Dreamscarred Press Announces - The Malefex


Product Discussion


3 people marked this as a favorite.

No, you're late cross-posting the playtest.

So, once upon a time I had (and still have) a ton of projects on my plate but suffered from severe writer's block. Did I do something sane like step away for awhile and find my head? No, that'd be sane. Instead I ended up writing an entire base class to break through the writer's block.

Meet the Malefex

Malefexes are street-smart, skilled characters who support their party through the application of debuffs and battlefield control. They thrive in cases where they can provide flanks, cripple stronger enemies, and apply their practical experience to problems. This is the second major revision of the class thus far.

Working with me on the project is the esteemed Ehn Jolly, who thus far has provided the theft-themed malefactions, a pair of knocks, and the Veiled Stranger archetype. This is my first time working with him, and it's been a blast thus far.

Your feedback is welcome and appreciated, folks!


Good to see some free malefexian playtest stuff. ;)

The Exchange

I like it! Swift action debuffs on a character that can reasonably participate in melee at least as much as a rogue. I especially like the theft malefactions, as exhausting an enemy and getting +6 strength and dexterity is pretty bad-ass.

Honestly, in just a quick read-through, the character I'm building in my head has most of it's feats spent on Street Lessons, as the Knocks are flavorful and mechanically beneficial. If something happens to the Witch I'm playing, I'll see if my GM will let me roll one of these up, as it fills my current role in an entirely new way.

The Exchange

So, I just really love the idea of a Bare-knuckle Brawler Malefex using the Confiscate: Vitality Malediction, especially with the Make Do and Personal Touch knocks being able to get a total of +3 of weapon special abilities. Go with Two-weapon fighting, grab Menacing and Linked Striking with Make Do/Personal Touch, get Gang Up so that you and your allies are always flanking... This can be quite a terror on the battlefield. Bravo

The Exchange

So with Confiscate: Blood, do you gain the temporary hit points when you invoke the malefaction, or every time the target suffers bleed damage from it?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

So! Thank you for the feedback thus far; my life's been unexpectedly busy. I will address it tomorrow, when I've got the day off.

The Exchange

So, what was the logic behind giving Bare Knuckle Brawler a competence bonus equal to wis mod on unarmed attacks at level 6? I personally like it as it can make the class less MAD, especially with getting wis mod to damage against cursed targets and the couple of curses that an effect that doesn't allow a save, but it does seem to be a rather large bonus to suddenly start getting, and to me it seems like going bare knuckle brawler is far better than using weapons.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

This is a fantastic class Prince of Knives! You can be certain that you have one sale already!:P

In fact I like it so much I created an archetype for it. May I present to you the Blasphemous Blade. Let me know what you think.

BLASPHEMOUS BLADE:
BLASPHEMOUS BLADE (an archetype for the Malefex)
Living a hard life on the streets teaches a malefex how to survive against any opponent and to use any weapon at their disposal to overcome a foe. This self reliance and survival instinct has produced a sub sect of malefexes, known as blasphemous blades, with an extraordinary ability. With nothing else in hand these rare individuals have learned how to shape their malice and malignancy into a physical weapon. Through willpower and an unorthodox method, which few scholars even attempt to understand nor really want to, they hone their malevolence into a razor sharp edge. Once manifested most opponents pale before the nightmarish weapon and flee for their lives. However, the abstinate or truly foolhardy which remain soon realise the folly of their choice as the dire weapon is brought to bare against them.

A blasphemous blade has the following class features.
Armor Proficiency: The blasphemous blade is proficient with light and medium armor.
Skill Points: The blasphemous blade receives only 4 skill points per level.
Martial Malice (Ex): The blasphemous blade’s Base Attack Bonus is equal to his malefex level when wielding his malevolence manifested weapon.

Brutal Bearing (Su): The blasphemous blade uses the horrific and terrifying presence of his malevolence manifested weapon to cower and torment lesser beings. The blasphemous blade enjoys a competence bonus to Intimidate checks equal to his Wisdom modifier. He only receives this bonus when wielding his malevolence manifested weapon.

This replaces the knock earned at 3rd level.

Cruel Intentions (Su): The blasphemous blade can imbue his malevolence manifested weapon with his innate cruel and oftentimes murderous intentions. Beginning at 6th level the malefex can choose one of the following special weapon abilities: bane, cruel, corrosive, menacing, ominous, vicious and wounding. Whenever he uses his malevolence manifested weapon it gains the chosen weapon special ability (s). At level 12 and 18 he may choose another special weapon ability from the list above.

This replaces the Knocks earned at levels 6, 12 and 18.

NEW SPITE(TABOO/BANE/GAES/MALEDICTION)

Malevolence Manifested (Spite) [Curse]
This curse causes a gnashing, convulsing, heaving, many toothed maw plane of roiling dark and fetid energy to erupt out of the malefex's outstretched hand.
Target: Any opponent attacked with the malevolence manifested weapon
Saving Throw: Fortitude (see below)

This curse is unique because it is a physical manifestation of the malefex's control over the malignant energies he uses to curse opponents. At 1st level, when this spite is obtained, the blasphemous blade must choose a single melee weapon with which he is proficient. From this point forward this spite, when activated, takes the shape of that specific weapon. Once this choice is made it cannot be changed. The weapon uses the same statistics of the weapon that it mimics and if sundered can be reformed by recasting the malevolence manifested spite.

An opponent is allowed a saving throw versus this curse. The DC is determined as normal and if it is successful the weapon deals damage as if it were one size category smaller to that opponent. The blasphemous blade also loses the benefits of his cruel intentions ability versus any opponent that successfully saves. If the save is not successful the weapon deals damage as normal and the opponent is considered to be "cursed". Only one such individual can be cursed at a time. If the blasphemous blade strikes another opponent which fails their save they must chose which opponent is "cursed".

This spite increases in potency as the malefex gains levels. At 5th level this spite becomes a taboo and is considered to be the equivalent of a +1 magical weapon. At 10th level this curse becomes a bane and overcomes damage reduction as if it were a cold-iron and silver weapon. At 15th level this curse becomes a gaes and the malefex must choose one alignment component: chaotic, evil, good, or lawful; her malevolence manifested also counts as this alignment for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. (This alignment component cannot be the opposite of the malefex's actual alignment, such as a good malefex choosing the evil alignment.) At 20th level this curse becomes a malediction and overcomes damage reduction as if it were an adamantine weapon.

The summoned weapon can benefit from spells or abilities that grant a weapon enhancement bonus (such as the magic weapon or greater magic weapon spell). However, the weapon cannot be permanently enchanted.

This replaces the malefactions known at 1st level (the malefex knows only the malevolence manifested malefaction at 1st level) as well as the malefactions gained at levels 5, 10, 15 and 20.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'd cut off my left pinky for a multi-quote function on these forums, but here goes.

Hunterofthedusk wrote:

I like it! Swift action debuffs on a character that can reasonably participate in melee at least as much as a rogue. I especially like the theft malefactions, as exhausting an enemy and getting +6 strength and dexterity is pretty bad-ass.

Honestly, in just a quick read-through, the character I'm building in my head has most of it's feats spent on Street Lessons, as the Knocks are flavorful and mechanically beneficial. If something happens to the Witch I'm playing, I'll see if my GM will let me roll one of these up, as it fills my current role in an entirely new way.

The knocks definitely ended up in a different spot than I initially imagined when designing the class but I'm honestly pretty happy with that.

Hunterofthedusk wrote:
So, I just really love the idea of a Bare-knuckle Brawler Malefex using the Confiscate: Vitality Malediction, especially with the Make Do and Personal Touch knocks being able to get a total of +3 of weapon special abilities. Go with Two-weapon fighting, grab Menacing and Linked Striking with Make Do/Personal Touch, get Gang Up so that you and your allies are always flanking... This can be quite a terror on the battlefield. Bravo

Is it the right balance, d'ya think? I mean, at that point you've invested quite a few resources into getting where you're going.

Hunterofthedusk wrote:
So with Confiscate: Blood, do you gain the temporary hit points when you invoke the malefaction, or every time the target suffers bleed damage from it?

Invocation.

Hunterofthedusk wrote:
So, what was the logic behind giving Bare Knuckle Brawler a competence bonus equal to wis mod on unarmed attacks at level 6? I personally like it as it can make the class less MAD, especially with getting wis mod to damage against cursed targets and the couple of curses that an effect that doesn't allow a save, but it does seem to be a rather large bonus to suddenly start getting, and to me it seems like going bare knuckle brawler is far better than using weapons.

Because BKB doesn't solve many of the other issues with unarmed attacking. There's the trouble of magical enhancement, which is expensive as hell, the difficulty of lower base damage (even with the feat to help out), not having reach or other weapon properties and, importantly, the fact that even with the accuracy boost you're a 3/4 BAB class so there's only so much juice you can wring out of full attacks. BKB enables an archetype but it doesn't make it as cheap or effective as using an actual weapon.

Volvogg wrote:

This is a fantastic class Prince of Knives! You can be certain that you have one sale already!:P

In fact I like it so much I created an archetype for it. May I present to you the Blasphemous Blade. Let me know what you think.

Glad to see you like the work thus far, my friend. I'm gonna give it to you straight, I am not the world's biggest fan of the archetype; while I realize there's precedent now for altering BAB and the like, I don't really like how this hard-locks the 'fex into a particular archetype. The loss of essentially three skills (since you now non-optionally require Intimidate) hurts in the out-of-combat utility in a bad way, and the custom malefaction raises awkward questions of interactions with the existing malefaction rules and, more impotantly, with immunities and targeting.

You may end up enjoying the upcoming Rustpicker archetype, though.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Prince of Knives wrote:
I'm gonna give it to you straight, I am not the world's biggest fan of the archetype; while I realize there's precedent now for altering BAB and the like, I don't really like how this hard-locks the 'fex into a particular archetype. The loss of essentially three skills (since you now non-optionally require Intimidate) hurts in the out-of-combat utility in a bad way, and the custom malefaction raises awkward questions of interactions with the existing malefaction rules and, more impotantly, with immunities and targeting.

Thanks for your honesty Prince of Knives! The archetype was put together on a whim in a very short time span. I simply thought it would make for an interesting concept. Not fully realized but more conceptual in practice. As far as "locking" a class into a more focused route I would have to disagree with you on that regard as many archetypes already do that. They offer up something, which can be extremely focused, by giving up or sacrificing another aspect of the class. Some archetypes completely change the forte or focus of it's parent.

Prince of Knives wrote:
You may end up enjoying the upcoming Rustpicker archetype, though.

This sounds very interesting!

Cheers
Volf

The Exchange

The one thing I have concern for now is "Iron, Cold Iron". The untyped damage equal to level at the start of the malefex's turn for 1min/level. That ends up being thousands of damage if the duration plays out, and kinda feels like something that should allow additional saves. As it stands, a single failed save spells death for a character, albeit delayed.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

AT LAST, WE RIDE AGAIN

With my repeated apologies for the delay, there's been an update to the malefex doc. Changes include:

-> Accuracy added to the Wrack ability
-> New Banes and Geas
-> The new Rustpicker archetype
-> New feat (Sucker Jinx)
-> Bookmarks
-> Rogue, Slayer, and Vigilante talents

You can expect some edits to the class's fluff up front Soon(tm), as well as at least one more Bane and possibly more of the capstone curses, in addition to FCBs just as soon as I decide it's better to write them as opposed to, say, curling up in a corner to cry.

There's also been some other changes, such as to "Iron, Cold Iron", that I didn't update the thread on at the time because life was hectic as hell.

Thank you for your patience! I eagerly anticipate your feedback.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

The product is looking great Prince of Knives and the rustpicker looks very promising! Just because I cannot leave sleeping dogs lie I went ahead and created a few new knocks in support of the rustpicker. They fit the archetype thematically and help to enhance the archetypes already incredible versatility. Without further ado I present to you the following new knocks: Scrapblade, Swissblade, Mutable Metal and Multi-tool.

New Knocks:
Scrapblade (Su): A rustpicker must be self-reliant and are usually capable of cobbling together useful tools from the detritus of junk heaps and trash stacked alleys. Normally these are simple, a long piece of steel with a very sharp and pointy end. However, there are some rustpickers which have taken this a step further and are capable of creating a functional and lethal weapon composed of junk. A rustpicker with this knock is able to create any melee weapon, which they are proficient with, out of metal scraps and other such detritus. They must have access to a junk yard a garbage heap or other such location in order for them to scrounge for the required components. It takes the rustpicker 10 minutes to complete his scrounging. At the end of this he piles high his heap of treasure and then wills it to take the desired shape. The weapon is held together through sheer force of will, luck and the rustpicker's inherent supernatural power. The weapon has the same base statistics as a weapon of it's type. Beginning at 4th level the scrapblade gains a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls. This bonus increases by an additional +1 at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter.

The rustpicker can repair a broken, damaged or destroyed scrapblade by expending resources from their brilliant plan fund as a standard action. Repairing hit point damage to the weapon costs 1 copper piece per hit point restored. It costs 1 silver piece, per scrapblade level, to remove the broken condition from their scrapblade. If destroyed the scrapblade may be repaired, to full hit points, by expending 1 gold piece per rustpicker level.

The scrapblade retains it's shape until the rustpicker rests for 8 hours at which point it breaks down into it's useless component parts. After resting the rustpicker can perform another search, as outlined above, in order to create another scrapblade. The rustpicker cannot recycle material from a previous scrapblade because the powers which maintain the weapon cause it to severely decay once the item returns to it's original individual pieces. Most rustpickers will scrounge for their scrapblade in the morning after having rested for the night in order to prepare themselves for the rigors of yet another adventurous day. The shape of the weapon is determined whenever the rustpicker creates a new scrapblade.

Swissblade (Su): A rustpicker can change the shape of his scrapblade, as a standard action, to another melee weapon that he is proficient with. This ability can be used a number of times per day equal to 1 + the rustpicker's Wisdom modifier. The scrapblade retains the new shape for a number of minutes equal to the rustpicker's level after which it reverts back to it's original form. Prerequisite: Scrapblade.

Multi-tool (Su): By concentrating as a swift action a rustpicker is able to reconfigure a portion of his scrapblade into one of the following: a set of thieves tools, a saw, crowbar, shovel, glass cutter, drill or abacus. These tools gain an enhancement bonus on their associated skill checks, if applicable, equal to the enhancement bonus of the scrapblade. The rustpicker can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to his rustpicker level + Wisdom modifier. These rounds need not be consecutive. Deactivating this ability is a free action. Prerequisite: Scrapblade.

Mutable Metal (Su): By incorporating additional material, such as barbed wire or blood from a slain creature, into the creation of his scrapblade the rustpicker is able to expend enhancement bonuses on the following special magic weapon properties: cruel, keen, wounding, bane, cunning, deceptive, rusting or viscous. Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier. Duplicates cannot be added to the weapon. The scrapblade must retain at least a +1 enhancement bonus before any other properties can be added. Prerequisite: Scrapblade.

Cheers
Volf

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Third-Party Pathfinder RPG Products / Product Discussion / Dreamscarred Press Announces - The Malefex All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Product Discussion