[3.5 Prestige Class] Sakrier (PEACH)

[Sacrieur]

The Sakrier
- Feel the Rush -

Spoiler

Image Source

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From pain comes strength: the Sakrier is a rare breed of warrior, capable of taking enormous amounts of punishment and still be standing. He laughs at pain and shows it no quarter, taking hit after hit without so much as flinching. The Sakrier is a fearsome opponent, and completely mad: his masochistic ways are often viewed as pure insanity.

Sakriers claim their power comes from within; by mastering fear itself, and manifesting the body's true power without fear of injury. Pain is merely a sensation that may easily be changed into another. To find the joy in fighting, one must find the joy in pain.

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Adventurers: A Sakrier is primarily seeking battle, and many search how to better master themselves or become stronger. He is exceedingly rare, and will be found often in the most harsh of conditions or in the eye of the storm, braving them with tremendous courage and tenacity.

Alignment: A Sakrier is a free-radical, and cannot be lawful due to the very nature of his power. Sakriers gravitate towards neutral since they act in an interest that bests suits furthering their goal; very rarely will one find a Sakrier who is not, but they do exist.

Religions: A Sakrier's power comes from within himself, he typically does not worship any god, though those who do follow the path.

Background: The life of one destined to become a Sakrier starts often in the roots of the most brutal of warriors. They herald from tribes of barbarians and sometimes hardheaded monks who find its philosophies intriguing.

Races: Any race may follow the path, but usually only the most well built of creatures.

Role: A Sakrier lacks the battlefield control of the sorcerer, or the adeptness of a swordsage, but what he lacks in subtlety, he makes up for in raw unrefined power. He is meat-shield, ready to guard those less sturdy in the group from injury, and prepared to use his abilities to lash back. A Sacrier's place is in the thick of combat, ready to strike out viciously at those that dare challenge him.

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GAME RULE INFORMATION

Requirements:

• +10 Base Attack Bonus
• Great Fortitude
• Diehard
• Ability to feel pain

Proficiency: Sakriers do not gain any proficiency for weapons and armor.

Skills: Concentration, Climb, Jump, Survival, and Swim. Gains 2 + [Int modifier] points per level.

Restrictions: May not be of lawful alignment. May not wear armor or use shields.

HD: d12 + 4

Sakrier Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+1	+1	+0	+0	Masochism
2nd	+2	+2	+0	+0	Bloodletting
3rd	+3	+3	+0	+1	Fury 1/week, Rapid Recovery
4th	+4	+4	+0	+1	Tenacious, Incredible Fortitude
5th	+5	+5	+0	+2	Masochism +4
6th	+6	+6	+1	+2	Steadfast Determination
7th	+7	+7	+1	+3	Deathless
8th	+8	+8	+1	+4	Fury 2/week
9th	+9	+9	+1	+4	Bloodletting +2
10th	+10	+10	+1	+5	Masochism +6, Surpassing Limits

Masochism (Ex): When in pain, the Sakrier's focus increases. Apparent time slows for him and he can react better than before. For every 10 points of damage received, a Sakrier gains a +2 circumstance bonus on his next attack. This bonus increases to +4 at level 5, and +6 at level 10.

Bloodletting (Ex): Eventually, the Sakrier develops the ability to turn his own life-force into power, gifting him extra force for a brief moment. A Sakrier may trade HP for damage in a 1:1 ratio up to a number HP equal to 4 x [class level]. This can be used at will as a free action on any successful attack, once per round. The ratio increases to 1:2 at level 9.

Fury (Ex): The Sakrier eventually learns how to enter an extremely focused state through pain. While deepening into a demeanor of extreme mind-body clarity and oneness, he can push his body well beyond any of its normal limits. For every 2 x [con modifier] hit points lost in Fury, the Sakrier advances down a exponential growth track, adding the bonus to his strength.

Track Level	Bonus
0	+1
1	+2
2	+4
3	+8
4	+16
5	+32
6	+64
7	+128
8	+256
9	+512
10	+1024

While in Fury the Sakrier takes damage equal to his track level per round. This continues until either the Sakrier reaches 10% of his HP or rolls a successful will save of 5 x [track level], after meeting either of these circumstances the Sakrier will fall unconscious and will be unable to be waked for a number of hours equal to [track level] - 1/2[Con modifer] (rounded down, minimum 1).

Should damage inflicted by Fury exceed the 10% threshold, he will retain 10% of his hit points and fall unconscious for an additional hour for every 20 x [Con modifier] damage points in excess.

While in Fury, a Sakrier cannot be healed by any means.

Rapid Recovery (Ex): Eventually the Sakrier's body adapts to its punishment. While asleep (or unconscious), a Sakrier gains fast healing 1. This only applies while he is asleep.

Tenacious: The repeated injury that a Sakrier takes forces his body to become more durable. He becomes immune to dying from massive damage or any other instantaneousness killing effects (such as Power Word Kill).

Incredible Fortitude: A Sakrier at level 4 gains the ability to add twice his Con modifier to all HD rolls, this is retroactive for Sakrier levels only.

Bonus Feat: A Sakrier gains the feat Steadfast Determination at level 6, if he all ready has the feat Steadfast Determination, he may select any other feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Deathless: A Sakrier will not die until his hit points are reduced to 10 + 10 x [Con modifer] below 0. If his hit points are reduced to below -15, he falls unconscious.

Surpassing Limits: Once reduced below 0 hit points a Sakrier no longer becomes disabled; additionally, he no longer falls unconscious after -15 hit points.

Ex Sakriers: Many warriors follow the Sakrier path to become better warriors, but do not pursue it to its full potential. If a Sacrier ever willfully dons armor, uses protective equipment, or cower to avoid taking damage, he can no longer follow the path of the Sakrier. He loses Masochism, Bloodletting, and Fury abilities.

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Knowledge Checks:

DC	Result
10	A Sakrier? You mean lunatic, right?
15	They are insane; they're practically immortal too.
20	The Sakrier is extremely powerful and deadly. He turns physical pain into strength.

[Sacrieur]

*bump*

I made him after falling in love with Dofus characters, and because of how bloody boring all of these mundane fighters are all of the time (outside of ToB). Too many times have I seen players cringe when they're hit. I want to see them grinning with sparkling eyes as they inch closer and closer to death, eager to dish out damage with a nonchalant half-assed way worthy of being called FUN.

Need to add a lot of fluff, but the good ol' gears are in there and ready to churn away. Needs to be PEACH'd, but heeeeeeeeeey that's what you guys are for. So what do you think?

I know the 2d8 HD are an interesting direction. But hey, his Barbarian friends can wear armor, plus all of his abilities are designed to drain hit points. This may be upgraded to 2d10 or even 2d12. In my play tests he didn't pull through as much as expected, and can easily take a good 60 damage per round at low levels. We don't want him dying so quickly >_>. I realize nothing has 2 HD for a level, but **** THAT ****.

Fury I think is a neat and fun ability to pull out every once in awhile. Dangerous, but wooooooooow, soon you'll be dishing out more damage than your wiggly fingered friends, which is something totally unheard of for a measly mundane class.

[Dumbledore lives]

I know you commented on the 2d8 hit dice as being weird, but I still think you should go for the standard 1d12. Maybe you could just naturally improve the health with levels instead of a weird hit dice.

I also think you should change the hit points prerequisite. Just a standard barbarian with +5 Con will only reach 150 health at about level 13. Even with improved toughness it is not till level 12, which is again too late. So maybe just ditch this requirement.

A problem I see with fury is that the higher class level you have in this class the worse it actually gets, I mean at level 10 and an average con you're going to have to take 60 damage to even get a +1, as opposed to 15 or so at level 3.

I like the class and I think that the ability to survive at -70 health is pretty awesome without being a frenzied berserker, though that could also go with this class for the best damage. Overall it's a neat class that needs a few touch-ups.

[Sacrieur]

Changed HD from 2d8 to 1d12 + 4.
Removed 150 HP Prereq.
Removed class level addition to Fury.

That should help a bit, Fury did seem a bit off, I guess that was why haha. And I suppose d12 + 4 makes more sense than 2d8, and guarantees a higher score. The 150 prereq was something I was debating, I just didn't think as to how much HP the person would gain from being in the class.

[Sacrieur]

Okay, some few issues I would love to be discussed.

1) How do you feel about the HD? Do you feel like it is enough, or does it need a boost? Right now I have a character who jumped from around 140 HP at level 10 as a Barbarian to 260 HP in 6 levels of Sakrier. I am unsure whether this is enough or not. I would like some more experienced members share their $0.02.

2) There is a problem with Fury... Well, there is a problem with Supreme Cleave combined with Fury. I was thinking about using Cleave and Fury. Maxed, a Sakrier gets a ludicrous +512 to hit and +512 damage for melee. Fair enough, he takes the same damage himself, and will soon be incapacitated for a substantial duration. The issue is that nothing I know of has a 512 AC. He is going to hit most creatures in this ability with a mere 5% of failing. The problem arises in that he is also going to drop them dead too. Combine it with Great Cleave, now he can clear everyone around him within his reach. Now combine that with Supreme Cleave. So long as there is an enemy within a 5' step, he can keep killing them.

This is largely due to Supreme Cleave being utterly broken, but Fury is kind of a catalyst. The Sakrier could destroy an entire bloody army in 6 seconds. Something about that seems off.

What do D=

3) Rapid Recovery I feel is much too strong. He'll heal 10 points in a single minute and 600 points in a single hour. I feel that stretching that out to perhaps 1 hp/minute is more ideal? That's 60/hour, which considering his large boast of hit points, would be just enough to heal him fully in a few hours. Though reducing it to 30/hour is extremely nifty. With a full night's rest of 8 hours, he'll recover 240 hp. Fair enough I feel. I think our dear warrior will be napping quite a bit. How do the rest of you feel?

[Shark Uppercut]

You know what scares barbarians? Frenzied Berzerkers.
You know what scares frenzied berzerkers? This guy.
Even if it's hard to achieve, the fact that you can reach +1024 Strength . . . smacktastic.

[Deathdarken]

Im not a huge fan of 3.5 but this is interesting and I like it.

[Veyr]

I only skimmed, but.... that skill list/point-per-level is atrocious. No class should have that, if only in the interest of being able to make interesting and diverse characters from the class. Even the Fighter is doing better than that.

[Sacrieur]

Originally Posted by Veyr

I only skimmed, but.... that skill list/point-per-level is atrocious. No class should have that, if only in the interest of being able to make interesting and diverse characters from the class. Even the Fighter is doing better than that.

The hell does he need skills for? He really doesn't dedicate much time to improving other skills outside of combat, and his solution to problems runs somewhere along the line of, "Smash it. If that doesn't work. Smash it harder."

I've never designed this class for versatility. This class if for a special group of people who enjoy a character who doesn't have to think. I mean for the record, this guy would obliterate any Fighter who dared challenge him without magic. Hell, this guy would destroy Frenzied Berserkers. And even if you were to use some greater invisibility and fly or something, he'd probably just fly into frenzy and throw the closest mountain at you. And as far as nuking him goes. You better be able to deal 450+ damage in a single turn, or watch in horror as he gets a massive bonus to hit and pounds you with everything he has left, at 10th level, a Sakrier can pound out +20 damage from power attack, +80 from bloodletting, and probably impale you with a fullblade.

Or, he could enter frenzy and throw a mountain at you.

[Veyr]

That makes for a very boring character and a really, really limited character creation process. You're basically saying that every Sakrier is going to be the same big, stupid fighter, and that strikes me as poor design.

[Sacrieur]

Originally Posted by Veyr

That makes for a very boring character and a really, really limited character creation process. You're basically saying that every Sakrier is going to be the same big, stupid fighter, and that strikes me as poor design.

Boring? I suppose for you. I know lots of people who love playing mindless Barbarians. Sure they do the same thing every battle (except fury is a 2/week max ability), but maaaaaaan it is fun.

I'm guessing you aim for the more sophisticated tier 1 classes with lots of versatility and options. Which really, more power to you, but there are people who enjoy this type of class, myself included.

[Veyr]

Sorry for my intrusion then.

[Seerow]

Honestly, if you're going to model it after Dofus, I'd say go closer to what dofus actually does with Sacriers.

First, don't scale up the bonus from masochism by level. That scales automatically with damage, the damage you take in will go up automatically at higher levels, what you have there is an exponential curve. Bloodletting/Fury also has a lot of potential to be way overpowered. Here's what I'd do:


Masochism:
-As a standard action, you can activate masochism. At level 1, you choose Hit, Damage, or AC. Until the end of the encounter, any damage you take gives you a bonus to the chosen value for 3 rounds.
-At level 2, this becomes a Move action, and you can choose a second value (which must be activated separately)
-At level 3, this becomes a swift action, and you may use all 3.

AC goes up at a rate of 1 point per 10 points of damage taken, hit at 1 point per 10 points of damage taken, damage at 1 point per 5 damage taken.


[[Example: a level 10 sacrier spends his first round converting move and standard action to swift actions, and activates all 3 punishments. He then gets attacked, and takes 20 points of damage. He gains 2 AC, +2 to hit, and +5 to damage.turn, he gets attacked, takes 15 points of damage, increasing his bonus to 3 AC, +3 to hit, and +8 to damage. The third round he gets hit again for 45 points of damage, bringing him up to 8 AC, 8 to hit, 16 to damage. The fourth round, he gets hit for 10 damage, but the bonus from being hit for 20 damage on round 1 falls off, so his bonus drops to 7/7/14. and so on]]

Deathless+Surpassing Limits seems off. He never falls unconscious before flat out going dead, which means his gain fast healing while unconscious never gets a chance to take effect, which makes a whole class feature pretty much null. Also just having -100 or more hp before dying is rough. Though the no death effects is nice.


Here's my take on it:
-The Sacrier no longer gains d12+4 hp, just gains d12 instead.
-At levels 2/5/8, the Sacrier gains +2 constitution
At level 3, the Sacrier can live until -50 HP, and goes to -15 before being knocked unconcious
-At level 6 the Sacrier gains Damage reduction equal to con mod when dropped below 0 HP (this damage reduction also applies to the attack that dropped it below 0 HP, to a minimum of leaving the sac at 0), and can stay conscious until he reaches -(15+con mod) hp.
-At level 7, the Sacrier retroactively maximizes all hit dice. (If you play in a game where hit dice are normally maximized, instead increase hit dice hp by 50%)
-At level 10, the Sacrier's effective con mod is increased by 50% (round down) for the purposes of HP, and becomes immune to death effects.


So at the end, a Barb10/Sac10 focusing heavily on con (36 con including class bonuses) would have 240+380 = 620 HP, and he stays conscious until -28 HP, while gaining DR13/- below 0 HP.




That covers the bases as far as "I get bonuses from taking damage" and "I get a boatload more HP than anyone else and am hard to kill" goes.

I would say however that the class could use some more tricks. Look to the Sacrier class for inspiration here. I mean, the Sac has a ranged int based life steal attack, a close burst cha based life steal attack, an attack that deals damage instantly based on the sacs current HP, the ability to transfer HP to allies, steal hp from allies, teleport changing places with allies/enemies, allow allies to get a weaker form of Punishment, and pull enemies towards them. They can also summon a sword that beats them up to increase their punishment value further.

Those sorts of tricks would really take Sac out of the "meh" typical melee range, and push it into a solid tier 3/4. Big numbers won't do that, more tactical options will.


You may even want to consider expanding it into a base class, if you take enough of the stuff from the actual Sac class, there's enough to there to make a solid class.


edit: Also, I agree with the person who said the skill list should be less restrictive. I'd say give it at least the Fighter or Barbarian skill list, though 2+int points is fine.


edit2: For anyone curious this is the class he's basing this off of: http://dofuswiki.wikia.com/wiki/Sacrier

Their big thing besides the skills is if you look at their stat distribution, they start off having to pay 4:1 for everything, where most classes get paying 1:1 for at least the first 50-100 points, before going 2:1, 3:1, then finally 4:1. But in exchange for that they get 2 vitality for every point invested, rather than the 1:1 everyone else gets. The result is sacs have a tendency to have about 2-3x the HP of your average character, and even other classes who attempt a defensive build are going to have a fair chunk less HP.

[Seerow]

Here's my take on it as a base class (yes I was bored):

Spoiler

The Sacrier

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d12
Skill Points: 2+int modifier (x4 at first level)
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha),

Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

BAB: Good
Saves: All Good

1-Masochism (Standard Action), Bonus Feat
2-Swap (Move Action)
3-Bonus Feat
4-Attraction (Standard Action)
5-Con +2, Cooperartion (Standard Action)
6-Masochism (Move Action), Bonus Feat
7-Sacrifice, Swap (Swift Action)
8-Bloodthirst
9-Bonus Feat, Great Fortitude
10-Con+4, Absorption
11-Pain Shared, Attraction (Move Action)
12-Masochism (Swift Action)
13-Cooperation (Move Action), Transposition (Standard Action)
14-Fury, Focused Form
15-Con+6, Rapid Recovery
16-Transposition (Move Action), Incredible Fortitude
17-Life Transfer
18-Masochism (Free Action)
19-Punishment
20-Con+10, Mutilation, Deathless

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Sacrier is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, but is not proficient in any armor.

Masochism-The Sacrier may spend a standard action to enter a state that grants him bonuses based on damage he takes until the end of the encounter.

At first level the Sacrier may choose either Hit, Damage, AC, or Saving Throws. For every 10 points of damage taken, he gains +1 to the chosen stat for 3 turns after the damage is taken. Masochism(Damage) is increased at a rate of 1 per 5 points of damage taken instead of the normal 10.

At 6th level, Masochism becomes a move action to activate, and the Sacrier may gain a second type of Masochism (for example if he took Masochism (Damage) at level 1, at level 6 he can now pick up Masochism(Hit).) Each Masochism type must be activated separately.

At 12th level, Masochism becomes a Swift action to activate, and you gain access to a third masochism, at 18th level it becomes a Free action to activate all 4 Masochisms at once.

Bonus Feat-The Sacrier gains as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites: Diehard at 1st level, Imp Toughness at 3rd level Steadfast Determination at 6th level, Standstill at 9th level. If the Sacrier already possesses the feat in question, he may choose one other feat that he does meet the prerequisites for.

Swap- This ability allows the Sacrier to switch places with an ally that is no more than 10 feet away as a move action. At 7th level this becomes a swift action.

Attraction- As a standard action you can force an enemy to move towards you a number of feet equal to 5 x your constitution modifier. At 11th level this may be used as a Move Action instead.

Constitution Bonus: At 5th level, the Sacrier gains a +2 bonus to constitution. This bonus increases by +2 at 10th and 15th level, and increases to +10 at 20th level.

Cooperation- At 5th level, the Sacrier is able to use a standard action to trade places with allies further away. The Sacrier may use Cooperation to switch places with an ally within 5xcon mod feet. At 13th level he is able to do this as a Move Action.

Sacrifice- At 7th level, the sacrier gains the ability to intercept damage from allies. The sacrier may take half the damage that an adjacent ally would normally take. As an immediate action, the Sacrier may swap places with an ally within 10 feet of him, as if using the swap power, and take 100% of the damage that ally would take.

Bloodthirst- At 8th level, the sacrier becomes able to rejuvenate himself by draining life from his allies. The sacrier may drain up to levelxcon mod hit points from a willing ally within 15 feet as a standard action

Great Fortitude- At 9th level, the Sacrier's fortitude reaches new heights, all hit dice are retroactively maximized, and are maximized going forward, even those of other classes. Additionally, the Sacrier now dies at -20 hit points, rather than -10.

Absorption- At 10th level, the Sacrier gains the ability to steal HP from enemy. The Sacrier may target an enemy within 20 yards, and make a ranged touch attack against that target. If the sacrier succeeds, the target takes damage equal to 2d8+2xcon mod, plus any bonus damage from Masochism, and the sacrier gains half this amount. The target may make a fortitude save against 10+1/2 level+con mod for half damage.

Pain Shared- Once per encounter as a swift action, the Sacrier can use Pain Shared, giving half his bonus from Masochism to all allies for 1 round.

Transposition- At level 13, the Sacrier is able to switch place with an enemy within con mod x 5 feet as a standard action. The enemy may make a saving throw of 10+1/2 level+con mod to resist this. This becomes usable as a move action at level 16.

Fury- At level 14 the Sacrier gains access to the Whirlwind Attack feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites for this feat. When the sacrier uses Whirlwind attack, he heals himself for half of the damage dealt.

Focused Form-A level 14 Sacrier has an exceptionally strong self image, making them immune to all Polymorph effects, both beneficial and negative. This applies to all spells that change the body directly, including effects such as Flesh to Stone.

Rapid Recovery- At level 15, eventually the Sakrier's body adapts to its punishment. While asleep or unconscious, a Sakrier gains fast healing 1.

[b]Incredible Fortitude[b]- At level 16, the Sacrier's fortitude increases further. The Sacrier's con modifier is increased by effectively 50% when determining hit points. Additionally, the Sacrier now dies at -30 hit points, and becomes immune to poison, and gains +4 to saving throws against death effects.

Life Transfer- At level 17, the sacrier is able to transfer HP to allies at the cost of his own health. The sacrier deals damage equal to 20% of his max hp, and provides that amount of HP to all allies within 10 feet.

Punishment- At level 19, once per encounter the Sacrier can deal damage to the target based on their current hp as a standard action. The Sacrier can hit an adjacent target for damage equal to the Sacrier's maximum hp minus their current HP.

Mutilation-At level 20, As a free action once per round, the Sacrier can inflict up to 50 hit points of damage to himself, that triggers Masochism. Using this power instantly ends one status condition on the Sacrier.

Deathless- At level 20, the Sacrier can carry on until -50 hit points before dying. Additionally, his con modifier is effectively doubled for the purposes of calculating his HP, and he no longer suffers the negative effects of being disabled, gains full immunity to all death effects, and gains damage reduction against all attacks equal to his constitution modifier while below 25% of his maximum hit points.

Also a cool alternate class feature may be to make it so Masochism is instead gained only via damage taken by allies (including damage you block via Sacrifice), rather than damage taken by yourself. This encourages enemies to target you instead of allies, for fear of you getting a ton of extra damage. and chopping them up.