That's what my GM let me do for my Archaeologist. He also let me ditch all of the more obvious bard spells (like solid note and allegro) for some more thematically fitting ranger spells (like gravity bow and detect snares and pits).
To back up your debunking, my 10th level wizard has almost 100 hit points. More than that if I cast false life. That's using your same generous mathematics, too. In a party full of d8 and d10 classes, I have the second highest amount of hit points. My AC stinks, but flying at will (air school) and turning invisible takes care of that. And as far as protection spells go, every time there is some magical energy damaging trap, the party turns to me to slap on protection from energy and do their dirty work. I don't mind, though. I'm a badass teenaged female half-elf wizard. =)
My GM lets us flip flop and introduce new characters every so often, and for those secondary PCs, he never allows us full character wealth. He makes us one level poorer, as he feels our main characters should be more powerful. I know these are replacement, and not secondary characters, but if you think the full WBL is too much, just scale it back. If it ends up being too little, throw some extra loot their way to make up for it. I know it's an AP, but ultimately you're running the show, so you can make adjustments as you see fit.
Wow. At first, I seriously thought you were talking about my homebrewed bloodline (which I think Icyshadow is referring to). You can use this as is, or use it as a base for something of your own creation. Instead of dealing with only negative energy, the theme is also illusions, shadows, and necromancy spells. Umbral Draconic Sorcerer: Class Skill: Stealth. Bonus Spells: silent image (3rd), darkness (5th), fly (7th), enervation (9th), true seeing (11th), shadow walk (13th), project image (15th), form of the dragon III (17th), shades (19th). Bonus Feats: Blind-Fight, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Fly), Stealthy, Toughness. Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a necromancy spell that deals hit point damage, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled. If the necromancy spell bestows an amount of ability score damage, ability score drain, or negative levels, the amount increases by 1. If the spell deals ability score damage or drain to multiple ability scores, all of the ability scores are affected. Bloodline Powers: The power of umbral dragons flows through you and manifests in a number of different ways. Claws (Su): Starting at 1st level, you can grow claws as a free action. These claws are treated as natural weapons allowing you to make two claw attacks as a full attack action using your full base attack bonus. Each of these attacks deal 1d4 points of damage plus your Strength modifier (1d3 if you are Small). At 5th level, these claws are treated as if they have the ghost touch weapon property. At 7th level, the damage increases by one step to 1d6 points of damage (1d4 if you are Small). At 11th level, these claws deal an additional 1d6 points of negative energy damage on a successful hit. This negative energy does not heal undead creatures. You can use your claws for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. Dragon Resistances (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain negative energy resistance 5 and a +1 natural armor bonus. At 9th level, you gain negative energy resistance 10 and your natural armor bonus increases to +2. At 15th level, your natural armor bonus increases to +4. Breath Weapon (Su): At 9th level, you gain a breath weapon. This breath weapon is a 30-foot cone that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area of the breath receive a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. At 9th level, you can use this ability once per day. At 17th level, you can use this ability twice per day. At 20th level, you can use this ability three times per day. This negative energy does not heal undead creatures. Wings (Su): At 15th level, leathery dragon wings grow from your back as a standard action, giving you a fly speed of 60 feet with average maneuverability. You can dismiss them as a free action. Umbral Scion (Su): At 20th level, your umbral draconic heritage becomes manifest. You gain immunity to negative energy (including associated negative levels, ability damage, ability drain, etc.) and death effects. You also gain blindsense 60 feet.
I was recently motivated by Epic Meepo (and his crazy amount of archetypes) to share with you my measly handful of home-brewed archetypes. There are two Fighter archetypes, one Druid archetype, and a Sorcerer archetype. I've shared the Sorcerer one before, but not the finished product. The others are works in progress, as I have not been able to playtest them or figure out any potential crazy optimizing combinations. I tried to balance them in one way or another, but I'm honestly not 100% sure how well I did. Feel free to point out any glaring oversights or even suggest new names for things. Here we go! Some people seemed so excited about getting a Final Fantasy-like dragoon in Ultimate Combat's dragoon archetype, that I kind of felt a little disappointed myself when it wasn't what some people hoped it might be. I know that dragoons are a real, separate thing that already exists. Really, it was just lazy translation, and the FF class should have been called dragon knight. Well, this was my attempt to give those people what they were hoping for. It seems pretty powerful, especially when only two-handed weapons are involved, but I tried to take away a lot and limit it in order to make up for that. Also, I got a little lazy and just gave them some abilities straight from the Cavalier's Order of the Dragon. I think it works, though.
LANCER (Fighter archetype):
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A lancer is not proficient with shields (including tower shields). Lancer Training (Ex): A lancer gains a number of skill points equal to 4 + his Intelligence modifier at each level instead of the usual 2 + Intelligence modifier. He also gains Acrobatics (Dex), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Perception (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis) as class skills. This ability replaces the fighter bonus feat gained at 1st level. Nimble: At 2nd level, a lancer reduces his armor check penalty by 1 point. The penalty decreases by 1 point every four levels thereafter to a maximum reduction of 5 points (to a minimum armor check penalty of 0) at 18th level. This ability replaces Bravery. High Jump (Su): At 3rd level, a lancer can jump high into the air, and land on his foes in order to deal heavy damage with a pole weapon. As a full-round action, he may leap up to 20 feet in the air, and remains there for one round. Jumping in this way does not provoke any attacks of opportunity. At the beginning of his next turn, he may land on any one creature within a 5-foot radius of his jumping point, making a single attack at his highest base attack bonus. This attack is treated exactly like attacking on a charge, and any falling damage that he would normally take (1d6 per 10 feet) is instead dealt to the creature. Any creatures immune to critical hits and precision damage are also immune to this extra damage. If a lancer should happen to miss the target of this attack, or there are no creatures within his radius to land upon, he takes the falling damage instead, but ignores the first 10 feet of falling damage and does not end up prone. He also negates an amount of falling damage equal to his ranks (not including any modifiers) invested in the Acrobatics skill. A lancer cannot use this ability unless he is wielding a pole weapon. This ability replaces Armor Training 1 and the fighter bonus feat gained at 4th level. Pole Weapon Training (Ex): At 5th level, whenever a lancer attacks with a weapon from either the pole arm or spear weapon groups, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls. This bonus increases by +1 every four levels to a maximum of +4 at 17th level. This ability replaces Weapon Training 1. Improved High Jump (Su): At 7th level, a lancer may use his High Jump ability to leap up to 40 feet in the air, and may land on any one creature within a 10-foot radius of his jumping point. If he should happen to miss the target of this attack, or there are no creatures within his radius to land upon, he ignores the first 20 feet of falling damage. This ability replaces Armor Training 2 and the fighter bonus feat gained at 8th level. Aid Allies (Ex): At 9th level, whenever a lancer uses the aid another action to assist one of his allies, the ally receives a +3 bonus to his Armor Class, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check. This bonus increases by +1 every five levels to a maximum of +5 at 19th level. This ability replaces Weapon Training 2. Greater High Jump (Su): At 11th level, a lancer may use his High Jump ability to leap up to 60 feet in the air, and may land on any one creature within a 15-foot radius of his jumping point. If he should happen to miss the target of this attack, or there are no creatures within his radius to land upon, he ignores the first 30 feet of falling damage. This ability replaces Armor Training 3 and the fighter bonus feat gained at 12th level. Strategy (Ex): At 13th level, a lancer may spend a standard action to grant one of a number of bonuses to all allies within 30 feet (including himself). The allies must be able to see or hear the lancer in order to receive this bonus. He can grant a +2 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round, a +2 morale bonus on all attack rolls for 1 round, or the ability to move up to their speed as an immediate action once. He can grant a different bonus to each ally within range, but allies can only benefit from this ability once per combat. This ability replaces Weapon Training 3. Expert High Jump (Su): At 15th level, a lancer may use his High Jump ability to leap up to 80 feet in the air, and may land on any one creature within a 20-foot radius of his jumping point. If he should happen to miss the target of this attack, or there are no creatures within his radius to land upon, he ignores the first 40 feet of falling damage. This ability replaces Armor Training 4 and the fighter bonus feat gained at 16th level. Act as One (Ex): At 17th level, a lancer may spend a standard action to move up to his speed and make a melee attack. All allies within 30 feet can also move up to their speed and make a melee attack as an immediate action. This movement and attack can be made as a charge if the movement qualifies. All attacks are made at a +2 bonus (this stacks with the bonus from a charge), and all participants receive a +2 dodge bonus to their AC for 1 round. A lancer can only use this ability once per combat. This replaces Weapon Training 4. Master High Jump (Su): At 19th level, a lancer reaches the literal peak of his jumping prowess. He may use his High Jump ability to leap up to 100 feet in the air, and may land on any one creature within a 25-foot radius of his jumping point. If he should happen to miss the target of this attack, or there are no creatures within his radius to land upon, he ignores the first 50 feet of falling damage. In addition, his bonus to attacking on a charge while using this ability increases to +4, and he does not take any penalties to his AC afterwards. This ability replaces Armor Mastery and the fighter bonus feat gained at 20th level. Pole Weapon Mastery (Ex): At 20th level, a lancer chooses one weapon from either the pole arm or spear weapon groups. Any attacks made with this weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1. In addition, he cannot be disarmed when wielding his chosen weapon. This ability replaces Weapon Mastery.
The Lore Warden seems like a popular archetype, and I was afraid to touch it because of that, but... When I looked at the abilities and what you're giving up in exchange, it really doesn't make sense to me. I mean, trading Bravery +1 for Combat Expertise? Really? No. It's a cool concept that I think had wonky execution. This was my attempt to fix it. I don't know if it's better, but it's at least more balanced and the trade in abilities makes more sense.
LORE WARDEN (Fighter archetype):
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A lore warden is not proficient with medium armor, heavy armor, or shields. Educated (Ex): A lore warden gains all knowledge skills as class skills. He also gains 1 additional skill rank at each level that must be spent exclusively on knowledge skills. Combat Expertise: At 1st level, a lore warden gains Combat Expertise as a bonus feat, even if he would not normally meet the prerequisites for this feat. Know Thy Enemy (Ex): At 2nd level, a lore warden gains a +1 bonus on knowledge skill checks made to identify creatures and their special powers or vulnerabilities. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd. This ability replaces bravery. Stratagem Lore (Ex): At 3rd level, a lore warden can study one specific creature within his line of sight as a standard action. He must make a Knowledge check to determine the creature's abilities and weaknesses as part of this action. If successful, the lore warden not only notes the appropriate information (as detailed on page 100 of the Core Rulebook), but also gains a +2 competence bonus on all attack and damage rolls made against that creature. This bonus lasts for the duration of the encounter, or until the lore warden attempts a new Knowledge check to use the ability on a different creature. This ability replaces armor training 1. Apt Maneuvering (Ex): At 7th level, a lore warden gains a +2 bonus on all combat maneuver rolls and his CMD against creatures studied using his Stratagem Lore ability. This bonus increases by +2 every four levels beyond 7th. This ability replaces armor training 2. Breadth of Intellect (Ex): At 11th level, a lore warden can use his Stratagem Lore ability on a number of additional creatures per encounter equal to his Intelligence modifier. If any additional creatures are the same type and subtype as the original studied creature (see the ranger's favored enemy table on page 64 of the Core Rulebook), then he does not need to make separate Knowledge checks for each additional creature. However, for any additional creatures that are not of the same type and subtype, he must still make separate Knowledge checks. This ability replaces armor training 3. Swift Lore (Ex): At 14th level, a lore warden may use his Stratagem Lore ability as a swift action instead of a standard action. He may also use Stratagem Lore again as a standard action in the same round he uses it as a swift action. This ability replaces armor training 4. Critical Insight (Ex): At 19th level, a lore warden can automatically confirm a critical hit once per round whenever he threatens a critical hit against creatures studied using his Stratagem Lore ability. He also adds his Intelligence modifier on damage rolls for these critical hits. This ability replaces armor mastery.
I love dragons. I love evil, shadowy dragons. (Look at my user pic.) I love sarcastic, cynical beeotches who are Debbie Downers, yet amusing Debbie Downers, on the party. This archetype spawned from my own Dragon Disciple character. None of the dragon choices really fit the bill for her, so my GM and I made one up based on the Umbral Dragon. It's basically an archetype within an archetype. I changed a few things here and there to fit the flavor, but it's basically still the Draconic Sorcerer bloodline.
UMBRAL DRACONIC (Draconic Sorcerer archetype):
Class Skill: Stealth. Bonus Spells: silent image (3rd), darkness (5th), fly (7th), enervation (9th), true seeing (11th), shadow walk (13th), project image (15th), form of the dragon III (17th), shades (19th). Bonus Feats: Blind-Fight, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Fly), Stealthy, Toughness. Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a necromancy spell that deals hit point damage, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled. If the necromancy spell bestows an amount of ability score damage, ability score drain, or negative levels, the amount increases by 1. If the spell deals ability score damage or drain to multiple ability scores, all of the ability scores are affected. Bloodline Powers: The power of umbral dragons flows through you and manifests in a number of different ways.
This is a weird idea I came up with when I told one of my fellow players, "The Druid spell list is awesome, but I hate summoning and wild shape." He told me that I should make an archetype that replaces what I don't like. Well, apparently I don't like anything about Druids except for their spell list, as I replaced or altered every single class ability. This should really be an alternate class, but I'm still calling it an archetype. Also, it is loosely inspired by Eberron's Children of Winter, that reincarnating Druid from Ultimate Magic, and a previous 3.5 Druid character of mine.
VOID DRUID (Druid archetype): Alignment: Any nongood. Class Skills: Void druids do not gain Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), or Ride (Dex) as class skills. Instead, they gain all knowledge skills as class skills. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Void druids are proficient with the following: club, dagger, dart, longbow, quarterstaff, scimitar, scythe, sickle, shortbow, shortspear, sling and spear. Void druids are proficient with light and medium armor, but are prohibited from wearing metal armor; thus, they must wear only padded, leather, or hide armor. A void druid may also wear any wooden armor that had been altered by the ironwood spell so that it functions as thought it were steel. Void druids are proficient with shields (except tower shields), but must use only those crafted by wood. Spells: A void druid has a limited spell list. She does not gain access to any spells that cure hit point damage, spells that summon creatures of any kind, or spells that affect plants and animals (unless those spells inflict hit point damage). She also does not gain access to any polymorph spells that turn herself or allies into plants or animals. If she receives any of these spells from a domain or subdomain (such as Decay), she must instead prepare a spell of the same level or lower in an appropriate domain spell slot. However, a spell prepared in this way still cannot be "lost" in order to cast a spell spontaneously. Her spells ability otherwise functions as usual. Spontaneous Casting: A void druid can channel stored spell energy into negative energy spells that she has not prepared ahead of time. She can "lose" a prepared spell in order to cast any inflict wounds spell of the same level or lower. This replaces the ability to spontaneously cast summon nature's ally spells. Void Bond (Ex): A void druid may not select an animal companion. Instead, she must choose from the following domains and subdomains rather than those usually available to druids: Blood, Death, Decay, Destruction, Knowledge, Murder, Rage, Repose, or War. Any associated domains and subdomains may not be chosen unless they are already listed here. When determining the powers and bonus spells granted by this domain, the void druid's effective cleric level is equal to her own level. A void druid also receives additional domain spell slots, just like a cleric. She must prepare the spell from her domain in this slot and this spell cannot be used to cast a spell spontaneously. Killer Instinct (Ex): At 1st level, a void druid gains a bonus equal to 1/2 her level (minimum 1) on all knowledge skill checks made to identify living creatures and their special powers or vulnerabilities. If she fails the check, she may attempt to reroll as an immediate action using her Wisdom modifier as a bonus (as well as her Intelligence modifier) on the reroll. She may attempt to reroll a knowledge skill check in this manner once per day, and one additional time per day at 5th level and every five levels thereafter. This ability replaces nature sense and wild empathy. Inevitable Restitution: At 2nd level, a void druid gains Step Up as a bonus feat. At 4th level, she gains Following Step as a bonus feat. At 8th level, she gains Step Up and Strike as a bonus feat. She need not meet the prerequisites of these feats, but she is only allowed to follow and attack living creatures in this manner. This ability replaces woodland stride and trackless step. Death Defiance (Ex): At 4th level, a void druid gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, and other necromancy effects, and on stabilization checks when dying. At 9th level, once per day, a void druid may reroll a save against a death effect, energy drain, or necromancy effect before the result of the roll is revealed, or she may reroll a failed stabilization check while dying. At 15th level, a void druid automatically stabilizes if brought below 0 hit points, and (unless killed) heals 1 hit point per round until she reaches 0 hit points and regains consciousness. This ability replaces resist nature's lure, venom immunity, and timeless body. Rescinding Burst (Su): At 4th level, a void druid can release a burst of negative energy that affects all living creatures in a 30-foot radius centered on her. The amount of damage dealt is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two void druid levels beyond 4th, to a total of 8d6 points of damage at 18th level. Creatures that take damage from this energy receive a Will save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the void druid's level + the void druid's Charisma modifier. A void druid may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + her Charisma modifier. This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. At 20th level, a void druid may focus this energy inward to heal herself instead of dealing damage. This negative energy does not heal undead creatures. This ability replaces wild shape. Soul Snuff (Su): At 13th level, a void druid can gain a small boost in power from recently fallen creatures at will, as if using the death knell spell.
As a follow up, I had a complete change of heart after speaking with my GM. I dumped any archetype to get my second domain back. I now have Travel and Trickery, which I think are both pretty darn awesome together. I also decided to go the Preferred Spell route so I can spontaneously cast Dimension Door. I kind of had to compromise with my ability scores, but I think it'll do for a versatile MAD character. STR 16 (15 +1 level)
1] Heighten Spell (level), Improved Initiative (human)
After that, I'll follow up with the Dimensional feats. It delays learning the feats, but I'll have plenty of other tricks I can do before then. I also now see the use for Heighten Spell in conjunction with spells like Hold Person. The flexibility to increase DCs of prepared spells is a nice option, as opposed to Spell Focus. It took me a while to come around to it, but it really is much better now.
I just started using this character sheet today, and I like it a lot. It auto-calculates things like ability modifiers, skills, spell dc, ac from armor/shields, etc. You can't change the skills like how you're saying, but there are a few empty skill slots at the bottom of the list that you can label yourself with the appropriate skill and modifier. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to use it, but once I did it was really helpful.
Okay. With my GM's tutelage, we have collaborated to create something a little bit better than what I had originally, but for the most part it has remained unchanged. He came up with a better bloodline arcana, and we got rid of the cold element completely to replace it with negative energy. And I will actually be playing as this bloodline, so I can give feedback about it later on. Thanks for your input, Cheapy (and Bardess for apparently thinking it is worthy of favoriting)!
One last thing, though. The claws. They get the ghost touch weapon property, so they can deal full damage to incorporeal creatures. They also get +1d6 negative energy damage which doesn't affect undead creatures. ALL incorporeal creatures are also undead. So, you would never get that extra energy damage fighting incorporeal undead creatures. Personally, the fact that you get to attack incorporeal creatures normally I think outweighs not getting the extra +1d6 damage. I just wanted to point out that little part since it seems counterproductive. If you don't like this, you can either replace ghost touch with the normal magic for overcoming damage resistance, or just keep the cold damage from my original post. Thank you!
Using this image of Flemeth and the umbral primal dragon from the Bestiary 2 as inspiration, I decided to custom design my own "shadow" draconic bloodline. I think it turned out to be pretty cool. However, I'm not too thrilled with the bloodline arcana, so if anyone has some suggestions for that I will gladly take them. Also, I wanted to use something similar to the dark tapestry Oracle's wings of darkness ability, but wasn't sure how to reflavor it in order to work with the draconic bloodline's normal wings ability. If anyone has some suggestions for that as well, I would appreciate it (even if it's just telling me to leave the wings alone).
*If you are taking levels in Dragon Disciple and need claws in order for the bite ability to function, you can use this ability in place of Touch of Darkness.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Intelligence: Qittashars are sleek and beguiling, but often act with reckless abandon.
I'm not happy with this (as it is way overpowered for the little guys), but it was the best I could do in less than 30 minutes. I wanted to make them a standard race, but I like the flying version of them better. Levitate as a spell-like ability 3x/day just wasn't good enough. I'll try to make a low powered version later on when I'm not tired. =) Moogle
craftsman (+1rp)
A usable artificer base class.+1 Pretty pleaase with Kobold head sprinkles I would also love to see this. It would make perfect sense to have this base class in book about equipment. It doesn't even have to be an exact remake of the Eberron Artificer, just someone who is awesome at crafting items (magical or otherwise) and maybe gets spells to enhance weapons and armor with magical properties. They could probably even get away with making it an Alchemist alternate class/archetype. |
