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So I've created a class called the Biurge that is basically a sort of spell-less minion-mancer/healer based around the theme of magical genetic engineering, visceral life magic, mutants and so on. Inspired by Giger and Cronenberg and the Simic Combine from Magic: the Gathering, et cetera. Presented here for your reading pleasure if this sounds like the sort of thing that might tickle your fancy.
The Biurge - This is the class itself.
Biurge Adaptations - These are the biurge's selectable abilities, similar to an alchemist's discoveries, etc..
Biurge Mutants and Mutations - Mutants are short-lived aberrations that biurges create and use in combat.
Any and all comments are welcome, though more specifically constructive criticism regarding balance would be appreciated. This class aims to fall slightly below the power level of its spiritual cousin the Summoner, so corrections geared towards that goal would be especially helpful.
EDIT: Hale mutation changed to read:
"Hale (Ex)
The mutant changes its Constitution score to progress as per the slower of the two 'Str or Dex' progressions on Table: Mutant. The biurge must be at least 9th level before selecting this mutation."
I'm already using Mutant as something permanently mutated from a normal creature. Can you call them Mutemps?
Are mutenps under the control of the mutator, like a summoned creature?
With leveled mutations, the subject is more powerful as their initial save is more resistant.
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Well, considering that there are only so many "speculative fiction" terms out there, there's bound to be a lot of overlap in Pathfinder terminology, especially when taking homebrew and 3pp into account. I might change the name if people don't think "mutant" makes sense. I don't like the sound of "mutemp" though. Don't even know what that means.
The biurge controls her own mutants, yes, as if they were summoned creatures. It's in the "Nucleus" section of the main class description.
Your last comment about leveled mutations I'm afraid I don't grasp. Care to clarify?
It's a topic I started. Basically, if something grows wings, a first level or one dice creature will only be able to glide. Your temporarily mutating magic probably allows a save, while a dire rat is most likely to fail that save. An Ogre is more likely to save, but if they fail, they can truly fly.
Dot for interest, there's a lot to see here. Loving the art, but there should probably be a credits section unless you drew it all yourself.
Mutant sounds fine to me. Mutemps/mutenps I definitely do not like. Frankly there are a lot of things out there using that term for different things, I agree that avoiding overlap is near impossible.
Also GG do you have a source on the rule that a 1-HD/1-level creature can only glide or is that a houserule of yours or something?
That's my houserule. It provides game balance. A character that can take off like a rocket at first level will overshadow the other characters, and monsters should have the same restrictions.
Ah. Fair enough, but it's excessively confusing if you try to give feedback to people with a houserule without pointing out it is a houserule. I've personally never had a problem with it, between having two flying races in my homebrew setting and having a handful of Warlocks and Dragonfire Adepts with flying ability in the past.
(Also your houserule screws over... well, pretty much every flying Animal and Vermin in the game that's smaller than a hawk. ;) So no flying for your average small bird, bat, or insect?)
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About the art; it's just some random art off of some Magic: the Gathering cards. The one for Mutants is some PF art. I just found these while doing Google image searches for appropriate pictures. It's not like I'm trying to sell this or anything. I see people using random internet art on like optimization guides and stuff all the time without naming the artist. Is there some rule I'm unaware of here?
Also, er, yes; I'd rather hear what people think of this class in the context of the actual PF rules, rather than how it relates to some houserule or other. There are other threads for discussing house rules I am sure. This one's supposed to be about ye olde biurge.
No, no rule. It's just courteous to give credit, is all =)
I'm loving the concept and everything's very professional-looking. Wednesdays are my busy day but I should be able to get you some more thorough feedback within a day or two.
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Oh, alright, fair enough. I didn't mean to be rude. I guess that kind of thing just never strikes me for some reason. I feel silly now. I'll name them here then. The ones in "Biurge" in were by Mike Bierek (top) and Karl Kopinski (bottom). The ones in "Adaptations" were by Willian Murai (top) and Ryan Barger (bottom). The one for "Mutants" was by Jason Rainville.
Sorry if I offended anyone. It makes perfect sense naming them, I agree. Anyway, yeah, them's some awesome pics. The Simic Combine from M:TG were a big inspiration for the class' flavor, as mentioned in the OP.
EDIT: Cheers, Orthos. Looking forward to hearing what you think!
EDIT II: For people who find the frankly rather large amount of paperwork dealing with mutants and phenotypes will involve, I am working on "The Demiurge", a sort of Frankenstein-esque archetype that only has a single supermutant to pal around with. If people don't find the base class as a whole wholly unworkable or something, I may post that later if folks wanna see it.
Why does Living Weapon make the object shrink if it's a one handed or two handed weapon? One handed weapons made for medium creatures are small sized, and two handed weapons made for medium creatures are medium sized. But then when they grow limbs and become ambulatory, they get smaller? It seems really weird.
Also, there are abilities (like Resilient Mutants) that imply you could have both curative and mutative nuclei, but as far as I can tell that's impossible since you pick one or the other at 1st level.
Other than that bit of strangeness, it looks really cool. The mutant summoning option seems very much like the summoner, but done with way better discipline in controlling available bonuses (no stat bloat with size increases, no pounce until 10th level, no way to pump Strength to absurd levels).
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That thing about living weapons was simply me not knowing the appropriate size categories for weapons. A living weapon should retain the same size as it did before being animated. I'll correct that.
Those abilities imply that because that is indeed how it works. My wording must have been off. At 1st level the biurge can create both curative and mutative nuclei, chosen each time she prepares one. Changing the wording of the Nucleus section to clarify.
Thanks. Yes, the whole idea behind mutants was to sort of blend the eidolon and summoner monster SLA's of the summoner into a single class feature that didn't feel overpowered. Also, as I made pounce require taking two instances of a 2-point mutation and waiting until 10th level before it kicked in...I realized it was still a super-strong ability and suspected I was on the right track balance-wise. Thank you very much for reading and glad you enjoyed it.
EDIT:
Nucleus now says: "At 1st level, the biurge can create both curative nuclei, which heal living creatures and harm undead and constructs, and mutative nuclei, which upon impact animate into unstable biomagical aberrations called mutants, choosing which each time she creates a new nucleus. Each of these effects is described below."
Living Weapon says: "The living weapon has the base statistics of an animated object matching the size of the kind of weapon it was animated from..."
Birds and bats evolved hundreds of generations ago. Also, they have wings instead of fully functioning arms. A mutant has wings in addition to the normal body. Birds and bats are fragile. I'll look at your thing as long as you glance at mine. They might be completely incompatible. If that's the case, it might be hard to use your system with the furnace room in the Cleaves.
I looked at it, and these are brand new living constructs. They are not made from anything. I'll have to reread your posts, as you might have called this a sort of alchemical summoner. It's going to take a lot of time to draw up each creature the character can create, for the player and GM. You are free to adapt any of the mutations I've drawn up already. The aberration mutation I based on the bloodline has the acid spewing trait already. Good luck to you.
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I have to say, I find your posts very cryptic, Goth Guru. You seem to be making a lot of references to things and terms I have no idea what they mean or what their relevance to the topic at hand are. I'll gladly check your thread out and would be very happy if you felt like reading the biurge. What does "the furnace room in the Cleaves" mean? And what is the title of the thread you'd like me to take a gander at?
EDIT: Found your thread.
And yes; the class is a lot of bookkeeping. For some people that's a complete no-no, though I think if the biurge player is up to the task it shouldn't put too much of a burden on the GM. However, for some people that sort of thing is a complete no-no, hence my reference to the demiurge archetype above.
Here's the link.
Go to Leveled Mutations.
The Cleaves is a sort of space dungeon several of the long time contributors worked on. The magical furnace room powers the Cleaves by burning treasure. A character can get a part of an artifact by grabbing it out, but they will or may gain a mutation. I'll bump the basic Cleaves files.
Yeah, mutations that effect existing creatures have almost nothing to do with this topic. Sorry.
When the endearing simpleton dies and melts, doesn't that make everyone affected cry? That would be devastating.
Even more depressing is a one winged mutant. It would go around in circles and never get off the ground.
Well, technically, just a single wing still grants it a fly speed. I'm not focusing on hyperrealism with these guys. Maybe a single wing could represent a gliding membrane or something. I know that shouldn't really equate to a fly speed, but I'm not delving into that level of detailed or accruate simulation. Same goes for the endearing simpleton. I'm sure it should and hopefully would make any right-minded people cry, but that's too fiddly to work into the mechanics. That's what good old-fashioned RP is for.
...also, tiny fist bump upwards for the biurge.
Cheers. I poured a lot of time into this class, so I'm very thrilled if someone likes it and wants to play one or use as an NPC in a campaign.