Morph Mage, My New Class!

[Rogar Stonebow]

So I created a class because I wanted a character that can be great at impersonating other people, even other races. while being fairly decent in combat. It is similar to the wild shape ability but different. The "mage" part is a misnomer, as he can not really cast spells, but it was the only name I could think of. Please take a look at it and give me some helpful advice. Thanks

here

[VoodistMonk]

It has a Phantom Thief Rogue vibe to it... which I am guessing is very much the point.

Mechanically it appears to be very core Monk.

And it is fundamentally different from the Vigilante in that you are actually changing your body, rather than wearing a disguise.

Not bad, overall, in my opinion. Not really the area that I have interest in, but for a spy, I could see the appeal.

I don't see anything glaringly wrong with your Morphmage, rather than some random grammar mistakes in the document, but I don't want to be that guy.

[Rogar Stonebow]

VoodistMonk wrote:

It has a Phantom Thief Rogue vibe to it... which I am guessing is very much the point.

Mechanically it appears to be very core Monk.

And it is fundamentally different from the Vigilante in that you are actually changing your body, rather than wearing a disguise.

Not bad, overall, in my opinion. Not really the area that I have interest in, but for a spy, I could see the appeal.

I don't see anything glaringly wrong with your Morphmage, rather than some random grammar mistakes in the document, but I don't want to be that guy.

Thanks for the observations. I am not familiar with the Phantom Thief Rogue, I will look it up! It does have some similarities to the monk, but I didn't want it to up stage the monk either.

As far as grammar is concerned, I can address those, I am not a grammar expert.

[Rogar Stonebow]

Does anyone else have any input?

[Gradient the Gray]

Rogar Stonebow wrote:

Does anyone else have any input?

I'm not sure if you plan on playing this or offering the choice to other people. I'll offer my opinion as if you were my gm and asked me if I wanted to play it or review it.

The first thing I noticed was dead levels, that's never a good feeling as a player.

I think it would benefit from full BAB, being a 3/4th bab class with a D8 hit die is kind of rough. I might even bump the HD up to 10. and int p/l up to 6 while dropping the strength/con increases altogether and the fort/will saves down to 3/4. It's already going to have monster saves.

The ac bonus, I wouldn't be sure when it does and doesn't apply, it could use a clause similar to that of the monk.

Target knowledge could be more interesting, why not make it key off whatever the morph mage turns into instead of just skill focus? For example if the morph mage turns into a fey let him add half his level to checks regarding fey essentially making it a floating knowledge check boost and making it much more flexible. at 8 he could gain the class skills creatures of his form have.

weapon morph intentioned should be intended. Otherwise I like this, though I might make it so range can only morph to range and melee can only morph to melee.

The level 10 power should come much sooner, otherwise you're locked out of using most of the features of this class for most of the day. Assuming you're not just using it to fight that might suck. Each burning of those increments would make me feel squeezed. As once you're out you're just a s~$+ty rogue.

I don't like enhanced body, having stat increases baked into a class feels like "Here take this bonus to scores you care about because I can't find something cool" Why not make it so you crit easier on creatures who's form you've assumed? Or if you would prefer a more espionage route, give the morph mage the ability to burn extra uses of his morph to meld two templates.

Anywho, I like the concept but I think it needs more work to be something I would be excited to implement

[Yaba]

Personally I think ability boosts are fine as class perks. Don't call it a racial bonus though, because the bonuses aren't tied to a race or an assumed form. Make sure to state whether they stack with magical ability boosts from spells or magic items. (Both direct spells like Bull's Strength and indirect spells like Polymorph need to be addressed.) Also, when you say the enhanced body bonus increases "by +4", you need to clarify. Does this make the bonus to each ability score +4 total bonus or +6 total bonus?

I agree with the dead levels issue, especially at level 5 when many classes get big perks. I notice some features include multiple benefits, so you could try naming the benefits separately and staggering them. Although the dead levels are not REALLY dead, because Body Morph adds options at those levels. Maybe clarify this in the chart.

Speaking of which, the phrasing for Body Morph isn't great. I have some concerns about the balance as well, particularly if someone plays a Ghoran or a fey race that is made for PC use, because it opens up powers of other such creatures too early to be balanced. I suggest a different approach. Let the Morphmage mimic the physical appearance at first level for any of the listed creature types (think D&D 3rd edition changeling), then at subsequent levels grant scaling access to the racial traits (including movement modes, EX and SU powers) of the assumed forms. You can use the polymorph subschool spells as a guide for determining which abilities are suitable for what levels. Either list the spells to reference or list the individual features. If listing the spells, don't award them too far ahead of when a spellcaster could access them.