The Sage (homebrewed class)

[Colin Wyers]

This is my first attempt at a homebrewed class, and its only about halfway finished - I did ten levels instead of twenty, figuring I should probably get some sort of feedback into how I was doing before I proceeded further.

To avoid having to try to type out a lengthy table - the Sage has a medium BAB progression, bad fort save and good reflex/will saves. I've given them a rogue's hit dice and weapon/armor proficiencies so far. And now, for the meat of it:

Quote:

Class Skills

The sage's class skills are Acrobatics (Dex) , Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks per Level: 10 + Int modifier.

Class features:

Combat Insight

A sage is able to use his intellect to gain the advantage in combat. As a swift action, a sage can make a Perception check, DC 10 plus the opponent’s hit dice, to gain insight into an opponent’s weaknesses. If he succeeds, he gains a +1 insight bonus to attacks and damage rolls against that opponent. Combat Insight lasts until the opponent dies or the sage uses the ability on another opponent.

At fourth level, and every four levels after that, the bonus goes up by one.

Cunning

At second level, a sage may use his Intelligence bonus in place of his Wisdom bonus for any Wisdom-based skills.

Healer’s Touch

At third level, a sage can attempt to restore hit points to an ally who is stable but unconscious as a full-round action. The sage must succeed at a DC 15 Heal check in order to restore 1d6 hit points. For every five points by which the sage’s check exceeds the DC, he restores an additional 1d6 hit points.

Attuned Weapon

At fifth level, sage is able to make better use of his weapon through careful study. It takes 24 hours for a sage to attune to a chosen weapon, and requires success on a DC 20 Perception check. (If the weapon is magic, he must also succeed at a DC 15 Spellcraft check.) If the sage fails to attune, he cannot attempt to attune again for another 48 hours.
For any weapon to which he is attuned, a sage can add his Intelligence bonus instead of his Strength bonus (or his Dexterity bonus, for a ranged weapon).

A sage can be attuned to more than one weapon. If a weapon changes (a magical bonus is added, for instance) a sage must reattune to the weapon.

Insightful Defense

At sixth level, a sage gains a +1 insight bonus to AC and saves against an opponent by using Combat Insight.

Improved Cunning

At seventh level, a sage may use his Intelligence bonus in place of his Charisma bonus for any Charisma-based skills.

Flanking Insight

At ninth level, a sage provides an insight bonus to attack and damage to an ally with which he is flanking an opponent by using Combat Insight. That bonus is equal to two lower than his own bonus from combat insight.

Improved Attuned Weapon

At tenth level, the threat range on any weapon a sage is attuned to increases by one. This benefit stacks with Keen or Improved Critical.

And that's basically it so far. Please tell me what you think.

[Demosthenes]

This doesn't really fit my idea of what a sage is which really just goes to show that before you post the meat you should probably post the fluff.

What's this class really supposed to do? What role does this character fit that other classes don't?

It seems like this class lacks focus. On one hand it feels like a fighter type, it gets a bunch of bonuses to combat after all. Combat Insight, Attuned Weapons, Defense Insight, Flanking Insight. But... it gets a moderate BAB?

Aside from that 10 skill points a level is a lot!! On top of that the class features let you dump cha and wis!! So we're looking at a skill monkey with an Int of 16+ probably and who can work every wis and cha based skill off that number?

As a DM I would never allow anything remotely like this into my game. What you're doing with skills is stepping on every other classes toes. I think the only useful skill you skipped on that skill list was survival. As a player in a game that this class was allowed I'd be crazy not to pick up leadership and have my cohort be this guy. He'd probably be a better face then the bard, know more about magic then the wizard, and have skill points left over for knowledge skills as well as some craft skills to help 'fund the cause' (read: make the pcs money).

Not trying to bash you for trying though. If you really want to flesh this idea out start with focusing on what it can do that other classes can't and go from there. Also look at the other classes and ask yourself what niches do these guys have that I don't want this new class stepping on? It's very tempting to create a swiss-army-knife class when you're designing stuff and I believe you fell into that trap with your skill list (and related skill based abilities).

Correct me if I'm wrong but you're after some sort of sword sage and not the typical fantasy sage right? Maybe take some inspiration from the bards bardic knowledge ability (or whatever it's called these days) and add a bit of Monk into the mix. Then top it off by giving it combat bonuses based on knowledge checks against the creatures you're fighting (there's a feat called Knowledge Devotion that did this in one of the 3.5 wotc splat books, I think it was defenders of the faith).

Really though... avoid the uber skills troupe. That's already one of the classes schticks and if you go trouncing on that you're going to end up stepping on a lot more toes then just the rogues.

[Eyolf The Wild Commoner]

Dumb the skills down a bit perhaps, but most definitely lower that skill points earned.

Maybe 4 skill ranks a level instead.

Hell maybe even 2.

Edit
Other than that... it seems alright 4-7 out of 10.

Need to get everything listed.