Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Windbit 03-07-07, 08:42 PM	I probably should have done a more orthodox prestige class for my first attempt at making one, but I thought it would be fun to play as a class that relies on luck even more than the others do. Without further ado, I present Fortune Gambler! Fortune Gambler "Lady Luck is with me tonight, and she's not leavin' anytime soon!" Fortune Gamblers are the favored persons of the goddess of luck, Lady Luck. Though many invoke her name, only Fortune Gamblers have the benefit of being perpetually lucky. Their great luck aids them not only at the poker table, but in all aspects of life. Hit Die: d6 Requirements Special: If a player rolls three natural 20's in a row or does anything else that a DM rules as being sufficiently lucky, that means that Lady Luck has taken a liking to the character(Be sure that the occurrence is something very unlikely to happen). The character can then hold up any item they possess that grants a luck bonus and invoke Lady Luck's name to become a Fortune Gambler. There is no time limit for the character to invoke Lady Luck's name. Level - BAB - Fort - Ref - Will - Special - Luck Points 1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Thank Your Lucky Stars, Flip a Coin, Mulligan, Luck Be With Me, Bet Your Life 100 LP 2 +1 +0 +3 +1 Roll the Bones, Lucky Guess 125 LP 3 +1 +1 +3 +2 War! 150 LP 4 +2 +1 +4 +3 none 175 LP 5 +2 +1 +4 +4 Fortune's Smile 200 LP Class Features Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Fortune Gambler gains a magical deck of cards from Lady Luck upon gaining her favor that he can use as a ranged weapon. If an attack roll hits, the player draws five cards. How much damage the attack deals is determined by the hand drawn. The Joker card acts as a wild card. Refer to the "Hand Ranking" table to see how much damage each hand is worth. Royal Flush 2d10 Straight Flush 1d12 Four of a Kind 1d10 Full House 1d10 Flush 1d10 Straight 1d8 Three of a Kind 1d8 Two Pair 1d6 One Pair 1d6 High 1d4 Thank Your Lucky Stars: The Fortune Gambler's special abilities are fueled by the luck that Lady Luck provides him. To use any of the abilities, the Fortune Gambler must spend "luck points". A Fortune Gambler's luck points increase each level. If he rolls a Natural 20, then the Fortune Gambler gains 10% of his maximum luck points for his level, but doesn't gain extra luck points if that would increase his total to more than his maximum amount. If a Fortune Gambler reduces his luck point total to zero, then his luck has "run out". As long as his luck remains at zero, the Fortune Gambler takes a -2 "bad luck" penalty to every action he makes until the next day or until he rolls a Natural 20. Flip a Coin: When a character gains a Fortune Gambler level, the DM flips a coin and the player calls it. If the coin lands the way the player called it, his character gains a bonus feat for that level. Mulligan: Starting at 1st-Level, a Fortune Gambler may choose to spend 25% of his maximum luck point total for his level to re-roll any roll that requires a d20. Luck Be With Me: Starting at 1st-Level, a Fortune Gambler gains the ability to spend 10%, 20%, or 30% of his maximum luck point total to gain a bonus point for every 10% increment he spent. Roll the Bones: Starting at 2nd-Level, a Fortune Gambler may choose to bet that an attack will hit, whether it be his own, another character's, or a trap's. He then spends 10% of his maximum luck point total for his level to bet on the result of the following attack roll. If it hits, the attack causes an extra d6 of damage for each level of Fortune Gambler the one who made the bet has. If the resulting attack roll was a critical hit, the Fortune Gambler also gains back the luck points he spent on the bet. Lucky Guess: Starting at 2nd-Level, a Fortune Gambler gains the ability to foretell which outcome will be least fortunate for him by spending 25% of his maximum luck point total for his level. When he uses this ability, the DM must tell the player in secret which choice would be the least fortunate for the Fortune Gambler. If none of the possible choices are clearly worse than another, then the DM must tell the player that. War!: Starting at 3rd-Level, a Fortune Gambler may choose to "declare war" with an opponent to overcome his armor class by spending 30% of his maximum total luck points for his level. Both the DM and the player split a deck of playing cards. They both place a card face up simultaneously. If the player's card is higher than the DM's card, the Fortune Gambler has broken the enemy's armor class. He then flips the three cards he placed face down and adds their value to find the amount of damage he inflicted. If the DM wins, he does the same to the Fortune Gambler. If it is a draw, they both place three more cards face down and place the fourth face up. This continues until a winner is decided. Fortune's Smile: At 5th-Level, a Fortune Gambler may spend 50% of his maximum luck point total for his level to use the "Fortune's Smile" ability. Whomever he smiles at receives a +5 luck bonus for their next three actions. He can also use this ability to bless an item with a +3 luck bonus for 10 rounds. Bet Your Life: When the Fortune Gambler is in danger of being killed instantly by massive damage, a spell's effect, or anything dealing instant death, he can choose to have Lady Luck intervene. If the Fortune Gambler chooses to use this ability, the DM flips a coin and the player must call it. If the coin lands the way the player calls it, the Fortune Gambler cheats death. However, Lady Luck leaves him and the Fortune Gambler loses all his abilities. Refer to the "Ex-Fortune Gamblers" section for more information. Ex-Fortune Gamblers Once a Fortune Gambler uses his luck to cheat death, Lady Luck leaves him and he loses all his Fortune Gambler abilities. However, should he ever benefit from an event as lucky as the one that caused Lady Luck to favor him, she will return to his aid and he will regain all his abilities.
Windbit 03-07-07, 10:38 PM	I'd appreciate it if someone showed me how to fix up the code box. BTW, I forgot to mention that I want constructive criticism on this. So, feel free to tear me a new one!
Infinitive 03-08-07, 01:20 AM	I think this class is actually quite flavorful and very interesting, but there's a key underlying problem with it. It's a 90% metagaming class. I'll explain. Aside from the deck of cards ability (which I absolutely love to death; expand this, please, and give rules for enchanting and range!), every ability this class has access to grants the player, not the character, additional abilities. In essence, you're doing things as the person at the table, not the guy fighting the goblins. It begs the question "what is your character actually doing on the field to gain these benefits?" The "Flip a coin for a bonus feat" class feature is a particularly stand-out example of this (its potential power level aside). War! is even more so. The worst part is that all of this would really bog down the game during combat. Oh yeah. Make the entry requirement something that the player's character has done, not the player. On a more mechanical level, you need to clean up your luck point system. Have a look at the Ki points system for the Ninja class in CA; that's a good example for you to take after. The Luck feats in Complete Scoundrel are another fantastic option. Also, I'd strongly recommend that you change the class' capstone ability. Capstones are supposed to be powerful, unique options that reward you for sticking it out. While this one has the possibility of saving your keister, doing so will cost you five whole levels, one quarter of your character's total potential progression. Thank you, but I'll pay my 5000 gold, 1 level, and Constitution drain for a Raise Dead after voluntarily failing that check. This class has a lot of potential. Re-work it around abilities that your character would get to do on the battlefield; use your deck of cards as a weapon setup for a starting point; I think it's a great idea. I can just see one of these guys whipping out some cards that look like a Deck of Many Things and having a safe suddenly fall on their chosen target. Make sure to keep things quick, though; props like the deck are OK, but only as long as the player can use them and be done with em in like 20 seconds or less; you don't want to interfere with the other players' fair share.
Windbit 03-08-07, 09:55 AM	Thanks for the advice! BTW, the "Bet Your Life" isn't the capstone ability, you get it at 1st-Level. The capstone ability is "Fortune's Smile." I just put "Bet Your Life" last because of the fact that using it makes you lose all your luck powers.
Joshua_Cail 03-08-07, 10:29 AM	Yeah, I agree with the whole "metagaming" comment. Rework some of the abilities or replace them. In addition to that, advancing in level gives you no more luck advantages, since all the class abilities are based on percentages. You may want to address that. Finally, I would personally enjoy it if this character could finally unlock the secret manufacture of the coolest artifact ever...the deck of many things. Have it be the character's unique flair. Aside from that, I love the card deck weapon, but I think the card-theme should hold throughout the class. Essentially, either add some cosmetic signature to explain the metagaming abilities, fix the luck point cost problem, and redo flip a coin which has massive power problems. Great class concept though...I love cards and if I can get my DM to approve the finished version I'd love to try it sometime.
Windbit 03-08-07, 03:11 PM	I got the info for Luck Feats today. I'll try to integrate them into the Fortune Gambler when I have time.
Garble Willowwits 03-14-07, 05:49 PM	You know, when I was trying to design a character for the campaign I'm about to participate in, part of his backstory is being inspired by a street magician who beat down a group of thugs, partially by hurling cards at them. The card only had two effects in the story, either slashing people up or exploding in a flash of blinding light, according to suit. Perhaps something like that would be useful. Also, I think it would be awesome if someone else could get their hands on a similar deck of cards, even if they're not a Fortune Gambler.