Traceur

[Jodah]

This is meant to be a tier 4 base class. I believe that it is balanced, but I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say. Thanks for looking it over, and feel free to use it if you wish.

Traceur

Hit die: d6

Skill points: 8+Int

Class Skills:

Spoiler

Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) (Int), Listen (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), “movement skill tricks”.

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Fast Movement
1st	+0	+0	+2	+0	Quick to act +1, Skirmish (+1d6), Brachiation	+10
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+0	Dodge, Evasion	+10
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+1	Skirmish (+1d6, +1 AC)	+10
4th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Slow fall (20ft)	+10
5th	+3	+1	+4	+1	Quick to act +2, Skirmish, Flying Leap (+2d6, +1AC)	+10
6th	+4	+2	+5	+2	Acrobatic Charge, Mobility	+20
7th	+5	+2	+5	+2	Skirmish (+2d6, +2AC)	+20
8th	+6	+2	+6	+2	Spatial Awareness, Slow fall (40ft)	+20
9th	+6	+3	+6	+3	Skirmish (+3d6, +2AC)	+20
10th	+7	+3	+7	+3	Quick to act +3, Acrobatic Mastery, Roof walker	+20
11th	+8	+3	+7	+3	Skirmish (+3d6, +3AC)	+30
12th	+9	+4	+8	+4	Slow fall (60ft)	+30
13th	+9	+4	+8	+4	Skirmish (+4d6, +3AC), Improved Evasion	+30
14th	+10	+4	+9	+4	Spring attack	+30
15th	+11	+5	+9	+5	Quick to act +4, Skirmish (+4d6, +4AC)	+30
16th	+12	+5	+10	+5	Spatial Awareness (x2), Slow fall (80ft)	+40
17th	+12	+5	+10	+5	Skirmish (+5d6, +4AC)	+40
18th	+13	+6	+11	+6	Bounding assault	+40
19th	+14	+6	+11	+6	Skirmish (+5d6, +5AC)	+40
20th	+15	+6	+12	+6	Quick to act +5, Acrobatic Supremacy, Slow fall (100ft)	+40

Fluff

Spoiler

A traceur is also commonly called a free-runner in our every day vernacular. Masters of movement these men are able to do seemingly impossible stunts with a fluidity the suggests their locomotion is easy and carefree. In truth, they have to practice for years before they can even perform half the risks they do.

Free form acrobats, they leap and jump from building to building, swing from tree to tree, moving along without impedance. From the towers of Sharn to the sprawls of modern cities, from the forests of elves to the caverns of the dwarves, the traceur is mobile in any environment

A traceur is proficient with simple weapons and light armor. Many of the traceur special abilities do not work when wearing medium or heavy armor.

A traceur has the movement skill tricks from complete scoundrel as "class skills." Meaning that the traceur need only pay 1 skill point each for these tricks.

Fast Movement: Traceurs are experts at movement and move in the most efficient ways possible. A traceur begins with a 10ft bonus to his base land speed, which improves as he becomes more skilled. A traceur loses this ability when wearing medium or heavy armor, or is carrying a medium or heavy load.

Quick to Act: A traceur reacts almost preternaturally fast to external stimuli. While not able to predict when trouble will strike, he is always first to recover and first to move. A traceur receives +1 to his initiative at first level, this bonus improves by 1 at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level.

Skirmish: A traceur augments his ability to both dole out and avoid damage by keeping in constant motion. This ability works like the Scout ability of the same name.

Brachiation: A traceur's movement mastery is not limited to the ground, he can also call upon his skills to perform even unorthodox modes of locomotion. At first level, the traceur gains Brachiation as a bonus feat.

Evasion: At second level, a traceur can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. This ability works the same as the rogue ability of the same name.

Dodge: Traceurs have great skill in avoiding others. He gains dodge as a bonus feat.

Slow Fall: Traceurs have an innate skill staying safe from the minor failures they may experience. In addition, sometimes falling is part of the plan. As long as they are within arms reach of a wall, a traceur takes no damage from falling up to 20ft. This is improves to 40 at level 8, 60 at level 12, 80 at level 16, and 100 at level 20.

Flying Leap (sp): Starting at level 5, traceurs can modify the laws of physics for a brief time. Once per day, they can jump off of any surface and fly as the spell for a number of rounds equal to their jump check divided by 3, rounded down. Your fly speed is equal to you land speed. When the duration end, you begin to fall immediately. Traceurs gain an additional use of this ability every odd numbered level. This ability is only usable if the traceur has no more than a light load and no heavier than light armor.

Acrobatic Charge: A traceur of 6th level or higher can charge in situations where others cannot. He may charge over difficult terrain that normally slows movement or allies blocking his path. This ability enables him to run down steep stairs, leap down from a balcony, or to tumble over tables to get to his target. Depending on the circumstance, he may still need to make appropriate checks (Jump or Tumble checks, in particular) to successfully move over the terrain.

Mobility: At 6th level, a traceur is good enough at dodging that it is nigh impossible to hit him if you even get the chance. The traceur gains mobility as a bonus feat.

Spatial Awareness: At 8th level the traceur has achieved an exceptional spatial awareness, intuitively knowing where to land the jump or where the next foothold will lie. The traceur receives a bonus to his acrobatic skills equal to 2 + his wisdom modifier (minimum 1). At 16th level this bonus is doubled. Acrobatic skills are Balance, Climb, Jump, and Tumble.

Acrobatic Mastery: A traceur eventually has mastered his skills of locomotion, at 10th level and following he can take 10 on all acrobatic skills, even when under stress.

Roof Walker: The traceur is urban by nature, and one of the best places for a traceur to practice his skills is the roof top. The traceur gains the roof walker tactical feat as a bonus feat at level 10.

Improved evasion: At level 13, the traceur gains improved evasion

Spring Attack: The traceur gains spring attack as a bonus feat at level 14.

Bounding Assault: The traceur gains bounding assault as a bonus feat at level 18.

Acrobatic Supremacy: At level 20, the traceur becomes so good at acrobatics that, without any effort, he can make an extraordinary displays of dexterity. The traceur can now take 20 on any acrobatic skill, even under stress and without taking additional time.

BRACHIATION (CAdv)

Spoiler

You can swing through trees like a monkey.

Prerequisites: Climb 4 ranks, Jump 4 ranks.

Benefit: You can move through wooded areas at your base land speed, ignoring any effects on movement due to terrain. You must be at least 20 feet from the ground to use this ability. This ability works only in medium and dense forests (see page 87 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).

ROOFWALKER [TACTICAL] (Cityscape)

Spoiler

You are adept at moving and fi ghting on rooftops and ledges.

Prerequisites: Balance 5 ranks, Jump 5 ranks, Dodge, Mobility.

Benefit: The Roofwalker feat enables the use of three tactical maneuvers.

Fleet of Feet: You can walk across a precarious surface more quickly than normal. You can move at your full speed without taking a –5 penalty on your Balance check.

Graceful Drop: If you intentionally jump from a height, you take less damage than you would if you fell. If you succeed on a Jump check when jumping down (PH 77), you take falling damage as if you had dropped 20 fewer feet than you actually did.

Master of the Roof: You know how to use the slopes to your advantage. You gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against any opponent who is at a different elevation from you.

BOUNDING ASSAULT (PHB 2)

Spoiler

You can move and attack with superior speed and power

Prerequisite: Dex 13, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Base Attack Bonus +12.

Benefit: When using the spring attack feat, you designate two foes rather than one. Your movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity from either of these foes. While using an attack action with the spring attack feat, you can make a second attack with a -5 penalty. You can use both attacks against one of the opponents, or split your attacks between them.

[Godskook]

1.This is something like 90% scout, 7% ACFs and probably like 3% bonafide homebrew.

2.You've actually managed to make it worse than an actual scout. The scout suffered from a poor skill list and this one is worse still, executing the concept of being able to actual play the role of skillmonkey. In addition, the scout had class features that were actual relevant(HiPS, Blindsense/sight, FoM) and replaces them with mobility options that are all replaced by 'flight'. You lowered the HD irrationally. What I find actually hilarious is that you're handing out spring attack at level 14. That one's got to be a joke, right? By that level, I know of only two ways of being relevant by spring attacking: Maneuvers and Jack B. Quick.

3.Homebrew sub-forum is elsewhere. A mod will eventually be along to move this.

[Jodah]

I did attempt to stick to premade abilities rather than making them up off the top of my head in order to know that what I was doing had precedent. My logic of the feats was that they were a nice way for people to not have to worry about picking the mobility based feats and have the class take care of that for them.

What suggestions do you have for the skill list or for the abilities?

Thank you for informing me about the alternative section. Do I have to move it individually, and if so how?

[SilverLeaf167]

Though it is of course nice to get feats for free, those feats are all quite situational, and from level 5 onwards, almost all your class features can be replaced by a single spell (Fly). The limited duration of the spell doesn't really matter either, as minutes/level is usually more than enough to pass over any obstacle. Unless the DM throws nothing but acrobatic challenges at the players, you won't need the ability to defeat them all day long.

The idea is cool, but a class built entirely on mobility doesn't really work that well, as it's very easy to replace or negate entirely.

[Greenish]

Originally Posted by Godskook

What I find actually hilarious is that you're handing out spring attack at level 14. That one's got to be a joke, right? By that level, I know of only two ways of being relevant by spring attacking: Maneuvers and Jack B. Quick.

How do you use maneuvers with spring attack?

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by Greenish

How do you use maneuvers with spring attack?

Can't you replace any attack with a strike? I'm fuzzy on ToB.

[Greenish]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Can't you replace any attack with a strike? I'm fuzzy on ToB.

Strikes are standard or full round actions. Fly-by Attack would work for the former, but Spring Attack won't.

You could use boosts with Spring Attack (they're swift actions), but I can't think of any boost that'd make Spring Attack worth using even if you have it for some reason.

[CTrees]

I always figured the traceur of the D&D world was the elocater. It's basically magic parkour, which is d% more awesome than normal parkour!

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by CTrees

I always figured the traceur of the D&D world was the elocater. It's basically magic parkour, which is d% more awesome than normal parkour!

It is. As a base class, Psychic Rogues make great Traceurs as well, able to combine the various mobility powers with mobility-based skill tricks. They can also enter Elocater easily, as well as Psionic Trickster (which lets them recharge their skill tricks for 2PP.)

From the Pathfinder side, there is a Traceur archetype for the PF Psywar in Psionics Expanded.

[Human Paragon 3]

You can achieve much the same thing by starting with monk and replacing flurry with skirmish (the halfling substition levels do this, so I see no problem just making the sub for any race). Allow slow fall to work in both directions (running up and falling down walls). Take the roof jumper feats from Cityscape, or make them monk bonus feats.

Take travel devotion, and rule that stunning fist can be subbed for turn undead.

Still not great, but does what you're looking for, more or less.

[Godskook]

Originally Posted by Greenish

How do you use maneuvers with spring attack?

Late night post + knowing what I actual meant - not saying it = confusing

Sorry, the sentence should read:

"By that level, I know of only two ways of being relevant when using a single attack: Maneuvers and Jack B. Quick."

[SilverLeaf167]

Originally Posted by Jodah

Acrobatic Supremacy: At level 20, the traceur becomes so good at acrobatics that, without any effort, he can make an extraordinary displays of dexterity. The traceur can now take 20 on any acrobatic skill, even under stress.[/spoiler]

There's an editing mistake in this ability, I think. Though it allows the character to Take 20 under stress, it doesn't say anything about reducing the time it takes to do so. This means that you'd still have to try 20 times and bear with the mishaps from all the failures... but at least you'd be able to do so under stress.
The ability is pretty lackluster anyway... if you compare it to an average roll, it's effectively a +9 bonus to all acrobatic skills. ON AN AVERAGE ROLL. Compared to normally rolling a natural 20, or any other good roll, the bonus becomes even smaller.

[Ashtagon]

Originally Posted by SilverLeaf167

The ability is pretty lackluster anyway... if you compare it to an average roll, it's effectively a +9 bonus to all acrobatic skills. ON AN AVERAGE ROLL. Compared to normally rolling a natural 20, or any other good roll, the bonus becomes even smaller.

otoh, compared to normally rolling a natural 1, or any other bad roll, the bonus becomes even bigger...

Averages are just that -- averages.

[Tyndmyr]

Honestly, this looks like you mashed ubercharger and scout together.

You can do this in regular play, by taking scout and appropriate other options. I don't see the point of this.

Also, move it to homebrew.

[SilverLeaf167]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

otoh, compared to normally rolling a natural 1, or any other bad roll, the bonus becomes even bigger...

Averages are just that -- averages.

The Traceur will already be able to Take 10 due to Acrobatic Mastery, so being able to Take 20 is in most cases practically a +10 bonus.
It's true though that if the player bothers rolling for some reason, it has a chance of being a larger "bonus".

It doesn't change the basic fact though that boni to skill checks aren't too great, unless the skill in question happens to be Spellcraft and you're about to become an Epic spellcaster.

[Tvtyrant]

Or if it is to UMD/UPD.

[Ashtagon]

This is something that traceurs (and monks too probably) should get:

Wire Fu: At 10th level, you are able to break the laws of physics with your acrobatics. You may use this ability three times per day. Make a Jump check. The ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to your check result divided by three (round down). While the ability is in effect, you are affected as if by a fly spell, but with some limitations.

You can only use this ability is carrying a light load or no load, and wearing light armour or no armour. Your fly speed cannot exceed your ground speed (include any bonuses to ground speed). At the end of the duration, you begin falling immediately, although your slow fall ability will probably protect you from the worst effects of the fall.

[onemorelurker]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

This is something that traceurs (and monks too probably) should get:

Wire Fu: At 10th level, you are able to break the laws of physics with your acrobatics. You may use this ability three times per day. Make a Jump check. The ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to your check result divided by three (round down). While the ability is in effect, you are affected as if by a fly spell, but with some limitations.

You can only use this ability is carrying a light load or no load, and wearing light armour or no armour. Your fly speed cannot exceed your ground speed (include any bonuses to ground speed). At the end of the duration, you begin falling immediately, although your slow fall ability will probably protect you from the worst effects of the fall.

I like this idea (and IMO, any class based around movement should get some kind of flight ability), but I'd make the uses per day go up as the character's level does. Maybe 3/day at 10th and +1/day/2 levels above 10th?

[Greenish]

Originally Posted by SilverLeaf167

It doesn't change the basic fact though that boni to skill checks aren't too great, unless the skill in question happens to be Spellcraft and you're about to become an Epic spellcaster.

It's still pretty neat when you get +30 and skill mastery on balance/climb/jump/tumble, say.

[Jodah]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

This is something that traceurs (and monks too probably) should get:

Wire Fu: At 10th level, you are able to break the laws of physics with your acrobatics. You may use this ability three times per day. Make a Jump check. The ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to your check result divided by three (round down). While the ability is in effect, you are affected as if by a fly spell, but with some limitations.

You can only use this ability is carrying a light load or no load, and wearing light armour or no armour. Your fly speed cannot exceed your ground speed (include any bonuses to ground speed). At the end of the duration, you begin falling immediately, although your slow fall ability will probably protect you from the worst effects of the fall.

I like this idea as well, and am sad that I did not think of it myself. I think I agree with onmorelurker however that it's uses should scale. Maybe grant at 5th level (same time fly becomes available) with one use, and increase by one every odd level (therefore reaching three at level 9 (about the same time)). I think I would also stipulate that they have to be on some surface, so they are still at least jumping off of something, rather than say reactivating it immediately after it turns off.

[Ashtagon]

I think it may also be worth adding a 1/encounter (ie. need a 5-minute rest between uses) limiter, otherwise you could just save all your uses for the BBEG fight, and I don't like abilities that "nova".

I'd also be a bit wary of making it available at lower levels, since it is so blatantly supernatural. otoh, I'm happy to add super-powered jumping at 5th level. Maybe this:


Wire Fu Leaping: Beginning at 3rd level, you can make jumps from a standing start with the full benefit of a running start.

At 5th level, you may leap up incredible distances. The DC number required to leap straight up is equal to the distance to be jumped (instead of 4x the distance to be jumped). However, you cannot use this feature to leap up farther than your ground speed. You may make an attack with the full benefits of the charge special attack at the top of this leap (for example, against a flying creature). You can only use this ability if you are wearing light or no armour, and carrying a light load or no load. This leap is a move action, or a full round action if you attack with it.

[Vaynor]

The Red Towel: Moved to Homebrew Design.

[Veklim]

2 things:

1. Complete Scoundrel & Cityscape are your friends. Use them excessively for inspiration.

2. Instead of giving them Spatial Awareness, Acrobatic Mastery and Acrobatic Supremacy, why not just give them a wis modifier +1/level bonus to acrobatic skills and have done with it in one scaling ability? In the case of using critical failure/success rules for skills, just add in that they no longer threaten critical failure on the roll of a natural 1 at 10th level onwards.