[Tome of Mary Sues] Soulknife

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Judging__Eagle
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[Tome of Mary Sues] Soulknife

Post by Judging__Eagle »

Soulknife
"Kill with the edge. Don't snub the point."


Playing a :

Starting Age: As
Starting Equipment:
Alignment:

Hit Die: d8
Base Attack Bonus: 3/4th
Good Saving Throws: Fortitude and Ref
Skill Points: 6+Int
Class Skills:

Soulknife:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:



Class Feature

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:

(Ex):

(Su):
(Sp):

(Rl):
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Re: [Tome of Mary Sues] Soulknife

Post by CatharzGodfoot »

Judging__Eagle wrote:Soulknife
"Kill with the edge. Don't snub the point."


Playing a :

Starting Age: As
Starting Equipment:
Alignment:

Hit Die: d8
Base Attack Bonus: 3/4th
Good Saving Throws: Fortitude and Ref
Skill Points: 6+Int
Class Skills:

Soulknife:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
20:



Class Feature

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:

(Ex):

(Su):
(Sp):

(Rl):
I dunno, looks a bit underpowered.
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RobbyPants
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Re: [Tome of Mary Sues] Soulknife

Post by RobbyPants »

CatharzGodfoot wrote:I dunno, looks a bit underpowered.
Maybe if it had more features...
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Guyr Adamantine
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Re: [Tome of Mary Sues] Soulknife

Post by Guyr Adamantine »

RobbyPants wrote:
CatharzGodfoot wrote:I dunno, looks a bit underpowered.
Maybe if it had more features...
Hit it with the nerfbat.
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Kaelik
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Post by Kaelik »

The worst part is he is going to add class features. And since it's JE, they will probably be something like this:

"Some Thing I Think Is A Real Fighting Style (ex): The Soulknife does a quintuple back flip through the air while polishing his sword to a honed point mid combat and he also spins, and he yells at his opponents and then he sneak attacks his opponent because seriously guys that's how real people fight. I would know, my brother is an ancient soulknife martial artist ninja goddam hero sandwhich mr muffin man fightar extraordinaire, and he can do it all the time and he's not even as good as his teacher who is totally the shit and does it twice per every six seconds. Seriously guys, that's how real people fight, that's how it goes, ...

... The mechanical effects are that a level 1 Soulknife instantly kills anything it feels like as a free action with no save no sr no attack roll, but that's not broken or anything because level 1 PCs can solo CR 20 enemies all day in like one round, to demonstrate, I will now refer to a fight where a single level 1 PC was involved in a fight with 3 level 20 characters and a Balor, and he was dead at the end, but so was the Balor...

...then he sheathes his sword."

Except much longer.
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Post by Sunwitch »

You're going to have to excercise some real creativity to make a class out of a class concept that seriously goes "I kill stuff with a sword that may or may not be material". Seriously, I can't think of a reason to make this a class rather than just a feat or something.
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Post by Judging__Eagle »

Mauver, I've already made that feat. Like.... three or four years ago now. I think that I can make the class a class now.

I only recently realized that 'soulknife' is just a way of saying 'fancy rogue'; and we all know what rogues are.

Kaelik, you're funny, you're also new here, so you've probably never seen some of my older stuff, and you have no idea what I write. This class will probably be about as powerful as the other classes that I've written up. Probably less, since most of the abilities will occur at close or melee reach ranges.

I'm still juggling how to arrange the ability trees; either like the Dungenomicon Monk, or like the other Powers of Blue that Frank more recently came up with.

Guyr, Robby, Catharz; you guys are hilarious. I'll see about making the class more powerful than it currently is.
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Post by Sunwitch »

Judging__Eagle wrote:Mauver, I've already made that feat. Like.... three or four years ago now. I think that I can make the class a class now.

I only recently realized that 'soulknife' is just a way of saying 'fancy rogue'; and we all know what rogues are.
There have been loads of soulknife feats laying around the board forever. That is not news. It doesn't make it worthwhile making a class out of it either. The entire problem with the soulknife concept is that it's a concept that really does not encompass any more than a single feat. So why make it into a class?

And who has ever used "soulknife" as a way of saying "fancy rogue"? Seriously, what does this class, if you really want to make it a class, even do?
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Post by Kaelik »

Judging__Eagle wrote:Kaelik, you're funny, you're also new here, so you've probably never seen some of my older stuff, and you have no idea what I write. This class will probably be about as powerful as the other classes that I've written up. Probably less, since most of the abilities will occur at close or melee reach ranges.
JE, I'm not new here. I predate this forum, and go back several years on the old board. I have seen what you have written previously.

I'm making fun of you for being long winded and prone to exposition about personal ancedotes that have nothing to do with anything. The fact that you also think stupid things about balance is just a rider because I generally ran out of stupid shit to blather about long before you would have.

Exibit A, "templar tuck" big ass post about how PCs can just do things that the rules don't allow because you think it's cool.

Exibit B, you declare a plain and obvious part of the AoO rules that exists right there adjacent to every other AoO rule a "stealth nerf" to Combat reflexes, and you fucking go on and on for like four fucking paragraphs about how you can solidly hit people multiple times as the run past you, which is not just bullshit but fucking wrong.

You are retarded in pretty much every single possible way, but trust me, the one that sticks out isn't the one where you have stupid ideas of balance, most people can't even get far enough into your wordstorms to know you have any opinions at all.
Last edited by Kaelik on Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by RobbyPants »

Judging__Eagle wrote:Guyr, Robby, Catharz; you guys are hilarious. I'll see about making the class more powerful than it currently is.
Why did you post the chassis with nothing else? :p

You're supposed to make placeholder posts in existing threads, not new ones. ;)
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Post by Maxus »

Thou Shalt Not Repeat the Error of the Monk:

If their shtick is combat-based, they shall have Full BAB.

However, if you just make the Soulknife a -feat- as part of a base class, and then everything else builds up off of that...

I'd expect to see medium BAB Soulknife wielders, because they'd be rogues or something.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

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Post by Rejakor »

Any concept can be a class. I can honestly sit down and make a fully balanced sous-chef class. And in fact, I might. An ability called 'Thousand Knife Attack' can just as easily be called 'Filet' or 'Soul Blade Storm'. The only important thing about a class is what it does under the rules - the fluff is, while important, still just fluff. I can see a number of mechanical things a soulknife could be.

- The Mindblade, a fighter with special attacks based around your mindblade becoming different things - a 120' lance, a swarm of blades, etc. Basically a defensive aoe area-denial warrior with a few 'get over here' and 'haha, i'm over here now' kind of abilities with some modifiers so they can't just be used all the time and to keep the class mostly about area-denial (because freely movable area denial is overpowered, at least before like level 15). Give them some conditional immunities, like soul-parry and evasion, some crazy stuff like putting your soul into your sword to make yourself immune to mind-affecting effects, whatnot.

- The 'I Had Three Soul Knives' class, a combination of that lightsmith class I saw a while ago, a rogue, and a slow-casting class. Make gear out of your soul! Stab people in the back.. with your soul! Fun for the whole family. Create a portal made of your soul and get Power Slided through it to come out behind your enemy and count as flanking with yourself before he punched you through your own soul-portal, and then stab him in the back with your soul. Sums it up, really.

- The weird ass Soul Melder. Meld your soul to an enemy. Hit people with your enemy's soul. Have them hit you and hurt your enemy. Have your enemy hit your allies and hurt themselves. Redirect spells with durations onto yourself and then to your enemy. Chain damage through multiple foes. Tie people up as they hit their friend's souls through your allies faces. Make the guy playing the wizard go 'what'. Tie people up with their own souls! Trip enemies with their friend's souls that are attached to an ally of yours. Pull out people's souls and turn them into critters to fight for you! Pull out critters' souls and turn them into people to fight for you! Why the hell not!


I mean, there's more, but they're more about 'do stuff that is best summed up by another name... with a soul blade' rather than 'do specific soul blade stuff that a normal blade can't do'.
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Post by Prak »

Rejakor wrote:Any concept can be a class. I can honestly sit down and make a fully balanced sous-chef class. And in fact, I might. An ability called 'Thousand Knife Attack' can just as easily be called 'Filet' or 'Soul Blade Storm'.
I would totally play that class. Needs leadership though.
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Post by CatharzGodfoot »

Prak_Anima wrote:
Rejakor wrote:Any concept can be a class. I can honestly sit down and make a fully balanced sous-chef class. And in fact, I might. An ability called 'Thousand Knife Attack' can just as easily be called 'Filet' or 'Soul Blade Storm'.
I would totally play that class. Needs leadership though.
The sous-chef is a cohort.
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Post by Maxus »

For a soulknife, I'd honestly turn to anime for this one--specifically, YuYu Hakusho. The abilities are fairly reasonable:

One character is, yes, essentially a Soulknife. He forms a big spike of his own spirit energy and uses it like a sword.

At first, that's all he can do. After working at it, he's able to change the length and shape of the blade (he uses it a few times to do a pole-vault or something similar, for example.)

Further practice lets him alter the shape quickly and trying to twist the blade to compensate someone's efforts to dodge, or dual-wield.

A later trick he makes up up is forming a ton of really small blades and shooting them at someone.

None of those are out of line for a Soulknife to get. A soulknife ought to be able to change the shape of the weapon starting at level 1. A projectile attack is nifty, so why not?

But Frank's Soulborn does seem to get an energy-weapon and some ranged attacks already...
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

--The horror of Mario

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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Post by Prak »

CatharzGodfoot wrote:
Prak_Anima wrote:
Rejakor wrote:Any concept can be a class. I can honestly sit down and make a fully balanced sous-chef class. And in fact, I might. An ability called 'Thousand Knife Attack' can just as easily be called 'Filet' or 'Soul Blade Storm'.
I would totally play that class. Needs leadership though.
The sous-chef is a cohort.
The sous-chef runs the actual kitchen. The Executive Chef has to take care of all the management and paperwork shit.

It'd be like saying a five star general is the President's cohort...
Last edited by Prak on Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nicklance »

I think designing it around Soul Reaver would make it more interesting, at least from a thematic point of view.
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Post by Guyr Adamantine »

I propose the Necrid approach, cranked up to eleven.

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Post by Nicklance »

This is better.

Image
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Post by Prak »

why not make both options? Outside of that, I'm in full agreeance with Nicklance...
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Post by Nicklance »

I'm crafting a base class somewhat based on Raziel now.
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Post by Parthenon »

I'm not quite sure what I wouldn't do to play as Raziel. Even with having no lower jaw.

That picture of Necrid has motivated me to put up a class for the first time. I've done the Same Game test at level 5 since I haven't finished doing it up to level 10 and it does pretty damn well at it without optimisation, so its possibly a bit too powerful.

Here it is. I've only really done up to level 5 so far and just about all of the abilities need better names.

Soulmaster

The Soulmaster can use his very essence as a weapon. He can batter enemies with his ego, cut them with his wit and pin them with his gaze.

Focusing on Str and Cha, the Soulmaster focuses on being able to extend his soul to help him attack, move and debuff enemies. It works well in a party, helping casters use SoDs and others attack it. Some influences are Necrid, Soul Reaver and Prototype.

Hit Die: d10
Skill points per level:4+Int
Class Skills:
BABFortReflWillAbilities
+1+2+0+2Soul Weapon
+2+3+0+3Can't Touch This, Sneak Attack +1d6
+3+3+1+3Utter Confidence
+4+4+1+4Movement Form, Debuff
+5+4+1+4Energy Weapon, Sneak Attack +2d6
+6/+1+5+2+5
+7/+2+5+2+5Flittering Forms
+8/+3+6+2+6Sneak Attack +3d6
+9/+4+6+3+6
+10/+5+7+3+7

Soul Weapon (Su): For some reason you have an ego so big you can hit people with it. As a swift action that doesn't provoke AoOs you can create a weapon out of your soul. It is created in the shape of any weapon you have the proficiency for and does the same amount of damage as a standard weapon. At 2nd level it is treated as a masterwork weapon and at 3rd level and higher it has an enhancement bonus equal to 1/3rd of your hitdice.
You can change the shape of your weapon as a swift action at any point. If you change the weapon just before you attack then they lose their Dex bonus against that attack. It is treated as a force effect so can affect ethereal and incorporeal creatures normally, but treats DR like a normal weapon. If you have the Two Weapon Fighting feat you can create two weapons you are proficient with at once, but they only lose the Dex bonus against the first attack after any change of weapon.

Can't Touch This (Ex): You are so full of yourself you ignore most things. You can add your Charisma bonus to all your saves.

Sneak Attack (Ex): As Rogue, but only with your Soul Weapon.

Utter confidence (Ex): As a free action once per round you may make an Intimidate attempt to try to Demoralise any intelligent opponent you have just damaged with your Soul Weapon. No size bonuses or are considered and you can attempt to demoralise an opponent as many times as you want, with a -1 to your check each subsequent time.
(Probably needs replacing with something good)

Movement Form (Su): You can use your soul to push you forward, to help you climb and move through the air. As a swift action you can use your Soul Weapon in new ways. Your base movement speed is increased by 10ft, you gain a climb speed equal to your old base movement speed, you can add your Cha bonus to Jump and Swim and you gain a glide speed of 20ft, falling 5ft each time. However you can't use your Soul Weapon as a weapon in this form. It is another swift action to change your Soul Weapon back to a weapon.

Debuff (Su): You can make others suffer with your will. If your PSoul Weapon does multiple types of damage choose one of them. As an attack action you can make a touch attack with your Soul Weapon and if it hits they have to make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ hitdice + Cha) or they are under an effect based on the Soul Weapon's damage type:
Bludgeoning: You batter them with your ego. They lose their Dex bonus against all attacks for 1 round and take your Cha bonus as a penalty to their saves and the DCs of all their abilities and spells. At 8th level the duration increases to 2 rounds.
Slashing: You do 1d4 ability damage to an ability of your choice. At 8th level the damage increases to 2d4 ability damage.
Piercing: You freeze them in their tracks. They cannot move or use any abilities to do with movement for one round, increasing to two rounds at 8th level. It also pins ethereal and incorporeal creatures to the Material plane allowing others to attack it normally for the duration.
This does not work if they do not have an intelligence score. If you are wielding two Soul Weapons from Two Weapon Fighting then you can use the same or different weapon types. If you use the same type and they fail the save against both then any duration is doubled.

Energy Weapon (Su): You can fill your Soul Weapon with the fire of your heart or whatever element you choose to. As a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity you can change the damage type of your Soul Weapon to Fire, Lightning, Acid or Cold. It does the same amount of damage, but is of a particular element. You cannot use the Debuff attack while you are using this ability because it no longer does Piercing/Slashing/Bludgeoning damage. It is another move action to change it back again.

Flittering Forms (Su): You can change your Soul Weapon in the blink of an eye. After every attack you can change the form of your Soul Weapon. If you do then the opponent you next attack loses their Dex bonus against the attack. This also includes attacks of opportunity, so you can use a reach weapon then switch to a close weapon immediately. You can draw or change your Soul Weapon as a free action once per round.



Later levels will increase the Alex Mercer, allowing the Soulmaster to attack at a greater range with a whip like weapon, bludgeon them with huge fists and probably fly.

It will also start to be able to use their massive ego to control others, possibly possessing and controlling a single creature with a Dominate like effect. However, no pretending to be others: their ego is just too big to not let themselves be seen all the time.

So, it is very much like Necrid, changing weapon so fast that you can't react, letting the Soulmaster sneak attack the enemy. They can also do various debuffs or do elemental damage if needs be. They also get Ghost Touch for free and can let others be able to hit incorporeal creatures.

It probably needs another use for Immediate or Swift actions so that switching the weapon isn't such an obvious choice.

I've done the Same Game test for level 5:
Human Soulmaster 5

Str: 16
Dex: 13
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 8
Cha: 16

HP: 37
AC: 16
Fort: +10
Refl: +7
Will: +8
Feats: Two Weapon Fighting
Ability Focus: Debuff
Weapon Focus: Soul Weapon
Skills: Tumble +11
Jump +13
Intimidate +10
?
?

Equipment: +1 Chain Shirt, +1 Vest of Resistance, +1 Cloak of Charisma. 3,000gp unused. Kept simple but could easily be better.


Attack: +9 1d6+4 (2d6 sneak attack)
Full Attack: +7/+7 1d6+4/1d6+4 (2d6 sneak attack)
Debuff DC: 17


Huge Animated Iron Statue: Switch to an element to bypass DR, but can't do enough damage and the abilities don't work. Lose.
Basilisk: Get up close then use the slashing Int damage to kill very quickly. Needs to roll a 3 to beat the Petrifying Gaze so wins 90% of the time.
Large Fire Elemental: Can only tumble in and try to do enough Int damage to kill it. Needs an average of three turns to kill it, but gets killed in 3 turns and the elemental has the better initiative. Lose.
Manticore on the wing: Lose. Don't have a good enough AC to avoid the spikes and so gets killed.
Mummy: Switch to fire, do 3d6+12 damage per round. Maybe, but probably not.
Phase Spider: Readies a piercing weapon to stop it using Ethereal Jaunt then does that again and again while hitting it. The Poison might be a danger but it can kill the Phase Spider before it dies. Win.
Troll: Can basically try and do enough Int damage to put it down, but might die before then. A draw.
Chasm: Can jump up and glide over small chasms, or just use the climb speed to go down and up again. Win.
Moat filled with acid: Jump and glide over it. Win.
Locked door behind pit traps: Will survive the first pit trap and can then use glide and climb to deal with the traps, then break down the door with an acidic Soul Weapon. Win
Centaur Archers: Movement is 10ft too short to catch up and pin them down. Lose.
Howler/Allip: Can easily kill the Allip, then probably kill the Howler. A win.
Monstrous Scorpions: AC is low enough to get swarmed and damage not enough to kill in a single hit. Will be grabbed and eaten. Lose.
Grimlock assault team: A stinkbomb and a thunderstone will allow sneak attack to be used. Even if not can make a sneak attack every round and slowly win.
Cleric of Hextor: Can tumble past the zombies and pin down the Cleric before cutting him down. Only problem is if get swarmed and grappled by zombies. Draw.
Summary:
Wins: 7
Losses: 5
Draws: 3

Thoughts?
Last edited by Parthenon on Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nicklance »

Ghost Blades

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"My blade speaks only one language. Om nom nom"

Tales often wax lyrical about how assassins and other such types of characters are skilled in the art of snuffing out lives. Ghost Blades get no mention. Like the very ghosts feared even by veteran assassins, a Ghost Blade is the very epitome of a relentless hunter of its name sake. They can be anyone and everyone and their weapons of choice glow with the same eerie glow as their eyes. They say that once a ghost blade has marked his target, that target is as good as dead.

Becoming a Ghost Blade

Some are born ready to be one, others have had the chance to meet someone who is willing to teach them. Some say they learn this art from assassins to linger in the mortal realm as a ghost, some say the original teacher is a blink dog, others claim that an old man in the Cave of No Return has the manual, don't know, but training is tough. Its a mystery, deal with it.

Hit Dice: D8

Class Skills
The Ghost Blade's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance(Dex), Bluff(Cha), Climb(Str), Craft(Int), Diplomacy(Cha), Escape Artist(Dex) Gather Information(Cha), Hide(Dex), Intimidate(Cha), Jump(Str), Knowledge(arcana, local, the planes)(Int), Listen(Wis), Move Silently(Dex), Perform(Cha), Profession(Wis), Sense Motive(Wis), Sleight of Hand(Dex), Spot(Wis), Survival(Wis), Swim(Str), Tumble(Dex), Use Magic Device(Cha), and Use Rope(Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level : 4 + int

Code: Select all

Level    BAB  Fort  Ref  Will	 Abilities
1	      +1   +2   +2   +0	 Wraithblade, Soul Striker, Ravenous Blade (Mark), Hide in Plain Sight
2	      +2	+3	+3	+0	 Ghost Walk +5ft, Ravenous Blade (Ghost sight)
3	      +3	+3	+3	+1	 Soul Striker (Life Reaping Strike)  
4	      +4	+4	+4	+1	 Ghost Walk +10ft, Ravenous Blade (Blood-Scenting Hunger)
5	      +5	+4	+4	+1	 Fade Out (move action activation), Soul Striker (Power Smothering Technique)
6	      +6	+5	+5	+2	 Ghost Walk +15ft, Ravenous Blade (Lifesense)
7	      +7	+5	+5	+2	 Soul Striker (Slow Strike)
8	      +8	+6	+6	+2	 Ghost Walk +20ft, Ravenous Blade (Relentless) 
9	      +9	+6	+6	+3	 Soul Striker (Hungry Ghost Consumption)
10	     +10  +7	+7	+3	 Ghostly Apotheosis, Fade Out (immediate action), Mortal Shell Consuming Transcendence
Class Abilities:

Proficiencies: Ghost Blades are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor and medium armor, bucklers and light shields.

Wraithblade (Su): The ghost blade has the ability to manifest a ghostly weapon called a wraithblade as an action equivalent to drawing a weapon. This weapon is treated as a magical weapon with an enhancement bonus of +1 per 3 character levels. The wraithblade takes the appearance and form of a single weapon of your choice and remains fixed until level 5 and 10.

This weapon's form is treated exactly as its derived form with regards to size, damage and threat range and cannot be disarmed and disappears one round after it leaves the ghost blade's grasp. Projectile wraithblades come with unlimited mundane ammunition which also disappears one round after leaving the ghost blade. A wraithblade that functions as a double weapon only applies its enhancements to one end while the other end can be enhanced normally.

The wraithblade is also treated as a ghost touch weapon. The wraithblade can be upgraded normally on top of its ghost touch property.

At level 5 the ghost blade may select another form for his wraithblade and at level 10 the ghost blade may choose another form.

Ravenous Blade (Su): This class ability functions only when the wraithblade is manifested.

Mark: The ghost blade designates a single target as his ‘mark’. This ability can only be activated immediately after the ghost blade has made at least one successful attack and dealt damage with the wraithblade. The mark may be lifted as a swift action. From henceforth, whenever the ghost blade attacks that target, he may re-roll any attack rolls that miss.

Ghost Sight: The ghost blade can see ethereal or invisible creatures and objects as easily as he can see material creatures and objects. Furthermore the ghost blade will always know where his mark is in the general direction.

Blood-Scenting Hunger: The ghost blade gains Scent and Blindsight (60ft).

Lifesense: The ghost blade gains the Lifesense feat ability from Libris Mortis applicable only to his mark. This renders the mark’s mundane or magical disguise or alterations to his form or essence meaningless to the ghost blade’s ability to find and detect him. Furthermore, the ghost blade is also able to find out the mark’s state of wellbeing at a glance (In metagame terms, the ghost blade can see the mark’s remaining hit points).

Relentless: As long as the ghost blade has marked a target, and that target is not dead or destroyed, he does not need to eat, drink or sleep. In addition, he is not treated as disabled at 0 hit points nor is he treated as dying at -1 to -9 hit points, and does not age.

Soul Striker (Su): As a move action, the Ghost Blade can gather spiritual energy, gaining 1 Soul Strike point per two class levels rounded up. The ghost blade may hold up to a maximum of 1 Soul Strike point per class level. On a successful attack with his Wraithblade, the Ghost Blade can expend Soul Strike points as a free action to add 1d6 damage to the attack per point expended. This class ability only works with the wraithblade.

Life Reaping Strike: You may spend 2 soul strike points to make all your soul strike damage dice vampiric. You heal an amount of damage equal to the damage you deal with soul strike for one round.

Power Smothering Technique: You may spend 3 soul strike points to activate a dispelling strike as per dispel magic. A dispel check of d20 + class level must be made to determine success.

Slow Strike: In the event where the ghost blade makes a successful attack at his mark, he may elect to give up some of his soul strike points to inflict a slow effect on his target. The ghost blade gives up 4 soul strike points to inflict 1d4 minutes of slow effect on his target.

Hungry Ghost Consumption: Same as Power Smothering Technique, but a ghost blade may choose to instead transfer the benefits of a single spell dispelled this way that has a duration and affects the target, but no others. Alternatively, if the attack was used to suppress a magical item, the ghost blade gains its benefits for as long as it remains suppressed. No more than one spell or item effect can be benefited from this way. This ability costs 5 soul strike points.

Alternatively the ghost blade may choose instead to fully recharge his Soul Striker points after killing his mark.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): The ghost blade can hide even while being observed.

Ghost Walk (Ex): The ghost blade gains a bonus to his move speed through his increasing connection to the ether. This applies only when the ghost blade wears medium armor or lighter or none. Ghost Walk speed bonus is also the ghost blade’s effective climb speed.

Fade Out (Su): At level 5 the ghost blade turns himself incorporeal with a move action 1/day per 3 class levels The incorporeal state lasts as many rounds as his class level. At level 10 the ghost blade may turn incorporeal as an immediate action. Reverting to a corporeal state takes a free action.

Ghostly Apotheosis (Ex): The ghost blade gains the incorporeal subtype and gains a perfect fly speed equal to his base speed. The ghost blade can manifest a physical body as a swift action and revert back to his incorporeal state as a free action. You retain your gear whether incorporeal or physical.

Mortal Shell Consuming Transcendence (Su): Whenever a ghost blade of 10th level slays a target which was marked, he gains a temporary boost in power. He may, for one hour, benefit from a single bonus feat of his choice. If this ability is used against a creature which has a CR below 6, or the ghost blade's character level - 4, whichever is greater, it has no effect.
Last edited by Nicklance on Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Nicklance
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Post by Nicklance »

Any comments on the Ghost Blade base class gentlemen (and ladies) ?
There ain't no rest for the wicked.
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Parthenon
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Post by Parthenon »

Ummm...

First of all, you don't say what form the Wraithblade takes. So, if I manifest a wraithblade I don't know whether it is a longsword or a sap or if I even have any choice over it. And then you talk about at level 5 the Wraithblade having another form: does that mean you choose a weapon at 1st level and then it can't change? It doesn't specify that.

Does the mark ability wear off after time? Can the Ghost Blade keep a mark up for years? I like the idea as a spiritual tracking device that can be used to hunt down BBEGs that run away from fights.

At first level Soul Striker doesn't do anything since half character level gets rounded down to 0: they can't gain any points.

The biggest problem is that the class gets too powerful too quickly. Try doing the Same Game test on it: At level 10 ignoring stats, feats, items and most of the class abilities, the Same Game test goes like:
# A hallway filled with magical runes.
     Go incorporeal and go past or ignore the hallway. Automatic Win.
# A Fire Giant.
     The Fire Giant has a nonmagical weapon so can't hurt the Ghost Blade. Automatic Win.
# A Young Blue Dragon.
     Only the breath weapon can hurt it, and that is every 1d4 rounds. The dragon can't escape the Ghost Blade in any way. Highly Likely Win
# A Bebilith.
     The Bebilith can't actually affect the Ghost Blade. Automatic Win
# A Vrock.
     Neither the Vrock nor any Dretches it summons can affect the Ghost Blade. Automatic Win.
# A tag team of Mind Flayers.
     (Not in SRD so can't compare. However, a lot of their things such as eating brains won't affect the Ghost Blade so Probably a win.
# An Evil Necromancer.
     The necromancer's undead buddies probably can't affect the Ghost Blade but the spells can. This is the only one that requires any thought, but the necromancy spells aren't quite good enough. I'd say a Win.
# 6 Trolls.
     The trolls can't affect the Ghost Blade. Automatic Win.
# A horde of Shadows.
     The Ghost Blade can kite the shadows and unless surrounded immediately will shoot them to death. Incredibly Likely Win
The Ghost Blade wins against everything at this level. As in, it fucks it in the ass and makes it humble. As in, you need to go back and remove the incorporeality since it breaks it.

The classes that only go up to level 10 do so because they wouldn't be level appropriate at higher levels or there isn't anything to write or the author couldn't be bothered. Unless you make this a prestige class then having it get incorporeality at level 5 is utterly retarded.
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