[PrC, PEACH]Nothing up my sleeve...

Lord_Gareth · 12-24-2008, 03:59 PM

Tarot Trickster

"There's nothing like pulling the wool over someone's eyes - especially when, every now and then, it's Fate Itself as your mark."
- "Lucky" Valerie Valentine

Tarot Trickster

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Nothing Up My Sleeve, All Aces, Card Toss
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Lady Luck's Kiss
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Suit Mastery (Clubs)
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Deck Storm, Fortune's Cornucopia
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Suit Mastery (Hearts)
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Fate in the Cards
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Suit Mastery (Diamonds)
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+6	Cheater's Luck
9th	+7/+2	+3	+6	+6	Suit Mastery (Spades)
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+7	Gamble with Fate

A flamboyantly dressed man in a bright cloak and intriguing hat stands on a street corner. For a crowd of astonished onlookers, he sets a deck of ordinary playing cards on the ground. With a flick of his wrist, a card leaps up from the top of the deck. He grins and reveals a ten of diamonds.

"Someone here," he says dramatically, "is about to be very wealthy."

He flicks the card at a peasant man, and it explodes into a shower of golden coins. The crowd claps, amazed.

He gives away money for the whole show, but at the end of it, he's the wealthiest man there.

Tarot Tricksters are a strange bunch of former spellcasters who take an intense interest in fate and luck as translated through the humblest of tools - playing cards and tarot decks. They give up their spellcasting ability in order to delve further into the strange magic of the cards, using them to bend fate, time, luck, and even the very world around them. Many come across as flamboyant braggarts, but most are actually fairly secretive individuals, not wanting to be bothered by the unwashes masses.

Requirements
In order to qualify as a Tarot Trickster, a character must meet the following criteria.
Skills: Sleight of Hand 9 ranks, Profession (Gambler) 9 ranks.
Feats: Quick Draw
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 2nd level arcane or divine spells.
Special: A prospective Tarot Trickster must have his fortune told by an unbiased, truthful party before Lady Luck will bestow her blessings upon him.

Class Features

Hit Dice: D6

Class Skills: Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Forgery (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Profession (Gambler) (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex).

Skill Points Per Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Tarot Tricksters are proficient with their own cards. They gain no new armor proficiencies.

Nothing Up My Sleeve (Su): Tarot Tricksters can conceal small objects on their body, even if they have nothing to conceal them with, and draw them forth as a free action (as though drawing a weapon with the Quick Draw feat). Even if he does not possess one, a Tarot Trickster may draw a deck of playing cards in this fashion as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The deck vanishes in one hour.

All Aces (Su): The Tarot Trickster is favored by Lady Luck, and gains a +4 luck bonus on all Perform, Profession (Gambler), and Sleight of Hand checks. Once per day, he can declare that he is using this ability and gain a +2 luck bonus on all rolls for a number of rounds equal to their class level.

Card Toss (Su): A Tarot Trickster may draw a card from the top of any deck and throw it as a ranged weapon, dealing 1d6 points of slashing damage and a range increment of 5 feet and threatening a critical on a 20. This counts as drawing the card for the purposes of class abilities, decks of illusion, decks of many things, and other card-based items.

Lady Luck's Kiss (Su): Starting at second level, the Tarot Trickster benefits from Lady Luck's favor, gaining a +2 luck bonus to armor class and Reflex saves.

Suit Mastery (Su): Starting at third level, and every two levels thereafter (5th, 7th, and 9th), the Tarot Trickster gains mastery of a cetain suit of cards. Whenever he draws a card from a suit he has mastery over, a certain effect takes place depending on the card, as explained below.

Suit Mastery Effects

Spoiler

Clubs

Spoiler

The Clubs are the suit of war and warfare, and the Tarot Trickster masters their arts first, at third level.

Numbered: If the Tarot Trickster draws a numbered card from the Clubs suit, add that number to his attack and damage rolls for the next round (including throwing that card with his Card Toss ability). He takes one point of untyped damage, ignoring damage reduction.

Jack: The Jack of Clubs is a potent warrior, and it calls one for the Tarot Trickster. Whenever he draws a Jack of Clubs, he may choose to summon a Large Earth Elemental that serves him for one round per class level before returning to the Elemental Plane of Earth. If the Tarot Trickster chooses to summon the elemental, he takes 1d8 points of untyped damage, ignoring damage reduction.

Queen: The Queen of Clubs is a vicious tyrant, getting her way through sheer brute force. Drawing her deals one creature of the Tarot Trickster's choice 1d6 points of force damage per class level, so long as that creature is within 30 feet of the Tarot Trickster. The Tarot Trickster takes 2d8 points of untyped damage, ignoring damage reduction, and develops a splitting headache, inflicting a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, ability checks, saving throws and skills checks for a number of rounds equal to their class level.

King: The King of Clubs is a lot like his son the Jack, but his servants are rather more powerful. Drawing the King of Clubs allows the Tarot Trickster to summon a Force Golem (Monster Manual 5) that will serve him faithfully for one round per class level before returning from whence it came. The Tarot Trickster takes 3d8 points of untyped damage, ignoring damage reduction, and develops a splitting headache, inflicting a -2 penalty to all attack rolls, ability checks, saving throws and skills checks for a number of rounds equal to their class level.

Ace: The Ace of Clubs hits foes where it hurts the most - their mind. A single being within 40 feet of the Tarot Trickster must succeed at a DC 25 Will save or be affected as though by feeblemind. The Tarot Trickster recieves 1d6 points of damage to their intelligence and wisdom scores.

Hearts

Spoiler

The Hearts are a suit of love and comfort. The Tarot Trickster masters their arts at 5th level.

Numbered: Whenever the Tarot Trickster draws a numbered Hearts card, they lend him some of their soothing touch. The Trickster may heal a single being within 30 feet of 1d6 points of damage per class level. In doing so, the Tarot Trickster takes a -2 penalty to attack and damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to his class level.

Jack: The Jack of Hearts is a notorious rake, leaving behind a string of broken hearts and false promises. When the Tarot Trickster draws the Jack of Hearts, one creature within 30 feet is affected as though by charm monster (DC = 10 + Tarot Trickster's class level + intelligence modifier) as the victim falls madly in love with him for a number of rounds equal to his class level. The Tarot Trickster takes a -4 penalty to attack and damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to his class level.

Queen: The Queen of Hearts is a lady of kind words and soothing touches. When she is drawn, a mass cure serious wounds effect affects all allies within thirty feet of the Tarot Trickster, including the Trickster himself. The Trickster is unable to make physical attacks for a number of rounds equal to his half his class level, rounded up.

King: The King of Hearts is like his son the Jack, but he was an old hat at breaking hearts long before Jack was ever born. Drawing the King of Hearts affects one being within 30 feet of the Tarot Trickster as though by dominate monster (DC = 10 + Tarot Trickster's class level + intelligence modifier) for a number of rounds equal to his class level. The Tarot Trickster is completely unable to make physical or magical attacks (with the exception of those from his Suit Mastery ability) for a number of rounds equal to his class level.

Ace: The Ace of Hearts is ultimate healing and self-sacrifice. When it is drawn, every ally within 30 feet of the Tarot Trickster is affected as though by a heal spell (caster level equal to the Tarot Trickster's character level), and the Tarot Trickster then takes 1d6 points of strength and constitution damage.

Diamonds

Spoiler

Spades

Spoiler

Deck Storm (Su) - Once per encounter, the Tarot Trickster may take a full-round action and throw one card at every enemy within range, rolling seperate attack rolls for each. This ability does not count as drawing the cards.

Fortune's Cornucopia (Su) - Once per day, the Tarot Trickster may divine his own future through a tarot reading that takes one hour. At the end of this ritual, he draws two cards and recieves the highest value among the two as a floating bonus pool that can be applied in bits and pieces to any attack rolls, damage rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws as a free action that becomes part of the action. Numerical cards are worth the value on them, jacks are worth 11, queens 12, kings 13, and aces 14. This ability cannot be used in conjunction with Cheater's Luck.

Example - "Lukcy" Valerie Valentine does her reading and flips up a Jack and a 7. She gains a floating pool of 11 points which she may apply in part or in whole to her rolls for 24 hours.

Fate in the Cards (Su) - Whenever the Tarot Trickster benefits from his Suit Mastery ability, he gains a +2 luck bonus to all rolls until end of turn.

Cheater's Luck (Su) - Once per day per point of intelligence modifier, the Tarot Trickster may, instead of drawing a card at random, draw any card he wishes out of his deck.

Gamble with Fate (Su) - Once per day, when the Tarot Trickster would otherwise die or be destroyed, they can gamble with Fate Itself to avert their doom. The Tarot Trickster rolls a Profession (Gambler) check (DC 30) whenever he would be killed or destroyed. Success means that he may draw a single card from the top of his deck. If the card is anything but a spade, he takes no damage and the effect passes harmlessly by, doing absolutely nothing to him.

A Note on Drawing Cards - A Suit Mastery ability without the word "may" in its description must be used. Simply drawing a card and doing nothing with it is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. What the Trickster does with the card is up to him after that - throw it, burn it, discard it. However, he cannot add it to his deck again unless he adds all other missing cards as well - Lady Luck doesn't like cheaters.

Djinn_in_Tonic · 12-24-2008, 07:18 PM

Well, first things first. Merry Christmas, my friend!

...albeit a bit early.

Anyway, on to the class. Flavorful as usual, but a bit less mechanically sound than most of your other homebrews, probably because of the type of the need for the card flavor in the class. Still, we'll get to that later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth

Requirements
In order to qualify as a Tarot Trickster, a character must meet the following criteria.
Skills: Sleight of Hand 9 ranks, Profession (Gambler) 9 ranks.
Feats: Quick Draw
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 2nd level arcane or divine spells.
Special: A prospective Tarot Trickster must have his fortune told by an unbiased, truthful party before Lady Luck will bestow her blessings upon him.

A good Bard class, I see, with a very nice and flavorful Special requirement. So far so good.

Base Attack, Saves, and HD in line with the Bard. Alright.

Skills...2 + Intelligence? For a Bard type class? First red flag. One of my main advantages is gone. I'd prefer to see 4 + Int at the bare minimum.

Quote:

Nothing Up My Sleeve (Su): Tarot Tricksters can conceal small objects on their body, even if they have nothing to conceal them with, and draw them forth as a free action (as though drawing a weapon with the Quick Draw feat). Even if he does not possess one, a Tarot Trickster may draw a deck of playing cards in this fashion as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The deck vanishes in one hour.

Nice. Good flavor, not to powerful, and a neat trick.

Quote:

All Aces (Su): The Tarot Trickster is favored by Lady Luck, and gains a +4 luck bonus on all Perform, Profession (Gambler), and Sleight of Hand checks. Once per day, he can declare that he is using this ability and gain a +2 luck bonus on all rolls for a number of rounds equal to their class level.

That's a pretty hefty bonus there, since it's to ALL rolls. I'd rather see this as a +4 bonus to one roll or a +2 bonus to one type of roll, or, my preference, a +4 bonus to one d20 roll once per encounter. You get Aces and win, but you don't keep drawing only aces. I see this as a one shot deal, but maybe that's just me.

Quote:

Card Toss (Su): A Tarot Trickster may draw a card from the top of any deck and throw it as a ranged weapon, dealing 1d6 points of slashing damage and a range increment of 5 feet and threatening a critical on a 20. This counts as drawing the card for the purposes of class abilities, decks of illusion, decks of many things, and other card-based items.

Flavorful, but not to good, considering the card gains no enhancements to attack or damage, making it rather inaccurate and dealing rather low damage.

Quote:

Lady Luck's Kiss (Su): Starting at second level, the Tarot Trickster benefits from Lady Luck's favor, gaining a +2 luck bonus to armor class and Reflex saves.

Cool. No problems there. This could actually begin at +1, increase to +2 at 6th level, and +3 at 10th level without any problems. Might also help with filling up that table a bit more.

Quote:

Suit Mastery (Su): Starting at third level, and every two levels thereafter (5th, 7th, and 9th), the Tarot Trickster gains mastery of a cetain suit of cards. Whenever he draws a card from a suit he has mastery over, a certain effect takes place depending on the card, as explained below.

I can go over the individual effects more if you want (and I should, as there are some problems there), but there are some problems. First is the fact that the suits are mastered one at a time, but the deck is still complete...I'd prefer to see each added to the deck, rather than a chance of getting a card that does nothing. I'd also prefer to see a hand of sorts, so SOME degree of control is allowed. Also, some of the higher cards effects are WAY to good, as are some lower abilities, but I'll review that later tonight, when I have more time.

Quote:

Deck Storm (Su) - Once per encounter, the Tarot Trickster may take a full-round action and throw one card at every enemy within range, rolling seperate attack rolls for each. This ability does not count as drawing the cards.

Um...1d6 damage to everything in range? I can think of many better uses for a full round action. Maybe cards should deal 1d6 or 1d4 damage per class level, like the Pyrokinetist's lash ability. I'll think more on that.

Quote:

Fortune's Cornucopia (Su) - Once per day, the Tarot Trickster may divine his own future through a tarot reading that takes one hour. At the end of this ritual, he draws two cards and recieves the highest value among the two as a floating bonus pool that can be applied in bits and pieces to any attack rolls, damage rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws as a free action that becomes part of the action. Numerical cards are worth the value on them, jacks are worth 11, queens 12, kings 13, and aces 14. This ability cannot be used in conjunction with Cheater's Luck.

Nice, but a limit to the amount spent on any one roll should be instituted...something like 1/2 class level, to prevent insane abuse.

Quote:

Fate in the Cards (Su) - Whenever the Tarot Trickster benefits from his Suit Mastery ability, he gains a +2 luck bonus to all rolls until end of turn.

Eh...just a repeat of a previous type of ability, and nothing to special at that. I'd rather see something more flavorful, or a least a little less universal. Maybe you treat a 19 as a natural 20, or a 1 as a natural 20, or something else unique.

Quote:

Cheater's Luck (Su) - Once per day per point of intelligence modifier, the Tarot Trickster may, instead of drawing a card at random, draw any card he wishes out of his deck.

I'll say "Ace of Spades" and let you think if you really want that ability around even 1/day, let alone more.

Quote:

Gamble with Fate (Su) - Once per day, when the Tarot Trickster would otherwise die or be destroyed, they can gamble with Fate Itself to avert their doom. The Tarot Trickster rolls a Profession (Gambler) check (DC 30) whenever he would be killed or destroyed. Success means that he may draw a single card from the top of his deck. If the card is anything but a spade, he takes no damage and the effect passes harmlessly by, doing absolutely nothing to him.

Nice capstone, and I love the flavor.

In conclusion (for the moment), wonderful flavor, and many interesting abilities. But some things need to be a little toned down or made more unique, and the card system, while a good base idea, needs some perfecting to make it work. You're sacrificing a lot of your Bard or Sorcerer potential to get this class...shear randomness and sporadic effects aren't a good trade. This looks like a great idea, but you're not ready for play yet.

That said, I do love the idea, and much of what you have. This is in no way a negative review, but I suspect that, knowing how I do this sort of thing, you probably knew that already.

-Gid/The Djinn

EDIT:

I just remembered I had a class like this lying around from a few years ago...I'll dust it off and see if any ideas can be gotten from it for abilities, etc.

Let's see...

Re-roll (Su): Whenever a Gambler mundanely gambles; he has double the chance of winning (for example, the contestant wins if he rolls 1 on a d4. A gambler rolls 2d4 and takes the better of the two to represent his extraordinary luck).

Last Chance (Su): A Gambler always has another trick up his sleeve. If a Gambler would take damage that would reduce him to 0 or fewer hp, he may flip a coin. If heads, he instead takes no damage. Once he is below 0, he takes damage normally. Nothing outside of divine intervention can prevent this effect or alter its outcome. (Sort of like your last one, although I'd prefer this one, even at a 50% chance, as it functions multiple times. That may also be just me.).

JackMage666 · 12-24-2008, 07:41 PM

The Deck Mastery presents a problem - The Numbered Values for Clubs gain an enhancement equal to the number drawn, which basically means any card thrown has an enhancment of 2-10, which is really high (considering you only pay for mundane, or nothing at all thanks to the first class ability). I'd say make them gain an enhancement equal to the number drawn divided by two (rounded down), so a 2 means a +1 enhancement, a 5 equals a +2, and so on, and the +5 is the highest possible.

And for clubs, 1d4 Negative Levels, no save or attack roll, whenever a number club is drawn (5/26 chance)? That's a bit much...

Lord_Gareth · 12-24-2008, 08:46 PM

By all means critique the individual effects and give me ideas for mechanics - this is FAR from perfect ^_^ Thanks for your critique so far!

And Merry Christmas Gid ^_^

lesser_minion · 12-24-2008, 09:51 PM

I think the only big thing I've seen that might be a problem and hasn't been covered in the other posts is the various 'backlash' effects that the character suffers. At the moment, several of them could be simply ignored by certain characters, at which point the class starts to become unbalanced.

Just a quick 'you cannot be immune to the effects the cards inflict on you' would probably resolve that problem.

I think that the Ace of Spades effect might be a little powerful, although I like the balancing 'you must use it when drawn' meaning that you can accidentally murder one of your friends, and the backlash is quite major (you might want to change the damage to ability burn, so characters are guaranteed to suffer for a bit after using it).

It becomes even worse when combined with the Cheaters' Luck ability and a Cleric with access to Heal...

It might be a bit better with some kind of hitpoint cap (more like Power Word, Kill but that probably still qualifies as too powerful).

You could change Cheater's Luck to something that allowed you to draw several cards and pick which one to trigger. That could also be used with enchanted decks of cards like the deck of illusions(not the artifact ones though...). It would at least curb the one-shot the BBEG that can occur at the moment.

This class is generally pretty good otherwise. And the flavour is great.

Djinn_in_Tonic · 12-24-2008, 11:26 PM

Okay...I was bored by life and intrigued by this and my old class, so I came up with some alternate card abilities...I'll just finish them up and post them, if that's okay with you (not that I'm insisting you replace them, but just to compare).

I did go with consistent themes;

Clubs--War
Hearts--Healing
Diamonds--Protection
Spades--Death

Numbers--Numbers (Group effects)
Jacks--Twisted Interpretations
Queens--Nurturing (Individual Buffs)
Kings--Strength (Strong effects)
Aces--Paragon (Effect that shows entire theme)

EDIT: Hell, I just drafted a version of the entire class, as I've been known to do when confronted with something you've done (Paradigm Project, anyone?). Feel free to steal/ignore/question/discuss at your leisure.

Spoiler

Lord_Gareth · 12-25-2008, 11:17 PM

My major issues is with the Hand wording - specifically, that they can choose not to take an effect. The PrCs abilities were designed sort of like a deck of many things - SOMETHING must happen if you draw. You called on Lady Luck, now she is going to answer.

Also, get on Yahoo. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG!

Djinn_in_Tonic · 12-25-2008, 11:20 PM

I'll have to re-download it, but certainly!

Also, I did alter that part of it yesterday...having an effect is now mandatory.

Pramxnim · 12-31-2008, 09:04 AM

Great class, flavour and everything. I think both versions have their pros and cons, though I am leaning toward Djinn's version a bit more, especially in the suit mastery effects. While Lord_Gareth's effects are more exciting and powerful, the drawbacks and the Intelligence-based DC threw me off. There has to be a reason for a bard to want to sacrifice Spell-casting and his music and enter into this class, and making the DC Cha-based works well, even if the effects are toned down a bit. But that's fine, since the main attack the class is gonna use is card toss anyways.
Speaking of card toss, I like the way Lord_Gareth handled it better, even though the 5-ft range is a bit daunting to people. I understand the logic, but D&D is all about supernatural stuff (and most of the class' abilities are supernatural anyways) so having a 30-ft range is not surprising at all. Further, I wouldn't want to trigger AoOs every time I wish to attack with my cards (you don't see Gambit throwing his cards at melee range for one [not taking into account the fact that he also attacks with his staff]). Also, a 5-ft range would make Deck Storm rather useless, since you don't have enough range anyways.

One last thing, Fortune's Cornucopia is my favourite ability (had to look it up though XD). Very flexible!
I hope this class gets finalised soon, would love to try it out in a game

Edit: Forgot to mention my gripe about changing Card Toss to a Ranged Touch Attack and making it a standard action. What's wrong with making cards your weapon? I'd drop the damage progression to 1d6/ 2 class levels, make the ability an attack action and keep the 30ft range.
Now we've opened up a new can of worms to play with. Dual-Wielding Card Master for example. Now that would be nice :D

Edit 2: Maybe you should make it possible to enhance the deck of cards like any other weapon. Otherwise, where would the Trickster's money go to?

Aergoth · 12-31-2008, 09:29 AM

The example at the end (about the tarot reading) is wrong. The number should be 18 not 11.

I'd love to try playing this, but really to play it on a PbP board you'd have to roll a d52 and build a table... just because it's difficult to trust people when you can't actually see what's in their hands.

Djinn_in_Tonic · 12-31-2008, 01:27 PM

Nope...it's the "highest value between the two." Not an additive thing. Easy to miss though.

As to PbP...yeah...that would be fairly difficult. Still, I believe forum rollers can handle strange dice, and, technically, you could also do it much easier with a d13 and a d4 (at least up until Jokers are added in my rewrite).