ZEALOT
Class Skill: In addition to the standard class skills of the vigilante, the zealot vigilante also gains the following class skills: Climb (Str), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge nature (Int), Knowledge planes (Int), Knowledge religion (Int), Ride (Dex), Survival (Str), Swim (Str).
Base Ability: The zealot vigilante gains the following ability, regardless of his current identity.
Penitent Stance (Ex): At 1st level, the zealot is adept at opening himself to attacks. He can enter a Penitent Stance as a swift action. While in a Penitent Stance, he takes a penalty to his AC and Reflex saving throws equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1), but gains a bonus on Fortitude and Will saving throws equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1). In addition, each round as a free action, he gains a number of bonus hit points equal to his class level multiplied by his Charisma modifier (minimum 1); these bonus hit points last 1 round or until reduced by damage.
Vigilante Talents: A zealot vigilante can select from any of the following vigilante talents.
At Death’s Door (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent gains Diehard as a bonus feat. For a number of rounds per day equal to his class level, the zealot vigilante gains fast healing equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1) when he is at or below 0 hit points; these rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Blessed Bastion (Su): The zealot vigilante uses his class level as his BAB when determining his CMD; in addition he adds his Charisma modifier to his CMD. Any space adjacent to or occupied by the zealot vigilante is considered difficult terrain to his opponents.
Call Out (Ex): As a swift action, the zealot vigilante can provoke his opponents into attacking him in preference to all other enemies. The zealot vigilante makes an Intimidate check opposed by his opponent’s Sense Motive checks; if the zealot vigilante succeeds his opponents attack him (or move to attack him) for 1 round, plus 1 round for every 10 points the zealot vigilante beat his opponent’s check. The opponents must be able to see or hear the zealot vigilante and have an Intelligence score of 3 or greater. This is a mind-affecting effect.
Creepy (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent may make a Bluff check in place of an Intimidate check on creatures at least one size larger than him, but he suffers a -10 penalty on Diplomacy checks.
Divine Bastion (Su): As a swift action, the zealot vigilante can enter a divinely empowered stance that grants him a sacred bonus to his CMD equal to 1/2 his vigilante level (minimum 1). At 5th level, the zealot vigilante also grants this bonus to allies who are adjacent to him. He can use this ability a number of rounds each day equal to its vigilante level. The rounds need not be consecutive. Ending the stance is a free action.
Domain: Like a cleric’s deity, a zealot vigilante’s deity influences his alignment, what magic he can perform, and his values. Although not as tied to the tenets of the deity as a cleric, a zealot vigilante must still hold such guidelines in high regard, despite that fact he can go against them if it serves his crusade and goals. A zealot vigilante who takes this talent selects one domain from among those belonging to his deity. He can select an alignment domain only if his alignment matches that domain.
Each domain grants a number of domain powers, depending on the level of the zealot vigilante. A zealot doesn’t gain the bonus spells listed for each domain, nor does he gain bonus spell slots. The zealot vigilante’s effective cleric level is equal to his vigilante level for determining the power and effect of his domain powers. If the zealot vigilante has cleric levels, one of his two domain selections must be the same domain selected for this talent. Levels of cleric and vigilante stack for the purpose of determining domain powers and abilities, but not for bonus spells.
Fear is the Mind Killer (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent may choose to make an opponent confused instead of shaken when he succeeds on an Intimidate check to demoralize a foe.
Fervor (Ex): The zealot vigilante adds his Charisma modifier to his initiative checks and can take both an immediate action and a swift action each round. He gains a +10 foot bonus to his speed during the surprise round and the first round of combat if he moves towards an opponent or between an opponent and an ally.
Life Bond (Ex): As an immediate action after an ally within 30 feet is damaged by an attack or an effect, the zealot vigilante can create a bond between himself and that ally. The zealot vigilante then takes half of the damage that the ally would have taken once that attack’s damage is mitigated by any resistances, damage reduction, or other protections possessed by that ally. The damage taken by a zealot vigilante using this ability cannot be reduced in any way. The zealot vigilante can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 + his Charisma bonus. A zealot vigilante must be at least 4th level to take this talent.
No Pain, No Gain (Ex): Whenever a zealot vigilante with this talent is subjected to a single attack that does damage greater than or equal to his character level, he gains a bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 1) for 1 round. Additional hits during the same round increase the bonus to attack and damage rolls by +1.
Penance Gaze (Su): A zealot vigilante with this talent gains a gaze attack he can use for a number of rounds per day equal to his vigilante level. The rounds need not be consecutive. Activating the gaze is a swift action that lasts until the start of the zealot’s next turn, at which point he has the option to continue it as a free action or end the effect. This is a gaze attack (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 300); enemy targets must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC = 10 + half the zealot vigilante’s level + zealot vigilante’s Charisma modifier) or become shaken and also take a –2 penalty on saves against fear effects for 1 minute. A creature that successfully saves against penance gaze cannot be affected by same zealot vigilante’s penance gaze for 24 hours. A zealot vigilante must be at least 8th level to select this talent.
Penitent Wards (Su): Whenever the zealot vigilante enters his Penitent Stance, he gains the benefits of one of the following Penitent Wards. He can change to a different Penitent Ward as a swift action.
Celerity: The zealot vigilante gains a +10 foot bonus to his speed. This increases by 5 feet at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Durability: The zealot vigilante gains DR/- equal to half his level.
Purity: The zealot vigilante gains a +1 sacred bonus to his Saving Throws. This increases by +1 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Resistance: The zealot vigilante chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. He gains energy resistance 5 against the selected energy type; this resistance increase by 5 at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter.
Vitality: The zealot vigilante reduces the amount of ability damage, ability drain, and bleed damage he suffers from by 1. This improves by 1 at 5th level and every level thereafter.
At 8th level, the zealot vigilante benefits from 2 different Penitent Wards when he enters a Penitent Stance. At 16th level, the zealot vigilante benefits from 3 different Penitent Wards when he enters a Penitent Stance.
Second Wind (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent can use a swift action to regain a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + his class level. This increases by 1d8 at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter. The zealot vigilante can use this ability a number of times per day equal to his Charisma modifier.
Shield Allies (Su): A zealot vigilante with this talent adds his Charisma modifier (minimum 1) to the AC and CMD to a number of allies (but not himself) within his reach equal to half his class level.
Stalwart (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent can use mental and physical resilience to avoid certain attacks. If he succeeds at a Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, he avoids the effect entirely. A helpless zealot vigilante doesn’t gain the benefit of this ability. A zealot vigilante must be 12th level before selecting this talent.
Stern Gaze (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent is skilled at sensing deception and intimidating his foes. The zealot vigilante gains a morale bonus on all Intimidate and Sense Motive checks equal to 1/2 his vigilante level (minimum +1).
Strike Fear In Their Hearts (Ex): A zealot vigilante with this talent may make a free Intimidate check against an opponent he successfully hits with an attack of opportunity.
Track (Ex): The zealot vigilante adds a bonus equal to 1/2 his vigilante level (minimum +1) on Survival checks made to follow or identify tracks.
Vengeful Strike (Ex): The zealot vigilante gains Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat, and he may use his Charisma modifier in place of his Dexterity modifier when determining how many attacks of opportunity he may make per round. Whenever an opponent successfully hits the zealot vigilante, it provokes an Attack of Opportunity from the zealot vigilante.
Zealous Strike (Ex): Whenever an opponent successfully hits an ally of the zealot vigilante, it provokes an Attack of Opportunity from the zealot vigilante. The zealot vigilante must have the Vengeful Strike talent before selecting this talent.
I don't hate it.
You might want to format the Penitent Wards so that it's easier to see what is a ward and what isn't.
There's some interesting ideas here, but IMO some questionable ones too.
Penitent Stance: Free HP every round? Isn't that a bit OP? Say a 5th level Zealot with Cha 18 would get 20HP/rnd and in a 5 round combat that's 100 free HP for a character that may have only around 40HP in the first place.
Creepy: I don't get this one. I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. How is this being creepy? What is the mechanic doing for the character?
Fervor: With all the discussion over the reasons that Swift, and thereby Immediate, actions are the only action that specifically limits to one per round, because of the kids of things Swift actions are often used for and regardless of what else you can do for whatever reason, this could be a serious OP issue.
Penance Gaze (Ghost Rider, hehehe): If it's save or be affected for a minute, why would you need to continue the gaze for additional rounds? Why not just a standard action? Otherwise there should be some different/additional effect that requires continuing the gaze.
Second Wind: Are we playing 4e or Pathfinder? :-P
Penitent Wards: Some are pretty powerful, should there be a minimum level to take them?
Vengeful Strike: Would this apply to any available AoO in a round, or only if the zealot were hit?
Zealous Strike: Doesn't the foe who his the ally have to be adjacent to the zealot for something like this to work? Or can you take this strike on an adjacent foe when the ally was 30' away and struck by a different foe?
There's some interesting ideas here, but IMO some questionable ones too.
Penitent Stance: Free HP every round? Isn't that a bit OP? Say a 5th level Zealot with Cha 18 would get 20HP/rnd and in a 5 round combat that's 100 free HP for a character that may have only around 40HP in the first place.
Creepy: I don't get this one. I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. How is this being creepy? What is the mechanic doing for the character?
Fervor: With all the discussion over the reasons that Swift, and thereby Immediate, actions are the only action that specifically limits to one per round, because of the kids of things Swift actions are often used for and regardless of what else you can do for whatever reason, this could be a serious OP issue.
Penance Gaze (Ghost Rider, hehehe): If it's save or be affected for a minute, why would you need to continue the gaze for additional rounds? Why not just a standard action? Otherwise there should be some different/additional effect that requires continuing the gaze.
Second Wind: Are we playing 4e or Pathfinder? :-P
Penitent Wards: Some are pretty powerful, should there be a minimum level to take them?
Vengeful Strike: Would this apply to any available AoO in a round, or only if the zealot were hit?
Zealous Strike: Doesn't the foe who his the ally have to be adjacent to the zealot for something like this to work? Or can you take this strike on an adjacent foe when the ally was 30' away and struck by a different foe?
Penitent Stance: Maybe my wording is a little unclear. They get the bonus hit points for only 1 round, so that 5th level zealot with 18 Charisma would get +20 hit points for 1 round, and then if he gets hit, "fast heals" them back to +20 hit points in round 2; if he doesn't get hit, they remain at +20 (not +40). Basically, the zealot is supposed to soak a ton of damage and be an easy and attractive target to NPCs. Since he's built on a chassis with d8 HD and not d12 HD, I wanted to come up with a way to grant him some staying power.
Creepy: This ability is intended to make Small and smaller zealots viable. Intimidate checks normally have a size-based penalty, and I wanted to have a way to eliminate that. They demoralize through repulsion, not fear.
Fervor: I was going to design more swift and immediate action abilities for the zealot, and then didn't. I've been playing a lot of 5th Edition lately, and separation of Bonus Actions and Reactions in 5th Edition make keeping track of actions a lot easier than Pathfinder's Swift and Immediate actions (did I use an immediate action last round? So can I use a Swift action this round?). I can totally tone this down to just be a version Cunning Initiative.
Penance Gaze: I just copied-and-pasted this from the playtest document.
Second Wind: The role the zealot is supposed to play (tank, damage soak) eats up a lot of hit points. I figured it could use a way to self-heal, like the barbarian's Renewed Vigor rage power or the paladin's Lay on Hands abilities.
Penitent Wards: Based on the inquisitor's judgments, I tried to make them so they are mostly defensive.
Vengeful Strike: Opponents hitting the zealot in melee provoke an Attack of Opportunity from the zealot. Should this be limited to once per round per opponent so the zealot doesn't get 6 AoOs against a Great Two Weapon Fighting, er, fighter?
Zealous Strike: I should have worded this so it is clear that the AoO is against the specific opponent that made the attack.
Thanks for all the great questions! :-D
This version of the zealot is designed to put himself in harms way and take hits away from his allies. He is also supposed to be very intimidating and use the Intimidate skill as a de-buffer of sorts. He should be very durable, and yet be a target that NPCs want to hit, and possibly even more importantly, are capable of hitting. I imagine would wear light or no armor, and probably wield two-handed and/or reach weapons, since the damage multiplier of the zealot is the Attack of Opportunity. I'm considering adding a talent that lets him treat his level as his BAB when determining his CMB, so he can perform combat maneuvers that then lead to AoOs he can exploit. Some zealots might even dump Dexterity, but that would affect Stealth, which is probably an important skill for most vigilantes.
No,I understood about Penitent Stance that is not cumulative, but it resets every round, kind of like having Fast Healing 20, which could absorbs an average damage Fireball at CL 5 every round without bothering to save. IDK, that just sounds like a lot to me. Project it out to level 20 with a Cha 26, that's like Fast Healing 160, which will suck up a Symbol of Death, or most of a CL 20 Finger of Death each and every round. What about some extra HP like a False Life that can regenerate at a couple points a round, a scaling DR/- and a scaling Fortification effect? The zealot doesn't have to shoulder all the damage for the entire party, just pull extra his way so the rest can gang up on the BBEG. With the DR here you can save a slot not needing Durability.
Fervor: I like this idea better, gets him into the fray more quickly to use Penitant Stance.
Second Wind: What about making this a (Sp) instead of (Ex) with an explanation something like Minor Spell Expert starting with with CLW and scaling up. This explanation and the free free HP from the stance make these numerous uses more balanced and these talents more complementary.
Vengeful Strike: Yes once per round per foe sounds good.
It's an interesting build, I like divine casters and was a little disappointed in what the zealot offered, but hopefully the devs will take some of these ideas to separate the zealot from the inquisitor.
Yeah, that IS a lot of fast healing, but a zealot with Cha 26 is also taking a -8 to AC and Reflex saves, so you know the minions of that Finger of Deather are dropping tons of Power Attacks and Fireballs and Quickened Intensified Lightning Bolts and Quickened Enervations.
But Fast Healing 160 DOES sound like Uber Epic Mythic DM Fiatasaurus....
EDIT:
My original idea for Penitent Stance was gaining 1d6+Cha modifier hit points at 1st level, +1d6 at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. But I didn't want to make the PC roll every round.
So instead of making the HP regenerate every round, make it an X times per day with your d6 progression and add in those other things I mentioned. The zealot shouldn't stand there like a lump on a log and take all the hits the whole combat, but maybe make a taunt get everyone focused on him the first round, then the rest of the party is in the mix with a slight advantage from the zealot's sacrifice, and then the zealot can start using his spells and other talents.
Should it be 4 + Cha rounds per day, +2 per level after first, like the Unchained barbarian? At 20th level, the Unchained barbarian gets +80 hit points on top of their 20d12 + 20 x Con mod hit points.
My version of the zealot doesn't have spells.
I think the warlock should have the option to select Arcane Training I or Divine Training I (cleric spells) at 1st level, then have Arcane Training I-VI AND Divine Training I-VI be talents that can be selected. So if the warlock wants to, it can spend all of its talents on Arcane and Divine Training and get 6th level spells in one and 5th level spells in the other.
That sounds good, more of a foaming at the mouth religious zealot class. With powers like a divine rage, which makes the idea of scaling DR and fortification fit right in.
Oh yeah! I forgot fortification!!! That would be real useful!
And mortification of the flesh!