Time Bandit quasiclass

[Torin]

Time Bandit quasiclass
- Inspired by the movie „Time Bandits“by Terry Gilliam (1981) –
I really would like a wizard like quasi that uses DEX as prime stat. Here is a try. Comments and improvements are very welcome.
Yours Torin.

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Time Bandit
- The Time Bandit quasiclass combines the criminal resolve of the Rogue with the arcane might of the Wizard. They are using magic and Rogue skills to get as much loot as possible. They can be evil grave robbers, neutral treasure hunters or good archeologists. By counting Rogue levels as Wizard levels for the purposes of some spells, the normal downsides of taking so many non-caster levels are largely offset.
- To qualify for Time Bandit the character must have 10 levels of Wizard, 10 levels of Rogue, Spell Focus divination, and the improved evasion feat before level 21.
- Any light armor worn by the Time Bandit has its spell failure chance reduced to zero.
- Time Bandits receive the Luck of heroes and defensive roll feats for free.
- Time Bandits can cast the Bard’s Treasure Scent spell as a level 8 spell.

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This document contains details of the Time Bandit quasiclass on Higher Ground.

Requirements
- To qualify for Time Bandit the character must 10 levels of Wizard, 10 levels of Rogue, specialized in spell school divination, and the improved evasion feat before level 21.

Free feats
- On achieving time Bandit status at level 20, the character is automatically given Luck of heroes and defensive roll feats for free.

Time Mastery
- A Time Bandit with a base DEX of 40 or more becomes immune to the spell "Time Stop".
- For every avoided Time Stop all saves are lowered by -3 for 10 minutes real time, cumulative!

Special Spells
- Gate: Teleports with unlimited range and can port between areas as long as they are not no-teleport (as cast with LSF Conjuration)
- Premonition: Works also with armor (like it does for the Bane Knight).
- Treasure Scent: Time Bandits can cast the Bard’s Treasure Scent spell as a level 8 spell.
- Time Stop: Is a powerful attack spell for the Time Bandit: It bends the time around the caster and inflicts 1d10 x CL to all enemies, half pos damage, half neg damage (Reflex halves the damage). All enemies must make a successful saving throw in WIL or be dazed for 1d4 rounds. Will and reflex DC’s are modified by +1 per 20 points in Lore. // Is this modification possible? Is this overpowered? Numbers?

HG Epic Spell
- Time Bandits may acquire the Divination arcane epic spell without 25 levels of Wizard.

Spells
- Spell DCs for certain spells (those listed below) are equal to 10 + spell level + (DEX modifierx9/10).
- Caster levels for those same spells are equal to Wizard level + Rogue level.
- For most spells, Caster Level and Spell Penetration are equal to Wizard Level + (Rogue Level/3) and using INT instead of DEX to calculate DC.
- Level 1: Identify, True strike, Expeditious retreat
- Level 2: See invisibility,..
- Level 3: Greater Magic Weapon , Keen, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Find traps
- Level 4: Remove blindness/deafness,
- Level 5: Feeblemind
- Level 6: Legend lore, True seeing, Tenser's Transfromation
- Level 7: Power word (stun)
- Level 8: Premonition, Treasure Scent
- Level 9: Power word (kill), Time Stop
// Maybe some other spells to add…


History:
- Changed level to "before level 21"
- Added Immunity to Time Stop with a base DEX of 40.
- Added: "For every avoided Time Stop all saves are lowered by -3 for 10 minutes real time, cumulative!"

[Yojimbo]

love the movie but I am just not feelin this idea myself and just a thought maybe once you reach LL you get immunity to time stop spell or something like that

[simpetar]

Nice concept, but... does it have any weaknesses? This one, as I understand it, has pretty powerful both offensive (PWK, timestop, Tenser´s) and defensive (Premonition) spells, as well as can perform full capabilities as dex tank. Not speaking of rogue tasks. Defensive Roll and Improved Evasion as free feat and perequisity themselves are half-way to Epic Dodge and giving LoH for free just fills the gap most rogues have to solve. Last, meeting 10/10 class combination before 24 is too benevolent, at least compared to other quasis and in terms of AB and saves. I suggest lowering it to 10/10 before 21.

cheers
simpetar

[Torin]

Feb 17, 2009 15:38:40 GMT simpetar said:

Nice concept

Thanks!

Feb 17, 2009 15:38:40 GMT simpetar said:

but... does it have any weaknesses?

The largest weakness compared to Wizards or Rogues is that they don't have the benefits that these classes get at higher level/with more class levels:
- Rogues get special rules for levels above 30, pure Rogues can even ignore sneak immunity.
- Wizards get very much bonus feats for casting and can acquire HG custom spells
I think both Rogues and Wizards are very powerful when played pure or with only 1-4 other classes splashed in.

Feb 17, 2009 15:38:40 GMT simpetar said:

I suggest lowering it to 10/10 before 21.

Ok - changed above.

Thx. for comments.

[Torin]

Feb 16, 2009 20:28:16 GMT Yojimbo said:

love the movie but I am just not feelin this idea myself and just a thought maybe once you reach LL you get immunity to time stop spell or something like that

Cool idea!
I've no feeling about how powerful this would be...but from the role playing aspect this is just cool! -> Added

[Yojimbo]

Feb 17, 2009 19:03:55 GMT Torin said:

Feb 16, 2009 20:28:16 GMT Yojimbo said:

love the movie but I am just not feelin this idea myself and just a thought maybe once you reach LL you get immunity to time stop spell or something like that

Cool idea!
I've no feeling about how powerful this would be...but from the role playing aspect this is just cool! -> Added

That immunity alone could make this class something people strive for. I would say for it we require two things 1 stricter harsher and higher QC requirements and 2 more penalties on the character perhaps AC and or HP or maybe even Saving Throw penalties.

[trickypriest]

Maybe when casting Time Stop, the caster would start losing HP in a gradually hastening pace, as if stopping time itself would drain some of the caster's life away, probably about half of it and it would be recoverable in, maybe 2 minutes or so. No heal pots either, only regeneration. That'd make the caster vulnerable to mobs after the spell wears off, so it'd take some consideration to use that spell.
It could also be made, so the caster can only cast TS in every 4 minutes, or so, like Greater Sanctuary.

[chrystoph]

Regarding ignoring Sneak Imm, that function comes in at 40 Rogue levels, so it would still be attainable with this quasi and a Rogue CC.

Not sure about the Improved Evasion and Defensive Roll as requirements, as both have Rogue Lvl 10 as a requirement. I cannot look into it right now (at lunch at work), but that might be impossible to achieve.

[Torin]

Feb 19, 2009 17:13:54 GMT @chrystoph said:

Regarding ignoring Sneak Imm, that function comes in at 40 Rogue levels, so it would still be attainable with this quasi and a Rogue CC.

No - You need 40 BASE Rogue levels for Sneak Imm; Only pure Rogues get this.

Feb 19, 2009 17:13:54 GMT @chrystoph said:

Not sure about the Improved Evasion and Defensive Roll as requirements.

That is a misunderstanding: Only Imp. Evasion is a requirement. The Devensive Roll is given as a free feat on acquiring Time Bandit status..
(Otherwise you would be totally right: It would be impossible to get both feats, because the first Rogue bonus is given at level 10)

[Torin]

Feb 17, 2009 20:48:56 GMT Yojimbo said:

Feb 17, 2009 19:03:55 GMT Torin said:

Cool idea!
I've no feeling about how powerful this would be...but from the role playing aspect this is just cool! -> Added

That immunity alone could make this class something people strive for. I would say for it we require two things 1 stricter harsher and higher QC requirements and 2 more penalties on the character perhaps AC and or HP or maybe even Saving Throw penalties.

- Hm...with 10 levels of Wizard, 10 levels of Rogue in the pre-epic levels the BAB will be 5+7=12 , that horrible low and IMHO allready a harsh QC requirement.
- Penalty: All add a penalty for avoiding Time Stop: For every avoided Time Stop all saves are lowered by -3 for 10 minutes real time, cumulative!

[Torin]

Feb 18, 2009 12:14:09 GMT @trickypriest said:

Maybe when casting Time Stop, the caster would start losing HP in a gradually hastening pace, as if stopping time itself would drain some of the caster's life away, probably about half of it and it would be recoverable in, maybe 2 minutes or so. No heal pots either, only regeneration. That'd make the caster vulnerable to mobs after the spell wears off, so it'd take some consideration to use that spell.
It could also be made, so the caster can only cast TS in every 4 minutes, or so, like Greater Sanctuary.

As far as I know, casting Time Stop in a group is normally not the best idea and could freeze/harm your party too. That's why I suggested the change of the spell to an attack spell.

[chrystoph]

Feb 19, 2009 17:49:43 GMT Torin said:

Feb 19, 2009 17:13:54 GMT @chrystoph said:

Regarding ignoring Sneak Imm, that function comes in at 40 Rogue levels, so it would still be attainable with this quasi and a Rogue CC.

No - You need 40 BASE Rogue levels for Sneak Imm; Only pure Rogues get this.

highergroundpoa.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&thread=9518

Could someone definitively in the know confirm that, one way or the other? The thread here simply states:

Sneak Attack Immunity Bypass
- At Rogue 40, they ignore Sneak Attack immunity against nearly all opponents.

[Avissar]

I can confirm that, you will need 40 rogue pre-LL to get the Sneak Attack Bypass. If you were to say, take 39 rogue, then 1 something else, you will NOT get the sneak bypass at 41. The rogue levels must be aquired before LL.

[Yojimbo]

Feb 19, 2009 17:58:31 GMT Torin said:

Feb 17, 2009 20:48:56 GMT Yojimbo said:

That immunity alone could make this class something people strive for. I would say for it we require two things 1 stricter harsher and higher QC requirements and 2 more penalties on the character perhaps AC and or HP or maybe even Saving Throw penalties.

- Hm...with 10 levels of Wizard, 10 levels of Rogue in the pre-epic levels the BAB will be 5+7=12 , that horrible low and IMHO allready a harsh QC requirement.
- Penalty: All add a penalty for avoiding Time Stop: For every avoided Time Stop all saves are lowered by -3 for 10 minutes real time, cumulative!

I like it but had a thought allow it a reflex save on TS to avoid being stopped. Then successful roll gets you free from TS and adds those penalties which may want to revise.

[Acaos]

Feb 19, 2009 19:45:31 GMT @chrystoph said:

Could someone definitively in the know confirm that, one way or the other? The thread here simply states:

Sneak Attack Immunity Bypass
- At Rogue 40, they ignore Sneak Attack immunity against nearly all opponents.

Unless it says it includes LLs, it does not.

Acaos