idrahil
Level 6 Magician
The Lighter The Rules, The Better The Game!
Posts: 398
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Post by idrahil on Oct 4, 2013 11:09:54 GMT -6
Hi all, I want to make a new DD style character class and I'm coming here for ideas.
First, I am basing a general idea from the "bad guys" from the movie "The 13th Warrior". They would basically wear bear skins but these guys would be 8 feet tall.
I'm thinking of a +2 bonus to damage but not sure if that is too much/too little. Giants get 2-12 damage so I though 3-8 would be good for these guys.
I was then thinking of dual-classing them like elves. Instead of Fighting-Man 8 / Magic-User 4 as its maximums I was thinking:
Fighting-Man 6 / Cleric 4
But not sure Cleric is the right way to go as far as spell power......or even if that is the spells a Shaman would use. I was looking up Shaman and D&D 3+ has write-ups but that's obviously what I'm looking for.
What should their casting ability look like? Undead ward / control? Spirit Control? Spell books?
How should I approach this?
Ideally, I want a class that is primarily fighters with an AC of 7 that have some casting / cleric-like ability.
Help!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2013 15:18:18 GMT -6
I'm thinking of a +2 bonus to damage but not sure if that is too much/too little. That's as much damage as an ogre in OD&D. So, to me at least, that seems a bit much for a human. Perhaps, like the bear-men in the film, you could prohibit armor or limit them to leather armor to balance? Or, you could just use them as high level opponents, since the "PCs" in the film were pretty experienced fighters. Just a thought. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Oct 4, 2013 16:46:17 GMT -6
I haven't seen the film, but from the concept brief given here, it seems akin to the classic notion of the barbarian; physically large/powerful but lacking for sophistication. +2 damage does sound a touch on the high side; as @dubeers points out that's what Ogres get and they're 9-10ft tall and quite massive. On the other hand, I imagine berserkers would generally fit the description and be 6ft, or even 7ft, tall. These guys get +2 to hit versus man-types. Mathematically speaking +2 to hit has the same effect on damage over time as does +1 to damage. So, if you're looking for something halfway between berserker-sized and ogre-sized, you could call it +3 to hit but I think I'd be inclined to build on the berserker "as is" (+2 to hit is already a powerful advantage). As far as spell caster side goes, I'd look first at "rebranding" the cleric by creating an alternate spell list filled out with appropriately flavoured spells -- what the appropriate "flavour" is will be determined by your vision of the class. Perhaps they're all animal & divination type spells? That's where you get to be creative. Maybe you could change "turn undead" to "hold animals" or something like that? If you don't think they should have written "spellbooks" you could substitute a more appropriate alternative. Perhaps in this culture spells are not written but instead woven into lengthy plaits of human hair, decorated with beads, brambles, feathers, animal bones, or whatever? It's up to you  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! |
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Post by Red Baron on Oct 4, 2013 17:13:04 GMT -6
Hi all, I want to make a new DD style character class and I'm coming here for ideas. First, I am basing a general idea from the "bad guys" from the movie "The 13th Warrior". They would basically wear bear skins but these guys would be 8 feet tall. Fighting-Man 6 / Cleric 4 But not sure Cleric is the right way to go as far as spell power......or even if that is the spells a Shaman would use. The cleric is already a fighting man / cleric.  Oh, and what your describing is horde of huge evil druids. They were really freaking big in the movie even compared to the hulking vikings, so I see no problem with giving them ogre strength (if you think you need to make druids even more op than they already are). |
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idrahil
Level 6 Magician
The Lighter The Rules, The Better The Game!
Posts: 398
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Post by idrahil on Oct 4, 2013 19:42:53 GMT -6
Ok instead of spell books, they would use totems. I'm going to start with the berserker as a base. With +2 to hit man types and an (assumed) +1 to damage due to 15-18 STR, they will be sufficiently bruiserish.
As for spell casting, I like Way's idea of beads and bones. So they'll cast spells from totems. As for spell lists, I was thinking:
Level 1
Charm Animal
Detect Magic
Jump
Light**
Cure Light Wounds*
Protection From Evil*
Remove Fear*
Level 2
Bless*
Detect Alignment
Hold Animal
Phantasm
Sixth Sense
Web
* Can cast opposing version
** Illumination is a ghostly blue
As for spells per level:
Level----1----2----
--1------1----0----
--2------2----0----
--3------3----1----
--4------4----2----
Shaman Spell-Like Abilities
2nd Level - Speak With Animals (1 minute ritual)
3rd Level - Speak With Plants (5 minute ritual)
4th Level - Speak With Spirits (20 minute ritual)
In order to use the above listen abilities, the Shaman must engage in the proper ritual (chant, dance around bonfire, beat drum, etc.) for the listed duration.
These guys start as Fighters. After reaching level 2, they can switch to Shaman. They may switch class after each adventure. They dual class and are limited to 6th level as Fighters and 4th level as Shaman (Shaman Matrix and saving throws are equal to the Cleric).
Limited to Bear skins for armor (Leather).
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Post by waysoftheearth on Oct 5, 2013 21:59:53 GMT -6
The cleric is already a fighting man / cleric. I think a lot of millage can be had with this How about just assuming that our 7-8ft "berserker men" are +2 to hit versus man-types due to their size and ferocity but, for cultural reasons, they don't wear metal armour; it isn't available to them, they are superstitious of it, or whatever... Most of them are fighting men (with the above mentioned cultural advantage/disadvantage). Some of them could then be shaman instead (also with the above mentioned cultural advantage/disadvantage), where shaman are simply the "clerics" of our berkerker-people. We could stick with all the standard cleric stats, but alter some of the class features to make our shaman something unique. We already know that our "berserker-men" can't wear metal armour, and that they're +2 to hit versus man-types. But we could easily take it further... Perhaps the shaman have no power over undead? Perhaps they can employ all arms except missiles? Perhaps they can memorise spells as do clerics except that they don't use spell books? Perhaps they instead enter a drum-trance to memorise their spells? Perhaps they would have their own spell list (which idrahil has already started to develop)? I'd be inclined to limit this to six spells of each spell level -- just like the "normal" cleric. Perhaps they cannot cast "normal" clerical scrolls, nor read "normal" clerical spell books? Perhaps their selection of magic items includes allowable weaponry, shields, but excludes clerical staves (other than the snake staff and staves of mastery, smiting, and wasting)? With the above approach, you wouldn't necessarily need to worry about the dual-classed fighter/shaman. But if you wanted to allow it anyway I'd recommend the dual-class rules exactly as given for Elves. All speculation, of course. As I mentioned above, I haven't seen the film  |
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