Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SaveRaysBoxers 05-10-07, 05:47 PM	This is the first PrC I've ever made, so please tell me if it is balanced, and if is interesting. Basically, it is a person who is really into the planes and their inhabitants, and all that stuff. Hit Dice: d4 Prerequisites: Ability to cast Summon Monster IV. 5 ranks in Knowledge (the planes) Class Skills: Concentration(Con), Craft(Int), Decipher Script(Int), Knowledge (all)(Int), Profession(Wis), Sense Motive(Wis), Speak Language, Spellcraft(Int), Spot(Wis). Skill Points at each level: 2 + Int modifier Level Progression Table: Arbiter of the Planes Base Attack Fort Ref Will Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Spells 1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Planar Familiar +1 level of existing spellcasting class 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Multiplanar Presence +1 level of existing spellcasting class 3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Extended Summoning 4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Turn/Rebuke Outsiders +1 level of existing spellcasting class 5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Blink Movement +1 level of existing spellcasting class 6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Planar Knowledge 7 +3 +2 +2 +5 Duplicate Summons +1 level of existing spellcasting class 8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Permanent Ally +1 level of existing spellcasting class 9 +4 +3 +3 +6 Communism 10 +5 +3 +3 +7 Channel, Triple Summons +1 level of existing spellcasting class Class Features Planar Familiar: At first level, an Arbiter of the Planes may summon a new familiar from the following list: Creature Ability Granted Lantern Archon Resistance to Electricity 10 Juvenile Arrowhawk Resistance to Acid 10 Dretch Resistance to Cold 10 Quasit Resistance to Fire 10 Imp Resistance to Poison 10 Multiplanar Presence: Starting at the second level, due to so much intraplanar meddling, the Arbiter of the Planes is consistently rematerializing. If a physical attack would strike the arbiter, there is a 5% chance that it will go miss. This increases by 5% every two levels, to a maximum of 25% at level ten. Extended Summoning: The durations of Summon Monster and Planar Ally spells are doubled. Turn/Rebuke Outsiders: As the cleric ability Turn/Rebuke Undead, but substituting Intelligence in wherever Charisma is mentioned. Upon taking the Arbiter of the Planes class, the character must decide whether they will turn or rebuke outsiders. Blink Movement: Instead of physical movement, at level five the Arbiters gain the ability to travel instantaneously through the fabric of the material plane. They can only move a number of feet per round equal to their unarmored move speed. All physical barriers in between are ignored. If an Arbiter blinks into the middle of a physical object, they must make a DC 26 reflex save to avoid immediate death. If they succeed on the save, they take damage equal to half their total hit points rounded up, and reappear in the square they blinked from. Planar Knowledge: +10 on all Knowledge (the planes) checks. Duplicate Summons: They may summon double the number of creatures than they normally could. At level ten, this increases to triple the number. Permanent Ally: They may summon an outsider ally, to permanently serve them. The outsider must have an ECL of at least two below the characters, and must have an intelligence of greater than 2. This summoned being is a copy of an actual sentient being somewhere in the multiverse. As such, it is bound to serve the character, but does have intelligence and will work in the same way a cohort would. Communism: (lol) All summoned monsters under the character's control add their hit points together. When the hit points reach zero, they all die. If a summoned creature's duration runs out before it is dead, it's hit points remain in the pool. Channel: The character may, as a standard action, dematerialize themselves, and exist in the energy of the summoned beasts under his/her control. They use their hitpoints, and physical stats, but retain the characters Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma scores. The character can control them all seperately, and may do anything that that monster could do. They may not cast spells, etc, unless the summoned monster is able to. If all the summoned monsters die, the character rematerializes where they originally started, with their hit points as they were. The character may, as a standard action, rematerialize. Rematerializing before the creatures die, however, will unsummon all of them. I like this idea, but have never made a PrC before, so please help me balance it out. I had it skip leveling caster class every third level, to keep it in check, because I'm afraid it's too powerful.
Daidalos 05-10-07, 06:14 PM	This is the first PrC I've ever made, so Planar Familiar: At first level, an Arbiter of the Planes may summon a new familiar from the following list: Creature Ability Granted Lantern Archon Resistance to Electricity 10 Juvenile Arrowhawk Resistance to Acid 10 Dretch Resistance to Cold 10 Quasit Resistance to Fire 10 Imp Resistance to Poison 10 Do you retain the familiar progression from the PHB? Multiplanar Presence: Starting at the second level, due to so much intraplanar meddling, the Arbiter of the Planes is consistently rematerializing. If a physical attack would strike the arbiter, there is a 5% chance that it will go miss. This increases by 5% every two levels, to a maximum of 25% at level ten. Does this go both ways? I.e. is there a chance that the arbiter will miss an attack? Extended Summoning: The durations of Summon Monster and Planar Ally spells are doubled. Turn/Rebuke Outsiders: As the cleric ability Turn/Rebuke Undead, but substituting Intelligence in wherever Charisma is mentioned. Upon taking the Arbiter of the Planes class, the character must decide whether they will turn or rebuke outsiders. ok Blink Movement: Instead of physical movement, at level five the Arbiters gain the ability to travel instantaneously through the fabric of the material plane. They can only move a number of feet per round equal to their unarmored move speed. All physical barriers in between are ignored. If an Arbiter blinks into the middle of a physical object, they must make a DC 26 reflex save to avoid immediate death. If they succeed on the save, they take damage equal to half their total hit points rounded up, and reappear in the square they blinked from. Very cool. Planar Knowledge: +10 on all Knowledge (the planes) checks. Ok Duplicate Summons: They may summon double the number of creatures than they normally could. At level ten, this increases to triple the number. Now, this strikes me as overpowered. I'm not really sure how to remedy it elegantly, however. Permanent Ally: They may summon an outsider ally, to permanently serve them. The outsider must have an ECL of at least two below the characters, and must have an intelligence of greater than 2. This summoned being is a copy of an actual sentient being somewhere in the multiverse. As such, it is bound to serve the character, but does have intelligence and will work in the same way a cohort would. Seems fairly reasonable Communism: (lol) All summoned monsters under the character's control add their hit points together. When the hit points reach zero, they all die. If a summoned creature's duration runs out before it is dead, it's hit points remain in the pool. This strikes me as overpowered as well, especially considering the multiple summoning ability. Channel: The character may, as a standard action, dematerialize themselves, and exist in the energy of the summoned beasts under his/her control. They use their hitpoints, and physical stats, but retain the characters Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma scores. The character can control them all seperately, and may do anything that that monster could do. They may not cast spells, etc, unless the summoned monster is able to. If all the summoned monsters die, the character rematerializes where they originally started, with their hit points as they were. The character may, as a standard action, rematerialize. Rematerializing before the creatures die, however, will unsummon all of them. Very cool. I'm not certain if it is overpowered or not, but maybe you should have some drawback? A way to attack the arbiter while possessing the creatures. Still, very cool ability. I like this idea, but have never made a PrC before, so please help me balance it out. I had it skip leveling caster class every third level, to keep it in check, because I'm afraid it's too powerful. Yeah, I think it is too powerful, but I am not really that great at balance issues. Nevertheless, the concept is very fascinating and original. I like it.
SaveRaysBoxers 05-10-07, 11:08 PM	Thank you for the feedback. I may have a possible fix to the multiple summoning ability. What if, instead of just granting extra guys, they could roll a percent dice, and 25% of the time they get double summons, and at level ten this increases to 50% chance? Also another possibility: The character may prepare one bonus Summon Monster spell at each level. Or for a Sorcerer, they may cast one extra spell at each level, but it must be a Summon Monster spell. Yet another possibility: These guys can spontaneous cast Summon Monster spells the same way a cleric can with healing spells. In fact, this may be the best one. EDIT: Also, I don't really understand about the familiar progression thing. I guess I've never really read up on familiars before...
Daidalos 05-11-07, 01:56 AM	Thank you for the feedback. I may have a possible fix to the multiple summoning ability. What if, instead of just granting extra guys, they could roll a percent dice, and 25% of the time they get double summons, and at level ten this increases to 50% chance? Also another possibility: The character may prepare one bonus Summon Monster spell at each level. Or for a Sorcerer, they may cast one extra spell at each level, but it must be a Summon Monster spell. Yet another possibility: These guys can spontaneous cast Summon Monster spells the same way a cleric can with healing spells. In fact, this may be the best one. That last possibility seems to me to be the best. EDIT: Also, I don't really understand about the familiar progression thing. I guess I've never really read up on familiars before... Oh. On page 53 of the player's handbook, you'll find a table describing how the familiar gains more abilities as the character levels up. Now, this progression is tied to class level, and if a prestige class does not explicitly say that the familiar progression continues as normal, one assumes the progression is stunted. That is, a Wiz10/Arbiter10 would have a familiar with the powers granted to it by the character's 10 wizard levels.
Wall 05-12-07, 09:31 AM	This is the first PrC I've ever made, so please tell me if it is balanced, and if is interesting. Basically, it is a person who is really into the planes and their inhabitants, and all that stuff. They are quite a lot of PRCs that fit that description. However, I think that you may have beaten quite a few of them here... Hit Dice: d4 Prerequisites: Ability to cast Summon Monster IV. 5 ranks in Knowledge (the planes) Class Skills: Concentration(Con), Craft(Int), Decipher Script(Int), Knowledge (all)(Int), Profession(Wis), Sense Motive(Wis), Speak Language, Spellcraft(Int), Spot(Wis). Skill Points at each level: 2 + Int modifier Level Progression Table: Arbiter of the Planes Base Attack Fort Ref Will Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Spells 1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Planar Familiar +1 level of existing spellcasting class 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Multiplanar Presence +1 level of existing spellcasting class 3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Extended Summoning 4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Turn/Rebuke Outsiders +1 level of existing spellcasting class 5 +2 +1 +1 +4 Blink Movement +1 level of existing spellcasting class 6 +3 +2 +2 +5 Planar Knowledge 7 +3 +2 +2 +5 Duplicate Summons +1 level of existing spellcasting class 8 +4 +2 +2 +6 Permanent Ally +1 level of existing spellcasting class 9 +4 +3 +3 +6 Communism 10 +5 +3 +3 +7 Channel, Triple Summons +1 level of existing spellcasting class Looks good. Class Features Planar Familiar: At first level, an Arbiter of the Planes may summon a new familiar from the following list: Creature Ability Granted Lantern Archon Resistance to Electricity 10 Juvenile Arrowhawk Resistance to Acid 10 Dretch Resistance to Cold 10 Quasit Resistance to Fire 10 Imp Resistance to Poison 10 I agree with Daidalos questions/statements concerning this. Multiplanar Presence: Starting at the second level, due to so much intraplanar meddling, the Arbiter of the Planes is consistently rematerializing. If a physical attack would strike the arbiter, there is a 5% chance that it will go miss. This increases by 5% every two levels, to a maximum of 25% at level ten. Very cool. I don't care what else you do to the class, this is just COOL. Extended Summoning: The durations of Summon Monster and Planar Ally spells are doubled. I see no trouble here. Turn/Rebuke Outsiders: As the cleric ability Turn/Rebuke Undead, but substituting Intelligence in wherever Charisma is mentioned. Upon taking the Arbiter of the Planes class, the character must decide whether they will turn or rebuke outsiders. Makes sense. My only question is: what is your effective cleric level for determining this ability? I'd suggest either class level or class level + levels in class that allows you to cast Summon Monster IV Blink Movement: Instead of physical movement, at level five the Arbiters gain the ability to travel instantaneously through the fabric of the material plane. They can only move a number of feet per round equal to their unarmored move speed. All physical barriers in between are ignored. If an Arbiter blinks into the middle of a physical object, they must make a DC 26 reflex save to avoid immediate death. If they succeed on the save, they take damage equal to half their total hit points rounded up, and reappear in the square they blinked from. A cool ability, indeed. But don't you think that the penalties are a little high? Instant death? I'd go with "you get shunted to the nearest open square, taking 1d6 damage + an additional 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet moved; no save." Also, do they need to see where they are moving to? Planar Knowledge: +10 on all Knowledge (the planes) checks. Not uncalled for. I'd suggest putting this ability at 1st level, perhaps changing it to "you gain a +1 bonus on Knowledge (the planes) checks per class level." Just my opinion of course. If you do that, you may want to another ability here. Planar Survival, perhaps? Character gains a bonus on Survival checks while on other planes? Duplicate Summons: They may summon double the number of creatures than they normally could. At level ten, this increases to triple the number. Not without a drawback! Perhaps the spell duration is halved when this ability is used? or quartered, due to the Extended Summoning ability. Permanent Ally: They may summon an outsider ally, to permanently serve them. The outsider must have an ECL of at least two below the characters, and must have an intelligence of greater than 2. This summoned being is a copy of an actual sentient being somewhere in the multiverse. As such, it is bound to serve the character, but does have intelligence and will work in the same way a cohort would. Does this creature level up like a cohort? Communism: (lol) All summoned monsters under the character's control add their hit points together. When the hit points reach zero, they all die. If a summoned creature's duration runs out before it is dead, it's hit points remain in the pool. I'm not sure about the power of this ability; it is very cool, though. Perhaps the Arbiter can only use this on Summon Monster spells of up to a certain level? Channel: The character may, as a standard action, dematerialize themselves, and exist in the energy of the summoned beasts under his/her control. They use their hitpoints, and physical stats, but retain the characters Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma scores. The character can control them all seperately, and may do anything that that monster could do. They may not cast spells, etc, unless the summoned monster is able to. If all the summoned monsters die, the character rematerializes where they originally started, with their hit points as they were. The character may, as a standard action, rematerialize. Rematerializing before the creatures die, however, will unsummon all of them. Also very cool. I'd put this ability on a so-many-time-per-day use limit, though. Maybe three? I like this idea, but have never made a PrC before, so please help me balance it out. I had it skip leveling caster class every third level, to keep it in check, because I'm afraid it's too powerful. I think you did very well for your first PRC. I hope you manage to come up with more classes as original as this one.
AllisterH 05-12-07, 02:19 PM	Communism: This, combined with the doubling ability is the big red flag. For example, say I have a BBEG use this feature with the doubling ability and I simply have one of the outsiders stay OUT of battle. Now, the PCs are going to be wasting resources since when a creature has died it will continue fighting but worse, the PCs won't understand why.
SaveRaysBoxers 05-12-07, 04:58 PM	Communism: This, combined with the doubling ability is the big red flag. For example, say I have a BBEG use this feature with the doubling ability and I simply have one of the outsiders stay OUT of battle. Now, the PCs are going to be wasting resources since when a creature has died it will continue fighting but worse, the PCs won't understand why. Wow, I really didn't think of this at all. That is very true. I really don't know how to fix this. I like the idea a lot, but that aforementioned problem would be a pain...
Genetic 05-13-07, 12:08 AM	Multiplanar Presence: Starting at the second level, due to so much intraplanar meddling, the Arbiter of the Planes is consistently rematerializing. If a physical attack would strike the arbiter, there is a 5% chance that it will go miss. This increases by 5% every two levels, to a maximum of 25% at level ten. Extended Summoning: The durations of Summon Monster and Planar Ally spells are doubled. Seems fine. Turn/Rebuke Outsiders: As the cleric ability Turn/Rebuke Undead, but substituting Intelligence in wherever Charisma is mentioned. Upon taking the Arbiter of the Planes class, the character must decide whether they will turn or rebuke outsiders. Needs a mention of what the character's effective cleric level is for turning/rebuking. You should also probably change "Upon taking the Arbiter of the Planes class" to something like "Upon attaining this class feature." It just makes more sense since you don't get the turning/rebuking until third level. Blink Movement: Instead of physical movement, at level five the Arbiters gain the ability to travel instantaneously through the fabric of the material plane. They can only move a number of feet per round equal to their unarmored move speed. All physical barriers in between are ignored. If an Arbiter blinks into the middle of a physical object, they must make a DC 26 reflex save to avoid immediate death. If they succeed on the save, they take damage equal to half their total hit points rounded up, and reappear in the square they blinked from. This is a very nice ability. However I think a daily usage limit would not be out of the question. Planar Knowledge: +10 on all Knowledge (the planes) checks. I second the suggestion to put this at first level and change it to +1 bonus per class level. Duplicate Summons: They may summon double the number of creatures than they normally could. At level ten, this increases to triple the number. This is where the breaking point is. The ability itself is worded vaguely; but if I'm reading it correctly it's telling me that I double (or triple) the amount of creatures I summon with a summon monster spell or other similiar spell. I'd love to summon about 10d4 rhinos in a turn with this ability and divine metamagic. Even without something like divine metamagic it's still insane... 2d4+2 or 3d4+3 monsters in a turn? Heh. If you want to keep the theme of "summon more stuff," I'd probably just give them one extra creature per cast. That is powerful enough on its own. It should also be worded better to describe exactly what spells it applies to and what the exact meaning of "double" is. Permanent Ally: They may summon an outsider ally, to permanently serve them. The outsider must have an ECL of at least two below the characters, and must have an intelligence of greater than 2. This summoned being is a copy of an actual sentient being somewhere in the multiverse. As such, it is bound to serve the character, but does have intelligence and will work in the same way a cohort would. Fine concept; needs a bit of clarification though. Communism: (lol) All summoned monsters under the character's control add their hit points together. When the hit points reach zero, they all die. If a summoned creature's duration runs out before it is dead, it's hit points remain in the pool. This is another ability that makes me go "Hmm." I would perhaps give it a limiting factor in that whenever a creature dies, the duration of the summon spell is instantly reduced by X number of rounds. It could be a set amount, it could be a variable amount. Shrug. Maybe 1 or 2 rounds off the duration per creature death. Channel: The character may, as a standard action, dematerialize themselves, and exist in the energy of the summoned beasts under his/her control. They use their hitpoints, and physical stats, but retain the characters Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma scores. The character can control them all seperately, and may do anything that that monster could do. They may not cast spells, etc, unless the summoned monster is able to. If all the summoned monsters die, the character rematerializes where they originally started, with their hit points as they were. The character may, as a standard action, rematerialize. Rematerializing before the creatures die, however, will unsummon all of them. An interesting capstone ability, but it needs a limit. Once per day is probably good. ----------------- Also, the abilities need the markings that denote them as extraordinary (Ex), supernatural (Su), or spell-like (Sp). It's a minor detail but it's necessary to determine how certain other effects affect the character. Overall, I think this prestige class is a very interesting concept; it just needs some clarification and tweaking with the communism and duplicate summoning abilities.
Darknight303 05-21-07, 01:50 PM	Communism: This, combined with the doubling ability is the big red flag. For example, say I have a BBEG use this feature with the doubling ability and I simply have one of the outsiders stay OUT of battle. Now, the PCs are going to be wasting resources since when a creature has died it will continue fighting but worse, the PCs won't understand why. Im pretty sure that communism by itself is a big red flag historically but thats not my point. The creature either won't die for a while longer or a bunch will die at one time. I would change the unsummoning bit leaving HP behind ability because that has some potential to break(Think Jake with his 10 Bison running around only to summon 10 more near the end of the duration and haveing them be twice as big), it looks like a pretty easy way to get some critters way too pumped up, maybe change it to group hitpoints within each summoning, not group hitpoints throughout all summonings, this, coupled with the doubling ability is quite potent and might still need further reducing but other than that, I think everyone else has it all covered. And the whole leaving a single critter out of combat is a bad idea because with group health it will just get killed off with all the other summons, it still dies when the group hitpoints reach zero, similar to twoheaded giant in magic, group HP but certainly not invincible.
Stumpy_the_Tall 05-30-07, 01:09 PM	Duplicate Summons: They may summon double the number of creatures than they normally could. At level ten, this increases to triple the number. Communism: (lol) All summoned monsters under the character's control add their hit points together. When the hit points reach zero, they all die. If a summoned creature's duration runs out before it is dead, it's hit points remain in the pool. I think you can fix these two in one fell swoop. You may have to reword the skill name but instead of always doubling the summons make it one die higher. 1 turns into 1d2. 1d2 into 1d3. Ect ect. Just the way weapon damage is calculated for diffrent sized creatures. This way it's not TOO overpowering. Just an idea.