attempt at a ToB blaster...(3.5 D&D, PEACH WIP)

[bobthe6th]

old plan the plan

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so, as people who have been watching the homebrew forum know, I have already tried to make two blasters. the Idea was to have a simpler class for those wanting to blast. both had holes, and both were probably a little OP and a little to focused. this is a third try from a different track. I have been messing around with ToB recently, and I had a thought. you could play as a swordsage with variant elements for your desert wind, but thats no fun.

my plan is to have a set of near pure blast disciplines, say one for each energy type (force, fire, cold, acid, and electricity). for these new disciplines, I will make a class based around using them. they will also be available to the swordsage.

NEW PLAN

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So, I had another go at a blaster... and had a revelation. why not build more variety into the system? I am already stealing the warlocks and envocers lunch monney... so why not make off with two others? so three systems now. Sages of Galahad, almost identical to the current blaster. Shattered swords, ToB style blasters. Cracked Hearts, Incarnum style blasters. should be a fun ride...

"Wizards long ago saw that the world is an illusion. They invented rituals, and believed. Through these they could alter the illusion. Then came the martial attempts, making smaller rituals. They believed in there own skill, and they too could change the illusion. But these all payed lip service to the illusion. That is what we shall change!" -Galahad, master of the five fold way, to his apprentices.

the five fold way was born out of madness. it was created by Galahad, a swordsage driven mad by the far realms. through his mind he saw the true underpinnings of the multiverse. he learned to change reality with his blade. he learned to create destruction as a pure source of power. students flocked to him, and he taught the new way to them. next came the servants of good, seeking to stem the destruction he. all were slain. Next came the adventures, seeking vengeance for the land he had destroyed. They to were slain. The gods themselves took notice, and against the divine host Galahad fell.

Some say he was destroyed by the gods themselves, taking the field in form of wroth. others say Rasher himself came forth to duel him... But still others say he fled. To were might he flee? That is not said, not thought. were would the gods not find him, as they would surly have done? to the realm of the vestiges? to the desert of the hub? To the far realms, to make marry among the abominations? no one knows... But his very name makes even the greatest of gods and the mightiest dragon tremble with fear. it is no matter for for mortal minds, so I turn away from such unhappy thoughts.

Much like the temple of nine swords, his teachings were not lost. His students scattered, spreading an incomplete version of the five fold way. The art is confused, corrupted with miss remembered methods and lost intent. The few who remembered are long dead, and even they had not the skill of Galahad. They borrowed from other arts, patched over holes as they could. The art is no longer in its pure and ritual less form.

the five fays were each corupted, each in a different way.

the way of Arcana, mixed with sorcery and thus limited by the users arcane skill.

the way of Belief, mixed with philosophy and thus limited by the users will.

the way of Blade, mixed with the sublime way and thus limited by the users discipline.

the way of Soul, mixed with incarnum and thus limited by the users body.

the way of Mind, mixed with psionics and thus limited by the users self knowledge.

so five ways, and five base classes.

[bobthe6th]

The Arcane

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Blast Points

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Blasting, Set(2)|2

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3| |6

3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Meta|11

4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Set|17

5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Free Shape|25

6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Meta|35

7th|+3|+2|+2|+5| |46

8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Set|58

9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Meta|72

10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Free Shape|88

11th|+5|+3|+3|+7| |105

12th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Meta|123

13th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8| |143

14th|+7/+2|+4|+4|+9| |165

15th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+9|Free Shape, Meta|188

16th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |212

17th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |238

18th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Meta|266

19th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11| |295

20th|+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Free Shape|325
[/table]

[bobthe6th]

The Believer

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Blast Points

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Blasting, Set(2)|2

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3| |6

3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Meta|11

4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Set|17

5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Free Shape|25

6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Meta|35

7th|+3|+2|+2|+5| |46

8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Set|58

9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Meta|72

10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Free Shape|88

11th|+5|+3|+3|+7| |105

12th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Meta|123

13th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8| |143

14th|+7/+2|+4|+4|+9| |165

15th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+9|Free Shape, Meta|188

16th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |212

17th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |238

18th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Meta|266

19th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11| |295

20th|+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Free Shape|325
[/table]

[bobthe6th]

The Mind

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Blast Points

1st|+0|+0|+0|+2|Blasting, Set(2)|2

2nd|+1|+0|+0|+3| |6

3rd|+1|+1|+1|+3|Meta|11

4th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Set|17

5th|+2|+1|+1|+4|Free Shape|25

6th|+3|+2|+2|+5|Meta|35

7th|+3|+2|+2|+5| |46

8th|+4|+2|+2|+6|Set|58

9th|+4|+3|+3|+6|Meta|72

10th|+5|+3|+3|+7|Free Shape|88

11th|+5|+3|+3|+7| |105

12th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8|Meta|123

13th|+6/+1|+4|+4|+8| |143

14th|+7/+2|+4|+4|+9| |165

15th|+7/+2|+5|+5|+9|Free Shape, Meta|188

16th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |212

17th|+8/+3|+5|+5|+10| |238

18th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11|Meta|266

19th|+9/+4|+6|+6|+11| |295

20th|+10/+5|+6|+6|+12|Free Shape|325
[/table]

[bobthe6th]

The Blade

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Blasts prepared|Blasts Readied|Blast Styles Known|Modifications Known
1st|+1|+0|+0|+2|Elemental Stance|3|3|1|1

2nd|+2|+0|+0|+3|Piercing Strike|4|3|1|1

3rd|+3|+1|+1|+3| |5|3|1|2

4th|+4|+1|+1|+4| |5|4|2|2

5th|+5|+1|+1|+4| |6|4|2|3

6th|+6/+1|+2|+2|+5| |6|4|2|3

7th|+7/+2|+2|+2|+5| |7|4|2|4

8th|+8/+3|+2|+2|+6| |7|4|2|4

9th|+9/+4|+3|+3|+6| |8|4|2|5

10th|+10/+5|+3|+3|+7| |8|5|3|5

11th|+11/+6/+1|+3|+3|+7| |9|5|3|6

12th|+12/+7/+2|+4|+4|+8| |9|5|3|6

13th|+13/+8/+3|+4|+4|+8| |10|5|7

14th|+14/+9/+4|+4|+4|+9| |10|5|3|7

15th|+15/+10/+5|+5|+5|+9| |11|6|3|8

16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+5|+5|+10| |11|6|4|8

17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+5|+5|+10| |12|6|4|9

18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+6|+6|+11| |12|6|4|9

19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+6|+6|+11| |13|6|4|10

20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+6|+6|+12| |13|7|4|10
[/table]

Blasting: The main skill of a Blade, is his blast. this can take on a number of forms, depending on its modification.

to use a blast, he must first shape it. this is a full round action during which he selects the modifications of the blast. He then adds it to his blasts prepared.

A blade may switch a blast in his blasts prepared into his blasts readied pool as a full round action. If he already has his maximum blasts readied, he must move one to his blasts prepare.

using a blast is entirely dependent on how it is modified.

blast modification: Blast modification has two levels. first you select the style of the blast. there are four styles, strike, boost, counter, and shield. at first level you know one style, and at fifth, tenth, and fifteenth levels you learn another. each style has a different activation method and amount of modification points. A strike is activated as part of a standard action attack made during the blades turn, a swift strike can be activated as part of any attack but only if the attack is not already part of a strike or swift strike, a boost is activated as a swift action, and a shield is activated as an immediate action.

Now after you have selected the style, you have a set number of modification points to modify the blast with. Strikes have 1.5/blade levelmodification points, Swift strikes have blade level modification points, Boosts have .5/blade level modification points, and shields have .25/blade level modification points.

Modification points may be spent on modifications you know. you know two modification at first level, and learn another every two levels.
modification list

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Damage: for each modification point invested in Damage, the blast deals 1dx damage. the die depends on the elemental stance you are in. you may only invest up to your blade level modification points in Damage.

Reach: you may invest modification points to increase your reach when using the blast. This costs the square of the amount of reach devided by 5ft. so an extra ten foot to reach casts (10/5)^2=2^2=4 modification points.

Area: By investing one point in Area, the attack deals its normal damage in a five foot cone extending from the target. every point invested after that adds a five foot to the cones area. The damage has a reflex save for half damage of DC 10+1/2 blade level+blade charisma modifire.

[bobthe6th]

for the forth disciplines explanation

[bobthe6th]

for the fifth disciplines explanation

[bobthe6th]

Blasting

the core of the 5 classes, blasting. they each do it in their own way but there are some basic principles that are the same.

a blast must first be shaped.
a blast starts with a number of "Dice". these dice may be spent on augmenting the blast, or just on pure damage. each class has its own special augmentations.

[Amechra]

This has been done before.

I would suggest reading through that stuff and seeing if you can find any ideas you like.

[NeoSeraphi]

Fire blasters already have their own discipline. It's called Desert Wind, and the reason it's looked down upon in Tome of Battle is specifically because fire resistance/immunity is so common (and because it adds fire damage to your weapon attacks, which means to use it you have to get past both resistances AND DR)

[Hiro Protagonest]

Fire blasters already have their own discipline. It's called Desert Wind, and the reason it's looked down upon in Tome of Battle is specifically because fire resistance/immunity is so common (and because it adds fire damage to your weapon attacks, which means to use it you have to get past both resistances AND DR)

The Desert Wind blasting maneuvers are underdamaged, allow a reflex save for half, and don't scale.

It does have some good stuff, like X Blade and Searing Charge, but otherwise no.

[NeoSeraphi]

The Desert Wind blasting maneuvers are underdamaged, allow a reflex save for half, and don't scale.

It does have some good stuff, like X Blade and Searing Charge, but otherwise no.

Er...I didn't think any of the ToB maneuvers scaled.

And yes, Desert Wind is a very bad school. I was just alerting the OP to the existence of it. Perhaps he can use some of the maneuvers and boosts as a starting point and just buff them?

[bobthe6th]

will read through the spell shaping soon. thanks for the link!

my plan was to have the damage part of the maneuvers scale as a martial lore check opposed to a targets ac. for every point you beat the ac by, you deal a point of the elements damage. higher level maneuvers would grant a bonus to that check, or grant a rider affect.

that sound vaguely balanced?

[Seerow]

will read through the spell shaping soon. thanks for the link!

my plan was to have the damage part of the maneuvers scale as a martial lore check opposed to a targets ac. for every point you beat the ac by, you deal a point of the elements damage. higher level maneuvers would grant a bonus to that check, or grant a rider affect.

that sound vaguely balanced?

So it would be a weaker version of the diamond mind strikes?


As a general rule, don't use skill checks to balance your damage. But given the formula you proposed, I'd make it +1d6 per point over AC and just keep a close eye on shenanigans that boost skill checks easily.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Er...I didn't think any of the ToB maneuvers scaled.

The Diamond Mind save-replacers and Insightful Strike line do. As do the X Blade line. And I think Sudden Leap could count. Most don't scale because they aren't just damage, they're extra mobility or status effects, or help pierce defenses.

[Amechra]

I would base it of Iajatsu Focus, plus something like ambush feats...

Screw it, now I have to write that up. Darn.