Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

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BeefotronX's picture
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

I had an idea for a PrC that is based on the notion of rejecting balance and an abhorrence for those who take the middle ground.

It is supposed to be a charismatic warrior similar to a paladin except the class has several abilities that focus on opposing neutrality. and while the core abilities are the same, there would be in the game world separate factions of extremists for each of the four extreme alignments.

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Extremist
Requirements
Alignment: Lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil, or chaotic evil
Skills: Bluff 5 ranks, Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 5 ranks, Perform(oration) 5 ranks, Sense Motive 2 ranks
Feats: Negotiator, Persuasive
BAB: +6

HD: d10

The extremist is a charismatic warrior who has no stomach for compromise or indecision in the pursuit of his highest ideal.
Lawful good extremists pursue justice. Chaotic good extremists pursue liberty.
Lawful evil extremists pursue power. Chaotic evil extremists pursue mayhem.
And these four groups share one thing in common. They cannot stand the indecisive masses who are with them one week and against them the next. As much as they despise their enemies-- those of alignments diametrically opposed to themselves-- they have come to almost hate more those who would rush to rescue these enemies from final defeat in the name of Balance.
If the four sects ever got together long enough to discuss things, they would probably be frightened by the similarity of their main doctrines--especially by the idea that four groups of mortal enemies are somehow united in the belief that Balance is useless, and that paradoxically this might favor the forces of Balance.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: An extremist gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, all armor, and shields.

Level 	BAB 	F/R/W	 	Special Abilities
1		1 		2/0/2 		Detect neutral, charm person, smite neutral 1/day
2 		2 		3/0/3 		Inspire Zeal
3 		3 		3/1/3 		Smite neutral 2/day
4 		4 		4/1/4 		Inspire Doubt
5 		5 		4/1/4 		Smite neutral 3/day
6 		6 		5/2/5		Word of Hope or Word of Despair
7		 7		5/2/5		Smite neutral 4/day
8 		8 		6/2/6 		Word of Dominion or Word of Insanity
9 		9 		6/3/6 		Smite neutral 5/day
10 		10 		7/3/7		Extremist's Rebuke 1/day

Detect neutral: An extremist can use this power at will. It functions like detect evil, except that it detects the auras of neutral (true neutral) creatures, clerics of neutral deities, neutral outsiders, and certain neutral magic items. Detect neutral only detects neutral magic items that work favorably for creatures of a neutral alignment, such as a gray robe of the archmagi. Characters of one of the four extreme alignments, such as the extremist, are vulnerable to overwhelming neutral auras. This ability also allows the extremist to add his extremist level to Sense Motive checks to detect neutralist attitudes in other characters.
Smite neutral: Once per day, a 1st level extremist may attempt to smite neutral with one normal melee attack. This ability affects only true neutral creatures. He adds his Charisma bonus (if any) to his attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per extremist level. If the extremist accidentally smites a creature that is not neutral, the smite has no effect but the ability is still used up for the day. Every two levels after 1st,(3rd, 5th, and so on) an extremist gains one extra daily use of this ability.
Words of the Extremist: An extremist has the ability to use his voice to create amazing effects. An extremist can use these abilities a total number of times per day equal to his extremist level. All saves against an extremist's inspiration power has a DC of 10 plus the extremist's Charisma bonus plus half of his extremist levels. Starting an inspiration ability is a standard action, and maintaining one requires concentration (a standard action each round).
Charm Person: A 1st level extremist with at least 5 ranks in Perform (oratory) can use this ability to duplicate the effects of charm person. Its range is 30 feet. This is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect.

Inspire Zeal: A 2nd level extremist with at least 6 ranks in Perform(oratory) can grant himself and his allies (number of allies up to 3 plus his Cha bonus) a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls and 1d10 temporary Hit Points. To be affected, a character must be able to hear and understand the extremist. The effects last for a character as long as she hears the extremist speak and for 5 rounds thereafter. At 8th level, the morale bonus to attack rolls increases to +4, and the temporary Hit Points increase to 2d10.
This is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect.

Inspire Doubt: A 4th level extremist with at least 8 ranks in Perform (oratory) can attempt to instill a sense of doubt into one enemy within 50 feet, who will begin to hesitate and second-guess himself at every action, significantly slowing his reaction time. The target must be able to hear and understand the extremist. If the target fails its Will save it suffers a morale penalty to AC and all saving throws equal to half the extremist's level. This effect lasts for as long as the target hears the extremist speak and for one round per extremist level afterwards. This is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect.

Word of Hope:A 6th level good extremist with at least 10 ranks in Perform (oratory) can use this ability to duplicate the effects of good hope on up to one creature per extremist level, within hearing range of the extremist. This ability grants a +2 morale bonus to saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and attack damage rolls.

Word of Despair: A 6th level evil extremist with at least 10 ranks in Perform (oratory) can use this ability to duplicate the effects of crushing despair on up to one creature per extremist level, within hearing range of the extremist. This ability inflicts a -2 morale penalty to saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and attack damage rolls.

Word of Dominion: A 8th level lawful extremist with at least 13 ranks in Perform(oratory) can attempt to subject a target creature within 30 feet to his absolute command. The target must be able to hear and understand you to be affected. If the target fails a Will save, it is subjected to a dominate monster effect that lasts for one day. This is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect.

Word of Insanity: A 8th level chaotic extremist with at least 13 ranks in Perform(oratory) can attempt to drive a target creature within 30 feet insane. The target must be able to hear and understand you to be affected. If the target fails a Will save, it is subjected to the effects of the insanity spell. This is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect.

Extremist's Rebuke: At 10th level, the extremist can use the extremist's rebuke once per day. The caster level of this ability is equal to the extremist's character level. This is a word of power similar to a holy word, blasphemy, dictum, or word of chaos. Each extremist can access two of these four effects, according to his alignment. When this ability is used, the extremist chooses which effect to duplicate: holy word, blasphemy, dictum, or word of chaos-- except that true neutral creatures are also fully affected as if they were the alignment opposed to the spell.

Clueless's picture
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Webmonkey
Joined: 2008-06-30
Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

Ooohhhh - this is a twist on the idea. I'm interested to see where you'd go with this. Are you going to make 4 different classes? Or one class which you can just vary?

BeefotronX's picture
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

I wanted to make only one class that could be varied a little. Maybe a couple of class abilities could be different depending on alignment.

The idea is that various groups in the 4 extreme alignments have at one time or another had their designs thwarted by the forces of Balance, and have, independently of each other, come to see neutrality as even more threatening than the opposite alignment. They see militant neutrality as something to smite, and passive neutrality as something to draw people out of. The latter part means there should probably be some kind of inspiration ability similar to bardic music, which would go along with the skill and feat requirements.

kwint's picture
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

Two words: Zapp Brannigan Eye-wink ...
Kwint

nick012000's picture
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factotums
Joined: 2004-05-19
Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

So... what is 'neutrality' for the purposes of this?

True neutral only? All alignments with 'neutral' in the name? What?

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Webmonkey
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

Also - is it possible that the more evil extremists are the ones more likely to use aggressive techniques as opposed to the more good ones?

Though admitted LG can be pretty pushy too - and CE may have issues with 'forcing' someone... so perhaps when this class first takes the level they choose which 'route' they'll take?

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Webmonkey
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

Oh! In a Planescape context - these guys *definately* need something that targets rilmani specifically. Perhaps choosen enemy rilmani? Or some bonus to sense motive to detect a rilmani undercover agent?

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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

'nick012000' wrote:
So... what is 'neutrality' for the purposes of this?

True neutral only? All alignments with 'neutral' in the name? What?

I was thinking true neutral only. Is that too narrow or should there be some kind of partial effect on other neutral alignments?

'Clueless' wrote:
Also - is it possible that the more evil extremists are the ones more likely to use aggressive techniques as opposed to the more good ones?

Though admitted LG can be pretty pushy too - and CE may have issues with 'forcing' someone... so perhaps when this class first takes the level they choose which 'route' they'll take?

Like I said, I could use some help on the other class abilities, some of which should probably differ depending on alignment.

Quote:
Oh! In a Planescape context - these guys *definately* need something that targets rilmani specifically. Perhaps choosen enemy rilmani? Or some bonus to sense motive to detect a rilmani undercover agent?

Well, that's sort of what detect neutral is for. A true neutral outsider would tend to have a very strong aura.

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Webmonkey
Joined: 2008-06-30
Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

There are plenty of spells that may be able to keep that from becoming apparent though - hence why I'd suggest having an actual skill bonus for that feat as well.

I would think that targeting mostly the TN folks is fine (especially in the context of why the class exists - it seems only the TN would be real targets).

perro's picture
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

sounds excellent for hardheads and chaosmen for sure

BeefotronX's picture
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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

All right, I've got some vanilla inspiration powers, and started on some alignment specific ones.

What I think I want to do is have one power for law, one for chaos, one for good, and one for evil, so each of the 4 sects will end up with 2 of the powers. Something for good/evil needs to go in at 6th level.

As for 10th level, I'm inclined to make it a 1/day supernatural ability rather than another "word of the extremist" power, and have something relatively unique for each of the 4 sects.

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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

I know this thread is old, but I ran across the WIP in my files and decided to finish it off. Enjoy.

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Extremist prestige class. (Complete--a year later)

You have returned! *goes to look at the updates!* Smiling

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