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Hey again everyone. It took me a long time, and a lot of trial and error, but I finally developed and converted a suitable Duskblade class for Pathfinder. As some of you might know, this class has been recreated in the forms of the Magus, Spellblade, Vanguard, etc for the Pathfinder Role Playing Game. However, after reviewing all those classes, I decided to take it upon myself to develop a variant that I think truly does give the Duskblade all the credit and power it deserves. I will post the class features first, and then go over the changes I've made for any possible discussion. So, without further ado, here is the Pathfinder Duskblade....
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Hit Die: D8
BAB: Average
Fort: Good
Reflex: Poor
Will: Good
The Duskblade’s class skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Knowledge (Planes) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Swim (Str).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Spells per Day
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1 — — — — —
2 — — — — —
3 — — — — —
4 1 — — — —
5 2 — — — —
5 3 — — — —
5 4 1 — — —
5 5 2 — — —
5 5 3 — — —
5 5 4 1 — —
5 5 5 2 — —
5 5 5 3 — —
5 5 5 4 1 —
5 5 5 5 2 —
5 5 5 5 3 —
5 5 5 5 4 1
5 5 5 5 5 2
5 5 5 5 5 3
5 5 5 5 5 4
5 5 5 5 5 5
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Duskblade.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A duskblade is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor and shields (except tower shields). A duskblade can cast duskblade spells while wearing light armor, or while using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a duskblade wearing medium or heavy armor still incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass duskblade still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Spells: A duskblade casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell. They can cast any spell they know without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a duskblade must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a duskblade’s spell is 10 + the spell level + their Intelligence modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a duskblade can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Their base daily spell allotment is given on the table above. In addition, they receive bonus spells per day if they have a high Intelligence score.
A duskblade’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A duskblade begins play knowing four 0-level spells and one1st-level spell of their choice. At each new duskblade level, he gains one or more new spells known, as indicated on Table: Duskblade Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a duskblade knows is not affected by his Intelligence score. The numbers on the Table: Duskblade Spells Known are fixed.)
Cantrips: Duskblades learn cantrips, or 0-level spells. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.
Arcane Bonded Weapon (Ex): At 1st level, a duskblade forms a powerful bond with a specific weapon. Should the duskblade ever have to replace the weapon (see below), he must choose another weapon of the same kind (longsword, dagger, short bow, etc.). This bond allows the duskblade to meld his arcane powers with his fighting ability. It also serves as an increasingly powerful magical weapon.
The duskblade begins play with his bonded weapon at no cost. This weapon is of masterwork quality, although it is not made of any special material. The duskblade must wield his bonded weapon in order to make use of its abilities. If a duskblade ever attempts to cast a spell without having his bonded weapon in hand, he must make a concentration check or lose the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the spell’s level.
When holding his bonded weapon, the duskblade is treated as having the Eschew Materials feat, allowing him to cast any spell with a material component costing 1 gp or less without needing that component (his bonded weapon effectively takes the place of the material component). He may also cast spells that normally require somatic components solely through arcane gestures made using his bonded weapon. This allows the duskblade to cast spells while wielding his bonded weapon and still leaves his other hand free to handle a shield or other item.
Beginning at 5th level a duskblade can add additional magic abilities to his bonded weapon as if he had the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. This takes half the time of normal magic item creation but still incurs the full cost. The magic properties of a bonded weapon, including any magic abilities added to it, only function for the duskblade who owns it. If a bonded weapon’s owner dies, or the duskblade is separated from his bonded weapon and forced to replace it, the weapon reverts to being an ordinary masterwork weapon.
If a bonded weapon is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the duskblade rests and regains his spell slots for the day. If the bonded weapon is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 100 gp per duskblade level plus the cost of the masterwork weapon. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. A weapon replaced in this way possesses all the additional enchantments of the previous bonded weapon. A duskblade can designate an existing magic weapon to be his bonded weapon. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic weapon retains its abilities while gaining the standard benefits and drawbacks of being a bonded weapon, however it does not gain any of the additional enhancements that had been placed on the old bonded weapon.
Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a duskblade gains Arcane Strike feat as a bonus feat. At 5th level, a duskblade gains Combat Casting as a bonus feat. At 11th level, a duskblade gains Spell Penetration as a bonus feat, and at 17th level gains Greater Spell Penetration as a bonus feat.
Arcane Channeling (Su): A duskblade of 3rd level or higher can cast a spell with a range of touch and deliver it through an attack with his bonded weapon as part of a standard or full attack action. Touch spells channeled in this way must have a casting time of one standard action or less. If the duskblade hits with his bonded weapon, he does damage normally and then the touch spell is resolved. If the duskblade’s attack misses, the spell is lost. Channeling touch spells in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity. As with any touch spell, a channeled spell deals double damage on a successful critical hit. A channeled spell may not be enhanced or otherwise altered by metamagic feats.
At 8th level, a duskblade may make a concentration check as if casting defensively (DC 15 + double the spell’s level) in order to avoid losing the spell if the attack misses. The Duskblade can make other attacks (using other weapons) and take other actions without using the touch spell, but if he casts another spell or stops wielding his bonded weapon, the channeled spell is lost. A duskblade can also channel a second touch spell as part of a full attack action, although a duskblade cannot channel the same spell twice during a round, and can only channel one touch spell per attack at a time.
At 13th level, a duskblade can use his arcane channeling ability to deliver a different touch spell into each attack they make during that round. In addition, spells the duskblade channels are no longer lost if the attack misses (although the spell is still lost if he casts another spell, or if the duskblade stops wielding his bonded weapon).
Iron Ward (Ex): At 5th level a duskblade adds a bonus equal to half his duskblade level to his CMD as long as he is wielding his bonded weapon.
Armor Training (Ex): At 7th level, a duskblade gains proficiency with medium armor. A duskblade can cast duskblade spells while wearing medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a duskblade wearing heavy armor or using a heavy shield still incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component.
Parrying (Ex): At 7th level, a duskblade’s bonded weapon gains the Parrying property as described in the Psionics Unleashed.
Stalwart (Ex): At 11th level, a duskblade can use mental and physical resiliency to avoid certain attacks. If they make a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, they instead avoids the effect entirely. This ability can only be used if the duskblade is wearing light armor, medium armor, or no armor. A helpless duskblade does not gain the benefit of the stalwart ability.
Mastery of Elements (Su): At 15th level, a duskblade can alter a spell when cast so that it utilizes a different element from the one it normally uses. This ability can only alter a spell with the acid, cold, fire, electricity, or sonic descriptor. The spell’s casting time is unaffected. This ability cannot be used if the duskblade is not wielding his bonded weapon.
Bonded Weapon Mastery (Su): At 19th level, a duskblade automatically confirms all critical threats with his bonded weapon, and his bonded weapon can no longer be the target of disarm or sunder attacks. At 20th level, the duskblade also gains Greater Penetrating Strike as a bonus feat (for their bonded weapon only) even if he does not meet the prerequisites for it.
Level Spells Known
0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st 4 1 — — — — —
2nd 4 2 — — — — —
3rd 4 3 — — — — —
4th 4 4 1 — — — —
5th 4 4 2 — — — —
6th 4 4 3 — — — —
7th 4 4 4 1 — — —
8th 4 4 4 2 — — —
9th 4 4 4 3 — — —
10th 4 4 4 4 1 — —
11th 4 4 4 4 2 — —
12th 4 4 4 4 3 — —
13th 4 4 4 4 4 1 —
14th 4 4 4 4 4 2 —
15th 4 4 4 4 4 3 —
16th 4 4 4 4 4 4 1
17th 4 4 4 4 4 4 2
18th 4 4 4 4 4 4 3
19th 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
20th 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
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Whew...okay, now it's time to do some explaining (and hopefully I'll be able to make everything clear, lol). For starters, the concept for this class was mostly designed to combine elements of the Inquisitor, Vanguard, and various Fighter benefits into a class that utilizes a powerful array of spells and abilities suited for the bonded weapon. Essentially, the Duskblade class forms a powerful connection with his bonded weapon in order to benefit from incredible offensive and defensive abilities. I feel like this class offers a lot of flavor and is also very balanced, but I'll quickly try to describe why I gave it these class features nevertheless.
For starters, you may notice that the duskblade spell list is VERY limited, in that they only learn 24 spells total and can only cast 30 spells in a day at max level (not counting cantrips of course). The reasoning for this is to make the duskblade more narrow it's power sense it can now pick ANY spell from the sorcerer/wizard spell list.
As for the duskblade's skills, I roughly based them off of an Inquisitor so that they could properly represent a 'worldly warrior' who had been trained in both the arcane arts and in combat.
Other abilities, such as Iron Ward, Parrying, and Mastery of Elements are all designed to represent the growing unity between the duskblade and his weapon. The pinnacle of this goal is ultimately realized at level 19 when the duskblade learns Bonded Weapon Mastery. However, in order to make a 20th level duskblade seem more appealing, I decided to throw in Greater Penetrating Strike to help offset the downside of not being able to construct the bonded weapon with a special material.
Stalwart also seems to make sense with the class, as a master of 'blade and spell' would normally seem to have the capacity to shrug off such adverse effects.
Now then, some of you might already be wondering why I decided to make this variant, and I'll be very happy to explain. You see, the majority of the abilities have been roughly based upon the Vanguard class feature found in Super Geniuses. However, when I investigated this class, I quickly found that it had several critical flaws in it that (in my opinion) made it completely unplayable.
For one, it required that all your spells be based off your CHARISMA rather than INTELLIGENCE. Furthermore, the class was ONLY proficient in light armor, making it very difficult for a player to build a caster/fighter to have any survivability in combat. With the revisions I added to this new Duskblade class, I feel that players would get a much more rewarding experience for using a 'simple' caster/fighter for their characters.
Anyways, please let me know what you guys think, or if you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, or questions. Thanks again for reading.
Overall, not bad!
By accepting a 3/4 BAB progression, you've eliminated the worst aspect of the 3.5 Duskblade.
I think all classes should have more skill points, but this one should (unfortunately) get 2/level. Personally, I don't think 4/level is a deal-breaker for the class, though.
Suggestion: The "Master of Elements" ability should probably have a limited number of uses per day (say 3+Int mod per day).
As for the Spells Known list, I would suggest that the 0 level spells known at 1st = 2 and the 0 level spells known at 2nd = 3. Just to give it a little progression.
Alternately, Give them 3 cantrips at 1st, 4 at 2nd, 5 at 4th and 6 at 6th+. I don't think giving them extra cantrips will break the class. :D
Overall, not bad!
By accepting a 3/4 BAB progression, you've eliminated the worst aspect of the 3.5 Duskblade.
I think all classes should have more skill points, but this one should (unfortunately) get 2/level. Personally, I don't think 4/level is a deal-breaker for the class, though.
Suggestion: The "Master of Elements" ability should probably have a limited number of uses per day (say 3+Int mod per day).
As for the Spells Known list, I would suggest that the 0 level spells known at 1st = 2 and the 0 level spells known at 2nd = 3. Just to give it a little progression.
Alternately, Give them 3 cantrips at 1st, 4 at 2nd, 5 at 4th and 6 at 6th+. I don't think giving them extra cantrips will break the class. :D
Thanks for the input. Again, I really was trying to find a good way to balance out this new duskblade class while still giving it some flavor (which is basically what the vanguard 'bonded weapon' idea came from). As for your suggestions, I had also considered knocking the skill points down to 2 per level, but because this class is kind of a mix between an Inquisitor and a Vanguard, I thought it best to keep the skill points at 4 per level (though if I'm messing up a balancing issue, please let me know).
The limited uses for the "master of Elements" ability is a good idea though. I had originally designed this ability to replace the magus/vanguard abilities that basically do the same thing (Magus has the arcane pool that does it, and the vanguard can change properties around on his weapon). Additionally, because elemental damage teeters off in higher levels, I didn't really see a need to limit the number of times that the master of elements ability could be used (especially since a duskblade is incapable of applying metamagic feats while channeling a spell through their weapon).
Finally, while this might seem tacky, I purposely limited the number of cantrips in order to make players feel that their options with magic REALLY were limited (especially since they have access to every spell in the wizard/sorcerer spell list). I do agree that a few more cantrips won't hurt, but honestly, when I made the graph for the spells known and spells per day, it just looked better when I applied the current numbers to the formula.
Anyways though, I appreciate the input. I suppose I can always cross my fingers and see if a class like this will ever be OFFICIALLY printed in Pathfinder someday (lol). If you (or anyone) has anymore suggestions or comments, please let me know.
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Now then, some of you might already be wondering why I decided to make this variant, and I'll be very happy to explain. You see, the majority of the abilities have been roughly based upon the Vanguard class feature found in Super Geniuses. However, when I investigated this class, I quickly found that it had several critical flaws in it that (in my opinion) made it completely unplayable.
For one, it required that all your spells be based off your CHARISMA rather than INTELLIGENCE. Furthermore, the class was ONLY proficient in light armor, making it very difficult for a player to build a caster/fighter to have any survivability in combat. With the revisions I added to this new Duskblade class, I feel that players would get a much more rewarding experience for using a 'simple' caster/fighter for their characters.
You know, I really debated if I should even respond to this, but in the end I feel like I need to.
It's one thing to say, "Hey, I really like this class but I wanted to tweak a few things to bring it more in line with what I wanted - what does everyone think?" It's another thing entirely to make a comment like "I quickly found that it had several critical flaws in it that (in my opinion) made it completely unplayable". That’s just not cool. You don’t need to make unfounded negative comments about something, just to make it seem like your own work is valid.
The class is hardly 'unplayable'. It was EXTENSIVELY playtested by multiple groups. Heck, I played a Vanguard for over a year in our weekly Council of Thieves game and had a blast with the class. In fact, the Vanguard has proven to be rather popular and continues to do well for Super Genius Games. As for the two 'critical flaws' you mention ... using charisma as the primary casting stat is in line with the sorcerer and is the default assumption for most spontaneous casters. The lack of heavier armor was a design choice made for balance purposes and is hardly a flaw. In actual playtests, light armor was more than adequate. At higher levels, there are other, better means of increasing one's armor class, so having medium or heavy armor proficiency as one increases in level become less important than some people think.
As to wondering if a class like this will ever actually be published ... if you mean by Paizo, I'd say the answer is no. They have gone with the Magus. If you mean published by one of the top Third Party Publishers of Pathfinder material, then I'd say the answer is yes – in fact it already has been - it's called the Vanguard, published by Super Genius Games :)
Look, I'm not trying to pick on you. Feel free to tweak or expand on someone’s ideas or hard work, it's what the whole Open Gaming ideal is all about. Just don’t feel like you need to tear those ideas or work down in the processes just so you can somehow feel like you've justified the tweaks you want to make – don’t be THAT guy.
Upon reflection, I realize that I probably could have chosen my words a little bit better, as it really was not my intent to disrespect the creators of the Vanguard class. Truth be told, I am actually very glad that someone created it, as it helped to give me the perfect guideline to base my own version of the 'Duskblade' class off of it. That being said, any issue I have with the class is simply a matter of personal preference (which is the reason I decided to create this variant).
Again, I do apologize if my wording came out a little bit terse, for I do appreciate all the hard work that Paizo and other 3rd party publishers have put into the Pathfinder game. My only objective in this thread was simply to see if the class variant I created would be considered balanced and thematically fun for the Pathfinder community.