Vellian LeMach's page

The problem most people seem to have with the Vigilante, is an inability to switch into their Vigilante identity quickly enough at low levels. (I feel that a few minutes on any thread discussing dual identity should be more than enough education on this that I need not go into further detail).

I feel a good solution is to 'invert' the Vigilante.

Basic reasoning: The Vigilante's social Identity could be thought of more like a mild version Cavalier's Order, or a Paladin's Code of Conduct. The social identity is a set of rules or code by which the Vigilante lives in order to blend into society.

Mechanics: Allow the Vigilante to have access to all of his vigilante traits even when in his social identity; however, if he uses any traits that are considered 'unacceptable' for his social identity without the per-requisite identity change, he may not use any of his appearance abilities (Startling appearance, Frightening Appearance, and Stunning Appearance) until he either spends 5 minutes changing into his Vigilante identity, or 24 hours have passed. In addition, beginning the round in which he uses any of his 'unacceptable' Vigilante talents in his social identity, the Vigilante looses all the benefits granted by his social identity (social grace, and renown) until he 'clears the name' of his social identity. Clearing the Vigilante's Social Identity name might be as simple as a successful bluff, diplomacy, or intimidate check to the few witnesses of his actions or might require something more elaborate like finding a patsy to take the blame for the vigilante activities to draw off suspicion. This would be dependent on the GM.

In depth reasoning: This idea is that for the Vigilante it is not about the difficulty of powering up for a fight, but having difficulty powering down after the fight.
When you really look at it, the vigilante is trying to be the part time hero. While Paladins take up a life long crusade in the name of their god, and Wizards devote their life to arcane teachings, the Vigilante still kind of clings to a normal, every-day, mundane life.
When you look at many iconic dual identity power houses (Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Daredevil, The Flash, even the Hulk) they are in constant possession of their abilities. While exceptions exist, like maybe He-man, for most of these their civilian persona is merely a disguise to allow them to blend into society. They often go to great lengths to keep their awesomeness under wraps so they can enjoy a peaceful home life, but if the life of their loved ones (or sometimes their own life) is on the line, they have no problem pulling out all the stops to get things done.

I will be play testing this in a home game soon. My hope is that this would allow the Vigilante to act at almost full combat strength in surprise situations and worry about cleaning up the social fall out later.

As was going over the vigilante something struck me a exceedingly odd, no access to the linguistics skill as a class skill in neither the base class skill list nor in any of its specializations.

I scrolled through the forums and did not find anything addressing this so I wanted to make a strong case for it here.

I think the Vigilante needs the Linguistics skill as a core class skill for two reasons.

First: As one of the main core mechanics of the class seems to be a very deception based character the fact that it is missing the skill for creating and detecting forgeries as a class skill seems very odd to me. So he can disguise his face but not his hand writing or written thoughts? The vigilante may live a separate life, but is not versed in creating a false paper trail to support that separate life, nor has he become accustomed to the kinds of codes or ciphers that someone living such a lifestyle might frequently use when writing down information, making notes to himself, or communicating with informants. This to me is like a spell-casting class without spellcraft. If we look at the most likely landscape of the Vigilante we see him described as posing as a noble, working as a spy, acting as a crime boss,(in the case of warlocks) studying spells in secret, (in the case of Zelots) studying holy texts in secret. All of these situations rely heavily on some form of cipher, code, or secret writing. All of these would rely heavily on the use of Linguistics.

Second: The Vigilante is supposed to spend his time in taverns, bars, markets, etc. gaining renown as a communal persona whilst simultaneously spreading the word of his Vigilante persona. One would think that in an urban community, the Vigilante would likely easily pick up on different cants, dialects, and speech patterns that various groups, both legitimate and clandestine, might use while spreading word of his renown. Simply put, how is a vigilante supposed to effectively use bluff, diplomacy, or sense motive if he cannot get past the language barrier?

I did not see a thread specifically relating to this. If there was already a discussion of this please let me know.

I plan to be play a somewhat comedic Orc Barbarian/Alchemist who likes to throw whatever he can get his hands on at enemies and then rush at them with more random objects and beat them to death with said objects. Eventually I want to use hurling charge as it fits this image nicely.

Issue 1
Reading the rules it appears that one could possibly combo up Hurling Charge and Ride By Attack to: declare your charge, throw a weapon, hit with a melee charge attack, and continue on past the target of said charge up to your maximum allowed distance.

Issue 2
Is there some way to accomplish the above without the use of a mount?

My first thought was Spring attack, but can spring attack count as a "charge" allowing the use of Hurling Charge?

Focusing on the spirit of the feats, it seems like a sensible combination. As long as the character moved in a straight line towards his target at least 10ft before making the thrown weapon attack, and then another 10ft before making the melee weapon attack, and the remainder of his movement was in a straight line past his target; I see no reason why it would not be a viable option.

Any help on this issue would be much appreciated.