I started this yesterday, got discouraged and nearly scrapped it two hours in, then got a second wind and hashed some things out. I would like some feedback to help me decide if I should continue working on it or not.
It feels like a more gritty Ranger to me. I like the heirloom idea for flavoring, but what exactly prevents you from going forward with energy affinity? I would never tell someone to stop trying to create, but I am curious about what exactly is discouraging you from continuing? It's perfectly fitting if you ask me, maybe a new name? Like Natures Gift? Or Natural Worlds Boon?
Energy Affinity, or whatever it ends up being called? I can still fit it in I suppose. It will take some work before I am happy with it. And yes, it is like a ranger. The difference is that I have removed the animals, the hunter aspect, and the weapon styles. Even though he is a full-BAB guy, I wanted some ally buffing aspects. However, I don't think the ally buffing is quite there yet.
For you i meant just being consistent so it is easier to read, and practice clarifying your intent before worrying about fancy backgrounds and such. This is a $10 ipad app I bought after doing this for several years.
Ally-buffing for damage, to-hit, and save bonuses is usually done with a morale effect, ala, the Bards Inspire x abilities, so that method may not mesh well in a group dynamic, but perhaps something similar to aura abilities? To make energy affinity an aura effect, and allies in range gaining something like energy resistance (or more out there, DR at higher levels) could be a starting point.
I see you are on creation spree ;)
Dot.
Or a posting spree. I have others that are hiding.
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i think full BAB plus all good saves in unfair. i would demote Reflex.
this guy is the 'lord' of what? beasts? men?
if beasts,
maybe the Energy Affinity lines (4/8/12/16/20) can be replaced with Summon Nature's Ally?
if men,
maybe Warrior's Calling can grant Favored Terrain bonuses to his allies?
maybe this could be a bond choice?
diggin' the ideas...
Lord of men, but he's comfortable with beasts. And he's not actually a savage, just native to a land that people in the civil places call savage.
The three good saves was in line with my original intent, that there is something auspicious about him. Medium BAB doesn't strike a chord with me. Full BAB and three good saves means less potent class features, and thats not as much fun. I'm going to leave it as is for now, dependent upon where this thing goes, but poor ref seems to fit the most. If necessary that will be the one to go.
I have a 20 level write-up finally. There is no capstone yet, and I am looking for some feedback on my "ally buff" abilities, if nothing else.
Well, I wish that warrior's calling was divorced from charisma in the size of its bonus. Not every group is going to have the point buy to make that especially useful and in other groups the character might make charisma their main and/or only stat. He would just make a move action every round and then be great at archery AND sword fighting AND make his allies insanely great at everything at the same time.
Instead for the power level of the buff, I suggest looking to something like the Ranger's hunter's bond ability. Just make it key off charisma and adjust the power given that it would grant bonuses to all enemies rather than just favored enemies. I think "freebooter" archetype for ranger has recently been errata-ed into uselessness but I think it used to have an ability like the one I am thinking of. Perhaps I misremember.
As for bonuses to skill checks and saves, those probably need to be separate abilities in my mind. A +2 bonus to attack rolls is different from a +2 bonus to saves which is different from a +2 bonus to skill checks (probably in descending order of importance, but varying from character to character).
In case you missed it, Auspice affects everyone and has limited uses. Warrior's Calling can not be used on himself. It has more uses per day but still has limits.
Anyhow, I looked up Freebooter to take a look. That was more helpful than Hunter's Bond, which uses Favored Enemy Bonuses. I made some changes.
I combined class features in my head from memory, I guess.
And there is a ranger spell called instant enemy that has no save or spell resistance, is a swift action, makes a creature count as a ranger's favored enemy type. Before that, there is the less good hunter's howl. That spell makes the alternate hunter's bond ranger a really effective support class.