So, I have a character I talk about a lot in various forum threads, my kitsune cavalier. We're playing a Kingdom Building campaign and because of my heavy focus on Charisma, I'm the party face and also set to be the King / Baron / Prime Minister / Whatever of the Kingdom we're going to be building.
Now, I really like the idea of the Battle Herald prestige class, but I'm turned off by the idea that all major commanders have to have some level of bardic expertise. That's not my character at all. So this is my attempt to build a Prestige Class that really conveys the "support my allies" theme without resorting to magic. Here's the link if you want to check it out. I'm hoping for some feedback before I present it to my GM and wish for the best.
And yes, Cheapy. I totally used the opportunity to practice my InDesign skills again.
I like it so far. It's a little weak early on, as he just gets standard action abilities that give minor bonuses. As a full BAB class, not getting his full-attack after level 6 is pretty big, so I generally think that the abilities should be a little stronger to make it worthwhile to not full-attack.
@AA: I like it, though Cheapy's archetype has less intro requirements (i.e. none).
Comments: Rapid Aid appears to be an immediate action? And costs the expenditure of a hypothetical AoO in your next round only? I'm not against it at all, quite an interesting mechanic, just want it clarified. So you are basically trading your ability to make one AoO to provide the Rapid Aid as an immediate action, and if you don't get any AoO's on your next round you haven't had to swap anything out with regard to action economy. Hm. Ok.
* Just a few typos
- you use "adjucate" which isn't, as far as I know, an English term. Do you mean "adjudicate"? Sometimes it seems you mean "calculate"...
- somewhere near the end of Co-Operative Combatant "independently" has a typo.
@Cheapy - just curious - why did you make the Inspiring Commander's bard-like abilities Intelligence based? I'm all for retweaking abilities and changing their attribut modifier, I just can't see anything in the Cavalier regarding reliance on Intelligence to draw away from the Charisma skills he has in abundance.
@AA - forgot to add - Nice InDesign work!
I was going for a smart fighter, rather than for a charsimatic one. Someone whose brilliance on the battlefield would inspire his men/women/wartrolls/etc to victory. So...I based it on intelligence.
Home from work! Let's get rolling.
I like it so far. It's a little weak early on, as he just gets standard action abilities that give minor bonuses. As a full BAB class, not getting his full-attack after level 6 is pretty big, so I generally think that the abilities should be a little stronger to make it worthwhile to not full-attack.
I actually did see that archetype, Cheapy. It was what inspired me to make the Prestige Class in the first place! I wanted something that could work with my multiclassing combo, and considering that a couple other classes can pick up the tactician ability, I wanted a commander class that just about anyone could take if they wanted to.
I might have to clarify that Swift Aid feat (which is a requirement to enter the class) applies to oratory aid, so you should get to make a full attack at all times except when you're using tactician. Once per round you can use Oratory Aid to make an aid another check with Perform (oratory) as a swift action. Also, I kept roughly the same level progression as a straight cavalier when determining when you got Greater Tactician and Master Tactician (the latter is baked into Supreme Tactician).
10th level ability: use expeditious retreat for all his minions, as long as it used with the the "withdraw" option.
The Fighter's tactician archetype has something similar, and I didn't want to be shamelessly ripping off of that archetype for the entire class. Hence the focus on Aid Another, which isn't usually focused on very much.
@AA: I like it, though Cheapy's archetype has less intro requirements (i.e. none).
Very true, but while they are similar, I think the two options are different enough that each warrants its existence alongside the other. For example, Supreme Commander focuses a lot more in Charisma while Inspiring Commander focuses more on Intelligence (sort of ironic).
Comments: Rapid Aid appears to be an immediate action? And costs the expenditure of a hypothetical AoO in your next round only? I'm not against it at all, quite an interesting mechanic, just want it clarified. So you are basically trading your ability to make one AoO to provide the Rapid Aid as an immediate action, and if you don't get any AoO's on your next round you haven't had to swap anything out with regard to action economy. Hm. Ok.
I think this needs some clarification, honestly. Its supposed to be a Swift action along with an ability similar to the Bodyguard feat. I'm going to fix the text in the next version.
* Just a few typos
- you use "adjucate" which isn't, as far as I know, an English term. Do you mean "adjudicate"? Sometimes it seems you mean "calculate"...
- somewhere near the end of Co-Operative Combatant "independently" has a typo.
You're right, those will be fixed! If there's one thing that drives me crazy, there's no spell check in InDesign (at least, none that I've found yet. :) ).
Give me like 30 minutes or so and it'll be done. As an additional note, I showed it to my GM today as well, and his comment was that it was missing a Leadership-boosting effect. He cited Noble Scion and Battle Herald as two Leadership-based classes that grant a bonus to Leadership Score and thought this class ought to as well.
The link in the thread's first post has been updated. Here's a quick summary of the changes, below:
#1 — Authority figure's wording was cleaned up slightly. The Authority Figure bonus also applies to the supreme commander's leadership score (its a weaker bonus than Battle Herald, but that feels okay considering that inspiring command has daily limits).
#2 — Oratory Aid now specifically mentions that using it is a swift action. It also mentions that any class features or feats that modify the aid another action also modify oratory aid.
#3 — To help address the concern that the prestige class was weak early level, a new ability was added, Quick Aid, which is basically a better Bodyguard feat. If you possess the Bodyguard feat and Quick Aid, Bodyguard increases the bonus that the aid another action provides to an ally's AC by +2 (essentially keeping part of the benefit). Quick aid also spills out that you can't apply multiple aid another bonuses to the same statistic.
#4 — Rapid Aid got a major rewording shift; once per turn, you can make an aid another action as a free action. You can still make a second aid another action as a swift action, if you choose.
#5 — Cooperative Combatant's ability modifier was changed from Intelligence to Charisma. Although the original class that grants this ability (tactician fighter) uses Intelligence, my fear is that asking the supreme commander to have a good Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma might be asking too much of him. Cutting out Intelligence seems like a good idea, and I'm looking for feedback on this specifically. Also fixed the 'independently' typo.
#6 — In addition to its other benefits, Supreme Tactician also allows the aid another action to provide the +2 bonus to AC as well as all ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks the character makes for 1 round.