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This is a class idea that I had been tinkering with for a while. The ideas for this class actually drew heavily from the game Bravely Default--both from that game's BP system and the Time Mage class in particular.
This is a class with a d6 hit die, 1/2 bab, and no traditional casting.
I generally like where the class is at, but feed back is always cool.
Here is the text:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlgz7pnot4dsc2a/Chronomancer.docx? dl=0
Here is the chart:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/78bekcm37fk0nhu/chronomancer.xlsx? dl=0
I have an older version with a lot more flavor information, but a lot of it was specific to my fantasy setting so I took it out since I felt like it kind of cluttered the document to not much effect.
If you want flavor from my setting, though: Chronomancy is an ability that manifests from contact with certain extraterrestrial creatures or creatures from certain reaches of the far planes. In my setting, there is a dwarven government that experiments with supernatural powers besides magic in secret (gaining otherworldly knowledge through secret interplanetary teleportation). As such, Chronomancers in my setting are often members or former members of that government's programs or have come into contact with incomprehensible beings from other worlds.
The specific power source of chronomancy comes from an idea I have in my setting about the weird physics that allows magic to exist on some planets but not others that has to do with Gods having a kind of gravity that makes reality "softer" on planets where they exist (which also creates a sort of localized series of extradimensional planes that are inaccessible from other planets). Chronomancers directly interact with the "reality stuff" that allows magic to exist but chronomancy is not quite magic in itself.
This class presents a simple idea in a very complicated way. I have difficulties understanding the class features. Does 'Chronos' have a pool? Unless I've missed it, the description doesn't say).
I'm very skeptical of how this allows other classes to break action economy. Aside from that, I think it would be very boring to play one of these--this class needs other abilities than breaking action economy (some of those time tricks need to be their own class features).
I changed the document and wrote that chrono comes in two pools.
I built this class specifically to break action economy in many ways. The Chronomancer's standard actions become additional actions for a given ally.
It is a very tactical class in that the player needs to decide who gets the extra action and when. Really, I built this class in part to replicate some of the functionality of the Noble and Crime Lord classes from Star Wars: Saga Edition.
That was probably my favorite play style in any tabletop RPG period (and my favorite Pathfinder spells are those that effectively give allies actions, like telekinetic charge), but I understand if giving allies actions does not interest you.
I also don't see why you think time tricks need to be their own class features. What is wrong with letting people choose which class features they want for the most part?
The time tricks are sort of stand-ins for spells in many ways. I know that the chart looks kind of sparse but I wrote a lot of time tricks for a reason.
I also don't see why you think time tricks need to be their own class features. What is wrong with letting people choose which class features they want for the most part?
The time tricks are sort of stand-ins for spells in many ways. I know that the chart looks kind of sparse but I wrote a lot of time tricks for a reason.
I'm a big fan of modular abilities that allow for customization. But you only get a small number of tricks and no other abilities to back it up. Bards are great support characters because they have bardic music, spells, skills, and medium BAB progression.
So far, I kind of like it.
The doc needs some major editing for grammar and consistency.
For Momentous Impulsion and the greater version, you might want to specify that has to target an ally other than yourself. With the way Impel and Efficient Self-Acceleration are written, it implies that if you have all 3, you can just keep impelling yourself for free.
I would also like to see some time tricks with a rewind time flavor. For example, tricks that let you spend chronos to emulate the following spells: cure, restoration, remove curse/poison/disease/paralysis, etc. but each one can only undo damage or an affliction if it happened within the past minute/hour/day per level.
You could also have a feat tree that allows you to spend chrono as an immediate action to give you a dodge bonus to ac/reflex and/or evasion against a single effect. The idea there is you're sending a warning back in time to yourself. The tree could also cap off with the Personal Time ability of the Time Thief.
I'm currently planning on making a chronomancer class of my own, loosely based off of the Time Thief but with spellcasting from a very limited list.
So far, I kind of like it.
The doc needs some major editing for grammar and consistency.
For Momentous Impulsion and the greater version, you might want to specify that has to target an ally other than yourself. With the way Impel and Efficient Self-Acceleration are written, it implies that if you have all 3, you can just keep impelling yourself for free.
I would also like to see some time tricks with a rewind time flavor. For example, tricks that let you spend chronos to emulate the following spells: cure, restoration, remove curse/poison/disease/paralysis, etc. but each one can only undo damage or an affliction if it happened within the past minute/hour/day per level.
You could also have a feat tree that allows you to spend chrono as an immediate action to give you a dodge bonus to ac/reflex and/or evasion against a single effect. The idea there is you're sending a warning back in time to yourself. The tree could also cap off with the Personal Time ability of the Time Thief.I'm currently planning on making a chronomancer class of my own, loosely based off of the Time Thief but with spellcasting from a very limited list.
I initially intended for those to stack, I think. Efficient self acceleration used to work differently, though (it was more of an action economy effect that sort of ran long). I'll make the change that you are suggesting.
I sort of have somethings like you are talking about in the time tricks Slowing Foible, Road to Safety, and Defer Payment. I am not sure how I feel about abilities that heals wounds permanently, though. I may do something like that: you burn 1 crystallized chrono to heal 1d8 and then further time tricks increase this base healing.
Actually instead of doing that, I just specified that efficient self-acceleration does not stack with other effects that decrease chrono cost.
You might also want to limit Impel to once per turn. Otherwise a lvl 14 Chronomancer that can Impel himself for only 2 chrono can take infinite move actions.
You have two point pools, and I would like more detail in that feature on the purpose or function of each one. It is left vague, and in this case that leaves me less interested. Do you spend the different points on a different set of abilities, or the same? Is there a maximum amount of soft chronos or can he just build up all day for unlimitied points. If you spend them on different thing then I suggest renaming the pools to be more distinct. Chronos is good for one, but rename the other.
Sorry if I missed something obvious in there. I will get back to take a look at more of the class when I have some uninterrupted time to do so.
A time manipulation class all about giving action economy benefits to himself and allies has premise, but I feel like this needs another draft. The chrono economy feels like a mess.
You might also want to limit Impel to once per turn. Otherwise a lvl 14 Chronomancer that can Impel himself for only 2 chrono can take infinite move actions.
Well, you can't impel yourself to impel yourself again or use your bonus actions to Buy Time. There is a set list of actions that allies can take when you use impel.
Still, I think I will add text like this anyways to stop people from setting up some kind of weird action chain using Contingent Action or Heroic Action or something.
You have two point pools, and I would like more detail in that feature on the purpose or function of each one. It is left vague, and in this case that leaves me less interested. Do you spend the different points on a different set of abilities, or the same? Is there a maximum amount of soft chronos or can he just build up all day for unlimitied points. If you spend them on different thing then I suggest renaming the pools to be more distinct. Chronos is good for one, but rename the other.
Sorry if I missed something obvious in there. I will get back to take a look at more of the class when I have some uninterrupted time to do so.
Thanks for looking at the class, man. I rewrote the chrono section and I think it is much clearer now. Tell me if it is still confusing, though. Nothing in the class really makes sense without knowing those mechanics.
To answer you in thread, though: You are spending soft chrono and crystallized chrono on the same stuff the vast majority of the time. Soft chrono is more of a "per encounter" resource while crystallized chrono is the "daily" version of that same thing. You start spending crystallized chrono when you run out of soft chrono.
A time manipulation class all about giving action economy benefits to himself and allies has premise, but I feel like this needs another draft. The chrono economy feels like a mess.
Tbh, I find it hard to motivate myself to edit my own work. I am trying to get over that, though.
What about the chrono economy feels like a mess? Does it feel like less of a mess now that I have rewritten the chrono section?
The idea there is you're sending a warning back in time to yourself. The tree could also cap off with the Personal Time ability of the Time Thief.
I just realized that I forgot to look into this. You know, I kind of don't like that class ability. It sort of works for the Time Thief since the Time Thief does not have to do anywhere near as much book-keeping and stuff as my chronomancer does.
Really, I would almost want to build a whole class around a mechanic like that.
If you want something like this a lot though, here is how I would do it in a way that would probably be pretty "balanced":
Stitch in Time: The chronomancer may spend two crystallized chrono as a free action to "save her progress" before taking a standard action. It is important to record the results of her standard action carefully. If she does not like the results of her initial action, the chronomancer then may choose to undo all effects of that standard action and instead take another. She may not use this time trick more than once in a turn.
Stitch in Time, Improved: The chronomancer may spend four crystallized chrono as a free action to "save her progress" before taking her normal actions for the round. It is important to record the results of her actions that round carefully. If she does not like the results of her initial turn of actions, the chronomancer then may choose to undo all effects of her actions that turn and instead act differently. She may not use this time trick more than once in a turn or in the same turn as regular Stitch in Time.
The fluff you talk about in your first post actually sounds really interesting. I'm sure you could come up with a compelling class intro - and avoid all that clutter - if you could write just a single paragraph for the top of the document.
SKILLS
Might be a nice touch to add Sense Motive.
CHRONO
I think you should remove all mention of soft chrono from this class feature, and rename chriystallized chrono to just chrono. On the class chart, I would move increases to pool size up one level (+1 at level 2, +2 at level 4, etc). Doing this would make it a 1/2 formula.
BUY TIME
You should keep mention of soft chrono confined to this class feature. Also, is there a duration on soft chrono? It seems to me that the charcater would always keep it filled outside of combat and would have little reason to fill up during a fight. Is that by design, or are they meant to disappear after a certain amount of time? Does buying time provoke attacks of opportunity?
IMPEL
"For the purposes of this class feature, a kineticist’s blast class feature counts as a spell of a level equal to 1/5 that kineticist’s class level (rounded up)." Wasn't sure if this sentance was supposed to be here or not. Also, I hope you meant 1/2 class level instead of 1/5. Messing with time seems like pretty potent magic.
-Level 1: I would either change this to "the chronomancer can use 1 chrono to allow an ally to draw a weapon or move her speed" or change to "the chronomaster can use 1 chrono to allow an ally to use a move action". I suppose to seems strange to me that the ally could move its speed but not stand up or draw a potion.
-Level 2: Again, I would simplify this. The ally can use Cleave to attack two enemies, but can't drink a potion or feint? I would just grant a standard action. Instead of listing what level spells can be cast at what class level, write something in the intro of the feature that summarized the entire thing. For example, the ally can cast a spell with a spell level of 1 per three class levels the chronomaster has, and he must spend a number of chrono equal to the spell level +1 (thats not great wording). What happens with a spell that requires longer than a standard action, such as a summon spell or restoration?
The fluff you talk about in your first post actually sounds really interesting. I'm sure you could come up with a compelling class intro - and avoid all that clutter - if you could write just a single paragraph for the top of the document.
SKILLS
Might be a nice touch to add Sense Motive.CHRONO
I think you should remove all mention of soft chrono from this class feature, and rename chriystallized chrono to just chrono. On the class chart, I would move increases to pool size up one level (+1 at level 2, +2 at level 4, etc). Doing this would make it a 1/2 formula.BUY TIME
You should keep mention of soft chrono confined to this class feature. Also, is there a duration on soft chrono? It seems to me that the charcater would always keep it filled outside of combat and would have little reason to fill up during a fight. Is that by design, or are they meant to disappear after a certain amount of time? Does buying time provoke attacks of opportunity?IMPEL
"For the purposes of this class feature, a kineticist’s blast class feature counts as a spell of a level equal to 1/5 that kineticist’s class level (rounded up)." Wasn't sure if this sentance was supposed to be here or not. Also, I hope you meant 1/2 class level instead of 1/5. Messing with time seems like pretty potent magic.
-Level 1: I would either change this to "the chronomancer can use 1 chrono to allow an ally to draw a weapon or move her speed" or change to "the chronomaster can use 1 chrono to allow an ally to use a move action". I suppose to seems strange to me that the ally could move its speed but not stand up or draw a potion.
-Level 2: Again, I would simplify this. The ally can use Cleave to attack two enemies, but can't drink a potion or feint? I would just grant a standard action. Instead of listing what level spells can be cast at what class level, write something in the intro of the feature that summarized the entire thing. For example, the ally can cast a spell with a spell level of 1 per three class levels the chronomaster...
I think I will add sense motive. I am also considering increasing the allotment of skills.
On changing the name of chrono and reorganizing where info appears: I definitely understand where you are coming from here. It is a little hard to process what soft chrono really is until you have read over buy time. I need to think about this, though. A lot of my time tricks specifically require crystallized chrono. It will make me have to rethink how I word a lot of powers.
On buy time: You are supposed to be able to refill this resource very easily after a fight.
Well, I limit the actions that a player can take with impel for a lot of balance reasons. First of all, I want to avoid the exploits using double chronomancers and perhaps synergies that I am not thinking of involving weird class features.
The bit about kineticists is just so it is easier for a chronomancer to impel the kineticist's blasts. Like: kineticists blast are generally weaker than a spell of 1/2 the kineticist's class level (the usual effective spell level of blasts) so I don't want it to be so expensive to impel blasts.
I'm a big fan of modular abilities that allow for customization. But you only get a small number of tricks and no other abilities to back it up. Bards are great support characters because they have bardic music, spells, skills, and medium BAB progression.I also don't see why you think time tricks need to be their own class features. What is wrong with letting people choose which class features they want for the most part?
The time tricks are sort of stand-ins for spells in many ways. I know that the chart looks kind of sparse but I wrote a lot of time tricks for a reason.
I think I am going to give the class two more skills each level and evasion as a class feature. Does that make you feel any better about things?
I am also thinking about adding a "delay" power that every chronomancer gets that lets them spend chrono to negate an enemy's move action for the turn on a failed will save. I may even have delay key off its own set of daily uses. I am not yet sure.
I wanted people to tell me what they thought the power level looked like before adding things like that.