Post/Author/DateTime	Post
periscope 01-13-06, 03:48 AM	I found this prestige class on another site and thought I would share it with you. I tweaked it a little bit but just mainly spelling and grammar errors in the flavor text. Its awesome but I fear it's overpowered but I'm not a good judge of that so if I could get some input that would be great. Battlemaster The campaign against the orcish hordes had dragged on for years, and with each battle, the ratio of deaths went out of favour for the King's Army. Recently enlisted, Rauthek was currently a common soldier, but he relished every orc he fell, every drop of blood that was spilled by his hand. The next battle took place in the orcish homeland, Gruarth. Rauthek came to know every man of his contigent, which shrivelled every day. However, few knew Rauthek very well, the tattoo on the back of his hand was always hidden by a mailed gauntlet. That mailed gauntlet always gripped a double spear. The remaining six soldiers, plus one lieutenant of the Red Wolf Cross all wished each other luck on the battle tomorrow, they rested their heads. The campfire died down. Drawing their steel and donning their armour, the Red Wolf Cross group trudged along blackened fields, with hundreds of other soldiers. This would be the pinnacle of their campaign, all the fallen shall go to the cause, and the survivors shall tell their story a hundred thousand times. Cresting the last knoll, they look on the orc village, deep in the small vale. The signal was given, and hundreds of veteran foot soldiers charged into the village. The archers and knights stayed back, along with the war wizards. Suddenly, with a war cry that could have shattered mountains, the hidden orc army, by the thousands, charged from their hiding spots all around the vale. The first waves clashed into eachother with ringing of steel on steel. Rauthek looked back at the knights, archers, and wizards. They were prepared to launch a strategic attack, just then, orcs, mounted on those hell-spawned wolves, worgs, in the hundreds sprang out in their group. Wells of magic and launchers of arrows fell where they stood, however the knights managed to react in time. The few dozen knights drew steel against the hundreds of worgriders, and the battle there ensued. Rauthek drew his mind back to the smell of battle, that acrid smell of iron and steel, the dead and the dying. After many fell on both sides in an endless clash of metal, tight knots of the King's Army formed, surrounded by a sea of orcs. Filthy, stinking orcs. Rauthek watched a few off his comrades fall, but he held his own. His modified weapon reaped the souls of the orcs around him. He plunged it the through the chest of one orc, then kicked it off his weapon. Rauthek suddenly sensed an impeding danger. He drew his dagger from his boot in one liquid movement, and threw it into the face of the orc looking down on him. Gripping his double spear again, Rauthek turned and caught the worg in the throat that he knew was there. The orc mounted atop of it flew over Rauthek's head, but was caught by the double spear. Despite his best effort's to keep the orcs around him at bay, they pressed inwards, and nicks and cuts began materializing on his flesh. At least a dozen orcs had squeezed around Rauthek and began ganging up on him. Gripping his double spear tightly, Rauthek began deflecting blows that stabbed at him, from all sides. And for every blow he deflected Rauthek returned a thrust, or swipe from his double spear. More than a dozen orcs fell, but more replaced them. Rauthek split into more than one man, and began fighting at an incredible speed, some of the forms of Rauthek melded together, yet split apart later. A cloud of savage blades cut down many orcs, and eventually, none came to replace them. Thrusting his weapon down into the body of a orc, Rauthek began a ritual taught to him by a priest of Maurave. His short polearm became red, and Rauthek was instantly invigourated again, however, he wouldn't be able to do this again until the moment at sunrise when the sun is as blood. Rauthek surveyed the battlefield. Less than twenty of the King's Army were left. The King himself, a few nobles mounted on steed, and about a dozen foot soldiers. Rauthek noticed the King, and his entourage walk wearily over to him. "Well done, m'boy, ye fight like a hell-spawned dervish." stated the King plainly. "All for the glory of combat" replied Rauthek. Born of combat, children of war; Battlemasters are capable of amazing feats of skill when fighting. Battlemasters can be found from templar groups of Maurave, to service as a sellsword. Class Requirements To qualify to become a Battlemaster, a character must fulfill all the following criteria: Patron Diety: Maurave (feel free to substitute any war god in your campaign) Base Attack Bonus: +8 Feats: Must have 5 of the following feats; Weapon Focus (any slashing or piercing weapon), Weapon Specialization (any slashing or piercing weapon), Two weapon fighting, Power Attack, Cleave, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (any weapon), Exotic Armor Proficiency (if you have races of stone, you might substitute dwarven armor prorficiency), Great Cleave, Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical, Improved Dodge, Weapon Specialization (any slashing or piercing weapon), Improved Weapon Focus (any slashing or piercing weapon), Improved Weapon Specialization (any slashing or piercing weapon). Battlemaster HD: d12 Level Attack Fort. Ref. Will Special Bonus Save Save Save 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Deadly Strike 1/day, Weapon Master, True Edge 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Tough it out 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Uncanny Dodge, Ferocity 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Blindsight 10 ft. 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Deadly Strike 2/day 6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Improved Uncanny Dodge 7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Cloud of Blades 1/day 8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Lifesap 9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Deadly Strike 3/day 10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Savage Weapon, Bonus Feat, Cloud of Blades 2/day Class Features: All the following are class features of the Battlemaster prestige class Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Battlemasters are proficient in simple and martial weapons, all armour and shields. Deadly Strike (Ex): Usable only a number of times per day as indicated, the attack this counts as a critical threat. It does not guarantee a successful hit. The ability must be used before the attack is made, and if the attack misses, that use is wasted. If you use this ability and you roll a critical threat then you have struck a devastating blow. You may make an immediate coup de grace against the target, even if they arent helpless or unconscious. As a side effect of this ability, any normal critical threats you roll need not be confirmed, they are automatically confirmed. *Note: when the deadly strike ability is activated, nothing like a flaming burst enhancement or vorpal enchantment will activate. You have to roll for those. Weapon Master (Ex): For one type of weapon that the Battlemaster selects, he gains a +2 competence bonus when wielding that weapon, (if using a two weapon fighting style with that weapon or weapons the bonus applies to all attacks with each weapon, lowering the penalty). Also because they are so focused on fighting, they have learned how to eak every possible advantage with their weapons. They must choose two handed weapons, weapon and shield fighting, or two weapon fighitng. If they choose two handed fighting, they add double their str bonus instead of 1.5 for damage rolls with two handed weapons. If they choose weapon and shield fighting, they add 1.5 times their strength bonus for damage rolls when wielding a one handed weapon with one hand (they gain no bonus for wielding it in two hands). If they choose two weapon fighting, they add their full str. bonus to all off hand attacks. Unfortunately this focus makes it harder to use other weapon styles. A Battlemaster takes a -1 competence penalty per Battlemaster level to all melee attack rolls when not fighting with his chosen style. True Edge (Ex): Once per day, when using any whetstone, the Battlemaster can improve the edge of his weapon, magical or not. Their weapons critical threat range is doubled as per the keen edge spell except that this stacks with all other enhancements to critical threat range. This lasts for 1 day. If this is applied to a double weapon, both weapons become enchanted. This takes one hour and enough blood to coat the edges (the battle master must inflict 4 points of damage on himself or another to coat the edges). This can be done with stored blood but it must have an anticoagulant in it (costs 15 gp) and last one week. Tough it out (Ex): Being the people they are, they push their bodies to the limit for extended battles. They gain the Endurance and Diehard feats (even if they dont meet the prerequisites). Uncanny Dodge: The Battlmaster gains the uncanny dodge ability as described in the Barbarian description in the Players Handbook. If he already has uncanny dodge from another class, he gains improved uncanny dodge ability. Ferocity (Ex): A Battlemaster can fight even while disabled or dying without penalty. Blindsight: You can't always see your enemies, is what all Battlemasters learn. To counteract this they begin tuning into their other senses. The Battlemaster gains blindsight out to 10 ft. This is a combination of hearing, sensitivity to vibrations, and smell. Improved Uncanny Dodge: The Battlemaster gains the improved uncanny dodge ability as described in the Barbarian description in the Players Handbook. See their for further specifics. Cloud of Blades (Ex): By virtue of this ability, the Battlemaster unleashes an unnaturally quick whirlwind attack (whether they have the feat or not). He moves so fast that it looks like he split into more than one person. The Battlemaster may only use this ability once per day (twice per day at 10th level), and using it is a full-round action. The Battlemaster gains a +4 dodge bonus to all melee attackers adjacent to him for 3 rounds round (from his turn until the end of his turn on the 3rd round), and is able to make one attack with the same bonus against every melee attacker adjacent to him for 3 rounds, as per a normal whirlwind attack. He can strike each one once with each weapon if using a double or two weapons and has the two weapon fighting style (see above).. Lifesap (Su): By thrusting his weapon in the body of a living or recently slain enemy (no more than 2 minutes), the Battlemaster can actually drain hit points from the corpse. They can drain 1d6 hit points per Battlemaster level from the corpse. The opponent must be slain by the Battlemaster (or the Battlemaster must have dealt the last blow). This is a full round action. The Battlemaster cant drain more hit points than the opponent had (and he cant drain any temporary hit points or any hit points that would go away, like a barbarians extra hit points when in a rage). For each hit point drained, the weapon gains a little bit brighter in a blood red hue. This abillity can be used 3 times per day. This counts as magical healing. This cannot be used on anything without blood or similar substance (most constructs, oozes, and undead fit into this category with the exception of vampires that have recently fed). Savage Weapon (Ex): Once per day the Battlemaster may attempt a Cloud of Blades ability, except all attacks are considered modified by the Deadly Strike ability. The use of these abillities within this skill does not go towards their actual total of either of the other abilities.
periscope 01-14-06, 12:59 PM	bump
DarknessEternal 01-14-06, 01:25 PM	This class is so overpowered I don't even know where to start. The simplest advice I could offer to make this playble is change the BAB requirement from +8 to Epic Attack Bonus +1. Even then, this is more powerful than any Epic PRC.
periscope 01-15-06, 01:38 AM	bump
Wellby 01-15-06, 01:54 AM	It's too easy to become one with the feat selection being so loose. The 5 feats should be concise and perhaps not that appealing. Picking any 5 out of a list of 15 is extremely easy. What's worse, these are 5 out of 15 feats that just about any fighter is guaranteed to have by the time he qualifies for this PrC. And the abilities are enough to drain the blood out of any DM's face. While I agree fighter's need something to make them stand up to the the magic users at higher levels - this class is too much. :) Sorry if this it's a disappointment to hear, but those are my thoughts. :)
periscope 01-15-06, 03:17 AM	This prestige class was basically designed specifically for fighters with nobody else being able to get anywhere near it. Ill see what I can do to tone it down.