I like it, but the first thing I thought of while reading it's description was a Jedi. And then I though of if you based the magus off of the bard
The class falls into the same issue I see with plenty of other homebrew classes. It's basically just a bag of talents. They get one interesting class feature that doesn't feel fleshed out, a massive talent pool, and an at-will blast that deals typeless damage. That's it.
Overall, while it's not a bad class, it just feels like a much less fleshed out version of the vitalist, which I'm pretty sure was your inspiration.
As I said, that's the issue. The class has the collective but without all the other mechanics that support it. It has an eldritch blast, but locks its main purpose behind a talent pool. And if the primary use of siphon is debuffing, then that's what it should do by default.
The class tries to be a mix of the two classes together, but there's very little cohesion and identity with with respect to its class features because almost all of its strong points lie behind a talent pool.
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I'll have to admit, while it mechanically isn't a bad class, the actual way it fits in my worldview is hard to see. While you provide info on the class and give a description of the class, there's no real backstory. Another problem that I just restate with Cyrad is that it is a bag of tricks class with a couple of special abilities that don't really stand out from the crowd. Believe me, I tried with a Wizard subschool, and it struggled with the same problems. You can find it here.
You said that siphon's primary use is debuffing, but siphon doesn't debuff unless you get a talent for it. The alchemist is a good class, but I can't really compare the empyreus with it. Locking all class features behind discoveries is one of the biggest criticisms of the alchemist. Yet despite that, the alchemist has three powerful, unique class features that are not only each useful without any talents, but also do an excellent job conveying the identity of the class.
I consider the new description an improvement, but Theliah Strongarm has a point. What's the narrative behind the class? How do they fit in the world? What do most of them do? What profession do they typically have? How did they get their powers? Are they like monks? Are they like scholars? Just some people who manipulate energy feels a little nebulous. You have room to add more concrete lore without making them too flavor-specific.
All classes vary in flavor, but all of the published ones have some kind of concrete example. The description doesn't have any. You're giving me a lot of real world examples, but you haven't written any in the description.
@Cyrad
Thanks for providing the specific questions I need to answer for this class, I have already updated my docs to answer those questions, as well as giving the Empyreus a few more of its own class features that helps make it a more unique class."You said that siphon's primary use is debuffing, but siphon doesn't debuff unless you get a talent for it."
If I may be so impudent, you gain a quintessence at 1st level - Either the Empyreus chooses to be a supporter and select an essence augment or chooses to be a debuffer and select a siphon augment. It really depends on your build whether you invest in making your Link better or your Siphon better.
But the primary purpose of siphon is debuffing. You're trying to create build diversity, but all you're doing is creating a situation where the player always ends up with a class feature that can't be used for its intended purpose for a couple of levels. It's an antipattern.
I made a similar mistake with a class I designed, and it frustrated players.
By the way, you should generally always have class feature descriptions begin with what level the player receives the feature. This is standard writing style and makes it much easier to read.
"All classes vary in flavor, but all of the published ones have some kind of concrete example"
I already explained quite well that an Empyreus is an energy manipulator not bound by arcane, divine, psionic, occult or any descriptor. The closest descriptor to it would be similar to the Kineticist as "living channels for elemental matter and energy, manipulating the world around them by drawing upon inner reserves from their own bodies."
Yes, but the kineticist description then goes on to explain how kineticists gain their powers and that many of them are motivated to figure out the mysteries. The Occult Adventures book also explains that the kineticist draws forth power of the Elemental Planes through their body. This places the kineticist in the world. This creates narrative. Just saying, "I'm just a guy that manipulates energy" doesn't do that.
I totally understand the class's general premise, and I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm encouraging you to flesh out the narrative and lore of the class in the actual description, but you refuse to do that for the sake of making the class feel more generic in terms of having a broad flavor. You don't have to do that.
Also I fixed the anti-pattern, thanks for pointing that out:
Siphon is now attainable at 1st level.
Quintessences are now attainable at 2nd level and every 2 levels after.
That's actually not the antipattern I was talking about. That's just a mistake. The antipattern is that you're putting the class features at odds with each other for the sake of build diversity.
And now you have new problems. The class's 1st level is broken. You now start off with an ability that does nothing by itself, a pool of points with nothing to spend it on, and a blast that was originally designed to be a debuffing tool.
My point is it's a flawed approach to put the class features at odds by forcing the player to choose one or the other to augment. It makes the building a character of this class feel crappy. There's no reason to limit the class like this. The empyreus is a 3/4 BAB class with no spellcasting. There's plenty of room in the power budget allow both aspects of the class to function well without the opportunity costs.
Why not give meaningful uses of siphon and link immediately? Why not have two talent pools and alternate when a player gets a talent from either pool?
Good to see some free empyreus stuff. ;)
I will look over the talents in detail sometime. I just haven't had much time this week.
Green Traveller, have you thought about checking out different 3PP classes to get ideas about different ideas of how to build classes? (Which are possibly one of the most complicated things to create.)
There are so many different and highly reviewed sources out there it would be a pity if you didn't check something out to broaden your perspective.
Just an idea. Oh, before I forget, Cyrad is possibly one of the most active reviewers of homebrew classes here. In my opinion, he has a good eye and a good brain for this stuff and his advice is honest commentary and not meant to be rude.
Either way, have fun and keep up the good work.