05-14-2015, 10:27 PM
I always tended to veer away from classes built around bonding with a specific person since it tends to limit what you can do, and makes a lot of class features useless if you're on your own- either for recon or just general party splitting.
That said, I love Gunblades, so I wanna see what you got here.
DISCLAIMER: These are just suggestions and initial thoughts looking things over, it's in no way a bad class but there are certain aspects I'd change had I the authority.
-Prerequisites: While the Gunblade Fighter Archetype works well with this, I don't think it should be a necessity... there aren't really any PrC that require a specific Archetype's class feature, something more general like 'Chosen Weapon: Some type of Gunblade' COULD work but that still limits this to just Fighters being able to take it. PF tried making PrC more accessible, such as ones like Assassin no longer requiring Sneak Attack, so anyone can join it with the right skill ranks(and alignment).
In all honesty I think just requiring +7 BAB and Gunblade Expertise would be fine, a lot of PrC also have some skill at 7 ranks, I just can't think of much that fits the theme of the class as a required skill. Maybe Intimidate so you can pull aggro off your charge?
-Saves: All three good saves, even on PrC progression, is a bit much. If this is meant as a protector then Fort and Will fit best, but since it's also built on a potentially ranged weapon, Ref and Will could work... hell even Fort and Ref could. All in all, since it's a Martial class with full BAB having two good saves should be the limit.
-Limit Breaks: I see now that Renzekuken works with Trigger, a suitable replacement might be allowing the Gunblade Knight to use Gunblade Expertise on EVERY attack for that duration, rather than just on Attack Actions... if you were going to make the class more open and accessible to other classes.
-Bonding: Again, if you were to open this up the wording could just be altered a bit, at 1st level a character gains Chosen Weapon bonuses, counts as a Fighter for feats, and can take "Extra Fighter Talent" Feat as if their Gunblade Knight level were their Fighter level. If they already had levels in Fighter, they simply stack to calculate bonuses and what you qualify for.
-Gunblade Tech: The idea of preparing them each day is a little odd rather than simply picking which ones you know, since the idea that by 2nd level in this class you've already learned all these techniques, you're just limited to using one each day... well it's odd. I know the intention was allowing the changing of them from one day to the next, but there's only 7 of them, so by 10th level you'll only be missing a couple if you simply learn then rather than increasing how many you can 'prepare' each day.
Overall it's just a little nitpicky since that's how similar abilities work for other classes, but I think it just fits better to stick with the established status quo on these kinds of things.
--Big Shot: Might be simpler to just use the Range Increment of the gun, and limit it to use within the first Range Increment (increasing by one every 2 levels beyond 2nd, to a maximum of 5 Range Increments at level 10). Adding a new Range Increment for the Force Effect on top of the Range Increment for the standard bullet can get a little confusing.
Also, no need to say it knocks them prone 'for one round', unless you're implying that the blow was so great that they are unable to get up next round even though they can still act normally... which would be weird.
--Blasting Zone: Same notation of the 'knocked prone for 1 round' bit as above, otherwise this looks fine- capping out at 6d6 damage is a little meh but not a lot I could suggest to amend that.
--Fated Circle: Again, capping at 6d6 damage is a little underwhelming, though it being Non-Elemental is a nice boon. For the Cone and Radius though, the distances should really be altered. In standard cases a Cone is worth a Burst Radius of half the length, or a line worth double the length. 60ft line, 30ft cone, 15ft burst, generally considered equal. The Radius here consumes a bullet so it gets SOME leeway but you might be better off making them more like 30ft cone and 20ft Burst...
Also the idea of the spheres being formed on the outside of the circle and exploding doesn't really support pushing the targets 10ft away from the Knight, unless they make some kind of vacuum... but that's just splitting hairs.
--Fire Cross: Instead of specifying the shot has to be made halfway to the target, it might simply be cleaner to state it can be done 'at any point during the charge, as a free action' or something to that degree.
Second note, why is it a Will Save after getting shot to avoid the follow-up attack being an auto-hit and auto-crit? Fort save to not be stunned by the pain or Reflex Save to not have your sight consumed by fire makes a bit more sense in my mind...
And again, the 'knocked prone for 1 round' part feels out of place.
--Rough Divide: Seems a bit strong, that's a lot of times per day you can just get a free critical as long as you hit... even having it always be a Threat feels like a bit much. I get that the Critical part is meant to tie in to the Trigger class feature but... what if the Gunblade Techs just allowed the use of Gunblade Expertise in combination with any Melee Attacks that hit?
And, since you're likely using a 1-handed weapon which isn't known to be a huge Powerhouse, either getting extra d6's of damage on the Sunder or being able to apply the Bullet damage(adding both together before applying Hardness) might be a way to get some mileage.
--X-Burst: This seems fine, as usual 6d6 cap on damage is meh but a chance at Staggering in a 10ft burst is not bad. With how it's described I could see it working as a Ranged Touch Attack, target taking bullet damage in addition to the Xd6 and getting no save against the Stagger, then people within 10ft being hit for the Xd6 and Stagger with Reflex save to halve/negate.
-Cover: Adding the Knight's full Reflex Mod to their Bond's? No, nonono... hell no... no. A bonus of one half their Gunblade Knight level would be much more... tame. Confers Evasion when you reach a Strong Bond(5th level) and Improved Evasion when you reach True Bond (10th level). Also you should note this as an immediate action, so that they can only use it once per turn.
Also... I know other features in PF only state it as such but you might want to add a notation that using this actually consumed part of a move action on your next turn, so you can't use Cover and then just Full-Attack, not moving at all.
-Strong Bond: Being able to siphon your own AC to the Bond? That works, progression seems fine too. Bonus to Will Saves vs Charm/Compulsion? Also good, fits for their dedication to the bond. Sharing a bonus Teamwork Feat? I can see that too, having it stretch to ALL of them feels like a bit much, but it's only one person so it's probably alright.
But giving the Bond eventually a +5 Morale Bonus to Attack and Damage? That's really big, maybe just a bonus to attack rolls when flanking with the Knight or something but... applying it to both at that level feels like a bit much. There's nothing stopping the Gunblade Knight from bonding with the Berserker and leading to just a pair of monstrous damage dealers who don't really need to mind their defenses.
-Entrust: I actually really like this one, BUT I do think the 3 uses per day should be shared among the Knight and their Bond, since a potential 6 Limit Breaks done above 50% HP between the two of them seems a bit much.
Personally I'd say dropping it to a Swift or Move action would be fine, since there's already an action tax on the person using the Limit Break and taking a Standard Action leaves them unable to do much that round.
-Stand Together: Aid Another is already kind of bland, I'd say rather than getting a bonus on the checks to Aid Another they auto-succeed, have the 30ft range thing, that's awesome, and then increase the bonus received by +1/3 levels, or basically +3 since you're already 9th level. I might go a step further and say allow them to use it as a Move Action, allowing them to aid each other twice a turn, just requiring the bonuses to apply to two different categories (Attack and AC, or AC and Skill, but no doubling up on one thing).
-True Bond: I like it, the wording is a little wonky in the second half but it's still pretty clear what the benefits are. Compared to other stuff the class gets it feels a little weak for a capstone, but given the general strength of everything else I wouldn't change much about it.
That said, I love Gunblades, so I wanna see what you got here.
DISCLAIMER: These are just suggestions and initial thoughts looking things over, it's in no way a bad class but there are certain aspects I'd change had I the authority.
-Prerequisites: While the Gunblade Fighter Archetype works well with this, I don't think it should be a necessity... there aren't really any PrC that require a specific Archetype's class feature, something more general like 'Chosen Weapon: Some type of Gunblade' COULD work but that still limits this to just Fighters being able to take it. PF tried making PrC more accessible, such as ones like Assassin no longer requiring Sneak Attack, so anyone can join it with the right skill ranks(and alignment).
In all honesty I think just requiring +7 BAB and Gunblade Expertise would be fine, a lot of PrC also have some skill at 7 ranks, I just can't think of much that fits the theme of the class as a required skill. Maybe Intimidate so you can pull aggro off your charge?
-Saves: All three good saves, even on PrC progression, is a bit much. If this is meant as a protector then Fort and Will fit best, but since it's also built on a potentially ranged weapon, Ref and Will could work... hell even Fort and Ref could. All in all, since it's a Martial class with full BAB having two good saves should be the limit.
-Limit Breaks: I see now that Renzekuken works with Trigger, a suitable replacement might be allowing the Gunblade Knight to use Gunblade Expertise on EVERY attack for that duration, rather than just on Attack Actions... if you were going to make the class more open and accessible to other classes.
-Bonding: Again, if you were to open this up the wording could just be altered a bit, at 1st level a character gains Chosen Weapon bonuses, counts as a Fighter for feats, and can take "Extra Fighter Talent" Feat as if their Gunblade Knight level were their Fighter level. If they already had levels in Fighter, they simply stack to calculate bonuses and what you qualify for.
-Gunblade Tech: The idea of preparing them each day is a little odd rather than simply picking which ones you know, since the idea that by 2nd level in this class you've already learned all these techniques, you're just limited to using one each day... well it's odd. I know the intention was allowing the changing of them from one day to the next, but there's only 7 of them, so by 10th level you'll only be missing a couple if you simply learn then rather than increasing how many you can 'prepare' each day.
Overall it's just a little nitpicky since that's how similar abilities work for other classes, but I think it just fits better to stick with the established status quo on these kinds of things.
--Big Shot: Might be simpler to just use the Range Increment of the gun, and limit it to use within the first Range Increment (increasing by one every 2 levels beyond 2nd, to a maximum of 5 Range Increments at level 10). Adding a new Range Increment for the Force Effect on top of the Range Increment for the standard bullet can get a little confusing.
Also, no need to say it knocks them prone 'for one round', unless you're implying that the blow was so great that they are unable to get up next round even though they can still act normally... which would be weird.
--Blasting Zone: Same notation of the 'knocked prone for 1 round' bit as above, otherwise this looks fine- capping out at 6d6 damage is a little meh but not a lot I could suggest to amend that.
--Fated Circle: Again, capping at 6d6 damage is a little underwhelming, though it being Non-Elemental is a nice boon. For the Cone and Radius though, the distances should really be altered. In standard cases a Cone is worth a Burst Radius of half the length, or a line worth double the length. 60ft line, 30ft cone, 15ft burst, generally considered equal. The Radius here consumes a bullet so it gets SOME leeway but you might be better off making them more like 30ft cone and 20ft Burst...
Also the idea of the spheres being formed on the outside of the circle and exploding doesn't really support pushing the targets 10ft away from the Knight, unless they make some kind of vacuum... but that's just splitting hairs.
--Fire Cross: Instead of specifying the shot has to be made halfway to the target, it might simply be cleaner to state it can be done 'at any point during the charge, as a free action' or something to that degree.
Second note, why is it a Will Save after getting shot to avoid the follow-up attack being an auto-hit and auto-crit? Fort save to not be stunned by the pain or Reflex Save to not have your sight consumed by fire makes a bit more sense in my mind...
And again, the 'knocked prone for 1 round' part feels out of place.
--Rough Divide: Seems a bit strong, that's a lot of times per day you can just get a free critical as long as you hit... even having it always be a Threat feels like a bit much. I get that the Critical part is meant to tie in to the Trigger class feature but... what if the Gunblade Techs just allowed the use of Gunblade Expertise in combination with any Melee Attacks that hit?
And, since you're likely using a 1-handed weapon which isn't known to be a huge Powerhouse, either getting extra d6's of damage on the Sunder or being able to apply the Bullet damage(adding both together before applying Hardness) might be a way to get some mileage.
--X-Burst: This seems fine, as usual 6d6 cap on damage is meh but a chance at Staggering in a 10ft burst is not bad. With how it's described I could see it working as a Ranged Touch Attack, target taking bullet damage in addition to the Xd6 and getting no save against the Stagger, then people within 10ft being hit for the Xd6 and Stagger with Reflex save to halve/negate.
-Cover: Adding the Knight's full Reflex Mod to their Bond's? No, nonono... hell no... no. A bonus of one half their Gunblade Knight level would be much more... tame. Confers Evasion when you reach a Strong Bond(5th level) and Improved Evasion when you reach True Bond (10th level). Also you should note this as an immediate action, so that they can only use it once per turn.
Also... I know other features in PF only state it as such but you might want to add a notation that using this actually consumed part of a move action on your next turn, so you can't use Cover and then just Full-Attack, not moving at all.
-Strong Bond: Being able to siphon your own AC to the Bond? That works, progression seems fine too. Bonus to Will Saves vs Charm/Compulsion? Also good, fits for their dedication to the bond. Sharing a bonus Teamwork Feat? I can see that too, having it stretch to ALL of them feels like a bit much, but it's only one person so it's probably alright.
But giving the Bond eventually a +5 Morale Bonus to Attack and Damage? That's really big, maybe just a bonus to attack rolls when flanking with the Knight or something but... applying it to both at that level feels like a bit much. There's nothing stopping the Gunblade Knight from bonding with the Berserker and leading to just a pair of monstrous damage dealers who don't really need to mind their defenses.
-Entrust: I actually really like this one, BUT I do think the 3 uses per day should be shared among the Knight and their Bond, since a potential 6 Limit Breaks done above 50% HP between the two of them seems a bit much.
Personally I'd say dropping it to a Swift or Move action would be fine, since there's already an action tax on the person using the Limit Break and taking a Standard Action leaves them unable to do much that round.
-Stand Together: Aid Another is already kind of bland, I'd say rather than getting a bonus on the checks to Aid Another they auto-succeed, have the 30ft range thing, that's awesome, and then increase the bonus received by +1/3 levels, or basically +3 since you're already 9th level. I might go a step further and say allow them to use it as a Move Action, allowing them to aid each other twice a turn, just requiring the bonuses to apply to two different categories (Attack and AC, or AC and Skill, but no doubling up on one thing).
-True Bond: I like it, the wording is a little wonky in the second half but it's still pretty clear what the benefits are. Compared to other stuff the class gets it feels a little weak for a capstone, but given the general strength of everything else I wouldn't change much about it.