So I’m having trouble calibrating this class. It’s basic schtick is having support healing available at will (including condition removal), as well as dealing damage and applying rebuffs, with the ability to buff the party. Apart from the healing, most of its abilities are at will.
My first draft of the class is in a spoiler tag below.
So here’s the issue: I know I want the bonus type to be sacred or profane, because that’s the class’s theme. However that also means it stacks with stuff like the bard’s song, investigator’s talents, etc, and its ready accessibility necessitates a balancing factor.
So here it is at 1st level:
As a standard action, you can touch an ally to grant them one of the following effects: a +1 sacred (or profane) bonus to AC, or on attack and damage rolls, or on one kind of saving throw, or on skill and ability checks keyed to one ability score. Alternately, you can grant them temporary hit points equal to 3 + your class level. This bonus lasts for one minute.
At higher levels, it should be able to affect more than one creature at a time, be activated as a swift action, and target allies within 30 feet. The bonus also improves, either granting the bonus to multiple statistics or a larger bonus to one statistic.
But I don’t exactly know where to go with it from there.
When a new god is born, or an old one feels their influence is waning, they choose mortal exarchs to glorify their name and multiply their signs and wonders throughout the land. A newly-risen demigod, lacking a formal clergy, imbues their great power into a handful of apostles, often those who knew the god in life and saw them through the trials and tribulations of apotheosis.
These expositors exist for one purpose: to spread their deity’s renown to every corner of the world and points beyond. Expositors are not content to sit in temples, meditating and ministering, even when they are exarchs of an established god. They are evangelists, both in word and deed. Just as their power is constant and never needs rest or replenishment, so also are expositors driven ever onward to work wonders without end.
The mere exercise of their god’s power glories and strengthens their master, and as their deity’s power grows, so too does the font of strength on which they draw. Every battle won, every foe brought low, whether within the deepest caverns with might and magic, or upon the streets of crowded cities with conviction and composure, brings renown to their god. So long as they have the opportunity to uphold and further the ideals and fame of their patron, they are no strangers to adventures of any kind.
Alignment: Must be within one step of their deity.
Hit Die: d6
Base Attack Bonus: Bad
Good Saves: Will, Fortitude
Bad Save: Reflex
Class Skills
The expositor’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier
CLASS FEATURES
The following are class features of the expositor
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Expositors are proficient with all simple weapons and their deity's favored weapon. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield; wearing armor or a shield would interfere with their divine mantle ability.
Aura (Ex): An expositor with an alignment other than neutral has a particularly strong aura of that alignment when viewed with spells such as detect good; treat their expositor levels as cleric levels for the purposes of such spells.
Gnostic Revelations: An expositor is considered to be a cleric of a level equal to his class level for purposes of making and using magic items, including spell completion and spell trigger items. In addition, the expositor uses his Wisdom modifier in place of his Intelligence modifier on Knowledge checks.
Divine Mantle (Su): An expositor is continuously shrouded in a holy (or unholy) aura that protects them from harm. This manifests as a sacred (or profane) bonus to AC equal to their Wisdom modifier + ¼th their class level. This bonus is negated if the expositor wears any type of armor or uses a shield.
At 7th level and above, the expositor is surrounded by a divine emanation that hedges out the workings of enemies of the faith, functioning as a magic circle spell emanating from the expositor that protects against any effects that oppose the expositor’s alignment (i.e. a LG expositor would hedge out chaotic and evil enchantments and summoned monsters). This aura is negated if the expositor wears armor.
Blast Infidel (Su): An expositor’s power enables him to smite unbelievers with a word, a gesture, or merely a glance. This ability may take any number of forms, depending on the expositor or even varying from one moment to the next. Their foe’s flesh may wither, or their body erupt in bleeding wounds, or they might begin to smolder as searing light or unholy fire envelops them, or as the crackle and boom of lightning from on high crashes down upon them. (Despite its appearance, the damage is always the result of direct divine power, and energy resistance and spell resistance do not apply). This ability targets one creature within 60 feet to which the expositor has line of sight, causing 1d6 points of damage. A successful Will save (DC 10 + ½ the expositor’s caster level + the expositor’s Wisdom modifier) halves the damage. If the expositor uses a wage of sin (see below) that requires a Fortitude save, the save to halve damage from blast infidel changes to a Fortitude save at the same DC. Abilities that negate or reduce damage on successful saves (such as Mettle) do not affect blast infidel. The damage increases to 2d6 at 3rd level, and by an additional +1d6 every two levels thereafter. At 20th level, the damage die of this ability increases from d6 to d8.
At 6th level, he can target two creatures at once who are within 30 feet of each other. This increases to three creatures at once at 11th level. At 16th level, he can select any number of additional targets, so long as no two of them are either more than 30 feet apart or more than 60 feet from him. At 20th level, he can target any number of creatures he can see within 120 feet.
Faith Healing (Su): An expositor can heal wounds (their own or those of others) by touch. Each day the expositor can use this ability a number of times equal to half their expositor level plus their Wisdom modifier. With each use of this ability, the expositor cures the target of 1d6 points of damage per two expositor levels, rounded up (1d6 at 1st, 2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, etc.). Using this ability is a standard action, unless the expositor targets themself, in which case it is a swift action. This ability requires a free hand.
At 6th level, the range of this ability increases from touch to 30 feet. At 11th level, the expositor can increase the activation time of this ability to 1 full round in order to target a number of allies within 30 feet equal to his Wisdom modifier. At 16th level, this range increases to 60 feet, and requires only a standard action to utilize. At 20th level, the expositor can heal any number of creatures he can see within 120 feet with a single use of this ability as a swift action, and the die size increases from d6 to d8.
Redeeming Grace (Su): At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, the expositor can choose one redeeming grace. Each redeeming grace adds an effect to the expositor’s faith healing ability. When used on a single target, all graces are cumulative, but when multiple targets are affected, the expositor must choose one grace to apply to all targets. At 20th level, all graces are cumulative for all targets. A grace can remove a condition caused by a curse, disease, or poison without curing the affliction. Such conditions return after one hour unless the grace actually removes the affliction that causes the condition.
At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, an expositor can select one grace. Each grace adds an effect to the expositor's faith healing ability. Whenever the expositor uses faith healing to heal damage to one target, the target also receives the additional effects from all of the graces possessed by the expositor. A grace can remove a condition caused by a curse, disease, or poison without curing the affliction. Such conditions return after 1 hour unless the grace actually removes the affliction that causes the condition.
At 3rd level, the expositor can select from the following initial graces.
At 6th level, an expositor adds the following graces to the list of those that can be selected.
At 9th level, an expositor adds the following graces to the list of those that can be selected.
At 12th level, an expositor adds the following graces to the list of those that can be selected.
These abilities are cumulative. For example, a 12th-level expositor’s faith healing ability heals 6d6 points of damage and might also cure Fatigued and Exhausted conditions as well as removing diseases and neutralizing poisons. Once a condition or spell effect is chosen, it can't be changed.
Wages of Sin (Su): At 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, an expositor can select one wage of sin. Each time he uses his blast infidel ability, he can select one wage of sin to apply to the target or targets of blast infidel. The target or targets receive a Fortitude or Will save as noted in the entry (DC 10 + ½ the expositor’s level + the expositor’s Wisdom modifier) to negate the additional effect (but not the damage). At 3rd level, the expositor can choose among the following options:
At 6th level, the following additional options become available:
At 9th level, the following additional options become available:
At 12th level the following additional options become available:
Omens (Su): An expositor is a living embodiment of their god’s power, and their mission is to reveal that power to the world. Unlike clerics and oracles, expositors have far fewer limits on their powers, and unless noted, an omen can be used at will without being expended. At 1st level, an expositor chooses 1 omen from the list of expositor omens. At 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, and 20th level, an expositor can learn an additional omen. At 6th, 11th, 16th, and 20th level, an expositor can unlearn any one omen they have learned and replace it with any other omen they have access to. Unless otherwise specified, omens are supernatural abilities with an effective caster level equal to their expositor level. When a save is mentioned, the DC is 10 + ½ the ability’s effective caster level + the expositor’s Wisdom modifier. If an omen duplicates a spell, using the omen to duplicate that effect requires the same amount of time as casting the spell (usually a standard action, but sometimes minutes or hours, as given in the description). Unless otherwise noted in a specific omen’s description, using an omen does not require material or focus components, unless those components have a value of 1 gp or more.
Signs: At 6th level, the expositor graduates from harbinger to herald and gains access to more powerful abilities, detailed on the list of expositor signs. Signs function just like omens and can be learned in place of an omen whenever an expositor could learn a new omen or exchange an old omen for a new one.
Wonders: At 11th level, the expositor is ready to exercise even more potent powers to bring glory and renown to their deity. Wonders, like signs, can be learned whenever a new omen could be learned or replaced.
Miracles: At 16th level, the expositor is an exarch of their god, embodying powers that cause the earth to tremble and the pillars of heaven to quake. Miracles function just like omens, signs and wonders and can be learned whenever a new omen could be learned or replaced.
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OMENS
Battle Orison: As the prayer spell. At 6th level, the penalty to enemy rolls increases by 1. At 11th level, the luck bonus to your allies’ rolls increases to +2. Note that spell resistance does not apply.
Thou Shalt: As the spell command, but those who succeed on their saves by 3 or less are still shaken for 1 round. At 11th level, this spell instead functions like greater command, and any creatures that succeed on their saves by 5 or less are shaken for 1d4+1 rounds.
Iconoclasm: As the shatter spell, but if a held object is successfully shattered, the wielder must make a Reflex save or catch fire. An unattended object immediately sets adjacent objects ablaze. The fire is half natural fire and half supernatural divine power.
Begone: As the spell scare, but the maximum HD affected is equal to your caster level + 4. Creatures take a -1 penalty on the save and to their effective Hit Dice for every step on the alignment spectrum separating them from the expositor (i.e. a LG expositor would impose a -2 penalty on a devil’s save and a -4 penalty on a demon’s save). At 11th level, this ability functions as the fear spell, with the save DC adjustments noted above. This ability can affect undead.
Augury: As the spell. At caster level 8th, the effect requires only 1 full round to activate and no longer requires material or focus components. At caster level 13th, it can be activated as a swift action. An expositor with this ability gains a +4 bonus on initiative checks.
Casting Stone: As the magic stone spell, but the stone’s enhancement bonus increases by +1 at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level, and the base damage is equal to that of the unarmed strike of a Medium-sized monk whose level is equal to the expositor’s caster level. The critical range of the stone is doubled. The stones also gain the thundering property.
Silencing Rebuke: As a standard action, the expositor can strike one living creature within close range dumb with a word or gesture. The creature cannot speak, sing, play wind instruments, cast spells with verbal components, use command-word-activated magic items, use roar, shriek, or wail abilities, or use breath weapons for 1d4+1 rounds unless it succeeds on a Will save. This is an evocation effect.
At 11th level, the expositor can target one creature per two caster levels, provided they are all within 30 feet of one another. At 16th level, this effect is permanent on all targets, who must receive a break enchantment, greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle, restoration, or wish to remove the effect.
SIGNS
Oneiromancy: The expositor can enter a trance (as per the dream spell) to scry on a creature as per the spell scrying, without an expensive material component or focus. They can also interpret a creature’s dream (including their own) to gain the benefits of a casting of the divination spell. Whether the expositor shares the contents of the divination truthfully is up to them. Usually, creatures can only remember their dreams well enough to be useful for one use per creature per day, though especially prophetic dreams can, at the gamemaster’s discretion, circumvent this limit. Describing the dream to the expositor takes one minute.
The expositor can also use dream at will, as the spell, and is immune to fear, phantasm, and nightmare effects. An expositor with this ability can make a Will save to disbelieve an illusion they perceive even if they have not interacted with it.
Geomancer's Gift: The expositor can use create food and water, detect poison, know direction, neutralize poison, remove disease, and purify food and drink, as the spells. He also becomes immune to poison, disease, hunger, thirst, heatstroke, frostbite, sunburn, snow blindness, altitude sickness, and fatigue from forced marching. They also gain the benefit of continuous greater age resistance and no longer need to sleep. At 11th level, he can use hero’s feast as the spell, but requiring only 5 minutes to consume rather than an hour.
Noontide: As the daylight spell, but all enemies within the radius are dazzled. Creatures with light sensitivity are treated as if possessing light blindness, while creatures with light blindness treat all creatures within the radius as having concealment even after they acclimatize. Undead and creatures that take extra damage from sunburst take 2d6 points of damage every round they remain in the light. Vampires must succeed on a Will save each round while within the radius or be dazed and blinded for 1 round.
Discerning Gaze: The expositor gains continuous see invisibility and aura sight. They can use the spell discern lies, and on a failed save also listen to the target’s surface thoughts for as long as they concentrate. Their discerning gaze abilities can overcome magic such as undetectable alignment and mind blank with a successful caster level check (DC 11 + enemy caster level). At 11th level, the expositor can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even supernatural darkness, and can duplicate the effects of a ring of X-ray vision without tiring. At 16th level, they can spend a move action to obtain the benefits of true seeing, as the spell, until the beginning of their next turn. At 20th level, true seeing does not require an action to maintain, and their X-ray vision extends to 30 feet and cannot be blocked by mundane materials.
Sky Chariot: The expositor conjures an unbreakable chariot pulled by one otherwordly horse per three caster levels (who follow the rules of the phantom steed spell, but have 10 hit points per caster level). The horses pull the chariot, which can only be driven by the expositor, but has room for one additional Medium creature per four levels. The total weight the horses can carry is equal to 10 pounds per caster level for each horse conjured. The horses have the trample ability, with an attack bonus equal to the expositor’s caster level plus their Wisdom modifier and dealing damage equal to 3d8 + their Wisdom modifier, as well as setting trampled creatures on fire. They can use their caster level in place of their skill ranks and their Wisdom modifier in place of their Dexterity modifier when making Ride and Fly checks with the celestial horses.
Dispel Heresy: As the spell dispel magic, except the expositor receives a +2 bonus on dispel checks against divine spells cast by followers of other deities and the spells and spell-like abilities of outsiders of an alignment two or more steps removed from their own. At 11th level, this ability can duplicate break enchantment, with the above bonus included. This break enchantment effect can be used as a standard action and has no caster level cap. At 16th level, this ability can create the effect of greater dispel magic, with the aforementioned circumstantial bonuses.
WONDERS
Blessing of Fervor: As the spell.
Recall to Life: As the spell raise dead. At 16th level, this ability functions as resurrection. At 20th level, it functions as true resurrection. Once per year, you can use this ability without paying material component costs.
Banish Adversary: You can use dismissal, as the spell, as well as dispel chaos/evil/good/law, as appropriate. The deflection bonuses do not stack if the attacker is diametrically opposed to your alignment. At 16th level, you can duplicate the effects of banishment, with your very presence counting as anathemic to creatures opposed to your alignment. Diametrically opposed creatures suffer both penalties.
Make Manifest: The expositor can produce the effects of the vision spell, and once per day can do so without material or focus components or growing fatigued. He can use commune, and once per week may do so without any material components. The expositor can also produce the effects of find the path and locate creature on demand.
Goetiac Ward: A creature you touch gains spell resistance 10 + your caster level and a resistance bonus on saves against spells and spell-like abilities equal to your Wisdom modifier (maximum of 1/3rd your caster level). These effects last for 1 minute per level, or until you use this ability on another creature. If a character has a familiar, bonded mount, or similar companion, it also receives this benefit.
Chosen Champion: The expositor can touch a creature and grant it the benefits of the greater heroism spell. The creature gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, all armor, and shields (including tower shields) while the effect lasts, and does not suffer arcane spell failure chance for wearing armor or using a shield. This ability lasts until the duration expires or the expositor uses the ability on another creature. If a character has a familiar, bonded mount, or similar companion, it also receives this benefit.
MIRACLES
Fatesight: The expositor can duplicate the effects of foresight and discern location. As a special use of this ability, the expositor can enter a trance--as described in the dream spell--for 1 hour, and learn the following facts about any creature they have seen before, either in person or by scrying:
*Its name, race, alignment, and character class.
*A general estimate of its level or Hit Dice: low (5 HD or lower), medium (6 to 11 HD), high (12 to 20 HD), very high (21 HD to 40 HD), or deific (41 HD or higher).
*Its location (including place of residence, town, country, world, and plane of existence).
*Significant items currently in its possession.
*Any significant activities or actions the creature has undertaken in the previous 8 hours, including details such as locales traveled through, the names or races of those the creature fought, spells or powers it has used, items it acquired, and items it left behind (including the location of those items).
*A current mental view of the creature, as described in the scrying spell, which you can maintain for up to 1 minute per level.
This use of fatesight can defeat spells and special abilities such as screen or mind blank (or even a wish spell) that normally obscure divination. You can attempt a caster level check (DC 11 + caster level of the creator of the obscuring effect, as appropriate) to defeat these sorts of otherwise impervious defenses.
Upon using the miracle in this way, you gain 1 temporary negative level that persists for only 24 hours but cannot be removed by any means before that point.
Blessing of the Highest: As a standard action, you can grant the benefits of the divine power spell to all allies within 60 feet for 1d4+1 rounds. Allies must remain within 60 feet of you to retain this bonus. A creature targeted by this ability cannot be targeted again for 1 minute after the effect expires.
Divine Direction: As the spell moment of prescience, with a range of touch. You can have only one divine direction effect active per 6 caster levels. No creature can activate divine direction more than once per 8 hours.
Numinous Aura: This ability functions as cloak of chaos/holy aura/shield of law/unholy aura, as appropriate to the expositor’s alignment. Negative effects for diametrically opposing alignments stack (i.e. a demon attacking a target warded by a LG expositor’s numinous aura could be both slowed and blinded). The resistance bonus and deflection bonus are equal to 1/4th the expositor’s caster level +2, and the spell resistance is equal to their caster level +10. For a true neutral expositor, creatures attacking the targets suffer no special effect, but the spell resistance applies to all harmful spells.
Shake the Pillars: As the earthquake spell. At caster level 20th, you may add your Wisdom modifier to Reflex save DCs and the damage per round inflicted on buried creatures.
Fury of the Deep: as the tsunami spell. Only one tsunami may be in effect at any one time.
Storm of Vengeance: As the spell. It does not require concentration, but only one storm of vengeance may be in effect at one time.
Whirlwind: You may use whirlwind, as the spell. Directing the whirlwind’s movements is a free action. Creating a new whirlwind while a whirlwind is already in effect causes the first whirlwind to become uncontrolled.
I like the class concept. I wish I had constructive advice about the bonuses stacking. Making it a morale bonus seems like the mechanical fix you need, but would remove the flavor you want. Is this class based somewhat on the Apostles? I kind of want to play a socially disruptive healer now.
How dare you make a divine class that has a useful at will multi-target blasting ability?!?!
Joking aside, it looks like you forgot to mention what action Blast Infidel actually is and I'm hesitant to allow at will dazing/paralyzing effects (you might want to take those out of Wages of Sin or at least bump them back a bit) but other than that I don't see any glaring issues.
I feel like the class would benefit from having access to cleric domain powers as it would help differentiate a follower of one religion from the next (especially since they already count as a cleric for the purpose of using scrolls and whatnot) and give a little bit more to play around with while also helping people set themes for their characters more easily.
All in all it's a fairly solid first draft, you might want to spend a little bit of time on cleaning up how abilities scale as you level since the explanations could be truncated a bit to reduce some of the redundancy. For example, with Blast Infidel you list the level 20 damage die increase before the increase to the number of targets at level 6 and then make your way back up to level 20 again to state how the number of targets increases there as well. Just put both halves of the bonuses to the ability that you get at level 20 in the same sentence, it smooths out reading the section considerably.
Editing and clarity of language go a long way in making your class more professional feeling and easier to understand. Having said that, I do like the concept of the class quite a bit and am interested in seeing how the final draft turns out.
Joking aside, it looks like you forgot to mention what action Blast Infidel actually is
Supernatural abilities that require an action are standard actions unless otherwise noted, as per the core rules.
and I'm hesitant to allow at will dazing/paralyzing effects (you might want to take those out of Wages of Sin or at least bump them back a bit) but other than that I don't see any glaring issues.
I tried to learn the lesson that Dazing Spell taught us all, and put the mind-affecting compulsion descriptors on it (and the Paralysis; the ability to affect undead is a nod to the halt undead spell) clear as day. Some of the other wages have the pain descriptor, which lets the 2nd-level spell delay pain grant immunity for 1 hour/level.
I feel like the class would benefit from having access to cleric domain powers as it would help differentiate a follower of one religion from the next (especially since they already count as a cleric for the purpose of using scrolls and whatnot) and give a little bit more to play around with while also helping people set themes for their characters more easily.
God yes. I so want this to be more than "Can I interest you in the word of our Lord Crystal Dragon Jesus?"
All in all it's a fairly solid first draft, you might want to spend a little bit of time on cleaning up how abilities scale as you level since the explanations could be truncated a bit to reduce some of the redundancy. For example, with Blast Infidel you list the level 20 damage die increase before the increase to the number of targets at level 6 and then make your way back up to level 20 again to state how the number of targets increases there as well. Just put both halves of the bonuses to the ability that you get at level 20 in the same sentence, it smooths out reading the section considerably.
Editing and clarity of language go a long way in making your class more professional feeling and easier to understand. Having said that, I do like the concept of the class quite a bit and am interested in seeing how the final draft turns out.
You have no idea how much I appreciate that. I'll be incorporating changes based on your feedback.
I'm going to take a closer look at this later.