Post by desocupado on Mar 24, 2016 2:05:08 GMT
I've thought about this for some time, but basically every time I look at tank's class breakdowns when going with prestige class tanks and compare it to going with pure classes I sort of miss that ability to splash 2 classes and get a cool benefit on the non prestige ones.
Of course splashes are usually about giving passive bonuses that make a class combination usable, for instance a dexter can dual wield due monk ac, a paladin splash grants saves, Fighter/Harper/Weapon Master grant dps and so on. On a rare instance there is an active component to it like PDK gives but it's usually a passive thing. Of course some classes don't give either.
Then there's also some further things we don't quite see for some time like a wizard splash to use scrolls and other stuff. Here's how it currently work: (If you can point out an additional benefit tanks get by splashing something please point it out bellow)
What I would like to conceptualize here is making a philosophy change - tanks won't really get any benefits from getting more than 30 levels on a single class (maybe feats) but they would get benefits from having 3, 5 or 7 levels when splashing another class - effectively forcing all tanks splash twice (tough in several class and level combinations).
This could be taken up to eleven if tank classes granted all features at 15 or 20 (this is probably way too much). The numbers 3, 5 and 7 would probably revert the splash ease of base classes x prestige classes tough (tough prestige classes would get more epic bonus feat as CC).
This does sound odd and won't be balanced, at first, but could end up making tanks quite diverse - at very least we can come up with some reworks/adjustments to make more classes a splash option.
(New) Active abilities could be made from either the own class, some customized feature or even guttering a quasi classes for features (slingers, chanters, GI, lash, staff masters come to mind) or even concepts from older threads like "epic for all".
Some current class features could scale with character levels instead of class levels to make them splash-able if needed they could grant an additional bonus if CC is the original owner - let's say a cot's divine wrath is shared with cot 5 splash - a non CoT CC would get up to 25/+16 soak while a cot gets 40/+16 (this isn't the best example due pointing out a passive skill)
Next steps:
1 - Complete the splash benefit table
2 - Categorize Passive Benefits
3 - Look at active abilities (or gameplay changing passive abilities)
4 - Create a table with suggested splash benefits for each class on levels 3-5-7
Of course splashes are usually about giving passive bonuses that make a class combination usable, for instance a dexter can dual wield due monk ac, a paladin splash grants saves, Fighter/Harper/Weapon Master grant dps and so on. On a rare instance there is an active component to it like PDK gives but it's usually a passive thing. Of course some classes don't give either.
Then there's also some further things we don't quite see for some time like a wizard splash to use scrolls and other stuff. Here's how it currently work: (If you can point out an additional benefit tanks get by splashing something please point it out bellow)
Class | Passive Bonus | Active Bonus | Comment |
Barbarian | Movement Speed (1) Uncanny Dodge (2) | Rage (1*) | Low level rage doesn't really grants much of a benefit beyond the first levels |
Bard | |||
Cleric | |||
Druid | |||
Fighter | Fighter specialization tree (4*) Wheatstone (+1 every 4 levels) Bonus feats | Weapon specialization usually requires taking a level at epic levels | |
Monk | Wisdom AC (1) Monk weapon progression (1) AC (1 per 5 levels) | ||
Paladin | Cha saves (1) Fear immunity (3) | ||
Ranger | Bonus feat (1-5-10) Dual wielding feats in light armor (9) | ||
Rogue | Allow Rogue skills (1) Evasion (2) Uncanny Dodge (3) Bonus Rogue feat (10) | Sneak attack damage - requires flanking (1) | Allowing rogue skills is more of a burden than a feature for tanks |
Sorcerer | True Strike Spell (1*) Cast Arcane scrolls (1) | True Strike has an use due granting magic ab +20 - but it usually isn't useful due other buffs getting you to the cap | |
Wizard | True Strike Spell (1*) Cast Arcane scrolls (1) | ||
Arcane Archer | Can use A.A. bow Bow damage and ab (1 every odd level) | ||
Assassin | True Strike Spell (X*) Uncanny dodge (2) | Use poison (1) Death attack | A decent CL True strike does help with more AB bonus to disarm. Death attack can paralyze if target is outside combat AND fail a test (DC 10 + int + assassin level) |
Blackguard | Charisma Saves (2) | Use Poison (1) Sneak attack | |
Champion of Torm | Bonus Feats (every 2 levels) | ||
Dwarven Defender | Limited Shield AC dualwielding axes (1) Defensive awareness 1 (2) Defensive awareness 2 (5) | ||
Pale Master | Bonus AC (1/5/9... ?) Critical Immunity (20) | On vanilla NWN it did grant critical immunity at 10 | |
Red Dragon Disciple | Stat Bonuses | On vanilla NWN it's a good tank splash due great stats | |
Shadowdancer | Evasion and Uncanny Dodge (2) Slippery mind (7) HiPS and Improved Evasion (10) | No one ever splashed it. | |
Shifter | None | Can't be normally splashed - Niche builds include the con based Druid or Ranger | |
Weapon Master | Extra Critical multiplier (5) Extra critical threat (7) | ||
Harper Scout | Boots of Wanderer (5) 2 Bonus feats Allows PP and UMD as cross class skill | ||
Purple Dragon Knight | Several active Skills |
What I would like to conceptualize here is making a philosophy change - tanks won't really get any benefits from getting more than 30 levels on a single class (maybe feats) but they would get benefits from having 3, 5 or 7 levels when splashing another class - effectively forcing all tanks splash twice (tough in several class and level combinations).
This could be taken up to eleven if tank classes granted all features at 15 or 20 (this is probably way too much). The numbers 3, 5 and 7 would probably revert the splash ease of base classes x prestige classes tough (tough prestige classes would get more epic bonus feat as CC).
This does sound odd and won't be balanced, at first, but could end up making tanks quite diverse - at very least we can come up with some reworks/adjustments to make more classes a splash option.
(New) Active abilities could be made from either the own class, some customized feature or even guttering a quasi classes for features (slingers, chanters, GI, lash, staff masters come to mind) or even concepts from older threads like "epic for all".
Some current class features could scale with character levels instead of class levels to make them splash-able if needed they could grant an additional bonus if CC is the original owner - let's say a cot's divine wrath is shared with cot 5 splash - a non CoT CC would get up to 25/+16 soak while a cot gets 40/+16 (this isn't the best example due pointing out a passive skill)
Next steps:
1 - Complete the splash benefit table
2 - Categorize Passive Benefits
3 - Look at active abilities (or gameplay changing passive abilities)
4 - Create a table with suggested splash benefits for each class on levels 3-5-7