RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Zealot
The zealot focuses on only one aspect of his god. His priorities are different than other believers and works towards his goals in ways orthodox followers of his god frown upon. He often uses his personality to persuade others to his viewpoint and the strength of his hand if words fail.
Skills The cleric's class skills are Appraise , Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Heal (Wis), Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (nobility), Knowledge (planes), Knowledge (religion), Linguistics, Profession, Sense Motive, and Spellcraft.
Skill Ranks per Level 4 + Int modifier.
Strict Sect The sectarian can only select one single domain. At 1st level, he gains the heresy and dogmatic weapon abilities. He loses his second domain and can never gain a second domain.
Heresy (Ex) At 1st level, the sectarian may declare a creature as a heretic using a swift action. For one hour, the sectarian gains a divine bonus to all skill checks against the target equal to his cleric level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Dogmatic Weapon(Ex) Whenever the zealot uses his deities favorite weapon he focuses his fervor towards his god into the weapon gaining the following abilities:
Righteous Attack At 1st level, he gains +1 to attack and this bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Wrathful Blow At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, add +1 damage.
Vehement Blow At 10th and 20th level, the damage of the deity’s favored weapon increases by one size category.
You might consider just making this a domain itself. With a little tweaking those aren't unreasonable domain powers and you could add appropriate spells -- or alternatively a "spell-less domain", which is an idea I like.
Well, to start with, this archetype blows the holy warrior alternate cleric class from the campaign setting book out of the water. Dogmatic Weapon itself is worth two domains' worth of powers. +5 to hit and damage... so weapon focus, greater weapon focus, weapon specialization, greater weapon specialization, and three more stacking weapon focus feats and another half specialization feat, AND the two damage increases which are worth at least a feat each.
on top of that you get a domain (and it's associated bonus spell slot per level no doubt)? and Heresy, which is fairly useful since you can still take ranks in acrobatics to avoid attacks of opportunity with impunity (Hey! I rhymed), bluff/feint with no problem, or maybe just intimidate the BBEG with your level as a bonus. Basically I'm saying this is much stronger than all but a couple of the other 1st level domain powers.
:/ not happy with this arch. not at all.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Aye!
Thomas, let me just start by saying that what you have here has some really strong points. Very creative. I *do* like it.
But . . . and I hate to be the one to ask this, could I politely implore the Paizo community to please refrain from posting homebrew archetypes until after the RPG superstar submissions are due? Could we hold off for just one more day?
Only because if one of the contestants was creating something along these lines, they could very well be criticized for not submitting original work, be left open to accusations of plagiarism, etc.
After 2:00 PST tomorrow though, please have at it!
I'm seeing some serious issues with Heresy. First, divine isn't a modifier type, though sacred/profane is. I'd prolly just use insight, personally.
Second, you get to add your cleric level to any skill check made against the target for 1 hour? That's intensely powerful. +20 to every bluff, intimidate, stealth, sleight of hand, and acrobatics check against this opponent. It's too much. I think a better option would be to add your wisdom modifier to charisma based checks against the opponent, or gain 1/2 your cleric level on specific skills (intimidate & sense motive).
Now, Dogmatic weapon has some great flavor, but it looks too powerful as it is currently. You should prolly change the attack bonus from untyped to something like morale or insight to prevent it from stacking to the point of breaking your campaign. This seems like an attempt to bridge the gap between medium and full BAB, but don't forget that clerics have a plethora of spells that do this just fine. Preventing it from stacking just means they won't have to waste turns/slots casting the spell later, which is always good.
Wrathful Blow & Vehement Blow do the same thing: increase damage. I say drop one and replace it with the ability to treat the weapon as Lawful, Chaotic, Good, Evil, Cold Iron, or Silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. The cleric can pick, but her alignment must match the alignment on the weapon.
Just a few ideas.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I'm seeing some serious issues with Heresy. First, divine isn't a modifier type, though sacred/profane is. I'd prolly just use insight, personally.
Second, you get to add your cleric level to any skill check made against the target for 1 hour? That's intensely powerful. +20 to every bluff, intimidate, stealth, sleight of hand, and acrobatics check against this opponent. It's too much. I think a better option would be to add your wisdom modifier to charisma based checks against the opponent, or gain 1/2 your cleric level on specific skills (intimidate & sense motive).
Now, Dogmatic weapon has some great flavor, but it looks too powerful as it is currently. You should prolly change the attack bonus from untyped to something like morale or insight to prevent it from stacking to the point of breaking your campaign. This seems like an attempt to bridge the gap between medium and full BAB, but don't forget that clerics have a plethora of spells that do this just fine. Preventing it from stacking just means they won't have to waste turns/slots casting the spell later, which is always good.
Wrathful Blow & Vehement Blow do the same thing: increase damage. I say drop one and replace it with the ability to treat the weapon as Lawful, Chaotic, Good, Evil, Cold Iron, or Silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. The cleric can pick, but her alignment must match the alignment on the weapon.
Thanks for the feedback. The idea was for a more militant cleric.
Changing the heresy bonus to an insight bonus at 1/2 cleric level for Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive. Which is more what I was aiming for.
Dogmatic weapon attack/damage bonus changing to sacred/profane bonus. The damage increase changes to 4th, 10th, and 16th levels.
And good point on the vehement bow, I keep the upgrade only for 20th level as a capstone.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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People, like, stop posting archetypes. All you do is hurting the 32.
I have only posted 2 archetypes. The vermin shaman has been in use for my campaign since about 2 days after I received the APG. The zealot was from one of my players and I posted for help/advice on balancing.
Not posting the ones I had worked up, but can't submit since I wasn't one of the 32. I will post those on here after the submission deadline.
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People, like, stop posting archetypes. All you do is hurting the 32.I have only posted 2 archetypes. The vermin shaman has been in use for my campaign since about 2 days after I received the APG. The zealot was from one of my players and I posted for help/advice on balancing.
Not posting the ones I had worked up, but can't submit since I wasn't one of the 32. I will post those on here after the submission deadline.
It doesn't matter. Now if somebody from the top 32 throws an archetype similar to yours (which he or she developed completely independently, say a week ago), there will be the question of whether it is a copy/rip-off or original work.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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You might consider just making this a domain itself. With a little tweaking those aren't unreasonable domain powers and you could add appropriate spells -- or alternatively a "spell-less domain", which is an idea I like.
Great idea, the spell-less domain, but won't call it a domain. Going to make a few of these.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Once again, thanks for all the feedback!
Updated
Heresy (Ex) At 1st level, the sectarian may declare a creature as a heretic using a swift action. For one hour, the sectarian gains an insight bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive skill checks against the target equal to 1/2 his cleric level. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Dogmatic Weapon(Ex) Whenever the zealot uses his deities favorite weapon he focuses his fervor towards his god into the weapon. Whenever he uses a weapon that is not his deities favored weapon, he takes a -2 penalty to attacks. His deities favored weapon gains the following abilities:
Righteous Attack At 1st level, he gains +1 sacred/profane bonus to attack. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Grace of the Gods At 4th level, the weapon is treated as one of the following to overcome damage reduction (alignment choices must be within one step of the deity):
Lawful or Chaotic
Good or Evil
Cold Iron
Silver
At 10th level and 16th level, select another type. The following types are added to the list:
Adamantine
Magic
Vehement Blow At 20th level, the damage of the deity’s favored weapon increases by one size category.