Author Topic: [3.5] The Mountebank (Dual Invoking/Binding)  (Read 6776 times)

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Bauglir

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[3.5] The Mountebank (Dual Invoking/Binding)
« on: September 29, 2010, 02:29:42 AM »
So the mountebank class in the Dragon Compendium has pretty spiffy flavor, even if the Warlock and Binder do edge in on it a lot. It's mechanically lacking, though, and it occurs to me that an invoking/binding class is not a niche that's been filled. So, I thought, why not fix that.

EDIT: Things I'm worried about are, are the class features too powerful for full dual advancing (I don't think so, considering nothing's a true caster, but maybe), and how's the distribution of them? I felt like the power gain might be a bit uneven, but I'm not exactly sure. Possible solution would be moving the ability that lets you beguiling stare people as often as you want to level 4, and adding an ability at level 7 that lets you choose an alignment for the purposes of ALL effects, but I don't know.

MOUNTEBANK
Level  Base Attack Bonus  Fort  Ref  Will   Special                                                                Invoking Level
  1          +0            +0   +0  +2      Beguiling Stare, Disguise the soul's aspect, Soul binding +1     +1 Level of Existing Class
  2          +1            +0   +0  +3      Rapid Stare (move), Soul binding +2                              +1 Level of Existing Class
  3          +2            +1   +1  +3      Vestigial Empowerment, Soul binding +3                           +1 Level of Existing Class
  4          +3            +1   +1  +4      Soul binding +4                                                  +1 Level of Existing Class
  5          +3            +1   +1  +4      Soul amalgamation, Soul binding +5                               +1 Level of Existing Class
  6          +4            +2   +2  +5      Immobilizing stare, Soul binding +6                              +1 Level of Existing Class
  7          +5            +2   +2  +5      Soul binding +7                                                  +1 Level of Existing Class
  8          +6            +2   +2  +6      Mass stare, Soul binding +8                                      +1 Level of Existing Class
  9          +6            +3   +3  +6      Rapid stare (swift), Soul binding +9                             +1 Level of Existing Class
  10         +7            +3   +3  +7      Intense stare, Rapid stare (free), Soul binding +10              +1 Level of Existing Class
[/spoiler]

Class Features

All of the following are features of the mountebank prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Mountebanks gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Invoking: When a new mountebank level is gained, the mountebank gains an increase in invoker level (and, for a warlock, increased eldritch blast damage, and for a dragonfire adept, increased breath weapon damage and save DC; other invoking classes with similar key abilities gain a similar benefit, at the DM's discretion), as well as additional invocations known as if she gained a level in an invoking class to which she belonged before taking this prestige class. She does not gain any other benefits due a character of that level in the class.
Soul Binding: At each mountebank level, your soul binding ability improves as if you had also gained a level in the binder class. Your mountebank levels and binder levels thus stack for the purpose of determining your bonus on binding checks, the effectiveness of your vestige-granted abilities, your ability to bind higher-level vestiges, and the number of vestiges you can bind. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a binder would have gained.
Beguiling Stare (Su): As a standard action, a mountebank can stare into her target's eyes and attempt  to hypnotize him through the force of her gaze.  The target of this ability must make a Will save (DC 10 +  mountebank's level + mountebank's Cha modifier).  If this save fails, the target becomes beguiled until the  end of the mountebank's next turn. The mountebank  can use this ability at will, but she cannot attempt to use  it against a single target more than once per minute.
A beguiled character loses his Dexterity bonus to  Armor Class. He also suffers a -2 penalty on all Will  saves and a -5 penalty on all Sense Motive checks. The  mountebank's power overwhelms the target's  mind, leaving his thoughts foggy and his body leaden.  If the mountebank's target succeeds in his save, he has no knowledge of the mountebank's attempt to beguile him unless he makes a Sense Motive check opposed by the mountebank's Bluff check. In the target's mind, he merely stared into her eyes for a moment.
Beguiling stare is a mind-affecting ability.
At 4th level, and every 3rd level thereafter, the duration for which a creature remains beguiled increases by 1 round. Thus, a paladin beguiled by a 7th level mountebank would remain beguiled for 2 turns after the mountebank's next turn ends.
Disguise the Soul's Aspect (Su): Whenever targeted by any effect that would determine her alignment, a mountebank can make a special Bluff check; to this check, she adds her class level. If the originator of the effect does not succeed on a special Sense Motive check (adding the spell level, if any, of the alignment-detecting effect), then the mountebank can choose freely which alignment she is treated as for the purposes of the spell. This does not affect spells that do not explicitly detect alignment; a holy smite spell would still have full effect on an evil mountebank, because it does not explicitly tell the caster what the mountebank's alignment is.
Rapid Stare (Su): A 2nd level mountebank can use her beguiling stare ability as a move action. A 6th level mountebank can use beguiling stare as often as she likes on a given target, provided she has sufficient actions to do so. A 9th level mountebank can use this ability as a swift action. A 10th level mountebank can use the ability as a free action, although only once per round.
Vestigial Empowerment (Su): A 3rd level mountebank learns to channel magical power to the vestiges she binds, granting them an otherwise impossible level of stimulation. Vestiges are grateful for such favors; a mountebank can use a vestige-granted ability that ordinarily requires the mountebank to wait 5 rounds between uses more often. To do so, she must choose an invocation and give up access to it for the same amount of time she would have had to wait in order to regain the vestige's ability. In exchange, she can use the vestige's granted ability an additional time (although she must temporarily give up knowledge of further invocations if she wishes to use that ability yet again before 5 rounds have elapsed from this new use).
The power of the vestige whose ability you wish to use determines the power of the invocation you must sacrifice; a 1st or 2nd level vestige requires only a Least or higher invocation, while a 3rd or 4th level vestige requires a Lesser or higher invocation and a 5th or 6th level vestige requires a Greater or higher invocation; 7th or 8th level vestiges require a Dark invocation to be sacrificed. Epic vestiges can also be satisfied in this way, but only if the mountebank, in addition to a Dark invocation, sacrifices all benefits of an Epic feat from the Epic Warlock's bonus feat list (although that need not be the means by which the mountebank actually gained the feat) which grants the ability to use certain spell-like abilities.
Thus, if a mountebank had 3 rounds to wait before using Tenebrous' Turn/Rebuke Undead ability again (having already waited 2), she could sacrifice a use of any Lesser, Greater, or Dark invocation for 3 rounds in order to Turn or Rebuke Undead in that round. She would then need to wait another 5 rounds before using this ability of Tenebrous' again, as normal. Using this ability is a part of using the vestige-granted ability, and thus does not consume additional actions.
Soul Amalgamation (Su): A 5th level mountebank has opened her soul both to the powers that grant her invocations and to the vestiges she binds. The combination of these foreign powers inhabiting her soul results in some unusual interactions; at her option, she may imbue her invocations with some of the supernatural power of a vestige.
For each vestige she binds, a single use of an invocation she knows either becomes impossible to dispel for 24 hours after it is used, or ignores spell resistance when it is initially used. These invocations interact with antimagic fields, mage's disjunction spells, and any other effect that interferes with magic normally. She may use this ability on the same invocation multiple times in a given day. She does not keep a use of this ability for any longer than she remains bound to the vestige that grants it, but each use of this ability accompanies the act of binding a vestige, meaning she typically regains them each day. A creature eternally bound to a single vestige gains a use of this ability once per day, as if binding that vestige anew each morning without expending any time.
Immobilizing Stare (Su): A creature beguiled by a 6th level or higher mountebank becomes immobilized. Thus, he cannot voluntarily leave the space he was in when affected. Unlike other applications of the immobilized condition, the creature can be moved by others.
Mass Stare (Su): An 8th level mountebank can use her beguiling stare ability on every creature within a cone with a length of 10 feet per class level; each creature is entitled to a separate Will save, and (if applicable) Sense Motive check, although the mountebank makes only a single Bluff check which sets the Sense Motive DC for all creatures.
Intense Stare (Ex): A 10th level mountebank's beguiling stare becomes even more powerful, and innate to the mountebank's being. The save DC increases by 4, and it becomes an Extraordinary ability rather than Supernatural (as do improvements to it granted by this class). Finally, even creatures immune to Mind-affecting effects are susceptible to this ability, so long as they possess an Intelligence score.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2010, 01:04:55 PM by Bauglir »
So you end up stuck in an endless loop, unable to act, forever.

In retrospect, much like Keanu Reeves.