The Perfectionist 3.5 base class

[lunar2]

This class is more an exercise in curiosity than anything else. the question is, how far can you get with just chassis and ability scores? at what point do you just get so good at the basics that you don't need all the advanced stuff?

HD: D12; see text
Class Skills: See text
Skill Points per level: See text
Starting gold: as aristocrat
Starting age: as wizard
Alignment: lawful perfectionists are more common than neutral or chaotic perfectionists, but creatures of any alignment can seek improvement.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+2

|Perfect Training

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

6th|

+6/1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+5

|

7th|

+7/2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+5

|

8th|

+8/3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+6

|

9th|

+9/4

|

+6

|

+6

|

+6

|

10th|

+10/5

|

+7

|

+7

|

+7

|

11th|

+11/6/1

|

+7

|

+7

|

+7

|

12th|

+12/7/2

|

+8

|

+8

|

+8

|

13th|

+13/8/3

|

+8

|

+8

|

+8

|

14th|

+14/9/4

|

+9

|

+9

|

+9

|

15th|

+15/10/5

|

+9

|

+9

|

+9

|

16th|

+16/11/6/1

|

+10

|

+10

|

+10

|

17th|

+17/12/7/2

|

+10

|

+10

|

+10

|

18th|

+18/13/8/3

|

+11

|

+11

|

+11

|

19th|

+19/14/9/4

|

+11

|

+11

|

+11

|

20th|

+20/15/10/5

|

+12

|

+12

|

+12

|[/table]

Class features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Perfectionist is proficient with all weapons, armor, and shields.

Perfect Training: A perfectionist has dedicated her life to personal improvement. She trains constantly, and seeks out the most effective training methods. She maximizes her hit points from all hit die. all skills are considered class skills for her, and she always has maximum ranks in every skill. additionally, she faces no restrictions on the DC of skill checks she can attempt, so she can use survival to track above DC 10 without taking the track feat, and can search for, and disable, traps above DC 20 without having the trapfinding class feature. A perfectionist's base ability scores (before racial or other modifiers) are all 18. each of her ability scores increase by +2 when she reaches any level divisible by 4. this is in addition to the normal ability score increases gained at those levels.

Perfectionists and multiclassing: perfectionist can only be taken as the first class level a creature gains, and once entered, multiclassing of any kind is impossible. the path to perfection requires absolute dedication, and once begun, is impossible to leave.

[Phosphate]

I am shocked. By virtue of the huge ability scores this thing gets, it is Tier 4 without having any class features whatsoever.

Mightily impressed.

[lunar2]

I was thinking more like T3 or borderline 3-4. a rogue is T4, and this thing skillmonkeys as well as, or better than, a rogue even before the extra ability increases come in at level 4, while fighting on par with a fighter, or maybe even a barbarian. it has huge HP, which actually matter at low levels, and by the time HP becomes less important, it has the saves and and ac to keep it alive anyway (especially with a monk's belt on). by level 8, it hits as hard as a raging barbarian, all day, every day.

[Zale]

Huh. Pretty good. Awesome Skillmonkey. Wonderous, Wonderous stats. Would be rather boring to play, but nice.

[lunar2]

like i said, it was more an exercise in curiosity than any serious attempt at class building.

[Amnoriath]

This class is more an exercise in curiosity than anything else. the question is, how far can you get with just chassis and ability scores? at what point do you just get so good at the basics that you don't need all the advanced stuff?

HD: D12; see text
Class Skills: See text
Skill Points per level: See text
Starting gold: as aristocrat
Starting age: as wizard
Alignment: lawful perfectionists are more common than neutral or chaotic perfectionists, but creatures of any alignment can seek improvement.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+2

|Perfect Training

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

6th|

+6/1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+5

|

7th|

+7/2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+5

|

8th|

+8/3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+6

|

9th|

+9/4

|

+6

|

+6

|

+6

|

10th|

+10/5

|

+7

|

+7

|

+7

|

11th|

+11/6/1

|

+7

|

+7

|

+7

|

12th|

+12/7/2

|

+8

|

+8

|

+8

|

13th|

+13/8/3

|

+8

|

+8

|

+8

|

14th|

+14/9/4

|

+9

|

+9

|

+9

|

15th|

+15/10/5

|

+9

|

+9

|

+9

|

16th|

+16/11/6/1

|

+10

|

+10

|

+10

|

17th|

+17/12/7/2

|

+10

|

+10

|

+10

|

18th|

+18/13/8/3

|

+11

|

+11

|

+11

|

19th|

+19/14/9/4

|

+11

|

+11

|

+11

|

20th|

+20/15/10/5

|

+12

|

+12

|

+12

|[/table]

Class features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Perfectionist is proficient with all weapons, armor, and shields.

Perfect Training: A perfectionist has dedicated her life to personal improvement. She trains constantly, and seeks out the most effective training methods. She maximizes her hit points from all hit die. all skills are considered class skills for her, and she always has maximum ranks in every skill. additionally, she faces no restrictions on the DC of skill checks she can attempt, so she can use survival to track above DC 10 without taking the track feat, and can search for, and disable, traps above DC 20 without having the trapfinding class feature. A perfectionist's base ability scores (before racial or other modifiers) are all 18. each of her ability scores increase by +2 when she reaches any level divisible by 4. this is in addition to the normal ability score increases gained at those levels.

Perfectionists and multiclassing: perfectionist can only be taken as the first class level a creature gains, and once entered, multiclassing of any kind is impossible. the path to perfection requires absolute dedication, and once begun, is impossible to leave.

You may have alot base statistics but its restrictions is outright brutal. 3.X is all about getting the features that enable certain actions. AKA it favors multi-classing when done right. This has none making it completely item dependent to help define it. A barbarian can take a couple levels of fighter, giving it some key feats for fighting. This can't, it can use some pretty good skills such as Iajitsu and UMD but you need certain items and actions to make it work. However, it can't ever specialize as it can't customize or even get out of the class(No Iajitsu master...etc).

[Network]

Perfect Training doesn't worth it at first level, but it will be of use at all others levels. This is basically the class with the most hp per hit dice.

Saves would be interesting for a one or two levels trip, unfortunately you can't multiclass. Ever.

At epic level, you would probably gain a feat every three or four levels. The fighter gains 5.5 hp per level ; you gain 12. I see these bonus hp as the only durable advantage of the class.

This class is probably not less powerful than those in the Player Handbook. It is more boring, because you lack the flexibility of the fighter or the special abilities of other classes. Saves aren't that important at first level but will show their utility at medium levels. At high level, a well-build, multiclassed character can have more with ease. But what kind of lame power is class features, anyway? You have hp!

Edit : Looking at your abilities increase, it would probably be one bonus feat every 5 levels instead of 4. But who need feats when you have hit points?

[Amechra]

I would take something like those Binding feats with this; considering that Dalhver Nar gives you half your Constitution bonus to AC, that's a good +4/+5 to AC. Practically for free.

Top that off with some Incarnum lovin', and you've got something rather... something.

[Vadskye]

...you've got something rather... something.

I think that sums up this class pretty well.

[Amechra]

This class would be ultra sexy in gestalt, though.

Even if you were just mixing it with, say, the Monk.

[Pyromancer999]

I'd let a player play this class, although I might have them tack on one of Welknair's bloodlines for free(just a thing I do for T4 and below classes) seeing as they don't gain more than one class feature, which somewhat restricts them, besides the magnificent chassis.

I'd rate it a T4/Borderline T3-T4 class, as while it has an awesome chassis and can out-skillmonkey the rogue in most cases and fight a bit better than the raw fighter(although it might be able to get some edge with certain fighter feats), it doesn't have much else besides that, and it also can't multi-class, which is a major restriction, although perhaps one necessary given the chassis.

This class would be ultra sexy in gestalt, though.

Darn Tootin'. An Adept/Perfectionist could give tier 3 or even tier 2 casters a run for their money, if only for the sheer boost to DCs.

Edit: @lunar2: Does the starting ability score change to this class account for racial ability modifiers?

[lunar2]

the ability scores are before any modifiers, such as race, age, items, level, etc.

an adult orc perfectionist would have

22/18/18/16/16/16

while a venerable grey elf would have

10/14/10/23/21/21

i think i mentioned that in the op.

[EdroGrimshell]

I'd let a player play this class, although I might have them tack on one of Welknair's bloodlines for free(just a thing I do for T4 and below classes) seeing as they don't gain more than one class feature, which somewhat restricts them, besides the magnificent chassis.

Major Inherent Aberrant Bloodline using my Expanded Aberration Feats.

[Amechra]

All of your ability scores are between 28 and 33 by level 20 in this class; however, the 1st level feature removes racial ability score adjustments.

That should be amended; I want my Arctic Dragonborn Dwarves, for a neat little 36-41 for Constitution; resist that breath weapon, twerp!

Plus, there is always the fun of playing a Unseelie Fey Star Elf Perfectionist.

+4 Cha, -4 Con, -2 Str, +2 Dex, off the top of my head. There is one option you can take from that template that lets you give a penalty equal to your Charisma modifier to the saves of all adjacent creatures.

A penalty of at least -11 at 20th level sounds lovely, thank you.

But yeah... what can we mix this with? (Assume an Azurin or Silverbrow Human, for the extra feat and little smidgeon of Essentia/Free Feather Fall.)

Paladin would be classy; hey, getting a +21 as your basis for all saves, before factoring anything else in, is awesome.

One of my favorites has to be going for the Vampire Template Class; and 8 level template class that makes you a vampire at the end.

Did I mention that one of the class features is "yeah, you're now Undead; you lose your Con score. What about HP and stuff? Eh, just use Charisma in place of anything that you would use Constitution for."

And thus, thanks to Charisma bonuses that the Vampire template gets, you get lots of HP, very good saves (you can take the Vamp class after you take 2 levels of Paladin; having a Fort save of +34, before any other boosts you might be getting to it, is awesome.)

Dip some Monk to get Wis to AC, then dip some Paladin with Serenity to add your Wis to all of your Saves.

Then grab that Exalted feat that lets you use your Wisdom for your to-hit for simple weapons.

Go Ghost Savage progression, and grab Ghostly Grasp and swing your Club around.

Other than that... Marshal is kinda nice for the plain fact that you are giving a +9-+11 bonus to all Dexterity checks. For the entire party.

Screw you, Improved Initiative.

If you really want to go crazy, go with Apocalypse Soldier on your other side.

Yes, I want all ability scores at 53-58. Before racial mods and items. Sure, it's at 20th level, but look at some of the class features:
-Add all ability score modifiers to AC; that's, at minimum, an AC bonus of +105.
-Add all Ability score modifiers to HP at each level. That's 2500 HP, for all of you watching at home.
-Adds all ability score modifiers to attack rolls, damage, and saves. +105 to all saves? OK!
-If he's using a Scythe, for example, the criticals are 15-20/x6. Or a rapier, for a good old 3-20/x4 crit range.

Anyone who has a critical confirmed against them must make a save vs. DC (105+half damage from attack), or die.

So... an average battle would look like:
"I attack! Ooh, I threaten a crit with my fists! (15-20/x4 critical); I confirm!"
Rolls some dice; he only took Improved Unarmed Strike, so he only deals 1d3+105 damage with his fist.
"Alright, I deal 428 damage! Can the enemy make a save vs. a DC of 319?"
"No, the god-damn peasant can't make that save!"

Considering that one class feature that they can use 10 times per day allows them to deal 200 extra damage.

Or that 1/day, they can force everyone within 2000 feet to make DC 105 Fort, Reflex, and Will saves, or drop to 0, die, and be erased from existence.

He can make that save on a 2.

[lunar2]

-snip-

as i've said twice now (once in the perfect training class feature, once in my last post) your base ability scores are changed to 18. this is before racial, age, level, item, etc. modifiers.

a level 1 orc perfectionist would be 22/18/18/16/16/16, for example.

[God Imperror]

What happens with racial HD and level drain?

[lunar2]

you mean with multiclassing? RHD aren't class levels. that's why i specifically said it must be your first class level.

@level loss. you always lose the last level you gained. so you lose class levels, not RHD, unless you have a template such as lycanthropy that grants rhd.

[God Imperror]

But if you have racial hit dice and become a perfectionist your attributes sky rocket then you lose the perfectionist levels and (even racial hd if you want to) but then what happens with your attributes?

[Phosphate]

That's an issue of the game, not of this class.

As a level 4 character, you CAN gain 80 levels, and thus +20 to ability scores, and then take 80 negative levels, and still have +20 to ability scores at level 4.

[Pyromancer999]

Major Inherent Aberrant Bloodline using my Expanded Aberration Feats.

Sure.

That's an issue of the game, not of this class.

As a level 4 character, you CAN gain 80 levels, and thus +20 to ability scores, and then take 80 negative levels, and still have +20 to ability scores at level 4.

Not sure what you're saying here.

[lunar2]

no. if you lose a level, you lose ability score increases and feats from levels. it's just like you never had those levels to begin with. so, if you are playing a perfectionist with rhd, keep track of your starting ability scores, or your DM can, and probably should, make you reroll/rebuy, etc.

[Amechra]

Major Inherent Aberrant Bloodline using my Expanded Aberration Feats.

Or maybe even a Major Inherent Fighter-Feat user!

You end up just being a better Fighter. By a lot.

[Zale]

-Snip-

Can't multiclass.

[Pyromancer999]

Can't multiclass.

He's referring to a bloodline. Bloodlines are not classes, so bloodline levels can still be taken. Still, the comment is a response to an earlier comment I made where I stated that this would probably get a free Major bloodline were one of my players to run it.

[Zale]

He's referring to a bloodline. Bloodlines are not classes, so bloodline levels can still be taken. Still, the comment is a response to an earlier comment I made where I stated that this would probably get a free Major bloodline were one of my players to run it.

I was quoting the post where he mentioned multiclassing into paladin for a save boost.

I should have made that more clear..

[God Imperror]

This class would be ultra sexy in gestalt, though.

Even if you were just mixing it with, say, the Monk.

But yeah... what can we mix this with? (Assume an Azurin or Silverbrow Human, for the extra feat and little smidgeon of Essentia/Free Feather Fall.)

Paladin would be classy; hey, getting a +21 as your basis for all saves, before factoring anything else in, is awesome.

I bet on gestalt.

[Virdish]

And he was using a gestalt so he wasn't multi-classing he was working up the other side of his gestalt.

[Zale]

Sorry, Sorry. Had a brain fart.

[lunar2]

is it bad that this thing got more feedback than just about anything else i've done, while requiring less effort than brewing a single feat? seriously, shield specialization gave me a lot of trouble, while this was, of course, effortless.

anyway, if i was going to play with this in a gestalt game (and it is a perfect passive gestalt class, isn't it?), i'd play monk or monkon the other side, and take my independent feat, while using my exercise houserule (if i could).

definitely not the most powerful combo (I.E., not cleric/druid, or wizard/archivist, etc.), but the themes fit together perfectly (lol).

[Razanir]

I don't know my tiers all that well, but it seems like it would be solidly tier 3, maybe even 2 in a gestalt campaign. Just running it with monk, you already have relative insanity like 44 AC, 420 hp, +29/+24/+19/+14 to hit for 2d10+9 damage, and moving 90 ft in a round... BEFORE FEATS