I am not sure exactly what to add to the essence drinker but I feel like what I have isn't doing justice to the idea.
The essence drinkers are a cabal of arcanists who have discovered means of drawing power from the essence of various creatures.
Primary Class: Sorceror
Secondary Class: Ranger
Alignment: Any
Hit Dice: d8
3/4 BAB, Good fort and will saves.
Skills: The Illusion Walker adds 3 ranger skills to her list of sorcerer skills. She gains 4+Int modifier ranks each level.
Weapon and armour proficiency: An essence drinker is proficient with all simple weapons. The essence drinker is proficient with light armour and can cast essence drinker spells in light armour without a spell failure chance, any other arcane spells he casts will have their normal failure chance.
Stolen Bloodline: By consuming the essence of one of its favoured enemies an essence drinker can gain all the benefits of a bloodline associated with that creature for a number of minutes equal to his essence drinker level or the hit dice of the creature whichever is lower. This essence is normally a small amount of blood or a similar substance. This replaces the sorcerer’s bloodline.
Favoured enemy: This ability works exactly like the ranger favoured enemy. This replaces 3 lvls of spells.
Spells: The essence drinker is a hybrid caster that casts sorcerer spells using his charisma.
Preserved essence: The essence drinker can now preserve essence from slain foes to use at a later time. Consuming essence takes the same amount of time as a potion. The essence drinker can have a number of preserved essences equal to half his level.
Lvl Bab Fort Ref Will Special
1 0 2 0 2 Stolen Bloodline, first lvl Spells, bloodline power, 1st favoured enemy
2 1 3 0 3 track
3 2 3 1 3 bloodline power, bloodline spell
4 3 4 1 4 2nd lvl spells
5 3 4 1 4 2nd favoured enemy
6 4 5 2 5 bloodline spell, preserved essence
7 5 5 2 5 3rd lvl spells, bloodline feat,
8 6 6 2 6
9 6 6 3 6 bloodline power, bloodline spell
10 7 7 3 7 4th lvl spells, 3rd favoured enemy
11 8 7 3 7
12 9 8 4 8 bloodline spell
13 9 8 4 8 5th lvl spells, bloodline feat
14 10 9 4 9
15 11 9 5 9 bloodline power, bloodline spell, 4th favoured enemy
16 12 10 5 10 6th lvl spells
17 12 10 5 10
18 13 11 6 11 bloodline spell
19 14 11 6 11 bloodline feat
20 15 12 6 12 bloodline mastery, 5th favoured enemy
Hey Elghinn,
For the lame curse in the write up, you give the character the ability to move unencumbered by armor. Is this already not granted from armor training?
Hey Elghinn,
For the lame curse in the write up, you give the character the ability to move unencumbered by armor. Is this already not granted from armor training?
funny, I just assumed we dropped that, but I didn't see it in the swaps.
# Adamant Veteran
Hey, no mounting a dagger onto the Maimed stump? [Walking Dead/Merle]
Hey Elghinn, For the lame curse in the write up, you give the character the ability to move unencumbered by armor. Is this already not granted from armor training?
Yes it is. But this is just one abilit from warrior's curse, and they're meant to copy the Oracle Curses as closely as possible.
Funny, I just assumed we dropped that, but I didn't see it in the swaps.
The swaps give 2 revelations for armor trainig 2 and 4. It's in the table. So that leaves armor traininig 1, 2, and 3. Actually, I suppose I should swap out Armor training 2 and armro mastery for those 2 revelations, as armor mastery is completely gone.
That said. As I'd perfer not to change the curse stuff, we could change armor training 1, 2, and 3 to something else.
How about replaceing the resto armor trining with this?
Battle Instincts (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, an adamant veteran gains a preternatural sense of danger. As an immediate action, the adamant warrior gains a +1 insight bonus on a single initiative check. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. At 3rd level, an adamant veteran can use this ability once per day, and one additional time per day at 11th and 17th level. This ability replaces armor training 1, armor training 3, and armor mastery.
*This is an adaptation of the 1st level spell anticipate peril.
# Adamant Veteran
Hey, no mounting a dagger onto the Maimed stump? [Walking Dead/Merle]
Sure, but I think that's something obvious, vs. the shield thing. Costs money to do either way.
How's this?
MAIMED
You are missing a hand or part of your arm, and your stump is capped in iron. You cannot wield two weapons at the same time or two handed weapons. You can defend yourself from combat maneuvers, gaining a +2 to your CMD. You can specially mount a one handed melee weapon or a shield (except tower shields) to your stump, allowing them function normally....
I am not sure exactly what to add to the essence drinker but I feel like what I have isn't doing justice to the idea...
Give me until tomorrow afternoon. You have a great concept here. I've worked on my own Alc/Sor MCA called the Bloodfused Hematologist. He's got some great features that I think will lend themselves to this MCA. I just need to tweak them so they fit your concept and approach of gaining bloodline powers. Also, I'll throw in some ranger abilities that I think would help round out what this MCA does.
Here's what I've got for the advancement table. For everyone's perusal until I post up the written descriptions.
Table: Essence Drinker/Sanguine Stalker/Slayer
Base
Class Attack Fort Ref Will Spells per Day
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Bloodline power, cantrips, eschew material 1 — — — — —
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 1st blood enemy, track 2 — — — — —
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Bloodline spell, exsanguination, steal bloodline 3 — — — — —
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Blood feat 3 1 — — — —
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Bloodline power 4 2 — — — —
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Bloodline spell, preserve essence 4 3 — — — —
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Medium armor, woodland stride 4 3 1 — — —
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 2nd blood enemy, swift tracker 4 4 2 — — —
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Bloodline spell, evasion 5 4 3 — — —
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Blood feat 5 4 3 1 — —
11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Bloodline power 5 4 4 2 — —
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Bloodline spell, quarry 5 5 4 3 — —
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Camouflage 5 5 4 3 1 —
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 3rd blood enemy 5 5 4 4 2 —
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Bloodline spell 5 5 5 4 3 —
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Blood feat 5 5 5 4 3 1
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Bloodline power 5 5 5 4 4 2
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Bloodline spell 5 5 5 5 4 3
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Improved quarry 5 5 5 5 5 4
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 4th blood enemy, bloodline master 5 5 5 5 5 5
@ Adamant Veteran
I'd be cautious about giving dodge bonuses to a class tat can use a shield and wear heavy armor. Even if we do not give it heavy armor, it is just a feat away. I'd be ok with a dodge bonus if we somehow restricted adamant veterans from heavy armor - making some of the abilities not work in heavy armor. Otherwise, I think a limited version or armor mastery (reduced armor penalty, but not reduced movement penalty) would be more appropriate for this MCA.
# Consumed curse - needs a new intro text having to do with near-death experiences and starvation.
# Deaf - An amazing ability RL deaf/dumb people have is to understand other deaf people across language barriers. I was once in Moscow with my deaf brother, and he could communicate with other deaf people there - much to our soviet guide's consternation. :o But this is more a funny note than a comment on the class.
# Dumb - the penalty seems rather light. I'd make the roll to understand either Sense Motive or Linguistics rather than perception, and probably up the difficulty too. Whatever skill we pick is also the curse skill for this curse.
Sign language is a separate language you and your friends can learn. Or invent - many families with deaf children invent their own sign language. It is actually quite handy to know in many situations (I know some sign language rl).
@ Essence Warrior
The Bloatmage or bloodmage as d20srd.com is calling it for copyright reasons have abilities similar to this.
I wrote Hash Slinger, a ranger cook AT that made meals out of creatures and conferred their blodline powers to eaters. :o
@ Adamant Veteran
I'd be cautious about giving dodge bonuses to a class tat can use a shield and wear heavy armor. Even if we do not give it heavy armor, it is just a feat away. I'd be ok with a dodge bonus if we somehow restricted adamant veterans from heavy armor - making some of the abilities not work in heavy armor. Otherwise, I think a limited version or armor mastery (reduced armor penalty, but not reduced movement penalty) would be more appropriate for this MCA.
The Adamant Veteran is limited to light and medium armor, and a shield. If someone wants to spend a feat to get heavy armor, then power to them. I don't think we need to worry about limiting abilties or Insightful Defense. He loses the ability if he loses his Dex bonus anyways, and there are various ways that can happen.
To replacements fro Armor Training 1, 3 and armor mastery, these are out choses.
Either the battle Instincts ability I proposed, ot a revised Armor Traininig (Battle Training) That grans only the armor check benefits, and limits normal movement to medium armor or less.
Battle Instinct (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, an adamant veteran gains a preternatural sense of danger. As an immediate action, the adamant warrior gains a +1 insight bonus on a single initiative check. This bonus increases by +1 at 5th level and every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. At 3rd level, an adamant veteran can use this ability once per day, and one additional time per day at 11th and 17th level. This ability replaces armor training 1, armor training 3, and armor mastery.
OR
Battle Training (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, an adamant veteran learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed. In addition, an adamant veteran can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. This ability replaces armor training 1, armor training 3, and armor mastery.
Once this is decided, I think we can be done with the Adamant Veteran. Thoughts from Thomas, A.?
#ESSENCE DRINKER
Alright, here's what I've got for Browman's Essence Drinker. Any other name suggestions? Thought about Foe Hunter, Blood Stalker, Sanguine Stalker, I think Blood Hunter is already used. Nope, Blooded Hunter is but that's too similar. Maybe Bloodsworn or Bloodsworn Stalker? Anyways, on to the MCA.
The essence drinkers are a cabal of arcanists who have discovered the means of drawing power from the blood of various creatures.
Primary: Sorcerer.
Secondary: Ranger.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Dice: d8.
Bonus Skills and Ranks: The essence drinker selects six ranger skills to add to her class skills in addition to the normal sorcerer class skills. The essence drinker gains a number of ranks at each level equal to +4 Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The essence drinker is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. An essence drinker is also proficient with light armor. She can cast sorcerer spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, an essence drinker wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass essence drinker still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Spellcasting: An essence drinker casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, and adds the following ranger spells to that list at the indicated levels: 1st–call animal, call weapon, calm animals, charm animal, detect animals and poison, detect poison, hide from animals, horn of persuit, hunter’s howl, know the enemy, longstrider, pass without trace, summon nature’s ally I, tireless pursuit; 2nd–acute senses, aspect of the bear, barksin, chameleon stride, delay poison, forest friend, hold animal, hunter’s lore, speak with animal, summon nature’s ally II; 3rd–blessing of the mole, bloodhound, burst of speed, diminish plants, hunter’s eye, instant enemy, reduce animal, remove disease, summon nature’s ally III; 4th–aspect of the stag, command plants, find quarry, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, summon nature’s ally IV, tireless pursuers; 5th–animal growth, aspect of the wolf, commune with nature, raise animal companion, summon nature’s ally V, tree stride; 6th–bloodsworn retribution, summon nature’s ally VI.
An essence drinker can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time, assuming she has not yet used up her allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
To learn or cast a spell, an essence drinker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an essence drinker’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the essence drinker’s Charisma modifier.
An essence drinker can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level each day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Essence Drinker. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
An essence drinker’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An essence drinker begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the essence drinker’s choice. At each new essence drinker level, she gains one or more new spells as indicated on Table: Essence Drinker Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells an essence drinker knows is not affected by his Charisma score. The numbers on Table: Essence Drinker Spells Known are fixed.)
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third essence drinker level thereafter (8th, 11th, and so on), an essence drinker can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the essence drinker “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level essence drinker spell she can cast. An essence drinker may swap out only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.
Blood Enemy (Ex): At 2nd level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s favored enemy ability, except that she can select one favored enemy at 2nd level and an additional favored enemy every six levels thereafter. An essence drinker can choose any creature listed on Table: Ranger Favored Enemies, except for animal or construct. An essence drinker’s chosen blood enemies determine the effects of her steal bloodline ability.
Track (Ex): At 2nd level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s track ability.
Exsanguination (Ex): At 3rd level, an essence drinker learns to extract blood samples from his enemies with great skill. As a standard action, an essence drinker can extract one dose of blood (or essence) from a dead, dying, or living blood enemy using a slashing or piercing weapon. Extracting blood in this way deals 2 hit points of damage to the creature. This blood is stored in special vials and remains potent for 1 day, after which time it becomes spoiled. The essence drinker can store a number of blood doses each day equal to his Charisma modifier.
Steal Bloodline (Su): Starting at 3rd level, an essence drinker can temporarily gain the powers of alternate bloodlines by consuming the blood of her blood enemies. As a standard action, an essence drinker can consume one dose of blood (or essence) of a blood enemy of her choice.
Upon being consumed, the blood grants the essence drinker the powers of the bloodline associated with her blood enemy, as show on Table: Blood Enemy Bloodlines. This effect lasts for 1minute per essence drinker level. Once the blood is consumed, the essence drinker’s own bloodline is suppressed in favor of the new bloodline. In effect, she loses her own bloodline in exchange for the new one. The old bloodline does not reassert itself until the effects of the new bloodline ends. An essence drinker only gains the new powers granted by her level, as normal. The effects of an enemy’s blood do not stack. Whenever an essence drinker consumed an enemy’s blood, the effects of any previous blood immediately end. An essence drinker gains the one of the following bloodlines, as determined by her blood enemy.
Table: Blood Enemy Bloodlines
Type (Subtype) Granted Bloodline
Aberration Aberrant bloodline
Dragon Draconic bloodline
Fey Fey bloodline
Humanoid (aquatic) Aquatic bloodline
Humanoid (dwarf) Deep earth bloodline
Humanoid (elf) Arcane bloodline
Humanoid (giant) Boreal bloodline, oni bloodline
Humanoid (goblinoid, gnoll) Martyred bloodline
Humanoid (gnome) Verdant bloodline
Humanoid (halfling) Destined bloodline
Humanoid (human) Imperious bloodline
Humanoid (orc) Orc bloodline
Humanoid (reptilian) Kobold bloodline, serpentine bloodline
Magical beast Dreamspun bloodline, destined bloodline
Monstrous humanoid Accursed bloodline, oni bloodline
Ooze Pestilence bloodline
Outsider (air) Djinni bloodline, elemental bloodline, stormborn bloodline
Outsider (chaotic) Abyssal bloodline, protean bloodline
Outsider (earth) Elemental bloodline, shaitan bloodline
Outsider (evil) Abyssal bloodline, daemon bloodline, infernal bloodline, shadow bloodline
Outsider (fire) Efreeti bloodline, elemental bloodline
Outsider (good) Celestial bloodline, maestro bloodline
Outsider (lawful) Infernal bloodline
Outsider (native) Rakshasa bloodline, starsoul bloodline
Outsider (water) Aquatic bloodline, marid bloodline
Plant Verdant bloodline
Undead Undead bloodline
Vermin Pestilence bloodline
Blood Feat: This is exactly like the sorcerer’s bloodline feat ability, except that the essence drinker gains a bonus feat at 4th level and every six levels thereafter. The essence drinker may also choose the new Blood Diversity, Blood of the Enemy, Blood Reclaimed, Greater Blood Diversity, or Improved Blood Diversity feat as a blood feat. An essence drinker must meet any prerequisites of her chosen feat as normal.
Preservation (Su): At 6th level, an essence drinker learns how to preserve the blood of her enemies she has stored in her flasks. It takes 1 hour to preserve a dose of blood. Once preserved, it remains potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from its flask. An essence drinker can preserve a number of doses of blood at a time equal to her Charisma modifier. Preserved blood doses count against an essence drinker’s stored doses of blood. This ability only works on blood, not other fluids, such as a potion.
Medium Armor (Ex): At 7th level, an essence drinker gains proficiency with medium armor. An essence drinker can cast sorcerer spells while wearing medium armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, an essence drinker wearing heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component.
Woodland Stride (Ex): At 7th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s woodland stride ability.
Swift Tracker (Ex): At 8th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s swift tracker ability.
Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s evasion ability.
Quarry (Ex): At 13th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s quarry ability.
Improved Quarry (Ex): At 19th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s improved quarry ability.
Bloodline Master (Su): At 20th level, the essence drinker’s own bloodline is no longer completely suppressed when the blood of a blood enemy is consumed. Whenever an essence drinker consumes the blood of one of his blood enemies, he can choose to suppress either his own bloodline or one granted by his enemy’s blood as a swift action. Only the powers of the unsuppressed bloodline are accessible. In addition, the number of doses of blood an essence drinker can store or preserve is equal to twice his Charisma modifier. This ability replaces the 20th level bloodline power
Table: Essence Drinker/Sanguine Stalker/Slayer
Base
Class Attack Fort Ref Will Spells per Day
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Bloodline power, cantrips, eschew material 1 — — — — —
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 1st blood enemy, track 2 — — — — —
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Bloodline spell, exsanguination, steal bloodline 3 — — — — —
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Blood feat 3 1 — — — —
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Bloodline power 4 2 — — — —
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Bloodline spell, preservation 4 3 — — — —
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Medium armor, woodland stride 4 3 1 — — —
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 2nd blood enemy, swift tracker 4 4 2 — — —
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Bloodline spell, evasion 5 4 3 — — —
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Blood feat 5 4 3 1 — —
11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Bloodline power 5 4 4 2 — —
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Bloodline spell 5 5 4 3 — —
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Quarry 5 5 4 3 1 —
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 3rd blood enemy 5 5 4 4 2 —
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Bloodline spell 5 5 5 4 3 —
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Blood feat 5 5 5 4 3 1
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Bloodline power 5 5 5 4 4 2
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Bloodline spell 5 5 5 5 4 3
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Improved quarry 5 5 5 5 5 4
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 4th blood enemy, bloodline master 5 5 5 5 5 5
And here are some new feats. These are based on the dhampir's racial feats, Blood Drinker, Diverse Palate, and Blood Salvage.
NEW FEATS
The following new feats can be chosen by any class that meets the prerequisites, and complement the Essence Drinker multiclass archetype.
Consuming the blood of your enemies reinvigorates you.
Prerequisite: Ranger 4, favored enemy class feature.
Benefit: Choose one favored enemy of the humanoid subtype, such as “goblinoid”. You have acquired a taste for the blood of creatures of this type (or subtype). Whenever you consume fresh blood from such a creature, you gain 5 temporary hit points and a +1 bonus on checks and saves based on Constitution. The effects last 1 hour. If you consume multiple doses of the creature’s blood, you continue to gain hit points to a maximum of 5 temporary hit points for every three Hit Dice you have, but the +1 bonus on Constitution-based skill checks and saving throws does not stack. You can only consume blood from an enemy who is helpless, grappled, paralyzed, pinned, unconscious, or similarly disabled. If you have a bite attack, you can drink the creature’s blood automatically as part of your bite attack; otherwise, you must first cut your target by dealing 1 hit point of damage with a slashing or piercing weapon (though you may feed upon a creature with severe wounds or a bleed effect without cutting it first). Once you cut the target, you can drink from its wound or drain a dose of blood as a standard action. Drinking or draining blood deals 2 points of Constitution damage to the creature. The blood must come from a living creature of the specified favored enemy. It cannot come from a dead or summoned creature. Drinking the blood of an unwilling intelligent creature is an evil act.
You do not need to drink blood from a living creature to gain healing benefits.
Prerequisites: Blood of the Enemy.
Benefit: You can use your Blood of the Enemy feat on a dead creature of one of your chosen favored enemies. The creature must have died less than 6 hours beforehand.
Normal: You only benefit from the Blood of the Enemy feat if you consume fresh blood from a living creature.
Your taste for blood is broader than that of other blood drinkers.
Prerequisites: Blood of the Enemy.
Benefit: Choose a favored enemy of the humanoid subtype or the monstrous humanoid type. You may use your Blood of the Enemy feat on creatures of this subtype or type.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you select it, choose a new humanoid subtype or the monstrous humanoid type.
Your taste for blood extends to creatures of a strange and supernatural origin.
Prerequisites: Blood Diversity, Blood of the Enemy.
Benefit: Choose a favored enemy of the humanoid subtype, or the fey, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid type. You may use your Blood of the Enemy feat on creatures of this subtype or type.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you select it, choose a new humanoid subtype or the fey, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid type. The creature must have blood or a similar substance coursing through its veins.
Your taste for blood includes the most powerful of magical creatures.
Prerequisites: Blood Diversity, Blood of the Enemy, Improved Blood Diversity.
Benefit: Choose a favored enemy of the humanoid subtype, or the dragon, fey, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, or outsider type. You may use your Blood of the Enemy feat on creatures of this subtype or type.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you select it, choose a new humanoid subtype or the dragon, fey, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, or outsider type. The creature must have blood or a similar substance coursing through its veins.
I like where you have taken it Elghinn, it never ceases to amaze me how you can take someone's jumbled ideas and create something useful. I think the ranger abilities compliment the idea well that he is hunting specific foe's and stealing their blood.
As for names I like Sanguine Stalker
Glad you like it, and to quote Han Soll "Sometimes I amaze even myself..." :D Just kidding. Now let's see what the others think.
As to name, I think my top so far are:
-Sanguine Stalker
-Essence Stalker
-Bloodsworn Stalker
-Bloodsworn Slayer
Hello, by chance is there a magus/fighter archetype written up? I think this combo keeping magus abilities and adding (a few) feats and weapon training may make it a more formidable fighter/caster.
Hello, by chance is there a magus/fighter archetype written up? I think this combo keeping magus abilities and adding (a few) feats and weapon training may make it a more formidable fighter/caster.
Welcome Night_Shade!
No, we haven't reall done any Ftr/Mag or Mag/Ftr MCAs, as we see them are rather...redundant.
Since the Magus is already essentially a Ftr/Wiz or Wiz/Ftr, making it more one or the other has never really appealed to anyone so far. Plus, it does become difficult to do. Going for a more Fightery Magus likely would lend itself more to a normal Magus archetype, rather than an MCA.
However, if you are keen on trying to construct one, we can throw you in the queue and see what the MCA thread gang can do to help make it unique.
# Adamant Veteran/Adaptive Fighter
Here's someone cooking up a magic prosthesis concept
Just thought it was nice to see...
# Essence Drinker
Hmm. Love the concept, not sure about the execution..
Light armor casting at 1st level. Medium armor casting at 7th. Like a Magus. But what is the trade out?
What are the trades for the ranger abilities gained at 7th, 8th, 9th, 13th and 19th level?
Not sure of the HD either. I get that it fits the guidelines but...
All sorceror spells, PLUS ranger spells. Hmm.
I guess this is the problem I have with MCAs that are Primary Arcanists/Secondary Martials. Compared to a vanilla Sorcerer is this gal not holding her down and drinking all her blood after whupping her ass? It's a d8 HD Sorceress in light armor with better spell-list and a diverse bloodline ability.
Not that I don't like it immensely. Just looking at it carefully. :)
[Yes. I spell Sorceror "wrong". On purpose.]
I agree that it looks powerful, perhaps the essence drinker should get ranger spells at 1 spell level higher than normal? I think medium armour could safely be dropped without really harming the class.
@OSW
A lot of the trade out is loss of the 7th-9th level spells. In such cases we don't indicate that X, Y, or Z areplace spells lost, as its a complete change of casting (from full to hybrid casting)
So from a normal Sorcerer, it loses
1) 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells
2) Bloodline spells of 7th-9th level
3) Its 20th level bloodline power (no access to it at all)
And gains
1) Light (and eventually Medium) armor and casting
2) Martial weapons
3) 4 increments of "favored enemy" (aka Blood Enemy)
4) Track
5) exangination
6) Steal bloodline
7) Preservation
8) Woodland stride
9) Quarry
10) Improved quarry
11) Bloodline master
@Browman
1) The ranger spells are actually spaced according to ranger level if its a ranger only spell, but according to a druid or other class (which is usually higher level) if the ranger spell is is on multiple lists. So essentially, I placed the ranger spells at their highest accessibility.
2) I agree, I think we can ditch Medium armor. As light armored caster this will have good ersatility already.
3) I was going to suggest incrementalizing the Steal Bloodline ability, but that's already being done, as Blood Enemy incrementalizes at 2nd, 8th, 14th, and 20th. So he can only use the blood of ablood enemy he has access to. But we may want to still do that anyways, limiting it to perhaps only 3 of her 4 bood enemies. But then, her 4th is at 20th, so it doesn't allow her to select her 4th blood enemy as one of them if we limit it to three.
What does everyone think about the Exsanguination, Steal Bloodline, and Preservation abilities for balance? Specifically
1) Is Exsanguination's max doses of blood per day equal to Cha modifier balanced. I think so, since a specific blood enemy has to be encountered before the blood can be extracted. Odds of that aren't necessarily high.
2) Is the duration of Steal Bloodline good? Is 1 minute per level too high, or should it be 1 minute only? I'm thinking maybe 1 minute
3)Is being able to preserve a number of doses of blood up to his Cha mod balanced? Or should she only be able to preserve 1 dose at a time, period. Sort of like an alchemist being able to have only one mutagen created at a time. That would give her at least one does usable beyond the 1 day, as the likely hood of finding those enemy's isn't going to be high, unless the GM makes it so. So she'd have to be selective as to the blood enemy type she wants to preserve. Then she can still have a number of doses of enemy blood good for 1 day, if the enemies are plentiful. Thoughts?
I think one of the big balancers here will be between duration of the alternate bloodline, and the number of doses that can be perserved. If we go with a static 1 minute per dose, then I think we should allow peservation of multiple doses. Otherwise, if enemy's are scarce, much of her concept is useless if she has no blood to use.
So, proposing
1) Either 1 minute duration and multiple preservations
OR
2) 1 minute per level duration and only 1 preserved dose (like a mutagen) at a time.
Sorry, lots of text and lots to think about.
PS: Remember too that this is a Cha based caster, and she has to know her spells to cast them. I think with limiting spells to 6th level sorcerer spells helps, though there is the option of going with the Magus spell list then add in the ranger spells.
funny, I just assumed we dropped that, but I didn't see it in the swaps.Hey Elghinn,
For the lame curse in the write up, you give the character the ability to move unencumbered by armor. Is this already not granted from armor training?
Doesn't the Lame curse (assuming you are using the oracle curse) also give you the ability to move unencumbered by armor? Whether you need to do anything about the doubling of an effective "Slow and Steady" probably depends on how inherent the Lame curse is to the archetype.
I don't think one minute per level is too high, how often do you have fights that take place within 20 minutes of the last in game?
Also I think keeping the ability to have multiple doses preserved for longer than a day is necessary so that he can use his ability when he doesn't encounter something for multiple sessions. Though perhaps we could give the ability in smaller increments? Start with 1 per day and give another every 3 levels?
That's true too. Yeah, lets go with preservation as a 1/day, 2/day, etc. ability. Just wonderng how many per day is sufficient. Either 1 every 3 levels thereafter or 1 every 4 levels therafter.
What do others think about the duration of a stolen bloodline?
Here's a rewrite of Preservation, one with a max of 4 doses, the other a a max of 6. I'm leaning towards the 6, as really, without access to a blood enemy's blood, she's nothing more then a weaker sorcerer or lame ranger. It may be days or weeks before the MCA runs into a blood enemy.
#1
Preservation (Su): Starting at 6th level, an essence drinker can preserve the blood of her enemies she has stored in her flasks. It takes 1 hour to preserve a dose of blood. Once preserved, it remains potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from its flask. An essence drinker can have one dose of blood preserved at a time. At 9th level and every three levels thereafter, she can have one additional dose of blood preserved, up to a maximum of six doses at 18th level. The number of preserved blood doses an essence drinker preserves counts against an essence drinker’s stored doses of blood, and cannot exceed her Charisma modifier. This ability only works on blood, not other fluids, such as a potion.
#2
Preservation (Su): Starting at 6th level, an essence drinker can preserve the blood of her enemies she has stored in her flasks. It takes 1 hour to preserve a dose of blood. Once preserved, it remains potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from its flask. An essence drinker can have one dose of blood preserved at a time. At 10th level and every four levels thereafter, she can have one additional dose of blood preserved, up to a maximum of four doses at 18th level. The number of preserved blood doses an essence drinker preserves counts against an essence drinker’s stored doses of blood, and cannot exceed her Charisma modifier. This ability only works on blood, not other fluids, such as a potion.
Doesn't the Lame curse (assuming you are using the oracle curse) also give you the ability to move unencumbered by armor? Whether you need to do anything about the doubling of an effective "Slow and Steady" probably depends on how inherent the Lame curse is to the archetype.
Yes, it does. I've thought about that too, whether it really matters if one curse ability doubles up with a class feature. Still the question is left, do we want to go with the Batle Insticts or Battle Training ability in my post above.
Id vote instincts myself.
Id vote instincts myself.
Me too. OK, I pronouncing the Admant Veteran done. Let's move on.
@GracefulArmageddon, you're Antipaladin/ Wizard or MAgus is up next.
# Essence Drinker
@OSW
A lot of the trade out is loss of the 7th-9th level spells. In such cases we don't indicate that X, Y, or Z areplace spells lost, as its a complete change of casting (from full to hybrid casting)
So from a normal Sorcerer, it loses
1) 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells
2) Bloodline spells of 7th-9th level
3) Its 20th level bloodline power (no access to it at all)And gains
1) Light (and eventually Medium) armor and casting
2) Martial weapons
3) 4 increments of "favored enemy" (aka Blood Enemy)
4) Track
5) exangination
6) Steal bloodline
7) Preservation
8) Woodland stride
9) Quarry
10) Improved quarry
11) Bloodline master
The problem with that is those swaps don't occur from the sorceror until 13th level. But at 1st the Essence Drinker is getting d8 HD, light armor casting (I see you are dropping the later medium armor casting...) AND 3/4 BAB with martial weapons. For a Sorceror Primary.
I guess this is where some MCAs are not like archetypes of the Primary class - this is a different animal. And if people are fine with that, I'm cool with it. Just pointing out again the difference in power level from the get go between this and a vanilla sorceror.
Hello, by chance is there a magus/fighter archetype written up? I think this combo keeping magus abilities and adding (a few) feats and weapon training may make it a more formidable fighter/caster.Welcome Night_Shade!
No, we haven't reall done any Ftr/Mag or Mag/Ftr MCAs, as we see them are rather...redundant.
I think a ftr/magus will be my next. Unlike a magus, it will be more of a ritualist, being capable of a few powerful magical feats rather than the magus utility spellcasting. We'll see how that goes.
# Essence Drinker
I actually like the name essence drinker, conveys both meaning and mood to me.
Overall, this looks like a toned-down version of the Bloodline Magus - it has fewer abilities from either magus or sorcerer. The blood drinking is very situational (unless you have a friend in your party you can feed off) because of the low number of blood enemies. In my ranger cook AT, I originally intended that you could only cook your favored enemies, but after some thought felt that too situational. The same might be true here. Of course, if you do have a bloodline (see Steal Bloodline comments below), then you have something to fall back on.
The abilities the essence drinker inherits from the ranger makes it a decent combatant against some very specific enemies, but the other abilities (track etc) meshes poorly against the initial description of these guys as arcanists.
I can see 'wolfs balance concerns. Like all the 6-level casters, this seems powerful for the first few levels. But pretty soon this is overtaken by the sorcerer and the ranger each in their field. If we cant to cut it back in the early levels, it could use magus spell lists instead of sorcerer.
Gentle repose would seem to be able to preserve blood samples almost infinitely, a note/ruling on how this works for the essence drinker might be good.
@ Steal Bloodline mentions that it suppresses your normal bloodline, but nowhere does it say that the essence drinker has a normal bloodline.
@ Blood of the enemy; Normally temporary hit points do not stack, this is a pretty odd exception. IMO it is a bit too magical for a feat with a non-magical prerequisite. If this was an essence drinker specialty, I could bye it. Also, why only humanoids? I don't really see the need for a long feat chain just to increase the number of possible prey - I feel favored enemy itself takes care of that.
# Essence Drinker
Yep, I'm a fan of the name as is. Feels dread and moody. And as the resident….grimdork here. Or one of them at least… I like it. And all the Sanguine stuff just feels like a bad-vampire trope. Drink their vitality. Go on. DO EET! Exsanguinating someone sounds so… clinical.
Echoing what Starfox said, I keep thinking this feels more like a magus/ranger anyway, as far as the HD and BAB go - just the theme really matches a sorceror. Obviously with bloodlines and all...
Echoing what Starfox said, I keep thinking this feels more like a magus/ranger anyway, as far as the HD and BAB go - just the theme really matches a sorceror. Obviously with bloodlines and all...
'Wolf and I often seem to think alike!
(Hope it is ok to call you 'Wolf, Oceanshieldwolf is more keys to punch.)
Maybe you could add something to make the ability less situational?
What about an ability called blood philtre or something that allows you to take one dose of blood from any enemy and strain out whatever background magical qualities may be there. You could role percentiles to see what distant ancestor that person may have, which grants you blood pool from that source.
#Essence Drinker
I'm fine with Essence Drinker, its grown on me, and it does describe what this MCA is about.
Now, from all the comments I'm hearing, people think this is too much Magus in feel, and less Sopr/Rgr. I suppose I agree to some extent. That said, I belive Browman is really wanting a mid way Sor/Rgr MCA here, focused on the bloodline powers and favored enemy abilities.
The exanguination thing can go. It's brought in from by Alc/Sor which IS a more clinical MCA anyways. We'll just need to find something different to get to the blood.
What this MCA is about is finding the right balance of Sor and Rgr.
So, I'm been thinking and have some possible suggestions on how to make this more Sor/Rgr than Mag/Rgr. We can use or ignore any or all of what I suggest. Just brain storming at the moment.
1) Keep this MCA a d6, 1/2 BAB, 9th level caster, and swap out some of the bloodline stuff and possibly diminsihed spellcasting for ranger abilities. This will keep it more Sorcerer. Possibly create a new "Essence Drinker" Bloodline if we wanted to go that way?
2) Redesign the Steal Bloodline ability to work off of spell slot expenditure. Depending upon the level of spell you expend, you gain certain bloodline bloodline powers. For example, a 1st or 2nd level spell would only grant the 1st level bloodline power of another bloodline, a 3rd-4th level spell grants the 1dt & 3rd level powers, 5th-6th level spells grant the 1st, 3rd & 9th level power, etc. (depending on whether we want full or 1/2 caster)
3) Rework the swaps of the current MCA, to incorporate less Sorcerer, such as scrappng the bloodline feats, and only grant the bloodline powers and perhaps the arcana. Maybe no bloodline spells either.
4) To make the "essence drinking" less situational, an ability to siphon either the enegy (instead of blood) from a creature to gain some temporary benefit, such as a bonus to cetrain skills or whatever. Eg. Syphon the essence of a Tiger to gain a temp bonus to Acrobatics and Climb skills, or from a Dragon to gain some other benefits. Sort of like how Vixen on the Justice League/Justice League: Unlimited animated series can gain the strength, agility, speed, whatever, of a specific animal for a short time.
5) Something to think about, do we want this MCA to gain all bloodline powers from its initial bloodline? 1/3/9/15/20? OR only 1/3/9/15? I'm thinkning that the stolen bloodline should only grant certain level powers, maybe only 1st, 3rd, and 9th? Thoughts
#Essence Drinker
OK, I've been doing some reworking. One thing we need to decide is whether to keep sorcerer spells as the base, or use the Magus spell list for purpose of balance. Then add in the Ranger spells.
I've added in an Drink Essence ability, and reworked the Steal Bloodline ability, so that she can only gain up to the 15th level power from any alternate sbloodline, and not until 18th level.
Anyways, take a look. I think we can still go with the d8, 3/4 BAB, and gain all the bloodline powers of the inintial bloodline. The Bloodrager from the ACG does. :D
Also, in this version, there is no need for the feats I created, and I limited the weapon proficiency to simple and light or one-handed martial weapons.
SWAPS
Bloodline arcana, feats, spells = Blood enemy, track, swift tracker, evasion, quarry, improved quarry
Spells (7/8/9) = Drink essence, steal bloodline, preservation, light armor prof, and light and one-handed martial weapon prof.
The essence drinkers are a cabal of arcanists who have discovered the means of drawing power from the blood of various creatures.
Primary: Sorcerer.
Secondary: Ranger.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Dice: d8.
Bonus Skills and Ranks: The essence drinker selects six ranger skills to add to her class skills in addition to the normal sorcerer class skills. The essence drinker gains a number of ranks at each level equal to +4 Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The essence drinker is proficient with all simple and light or one-handed martial weapons. An essence drinker is also proficient with light armor. She can cast sorcerer spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, an essence drinker wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass essence drinker still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.
Spellcasting: An essence drinker casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, and adds the following spells to that list at the indicated levels: 1st–call animal, call weapon, calm animals, charm animal, detect animals and poison, detect poison, hide from animals, horn of pursuit, hunter’s howl, know the enemy, longstrider, pass without trace, summon nature’s ally I, tireless pursuit; 2nd–acute senses, aspect of the bear, barkskin, chameleon stride, delay poison, forest friend, hold animal, hunter’s lore, speak with animal, summon nature’s ally II; 3rd–blessing of the mole, bloodhound, burst of speed, diminish plants, hunter’s eye, instant enemy, reduce animal, remove disease, summon nature’s ally III; 4th–aspect of the stag, command plants, find quarry, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, summon nature’s ally IV, tireless pursuers; 5th–animal growth, aspect of the wolf, commune with nature, raise animal companion, summon nature’s ally V, tree stride; 6th–bloodsworn retribution, summon nature’s ally VI.
An essence drinker can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time, assuming she has not yet used up her allotment of spells per day for the spell’s level.
To learn or cast a spell, an essence drinker must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an essence drinker’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the essence drinker’s Charisma modifier.
An essence drinker can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level each day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Essence Drinker. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
An essence drinker’s selection of spells is extremely limited. An essence drinker begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the essence drinker’s choice. At each new essence drinker level, she gains one or more new spells as indicated on Table: Essence Drinker Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells an essence drinker knows is not affected by his Charisma score. The numbers on Table: Essence Drinker Spells Known are fixed.)
Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third essence drinker level thereafter (8th, 11th, and so on), an essence drinker can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the essence drinker “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level essence drinker spell she can cast. An essence drinker may swap out only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.
Bloodline: This is exactly like the sorcerer ability of the same name, except that the essence drinker only gains her bloodline powers. She does not gain her bloodline arcana, feats, or spells.
Blood Enemy (Ex): At 2nd level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s favored enemy ability, except that she can select one favored enemy at 2nd level and an additional favored enemy every five levels thereafter, up to her fourth favored enemy at 17th level. An essence drinker can choose any creature listed on Table: Ranger Favored Enemies. An essence drinker’s chosen blood enemies determine the effects of her steal bloodline ability. This ability, track, swift tracker, evasion, quarry, and improve quarry replace bloodline arcana, bloodline spells, and bloodline feats.
Track (Ex): At 2nd level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s track ability.
Drink Essence (Su): Starting at 2nd level, an essence drinker can assume certain aspects of an animal. As a standard action, an essence drinker can make a ranged touch attack against an animal. If the attack is successful, the essence drinker gains the abilities of that animal for 1 minute per essence drinker level. The essence drinker can use this ability once per day at 2nd level, plus an additional time per day every three levels thereafter.
An essence drinker gains the following abilities as determined by the animal she touches.
Amphibian: The essence drinker’s hands and feet gain webbing, and her lungs gain capacity, allowing her to move through the water with ease. She also gains a Swim speed equal to half her speed, and all the benefits of having a swim speed. Additionally, she can hold her breath for 4 rounds per point of Constitution before being forced to make Constitution checks to keep holding her breath.
Avian: The essence drinker gains a +4 bonus on Perception and Fly checks, low-light vision, and can see as if she had the Eagle Eyes feat.
Canine: The essence drinker gains a +4 competence bonus on combat maneuver checks when making the trip or reposition combat maneuver, and is able to jump a distance equal to half her speed with a running start. She can also move up to five times her normal movement as if she had the Run feat.
Feline: The essence drinker gains a +4 competence bonus on Acrobatics checks, always jump as if she had a running start, and she gains a climb speed equal to half her normal speed and all the benefits of having a natural climb speed.
Large Mammal (Elephant, Rhino, etc.): The essence drinker is treated as one size larger when subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for a Combat Maneuver Bonus or Combat Maneuver Defense (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), and when determining whether a creature's special attacks based on size (such as grab or swallow whole) can affect her.
Primate: The essence drinker gains a +4 competence bonus on Climb checks and on combat maneuver checks when making the grapple or reposition combat maneuver. She can also throw objects as if she had the Throw Anything feat.
Reptile: The essence drinker gains a +4 competence bonus on Escape Artist checks, darkvision out to 30 feet, and increasing her land speed by 10 feet for 1 round once per minute.
Ursine: The essence drinker gains a +4 bonus on combat maneuver checks when making or defending against a bull rush, grapple, or overrun combat maneuver. She can also exert herself as if she had the Endurance feat.
Steal Bloodline (Su): Starting at 4th level, an essence drinker can temporarily gain the powers of an alternate bloodline by consuming the blood of her blood enemies. As a standard action, an essence drinker can consume one dose of blood (or essence) of a blood enemy of her choice.
Upon being consumed, the blood grants the essence drinker the powers of the bloodline associated with her blood enemy, as show on Table: Blood Enemy Bloodlines. This effect lasts for 1 minute per essence drinker level. Once the blood is consumed, the essence drinker’s own bloodline is suppressed in favor of the new bloodline. In effect, she loses her own bloodline in exchange for the new one. The old bloodline does not reassert itself until the effects of the new bloodline ends. The effects of an enemy’s blood do not stack. Whenever an essence drinker consumes a dose of an enemy’s blood, the effects of any previous dose of blood immediately end. For the purpose of determining the powers granted by her alternate bloodline, the essence drinker’s sorcerer level is equal to her essence drinker level –3. An essence drinker never gains the 20th level power from an alternate bloodline.
The essence drinker can extract one dose of blood from a dead, dying, or living blood enemy using a slashing or piercing weapon as a full-round action. Extracting blood in this way deals 2 points of hit points of damage to the creature. The essence drinker can store extracted blood in special vials and remains potent for 1 day, after which time it becomes spoiled. The essence drinker can store a number of doses of blood each day equal to her Charisma modifier.
An essence drinker gains the one of the following bloodlines, as determined by the consumed blood of her blood enemy. The Animal or Construct favored enemy grants no bloodline.
Table: Blood Enemy Bloodlines
Type (Subtype) Granted Bloodline
Aberration Aberrant bloodline
Dragon Draconic bloodline
Fey Fey bloodline
Humanoid (aquatic) Aquatic bloodline
Humanoid (dwarf) Deep earth bloodline
Humanoid (elf) Arcane bloodline
Humanoid (giant) Boreal bloodline, oni bloodline
Humanoid (goblinoid, gnoll) Martyred bloodline
Humanoid (gnome) Verdant bloodline
Humanoid (halfling) Destined bloodline
Humanoid (human) Imperious bloodline
Humanoid (orc) Orc bloodline
Humanoid (reptilian) Kobold bloodline, serpentine bloodline
Magical beast Dreamspun bloodline, destined bloodline
Monstrous humanoid Accursed bloodline, oni bloodline
Ooze Pestilence bloodline
Outsider (air) Djinni bloodline, elemental bloodline, stormborn bloodline
Outsider (chaotic) Abyssal bloodline, protean bloodline
Outsider (earth) Elemental bloodline, shaitan bloodline
Outsider (evil) Abyssal bloodline, daemon bloodline, infernal bloodline, shadow bloodline
Outsider (fire) Efreeti bloodline, elemental bloodline
Outsider (good) Celestial bloodline, maestro bloodline
Outsider (lawful) Infernal bloodline
Outsider (native) Rakshasa bloodline, starsoul bloodline
Outsider (water) Aquatic bloodline, marid bloodline
Plant Verdant bloodline
Undead Undead bloodline
Vermin Pestilence bloodline
Preservation (Su): Starting at 5th level, an essence drinker can preserve the blood of her enemies she has stored in her flasks. It takes 1 hour to preserve a dose of blood. Once preserved, it remains potent until it is consumed or otherwise removed from its flask. An essence drinker can have one dose of blood preserved at a time. At 8th level and every three levels thereafter, she can have one additional dose of blood preserved, up to a maximum of six doses at 20th level. The number of preserved blood doses an essence drinker preserves counts against an essence drinker’s stored doses of blood, and cannot exceed her Charisma modifier. This ability only works on blood, not other fluids, such as a potion.
Swift Tracker (Ex): At 8th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s swift tracker ability.
Evasion (Ex): At 11th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s evasion ability.
Quarry (Ex): At 13th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s quarry ability.
Master of the Blood (Su): At 16th level, the essence drinker’s own bloodline is no longer fully suppressed when the blood of an enemy is consumed. Whenever an essence drinker consumes the blood of one of his blood enemies, he can choose to suppress either his own bloodline powers or those granted by his enemy’s blood, as a swift action. Only the powers of the unsuppressed bloodline are accessible. In addition, the number of doses of blood an essence drinker can store is equal to twice his Charisma modifier.
Improved Quarry (Ex): At 19th level, an essence drinker gains the ranger’s improved quarry ability.
Table: Essence Drinker/Sanguine Stalker/Slayer
Base
Class Attack Fort Ref Will Spells per Day
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Bloodline power, cantrips, eschew material 1 — — — — —
2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 1st blood enemy, drink essence 1/day, track 2 — — — — —
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Bloodline power 3 — — — — —
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Steal bloodline 3 1 — — — —
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Preservation 4 2 — — — —
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Drink essence 2/day 4 3 — — — —
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 2nd blood enemy 4 3 1 — — —
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 Swift tracker 4 4 2 — — —
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Bloodline power 5 4 3 — — —
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Drink essence 3/day 5 4 3 1 — —
11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Evasion 5 4 4 2 — —
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 3rd blood enemy 5 5 4 3 — —
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Quarry 5 5 4 3 1 —
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 Drink essence 4/day 5 5 4 4 2 —
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Bloodline power 5 5 5 4 3 —
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Master of the blood 5 5 5 4 3 1
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 4th blood enemy 5 5 5 4 4 2
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Drink essence 5/day 5 5 5 5 4 3
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Improved quarry 5 5 5 5 5 4
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +12 Bloodline power 5 5 5 5 5 5
Table: Essence Drinker Spells Known
Level 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st 4 2 — — — — —
2nd 5 3 — — — — —
3rd 6 4 — — — — —
4th 6 4 2 — — — —
5th 6 4 3 — — — —
6th 6 4 4 — — — —
7th 6 5 4 2 — — —
8th 6 5 4 3 — — —
9th 6 5 4 4 — — —
10th 6 5 5 4 2 — —
11th 6 6 5 4 3 — —
12th 6 6 5 4 4 — —
13th 6 6 5 5 4 2 —
14th 6 6 6 5 4 3 —
15th 6 6 6 5 4 4 —
16th 6 6 6 5 5 4 2
17th 6 6 6 6 5 4 3
18th 6 6 6 6 5 4 4
19th 6 6 6 6 5 5 4
20th 6 6 6 6 6 5 5
every attempt i've made at putting mechanics to my ideas has been a miserable failure, so i'm left with just. ideas.
i originally said antipaladin/magus because the intention was to be able to blend dark magicks, particularly necromancy, with combat prowess, but i'm lost on how to combine the two, and really on how that becomes an antipaladin/magus.
i swear i have ideas and i haven't forgotten them but i'm not sure how to turn them into something playable and balanced! >.< if you don't mind helping with this stupidity, then maybe there's still something to be done, but if not, just remove me from the queue and i'll find some other way.
It's not stupidity, it's a lack of experience in doing MCAs. That's why we're here. :D I'm sure Starfox will be excited to be able to build an MCA from scratch.
If you want just post your ideas, and we can help decide what would work, how to fit them in, etc. Probably a good place to start.
Now if you are sure you want to go Antipaladin as the primary, and Magus as the secondary, then we can move forward.
The next steps tend to be:
1) First, what is the flavor of this MCA - what is its the role and function, where and how does it fit into the RPG realm? THis is what usually guides the development of abilities and what we may want to swap in or out.
2) Then, what are the main abilities you want to keep from Antipaladin, and what would you like to add from Magus. This will give us astarting point as to what we can swap OT from the antipaladin, and swap IN from the magus. Swapping generally equivalent abilities is one way we keep the balance.
3) Next, what are the types of abilities (not necessarily antipaladin or magus) are you looking for this MCA to have. These can be abilities of your own design, or abilities from other classes, PrCs, archetypes, or even creatures. WE can adapt change and balance these.
Then we'll go from there.
If you think another combo will work better, that's fine, but it needs to be decided by you, as this is your concept. The rest we can help with from the ground up.
So, anyone with thoughts on the revised Essence Drinker above? Ging into the weekend I realize, and it slows right down.
(organizes thoughts)
1) I'm still working out flavor, given that I'm trying to make this one setting-neutral.. but as for a role, the idea was to create a front-line character that uses undead to support himself (and his party, if applicable- it IS an antipaladin after all). (Really, the stupidly high level (by which i mean, level at which i've NEVER had the chance to play) at which the antipaladin normally gets Animate Dead was what inspired it in the first place.. mayhap more limited access to general spells and other evil things in favor of a focus on undead?)
I almost wonder if Antipaladin/Bard or Cavalier wouldn't be the way to go. One who commands the armies of the dead. Hmm.
... This is not the place to ramble!
2) I'm absolutely sure that I'd want it to keep Touch of Corruption, Plague Bringer (bearer?), Cruelties, and Channel Negative Energy. As for the Magus, I was looking at Spellstrike and wondering how well that would play with Touch of Corruption, but then I remembered Channel Smite.. and see above ramble.
3) This is where it's a bit lacking. Most of my trashed concepts had SO MANY dead levels that I didn't know what to do with. The only one I'm sure of would be some way to destroy an allied undead and restore HP with it. Probably tied to Touch of Corruption somehow.. and Negative Energy Affinity is almost a must.
edit: (Sorry about the rambling. And getting sidetracked. I do that. A lot. Especially when I'm nervous. And getting help from a group of people I look up to greatly and would rather like to call friends, I'm scrambling about trying to now look like a fool. >w<)
That's good start, we can work with that. I'll take a look at the two classes and see what I can find on the d20PFSRD site for inspiration.
EDIT: I think the Undead Lord (Cleric) archetype, Knight of the Sepulcher (Antipaladin) archetype, and the Necromancy school and Undead Subschool will be good source material for this one.
@gracefylArmaggedon
Is the Spellstrike ability all you are wanting from the magus? If so, why dod you choose magus. Not sure if it's appropriate for your role and function.
If the spellstrike ability is what you're after, it can always be addapted to a different antipaladin/? combo. We've used it in other MCAs that weren't magus in any way. Sometimes abilities from an unrelated class creep into certain MCAs because the ability or mechanic fits.
From my experiences, this might be better as an Antipaladin/Cleric combo.
Magus was the first thing that came to mind. It was probably not the right idea. Cleric would work better, yes. xP
I have nothing to contribute, just chiming in to say I'm reading every word. :P
Essence Drinker is looking spiffy, it's a really nice image that's conjured up. OH! Is it based on Cybersix? Such a shame it trades out the animal companion...
I have nothing to contribute, just chiming in to say I'm reading every word. :P
Essence Drinker is looking spiffy, it's a really nice image that's conjured up. OH! Is it based on Cybersix? Such a shame it trades out the animal companion...
lol, I didn't even know that was a thing.
I like the essence drinker as it is now, Elghinn
Hello, here is my attempt at a Magus/Fighter type PC. The idea behind this is that they use the weapons as a focus for spell energies. They (in and of themselves) do not cast spells, but by employing their martial stances/katas, they release the magical energies as spells. I hope I can get this to show up well, also to make it easier, I left out the Base Attack Bonus (it is the medium one):
Weapon Caster
Level Fort Ref Wil Special
1st +2 +0 +2 Arcane pool, cantrips, spell combat 2nd +3 +0 +3 Spellstrike
3rd +3 +1 +3 Magus arcana
4th +4 +1 +4 Bonus Feat
5th +4 +1 +4 Armor Training I
6th +5 +2 +5 Magus arcana
7th +5 +2 +5 Bonus Feat
8th +6 +2 +6 Weapon Training I
9th +6 +3 +6 Magus arcana
10th +7 +3 +7 Bonus Feat
11th +7 +3 +7 Armor training II
12th +8 +4 +8 Magus arcana
13th +8 +4 +8 Bonus Feat
14th +9 +4 +9 Weapon Training II
15th +9 +5 +9 Magus arcana
16th +10 +5 +10 Bonus Feat
17th +10 +5 +10
18th +11 +6 +11 Magus arcana
19th +11 +6 +11 Bonus Feat
20th +12 +6 +12
Weapon Casters have learned to combine the power of arcane casting with the might of martial training. They use the movement of their weapon style to focus the magical energies within them to cast their spells. They do not need to keep spell books, therefore they do not know how to read magic or scrolls. Unlike other casters, all casting is done thru the weapons they wield and they can’t cast spells without them.
Arcane Pool (Su): At 1st level, the WEAPON CASTER gains a reservoir of mystical arcane energy that he can draw upon to fuel his powers and enhance his weapon. This arcane pool has a number of points equal to 1/2 his magus level (minimum 1) + his Intelligence modifier. The pool refreshes once per day when the magus prepares his spells.
At 1st level, a magus can expend 1 point from his arcane pool as a swift action to grant any weapon he is holding a +1 enhancement bonus for 1 minute. For every five levels beyond 1st, the weapon gains another +1 enhancement bonus, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level. These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5. Multiple uses of this ability do not stack with themselves.
At 5th level, these bonuses can be used to add any of the following weapon properties: dancing, f laming, f laming burst, frost, icy burst, keen, shock, shocking burst, speed, or vorpal. Adding these properties consumes an amount of bonus equal to the property’s base price modifier (see Table 15–9 on page 469 of the Core Rulebook). These properties are added to any the weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, at least a +1 enhancement bonus must be added before any other properties can be added. These bonuses and properties are decided when the arcane pool point is spent and cannot be changed until the next time the magus uses this ability. These bonuses do not function if the weapon is wielded by anyone other than the magus.
A magus can only enhance one weapon in this way at one time. If he uses this ability again, the first use immediately ends.
A WEAPON CASTER casts arcane spells drawn from the magus spell list presented on page 13. To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the magus must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a magus’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the WEAPON CASTER’s Intelligence modifier. A WEAPON CASTER can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1–1. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table 1–3 on page 17 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook).
A magus may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour meditating with his weapon.
Spellbooks: A Weapon Caster does not keep a spell book as traditional caster’s do, instead they have combine the arts arcane with the arts martial and by using their weapons kata do they practice their spells. Due to this Weapon Casters do not choose their spells before-hand, they cast them as part of their weapons kata.
Spell Combat (Ex): as Magus
Spellstrike (Su): as Magus
Magus Arcana: as Magus
Bonus Feats: At 4th level, and at every third level thereafter, a WEAPON CASTER gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as combat, item creation, or metamagic feats. He must meet the prerequisites for these feats as normal.
Armor Training (Ex): Starting at 5th level, a WEAPON CASTER learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. At 11th level he will once again be able to reduces the armor check penalty by 1 and increases his Dexterity bonus by 1. At these levels he will also be able to cast spells in medium and heavy armor respectively.
Weapon Training (Ex): Starting at 8th level, a fighter can select one group of weapons, as noted below. Whenever he attacks with a weapon from this group, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls. Again at 14th level a WEAPON CASTER becomes further trained in another group of weapons. He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using a weapon from this group, in addition, the bonuses granted by previous weapon groups increase by +1.
As you can see, rather simple and I do not have a capstone (or level 17) idea. As mentioned above, I would like to go for a feel of casting thru the weapon, then just being able to cast spells. Let me know what you think.
P.S. thinking that may be better if it followed the bladebound archetype as the Magus side of the class.
I like the essence drinker as it is now, Elghinn
Great! Then I think we can move on if you're happy with it.
Hello, here is my attempt at a Magus/Fighter type PC. The idea behind this is that they use the weapons as a focus for spell energies. They (in and of themselves) do not cast spells, but by employing their martial stances/katas, they release the magical energies as spells. I hope I can get this to show up well, also to make it easier, I left out the Base Attack Bonus (it is the medium one):...
We'll take a look at it Night Shade, but for future refence, you've just jumped the queue. :D
After you're original post I asked if you wanted to be placed in the queue (HERE), but you never responded. The queue keeps the thread orderly so everyone gets a fair shake at creating their ideas. Luckily, this is your first one and you would have been up right away.
#WEAPON CASTER
Night Shade, is this guy using the Magus spell progression table? I assume so. And he's using his weapon as his "spellbook", allowing him to access the spells like witch sort of does?
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I haven't really had any ideas to add to the currently being worked on MCA, but I did have a couple ideas (Post writing: turns out, a lot). Can you put them on the queue? (And feel free to splice in others so that we don't get to my ideas and then have a bunch of Koujow ideas in a row).
Post writing: EMPHASIS: I just wrote out a bunch of ideas just so I would not forget them later. Please put them 'softly' into the queue. Meaning put them there, but don't do them all in a row when they come up. Instead, go ahead and let some other concepts get worked on inbetween any of these. Feel free to push them back so that everyone's idea is worked on. I can wait. :D
Warlord
Secondary: Bard (maybe? I know there is a Fighter/Bard, but this one is focused on a different aspect than the MCA you guys created before.)
Concept: Possibly the only thing I liked from 4th ed. DnD was the new class introduced called the Warlord. This was a martial class that offered non-magical buffs and healing by commanding and encouraging his allies.
Images: Pic 1 Pic 2
'Totem' Warrior
Secondary:Druid
Concept: Based on an idea from another thread where I was working on a campaign involving a very Aztec-like civilization, the Totem Warrior chooses a totem creature and over time, becomes more and more like that creature. Eventually, they can shape shift (wild shape) into creatures of that species and even assume a hybrid form similar to a lycanthrope. Meant for the creation of Jaguar and Eagle Warriors, but I guess anything is theoretically possible. Choose a creature. At level x, gain abilities associate with that creature. At level y, shape shift into that creature. At level z, hybrid into that creature. That sort of thing.
Images: Pic 1 Pic 2
Bioslinger
Secondary: Alchemist
Concept: A type of gunslinger that uses a specially crafted rifle to fire poisons, diseases and acids. I guess similar to how some alien races (thinking Tyranids in Warhammer 40k) use poisons or in some games, monsters can fling acid and leave acid spills on the ground, but fired out of gun? Does that make sense?
Images: Pic 1 Pic 2
Yabusame
The 'Thor'
Secondary: Wizard (but not that way)
Concept: Reminiscent of 3.5 samurai class, the 'Thor' gets a weapon that acts like a bounded item. As they grow in level, they can apply bonuses to it for free. (similar to the Paladin's ability, but all the time... because thats all you got) They gain bonus feats related to the item. (Unlike the Samurai though, you can change the item. I think that was a major problem with the class back then).
Images: THOR!
Dragon Rocket Fist
Secondary: Gunslinger
Concept: Ever seen Yang Xiao Long from RWBY? I'm not a terribly big fan of the show, but the character has gauntlets... with guns in them. Punch, Punch, Bang. Maybe change Flurry of Blows so that when the DRF hits, they can fire a bullet too. (Kind of mixing Flurry of Blows with regular gun mechanics?) Have to reload between punches, of course.
Image: Pic 1 Pic 2
Puppet Master
Secondary: Rogue or maybe Alchemist
Concept: Similar to the Summoner, but rather than magical summons, they are mechanical constructs. Think Kankuro from Naruto. (Also, I know... ugh, Naruto...
Images: Pic 1
Plant Lord
Secondary: Druid
Concept: Poison Ivy. Thats pretty much it. Want more? Fine, Wood Dragonbloods from Exalted or the so stereotypical I am sure I can go onto TV tropes right now and find it 'assassin that loves to garden' character. (but I won't... because I am getting tired. lol)
Images: Pic 1 Pic 2
Noble
I haven't really had any ideas to add to the currently being worked on MCA, but I did have a couple ideas (Post writing: turns out, a lot). Can you put them on the queue? (And feel free to splice in others so that we don't get to my ideas and then have a bunch of Koujow ideas in a row).
Post writing: EMPHASIS: I just wrote out a bunch of ideas just so I would not forget them later. Please put them 'softly' into the queue. Meaning put them there, but don't do them all in a row when they come up. Instead, go ahead and let some other concepts get worked on inbetween any of these. Feel free to push them back so that everyone's idea is worked on. I can wait. :D
Warlord
** spoiler omitted **'Totem' Warrior
** spoiler omitted **...
kinda off base here, but a few of those are little red goblin game published classes, their noble in particular is excellent. Different than an mca though.
To continue my off topic rant, i just wanted to share the latest product i participated in racial guide 2.5, hybrids and half-races