Magical anime girls? In MY D&D? (new class, PEACH)

[kwanzaabot]

... it's more likely than you think.

Presenting my latest homebrew project (also, PEACH my other ones please), designed to coerce certain friends of mine into playing D&D with me-

Cardcaptor Sakura d20!

For those of you who aren't cool enough to watch shoujo anime, Cardcaptor Sakura is a series about a 10-year old girl named Sakura Kinomoto who has been entrusted with the duty to track down and capture every Clow Card (pronounced like "crow"), which were magical tarot cards containing very powerful magical spirits, capable of being summoned and commanded by the magician who bound them. The original manga series had 19 cards, the anime had 53.
For the sake of not wanting to end my own life, i'll be going with the 19 from the manga (minus Erase, which i'd rather not put in the hands of a PC), as frankly, most of the anime ones were useless. I might add more later, but let's review the ones I have already, hmm?

The Clow Cards in my interpretation are intended to be used as vestiges for the Binder class from the Tome of Magic. I didn't add anything to the "Influence" part, because most Clow Cards are benevolent and loyal to their master.

So, let's get cracking!

EDIT: No more vestiges, instead it's a whole new class. PEACH, please. :)

Spoiler

The Cardcaptor

“The key that hides the powers of the dark, reveal your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract. Release!”

- The Clow Card summoning incantation, as recited by Sakura Kinomoto.

Created centuries ago by the wizard Clow Reed, Clow Cards are a series of 53 artifacts resembling tarot cards, containing the bound forms of powerful, magical spirits. After Clow's death the cards were sealed in the Clow Book, only to be released in contemporary times when a new 'chosen one' appeared. The cards represent a combination of arcane and divine magic centered on the concepts of natural forces and elements. Each Clow Card has its own personality, ranging from good-natured to violent, and its own powers that are mostly centered around an elemental force or performing a specific task. When in use or acting on their own, the cards assume alternative forms that vary from card to card.
Each card falls under a specific sign (either the Sun or the Moon) which represents the guardians of the Clow Cards, Cerberus and Yue.

Adventurers: Cardcaptors often travel the world in order to track down and capture every Clow Card, as it is fortold that disaster will befall the world if the Clow Cards are not sealed inside the Clow Book in time. It's unclear exactly what this disaster is, but nonetheless most Cardcaptors find this prophecy motivation enough to go out into the world. Some Cardcaptors however, adventure for more uninteresting reasons- money, power, women... the usual stuff.
Characteristics: Cardcaptors don't have as many spells as other magical classes, but make the most of what they have. They can cast spells a theoretically infinite number of times each day, although the most powerful cards tend to drain a lot of stamina, meaning they can only be used so many times (in mechanical terms, once every 5 rounds or so). Clow Cards often have abilities that resemble more common spells, but the Cardcaptor has the ability to augment these abilities in such a way as to make them truly fearsome.
Alignment: Because of the prophecies surrounding the Clow Cards, many Cardcaptors make it their duty to capture all the Clow Cards, reflecting this in the majority of Cardcaptor alignments being some degree of Lawful.
Other Classes: Cardcaptors get along with Wizards, Sorcerers and even Psionic classes, and treat nonmagical classes with respect. Cardcaptors tend to judge people by their outlook, personality and other merits, not putting as much emphasis on one's career.
Role: Carcaptors tend to benefit the most from being a battlefield controller, finding creative uses for even the most basic cards to terrify their foes. As such, a Cardcaptor can find herself stepping on the toes of the party Wizard, but at other times the Wizard and Cardcaptor may appreciate having a second magic-user around to even the workload.

Level	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Max. Card Level
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Plush Toy Familiar, Clow Book, Clow Cards (1)	1st
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Alternate Familiar	1st
3	+1	+1	+1	+3		2nd
4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat	2nd
5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Favourite Card	3rd
6	+3	+2	+2	+5	Fortune Teller	3rd
7	+3	+2	+2	+5		4th
8	+4	+2	+2	+6	Clow Cards (2)	4th
9	+4	+3	+3	+6	Familiar's Breath Weapon	4th
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Second-Favourite Card	5th
11	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus Feat	5th
12	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		5th
13	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Magical Aptitude	6th
14	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Clow Cards (3)	6th
15	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9		6th
16	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Nameless Card	7th
17	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10		7th
18	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Bonus Feat	7th
19	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	The Hope	8th
20	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Clow Cards (4)	8th

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Cardcaptor is proficient with all simple weapons plus the longsword, rapier, sap, short sword, shortbow and whip. Cardcaptors are proficient with light armor.
A Cardcaptor can perform magic while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a Cardcaptor wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (all Clow Cards are considered to have somatic components). A multiclass Cardcaptor still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Plush Toy Familiar: The Cardcaptor gains the ability to receive a familiar. This familiar resembles a stuffed animal, and is mostly identical to the Wizard/Sorcerer class feature, except that it must be a cat, and it can speak Common. When a Cardcaptor has both The Earthy and The Firey cards sealed at the same time, the familiar may reveal its alternate form, a Celestial Lion. The familiar can switch between these two forms as a standard action. An antimagic field or similar effect causes the familiar to revert back to his cat form.

Clow Book: The Clow Book grants the Cardcaptor a number of rudimentary magic spells, meaning she may gain access to any four level 0 Sorc/Wiz spells plus one more spell for each additional class level of her choice to be used 3 times per day (as well as automatically receiving Read Magic and Detect Magic- see “Clow Cards”, below). Caster level equals her Maximum Card Level.

Additionally, the Cardcaptor recieves a single 1st level Clow Card of her choice.

A Clow Book is considered the same as a Wizard's spellbook, except that spells or Clow Cards cannot be copied from one to the other.

Clow Cards: Unlike spells, a Clow Card is not “learnt” at specific levels, but must be located in the world and then sealed. A Cardcaptor is considered under the effect of Detect Magic when a new Clow Card is nearby.

To seal a Clow Card, the Cardcaptor and the card enter a contest of wills, much like a Binder. This contest can play out any number of possible ways, from an argument, a staring match, a riddle, guessing the Clow Card's name, or even a battle. If the card wins, the Cardcaptor cannot try to re-seal it for 24 hours (often retreating in order to re-plan her strategy, although an unsealed card may continue to wreak havoc during that time).
If the Cardcaptor is victorious, she gains the opportunity to seal the card, making a sealing check (1d20 + your Maximum Card Level + your Cha modifier). This process takes one minute, but you can choose to make a rushed sealing check as a full-round action at a -10 penalty. The DC for this check is provided in the description for each Clow Card.
The card is then sealed and is placed inside the Cardcaptor's Clow Book, where it can be summoned as a full-round action, gaining the abilities granted by the Clow Card for the duration of the encounter. Dispelling a summoned card is a standard action.

A Cardcaptor can seal a card of any level, provided she wins the contest, but can only summon a Clow Card of the appropriate Maximum Card Level. A Cardcaptor can only command one card of her choice each encounter at 1st level, but as she advances in level, this limit increases, as seen on the above table.

All Clow Card abilities are Spell-like abilities, and caster level equals your Maximum Card Level, unless otherwise stated.

If an effect from a Clow Card has a duration of more than a single round, and also may only be used “once every 5 rounds”, then that card must wait 5 rounds after the effect's duration ends before being re-used.

In the hands of a non-Cardcaptor, Clow Cards are treated as magical scrolls- they are used once, and then scattered across the world again or returned to their Cardcaptor master (anybody with magical potential- an Int score of 3 or higher- can use a Clow Card).

Alternate Familiar: At 2nd level, the Cardcaptor may choose to replace her cat familiar's special ability (+3 bonus to Move Silently) with any other familiar's special ability.

Bonus Feat: At 4th, 11th and 18th level, the Cardcaptor recieves a bonus feat from the following list: Armor Proficiency (Medium), Armor Proficiency (Heavy), Diligent, Investigator, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Negotiator, Persuasive, Shield Proficiency as well as any Clow Feat that she meets the prerequisites for. Clow Feats are described in detail below, and include The Shot, The Rain, The Wave, The Wood, The Storm, The Sand and The Power.
A Clow Feat is essentially a Clow Card that has sought out a Cardcaptor in order to be willingly sealed, and grants a benefit to a specific Clow Card.

Favourite Card: At 5th level, the Cardcaptor may choose one Clow Card that she posesses. That card recieves a +1 bonus to its caster level.

Fortune Teller (Sp): A Cardcaptor of 6th level learns how to use her Clow Cards like tarot cards. This acts as a Divination spell. Caster level equals your Maximum Card Level.

Familiar's Breath Weapon (Su): At 9th level, a Cardcaptor's familiar recieves a line-shaped breath weapon with a range of 30 ft that deals 1d6 points of damage for every 3 HD it possesses. A Reflex save (DC 10 + ½ familiar's HD + familiar's Con mod) halves the damage.
The energy type for this breath weapon may be Fire, Cold, Electricity, Sonic, Force or Acid. The energy type cannot be changed, once chosen.

Second-Favourite Card: At 10th level, the Cardcaptor may choose one Clow Card that she posesses. That card recieves a +1 bonus to its caster level. The Clow Card that was chosen for Favourite Card at 5th level cannot be chosen.

Magical Aptitude: At 13th level, the Cardcaptor may learn four spells from the Sorc/Wiz spell list (of any spell level between 0 and 6) that she does not already know (this includes spells granted by Clow Cards), and may cast these spells 3 times per day. Caster level equals her Maximum Card Level.

Nameless Card (Sp): At 16th level, the Cardcaptor gains the ability to create a Clow Card of her own, through sheer force of will. This card may be used once every 5 rounds, is considered a 7th-level card, and its ability is that of any one (non-Clow Card) spell that the Cardcaptor knows.

The Hope (Sp): At 19th level, the Nameless Card gains an additional ability from the Cardcaptor's magical repertoire (following the Nameless Card's rules on card creation), and becomes an 8th-level card.

Cardcaptor Spell list:

1st level Cards: The Shield, The Glow, The Flower
2nd level Cards: The Arrow, The Shadow
3rd level Cards: The Thunder, The Jump, The Light, The Dark
4th level Cards: The Illusion, The Windy, The Fly, The Watery
5th level Cards: The Dash
6th level Cards: The Mirror, The Sword
7th level Cards: The Maze, The Earthy, The Firey
8th level Cards: The Time

CLOW CARDS:

Spoiler

The Shield

Card Level: 1st
Sealing DC: 15
Market Price: 50gp
Appearance: When summoned, Shield appears as a blue-white-green sphere or dome. In its card form the Shield is chained by several chains for some unknown reason, like The Sword.
Granted Abilities:
Arcane Protector: The Shield can be used to protect against attacks, acting as a Shield spell once every 5 rounds.

The Glow

Card Level: 1st
Sealing DC: 15
Market Price: 300gp
Appearance: In its Card form, it resembles a tiny fairy that has a glowing tail like a firefly. When summoned, The Glow resembles hundreds of tiny, softly glowing green orbs that float down slowly to the ground like flower petals.
Granted Abilities:
Glow: The Glow can be used to create hundreds of tiny, green lights that act like a Glitterdust spell once every 5 rounds.
See in Magical Darkness: The Glow can be used to see in magic darkness, acting like an Ebon Eyes spell (Spell Compendium) once every 5 rounds.

The Flower

Card Level: 1st
Sealing DC: 15
Market Price: 400gp
Appearance: Flower's visible form is a young lady in a long flowing pink dress, with corkscrew pigtails and a flower pattern on her forehead. On its card, it appears to be holding a large blossom.
Granted Abilities:
Create Flowers: The Flower can be used to create any kind of flower- this acts like a Create Food and Water spell- the flowers last for 24 hours, then decay.
Defensive Blossoms: The Flower can be used defensively, acting like a Mage Armor spell

The Arrow

Card Level: 2nd
Sealing DC: 17
Market Price: 50gp
Appearance: In its visible form Arrow is blue-purplish girl with a pudding basing haircut and two long pigtails. Arrow carries a short bow.
Granted Abilities:
Volley: The Arrow is an attack card capable of creating and firing a continuous stream of magical arrows, which act like the Magic Missle spell once every 5 rounds.

The Shadow

Card Level: 2nd
Sealing DC: 17
Market Price: 300gp
Appearance: Shadow looks like a cloaked figure in a black cloak and hood resembling the Grim Reaper.
Granted Abilities:
Manipulate Shadows: The Shadow can be used to manipulate shadows to provide cover as per the Darkness spell.

The Thunder

Card Level: 3rd
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: In its visible form, Thunder resembles a large wolf and is made out of crackling blue-white energy.
Granted Abilities:
Thunderbolt: The Thunder can release a surge of electrical energy that acts like a Lightning Bolt spell once every 5 rounds.

The Jump

Card Level: 3rd
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 1,400gp
Appearance: Jump resembles a rather strange looking stuffed pink rabbit with long floppy ears. When summoned, Jump appears as pair of wings on the Binder's ankles.
Granted Abilities:
Leap: When in posession of The Jump, the Binder may use Dimension Door once every 5 rounds.

The Light

Card Level: 3rd
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: Light's summoned form is a regal woman draped in white with white flowing hair. Its Card form clutches a sun in one hand, and a cloud in the other.
Granted Abilities:
Illuminate: The Light card can create light, as per the Daylight spell.
Sunshine: The Light card can be used offensively, summoning a ray of sunlight as per Searing Light once every 5 rounds to scorch your foes.

The Dark

Card Level: 3rd
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: Dark's summoned form is a regal woman draped in black with straight ebony hair. On its Card, it clutches a crescent moon in one hand, and a star in the other.
Granted Abilities:
Midnight: The Dark card can create darkness, as per the Deeper Darkness spell.
Moonlight: The Dark card can be used offensively, summoning a ray of moonlight similar to a Moonbeam spell (Spell Compendium) once every 5 rounds.

The Illusion

Card Level: 4th
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: Illusion can change its form based on what the watcher expects to see, but while transitioning between forms, it resembles a kaleidoscope pattern.
Granted Abilities:
Illusion: Not surprisingly, The Illusion can be used to create illusions. These illusions function like the Major Image spell.

The Windy

Card Level: 4th
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: Windy is mostly yellow-coloured and looks like a woman with wings (like a butterfly) on her shoulders and coming out of her forehead.
Granted Abilities:
Bind: The Windy takes the form of a yellowish, almost opaque tornado, which wraps itself around a single creature, trapping it. This acts like a Binding Winds spell (Spell Compendium).
Gale: The Windy can be used to command the element of air, and as such can be used like a Gust of Wind or Wind Wall spell.
Combat: The Windy may be summoned into battle, if desired. This acts like a Summon Nature's Ally spell, except that it summons a single, medium-sized Air Elemental once per encounter.

The Fly

Card Level: 4th
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: Fly resembles a giant white bird with a long neck and short beak. When summoned, Fly appears as a pair of large, white wings.
Granted Abilities:
Flight: The Fly causes large, white wings to sprout from your back or from an appropriate item, such as a staff (allowing you to ride it like a witch's broom). This acts like a Fly spell and can be used once every 5 rounds.

The Watery

Card Level: 4th
Sealing DC: 20
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: Watery resembles a blue mermaid with webbed fingers and large ears that appear to be a cross between webbed flippers and pointed elf's ears. It has no legs but instead rides on a column of water that resembles a tail. Watery can also dissolve itself into any body of water, becoming indistinguishable from its surroundings.
Granted Abilities:
Underwater Protector: The Watery, when invoked, allows the Cardcaptor to breathe water as easily as she breathes air.
Additionally, the Cardcaptor gains a swim speed equal to her base land speed, can move in water without making Swim checks and has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some action or avoid a hazard. She can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered and she can use the run action while swimming, provided she swims in a straight line.
Flash Flood: The Watery can be used to command the element of water, and as such acts like a Control Water spell.
Combat: The Watery may be summoned into battle, if desired. This acts like a Summon Nature's Ally spell, except that it summons a single, medium-sized Water Elemental once per encounter.

The Dash

Card Level: 5th
Sealing DC: 22
Market Price: 600gp
Appearance: Dash's visible form is a blue, fox-like creature with long rabbit ears.
Granted Abilities:
Super-speed: The Dash allows the Cardcaptor or a target of her choice to move at superhuman speeds, as per the Haste spell once every 5 rounds.

The Sword

Card Level: 6th
Sealing DC: 25
Market Price: 3,000gp
Appearance: The Sword has two forms: a sword-shaped brooch and a sword. In both forms it resembles a rapier. Its hilt and hand-guard resemble Clow's wing emblem. In its card form the Sword is chained by several chains for some unknown reason, like the Shield.
Granted Abilities:
Arcane Blade: The Sword can be used as a sword, acting like a Mage's Sword spell.

The Mirror

Card Level: 6th
Sealing DC: 25
Market Price: 3,000gp
Appearance: Mirror's visible form resembles a beautiful green-haired girl, draped in a long flowing kimono holding a mirror in her hands. On some occasions, Mirror just appears as the mirror that she carries, useful for reflecting images and deflecting magical attacks. When duplicating someone however, it appears as an exact copy of the target.
Granted Abilities:
Duplicate: The Mirror can be used to duplicate one person at a time that the Binder knows (including herself). This duplicate acts and speaks exactly as the target would, and will follow any orders given by the Binder, but is only able to be used for simple errands or misdirection- when attacked, ordered to attack something or carry a heavy load, the duplicate simply winks out of existence harmlessly. The Binder must then wait an additional 5 rounds before creating another duplicate.
Reflection: The Mirror can be used as an ordinary mirror, or to reflect magic as per the Spell Turning spell once every 5 rounds.

The Maze

Card Level: 7th
Sealing DC: 30
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: Maze is invisible from the outside, but from the inside it resembles a multi-dimensional green maze with upside-down staircases and impossible perspectives similar to those drawn by M.C. Escher in his sketch "Relativity".
Granted Abilities:
Relativity: The Maze can be used to create extra-dimensional labyrinths, as per the Maze spell once every 5 rounds.

The Earthy

Card Level: 7th
Sealing DC: 30
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: Earthy's visible form is a giant serpentine pile of earth and rock.
Granted Abilities:
Manipulate Earth: The Earthy card can manipulate earth, rock and mud, as per the Soften Earth and Stone spell, and can transmute such substances as per the Transmute Mud or Rock or the Rock to Mud spells (which can be cast at will, but choosing one spell each encounter).
Quake: The Earthy can be used offensively, as per the Earthquake spell once every 5 rounds.
Combat: The Earthy may be summoned into battle, if desired. This acts like a Summon Nature's Ally spell, except that it summons a single, large-sized Earth Elemental once per encounter.

The Firey

Card Level: 7th
Sealing DC: 30
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: The Firey resembles an angel covered with flames.
Granted Abilities:
Burning Barrier: The Firey card can manipulate fire, as per the Wall of Fire spell.
Forest Fire: The Firey can be used offensively, as per the Fire Storm spell once every 5 rounds.
Combat: The Firey may be summoned into battle, if desired. This acts like a Summon Nature's Ally spell, except that it summons a single, medium-sized Fire Elemental once per encounter.

The Time

Card Level: 8th
Sealing DC: 35
Market Price: 5,000gp
Appearance: Time's visible form is a robed old man with a long beard (similar to Father Time or The Hermit tarot card) and pointed ears, carrying a large hourglass.
Granted Abilities:
Time Manipulation: The Time card can manipulate the flow of time, as per the Time Stop spell once per encounter.

CLOW FEATS

Spoiler

The Shot [Clow Feat]
The Arrow finishes firing the last of her arrows, and the Hobgoblin warlord laughs triumphantly as he brushes it off. The Cardcaptor is defeated! Suddenly, a bolt of energy appears out of nowhere, obliterating the Hobgoblin, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the ground.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 3rd or higher.
Benefit: The Arrow Card can make an additional missle attack with her Volley (for a maximum of 6).
Normal: Volley can normally make 5 missles attacks.

The Rain [Clow Feat]
With a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, the battlefield becomes drenched in a sudden downpour, empowering The Watery.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 4th or higher.
Benefit: The Watery card, when summoned, is treated as a Large Water Elemental.
Normal: The Watery card is normally summoned as a Medium Water Elemental.

The Loop [Clow Feat]
With a swing of his mighty blade, the Assassin detroys The Earthy's elemental form, dispersing it as if it was made of smoke. Although dangerously low on hitpoints, he sets his bloodthirsty sights on the Cardcaptor, not noticing the towering beast of stone standing behind him.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 5th or higher.
Benefit: Once per encounter, you may choose a card that been has used to summon an Elemental using the Combat ability (either The Windy, The Watery, The Firey or The Earthy). When that Elemental is defeated, a new one takes its place instantly, appearing in the same spot that the previous Elemental was killed.
Normal: The listed Cards can normally only summon one Elemental using their Combat ability.

The Wave [Clow Feat]
A huge wall of water suddenly crashes down on the battlefield, empowering The Watery.
Prerequisites: The Rain feat, Maximum Card Level 5th or higher.
Benefit: The Watery card, when summoned, is treated as a Huge Water Elemental.
Normal: The Watery card is normally summoned as a Medium Water Elemental.

The Wood [Clow Feat]
Out of nowhere, dozens of branches and vines wrap themselves around the enemy, effectively trapping it.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 4th or higher.
Benefit: The Windy Card can trap two enemies using its Bind ability.
Normal: The Windy's Bind normally affects one enemy.

The Storm [Clow Feat]
The battlefield is caught in hurricane-force winds which swirl around The Windy, empowering it.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 4th or higher.
Benefit: The Windy card, when summoned, is treated as a Large Air Elemental.
Normal: The Windy card is normally summoned as a Medium Air Elemental.

The Sand [Clow Feat]
A sandstorm blows across the battlefield, making it hard to see. The sand then gathers around The Earthy, empowering it.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 7th or higher.
Benefit: The Earthy card, when summoned, is treated as a Huge Earth Elemental.
Normal: The Earthy card is normally summoned as a Large Earth Elemental.

The Power [Clow Feat]
Summoning The Sword into your hands, you charge at the enemy Rakshasa. You smirk as he mocks your supposedly weak spellcasting ability. The poor bastard won't know what hit him.
Prerequisites: Maximum Card Level 7th or higher.
Benefit: When attacking with The Sword, enemy spell resistance is considered to be cut in half.
Normal: The Sword usually treats spell resistance as normal.

...And that's what I have so far. I'd like to give special thanks to Azerian Kelimon, seedjar, Xuincherguixe, Jayngfet and Revanmal for their help on my original thread in the Gaming forum, I never would've even thought of using binders if not for you guys!

Whew! It took me a few days, but i've pretty much got it the way I like it. The class levels with a "-" indicate that I want some kind of extra to go there, but for now I have no clue.
The basic class design in heavily influenced by the Binder, but i've mixed up the Card Levels, which hopefully won't kill the balance too much.

Obviously I have a lot more to do, but how's it look so far?

[Xuincherguixe]

First off, I'm almost never any help. About all I do is make stupid remarks. Much like the one that's about to follow.

Also, you just dealt me 1d4 sanity damage.

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by Xuincherguixe

First off, I'm almost never any help. About all I do is make stupid remarks. Much like the one that's about to follow.

Also, you just dealt me 1d4 sanity damage.

Then my work here is done.

[Khatoblepas]

Some of these, while acceptable in power for the manga, are horribly underpowered for D&D use. For example:

The Glow:
Dancing Lights at will? That's it? For a binding slot? You get a freaking cantrip? Balancing this with The Flower, which gives you Create Food and Water, Mage Armor, and Speak with Plants... at will. That's +4 AC, not to mention utility use, compared to a cantrip.

The Light:
Is similarly useless. Just Daylight? Why not Searing Light once/5 rounds? Why not a weaker Luminous Armor?

On the other hand, Earthy looks a little strong, as it can pin opponents within two rounds. (Earth->Mud, Mud->Earth)

Most of the summoning abilities are a little broken (as they're supernatural abilities, too)... so a Binder can summon up to their binder level in Elementals, because you didn't set a limit on how many times they can be summoned. So binder summons, then summons, then summons, and can get infinite meatshields and replenish them when the SNA duration runs out.


The Shadow:
Is both weak AND strong. By the time you get it, a single shadow would be a dark, greasy ectoplasmic stain against most enemies. BUT, you also get Shadow Conjuration. At will. Remember, binder abilities are at will unless otherwise stated, I think. If these were 1/day then everything would be terribly weak. You also get S. Conj at the same level a sorcerer casts it as a normal spell. That's a little unfair.

These need a bit of work.

(And as for Erase, if I'm correct in my assumption, would just be Disintergrate, and a fancy Save or Die. Or an orb of annihilation. You know, that kinda thing.)

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by Khatoblepas

Some of these, while acceptable in power for the manga, are horribly underpowered for D&D use. For example:

Hmm, good points. It's still very much a work in progress, so i'll definitely be including your suggestions.

As for the Glow, it's one of those cards that's probably a little on the useless side. I'll see what I can do. :)

EDIT: I've tweaked the cards you mentioned a little, how do they look now?

[Caracol]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Stop this thread immediatly!

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by Caracol

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Stop this thread immediatly!

B-but it's like, totally kawaii!


...Desu.

On a serious note, I felt that The Shield was not only needlessly complicated, but also a little on the overpowered side. I've bumped it down to 1st level, and it's a Sanctuary spell now.

[black dragoon]

O.o My girlfriend would love this....
She'll never know.
Just kidding!
It's a cool idea and yes I'm gonna tell her!

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by black dragoon

O.o My girlfriend would love this....
She'll never know.
Just kidding!
It's a cool idea and yes I'm gonna tell her!

Awesome. If you want to recruit her as a guinea pig playtester, be sure to tell me how it goes.

[black dragoon]

I have to get a meet going first. She's a very lite player and prefers group sessions over playtesting. Normally a buddy of mine and myself test play materials. For ex. spelljammer 3.5 ship to ship battles this led off to a very fun and complex brawl between a squidship and some Elven flitters.
I'll see though, always happy to be guinea pig....uh....tester....
Hey try out my Fma homebrewing if your an anime buff.

[Oslecamo]

MY EYES! THEY ARE BURNING!(in the good sense)

Fantastic work. I must confess I'm a long CCS fan and sometimes tried to translate it as a D&D character(sorcerer/wizard gestalt with wis as dump stat?), but binding seems like a very interesting and flavourfull choice.

Altough this seems like it could take some work. No card should have only one power, and the strongest powers like earthquake should be 1 once per 5 rounds and all.

Kinda busy right now but I'll be back,.

[Roderick_BR]

Originally Posted by Khatoblepas

The Glow:
Dancing Lights at will? That's it? For a binding slot? You get a freaking cantrip? Balancing this with The Flower, which gives you Create Food and Water, Mage Armor, and Speak with Plants... at will. That's +4 AC, not to mention utility use, compared to a cantrip.

Blame the wizard Clow. He's probably the one that came up with the bag of tricks.
The thing is, said spells ARE weak in D&D... but are very powerful in campaigns where actual magic is rare, like in a d20Moderm game, and/or in the hand of kids. An actual D&D mage would use said cards as a little more than reusable scrolls.

[black dragoon]

Bored wizard in a low-magic world making items like that is pretty sensible and it would fit very well as a D20 urban arcana character class. Change the flavor a teeny bit and vailoa tarot mage.

[Khatoblepas]

Originally Posted by Roderick_BR

Blame the wizard Clow. He's probably the one that came up with the bag of tricks.
The thing is, said spells ARE weak in D&D... but are very powerful in campaigns where actual magic is rare, like in a d20Moderm game, and/or in the hand of kids. An actual D&D mage would use said cards as a little more than reusable scrolls.

Did I just hear you say that spells are weak in D&D? o_O What lies are these?

And an actual D&D mage wouldn't be using these, these are vestiges for Binders. And to be competitive they need to match up with the other vestiges available to the binder at the levels he gets them.

For example, The Glow could give you Faerie Fire, See Through Magical Darkness, and Glitterdust 1/5rounds. Thematically correct, and still useful!

[black dragoon]

That would work and would make it more on par with god ol' DND classic mode.

[Guyr Adamantine]

Oh wow...

I'm gonna watch the show all over again.

And I'm a guy.

[Realms of Chaos]

Honestly, although I can understand what you were trying to do, I don't think that vestiges are the proper medium by which you should try to accomplish it. At least, not through the binder class.

Just look at the flavor. The binder is a person who binds creatures from beyond existance to himself, growing incredibly warped in mind and spirit in exchange for easy power that the church would kill him for possessing. The binder class is not about cute misadventures.

Also, another problem is that almost all of these vestiges grant only a single ability. Although these abilities are generally useful and more powerful than the average ability a vestige of that level would gain, keep in mind that a binder only gains 4 vestiges by the time they reach level 20. If you created four 8th level vestiges, each of which imitated a single 9th level spell, and the binder chose to bind them, they would be completely inflexible and flop (unless one of those spells was wish, I guess). The binder is about versatility gained from sets of supernatural powers, not using one of your valuable vestige slots for a single, more powerful ability.

I think that you would be more on the right track if you made a class of your own. Give it a familiar at 1st level (to represent the strange flying bear thing that followed sakura around [I don't remember the show that well]), allow them to make cards of up to a certain level by spending 100gp and 24 hours (much like making a familiar), and give each card a physical manifestation (which works much better than you're interpretation of a sign), a single ability it can grant once per encounter, and something that it can summon into the encounter (though the number of summons [in general, not per card] per encounter would probably be limited to something like 1/encoutner at 1st level, 2/encounter at 3rd level, 3/encounter at 6th level, 4/encounter at 9th level, 5/encounter at 12th level, 6/encounter at 15th level, 7/encounter at 18th level, and at will at 20th level.) Lastly, to fill the flavor, give it some ability to battle spirits or something (perhaps like the spirit shaman).

That's my 2 cp.

[Azerian Kelimon]

*Prepares The Painkiller*

Okay, time to brutally dissect the creature I helped give life to.

Level 1 vestiges:

A) Change Alternate form for Kero to be "When a binder has both The Earthy and The Firey bound at the same time".

B) The Shield is b0rked. Change it to a simple Shield spell already.

C) The Glow is, at the same time, useless and too awesome. Dancing lights is very dependent on how IC your interpretation of NPC's and monsters is to gauge it's usefulness. Bless is very minor.


Level 3 vestiges:

A) The thunder let's me cast lightning bolts at wil? B0rked. Make use of the binder mechanic of "once every 5 rounds", chrissakes.

B) The Jump is a level 1 vestige. Seriously, the bonus is very minor. Just gimme leap of the heavens and I do not need The Jump.

C) The Light is nicely balanced. Me likey.

D) The Dark is NOT. What does "Used defensively" mean? I'd just let this card throw a minor moonbolt (just 1d4 STR damage instead of 3d4) and be done with it.

Level 4 vestiges:

A) The illusion is under the same thing as The Glow. Either b0rkedly useful, or useless. Try not to use illusion spells of this kind.

B) The Windy seems fine.

C) The fly is probably THE most powerful card out there. Seriously. If I could get it, I'd leave it on, and to hell with the other cards. Flight is like that in D&D.

D) The Watery seems okay. It seems like it'd look a bit bifauxnen, though.

Level 6:

A) Shadow is like The Fly in usefulness. If I were to use it, I'd pepper everything with defenestrating spheres or orbs of sound while running away. Might wanna change that.

B) The Wood is nigh useless. Earthbound enemies will shred it, and flyers will ignore it. I'd add a different effect, a more useful one.

C) The Mirror is brutally powerful. Essentially, it's nigh immunity to spellcasters. Nerf it. But at least, it wasn't a simulacrum or Eidolon, as I feared...

D) The Sword sounds awesome (Like the linked band) but is horrible (Like the linked band). Make it more powerful.

Level 7 vestiges:

A) The Maze is b0rked. Having it is an autowin against those it affects.

B) Combined with The Maze, The Earthy is b0rked. Alone, it's useless. Buff it.

C) The Firey has extremely minor effects. Up it's power, and remember most high level enemies are extremely resistant or outright immune to fire damage.

That's all.

[Bleen]

Holy crap, is that the gun that shoots shurikens and lightning.

Also, the fact that I find this concept (albeit a bit borked in places) to be even somewhat-cool makes me question my masculinity.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Originally Posted by Bleen

Holy crap, is that the gun that shoots shurikens and lightning.

Also, the fact that I find this concept (albeit a bit borked in places) to be even somewhat-cool makes me question my masculinity.

Nope. That's the STARTING gun.

THIS is the gun that shoots Shuriken and Lightning. And yes, ALL of the weapons are THAT awesome.




And forget about the masculinity. I've found out that making everyones heads spin because of bizarre behavior is a lot funnier than worrying about being Macho Macho man.

[Oslecamo]

Originally Posted by Realms of Chaos

Just look at the flavor. The binder is a person who binds creatures from beyond existance to himself, growing incredibly warped in mind and spirit in exchange for easy power that the church would kill him for possessing. The binder class is not about cute misadventures.

Cute misadventures...?

What part of "Transform all the cards or I'll kill this whole town of pathetic mortals while smiling" did you miss?

Can I sugest that jump either:

1-Grants agility bonus and lets use agility for jumping.

or

2-Dimensional door as a move action every 5 rounds, since Sakura uses jump mainly as an evasive tactic.

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by Realms of Chaos

...That's my 2 cp.

I gotta be honest with you, that's a very good point. I'm not really all that familiar with the Binder (never touched it until it was recommended to me), and by making a new class, I could very well make the thing a lot more flexible, and if I keep the levels scaled the way they are already, then I don't have to change much.

And Azerian Kelimon, thanks again. I've got the majority of the cards adjusted now (I'll upload them with the new class, which I think will probably be quite similar to the Binder, but able to benefit from the cards better as per Realms of Chaos's suggestion). Basically, the overpowered ones are bumped down to once every 5 rounds to prevent spamming thunderbolts and the like, and the weak ones are still in progress.

Oslecamo, I liked your Dimension Door idea. It's in.

[black dragoon]

Wow, that took out alot of the kinks the Azer. Do you do this for a living or something?

[kwanzaabot]

Bump!
I've done a complete overhaul of the whole thing. I'm no longer using vestiges, which I frankly had a limited knowledge of to begin with.

The new class is heavily based on the Binder, but the Clow Cards are, in my opinion, a little more versatile and you're not stuck with a single card for the whole day.

[black dragoon]

Cool! I'll PEACh it as soon as possible

[HellFencer]

What have you done to my precious Binder class!? And of all the anime's to have chosen, WHY OH WHY did you choose CCS????

*sigh*

I know D&D tends to be a catchall, but I don't see CCS working well for it. I'd suggest Tri-Stat or BESM, or something that leans a little better towards that theme.

If you insist on using D&D, then you need to rework your class a bit. The card powers, as has been mentioned, are terribly underwhelming. Two powers at best? Take a look at the Vestiges and you'll see they all tend to have between 3 and 5 powers, most usable at will, with the strong ones usable 1/5 rounds.

Lastly, your class, outside of the cards, needs some abilities. If you're trying to follow CCS, I'd suggest giving them either A) a magic weapon similar to the feat Ancestral Weapon (BoED) or the weapon ability from the Kensai PrC (toned down a bit, or just spreading it throughout all 20 levels).

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by HellFencer

What have you done to my precious Binder class!? And of all the anime's to have chosen, WHY OH WHY did you choose CCS????

*sigh*

I know D&D tends to be a catchall, but I don't see CCS working well for it. I'd suggest Tri-Stat or BESM, or something that leans a little better towards that theme.

If you insist on using D&D, then you need to rework your class a bit. The card powers, as has been mentioned, are terribly underwhelming. Two powers at best? Take a look at the Vestiges and you'll see they all tend to have between 3 and 5 powers, most usable at will, with the strong ones usable 1/5 rounds.

Lastly, your class, outside of the cards, needs some abilities. If you're trying to follow CCS, I'd suggest giving them either A) a magic weapon similar to the feat Ancestral Weapon (BoED) or the weapon ability from the Kensai PrC (toned down a bit, or just spreading it throughout all 20 levels).

Trust me, I know I need to rework my (work in progress) class. If you have any suggestions for additional abilities for the cards, by all means tell me. The trouble is that the actual cards in the anime and manga would often be considered terribly weak if translated to D&D, but i'm trying to make those ones low-level cards.
There's feats for the higher-level ones to make them more formidable, but for the most part, those high-level cards are obtained at similar levels to the Wizard/Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid equivalents, so if anything, those classes are the underpowered ones.

Also, somehow I don't see magic weapons being all that useful for the class. A Cardcaptor (or Card-Mage or whatever, if you need to distance yourself from awesome girl's manga for some reason) is mostly about the cards, so the Kensai's weapon doesn't really scream "appropriate" to me.

My goal here is to make a class that does have some powerhouse-type spells, but mostly relies on her "weaker" spells and uses them in new and exciting ways.
I mean, sure, a Cardcaptor could use The Time on that Mindflayer to stop him in his tracks, but she could also use The Jump and The Windy to lure him away from his allies and into a trap. The Cardcaptor is a tactician, an underdog, and unlike the Wizard, who can take on bad guys solo at high levels, the Cardcaptor is intended to be a team player.

Lastly, i'm not asking anybody here to play this, as i've stated that it's pretty much only being made to get some friends of mine into D&D (a noble endeavor that i'm sure everyone can agree with). Don't like it? I'm not asking you to.

[HellFencer]

What I'm saying is, you are wasting your time trying to convert this to D&D. You should instead use a different system that is better developed for the style of game you are trying to run. That's all.

[kwanzaabot]

Originally Posted by HellFencer

What I'm saying is, you are wasting your time trying to convert this to D&D. You should instead use a different system that is better developed for the style of game you are trying to run. That's all.

I don't see how. I'm not running a campaign set in the universe of the anime or anything, i'm just creating a card-casting mage with mechanical similarities to a character from a certain anime.

The whole point of the class is to make it suitable for D&D.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Kwanzaa, I have only one thing to say now.

Spoiler

That says it all. You've managed to make a nearly perfectly balanced class, and I can only give praise to it. Sit back and enjoy the glory, you've earned it.