As the title says, I want the community as a whole to help me build/refine a racial archetype for either the standard ranger or the spell-less ranger from Kobold Press. It is for a sub-race/clan of dwarves that live in the north (think Norse), and they often have a natural connection to the fierce storms in their homeland. Essentially, I want a ranger/spell-less ranger equivalent to the Stonelord dwarf paladin archetype, but with electricity. Shall we get started?
First off, the name. I was thinking Stormwarden for the name. I know WOTC has a stormwarden ranger path for 4th Edition, but that is a strictly melee class whereas this archetype is not. It is, however, partially inspired by the stormwarden paragon path from Neverwinter.
At 1st level, I plan on giving them Focused Enemy like the Wilderness Stalker archetype; reducing the ranger to only one favored enemy (more can be gained through feats or ranger talents, of course). This would allow for some abilities and keep the class balanced.
At 2nd level, I was thinking of an ability called Storm Strike. There are two possible ways of doing this:
Storm Strike (Su): At 2nd level, the stormwarden learns to draw upon the power of the northern storms and channel them through her weapons. As a standard/swift action, she imbues her attacks with electrical damage for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier. This extra damage is 1d6 at 2nd level, and it increases by 1d6 every four ranger levels thereafter, to a maximum of 5d6 at 18th level.
Or
Storm Strike (Su): At 2nd level, the stormwarden learns to draw upon the power of the northern storms and channel them through her weapons. As a standard/swift action, she imbues her attacks with the shock property for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 her ranger level (minimum 1). The stormwarden can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Wisdom modifier.
This could replace Spells for a regular ranger, and stealth attack for the spell-less ranger. I am unsure whether to make it a swift or standard action.
At 3rd level, I was thinking of the following, borrowed from the sorcerer’s stormborn bloodline. I think it needs a new name, however:
Stormchild (Ex): At 3rd level, the stormwarden gains resist electricity 5 and resist sonic 5, and treats wind effects as being one step less severe.
This ability would replace Endurance.
At higher levels, I was thinking of the following:
Thundering Storm Strike (Su): At 10th level, a stormwarden’s storm strike explodes with thunderous force upon striking a successful critical hit. In addition to the damage he deals from her storm strike ability, she deals an extra 1d8 points of sonic damage on a successful critical hit. If the weapon’s critical multiplier is x3, she adds an extra 2d8 points of sonic damage instead, and if the multiplier is x4, she deals an extra 3d8 points of sonic damage. Targets hit by the thundering storm strike must make a Fortitude save of DC 14 + your ranger level or be deafened for x minutes.
Or
Thundering Storm Strike (Su): At 10th level, a stormwarden’s storm strike explodes with thunderous force upon striking a successful critical hit. In addition to the shock property, she imbues her attacks with the thundering property.
This would be an upgrade to Storm Strike. The first version I don’t think I want the target to be permanently deafened, only temporarily. Making the save would reduce the time by half.
I wanted to replace Evasion and Improved Evasion as well, but cannot think of anything to put there.
Finally, for the Capstone, I was thinking of using the full movement while tracking part of the standard ranger/spell-less ranger capstone, but changing the rest to be something storm/electricity related.
Thoughts?
I believe I should have put the second Storm Strike and Thundering Storm Strike as SLA's instead of supernatural abilities. I would edit if I could.
I also came up with a new ability today. I haven't fleshed it all out yet, but it's basically another upgrade to Storm Strike that deals electrical damage to the initial target, then the energy arcs to 1-2 more targets within 5/10 feet to deal reduced damage (possibly 1d4).
This got me thinking. Maybe have some abilities 'expend' daily uses of the Storm Strike, similar to how a paladin has some abilities that expend uses of their Lay on Hands.