of Ending Fate. Do you sacrifice the curse before or after the effect kicks in? This is to say, does the opponent suffer the curse's -8 to saves for figuring out whether or not they're about to be reduced to chunky salsa?

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Can't be 100% sure about that, but a quick glance implies it would be the former: before the curse kicks in. I might have to meditate which would be the less abusive way to kick that in, tho.

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Really love the idea of the shadowcasting variant. Do you think, at some point, you could post a progression with your system changes for the actual shadowcaster? I was never satisfied with the writer's fixes and have a feeling what you're outlining here would be perfect.

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I might, but I really have to refine the concept. It's pretty barebones, and it's an adaptation of another system. It will need a LOT of work to refine it into the desired concept, given that there are only 69 mysteries which would mean a shadowcaster would have access to pretty much all of them. It's also pretty confusing as-is.

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Also really like the invocation version but I have a question. It looks like, the way you have it worded, you gain a least and a lesser invocation at level 11. Similarly, it looks like you gain a least and a greater at 17. Is this correct? or is it supposed to be those levels for invocations, with 11 and 17 for opportunities to choose from next level up?

I'm assuming the latter, but can't be sure...

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The latter posture. Basically, you gain one single invocation, but you can choose from either least or lesser, not one least and one lesser. Same for level 17th. I'll give it a read and fix it whenever I have some time.

Well, first of all, this class is officially my new favorite gish ever. :smallbiggrin:
Very cool fluff and all, abilities seem very cool and useful as well, though I'll leave the game balance stuff to those more educated in such things than I.

One question I have, though, is if you intend to do epic progressions for this class or any of your other retools? I'd be highly interested in such a thing, as I love high-level games and I'd like to be able to use these classes at such a level.

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Originally Posted by M. Mayonnaise

One question I have, though, is if you intend to do epic progressions for this class or any of your other retools? I'd be highly interested in such a thing, as I love high-level games and I'd like to be able to use these classes at such a level.

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I might have to start by envisioning what do I want with Epic progressions. After all, Epic progressions tend to stunt martial characters of all kinds and escalate the power of spellcasters to ridiculous levels. You may use the normal Epic rules if you wish to, but whether I will eventually provide such progressions or not depends on whether I remain using the same Epic rules or provide a change to them.

In any case: you'd gain Curse of the Fateless every five class levels, as usual; you'd get an increase on the Aura of Misfortune penalties of 1 per every three class levels, as usual; your caster level would increase but you wouldn't get more spell levels (again, as usual, but I consider that hogwash for partial spellcasters since it stunts them even further), and you'd get bonus feats every 4 levels, as usual (and since you get an "effective Fighter level" increase as a mathematical progression, you'd get an effective increase with Epic levels). The DC for all saving throws remains the same (10 + 1/2 class level + Cha modifier), except for those that deal with skill checks (13 + class level + Cha modifier, since skill ranks remain increasing at a 1:1 ratio). Aside from that, I don't think there's anything more to deal with Epic progressions, and this isn't exactly official so to speak: it certainly isn't the way I would deal with Epic rules (if I were to deal with them at all).

How would you deal with epic, out of curiosity?

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Originally Posted by DythTheKobold

How would you deal with epic, out of curiosity?

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Honestly?

I...have no frickin' clue. Bit by bit, I presume. Though, most of the "Epic" feats in the ELH work better as actual feats for pre-epic characters, and some are just plain worthless. And that goes without mention that Two Weapon Rend got downgraded but otherwise everything else got untouched.

So yeah, it's quite the bit of work, and it would be too fast to say exactly how I'd deal with it. In fact, the idea of E6 sounds mighty fine, except it'd be E20 ;)

That was a crap ton of links.

In any case!

Thanks for the answer. I may or may not contact you regarding an idea for a Healer ACF eventually. I wish to play test this eventually, a d may try in the near future.

Have you seen the homebrew epic feat improvement? A-V are here and W-Z are here
What do you think of those? They definitely give martial characters a boost; how would you handle epic if those fixes were in place?
Also, in any case, I don't think the Bez-Kismet really deserves epic bonus feats only every four levels - full casters get their epic bonus feats every three levels, so I've always been of the opinion that martial characters and partial casters should get their epic bonus feats at least as often.

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Originally Posted by M. Mayonnaise

Have you seen the homebrew epic feat improvement? A-V are here and W-Z are here
What do you think of those? They definitely give martial characters a boost; how would you handle epic if those fixes were in place?
Also, in any case, I don't think the Bez-Kismet really deserves epic bonus feats only every four levels - full casters get their epic bonus feats every three levels, so I've always been of the opinion that martial characters and partial casters should get their epic bonus feats at least as often.

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The problem with the feats is not that most of them are bad (only a few are horrible), but that they are meant to be pre-epic feats. Two-Weapon Rend is an example: in PHB II, they decided that Two-Weapon Rend would become a regular feat, and even then, few people actually take the feat. Most of the feats you see there (example: Dire Charge) are gotten pre-epic even faster (really, do you want a 1/encounter pounce when you can get Pounce by either getting Pouncing Charge or just dipping one level into Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian?

Epic Spellcasting, Automatic Quicken/Still/Silent/whatever Metamagic Spell, and others are epic for one reason: by those levels, there's no longer rocket tag but GP-02 Atomic Bazooka tagging. And even then, martial characters simply get "a boost" compared to spellcasters whom essentially get "I Win several times" buttons with Epic Spellcasting. By that level, feats should essentially provide martial characters with the ability to imbue any weapon they choose with the attribute they want, gain DR 15/epic and adamantine and good and that it scales highly per level, get spell resistance as a joke, and others.

That's the hard thing in Epic with the progressions: spellcasters don't get new spells, but they already had all the spells they needed earlier on; they only get higher spell slots for metamagic feats and epic spell slots for making ridiculously powerful custom spells. The one benefit of martial characters (BAB) essentially cripples to no iterative attacks and no better BAB progression, and the only saving grace is that all saving throws progress as good, but that's nothing because everyone does the same.

As for the feats, again: they would still be good for pre-epic play. For example: Bulwark of Defense should have existed as a pre-epic option, because Defensive Stance needs a reason to exist, while Rage gets much, much better just by getting levels. Chaotic Rage? That can be reasonably epic: all your weapons are treated as if you had anarchic weapons, so you deal 2d6 points of damage to non-chaotic creatures by throwing a frickin' potato chip at them when you're raging. Which of the two screams epic? Certainly not the former; the latter, on the other hand, would be pretty unfair pre-epic unless it was a class-based ability.

Example of Epic feats: having Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting and Monkey Grip combine to get Titangrip Two Weapon Fighting, in which you can wield two-handed weapons in each hand and treat as if you wielded both weapons with two hands (now imagine that with Power Attack/Leap Attack/Shock Trooper and pounce, and you basically rain death on your opponent). Bane of Enemies/Death of Enemies is another reasonably good Epic feat set: one grants you bane weapons, the other gives a chance of auto-killing your favored enemies. Another awesome epic feat would be a feat that allows you to deal touch attacks with piercing weapons, owing to your perfectly honed accuracy. All of the three really boost the power of martial characters to epic levels, since by the time you get those you don't need magic items to be awesome.

It's...hard to imagine that you can achieve Epic stuff when you try to pull off stuff like the labors of Heracles or the epic "rocks fall, Philistines die" of Samson, or singlehandedly slaying Grendel in Beowulf's epic, and when you see what you can do...is basically add one extra point to your attack roll, when a spell already could do that 15 levels ago.

That's why I say it's difficult for me to tackle Epic, and that I don't know where to start: I want the martial characters to hit like trains, dodge like if they were made of wind, have weapons break on them when they hit them, punch spells back to the spellcaster like nobody's business (thus, Exceptional Deflection does count like an Epic feat, but I mean punching), getting their levels reduced to 0 and simply get with the last ounce of their strength left in them, move to the wizard who just did Split Ray Twinned Intensified Enervation and lodge all the negative levels on them even if they had Death Ward and were undead already so that they perished even if they died, and other really epic stuff. But that goes with the other problem of epic, and that is GP-02 Atomic Bazooka tagging, arms escalation, and basically being better than the gods by the time they reach level 20. So I think it's better to tackle the problem right from the beginning, dealing with the spellcaster situation somewhat before tackling Epic properly.

Excuses for the double-posting: normally I would use the Edit button like the good poster I intend to be, but since this is an update...

There's a minor change which is somewhat related to the paradigm change of spontaneous spellcasters vis-a-vis prepared spellcasters (you know, that spontaneous spellcasters gain access to new spell levels every odd level and prepared spellcasters all even levels starting from level 4, except 1st level). Remember the odd caveat of only replacing specific spells every few levels, and only one spell per level AND also a spell two levels lower?

Skip that, alright? I pretend that, from now on, any retooled class which uses a spellcasting progression much like a Sorcerer or Favored Soul may exchange spells at least once per week, and decided to remove that silly spell level limit. You can still only exchange ONE spell per instance, so choose carefully: utility is the name of the game here, not versatility (that's what prepared casters are for), but you'll get it a bit more. This has also caused a bit of a change on the still-unreleased Project Heretica homebrew. In case you're interested in knowing a bit more: the bez-kismet is somewhat related.
I may now resume my regular posting manners :)

I gotta say Oskar, I like the work, but I've always had a distaste for 4-level casting on melee characters. For those who share my opinion, I've done my own Hexblade re-write, which you can find in my siggy.

Incidentally, love the name.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth

I gotta say Oskar, I like the work, but I've always had a distaste for 4-level casting on melee characters. For those who share my opinion, I've done my own Hexblade re-write, which you can find in my siggy.

Incidentally, love the name.

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Oh, yeah, I've seen it. But it's mostly a thing of tradition; "4-level" casting is quite definitely half casting, while "6-level" casting is essentially two-thirds casting, which definitely pushes the concept of "half melee, half spellcaster" a bit too far. There's good reasons why to take it up to 6 levels (as per Psychic Warrior), but most of the spells you really want are buffs or the unique spells that boost your character, so two of the three reasons you'd want higher level spells (higher save DCs for most spells and punching through globe of invulnerability) can be ignored, and with some punching through you can ignore the third one (swifter access to spells).

Though, and this is probably a bit harsh: I'm trying real hard to see why the post has some worth as a comment. I wouldn't have minded the linking in order to provide some ideas or debate, but I can't take out of my mind that your post isn't that much of a comment and more of a promotion. Perhaps it's the words you used (namely, the "those who share my opinion"); maybe a bit more meat on the comment would have salvaged it. You know, trying to defend my work and everything; don't feel bad, it's just that I feel a bit...I'd say threatened...with the comment. I just hope it's not intended to be interpreted as "I did it better"; hoping that's not the case.

And the name...well, trying to give a different spin on the name and the fluff, deliberately using broken grammar as a way to develop a unique name. Sorta like how "samurai" and "ninja" are used as archetypes to represent "warriors of a noble caste with near-spiritual adherence to weapon technique" and "rogue with foreign fluff".

I wasn't trying to attack your work, my friend; my remake is different, but not necessarily better. Normally, my comment would have been worded with more finesse, but I'm sick and have been for two days (this coupled with very little sleep) so my normal command of English is somewhat on the wane.

One small nitpicky thing: technically, even though it is perfectly okay for us to use the rules for the "Mettle" ability, "Mettle" isn't actually OGL, so we shouldn't use the name. WotC might get...touchy.

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Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth

I wasn't trying to attack your work, my friend; my remake is different, but not necessarily better. Normally, my comment would have been worded with more finesse, but I'm sick and have been for two days (this coupled with very little sleep) so my normal command of English is somewhat on the wane.

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Ugh. That teaches you that sickness and sleep isn't really healthy. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, really; sickness shouldn't be the case. Then again, sometimes I find myself a bit more lucid while sleepy, so YMMV.

It's just that it felt like that. I was far too careful to choose words so as to make it look like it was an observation, not a retaliation. But explaining the reasons why that seemed to be is fine; forgive and forget, mmkay?

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One small nitpicky thing: technically, even though it is perfectly okay for us to use the rules for the "Mettle" ability, "Mettle" isn't actually OGL, so we shouldn't use the name. WotC might get...touchy.

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Mostly the same as how Pathfinder uses the Hospitaler name, even though it's definitely not the same thing. The problem is that, like Evasion, Mettle is really a good name to explain the ability, or at least one that got real catchy. It's not like I'm using Gith or Illithids, and heck, the latter are abused by Square Enix and I don't see WotC and SE on a legal battle (and they are constantly being used, exactly as they are used on D&D, on both FF1 and FF Tactics, both using the Mind Blast ability). I'd say "touchy" is an understatement, but if they really get "touchy" for one small nitpicky thing, I think I should consider it a badge of honor or something.