[Dnd 3.5] The Protectorate: Revamped [PEACH]

[Noctemwolf]

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This is my original class revamped somewhat to truly make him shine at what he's supposed to do best: Defending his teammates in battle and insuring they take as little damage as possible. Please, Discuss.

I will point out now that I did not try to create a taunt mechanic. I feel that to be a very clunky way of dealing with the problem, and that it takes away from the realism of the game. And, just as much, i would hate to see an opposing monster use the same taunt mechanic on a player and force him to attack it!

The Protectorate

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"My duty is to Protect you... And at that, I shall not fail!" - Morathor, at the battle of Northern hill.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Prestige Class

Prerequisites:
Base Attack Bonus +5
Feats: Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Shield Bash, Two Weapon Fighting
proficient with shields (tower shields unnecessary)



Protectorate
The Protectorate's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are...
Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge: Dungeoneering (Int), Knowledge: History (Int), Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str)/

Hit Dice: d12

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier

{table=head]

Level

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Attack bonus

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Fortitude

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Reflex

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Will

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Class Features

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Speed bonus

1|+1|+2|+0|+2|Improved Bull Rush, Threatening Presence, Two Shield Fighting|+0 ft.
2|+2|+3|+0|+3|Quick-Step, Shield Style, Two Shield Defense|+0 ft.
3|+3|+3|+1|+3|Uncanny Dodge, Vigilant Defense, Defensive Smash|+5 ft.
4|+4|+4|+1|+4|Intuitive Reflexes, Stunning Shield, Parry|+5 ft.
5|+5|+4|+1|+4|Cunning Combat Expertise, Uncanny Strength, Stubborn Defense|+5 ft.
6|+6|+5|+2|+5|Block Damage, Swap|+10 ft.
7|+7|+5|+2|+5|My Body as Your Shield, Persistent Aid|+10 ft.
8|+8|+6|+2|+6|Mettle, Tough it Out|+10 ft.
9|+9|+6|+3|+6|Show me your Stuff, Come to Thy Aid, Clever Wrestling|+15 ft.
10|+10|+7|+3|+7|Guardian Style, Magical Parry, Powerful Build|+15 ft.
[/table]

Weapons and Armour: A Protectorate is proficient with shields (Not Tower shields) and all light, medium and heavy armours.
Speed Bonus: A Protectorate gains a small boost to his speed in order to help his movement around the field. He always gets this bonus (count as a competence bonus.).

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A speed boost to help insure the Protectorate can get where he's needed.

Threatening Presence: Whenever you damage an opponent with a melee attack, the action that they were attempting is interrupted (Interrupted means that the action immediately ends). In addition, at level 5, spellcasters can no longer cast defensively in any space you threaten.

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This, I think, makes a good replacement for a taunt mechanic. If you can't move, you can't get by. It's that simple. Pluses against spellcasters as well. hey, if they can completely lock us down why not us them?

Improved Bull rush: you gain Improved Bull Rush as a bonus Feat (You do not need to meet the prerequisites).

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The class has a use for Bull rushing, But not really a need for power attack, seeing as it's a defensive class. However, Doesn't mean you couldn't take power attack if you wanted to.

Two Shield Fighting: You gain the ability to wield a heavy and a light shield together at the same time in ways unavailable to other classes. You may wield these shields regardless of any restrictions that would normally limit that. The heavy shield counts as your primary weapon while your light shield counts as your off-hand weapon. you also gain other benefits. First, you add the shield bonus of both shields together to determine your total shield bonus. Second, you may choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage with your shields at no penalty. Finally, at level 5, the penalties for fighting with two weapons decreases by one when wielding both a heavy shield and a light shield (Bringing the penalty to -1/-1). At level 10, the penalty disappears.

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Same as the original class. A different style of fighting than two handed or sword and board. Two weapon Boards!

Quick-Step: whenever an opponent attempts to move into a square adjacent to you, you may take a 5 foot step to move into the space the opponent would have otherwise moved into. the space you left counts as impassable until the start of your next turn. This uses one of your attacks of opportunity to activate.

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This was also an original ability from the class. Useful in some ways: Free movement, and blocking an opponents way of travel.

Two-Shield Defense: You gain an additional +1 shield bonus. This stacks with your total shield bonus.

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Carried over from the original. Useful to have an extra +1 in there, aye?

Shield Style: your Shields count as one size larger for the purpose of damage. At level 7, your shields instead count as two sizes larger for the purpose of damage. This ability stacks with anything else that improves weapon damage.

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More damage, more use.

Uncanny Dodge: You retains your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if you are caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, you still loses your Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

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A good ability every bodyguard should have.

Vigilant Defense: Whenever an ally is attacked by an opponent, they provoke an attack of opportunity from you. You may move as part of these attacks of opportunity, as long as your movement brings you within reach of the attacking opponent. However, you cannot move more than your base land speed, and you do subtract the movement made in this way from your base speed during your next turn.

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This really is a powerful ability, allowing you to rush to an ally's defense if someone managed to get by you or snuck up from behind. Combine with Threatening presence, it should be very difficult to get an attack off on one of your allies. I think this ability was heavily influenced by a PathFinder feat: Combat Patrol.
But, what about ranged attacks? We shall see...

Defensive Smash: You can make a bull rush as an attack of opportunity. However, you cannot move more than 5 feet during the bull rush. This does limit the range you can push your opponent until you gain Uncanny Strength. Your opponent's action is also interrupted (The action is lost).

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Bull rushing. The idea behind the class in the first place. I think this is a pretty neat ability.

Intuitive Reflexes: Add your wisdom modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make per round.

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A wise bodyguard. Combines well with ranks in spot and listen.

Stunning Shield: You gain Stunning Fist as a bonus feat (You do not need to meet the prerequisites). However, you can only use this ability with a shield. The number of Stunning fist attacks you can make per round is not restricted, though you still have a daily limit. Count your levels of protectorate as monk levels for determining the number of times per day you can use Stunning fist.

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Another means of stopping attacks, and stunning them at the same time. Two bonuses in one. And can help with a crowd if the enemy starts bunching up.

Parry: Whenever an opponent hits you with a melee attack, as an immediate action, you can make an attack roll. If your attack roll is higher than your opponents, his attack misses. You can parry the attack of any enemy smaller than you and up to one size larger than you. at level 6, you can parry a melee attack that targets an adjacent ally. at level 8, you can parry nonmagical ranged attacks, aimed at you or at an adjacent ally. at level 10, you can parry magical ranged attacks, such as ray or touch attacks.

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A final layer of defense to keep the damage off.

Cunning Combat Expertise: whenever you use Combat Expertise or fight defensively, you take only half the normal penalty to your attack rolls (round down).

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Good at defensive fighting.

Uncanny Strength: When you bull rush an opponent, you may choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage equal to your heavy shield damage. In addition, you do not have to move with your opponent in order to push him more than 5 feet, and he must make a reflex check (DC=10+Protectorate Level+strength Modifier) Or be knocked prone whenever you bull rush him.

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I always wondered why bull rushing didn't actually cause any damage. Thus, I made this ability.

Stubborn Defense: whenever an opponent attempts to bull rush you, the total distance you are pushed decreases by 5 feet. This can cause your opponent's bull rush to fail if he managed to push you no further than 5 feet.

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Harder to move you, harder to get around you.

Swap: whenever an adjacent ally is chosen as the target of an attack, you make swap places with him as a free action. The attack now instead targets you. You take no movement penalties associated with the use of this ability.

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Against the ranged attacks, we have this! You can take the shot instead.

Block damage: whenever an adjacent ally takes damage, you may choose to take half the damage that would have been applied to them and instead take it yourself.

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If, somehow, an ally manages to get harmed, you can still help alleviate it.

My Body as Your Shield: Whenever you are effected by an Area of Effect Ability (Whether magical or Mundane), you can cause an area opposite the point of origin in relation to you to be unaffected by the attack. This area is treated a cone emanating from you out to the border of the original effect.

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A means of stopping areas of effect from harming allies. Line up, everyone!

Persistent Aid: Any 2 allies adjacent to you always count as though you are using the aid another action on them. However, you cannot use this ability to help with skill checks.

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Carried over from the original class. Useful, I would say.

Mettle:Any time you succeed on a fortitude or will save to resist an effect, you instead take none of the effect. (Instead of half damage, no damage for example. Instead of partial entanglement, no entanglement).

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Mettle should be a standard on all fighting chassis, I say. I'm not sure if I got the effect of this ability right, though. Is it correct?

Tough it Out: whenever you make a reflex save, you may replace it with a fortitude save.

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Based on one of the militant feats I came up with.

Show me your Stuff: Make an intimidate roll against a number of foe's up to your Protectorate level. If you succeed in an opposed check against their sense motive rolls, the opponent/s gains a +4 bonus to hit you, and a -4 penalty to hit any of your allies. You can have a number of foes affected with this ability equal to your Protectorate level. This lasts until the end of combat.

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Almost like a taunt, but not a forced attack on you. instead, you simply make yourself a better target.

Come to Thy Aid: double your threat range. You may move as part of any attack of opportunity given to you through use of this ability, though you may not move more than your base speed, and subtract any movement you make from your move speed during your next turn.

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Improved threat range, equal more stopping power. Literally!

Clever Wrestling: you gain clever Wrestling as a bonus feat.

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Well, i thought it was thematic.

Powerful Build: You gain the Powerful build Ability. If you already had this ability, then the two stack, allowing you to count as up to a huge creature whenever it would be beneficial for you.

Guardian Style: This ability grant you access to two Stances. Activating a stance is a swift action. You cannot have both a Guardian style stance and a Tome of Battle stance active at the same time. You can only have a Guardian Style stance activated during combat.

Assault: you gain a +4 bonus to your strength and constitution (Increase you HP accordingly.) You may make full attacks as a standard action, rather than as a full round action. In addition, you gain another attack, usable as an immediate action at your full base attack bonus.

Defense: You gain a +4 bonus to your Dexterity and Wisdom. You take no attack penalty from the use of combat Expertise or fighting defensively. In addition, You gain two other abilities:
You may shout as an immediate action. Any allies within 60 feet of you may immediately take a 5 foot step. If this would cause an opponent to be unable to complete an action (Attacking, for example,) the action is lost.
You may move up to 15 feet as an immediate action while in this stance.

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The icing on the cake, the capstone. Better than the original one, I must day.

A clarification on standard action full attacks:
Readying a full attack: when you ready a full attack as a standard action, you can make each attack at any point before your next turn (They do not need to be consecutive, though you may choose them to be if you wish). In addition, any attack form that would normally allow you one attack (Such as a charge) will allow you a full attack instead.

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Just an idea on standard action full attacks.

This was thrown together a little quickly, so there might be something missing, or something that could be fine tuned. Let me know if you find anything!

[Phosphate]

Two weapon fighting AND improved shield bash?

Might I ask, why are the requirements for this a complete waste of feats?

Aside from that, it's a nice class. Rare to see something that can ACTUALLY tank and draw aggro in D&D. Especially like the ability that imposes a penalty to attack your allies - a nice touch.

[Alefiend]

You might want to adjust the class name. It doesn't mean what you think it means.

[Noctemwolf]

Two weapon fighting AND improved shield bash?

Might I ask, why are the requirements for this a complete waste of feats?

Well, like the original Protectorate, the class is focused on the use of wielding two shields in combat. I need to clarify a few things in the ability, I think... But when fighting with a shield, you do want to insure you don't lose that shield bonus, right?

Aside from that, it's a nice class. Rare to see something that can ACTUALLY tank and draw aggro in D&D. Especially like the ability that imposes a penalty to attack your allies - a nice touch.

Thank you for the compliment. =)

You might want to adjust the class name. It doesn't mean what you think it means.

Actually, when I first made the class, I did look up what it meant... I just liked the way the name sounded. =) Thank you for pointing it out, though!
Anything else?

[jiriku]

It seems that Combat Reflexes would make more sense as a prerequisite than Combat Expertise, given that you have many abilities that require you to expend your AoOs, but none that require you to fight defensively or use Combat Expertise.

Overall, it feels... busy. So many class features, all of them different, hardly any common mechanics among them. You have save boosters, AC boosters, TWF boosters, bull rush boosters, speed boosters, Aid Another boosters, damage boosters, AoO boosters, threat range boosters, save substitutions, conditions attached to attacks, a parry mechanic (although the parry mechanic is one of the few that's used by several other abilities). Don't get me wrong, the class is great, the role is great, the idea is great. But the abilities are so broad in scope and so unrelated to one another in function that I'd like to see some kind of organizing principle imposed on them so that they're easier to absorb and remembers. Maybe a shield-based martial discipline, or maybe just rewriting some of the abilities so that they arrive at the same benefit but use a more tightly-connected common set of mechanics.

This goes double for the text formatting. Abilities like Shield Style I and Shield Style II should be grouped together into one entry. Parry, Improved Parry, Ranged Parry, and Magical Parry should be one entry. The variety of bull rush-related benefits could probably be combined into one or two entries. This would go a long way towards simplifying the presentation of the class and making it easy to understand and learn.

Please don't take these as gripes, though. Very well-considered class. You've put a lot of thought into this and considered a lot of different angles, and it shows in the output. The features looks as though they'll work extremely well together to lock down and hamper opponents who attack anyone other than you, while you're well-equipped to take a severe beating and emerge only slightly ruffled.

[Noctemwolf]

0_0** Wow.
Sorry, but. I didn't expect to see you, Jiriku! I Really, Really like your class fixes. Especially the monk! I'm Honoured!

It seems that Combat Reflexes would make more sense as a prerequisite than Combat Expertise, given that you have many abilities that require you to expend your AoOs, but none that require you to fight defensively or use Combat Expertise.

I knew I forgot something. D'oh! Typing up at three in the morning can do that. Combat Reflexes was actually supposed to be one of the prerequisites.
I do have two abilities that react with combat expertise, though. Cunning Combat Expertise decreases the attack penalties from it's use, and the capstone stance Defense completely negates the penalty. A little redundant, though, Now that i look at it....

Overall, it feels... busy. So many class features, all of them different, hardly any common mechanics among them. You have save boosters, AC boosters, TWF boosters, bull rush boosters, speed boosters, Aid Another boosters, damage boosters, AoO boosters, threat range boosters, save substitutions, conditions attached to attacks, a parry mechanic (although the parry mechanic is one of the few that's used by several other abilities). Don't get me wrong, the class is great, the role is great, the idea is great. But the abilities are so broad in scope and so unrelated to one another in function that I'd like to see some kind of organizing principle imposed on them so that they're easier to absorb and remembers. Maybe a shield-based martial discipline, or maybe just rewriting some of the abilities so that they arrive at the same benefit but use a more tightly-connected common set of mechanics.
This goes double for the text formatting. Abilities like Shield Style I and Shield Style II should be grouped together into one entry. Parry, Improved Parry, Ranged Parry, and Magical Parry should be one entry. The variety of bull rush-related benefits could probably be combined into one or two entries. This would go a long way towards simplifying the presentation of the class and making it easy to understand and learn.

I have seen a shield related Discipline called Iron Tortoise. Perhaps I could incorporate that into this?
As for being all over the place... It is. I agree. Some more organization would be in order. No need to have both Shield Style I and II if I can just combine them into one. Same with the Parry. I'll get to work on that. I was trying to see how I could fit three abilities into each level, for some reason.
Any suggestions on how to combine the Bull rush abilities into one class feature? Or two. Either one.

Please don't take these as gripes, though. Very well-considered class. You've put a lot of thought into this and considered a lot of different angles, and it shows in the output. The features looks as though they'll work extremely well together to lock down and hamper opponents who attack anyone other than you, while you're well-equipped to take a severe beating and emerge only slightly ruffled.

That is what i was aiming for. Thank you for the compliment.

[jiriku]

0_0** Wow.
Sorry, but. I didn't expect to see you, Jiriku! I Really, Really like your class fixes. Especially the monk! I'm Honoured!

Pshaw... now yer makin' my cheeks red.

I knew I forgot something. D'oh! Typing up at three in the morning can do that. Combat Reflexes was actually supposed to be one of the prerequisites.
I do have two abilities that react with combat expertise, though. Cunning Combat Expertise decreases the attack penalties from it's use, and the capstone stance Defense completely negates the penalty. A little redundant, though, Now that i look at it....

I'll freely admit that I'm not very good with melee characters, but it seems that with a strong AC, a fairly heavy reliance on attack bonus for parries, counters, and such, and a -2 penalty for attacking with two shields, the Protectorate probably wants to avoid Combat Expertise in order to preserve as much attack bonus as possible.

Now that I read Guardian Stance (Defense) a little more closely, I think that could be problematic for you. Someone who takes Improved Combat Expertise and runs a full base attack class can get +WIN to AC for free, such that any monster that has a decent shot at hitting him will auto-hit the rest of the party on a 2 or better. From a metagame perspective, it's dangerous to your party for your AC to be too good, because the DM will select monsters that can hit you, and you don't want those monsters to monkey-stomp the rest of the party.

This leads me to a tangentially related thought. Two weapons, two shields, plus armor... you're really hurting for gold to spend on enchanting all that stuff. I'm not sure if you're hurting enough for it to affect the math of your character and push your bonuses down into the suck range, but it might. Prolly a good idea to build and outfit 2 or 3 sample characters at various levels to make sure they can afford level-appropriate equipment and maintain level-appropriate attack, AC, and saving throw bonuses.

I have seen a shield related Discipline called Iron Tortoise. Perhaps I could incorporate that into this?

That could work, and there's more than one way you could do it, too.

• For example, I could see you making a "Scorpion Sting" discipline that converts most of your disruptive, defensive, and immediate-action abilities into maneuvers, ditching a few abilities that are very similar to Iron Tortoise, and converting the Protectorate into a maneuver-using class that gets Scorpion Sting, Iron Tortoise, and Tiger Claw maneuvers plus the remaining class features as, um, class features. You could do this as either a prestige class or a base class.
• Or you could leave it largely as is, strip out 1/3 of the class features, and grant a maneuver progression with one maneuver learned every level and access to the Iron Tortoise discipline.
• I'm sure you probably have a couple ideas of your own too, just from thinking about it a bit.

Any suggestions on how to combine the Bull rush abilities into one class feature? Or two. Either one.

Hurhhhmmm....


This combines Threatening Presence, Improved Bull Rush, Vigilant Defense, Defensive Smash, Stubborn Defense, and Uncanny Strength, reducing 6 abilities to 3.

Threatening Presence (Ex): You are very effective at disrupting the actions of your opponents. Whenever you interrupt an opponent (such as when taking a readied action or attack of opportunity) with a successfully bull rush or melee attack, the action that they were attempting fails and immediately ends.

When you reach 5th level, spellcasters can no longer cast defensively in any space you threaten.

Unstoppable Rush (Ex): You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you enter an opponent's square to perform a bull rush. When you successfully bull rush an opponent, your opponent moves five feet more than normal. When an opponent successfully bull rushes you, you move five feet less than normal (this can reduce your movement to 0).

When you reach 5th level, your proficiency with bull rushes improves dramatically. When you successfully bull rush an opponent, you also deal shield bash damage with your primary shield (you can deal nonlethal damage at no penalty, if you wish), and your opponent is knocked down (Reflex negates, DC 10 + class level + Strength modifier).

Vigilant Defense (Ex): When you reach 3rd level or higher, opponents provoke an attack of opportunity from you whenever they make an attack your allies. You may respond by:

• Making a melee attack against the opponent, as normal;
• Making a bull rush against the opponent (but you cannot move more than 5 feet during the bull rush);
• Moving up to your speed towards the opponent and making a melee attack or bull rush as described above (this reduces your speed on your next turn by the amount moved).

You'll notice I converted the Improved Bull Rush feat into +5 ft moved and no AoO, and moved Stubborn Defense to 1st level. These two nearly identical-yet-opposite benefits mirror each other so perfectly that I found I was compelled to do this for great justice because of the aesthetics of having two such abilities in the same line; it just seemed too aesthetically compelling for me to pass it up. The fact that I use the term "aesthetically compelling" to describe class features probably means there's something wrong with my head.

As I looked through this, I'm also noticing that you have a tendency to provide a large benefit at level x, then follow up with a much smaller but very closely related benefit at level y. Often, the smaller benefit is so small that it really wouldn't hurt to grant the whole thing at once, which would reduce your overall feature count (I'm thinking specifically of that -5 rush distance, which looks soooo aesthetically compelling when worked into the same sentence as the +5 benefit ).

[Alefiend]

I know that larger shields deliver more damage, but something just seems wrong about Two Shield Fighting automatically counting the larger one as the primary weapon. It feels like the larger shield is the one you'd be keeping close for defense if you had to make a choice, while the lighter one would be what you could strike with more easily. Besides, I think I'd want both shields to be the same size anyway.

(I'm not a huge fan of the two-shield concept that keeps cropping up on these boards, but you've clearly given this some real thought and I have no desire to discourage you. Good luck with the build.)