The Gaming Den

Please feel free to bash the crap out of them if they suck so I can fix them


Here's a prestige class inspired by the Witcher books and game, not exactly witcher lore friendly though. No "child surprise" rule.

Witcher
Witchers are the ones who hunt the beasts plaguing towns or at least the they are the best at it. Many people strive to be a witcher but they almost always fail.

Requirements
Skills: BAB+5, Tumble 8, Survival 8
Special: Must have made contact with a Witcher, and survived the tests of the order

Hit Die: d10

Class Skills: Appraise, Balance, Climb, Craft (Alchemy), Disable Device, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (All Skills Individually), Listen, Move Silently, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, Use Rope

Skills/Level: 4+INT

BAB: Good (1/1), Saves: Fort: Good; Reflex: Good; Will: Good

Level, Benefit
1 Witcher Armaments, Witcher Training, Mutations, Witcher Lore
2 Combat Style
3 Exorcism Sphere (Basic)
4 Signs, Alchemical Harvest
5 Improved Combat Style
6 Rythi Sign
7 Forge Lore
8 Master Combat Style
9 Exorcism Sphere (Advanced)
10 Improved Sign

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Witchers are profiecient with all Simple and Martial Weapons, They are also proficient with light and medium armor, but no shields.

Witcher Armaments (EX): At 1st Level Witchers are each equipped with two weapons, an iron one for humans & animals and a silver one for magical beasts and ghosts. The Witcher must be wielding one of these weapons in order to use any class abilities. Each of these weapons gets an enhancement bonus equal to (Lvl/3), the silver one also gains ghost touch property.

Witcher Training (EX): At 1st level Witchers gain Tracking and the Brew Potion Feat.

Mutations (EX): At 1st Level Every witcher gains immunity to Fear, poisons, and diseases of all kinds, gains the outsider subtype and his/her body goes through drastic changes. There is a 90% chance that the witcher becomes infertile. The Witcher's body changes and he has no control over these processes although most of them are beneficial.

Monster Lore (EX): At 1st Level Witchers may make a Knowledge check DC (12 + CR of a monster) in order to identify immediately, or they may study the creature in combat for three rounds consecutively and automatically succeed.

Combat Style: At 2nd Level witchers decide what kind of fighting they will specialize in
The witcher chooses one path and gains the corresponding feat with each level of combat style.
Strong – Gain Blitz as a bonus feat
Fast – Gain Spring Attack as a bonus Feat
Group – Gain Whirlwind as a bonus Feat

Excorcism Sphere (SP): At 3rd Level Witchers gain basic access to the Excorcism Sphere, at level 9 his access changes to advanced.

Signs (SP): At 4th Level Witchers gain the ability to use four magic signs which they trace in the air. The first is Igni which creates a cone of fire, treat it as Cone of Cold but with Fire damage and burn effect. The second is Quen which acts like Stoneskin. The Third Axii causes confusion among a group of enemies, as Confusion. The Last is Yrden which causes all light in the area to bend around the witcher, as Greater Invisibility. Signs may be used a number of times per day equal to his Witcher level divided by 3 (rounded up). Treat each sign as though your caster level were your Witcher class level

Alchemical Harvest (EX): at 4th Level the witcher gains the ability to take pieces of slain magical beasts to aid in crafting and alchemy, Creature must be at least CR3 to have any useful parts, and you gain (CRx25)GP, these materials may only be used for Craft(Alchemy).

Improved Combat Style: At 5th Level the witcher becomes more adept at his chosen style
Strong – Gain Knockdown as a bonus feat
Fast – Gain Elusive Target as a bonus Feat
Group – Gain Blind Fighting as a bonus Feat

Rythi Sign (SP): Adds a new sign that brings any one dead creature back to life temporarily to gain information works as Speak with Dead. Usable a number of times per day equal to his Witcher level divided by 3 (rounded up).

Forge Lore (EX): at 7th Level Witchers gain the ability to enchant an item as though they were a spellcaster of their level

Master Combat Style: At 8th Level the Witcher becomes a master at his chosen style
Strong – Gain Brutal Offense as a bonus feat
Fast – Gain Deflect Arrows as a bonus Feat
Group – Gain Horde Breaker as a bonus Feat

Improved Sign (SP): At 10th Level the Witcher gains the ability to upgrade one of his signs. He may choose between any of the original four signs Igni, Quen*, Axii, or Yrden.
Whichever Sign you choose gains the following benefits:
- Your Caster level for the sign includes all other class levels
- All spell effects have limit removed (Duration, damage, etc.)

In addition the sign you choose has a specific upgrade applied to it
Igni - Empower Spell
Quen - Loses Damage absorption limit, and only retains DR effect
Axii - Widen Spell
Yrden - Extend Spell



EDIT: Updated abilities, and Changed skills to standard 3.5e
EDIT 2: Updated Abilities again

Can't seem to find the rest of my classes though must have lost them when my last computer died.

You might want to mention what game this is for, I would guess D&D 4e but I can't be sure.

3.5 Tome Rules, but I use the Tome of Prowess with a few variations.

Some questions and concerns:

• Where is the Exorcism sphere located? Can't find it.
• Monster Lore using Hit Dice as the DC is stupid in a ToP setup, since those scale a lot faster than skill bonuses even with Tome attribute scaling. You start off being basically unable to fail the check and wind up largely unable to succeed. Use CR instead, or better yet 12+CR so that they might actually need to take the 3 rounds once in a while.
• Alchemical Harvest and Improved Signs need actual mechanics written for them. I can't tell what they do or how they work as is.
• The class gets 3 spheres / sphere upgrades and 3 combat feats over its run, without meaningful restrictions on them, on top of its spell likes and other abilities. Are you trying to make a spherelock / fighter hybrid, or just a fighter PrC?
• Why in the hell are you giving a Tome style class 10 ToP skills?

Unrelated to class question - why did you bring back knowledge and craft?

The pair of weapons should mesh better with existing game rules. Remember that iron weapons beat some kinds of DR, and silver weapons beat others. This is true in the Witcher series as well.

The Exorcism Sphere is in the tomes pdf under other spheres,
Changed the Monster Lore ability to 12+CR, That was a good idea thanks
I fixed alchemical harvest and last sign.

To answer unrelated question I use INT to determine number of knowledges you may have and you only use on skill point for all knowledges, and craft I brought back for same reason, I ran crafting in a new way to see how it worked.

Skills should have been 8, In the campaign I used this for INT didn't determine skill points, just your class did. I changed them to an average value

Thanks for pointing out the Exorcism sphere in the tome pdf. Couldn't find it in the community thread or on the wiki, and I sorta forget there's a pdf as well (despite committing changes to it a while back).

I think restricting to the exorcism sphere is a better call, but it still feels like a lot to give them expert access. I actually think you'd be better removing the sphere entirely and spreading out the sign acquisition, maybe even allowing people to upgrade existing signs via some mechanic, since that fits the source material more closely (and avoids holy word spam at the level expert access is granted). It also happens to better fit with other tome classes.

Regarding the ToP skills thing, intelligence is not supposed to grant bonus ranks under that setup, so you were set there. Most Tome classes don't need 8 or 10 skills though, especially those built around combat feats or spheres. 6 points and a selection of 10-12 class skills should be fine in this case.

When you say 1 point for all knowledges and crafts, do you mean that if you spend a point then you get to make a level +3 check in knowledge (x) or craft (x), essentially buying the whole skill and a scaling bonus at the cost of 1 skill point?

no it doesn't work like that here is what it looks like on my character sheet

Craft looks the same but it maxes at three instead of six

I think ill stop the sphere access at advanced and then change the signs around a little bit