[3.5]Shifter Paragon

[Flay Crimsonwind]

One thing I noticed isn't in print somewhere and isn't homebrewed where I can find it, I threw this together pretty quickly. Mind giving me a quick spin on it's strength level, in comparison to other paragon classes?

Shifter Paragon

Alignment: Any

Hit Dice: 1d10

Shifter Paragon Abilities

Code: [Select]

Lv  BAB  Fort  Will   Ref  Class Feature
1 - +1    *     *      *    Shifter Skills, Shifting Prodigy
2 - +2    *     *      *    Bonus Shifter Feat
3 - +3    *     *      *    Enhanced ShiftingSaves: Different traits have emphasized different resistances.
Razorclaw, Beasthide, Gorebrute, Truedive, Wildhunt, and Longtooth shifters have Good Fortitude saves only.
Cliffwalk, Longstride, and Swiftwing shifters have Good Reflex saves only.
Dreamsight shifters have Good Will saves only.

Class Skills:
The shifter paragon's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), and Spot (Wis).

In addition, each shifter paragon gains class skills based on its shifter trait:
Razorclaw - Intimidate (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Tumble (Dex).
Beasthide - Intimidate (Cha), Concentration (Con), Tumble (Dex).
Gorebrute - Intimidate (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Search (Int).
Truedive - Concentration (Con), Escape Artist (Dex), Swim (Str).
Wildhunt - Knowledge:Geography (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis).
Longtooth - Handle Animal (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge:Nature (Int).
Cliffwalk - Climb (Str), Knowledge (Geography), Move Silently (Dex).
Longstride - Knowledge:Geography (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Tumble (Dex).
Swiftwing - Balance (Dex), Move Silently (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis).
Dreamsight - Handle Animal (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier

Class Features -
All of the following are class features of the shifter paragon class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Shifter paragons are proficient  with all simple weapons. They are also proficient with light armor, and any armor made from hides.

Shifting Prodigy: The paragon gains an additional shifting per day per level in the paragon class.

Shifter Skills: The racial bonus on the shifters racial skills increases to +3, and the shifter gains a +2 racial bonus on all skills with the attribute of her shifting trait (strength skills for razorclaws, constitution skills for beasthide, etc).

Bonus Shifter Feat: At second level, building upon her heritage, the shifter gains one shifter feat. She must still meet the prerequisites to take the feat.

Enhanced Shifting (Su): Finally, at level 3, a shifter gains better control over her body and is thus treated as though she were under the effects of the Enhanced Shifting spell at all times (with a caster level equal to your effective character level).

[Littha]

Looks like a solid class, not too strong and works well enough. Really my only problems are in how its displayed, as you threw it together quickly you probably don intend to leave it like that anyway but here goes:

The wording on enhanced shifting needs work
Its generally easier to read classes if you use he or she as wizards tend to do (though they are a bit hung up on she) rather than "the paragon"

I would word Enhanced Shifting like this:
Enhanced Shifting (Su): Finally at level 3 a shifter gains better control over her body and is thus treated as though she were under the effects of the Enhanced Shifting spell at all times.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Yeah, that's probably the best way to state it.

And no, I did not intend to leave it that way; it has since been edited. I'm planning on, like the half-dragon paragon class, having a basic skill list, plus three separate skills for each shifter trait. I'll put that up last (not like it's going to be terribly unbalancing; I don't really see any of them having UMD  )

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Alrighty, skills up, and damn if that separate section wasn't the hardest damn thing to compile; some are just so damn similar, and I really wanted to make them varied.

About the skillpoints and hit dice; the two big shifter classes are barbarian (d12, 4 skill points) and rangers (d8, 6 skill points). I thought of just making it like the ranger, except they've got a very concentrated, small list. Still, I'd expect them to be very good at the few skills they have, being self-reliant and all. So I gave them a slight bump in HD, and the higher of the two skill points. Think it's okay?

With that, I think I'm done.

[Sohala]

Shifting Prodigy granting a shift each level might be too much, seeing as we have a shifter feat on second, which grants bonuses to shifting, I am inclined to say first and third for Shifting Prodigy.

[snakeman830]

Shifting Prodigy granting a shift each level might be too much, seeing as we have a shifter feat on second, which grants bonuses to shifting, I am inclined to say first and third for Shifting Prodigy.

I think it's fine the way it is. Shifting is pretty good, but Shifters really should be able to do it more than one or two times per day without having to do massive feat investure.  Remember that it takes 2 feats to get one extra use of Shifting.

[Sohala]

The class as is grants 3.5 shifts and 2 extra rounds of shifted, assuming level 7 and under.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

The reason I did that is, much like the barbarian, the times per day kind of screws them badly at low levels, and at high levels you have to have a solid feat investment to do it much more. No prc or class boost the number for you, and limited feats mean you either take a class with some bonus ones, or you don't use your shifting too often. Paired with the fact that basically, rage is easier to get more of, and the fact that shifting in its barest form, even with the elite feat, isn't really any better than rage in its lv 1 form 90% of the time. Barbarians think daily uses are dumb, and shifters have a harder time of it.

This way, you're clear from the start; 3 uses a day, plus your one basic, plus if you take a shifter feat on your own (and really you always should take your elite... mostly...), mean you have a minimum of 5, which is awesome low level, and is basically cool for higher levels. I did it that way because of a burning hatred for how limited classes like hexblade and barbarian have their main thing. And this is a class-shifter, making you a super shifter; a less powerful class feature, even with the boosts you get, might as well be more than 2x/day with two feats invested by level 6. Frankly, 2x/day is useless at most levels if shifting is going to be important to you. And really, it's a weak, racial rage. This class basically means that if it's going to be your thing (which is kinda the reason to take shifter, since you take a double hit to scores and a bonus to one good stat), you can do it reliably. I could lower it to "each level counts as a shifter feat in respect to the number of shifts the paragon gets per day," bringing it to a clean 2 extra with the bonus feat you already get, but honestly, it's probably better that way. I'd have to get a second opinion to drop it, since basically shifting is way underpowered... I mean, it's a melee thing for Christs sake. 

[Sohala]

Looking at other paragons I have noticed that you lack a stat increase, beyond being shifted, so I will give up my case.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Looking at other paragons I have noticed that you lack a stat increase, beyond being shifted, so I will give up my case.

Not meant to shoot you down; it's just, most per-days suck so bad, I wanted to avoid that i this even if it seemed off from wiz-printed stuff (which we all know gets  alittle bogus).

Also, yeah, I wanted to make the bonus more customizable, so I was trying for an enhancement to shifting. Found the spell, presto. My original thought  was to make it a bit like an empower spell for shifting bonuses, but that's sort of ridic when you get +2 strength and claws, unless I went through and noted every traits ability shift... so the spell seemed more worth it.