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i started with the basic Rogue Talents (alternate).
i have now begun reworking all the advanced talents.
plus a 10th level rogue can now double-up on strike talents.
(talents in italics are unchanged, but included so as to be exhaustive)
Beginning at 10th level, whenever a rogue gains a rogue talent, she may instead choose an advanced rogue talent from the list below.
Another Day (Ex):
Crippling Strike* (Ex): A rogue with this ability can sneak attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. An opponent damaged by one of her sneak attacks also takes 2 points of Strength .
Deadly Sneak* (Ex):
Defensive Roll (Ex):
Dispelling Attack* (Su): Opponents that are dealt sneak attack damage by a rogue with this ability are affected by a targeted dispel magic, targeting the lowest-level spell effect active on the target. The caster level for this ability is equal to the rogue's level. A rogue must have the major magic rogue talent before choosing dispelling attack.
Entanglement of Blades* (Ex): When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, , he cannot take a 5-foot step, until the beginning of the rogue's next turn.
Improved Evasion (Ex): This works like evasion, except that while the rogue still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Knock-Out Blow (Ex):
Hunter's Surprise (Ex):
Opportunist (Ex): Once per round, the rogue can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as an attack of opportunity for that round. Even a rogue with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.
* (Ex): The rogue can make a series of quick strikes with a light weapon when her foe's defenses are lapse. She may target one or more foes as a swift action who qualify for her sneak attack damage. She may make a full attack this round as a standard action so long as she uses light weapons and attacks only her targeted foes. This strike talent may not be used in conjunction with any other strike talent.
Redirect Attack (Ex):
Skill Mastery (Ex):
Slippery Mind (Ex): This ability represents the rogue's ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel her. If a rogue with slippery mind is affected by an enchantment spell or effect and fails her saving throw, she can attempt it again 1 round later at the same DC. She gets only this one extra chance to succeed on her saving throw.
Feat: A rogue may gain any feat that she qualifies for in place of a rogue talent. .
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thoughts?
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Master Tricks:
Unchanged Master Tricks
Blinding Bomb
Evasion
Ghost Step
Invisible Blade
Master Disguise
See the Unseen
Shadow Split
Unbound Steps
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Changed Master Tricks
Unarmed Combat Mastery (here)
Deadly Shuriken (Ex): When the ninja uses her flurry of stars trick, all of her shuriken attacks, including her iterative attacks, are made at her highest base attack bonus. Further, she no longer suffers the -2 penalty. The ninja must have the flurry of stars trick before selecting this ninja trick.
(the old version didn't seem very useful unless i missed something)
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We had the same idea with Crippling Strike.
The other stuff sounds neat too.
I think 2 strike powers is okay in powerlevel ^^
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ok.
i will collectively call them the 'immediate action defenses' - there is only one basic talent of the sort, Resiliency, which grants a handful of temporary hit points in a pinch. in my basic rogue talent thread, i have changed it limit from '1/day' to introducing a drawback to limit it's use:
Resiliency (Ex):
When she is broguht down to 0 hit points or fewer, she may grant herself a number of temporary hit points equal to her rogue level as an immediate action, which last for 1 minute. If her hit points drop below 0 again due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.
in absence of a hard limit, what keeps this ability from being 'spammed' (used over and over again) is the triggering circumstance (crossing to 0 HP), the limited duration (you got 1 minute to find some 'real' healing), and the drawback (fatigued characters cannot run or charge and take -2 ST and DX). therefore, unlike the Toughness feat, because of the trigger/duration/drawback, this is essentially a useful band-aid ability.
maybe you agree that this is an appropriate balance. i personally consider the 'X/day' limited-use paradigm tacky design for a class such as the rogue. i'm ok with that sort of thing for spells or spell-like abilities, even for some supernatural abilities, but something about using that sort of mechanic on extraordinary abilities rubs me wrong way. i have therefore committed some of my time to re-writing most rogue talents (but keeping their titles) under a different imagining of the limited-use paradigm where appropriate.
that said, i am seeking input from the community concerning the re-tweaked advanced talent 'immediate action defenses' proposed below:
Another Day (Ex): when the rogue would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a melee attack , she can take a 5-foot step as an immediate action. If the movement takes her out of the reach of the attack, she takes no damage from it. She is instead staggered for 1 round on her next turn. The rogue may not use this ability if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC.
Defensive Roll (Ex): when the rogue would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a melee or ranged attack, , she can attempt a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt) to turn the blow. If she succeeds on her saving throw, the damage from the attack is halved. The ability is unusable if the rogue is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, it does not interact with Evasion,
Redirect Attack (Ex): when a rogue with this talent is hit with a weapon attack, she can attempt a Reflex save (DC = opponent's attack roll) to redirect the attack to strike an adjacent creature as an immediate action. The creature targeted must be within reach/range of the attack that hit the rogue, and if the rogue succeeds on her saving throw the attack is resolved against the targeted creature instead. The ability is unusable if the rogue is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, it does not interact with Evasion,
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in one stroke, i actually expanded their potential use (Another Day useful now against AoE, Defensive roll against certain rays/ranged touch attacks, and Redirect Attack against ranged weapons)!, and in another stroke, i substituted the 1/foe/day limited-use mechanic (aka the 'fool me once' mechanic) in place of the hard limit mechanic (1/day? - c'mon!), in addition to clarifying up some other language issues...
it is notable that the 'fool me once' mechanic is already a part of the Master Strike rogue 'capstone' (20th level ability), so, i didn't make it up, it already exists as a precedent within the game (in core, no less), i just ported it to other abilities.
your thoughts are welcome.
Have you done a master talent for advanced talents yet? I was most interested in reading your basic talents list and comparing that with other people's ideas on how to improve the talents.
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not much has changed from the first post. syntax again has changes from the core talents in :
Advanced Strike Talents:
Crippling Strike* (Ex): A rogue with this ability can sneak attack opponents with such precision that her blows weaken and hamper them. An opponent damaged by one of her sneak attacks also takes 2 points of Strength .
Deadly Sneak* (Ex):
Dispelling Attack* (Su): Opponents that are dealt sneak attack damage by a rogue with this ability are affected by a targeted dispel magic, targeting the lowest-level spell effect active on the target. The caster level for this ability is equal to the rogue's level. A rogue must have the major magic rogue talent before choosing dispelling attack.
Entanglement of Blades* (Ex): When a rogue with this talent hits a creature with a melee attack that deals sneak attack damage, , he cannot take a 5-foot step, until the beginning of the rogue's next turn.
Advanced Talents:
Another Day (Ex): when the rogue would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a melee attack , she can take a 5-foot step as an immediate action. If the movement takes her out of the reach of the attack, she takes no damage from it. She is instead staggered for 1 round on her next turn. The rogue may not use this ability if she is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC.
Assassinate (Ex): A rogue with this talent can kill foes that are unable to defend themselves. To attempt to assassinate a target, the rogue must first study her target for 1 round as a standard action. On the following round, if the rogue makes a sneak attack against the target and the target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly killing the target. This attempt automatically fails if the target recognizes the rogue as an enemy. If the sneak attack is successful and the target of this attack fails a Fortitude save, it dies. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the rogue's level + the rogue's modifier. If the save is successful, the target still takes the sneak attack damage as normal, but it is immune to that rogue's assassinate ability for 1 day.
Defensive Roll (Ex): when the rogue would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by a melee or ranged attack, , she can attempt a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt) to turn the blow. If she succeeds on her saving throw, the damage from the attack is halved. The ability is unusable if the rogue is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, it does not interact with Evasion,
Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): A rogue with this talent can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as she is within 10 feet of some sort of dim light or shadow, the rogue can hide herself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. She cannot, however, hide in her own shadow.
Hunter's Surprise (Ex):
Improved Evasion (Ex): This works like evasion, except that while the rogue still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, she henceforth takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Knock-Out Blow (Ex):
Opportunist (Ex): Once per round, the rogue can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who has just been struck for damage in melee by another character. This attack counts as an attack of opportunity for that round. Even a rogue with the Combat Reflexes feat can't use the opportunist ability more than once per round.
Redirect Attack (Ex): when a rogue with this talent is hit with a weapon attack, she can attempt a Reflex save (DC = opponent's attack roll) to redirect the attack to strike an adjacent creature as an immediate action. The creature targeted must be within reach/range of the attack that hit the rogue, and if the rogue succeeds on her saving throw the attack is resolved against the targeted creature instead. The ability is unusable if the rogue is denied her Dexterity bonus to AC, it does not interact with Evasion,
Skill Mastery (Ex):
Slippery Mind (Ex): This ability represents the rogue's ability to wriggle free from magical effects that would otherwise control or compel her. If a rogue with slippery mind is affected by an enchantment spell or effect and fails her saving throw, she can attempt it again 1 round later at the same DC. She gets only this one extra chance to succeed on her saving throw.
Feat: A rogue may gain any feat that she qualifies for in place of a rogue talent. She does not have to meet the feat's prerequisites if she chooses one from the following list: Acrobatic Steps, Greater Dirty Trick, Greater Disarm, Greater Feint, Greater Reposition, Greater Steal, Greater Trip, Improved Precise Shot, Shot on the Run, Snatch Arrows, Spring Attack, and Strike Back.
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(for Arakhor, the basic talent list)
thoughts?
Double awesome!