I made a thread a couple of days ago about a new class concept I came up with, and wanted some feedback. Which I got! I went back to the drawing board and brought with me some of the tips that I got in that other thread. So, here's the new version.
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Air Mage
Hit Die: d6/d8
Class Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge: Arcana (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis) Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int).
Skills / Level: 4 + Intelligence Bonus
BAB: Good (1/1) Saves: Fort: Poor; Reflex: Good; Will: Good
Level, Benefit
1 Shield of Air, Wind Attack
2 Air Bolt
3 Knockback,
4 Force of Air, Wind Attack +1
5 Grasp of Air, Wind Wall
6 Wall of Air
7 Fist of Air, Wind Attack +2
8 Counterattack
9 Improved Grasp of Air
10 Shield Other, Wind Attack +3
11 Counterattack 2
12
13 Wind Attack +4
14 Counterattack 3
15
16 Wind Attack +5
17 Counterattack 4
18
19 Wind Attack +6
20 Counterattack 5
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Air Mages a proficient with daggers, staves and clubs. Air Mages are proficient with Light Armour and no shields.
Shield of Air: The Air Mage can solidify the air around him and control it, fending off physical attacks. Gives the Air Mage a +4 bonus to AC (deflection). This bonus is increased by one every four levels, to a maximum of +9 at level 20. The shield has the form of a slightly shimmering and insubstantial globe around the mage. The mage is so proficient in the use of this shield that it barely requires any thought or concentration to hold at all. This, and all of the following abilities of the Air Mage, does not work if the mage is wearing any armour heavier than light armour. Should the mage lose the shield (from being incapacitated, for example), he can re-solidify the shield as a Swift Action.
Wind Attack: The Air Mage can attack opponents using only the air around him. This attack lashes out from the mage, attacking for 1d8 physical damage. The mage can change the air into whatever shape he wants, meaning that the damage can be either Slashing, Piercing or Bludgeoning damage (but only one). This attack works as any other fighter’s normal attack would in that he gets more attacks per round as the mage’s BAB progresses. This attack get a +1 enchantment every three levels and can be combined with Knockback. Wind Attack counts as a standard action.
Air Bolt: The mage can propell fist-sized bullets of solid air against his foes, doing 1d6 force damage per bullet. The amount of bullets the Air Mage can create per round is equal to level/2 + 1, rounded down. The mage can shoot these bullets at different targets, completely deciding how many bullets hits which targets. This is a standard action with a range of 30 feet.
Knockback: The Air Mage may use air to throw an enemy 30 feet away from him. The enemy may try to avoid part the oncoming air with a successfull Reflex save (DC 10 + level/2 + Wis DOWN), halving the distance thrown. This ability may be combined with Wind Attack.
Force of Air: The Air Mage can use air to manipulate objects, as per Sustained Force and Violent Thrust from Telekinesis, the spell, as a Swift Action.
Wind Wall: Swift action, as per the spell.
Wall of Air: The Air Mage can, as a standard action, conjure a wall of air for protection. The wall is impenetrebable to both friend and foe, and will hold off any sort of attacks, both physical and magical. The wall can take the shape of a straight wall, 10 feet high and 30 feet long, or as a globe centered on the caster with a diameter of 20 feet. The mage must make a successful concentration check (DC 10 + level, rounded up) in order to create the wall, and another check each round he attempts to hold it up. For each round after the first, the DC of the check is increased by 3. The mage may not take any other actions while he is attempting to hold the wall up.
Grasp of Air: The mage may attempt to hold an enemy in place with air, making it unable to move, as per the Hold Person spell. Will save negates the effect (DC = 10 + level/2 + Wis bonus rounded down)
Fist of Air: The mage can lash out with his Shield of Air, hitting a target for 1d6/level force damage, knocking it back 30 feet. If the target succeeds in a reflex save (DC 10 + level/2 + Wis bonus rounded down) he halves the knockback distance. Having used his Shield of Air, the mage must solidify it again to take advantage of it’s AC bonus. Standard action. Can be used together with a single Wind Attack as a Full Round Action.
Counterattack: When the mage is hit by a melee attack he may try to counter the attack, using his Shield of Air. The counterattack does 1d6 per level/2 of force damage and requires a concentrationcheck (DC 10 + level/2 + physical damage inflicted to the mage) to succeed.The number of attacks the mage can counter per round is increased by 1 every three levels, to a maximum of 5 at level 20. A Counterattack is an Immediate Action.
Improved Grasp of Air: In addition to all the effect of Grasp of Air, the target will also take 1d6/level force damage from being crushed by the air holding him in place.
Shield Other: The Air Mage can now give a friendly target a temporary Shield of Air, that works exactly like his own, including any Counterattacking effects the mage holds. This standard action requires a concentration check (DC 15 + level) and holds for 1d4 rounds, after which it dissapates. The recipient may not use the shield in any other way than it’s AC bonus and for Counterattacking.
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Yes, there is an awful lack of new abilities after level 10... I'm currently in the thick of preparing tomorrow's (Saturday's) RP-session, and I don't have enough time to sit down and think of new abilities that would fit for those levels. That being said, I don't think I've ever played a character that far along in levels, so I wouldn't really know what to do. The important level is 1-10, those are usually the levels covered in my group's campaigns. That being said, if you got any nice ideas, feel free to throw them in here ^^
Also... I'm not sure wether to let the class have a d6 or a d8 as HD... It is obviously a ranged fighter without most physical stats (emphasis on Wisdom)... It needs some HPs, but how much?
So, hopefully I'm posting this in the correct place... Feedback and comments in general are greatly appreciated!
Let's try this again then: The Air Mage!
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SunTzuWarmaster
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Real Issues:
Force of Air: The Air Mage can use air to manipulate objects, as per Sustained Force and Violent Thrust from Telekinesis, the spell, as a Swift Action.
Remove Violent Thrust (The violent Thrust ability is the one that lets you throw a craptonne of arrows at people), keep Sustained Force though. Sustained Force version grants cheap flight as well, just to let you know.
Nitpicks:
- Wind Attack counts as a standard action. This should be changed to "Wind Attack counts as a attack action".
Air Bolt - Should be Range: Close (so that it scales with level). You may consider Range: Medium as well, depending on thematics.
Knockback - "This ability may be combined with ANY Wind Attack."
Counterattack - "A Counterattack is an Immediate Action." should be "Using any number of Counterattacks is an Immediate Action"
Other:
Low-level flight, thanks!
I like the Wall of Air, nice touch.
Fist of Air, nice single-target KO ability
Counterattack - nice job
Changing the text of Wind Attack to what I mentioned will let you not gain "Wind Attack 3". It is just an attack action, which means that you can do it one-handed and fight with a real weapon, or a shield, or armor spikes.
Level 12 is really where the ability loss sets in, but that's not really a big deal. I would like to see outright flight as per Fly or Overland Flight around level 10 or so (if for nothing other than battlefield positioning). Over level 12, just start giving out tornados or hurricanes or something suitably awesome.
I think a d6 hit die should be just about right. A d8 combined with the +4 deflection +4 light armor +4 (dex, likely) +4 (tower shield, non-proficiency shouldn't be that big of a deal) yields a 26 AC out of the gate (okay, level 3). Magic will further augment this. I would like the feeling of a quasi-caster, in that if you land a solid hit on this character he/she will go down.
Also, this character wins at being the King of Cheapness. The swift-action Telekinesis + the Swift action Wind Wall + the ranged attacks + the high AC can make this character nigh on invulnerable to characters that don't know what's coming. Of course, a solid Fireball/Color Spray will bring the character down (or at least force concentration checks), so I don't feel too bad about that.
Force of Air: The Air Mage can use air to manipulate objects, as per Sustained Force and Violent Thrust from Telekinesis, the spell, as a Swift Action.
Remove Violent Thrust (The violent Thrust ability is the one that lets you throw a craptonne of arrows at people), keep Sustained Force though. Sustained Force version grants cheap flight as well, just to let you know.
Nitpicks:
- Wind Attack counts as a standard action. This should be changed to "Wind Attack counts as a attack action".
Air Bolt - Should be Range: Close (so that it scales with level). You may consider Range: Medium as well, depending on thematics.
Knockback - "This ability may be combined with ANY Wind Attack."
Counterattack - "A Counterattack is an Immediate Action." should be "Using any number of Counterattacks is an Immediate Action"
Other:
Low-level flight, thanks!
I like the Wall of Air, nice touch.
Fist of Air, nice single-target KO ability
Counterattack - nice job
Changing the text of Wind Attack to what I mentioned will let you not gain "Wind Attack 3". It is just an attack action, which means that you can do it one-handed and fight with a real weapon, or a shield, or armor spikes.
Level 12 is really where the ability loss sets in, but that's not really a big deal. I would like to see outright flight as per Fly or Overland Flight around level 10 or so (if for nothing other than battlefield positioning). Over level 12, just start giving out tornados or hurricanes or something suitably awesome.
I think a d6 hit die should be just about right. A d8 combined with the +4 deflection +4 light armor +4 (dex, likely) +4 (tower shield, non-proficiency shouldn't be that big of a deal) yields a 26 AC out of the gate (okay, level 3). Magic will further augment this. I would like the feeling of a quasi-caster, in that if you land a solid hit on this character he/she will go down.
Also, this character wins at being the King of Cheapness. The swift-action Telekinesis + the Swift action Wind Wall + the ranged attacks + the high AC can make this character nigh on invulnerable to characters that don't know what's coming. Of course, a solid Fireball/Color Spray will bring the character down (or at least force concentration checks), so I don't feel too bad about that.
If the class is ten levels long, what's written down on paper ought to be ten levels long. There's nothing wrong with making the class go up to ten instead of twenty, and if you're having trouble thinking of abilities past ten than that seems like a good sign to me that you should stop it at ten.The important level is 1-10, those are usually the levels covered in my group's campaigns. That being said, if you got any nice ideas, feel free to throw them in here ^^