So…I lied. There was no Flavor Friday last week. I do have an excuse, however. I’ve been playing Skyrim for nearly 4 days straight, and Thursday night (when I planned to write the entry, procrastinator that I am) saw me getting dinner with a buddy, watching Death Race at his place, and then standing outside GameStop (freezing my buns off) waiting for the midnight release.
But enough about my failures as a human being…let’s get to design day!
Today, I’m going to continue with House Rule Week (now weeks, I suppose), this time giving my alterations to the current core classes in my games.
Fighter
Skills: Fighters gain 4 skill points per level, instead of 2.
This is actually more of a flavorful change. I always pictured the fighter as more of a soldier than a standard warrior. They’re professionally trained, so I thought that they would be trained in other areas as well, whether that be survival training or other studies.
Combat Arts: Fighters gain access to the Combat Arts selection of abilities, as presented in my Combat Arts document.
I’ve posted about these before, but I’ll talk about them a little bit here. Essentially, they’re like Arcane Discoveries (presented in Ultimate Magic) for fighters. My reasoning behind them? Well, balance, actually. The fighter, as a class, needs a boost. These also offer a lot of versatility, granting abilities that range from increased hit dice to charging over difficult terrain with ease.
Armor Training: When a fighter gains Armor Training at 3rd level, the must choose whether they are gaining “Agile Armor Training” or “Defensive Armor Training”.
· Agile Armor Training: This functions just like standard Armor Training.
· Defensive Armor Training: Instead of increasing the armor’s maximum dexterity bonus, they increase the armor’s armor bonus to AC by 1.
This one is…just an ability fix. You may claim that Armor Training was good enough on its own. The problem I have with it is…well, instead of granting the fighter a bonus, it seems to just force them to put points into dexterity if they want to get any benefit out of it.
Monk
Meditative Metabolism (Su): The monk adds his wisdom modifier to hit points gained through the monk class, as well as his fortitude saves, instead of his constitution modifier. In addition, he makes a wisdom check to stabilize if brought below 0 hit points instead of a constitution check.
The monk needs a lot more work than what’s presented here, and I’m in the process of building that. But before I’m done with that, this one really helps. The biggest problem that I see with the monk is that it’s MAD (multiple-attribute-dependant); it requires a decent Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom to even be decent. With the meditative metabolism, it instead no longer needs Constitution, at all. This seriously helps, especially in a 15-point-buy game.
Paladin
I’m not going to talk about these, as all the changes are focused on one thing. I do not use alignment in my games, except as an outsider subtype. That being said, all of these are simply alignment changes. The paladin’s code still exists, so it should still be adhered, but overall I think it frees up the class to do a lot that it couldn’t have otherwise.
Aura of Good: This ability no longer exists.
Detect Evil: This ability no longer exists.
Smite Evil: This ability now becomes just “smite” and functions universally against any creature. It deals increased damage on the first strike against all outsiders, dragons and undead.
Aura of Justice: This ability now just grants “smite” instead of “smite evil” to the paladin’s allies.
Rogue
I’ve talked about these before in their own article. I’m just re-printing here. For a more in-depth discussion, you can go here.
Precise Strike (Ex): At 1st level, the rogue may add her dexterity modifier to attack rolls instead of her strength modifier when attacking with light weapons and weapons compatible with the Weapon Finesse feat. In addition, she adds her dexterity modifier to all weapon damage rolls. This bonus to damage cannot exceed her level.
Sneak Attack: Starting at 3rd level, a rogue gains part of her ability to target vital areas of an enemy even in less-than-ideal circumstances. She gains half her sneak attack bonus to damage (Ex: 2d6 becomes 1d6), rounded down, on all attacks, regardless of whether the target is denied their dexterity bonus or the rogue is flanking. This damage still only applies within the first 30 feet when making ranged attacks, and the rogue still does not gain this bonus damage against creatures with concealment.
Rogue Talents: The following is added as a rogue talent:
Bravado (Ex): A rogue applies her Charisma bonus as an insight bonus to all attack rolls and combat maneuver checks, to a maximum bonus equal to her level.
Gunslinger
And…this is the simplest change EVER. I use wisdom on my ranged attack rolls. Therefore, the Gunslinger should use it on its damage rolls with Gun Training.
Gun Training: The gunslinger adds her wisdom modifier to damage with the selected firearm instead of her dexterity modifier.
There you have it! My class changes. Hope you enjoy, and maybe use it in your own games!
-Chris
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