If I'm honest, I fail to see how this makes monks obsolete. While the hero is a cool class, it hardly feels like it replaces my drunken master qinggong sensei whose boozy cheerleading makes my allies grow barkskin.
I'm mostly annoyed because this bears some eerie similarities to a homebrew class I've been working on myself (but not quickly enough, clearly!), but I'll try to tamp down my competitive urges and give it an honest assessment.
I think this looks good overall. It's nice to see a powerful martial class. We should have more of them. That being said, with the generally modular feel of these guys, it might not be crazy to allow them to pick two good saves at 1st level, instead of simply handing out all three as good ones. They already get to pick what ability score to base their heroism on, so a little more choice couldn't hurt, I don't think. Other than that, I think it could be nifty if the spell defense exploit granted SR instead of a save bonus (10 + level, maybe?). I just like that idea for some reason.
I'll post more if I come up with any other notes. Them's my thoughts for now though.
Cheers,
- Gears
I'm not crazy about all the abilities that give you tons of extra attacks (even the monk doesn't get that much!). Also, the Signature Equipment allows you to get a +6 weapon, which isn't possible unless mythic rules.
Other than that, it looks rather solid! Your hard work shows.
Thanks you for your input RedDingo. The full-BAB and all good saves was something I decided on from the very beginning and was to be the foundation for the class. There were other design goals, but that was all covered in my original thread. Outside of that, there is little that can be done at 1st level. The skill list is fairly mundane, and then there are few tricks she can perform a limited number of times per day. The size of the point pool was something I worked on. A larger size was chosen so that I could have more freedom in the number of points that each exploit costs. Reducing the size of the poll would require changing the cost of each exploit and possibly making them more or less powerful.
Would it be better if the pool was 2 points per level, without adding the heroic bonus? Take a look at the exploits that she can perform at first level. Let's say her heroic bonus is +2 and she has four points in her pool. Is it overpowered to perform one of those exploits four times per day?
EG,
I agree that the only monk toe this steps on is saving throws, but that it's the only thing the two classes have in common. How would you write a SR exploit? I feel like I would have to jack up the point cost for such an ability, unless the SR was narrow in focus. For example, SR against one school or descriptor.
Yeah, that was sort of exactly what I meant. Since the spell defense exploit as written grants a save bonus against a single descriptor (I would possibly add in schools/subschools as options as well), I figured it could instead grant SR against a descriptor/school. I only thought of this because the class already seems to be doing pretty good when it comes to saves, and I just felt like SR would fit that particular exploit better.
Should I come up with something more interesting than a bonus to saving throws?
Well, I just thought SR could be neat. You don't get many class features granting SR, in general, and when you do they tend to be clunky. Since your existing ability already works only against a single descriptor, I thought that seemed like a rather elegant opportunity to create a balanced SR-granting class feature. Since it's only against one school/descriptor, it's less likely to mess with your allies' spells (and thus you don't have to figure out whether to allow it to be lowered more quickly than normal, etc.). At the same time, this limitation also makes it less powerful, meaning that you can grant solid SR (11 + class level, say) without feeling like you're making the character too broadly impervious to magic.
I'm never a fan of spell resistance. Especially when there's a host of mechanical problems with it. Heck, even some of the Pathfinder designers hate how it works.
Sorry EG, I completely asked the wrong question. Should I come up with a brand new exploit that has nothing to do with resisting spells, such as one that helps with AC, mobility, or another category? Currently 10th level has two exploits related to saving throws.
Yeah, I think that might be a good idea. You could perhaps nix Spell Defense for something more proactive, like allowing you to spend exploit points to attempt to deflect a spell targeting you or something. Basically, expend exploit points equal to the spell's level as an immediate action, and then make an attack roll as a dispel check, maybe at a penalty to account for how relatively easy it is to accrue attack roll bonuses. Actually, the check could be just d20 + BAB + the enhancement bonus on the weapon used to parry the spell. It would make sense to require a magic weapon in order to parry a spell. If this seems too powerful, you could always limit it to a school or a descriptor, and of course the spell must first be identified via Spellcraft.
That's just something off the top of my head, but it would add more variety to the 10th-level exploits, as opposed to two save-themed abilities. I'm not sure about the power level, but I feel like there are many tweakable parameters in the suggestion to help with that.
Here are some ideas for a replacement:
1) An ability that allows her to use a move action as a swift action, but it can't involve movement, such as stand up, sheath weapon, get a potion,
2) When she suffers ability damage or drain, she lessens the amount.
3) Turn a critical hit on her into a normal hit.
4) Make an attack as a move action or swift action. Since I already have the double attack, triple attack, etc. exploits that all deal with primary attacks, I wanted to make something that had to do with an off-hand attack, elbow/kick/headbutt, the non-striking part of a weapon (improvised).
5) Gain a bonus to AC vs AoO while moving, or movement that does not provoke from a single enemy.
I definitely like the convert-move-to-swift idea above the other ones. You could allow performing any move-equivalent action that doesn't actually involve moving from your current space as a swift action, and possibly also allow limited movement (1/2 base speed or 5-10 feet or something) as a swift action, all at the expense of exploit points, of course.
Sudden Action: As a swift action, the hero can use any move action that does not cause her to move out of her current square. This one deals with action economy.
Resist Debilitation: As an immediate action made when the hero suffers ability damage or ability drain, she can reduce the amount of ability damage by 2 or the amount of ability drain by 1. At 16th level, she can reduce the amount of ability damage by 4 or the amount of ability drain by 2. This one is sort of sets up the capstone ability.
Fortified Defense: As an immediate action made when an enemy conforms a critical hit against the hero, it rolls damage against her as though the attack's critical multiplier was 1 less (minimum X1). Negating the critical hit would be simpler, but this still allows X3 and X4 to get some of the extra damage in, and still allows for special effects that trigger off of a crit.
Unexpected Strike: As a swift action, the hero can make an special attack from an from an expected source (such as an elbow, hilt of a weapon, or the corner of a shield). For this check, she rolls d20 + her hero level + her heroic bonus in place of her normal attack roll. If successful, the attack deals 1d8 + her heroic bonus bludgeoning damage and the enemy suffers a -2 penalty to attack for 1 round. Sub-optimal attack for the character level, but maybe useful conditionally.
Daring Advance: As a move action, the hero chooses one enemy she is aware of and then moves her speed. During this movement, she does not provoke attacks of opportunity from that enemy. Helps get closer to an enemy.
Daring Advance should maybe have some kind of text explaining that you need to take as direct a path as possible towards your target, but otherwise I think these look good. I actually really like the fortified defense one. It's more interesting than a flat-out crit denial. Unexpected strike is cool too I think.
Maybe change Daring Advance into a charge that avoids AoO from the target? Unexpected Strike is kind of sloppy. I changed it several times, but still isn't unite what I wanted.