Quote Originally Posted by Quellian-dyrae View Post
Well, to start off, I just have to say that I find it incredibly amusing that our two classes could easily be the "fighter" and "rogue" classes of some sort of True Nature of Reality power source.
That... is awesome. Where would these guys fit in?

But that aside.

Overall, I think the class looks very well done. It is quite complex, using two subsystems, Inspiration as an additional resource, and Lucid Dreaming which is, itself, a fairly extensive skill. Not necessarily a bad thing, and I do like how all the abilities work together, tied in through Inspiration.
Yes, I had so many ideas for what mechanics to use that... I decided to use all of them.

However, I'm not sure about the maneuvers as a daily resource. Maneuvers don't tend to be so powerful that a daily limit is really necessary (a cursory look over the discipline doesn't really make me think it's significantly stronger than normal). This is compounded by the fact that the class lacks reliable ways to deal solid damage. Even the maneuvers tend to be more tactical and debuff style, which can still work in a party, but I'm not sure they can use their maneuvers often enough to really make a strong claim to a debuffer role.

I suppose it makes me ask, is it really worth having a whole additional subsystem in play, for abilities balanced for per-encounter use that are being used at a per-day rate?
Well, the point for having them be per-day rather than per encounter is that the original factotum only got up to 7th level spells rather than 9th level maneuvers. And didn't have soulmelds to bolster their abilities. But in considering actually playing one, I know I personally would love to be able to use my maneuvers more often. Do you think it's still balanced to let the maneuvers be per-encounter instead of per-day? I could reduce the progression to give fewer maneuvers, if that would help.

The Extraction mechanic...I think suffers from the nature of D&D. It's very cool and I like how you integrated the various skills and force the opposition to use a lot of skills, giving a nice advantage to the dreamer despite the number of checks. It has the advantage that it isn't technically a divination (or Mind Affecting?), it's potentially subtle, and it can be used remotely. Even so, it's way less efficient than a lot of other magical ways to get information in D&D...even a bard with Suggestion and Modify Memory. It definitely has its niche, I'm just not sure how often that niche will come up in play. It just seems like in play it would be relegated to more of a flavor ability that might come up if the DM builds a challenge around it, rather than being the cornerstone of the class.
Well, let me say that I never intended extraction to be a divination replacement, particularly not a quick-and-dirty one. It's more of a plot- and roleplaying-generating mechanism. You wouldn't be performing an extraction every adventuring day; instead, you might spend an entire gaming session roleplaying through an extraction when it's just the sort of subtlety you need. So yes, your instinct is correct, and exactly what I intended.

I spent a lot of time working out the mechanics of a relatively situational ability... mostly because they're central to the concept of the class (and to the inspiration), and also to make them awesome for when they do happen.

One actual mechanical problem, though, unless the first Gather Information check doesn't take time and only successive ones take normal time, that Extractions below Complexity 5 (DC 30) basically auto-fail, since you don't have enough time to make even a single Gather Information check (with successful Disguise and Forgery, you have a 50% chance that Complexity 4 will work).
I can is maths good. I will up the durations in the complexity table.

Overall, I like the class, but I definitely think it's going to be campaign-dependent. In a more urban/political game, it can be awesome. In a more traditional adventure setting, it has lots of utility, but I feel it might have trouble making reliable contributions, depending on optimization levels (it does have a high enough sheer volume of capabilities that I imagine it has a decently high optimization floor, so that will help).
Perhaps if I change the maneuvers to per-encounter, that would help with the day-to-day contributions? Also, the soulmelds are likely to help with that as well. At least, I hope so.

I'm glad you like it! I'll take a look at Neo when I get a chance (probably after Wednesday).