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So I have an unquenchable thirst to smash classes together to make hybrid classes and a few of my ideas have actually born some decent fruit. Here are two classes that a few of my players or fellow PC's are playtesting for me. Let me know what you all think! (made with http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/)
Runewarden
Inspired by a homebrewed class I saw on another forum years ago and meant to finally be a class built around playing the tank. It was originally a paladin/sorcerer for flavor reasons, but the fighter/sorcerer mechanics ended up fitting far better.
Artificer
I've played in a few campaigns with a PC playing the Artificer from Adamant Entertainment and I loved the very basic idea behind a few of the mechanics, but felt they were not executed properly. This is my take. An alchemist/wizard hybrid class.
Along with the above classes, I've also created/adapted two custom races for a few players in my current homebrew. Both of these were built using the guidelines in the Advanced Race Guide. (There may be minor deviations and one large custom trait)
Goliath
Adapted from the 3.5 book Races of Stone, goliaths were one of my favorite races to choose back in the ol' 3.5 days and so I tried my best to Pathfinder-ize (?) them.
Mertouched
I've had a player asking to play a merfolk for years and I've always steered them in other directions because of the limitations and the ridiculous fluff needed to justify it. So I decided to sake their mer-lust and make this custom race instead.
Works in Progress..
Reanimator
Alchemist/Summoner hybrid class. A different spin on the classic necromancer. A mad scientist bent on mastering undeath through chemistry and experimentation. Alchemy abilities similar to the alchemist except with more of the ability to inject willing and unwilling targets with nastier concoctions. An undead eidolon-like homonculus cohort that will utilize the Necrocraft rules from Bestiary 4. Not to mention some Animate Dead at will similar to the Summoner's Summon Monster abilities. Can anyone say Qyburn?
Warlock
Kineticist/Witch hybrid class. I miss the 3.5 warlock and I love the witch class. Gets an Eldritch Blast ability similar to the Kineticist's Kinetic Blast that deals certain types of damage based on the Pact (similar to the witches patron) you choose. 6th level caster with its own specific list as well as a new spin on the classic spellbook, the Warlock's Grimoire. Gets Invocations (Infusion-like) that grant new abilities as well as some witch hexes.
Let me know what you all think!
I like the look of the documents. A couple of suggestions:
RUNEWARDEN
-Arcane ward seems to good for 1st level. I see that you're bringing it down a notch with making it unavailable at certain times, but deflection bonuses are meant to be the most powerful AC bonus. Your conditions don't make sense. What if he could activate his runes to gain the bonus for a certain number of round?
-Warden's presense and counter attack seem like D&D 4th edition abilities. I feel like these three abilities together should be powered by a point pool, instead of them being constant.
GOLIATH
-Powerful build should be rewritten for clarity. I feel like paizo has intentional steered away from abilities like powerful build. Have you considered writing something that is thematically similar instead of trying to be the same?
-The original had a bonus on Sense Motive checks. That kind of flavor has been removed, unless you include boomerang.
MERTOUCHED
-In weapon familiarity, there is no need for a comma between the weapons.
-Looks like you need a line return before male names.
-In seasinger, keep the parenthesis around onl the word "sing".
-In claws, write out the word "two" instead of using the numeral.
-Allowing blindsense in place of +1 AC might be too powerful.
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I've been wary of the Ward ability since I wrote it. I'm thinking if possibly limiting the amount of CHA bonus you get by your level. I may just make it scaleable and not dependent on your ability score.
The presence ability is my attempt at creating an ability that functions the way taunts do in an MMO while still functioning realistically. You're a big hulker presence on the battlefield and thus you are inherently distracting to people around you that are attempting to attack your allies. I did play around a bit with a point system but it seemed to make more sense to just add AoO. Maybe I can revisit that point pool idea. It was the original intent after all.
Powerful build has always been problematic and I suppose it could use some reworking. I saw there's a giant race in one of the 3rs party psionic books that had a similar ability but it didn't quite scratch the "I want to wield larger weapons" itch. I'll try rewording and clarifying it.
Thanks for the grammatical stuff on the mertouched. You read something enough times and you no longer perceive these details. Hah. And when it comes to the blindsense, it's limited to water you're in contact with so I don't think that's very overpowered. You're not constantly in large bodies of water during an adventure and so it wouldn't even be useful that often unlike AC bonus.
Thanks for your insight! Any comments on the artificer?
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Oh here's an idea. Since the runewarden is essentially a magus focused on defense instead of attack , maybe a reworked arcane pool workalike that adds enhancement bonuses to your armor instead of your weapon. Maybe even make a grip of the class features selectable like talents, or arcana.
Hmm. It looks like there's some work to be done.
The runewarden is the only one I had a chance to look at so far. The class doesn't have many class features and doesn't really have any strong game mechanics to make it distinct and interesting. The only primary class feature is bloodline runes, which is an uninteresting copy of sorcerer bloodlines.
The class's thematics are all over the place. What do runes have to do with bloodlines? The class seems to have absolutely nothing to do with runes or written language. Even its spellcasting is not keyed off of Intelligence, the ability score canonically associated with linguistics and the written word. The class uses "runes" as a nebulous way to make it feel magical -- doing this is such a huge pet peeve of mine that I designed a race specifically to subvert the cliche.
I agree with Ciaran Barnes that Arcane Ward is way overpowered. This class has better armor proficiencies than the fighter, and you gave them a free scaling ring of protection on top of it. Classes generally don't get class features like this unless they have bad armor proficiencies -- the monk is a good example of this. This feature also doesn't work like deflection bonuses should.
I will say the quality of writing is fairly impressive for a homebrew.
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The runewarden is the only one I had a chance to look at so far. The class doesn't have many class features and doesn't really have any strong game mechanics to make it distinct and interesting. The only primary class feature is bloodline runes, which is an uninteresting copy of sorcerer bloodlines.
The class's thematics are all over the place. What do runes have to do with bloodlines? The class seems to have absolutely nothing to do with runes or written language. Even its spellcasting is not keyed off of Intelligence, the ability score canonically associated with linguistics and the written word. The class uses "runes" as a nebulous way to make it feel magical -- doing this is such a huge pet peeve of mine that I designed a race specifically to subvert the cliche.
I agree with Ciaran Barnes that Arcane Ward is way overpowered. This class has better armor proficiencies than the fighter, and you gave them a free scaling ring of protection on top of it. Classes generally don't get class features like this unless they have bad armor proficiencies -- the monk is a good example of this. This feature also doesn't work like deflection bonuses should.
I will say the quality of writing is fairly impressive for a homebrew.
Thanks so much for the honest critique. Something I love about the paizo boards here; folks aren't out to get you (usually), yet they're gonna tell you straight.
I've been working on a revamped version of this that takes some of the criticism you folks have presented. I think it's turning a lot more unique.
I would argue that using the "uninteresting copy of sorcerer bloodlines" makes the bloodrager a terribly boring class. This is intended to be a hybrid, so using the bloodlines was deliberate.
I can see where the whole "rune" shtick seems a bit off. It was sort of an artifact from the first build I did where there was a lot more focus on the a very convoluted rune mechanic that I scrapped (believe me.. no good)
I guess the idea behind it is that these people share similar bloodlines as sorcerers and bloodragers but their abilities don't manifest as organically. They're unlocked through the inscription of these magical symbols onto their flesh.
There are two reasons the class is Charisma based.
1.) Sorcerer hybrid...
2.) The abilities she gains are keyed off of the INNATE powers brought to the surface through the tattoos they have. Many of the features are keyed off of your presence on the battlefield so Charisma seems to make far more sense. It's not about the language itself and the idea of "runes" in modern fantasy is an excessively nebulous concept that barely denotes an actual language anymore. In fact, historically, runes are more commonly pictures or drawings (like hieroglyphics) than actual phonetic symbols. The idea is that these tattoos help manifest more of your arcane heritage the more you have and the more intricate they are. Basically, your power is unlocked by something that's scribed into your flesh, hence Charisma. It's how you look or appear. Not how well you've studied. Think Tattooed Sorcerer archetype.
The armor proficiencies are technically the same as the fighter just with the ability to cast spells in them. Once again, this is just like the bloodrager when compared to the barbarian.
I'll probably post the new reworked class later tonight and I would love for you two to take a second look and let me know if the direction is better.
I'd also love to hear your opinions on the Artificer as well!
Once again, thanks so much for the constructive criticism!
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I could also just drop the rune fluff and call it the "aegis". That was also an idea.
Keep the arcane defender sort of idea (a magus but built to defend instead of attack) but without all the other rune-based stuff.
It could still have bloodlines and what not like the sorcerer and bloodrager.
I dno.. just a thought I had immediately after posting the above reply.
Good to have some free homebrewn' (not teh semi/extry-legal homebrewn' stuff tho) stuff out there. ;)