Prestige Class Contest Chat Thread I

[rferries]

Rferries, do you play Smite? I have a feeling that you play Smite given that your class is basically Hel's playstile from Smite. See pics in spoiler.

Spoiler: Hel pics

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Still not sure what I should do for the contest. No idea seems to jump out at me.

I'm afraid my only experience with Smite is the artwork - I came across it when trawling for fantasy art to use in homebrew! :D The Moon Disciple is actually based on Mr. Negative (the Spider-Man supervillain).

And I suggest making something based around one of your homebrew races, there's loads of potential there. A Dunewalker prestige class that lets them master the skies as well as the earth, perhaps?

[Aniikinis]

I'm afraid my only experience with Smite is the artwork - I came across it when trawling for fantasy art to use in homebrew! :D The Moon Disciple is actually based on Mr. Negative (the Spider-Man supervillain).

Ah, okay, I say that due to how she's usually played in arena mode. Here's her abilities. Save the legion of darkness, you can see why I say that.

And I suggest making something based around one of your homebrew races, there's loads of potential there. A Dunewalker prestige class that let's them master the skies as well as the earth, perhaps?

Maybe, but nothing is particularly jumping out to me. I'm trying to think of the mechanics I would use in my head for various duality types but nothing is really catching.

[Jormengand]

I can't think of a good name for an archer/swordsman. But I know what the basic idea of the class I wanna do is.

[Morphic tide]

I can't think of a good name for an archer/swordsman. But I know what the basic idea of the class I wanna do is.

Hmm... Can't think of any groups that specifically used bow and sword in unison. The general pattern is focused archers also picking up good sword skills... and rarely needing to use them because bows are absurdly effective. The Mongols were nothing but horse archers and ran over most of the Old World while doing so.

[rferries]

I can't think of a good name for an archer/swordsman. But I know what the basic idea of the class I wanna do is.

Manticore? (sometimes you use "claws" in melee, sometimes you fire "spikes" from a distance)

[MrNobody]

Posted my Adaptive Hunter, not over yet but i'll come back to finish it in a couple of days!

[Aniikinis]

Manticore? (sometimes you use "claws" in melee, sometimes you fire "spikes" from a distance)

If I have the motivation I'll do a class for the manticore, that suggestion has given me an idea for something involving wing-claws, naturally enhanced natural weapons, and supernatural effects through natural means (such as injection delivery mechanisms and roars)

[MoleMage]

I've thrown the juggler into the ring! (pun definitely intended)

Returning after a couple years of absence from the forums, had a good inspiration for classes this week so I'm gonna use it. We'll see if it carries through to the next contest.

[Lanth Sor]

I can't think of a good name for an archer/swordsman. But I know what the basic idea of the class I wanna do is.

Why not Sword Slinger.

Baleog uses swords as both Melee and ranged weapons.

[sengmeng]

Well the Psionic Assassin is up. It's bare-bones playable, but I'm still going to create 10 unique psionic powers for its list (which I have names and disciplines decided for so far), and am open to ideas for more special abilities. Its power levels should be easy to assess as is. I had a few goals here: make a stealthy psionic class, let the Soulknife have something nice for once, and make a psionic "half caster" (War Mind and Psionic Fist net you up to 5th level powers, Psychic Warrior gets you 6th, no existing psionic class stops you at 4th unless you just don't finish it). Secondarily, I wanted a one level dip to be nice for some builds (especially ones who plan to take more Rogue levels), but offer decent incentives to stick it out to 5, 10, or even the full 15, with ability to enter at level 5 and still have one level to put into another class for customizability. PEACH.

[Jormengand]

So, enough of the brigand is up to make it obvious roughly what it's going to be like, at least. I'll do some more when I actually feel up to it.

[sengmeng]

So, enough of the brigand is up to make it obvious roughly what it's going to be like, at least. I'll do some more when I actually feel up to it.

I guess so far it looks fine, does what it should, fits the theme, but it's pretty much a big question mark until the elite feats it can take are spelled out. Or are they posted somewhere and I just missed them?

[Jormengand]

I guess so far it looks fine, does what it should, fits the theme, but it's pretty much a big question mark until the elite feats it can take are spelled out. Or are they posted somewhere and I just missed them?

I have literally just now added them, though I'll eventually stick on a few more that make it good at specifically using ranged and melee weapons together.

[sengmeng]

I have literally just now added them, though I'll eventually stick on a few more that make it good at specifically using ranged and melee weapons together.

Ok, well it makes the fighter obsolete, but that's kind of like making a wooden car obsolete. However, it's really attractive to any martial character whether they want to be good at both melee and ranged or focus on one; I don't know if that's a detriment or not. I certainly wouldn't bother pointing that out if it wasn't being made for a contest. My entry also doesn't become a switch hitter if you don't take the correct abilities. I think the main issue I would have with the brigand as a DM is that it can't exist in a vacuum; if it was the only elite class I'd nix it in a heartbeat, but I guess as long as there's other elite options I'd allow it.

Edit: why an elite version of Shot on the Run but not Spring Attack? And how about a super duper elite feat that has both as prerequisites and lets you mix ranged and melee attacks while moving?

[MoleMage]

Graceful Strike could probably be two feats. Maybe make the defensive part Elite Combat Expertise with a slight kick in the pants?

[Aniikinis]

Alright, the Sky-Land Warrior is up. I know most of it is feats, so yeah...

[rferries]

Alright, the Sky-Land Warrior is up. I know most of it is feats, so yeah...

I lurve that art!

[MrNobody]

Fixed and finished my Adaptive Hunter in a hurry: there may be a lot of typos and the text might not be perfect, but it's done and (i think) playable.

I don't think i'll have time to change things in the the folloing days, but PEACH is always appreciated!

[JoshuaZ]

Ok. I'm not going to have time to make a PrC for this one (and honestly don't have any really good ideas for one) but I will try to do some quick EACHing:

Moon Disciple:

This has a neat Jekyll and Hyde feel to it, although it plays with the alignment in a more subtle way. It reads like it was written by someone who is Lawful Good (And I picture the author saying to themselves "Well of course Evil and Chaos go together").


"The followers appear only after an hour-long ritual which the Moon Disciple must perform in his Dark Aspect. If he shifts to his Light Aspect, the followers vanish instantly until the next time he performs the ritual."

So these followers aren't real people but magically created beings? But the ability is (ex)? This seems weird.

Bowstaff Striker:
This is a neat concept and has good mechanics. I would suggest that for Never Off Guard it shouldn't automatically cause unstringing unless they want it to, but that may be too powerful. Not sure.

Adaptive Hunter:

Hmm, not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand it is better than a generic fighter to the point where it becomes extremely tempting to anyone with just a few feats. On the other hand, the generic 3.5 fighter is so weak that insisting that PrCs not give it a boost would keep them very weak.

For the Bonus Feat I would add a clarification that if they qualified for the class with both options than they should be able to choose a bonus feat for either. Actually, for that matter, why not just simplify this to being a bonus feat that has to have either Two Weapon Fighting or Point-Blank Shot as a prerequisite?

Juggler:

Class is generally good. Needs some specification on which abilities are (Ex) and which are (Su). My guess is that most abilities are (Ex) but I could see the capstone going either way.

Psionic Assassin:

Hmm, there is an official 3.5 psionics using Assassin, called the Psychic Assassin but yours is in many ways closer to the 3.5 Asssassin class. I like the fact that it is 15 levels, and they seem to be spread out nicely.

I like the list of special abilities one can choose from, which does a good job letting one customize (something that many PrCs unfortunately don't really let you do much of). It might make sense to specify if abilities can be taken more than once. In particular, I could see someone wondering this about Psionic Student.

Brigand:

Class name is odd- a Brigand is literally a highway robber, and the class is more generic than that. I'm really concerned about the balance level of this class- the Elite Feats are extremely strong and I worry that anyone playing this would outshine pretty much anyone else in combat, not even base classes, even someone who has levels in some of the +1 Tier PrCs. That said, it might be a good way for a non-Tome of Battle melee character to keep up with ToB characters.

The Sky-Land Warrior:

Ok. This PrC is amazingly original. One should specify which abilities are (Su) and which are Ex. For example, some of the quill enhancements could plausibly go either way.
I would strongly consider spreading this out to 5 or 6 levels since that many abilities in 4 levels is very condensed.

[MrNobody]

For the Bonus Feat I would add a clarification that if they qualified for the class with both options than they should be able to choose a bonus feat for either. Actually, for that matter, why not just simplify this to being a bonus feat that has to have either Two Weapon Fighting or Point-Blank Shot as a prerequisite?

Qualifing for the class with both options would be odd since the whole point of the class is "you don't need to follow two specializations: follow one, the class will make you proficient with the other".

I was so strict with the bonus feat because the class aims to have you specialize in one way, give you bonus feat for that particular combat style and then allowing to swap the whole thing for another different style.

Qualifing with both will open two option to me:
- qualifiy with both and apply to both, with little to no effect at all (you swap TWF with point blank shot... and point blank shot with TWF);
- qualify with both, apply to one, with a loss of feats (you have TWF and point blank shot, you swap TWF... now you have 2 indentical feats).

I'll leave things as they are. Thanks for PEACHing!

[Aniikinis]

The Sky-Land Warrior:

Ok. This PrC is amazingly original. One should specify which abilities are (Su) and which are Ex. For example, some of the quill enhancements could plausibly go either way.
I would strongly consider spreading this out to 5 or 6 levels since that many abilities in 4 levels is very condensed.

Danke schoen, I'll get right on that and I think I will space it out to 6 levels because I mistyped a command for the 5th level.

[sengmeng]

Psionic Assassin:

Hmm, there is an official 3.5 psionics using Assassin, called the Psychic Assassin but yours is in many ways closer to the 3.5 Asssassin class. I like the fact that it is 15 levels, and they seem to be spread out nicely.

I like the list of special abilities one can choose from, which does a good job letting one customize (something that many PrCs unfortunately don't really let you do much of). It might make sense to specify if abilities can be taken more than once. In particular, I could see someone wondering this about Psionic Student.

I actually had the class entirely typed up with the name ae psychic assassin before I Google searched and found that name was already taken. Their version seemed much closer to the normal 3.5 assassin with its limited spellcasting replaced with psionics.

I added a sentence before the special abilities saying that Psionic Student, Keen Soul, and Practiced Sneak can be taken multiple times, but it seemed like it should be clear since Psionic Student's description includes the phrase "each time you take this special ability," and the other two discuss how they interact if you take them multiple times.

[MoleMage]

Ok. I'm not going to have time to make a PrC for this one (and honestly don't have any really good ideas for one) but I will try to do some quick EACHing:
Juggler:

Class is generally good. Needs some specification on which abilities are (Ex) and which are (Su). My guess is that most abilities are (Ex) but I could see the capstone going either way.

Thanks!

I've been playing so much 5e lately I forgot that abilities have different categories in 3.5 I'll add it all in. Your guess was also correct (with the capstone going to Su since it has interaction with spells beyond "getting out of the way really good").

[sengmeng]

The Psionic Assassin's powers are finished, and it should be basically finalized. PEACHes appreciated, but the deadline is almost here, so no worries.

[rferries]

Ok. I'm not going to have time to make a PrC for this one (and honestly don't have any really good ideas for one) but I will try to do some quick EACHing:

Moon Disciple:

This has a neat Jekyll and Hyde feel to it, although it plays with the alignment in a more subtle way. It reads like it was written by someone who is Lawful Good (And I picture the author saying to themselves "Well of course Evil and Chaos go together").

Haha guilty as charged! I dithered over making it law vs chaos or good vs evil, and ended up using both. The dichotomy was the main thing.

"The followers appear only after an hour-long ritual which the Moon Disciple must perform in his Dark Aspect. If he shifts to his Light Aspect, the followers vanish instantly until the next time he performs the ritual."

So these followers aren't real people but magically created beings? But the ability is (ex)? This seems weird.

Rewritten to be (Su), and added reference about them not being able to enter an antimagic field etc.

Kind of late to give feedback now, but everyone's entries look pretty good at a glance anyways. Have a great weekend, distinguished competitors!

[sengmeng]

If no one minds, I'll throw up a voting thread if it hasn't been done in a couple days.

[MrNobody]

I don't mind at all!

[Jormengand]

Oh, I kinda forgot this existed when my computer blew up and I was without stable internet for a while. Sorry people!

I'll get up a voting thread either later or tomorrow...

[sengmeng]

Oh, I kinda forgot this existed when my computer blew up and I was without stable internet for a while. Sorry people!

I'll get up a voting thread either later or tomorrow...

No worries; you already stepped up once. I thought I would too if need be.

[Jormengand]

And here we go.