Well, I can finally post up some comments on here!
First off, thank you to everyone who commented on my archetype. Whether you ended up voting for me to continue or not, just the opportunity to get this level of feedback from the community on something I have created is amazing and I truly appreciate you taking the time to let me know how you felt about my submission.
So now that I can finally write about my own submission, first I am going to go through the design decisions I made rather than answer people individually. There were a few areas that seem to have been a bit controversial, so might as well get those out of the way first. Brace for a wall of text post later this evening...
Finally, a big thanks to Sean McGowan for commenting to 'correct' Sean K. Reynolds even though I am one of his competitors. That is about as Superstar of a thing as you can do in my opinion!
Now then, on to the explanation/self-critique/critical response/kitchen sink giant spoiler and quotified wall of text. Hopefully buried in here you will find the answer to any and all questions about the archetype.
Also, the short version is at the end. I wrote a lot once I got started...
Exalted Armsman (Cleric)
Some clerics, especially of more militant gods, choose to make their deity’s favored weapon the focus of their power instead of their deity's holy symbol. These exalted armsmen sacrifice their ability to channel energy throughout an area and instead focus their deity’s might into spectacularly devastating blows.
So first to start things off, an answer to a recurring piece of criticism: the name. The name is, I am forced to admit, a bit bland. It was also the last thing about the archetype I settled on because it was balanced and written with the placeholder name Battle Cleric. I wrote up a list of a few possible names with a couple days left to submit, but when submission day came I had to resort to sending a couple of these possibilities around to a couple friends for review. Consensus then was that Exalted Armsman wasn't great, but was at least clear. I'm not sure that the voting public even gave the name that much credit in the end :P
Past the name we hit the real inspirations for the design. I wanted a battle capable Cleric and I wanted to make the deity's favored weapon something that was actually really important to the Cleric. I also knew that channel energy had to go; I didn't want good aligned battle clerics to still be responsible for being the parties medical help, I wanted them to be on the front line actively battling for their God's favor and/or causes. I also decided from the outset that Domains had to stay, they simply do too much in making the deities feel different. An Exalted Armsman of Cayden Cailean needed to feel as different from one of Asmodeus as possible. Keeping Domains intact would also be important because I planned on eliminating the Cleric's tie to either positive or negative energy, so a certain degree of differentiation would be lost. Now on to the mechanics...
Empowered Strike(Su): As a swift action, an exalted armsman may fill their melee weapon with raw divine energy with which to strike down their adversaries. The exalted armsman may only use this ability to enhance the strikes of a melee weapon they are wielding if it is their deity’s favored weapon. On the next melee attack the exalted armsman makes before the beginning of his next turn, he deals an amount of bonus untyped damage equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every four cleric levels beyond 1st(2d6 untyped damage at 5th level, 3d6 at 9th level, and so on) to a maximum of 5d6 extra damage at 17th level.
So to get this Cleric who fights with his deity's favored weapon on the front lines we rely primarily on this ability. One common criticism was that Channel Smite kind of already covers this territory. Except that it totally doesn't, at all, for most Clerics. There are almost no reasons to really use Channel Smite as a positive energy channeling Cleric. It turns your AoE damage that automatically effects all undead in a 30 foot radius into a melee attack that only effects one target, and can miss. It still keeps the Will save for half damage. It forces you to close with said undead instead of staying back safely behind the front line fighters and dealing damage/supporting the party from there. The corner cases involve being a positive channeling Cleric in a party with undead allies(hint:you probably already took Selective Channeling, so just exclude them and save a Feat), or being really, really focused on killing individual undead and hoping to get in that extra 1d8+STR to kill em quicker. It IS marginally useful for a negative energy channeling Cleric, but if you are going to spend a feat on channeling, unless you are in a huge party just take Selective Channeling instead.
Empowered Strike, instead, works all the time on anything you can hit. For balance reasons, since there is no save, I did half the damage-die progression. This also gave me some 'dead levels' at 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19 to add some additional features in.
Dealing untyped damage with the attack also picked up some criticism. I could probably be talked around now to dealing some sort of typed energy damage if dealing untyped damage was deemed something an archetype should not be able to do, but I made this decision for a couple of reasons. My word count was really really, close to the limit. I had already wanted to replace Diplomacy with Intimidate in the class skills, but that had to be cut to get me under 450 words. Even one line that specified that good aligned clerics did sacred typed damage and evil aligned dealt profane damage would have put me over the word count. However, once I decided to go untyped and see how it looked, the more I liked it. It avoids any sort of alignment based damage/DR bypassing, which the Paladin and Inquisitor both already do. It also keeps the entire attack from being able to bypass DR, so unless you are wielding an appropriate weapon ONLY the bonus dice is getting through. Finally, it wasn't something any other class can really do.
At 11th level, the target of the exalted armsman’s empowered strike must make a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the exalted armsman’s level + the exalted armsman’s Charisma modifier or be shaken for a number of rounds equal to the exalted armsman’s Charisma modifier. This ability cannot stack with itself or other shaken effects in order to cause an opponent to move from shaken to frightened, or from frightened to panicked.At 15th level, an exalted armsman may elect to expend an additional use of his empowered strike ability as a free action and cause the target of his next empowered strike this round to be fatigued instead of shaken on a failed Will save.
At 19th level, an exalted armsman may elect to spend an additional use of his empowered strike ability as a free action and cause the target of his next empowered strike this round to be staggered instead of shaken on a failed Will save.
Initially, and ideally, these would have been spaced out as separate entries in the class description. The six extra words to make them their own abilities would have put me over the word count. Overall, the word count of 450 for this round was quite a challenge.
Starting at 1st level, an exalted armsman may use empowered strike a total of 3 + his Charisma modifier times per day.This ability replaces channel energy and spontaneous casting.
When I hit the final round of balancing I decided that spontaneous casting had to go, channel energy being cut just wasn't enough. I saw no reason to create a Cleric archetype that got rid of the positive energy Cleric 'heal-bot' and replaced him with a less effective spontaneous casting heal-bot. This archetype allows a Cleric player to really say 'I am not the designated healer!'
Archetypes can also be very tricky to balance. An item or spell only comes in to play for a certain amount of time in the game and can be relatively easily removed or fixed once play has begun by GM fiat. An archetype that turns out to be improperly balanced, however, forces a player to either retcon his character's abilities or roll up a new PC, neither of which are great solutions. In the end this archetype still keeps the Cleric a full spell progression character who automatically knows all of his class spells, doesn't need to sleep to regain them, and gains two domains and their associated powers. With such a powerful base class, I felt it was smarter to err on the side of caution rather than encourage power creep.
Weapon Focus: At 1st level, an exalted armsman gains the feat Weapon Focus with their deity’s favored weapon as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the normal prerequisites.Weapon Specialization: At 7th level, an exalted armsman gains Weapon Specialization with his deity’s favored weapon as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the normal prerequisites.
Might as well deal with these together. No one seems to have had much a problem with Weapon Focus, but it is tied in to Weapon Specialization. I decided fairly early on in to the design process that I wanted to give the exalted armsman Weapon Specialization. However, in addition to waving the fighter level requirements, Weapon Spec requires Weapon Focus. Initially, I had an awkward ability at 7th level that gave you Weapon Focus (Deity's favored weapon) if you didn't already have it, and Weapon Spec if you did. This seemed silly, and since Weapon Focus was almost a Feat tax for the class anyway (it needs every BAB increase it can get its hands on to get those Empowered Strikes to actually land), it kind of got stuck in to the gap left by spontaneous casting on the Clerics abilities table.
As for Weapon Spec, a lot of people didn't like giving it out since it is a fighter only treat. Except it isn't, really. Prestige classes already open it up to non-fighters(for example, the Eldritch Knight) and giving it to the Cleric three levels later just felt about right to me. This may have been pushing the boundaries of what a Prestige class is allowed and an archetype isn't, but those boundaries are still being felt out. Rather like the untyped vs typed damage discussion from above, I could be talked around to seeing why the class should be changed by an editor or developer, especially for conceptual reasons, but I don't feel it is mechanically unbalanced as is.
This could have used a bit more flavor, and definitely a better name. People who liked the flash of my wondrous item were disappointed by an entry that focused primarily on balance. I've taken these lessons to heart, and am aiming for more 'cool' factor in my next round submission (assuming I make it in) rather than just a demonstration of mechanical balancing ability.
Some people are very fond of the Cleric as filling the role of the healer and do NOT like it when he gets more fighty. I think this fails to acknowledge that really, after about 3rd level most parties healer is in fact a wand of CLW held by anyone that can use it. Also, there is not a lot of design space left around a healing focused cleric, especially with the Restoration subdomain in the APG. If you want a Cleric archetype, I'm afraid some healing capacity probably has to go somewhere. Now watch UM come out in a few months and totally make me eat my words on that one :P
This archetype compared to a Paladin: even with the empowered strikes, it'll never get close to a Smiting Paladin in damage output. It BAB and HP will also pretty much always be lower. Thats OK, because it gets about 4 times the spell casting utility of the Paladin and avoids the alignment restriction.
This archetype compared to an Inquisitor: here is where things do start to get a bit closer. However, I think empowered strike is suitably different from the judgement mechanic that they really aren't that similar. The Inquisitor is also a class with a really strong background premise that may not work for all players. The Cleric is a little more open to individual interpretation of goals and methods than the Inquisitor. On the other hand, the Inquisitor does a fantastic job of filling the niche that it is aimed at.
This archetype compared to a Battle Oracle: this is the class I was most worried about coming off as similar to, and in the end they do fill a similar role. However, I also feel they come at it from completely different directions. The Oracle is a spontaneous caster, the Exalted Armsman has no spontaneous casting. The Battle Oracle has a lot more options through class abilities to buff themselves, allies, and become more resilient. The Armsman instead focuses purely on damage output. The Battle Oracle, it is also worth noting, despite have a slower spell progression can generally cast more support spells than an equivalent level Armsman in a day. The Battle Oracle comes off as a better buffer and team player, and the Armsman becomes more of a straight damage dealer, although he is possibly less vulnerable to glass-cannon syndrome than the Rogue.
In closing, thanks again to everyone who looked at my archetype!
Now then, on to the explanation/self-critique/critical response/kitchen sink giant spoiler and quotified wall of text. Hopefully buried in here you will find the answer to any and all questions about the archetype.
Also, the short version is at the end. I wrote a lot once I got started...
** spoiler omitted **...
Yes, yes.
But you haven't addressed the crucial point that most of them probably aren't going to be very good at flower picking.
Yes, yes.
But you haven't addressed the crucial point that most of them probably aren't going to be very good at flower picking.
Ah, I knew I forgot to respond to one criticism!
Let us not forget how useful the Exalted Armsman would be in collecting the unique blooms of the Tentamort and the Scythetree! Or the exotic bloom of the Cobra Flower!
Certainly better for flower picking than some guy with a dog :P (All in good fun Cody :P)
Yes, yes.
But you haven't addressed the crucial point that most of them probably aren't going to be very good at flower picking.Ah, I knew I forgot to respond to one criticism!
Let us not forget how useful the Exalted Armsman would be in collecting the unique blooms of the Tentamort and the Scythetree! Or the exotic bloom of the Cobra Flower!
Certainly better for flower picking than some guy with a dog :P (All in good fun Cody :P)
You certainly demonstrate quick-wittedness and commendable industry in the shove-the-guy-standing-next-to-you-under-the-boulder department. In view of these merits, (and since clerics of Shelyn do use glaives, which is probably about as suitable a regular weapon as any when it comes to flower picking) I may add an addendum to my report at the next Abyssal Ladies of Romantic Inclinations guild meeting that the occasional exalted armsman in fact rates as Hireable.
Yes, but what about gods whose favored weapon is ranged? Pity the poor exalted archer of Erastil.
Unfortunately, Ethan, I did not vote for you in the end; you came in 9th in my tally. But you seem to have other voters in your court, so good luck and I hope you stick around!
Yes, but what about gods whose favored weapon is ranged? Pity the poor exalted archer of Erastil.
Unfortunately, Ethan, I did not vote for you in the end; you came in 9th in my tally. But you seem to have other voters in your court, so good luck and I hope you stick around!
Sorry for taking a couple days to get back to you.
I considered this, but then decided for balance reasons to force empowered strikes to be melee attacks. Being able to deal untyped damage at a range of 100+ feet at 1st level just seemed way too good. The archetype was already potentially slightly unbalanced at first level, although I think it evens out with a standard Cleric pretty quickly and might even lag behind in overall strength by around level 15 or so.
I really wanted the archetypes flavor and mechanics to suggest a front line melee type fighter. I did test out a couple Dex-based Cayden Caillean worshiping rapier wielders though. While only fair fighters at 1st level, by 5th they seemed just as good as STR based Iomedae worshiping longsword users. Mechanically, the strongest low level build without a doubt, was a STR-based Gorum worshipper with a greatsword + Ferocity subdomain. Buffed, it could deal something like 4d6+7 damage at first level (16 STR + Greatsword + Enlarge Person + Empowered Strike + Ferocious Strike). Still, by 5th level, while still a powerful build, the Gorumite was being pretty handily outfought by a decently built fighter.