Quote Originally Posted by aimlessPolymath View Post
Oh! Didn't know how it worked, then- it's confusingly worded. That said, auto-crits are something people can combo with really, really well. At a minimum, you take one attack which you might not have instead (0.3-6 attacks worth, depending) in exchange for turning an attack which hits into a crit (x2 damage = +1 effective attacks, x3 = +2 attacks, x4 = +3 effective attacks).

Alright, overall thoughts:
It's a much better Barbarian, with some stuff which makes it somewhat better (not great) against outsiders. If this is your first homebrew, it might be easier to take the parts you really care about (outsider sensing, hatred, possibly the diehard thing), and turning them into a Barbarian archetype. It would make it much easier to balance as a result- you assume the Barbarian is balanced, pick some things to take away from it, and give it things which look approximately equal. I think you could make the following swaps with the basic Barbarian safely:

Fast Movement is traded for the endurance feat and the ability to sense evil/good outsiders within 60 ft (i.e. the Brand)
Uncanny Dodge is traded for the diehard feat
Trap Sense is traded for an equal bonus to attack and damage rolls against outsiders.
Improved Uncanny Dodge downgraded to Uncanny Dodge

If you want to add armor use, I would trade Fast Movement for armor proficiency (medium),
Uncanny Dodge is traded for Armor Proficiency(heavy) plus the ability to sense outsiders within 60 ft
Trap Sense is traded for an equal bonus to attack and damage vs. outsiders
Improved Uncanny Dodge is traded for Endurance and the Diehard feat.
So I am working on this again and I am attempting to turn it into an archetype (I decided to go for a fighter archetype instead), however, I am having trouble judging what is an equal trade-off. When I look at what I changed I imidaitly think it is to weak and I tweak and then I look at it and think it is too strong.
Anyways I was thinking about what I thought what parts made this class unique and tried focusing in on it, what I came up with was the brand, specialized against outsiders, rage likeability, and using a favored weapon.

I found rage being too much to work with but I wanted something that felt like it and kept a battle theme. I tried following these guidelines when tweaking this class, The battle themed abilities replaced weapon training and the supernatural stuff replaced armor training.


Class Features
The Brand (SU): At 2nd level, The Branded are cursed by powerful forces that draw the forces of darkness and light to her and had to learn how to identify such forces early on to survive. As a Standard Action the branded gains the ability to sense Outsiders with the Evil or Good subtype within 60 feet, this functions like the Detect Alignment spell. This replaces the Fighter Bonus Feat at 2nd level.

So this is the only ability that replaces a Fighter Bonus Feat, I think it is too weak considering it is so narrow.


Mind of Steel (EX): At 2nd level, Warriors Trance now gains a +1 morale bonus to will saves made against spells or spell-like abilities with the Mind-Affecting descriptor. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd, Feats that affect Bravery also affect this. This replaces Bravery.

This is just a better bravery, to be honest, and I think it might be too strong, maybe it should also replace the bonus feat for 2nd level.


Warriors Trance (EX) At 3rd level, The Branded may enter a trance as a Swift Action, granting the Branded the following bonuses, her movement speed increases by 5 feet. Once per Warriors Trance she may reroll a single will saving throw, she must take the new result even if it is worse. Warriors Trance lasts for five rounds and can be entered two times a day, the branded may choose to end her trance as a free action otherwise it ends when she becomes unconscious or when the time limit is reached. This replaces armor training at 3rd level.

This is what I came up with after deciding dropping rage, I am not going to lie it I think it is too similar to the barbarian rage power.


Weapon Against Fate (SU): At 5th level, The branded chooses a weapon to be her tool of retribution. While in Warriors Trance, as a free action The Branded may use the power of her brand to empower this weapon to be treated as either a holy or unholy weapon when calculating Damage Reduction. This lasts until her Warriors Trance ends, she cannot have both types active at the same time. This replaces weapon training at 5th level.

So What I decided to do is have the stuff that replaces weapon training enhance Warriors Trance in an attempt to be more thematic. I am not sure having a flexible way to make your weapon holy or unholy is too powerful or too weak, probably the former. I thought this would be better then gradually increasing ignoring high levels of DR.


Zest for Battle (EX): At 7th level, If the Branded would make a will save, as an immediate action she may enter her Warriors Trance before making the save. Warriors Trance now can be used 3 times a day. This replaces armor training at 7th level.

So this ability goes against my guidelines and is unoriginal but I don't think it is too powerful.


Bound by Fate (SU): At 9th level, Your chosen weapon becomes bond to you, while in Warriors Trance, as a swift action you can channel your Brands power into your weapon giving it a number of abilities, these abilities can only be used one at a time and last until your trance ends. These abilities are; Ghost touch, Bane Evil Outsider, Bane Good Outsider. Only one ability can be active at a time. This Replaces Weapon Training at 9th level.

At this point It was late and I was having trouble what to do with the weapon aspect of this archetype and came up with building off of Weapon Against Fate ability, I was going to use spells but instead, I went for weapon abilities. Maybe I can change this somehow, I was thinkig that this might be to powerful.

Battle Manic (EX): At 11th level, Warriors Trance can now be used 4 times a day. Warriors Trances Reduces movement penalties from wearing heaving armor by 5 and reduce the Armor Check Penalty by 2 (minimum 0).This Replaces Armor Training at 11th level.

The second half of Battle Manic was just tacked on because I thought the first part was not enough and too weak.


Master of Fate (SU): At 13th level, Bound by Fate has access to Called, [ability 2], [ability 3] and can now have up to two abilities active a once. This Replaces Weapon Training at 13th level.

This is an upgrade to bound by fate, the abilities in brackets are undetermined.


Master of War: At 15th level, Warriors Trance can now be used 5 times a day. Warriors Trances removes the movement penalties from wearing heaving armor and reduces the Armor Check Penalty by 4 (minimum 0). This Replaces Armor Training at 15th level.

This is an upgrade to Battle Manic


Marked by the cursed (SU): At 17th level, As a Swift Action, The Branded may use her Brand to curse a single Evil or Good outsider that is within 60 feet of her, so long as the outsider is on the same plane as her she can track it. The Branded gains a +2 Morale bonus to attack and damage rolls made against it. If the outsider is killed by the branded or her party members she may place it onto another suitable target as an immediate action, this does not count toward the brandeds daily uses. The Branded can only use this ability once a day. This Replaces Weapon Training at 17th level.

So I gave the archetype hunters mark... is it to powerful? I don't know if it is.


(SU): At 19th level, Attacks made by your bonded weapon made against outsiders under your Marked by the cursed ability now anchors them for 1 round, this functions like the Dimensional Anchor spell. The bonuses granted by Marked by the cursed increases to a +3. This Replaces Armor Mastery

This ability doesn't have a name yet but it was a part of the capstone the last iteration of this class but then I remembered my guidelines so I changed it to this, I think this isn't overpowered for begins so late.


Berserker (EX): At 20th level, Your Bonded weapon attacks are now treated as touch attacks. After attacking and damaging a creature with your bonded weapon up to 2 creatures within 5 feet of it must make a Reflex Saving Throw DC 10+ half your character level + your STR mod, failing the save they take Slashing and Bludgeoning damage equal to half of the damage the attacked creature took. This replaces Weapon Mastery.

I can not tell you how long it took me to word the second part of this capstone to make it sound the way it is supposed to function ( I am still not happy with it). I think having all your attacks be touch attacks and essentially be cleave is very powerful

Some thoughts... So writing this down I became aware of a few things. I think I can combine some of these abilities as a lot of them either have tacked on abilities or do not have much to them. I also noticed that this archetype might be to specialized with not a having enough power for the amount of specialization it has. I am not really confrotable with using bound weapon abilities and I think I should find something else instead. Marked of the cursed comes to late in the game, maybe Instead of having the weapon gain those powers I should focus more on Brand powers. I could still grant the class the ablity to ignore DR going that route but also give it more of a unifiy theme as well.