yarvin's page

Like some others, I don't care much for the Savage Barbarian RAW.

My main problem is that most of the benefits accrue on the wrong end of the level scale: to my mind, barbarians should shine most at the low levels, and increase in power more gradually than the end-game-oriented classes. Also, if my image of my PC is a barechested Conan-wannabe, it's no fun to have no benefits whatsoever to not wearing armor at first level.

So I spent some time looking at how a character's AC will progress given a few hopefully-reasonable assumptions about ability score increases, armor, and magic items. I used this information to tweak the features of savage barbarian until I got something I liked.

You can see my work on this Google Docs spreadsheet. I have two extra tabs, Monk and Fighter, that I used for comparison.

Here's what I've tentatively decided on in terms of changes to savage barbarian:

• No armor proficiency
  
• Natural Toughness is now a flat +2 natural armor bonus (still applied only while not wearing armor) starting at 1st-level.
  
• Instead of completely replacing damage reduction, its progression is slowed to +1 every six levels: 1/- at 7th, 2/- at 13th, and 3/- at 19th.
  
• While using a shield, Naked Courage's benefits remain unchanged: +1 at level 3, extra + 1 every six levels thereafter.
  
• While not using a shield, Naked Courage's bonus increases by +1 every three levels instead of six, and the bonus is applied to damage as well. (Strictly speaking, this is the real definition of this feature in my version; while using a shield, the damage bonus goes away and the AC/fear save bonus is halved, rounding up.)

I could conscience dumping damage reduction entirely but that creates ugly gaps in the chart: at 7th, 13th, and 19th, the savage barbarian would get no special benefits at all.

I'm considering dumping fast movement on balance grounds, rationalizing it by saying a savage barbarian's muscles will be more honed for quick bursts of agility than long-distance running, but I'm not sure it really matters enough one way or another.

Of course, a savage barbarian can opt to take a level in, say, fighter, and get all the armor proficiencies back, but when using them they're now a barbarian without trap sense and less damage reduction.

So, what do you think?

My LGS in NYC has a crap load of them on the shelf here. They were putting them out today when I stopped in to see if they new Pathfinder stuff was out and to take a look at Dungeon Command.

Ah. Then I am being punished yet again for living out in the middle of nowhere. Story of my childhood as a gamer.

Thanks for the info.

So, I'm really confused right now.

I went out today to see if I could find the AD&D 1st Edition Premium reprints, or when they would be available. I hit up the local Books-A-Million and two stores dedicated to comics/RPGs/wargames/etc. I didn't actually expect they'd be on the shelves today but it'd have been nice to know when they would be.

Nobody seems to know what's going on.

The Wizard's product page says they're supposed to be out today. Apparently it wasn't big enough news for the D&D Daily page, however.

Amazon says the PHB is out of stock and the other haven't been released yet and won't be out until the 31st.

Books-A-Million doesn't have them in their system (though apparently they don't have Into the Unknown in their system, either, which was released in May and which I bought at that particular store.

The owner of one of the hobby stores looked to see if he could order it -- nope.

I'm pretty much forced to assumed they've pushed it back again, but I can't find anything anywhere saying they did.

Does anyone have any clue what's going here?

I've never held with the points-of-balance sort of system that we learn, it would seem, primarily from videogames.

Personally, I got it from Villians by Necessity. Granted that it's a comedy, the idea there is that good and evil were cosmic forces and if not held in balance the world would end. In fact

Mind you, it's not the most realistic of scenarios, since now we're pitting "neutrals" devoted to the actual good vs. blind fanatics, but I could see setting it up that way for a roleplaying game.

Largely, this is because everyone thinks that they're good. Rather like that old statistic - 90% of drivers think that they're better than average.

Well, but there's also the possibility of "I know this is wrong but it's too late to back out know." Or like the Operative in Serenity: "I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done."

Then there are some people who just have no conscience. Sociopaths and those who have suppressed their conscience through years of practice and habitual vice.

Also, more Evil is done by groups, clubs, crowds, mobs, gatherings, ad nauseum, than by any individual. As to your 'Evil-for-personal-gain' theory, I have a strong suspicion that more and greater Evil has been done out of a desire for the 'Greater Good,' than by anyone who thought they could make a buck from it.

Ah, yes, but there's the rub: we have to distinguish between evil acts and evil characters. Someone can do something evil because they think it's the right thing, but that's a mistake, not an expression of an evil character.

An evil character would presumably either be calloused or heavily compartmentalized and protected with ridiculous rationalizations.

(For anyone readying their political/corporate attacks, please spare me, that's a different debate altogether.)

Many people hold that different ethics apply in business or to those in political power. Having one of those positions is a great way to rationalize whatever one wants to do.

Law is order, safety, protection but also tyranny, oppression ect. Chaos is freedom, yet also anarchy (in the bad sense, not the political ideal).

Yeah, most actual anarchists see the current system as the wrong sort of order, not just too much. They actually run the gamut from the "every man for himself" (masculine pronoun intended) stereotype to advocating things that sound like bureaucratic nightmares.

Good and Evil have much less of an "equality". Good is good, evil is evil. This bugs me.

I've been thinking about this recently myself. From my own virtue-ethics perspective, good and evil aren't psychologically equivalent loyalties. I can do something just because it's the right thing, but not just because it's the wrong thing -- I need some extra motivation to do evil, such as personal gain or pleasure.

Related to this is a problem I have with dedicated true neutrals. It's one thing to say we need to occasionally do evil things, or even have some evil in general, for the sake of the greater good. But isn't that still a commitment to good in the end?

Another hitch is that humans tend divide the world into an in-group we need to give our care to and an out-group who either doesn't matter or deserves to be harmed. I might be an upstanding citizen and paragon of compassion to my own people but think it's perfectly fine to kill someone of a hated nation or race. *cough*kobolds*cough*

I'm afraid I don't have any genius answers to all this, but hopefully I've helped sharpen up the problem a bit.

EDIT: One extra hitch occurred to me. We tend to assume anyone who commits heinously evil crimes must be mentally disturbed in some way. I think we take this too far in many cases, but I'd agree that heinous evil probably require a moderately messed-up psyche in order for the proper motivations to be there, and that trauma and habitual vice can help produce such a mental state.

Kobold Quarterly # 21 has a spirit shaman class. It is a spontaneous divine caster analog to the druid (much like the oracle is a spontaneous analog to the cleric, and the sorcerer is the spontaneous analog to a wizard), using the druid's spell list even. At 1st level they bond with an animal spirit (like a druid's nature bond, but a spirit in the form of an animal). Overall, it looks like a well balanced class and might fit well with your player, especially the spirit bond.

Ah, thanks. I'll take a look-see at that one.

Why not run a witch or an oracle and modify them instead of a whole new class? Redoing the fluff to the class is usually much more effective, you keep the overall balance of the class in question and are much less likely to run into issues versus a whole new "class" with no playtesting. Both classes can serve as healers and both have either a familiar or companion available which can just be "re-fluffed" as needed.

The oracle has a companion? Which archetype?

The witch is definitely an option I'll present to him.

That said, I'm kind of on a roll now and would like to see this class through since I'd actually like to play it myself at some point. (I will probably switch out with one of the players as GM eventually.)

I realize the Shaman has been implemented probably more than any other class, but nothing seems to quite suit what I need.

My gaming group is converting from 4e to Pathfinder. We ran a couple of sessions with 4e and decided against it. Everyone's still 1st-level but I'd really like to let them take characters similar to what they've been playing.

The big issue is the Shaman. He's the group's healer, and the player is fond of his spirit companion. There's the rub: neither Adamant nor Super Genius' shaman really does both (Spirit Heal is 8th level on SG's -- way too late to be useful for us).

So, I got to thinking about the issue, and I remembered the idea of the "wounded healer" (actually that may be the wrong term): a shaman who takes the injuries and afflictions of others onto himself.

--

So far, here's what I've got:

Hit Die: d8

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: As Super Genius's

Skills: As SG's (Not sure about Craft (Focus); but I use Perform(Ritual) as part of Healing Trance)

Bonus Feats: More-or-less as SG's

BAB Progression: As Wizard (1/2 level)

Good Saves: Fort and Will

Level: Special Features
1: Healing Trance, Spirit Blast 1d4, Wounded Healder
2: Spirit Companion
3: Bonus Feat
4: Blood Bond

Beyond that as yet undetermined; just getting this class off the ground is good for now.

Healing Trance: once per day, the shaman can meditate or perform a ritual such as shamanic drumming to achieve a trance in which he draws upon spiritual essence to mend his body. It takes 30 - (Perform(Ritual) or concentration check) minutes to achieve a deep enough trance to start the healing process. Once achieved, the shaman heals at a rate of 1 hp per shaman level every five minutes.

The trance lasts until interrupted or canceled. If the trance is interrupted, the shaman is surprised.

Maybe have a feat that increases the rate or gives a bonus to the check to achieve trance?

Spirit Blast: As a standard action the shaman can call on the power of the spirits to deliver a shock of force to one enemy. The attack deals 1d4+Cha mod damage to one target unless the target makes a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 shaman level + Cha mod).

Wounded Healer: In combat, the shaman has the ability to heal any living, non-construct creature for a number of hit points up to twice his shaman level as a standard action. The shaman takes 1 damage for every 2 hit points of damage thus healed (round up); this damage cannot be reduced in any way. The shaman must touch the creature to confer this healing.

This power may be used freely outside of combat, and the shaman can heal another living, non-construct creature for any number of hit points (up to three times the shaman's remaining hit points). The shaman must touch the creature to confer this healing, and the action takes one minute no matter how many hit points are conferred. For every 3 hit points thus healed, the shaman takes 1 damage (round up); this damage cannot be reduced in any way.

I thought about higher ratios to match the massive amount of healing a cleric can pull off, but then I realized that if you paired my shaman with a cleric (or any other source of healing) you'd get a multiplier effect as the shaman heals the party, then the cleric heals the shaman, then the shaman heals some more. I don't know that that effect's a *bad* idea, but to reign it in I've chosen smaller numbers.

Spirit Companion: As SG's

Blood Bond: Starting at 4th level, the shaman can perform a ritual binding his spirit to another living, non-construct humanoid. Both members of the bond must consent to the bond and cannot be bonded with any other creature.

In effect, the two characters become “blood brothers” and can sense each others' distress even over great distances (though not across planes). No information about the nature of the distress or the whereabouts of the bonded character is gathered.

In addition, when the bonded characters are within visual or auditory range of each other, both receive a +1 bonus to all attack rolls against any enemy the other has attacked since the attacker's last turn.

Finally, while in visual or auditory range of each other, either partner can opt to take half of the damage from any attack that damages his bonded partner onto himself. The partner can choose to either round down or up.

--

Final notes:

One of the things I'm thinking of for 5th level is the ability to cure diseases. I like the idea of the shaman pulling a disease out of the afflicted person and then getting a chance to fight it off in themselves, maybe as if they were afflicted but with a bonus to saves equal to their ranks in Perform (Ritual) + Cha mod. The ritual itself would be fairly lengthy, I think.

Eventually, the shaman should be able to bring back a recently-deceased character at the risk of his own life. ("He took your death," as they said on that one X-Files episode.)

I'm also considering a Spirit Armor ability, maybe letting the Shaman add his Charisma modifier to his AC instead of his Dex modifier.

I'll be taking a look at the more advanced features of Super Genius' Shaman class over the next week. Right now I'm mainly concerned about the first few levels. I'm also not sure if I'll want to use spirits in the way that SG's does.

I'd really love some feedback on this. I'm trying to keep things interesting for my players without throwing balance out the window. It's been years since I played 3.5 and this will be my first Pathfinder game.