[D&D 3.5] Retheming Classes - stuff I've come up with

[Mr Adventurer]

Occasionally, I'm thinking about character concepts in D&D (my game of choice), when I realise that by making only a couple of tweaks to an existing class - often only in terms of the class' stated background - you can have something really, really cool.

I'm going to list the ones I've thought of here, and will probably come back to add more if I think of them. Feel free to comment! ;)

Changes that involve D&D mechanics rather than simple reflavours are marked as such, and can be ignored if you prefer.


Mage-Errant
Base class
Bard
Variations Use the Bardic Knack class substitution from the PHB2 instead of Bardic Knowledge. Centre your Perform checks around Perform (Oratory) only. [Mechanics] If you want to and can swing it, see if your DM will let you keep a spellbook and prepare spells instead of being a spontaneous spellcaster; perhaps also trade the Bard spell list for the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list; perhaps also split spellcasting stats so bonus spells are based on Int. Rename all Bardic Music and all it's powers to become "Words of Arcane Power" of various types.Result
Shazam! Instead of a music-loving Bard, instead you've got a wizard of the world, with the skills of an adventurer and the secret of the Words of Arcane Power, with which he can bolster the abilities of his friends or himself - plus the ability to give anything a try. I love it.


Spell-scarred Champion
Base class
Barbarian
Variations All of your abilities - rage, fast movement, damage reduction, uncanny dodge - are the result of hermetic magic, bound into your body by the ritual scars and tattoos you place upon yourself. Some of these runes' power is permanent (such as DR), while some need to be drawn upon, placing you in a combat state so deadly it leaves you drained afterward (rage). [Mechanics] If you like, use a variant on Rage, such as the Whirling Frenzy from Unearthed Arcana or the Bezerker Strength from the PHB2, to represent your arcane fighting prowess. [Mechanics] Maybe juggle the class skill list around a bit - add Knowledge (Arcana) in exchange for Survival or something. [Mechanics] Spend the 2 skill points on Literacy :p.Result
Behold! Instead of a muscleheaded nature warrior, you are just a man - a man who has taken the secret knowledge of ancient runes and burned it into his own flesh to make himself invincible! Cool.


Rune Axe Warrior
Base class
Duskblade
Variations Elves? Screw elves. The ability to meld combat magic, martial prowess, and armour is the secret of the Dwarves! Use a Waraxe and say it has special runes on it.Result
Ta-da! Instead of a poncy Elf fighter-mage ripoff, you are instead a doughty Dwarf clansman trained in the ancient Dwarf art of Rune Axe spellcasting, perfecting your power to smite your foes with the magic of earth and fire while safe behind your tough armour. And if anyone gets too close, they'll feel your real power as your Waraxe empowered with the most destructive spell you can muster coursing through it's runes meets their guts. You are a warrior-sage and protector of the Dwarven magical heritage. Neat.


More to come as and when I think of them. :)

[Zato-2TWO]

I'm positive the Duskblade wasn't limited to Elves specifically. My brother has an Illumian Duskblade who wields a sword with scrolls wrapped around a shaft on the blade so he can use scrolls while swordfighting, so he's not so much a fancy-prancy rapier-poking elf with magic, he's a gentleman of magic blood, a capable arcanist and a genius swordsman.

[Particle_Man]

Gem Mage

base class: Psion

Need I say more?

[sporkpimp]

For a mythicized East Asian setting, we reflavored the Spirit Shaman into the pseudo-Shinto Castigator of Spirits, a soul charged with the duty of keeping order between the spirit courts and the mortal courts by punishing those who transgress.

Think "Shinto exorcist meets wandering magistrate" and you've basically got it.


Castigator of Spirits
Base Class: Soul Shaman

Background: The Castigator of Spirits is a mortal magistrate of the Spirit Courts, enforcing the traditional place of spirits in the mortal world and mortals in the spirit world by punishing those who forget their place (either spirit or mortal).

Mechanical Changes:
Alignment: Any Lawful

Weapon Proficiencies: Club, Dagger, Quarterstaff, Sling, Mace, Flail, Whip

Class Skills: Concentrate, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (The Planes), Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Ride, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device

Flavor Change:
The Spirit Guide is no longer a totem spirit, but is rather the character's Honored Ancestor... not a specific ancestor as much as a sort of personal totem representing the character's loyalties (family, nation, pantheon, etc.). A common initiation into this class is a temporary death induced through ritual ordeal (frequently through a poison like nightshade), during which time the character's higher soul leaves the body for a short time to be judged fit or unfit by his Honored Ancestor. The fit return to the body with new enlightenment; the unfit reincarnate to be judged again one day.

(Optional) You might want to use the Cleric spell list instead of the Druid's, though I personally found the Druid's spell list to work fine, albeit with some slight reflavoring (summoned Nature's Allies are haggard and albine, the bogun becomes a fleshy insectlike homunculus, and so forth).

-Albert

[Mr Adventurer]

I'm positive the Duskblade wasn't limited to Elves specifically. My brother has an Illumian Duskblade who wields a sword with scrolls wrapped around a shaft on the blade so he can use scrolls while swordfighting, so he's not so much a fancy-prancy rapier-poking elf with magic, he's a gentleman of magic blood, a capable arcanist and a genius swordsman.Oh, it isn't, but the provided background for the class states that it is an Elven tradition. Kudos for your brother, though!

Gem Mage

base class: Psion

Need I say more?Good!

Castigator of Spirits
IMO the Spirit Shaman is exactly the right class for this, needing only that Eastern flavour your group seems to have arrived at :).

[mhacdebhandia]

I "reskinned" the monk class into the spirit walker to remove the pseudo-Asian flavour:

While the spirit walker's flavour does presume the existence of spirits, the intention is not for them to be "actualised" within the mechanics of the game; the greenbond class in Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved traffics with spirits of this type: "Spirits have no standard stats — hit points, Armor Class, etc. They are beyond mortal interactions."

The following is a short flavour description of the spirit walker's class abilities. Again, these are nearly all unchanged from the monk class found in the D&D Player's Handbook; I'm leaving the names intact for now, for simplicity's sake. As a sidenote, the spirit walker would have no alignment or multiclassing restrictions.

AC Bonus: The spirit walker entreats or compels the aid and service of spirits of protection and defence. They grant her awareness of her surroundings and the flow of combat, enabling her to defend herself without need of armour. In fact, wearing objects created for protection negates the ability of the spirits to aid the spirit walker; the focused purpose of the defensive spirits bound within items of armour is static and unyielding, imposing a finality which unbound spirits cannot change.

Spirit walkers typically wear simple clothing suited to days, weeks, or months of travel - the classic image of a spirit walker in civilised minds is a tangle-haired wanderer in crude leather and fur clothes of her own making (or even untreated skins), but they are also to be found wearing simple cloth robes or the like.

Flurry of Blows: Some spirit walkers claim that the frightening quickness of their blows derives from spirits of lightning, while others say they are empowered by spirits of striking snakes. A third camp attributes their speed and dexterity to the very spirits of struggle and combat; whatever the source, all spirit walkers are capable of dealing rapid blows without the use of weapons, or with the simple tools of their wandering lifestyle: the walking staff, the wicked hand-scythe with which they gather fruit for their sustenance and herbs for rituals to appease or control spirits, the short spear for killing game.

Powerful spirit walkers are almost a blur of movement in combat, causing few who see them in battle to doubt that whatever the source of their quickness, it is mighty.

Unarmed Strike: Not only do the blows of a spirit walker's hands and feet come swiftly, they also fall with great power. Spirits of stone and metal strengthen the spirit walker's limbs, empowering her to strike with impossible force. In time, the spirit walker's own body becomes more deadly than any weapon forged by civilised hands.

Bonus Feat: While spirit walkers share many things in common, each chooses her own path in life and develops affinities for different kinds of spirits. Some learn to entwine their opponents and hold them fast from the spirits of roots and vines, while others strike with the stupefying force of thunder learned from spirits of the storm. Some can lash out with the speed of a serpent spirit at any foe who leaves himself open, or turn away arrows like spirits of wind tossing dry leaves aside. More powerful spirit walkers can snatch their foes' weapons from their hands in imitation of the spirits of birds snatching prey from the grass, or lay their opponents low with their command of the spirits of tripping roots and treacherous, slippery hillsides.

Whatever the choices made, individual spirit walkers tend towards the development of abilities which suit their disposition. Charitable spirit walkers may draw upon the spirit of a remorseless bird of prey, but they do so to mercifully disarm their opponents; less fair-minded spirit walkers might merely command the spirits of the stones to move beneath their foe's feet, but they do so to leave the enemy helpless before them. These paradoxes are part of the mysteries of the spirit walker's path, impenetrable to those who do not follow it. In part, it is the great variation in motivations and methods which cause spirit walkers as a group to be kept on the margins of society, viewed as unpredictable and untrustworthy even if possessed of great insight.

Evasion: Attuned to the spirits around her, the spirit walker can sense gross changes in the alignment of forces. Before a fireball explodes or a tunnel collapses, the spirit walker senses the rush of fire spirits or the movement of earth and stone spirits, throwing herself to safety almost before the danger manifests. More powerful spirit walkers are all but impervious to such indiscriminate threats.

Fast Movement: Whether empowered by spirits of rushing waters, fleet-footed beasts or even the lightning spearing across the heavens, nearly all spirit walkers partake of the ability to move with incredible speed. The most powerful may even twist spirits of time to cover great distances in a heartbeat.

Still Mind: Those who are fully aware of themselves are hard to coerce, even with magic battering at their minds. The spirit walker can sense the insidious manipulations of spirits of enchantment and call upon spirits of warding and defence to make her mind a fortress, protected from the will of others.

Ki Strike: Spirit walkers have great knowledge of the spirits which inhabit all things both living and lifeless. Sheathing their limbs with spirits of magic and pushing aside the spirits which comprise and protect their foe's form, spirit walkers can assault with their own bodies creatures which turn the mundane weapons of civilisation aside. The most powerful spirit walkers are said to be capable of harming those who believe themselves invincible, their fists and feet as hard and tough as the strongest materials known to sages.

[Need a replacement for the lawful ki strike ability, naturally.]

Slow Fall: All spirits bear an affinity for their like kind. The spirit walker's hands are filled with the strength and power of stone; if she should happen to fall within arm's reach of a wall or cliff face, she can command the spirits in her limbs to reach out to their counterparts within the wall itself and partially arrest her descent. Her command over this ability only increases in time, until the most powerful spirit walkers are said to merge their feet with the stone and stride downwards, unheeding of gravity.

Purity of Body: Disease is the invasion of the body by spirits of sickness and plague. The spirit walker learns in time to forbid these spirits from the gates of her form, and never again suffers so much as a cough.

Wholeness of Body: The spirit walker cannot be said to truly control her body, but she does learn a capacity for self-healing by tearing spirits of injury and pain from her wounds and binding spirits of healing in their place.

Diamond Body: The snake's bite or the wyvern's sting births a spirit of poison within their victim. Great spirit walkers allow these spirits no more reign in their bodies than they do spirits of sickness.

Abundant Step: Whether the powerful spirit walker grasps the spirits of the place where she stands and of the place where she wishes to stand and joins them momentarily, slips between the spirits riding each moment of time and strides to her destination, or any other explanation - for there are many, and many theorised by sages with half a glimpse of the truth - it is known that she can step from one place to another many paces away in an eyeblink. Some credit this ability with the stories of spirit walkers able to murder kings in their bedchambers or steal away children without being seen, though such tales (as usual) discount the noble-minded spirit walker in favour of her sinister and malicious fellows.

Diamond Soul: Her power over spirits of magic grown great, the spirit walker can turn them aside with a simple exertion of her will. Only powerful mages and priests can overcome the spirit walker's defences.

Quivering Palm: As the spirit walker strikes, she forces a spirit of pain and death into the body of her victim. It coils there, waiting for its moment, until the spirit walker completes the curse and the spirit is loosed to tear and destroy within the foe.

Timeless Body: Tales are told of spirit walkers who, having denied their body to spirits of sickness and poison, next turned their attention to the ravages of time on the body, eventually mastering the spirits of age and decay which cause such degeneration and casting them out altogether.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon: The spirit walker now commands the obedience of the spirits of language itself - any word she speaks is automatically translated by them for the understanding of all living creatures, if she so chooses.

Empty Body: The penultimate step on the path of the spirit walker is control of the spirits of her own flesh and bone. For brief periods of time, the spirit walker can banish them from her form, leaving her disembodied self capable of existing only on an ethereal level, to which it instinctively transports itself (and back again when the spirits of her physical body return).

Perfect Self: After the completion of a week-long ritual during which the spirit walker summons and absorbs the spirits of the most fundamental elements of the world - fire, air, earth, water, life, death, and so on - she becomes something more than the mortal she once was. Forever after, she is treated as something outside the natural order; her understanding of the spirits which give rise to existence enables her to transcend it.

[Jon Chung]

I once designed a game mostly based around psionics when the XPH came out, with the monk and bard rethemed and the cleric, druid, wizard and sorcerer replaced.

It worked fairly well. Inner Fist and Thought Singer fit nicely into that particular set of thematics.

[Moonstone Spider]

A while back I pointed out to some folks that the Warlock meshes almost perfectly with an anime magical girl.

Eldritch Blast - - Pretty Sparkling Heart Crash
Deceive Item - - Tiara of the ancient Princess Heritage
Invocations - - Varies by invocation but can be easily mapped to powers
DR - - Magical Girls are surprisingly capable of walking away from it when a monster throws a girder at them.

Really all it needs is a familiar that can talk and scold the Warlock for not being capable enough, and toss out the alignment requirements.

[Antithesis]

i realy like that monk entry

in my own game i'm going for a sci-fantasy thing, so wizard and cleric spells spells both have only material components and sorcerours and favored souls are basically mutants

i also realy dig the OPs bard idea, especially since i never liked the bard class conceptually

[Agent Oracle]

A while back I pointed out to some folks that the Warlock meshes almost perfectly with an anime magical girl.

Eldritch Blast - - Pretty Sparkling Heart Crash
Deceive Item - - Tiara of the ancient Princess Heritage
Invocations - - Varies by invocation but can be easily mapped to powers
DR - - Magical Girls are surprisingly capable of walking away from it when a monster throws a girder at them.

Really all it needs is a familiar that can talk and scold the Warlock for not being capable enough, and toss out the alignment requirements.

Damn it... take another laugh point. In the name of the moon.

[Erik Sieurin]

"The name's Aragorn, P.I."
Just take the basic Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRanger) and combine it with Favored Environment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#favoredEnemyVariantFavoredEnvironme nt)= specific city. Assume that the Survival bonus is Gathering Information and Knowledge (nature) bonus is a bonus on Knowledge (local).

Combat Style I'd fudge to something involving thrown weapons (Archery works nice here, but maybe instead Fast Draw, making for a nice flurry of knives) or unarmed fighting (some feats useful for this replacing Two-Weapon Fighting - I'd assume Improved Unarmed attack, Stunning Fist at 6th level and then... something else at 11th level) since they are both useful. Or maybe switch it out for some unarmored fighting bonuses (giving up all armor proficiencies as well and giving him the Monk AC bonuses.

I'd change Animal Companion into a humanoid companion. Or maybe give him a huge pitbull.

Erik

[Myth]

I'm using Samurai as the mechanical basis for my Dwarven Law-Walker. Nobody else really had that "I am the law!" thing built in so nicely.

[Antithesis]

clerics could easily be retooled as fighter mages, just handwave away the goddish influence and wala! instant fighter mage

[John_C]

I had a good deal of fun playing a Rogue/Druid/Assassin who worked as a ratcatcher. Giant talking rats at times, but even so. And assassin was a perfect fit, with the death attack and the poison use.

[TheIrrepressibleZordauch]

A while back I pointed out to some folks that the Warlock meshes almost perfectly with an anime magical girl.
....
Really all it needs is ...toss out the alignment requirements.

Actually, not even that. The Alignment requirement says Evil OR Chaotic. If Megatokyo's interpretation is accurate, then it seems that MGs are the epitome of CG.

[Moonstone Spider]

Ya know, the Dragon Shaman is, in a lot of ways, what the Paladin should be. Swap out the breath weapon and dragon-relevant skills and powers for smiting* and god-relevant skills and powers by diety type, and there you go.

*Personal house-rule territory here, I prefer clerics and paladins have their smite and turning work off of particular enemies of their gods rather than all undead or all evil. A nature god might want his servants to Smite Aberrations, for instance, while the god of fire might give you Smite Water.

[TheIrrepressibleZordauch]

Moonstone Spider: When you do that house-rule for clerics, do you offer a different domain power for the assorted elemental domain? Just curious

[Temple]

I'm using Samurai as the mechanical basis for my Dwarven Law-Walker. Nobody else really had that "I am the law!" thing built in so nicely.

Samurai from Rokugan/Oriental Adventures? Arent they basically just fighters with a special sword?

[loseth]

*Personal house-rule territory here, I prefer clerics and paladins have their smite and turning work off of particular enemies of their gods rather than all undead or all evil. A nature god might want his servants to Smite Aberrations, for instance, while the god of fire might give you Smite Water.

Very interesting idea. Can clerics turn clerics from the church of a rival god? ...cause that would be kind of cool.

[Erstwhile]

You know, this will only make sense to those who've gamed in the Hârn campaign setting, but when I read the thread title - which I realize is re-theming classes - I first read it as Rethem-ing classes. And I was, like, "What, you're making them all Agrikans?"

Anyway. As you were. Nothing to see here. :o

[Mr Adventurer]

"The name's Aragorn, P.I."
Just take the basic Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRanger) and combine it with Favored Environment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#favoredEnemyVariantFavoredEnvironme nt)= specific city. Assume that the Survival bonus is Gathering Information and Knowledge (nature) bonus is a bonus on Knowledge (local).

Combat Style I'd fudge to something involving thrown weapons (Archery works nice here, but maybe instead Fast Draw, making for a nice flurry of knives) or unarmed fighting (some feats useful for this replacing Two-Weapon Fighting - I'd assume Improved Unarmed attack, Stunning Fist at 6th level and then... something else at 11th level) since they are both useful. Or maybe switch it out for some unarmored fighting bonuses (giving up all armor proficiencies as well and giving him the Monk AC bonuses.

I'd change Animal Companion into a humanoid companion. Or maybe give him a huge pitbull.

ErikThat's just cool. Swap Animal Companion for an Urban Cohort - use the Leadership rules but restrict it to only Expert levels, maybe (so he has plenty of skills and flexibility but isn't too much more powerful than the usual animal companion). If you wanted to pursue an unarmed Combat Style, maybe both Improved Unarmed Strike and Superior Unarmed Strike at 2nd (the latter feat is from the Tome of Battle and scales your unarmed strike damage with level), Stunning Fist at 6th, and maybe one of the feats from Complete Warrior that builds on Stunning Fist.

clerics could easily be retooled as fighter mages, just handwave away the goddish influence and wala! instant fighter mage
This is an interesting one. How would you deal with the disparity between normal arcane magic and the stuff the cleric/"fighter-mage" has?
Ya know, the Dragon Shaman is, in a lot of ways, what the Paladin should be. Swap out the breath weapon and dragon-relevant skills and powers for smiting* and god-relevant skills and powers by diety type, and there you go.In my opinion, the Dragon Shaman is rubbish. ;) I also think a Paladin should have a full BAB - and hey, once you've swapped the BAB around, some skills, and lost the breath weapon for some smiting, what's so different to the Paladin as-is?

Samurai from Rokugan/Oriental Adventures? Arent they basically just fighters with a special sword?

If it's the Samurai from Compete Warrior, then they're flat-out worse than fighters. But they have two swords, and scary eyes.

[Antithesis]

the disparity between normal arcane magic and the stuff the cleric/"fighter-mage" has?

well the basic cleric spell list is mostly battle advantage spells, magic weapon bless, and healing, both of which make more sense in a stand up fight then say jump and expeditous retreat. id explain it simply as the fighter/mage disipline requiring more more time to train fighting less exploring the limimts of their magical potential. Having to spend time training in magic can also explain dieties favored weapons too, they specialize in one weapon in the hopes of mastering both it and spellcraft

then the domains can be based on the PCs horoscope or inner soul or alignment or somthing.

[Mr Adventurer]

Hm, could work. A specific example of that would be an order of dedicated fiendslayers, for example - their magic is ostensibly arcane but needs certain aspects (e.g alignment/planar counters) to properly bring the fight to their wily opponents. Possibly choose the Magic domain to further blur the lines.

[Mr Adventurer]

Possessed
Base class
Barbarian
Variations Redefine the Rage class feature - instead of being a bezerker, you are instead a haunted soul with nothing less than a bloodthirsty demon bound into your flesh. The demon isn't always there, but in times of stress or when you need to, you can let it slip the leash...Result
Wham! A super-simple one, this: spend your skill points carefully and build the archetype, and instead of a tribal warrior you have a man doomed to be a living prison for some terrible evil. It may be punishment, an accident or voluntary, but the raw physical power of letting the demon have its reign is always oh-so tempting. This one also works nicely with a Frenzied Bezerker, though I don't recommend that class to anyone with a party that they like. Tasty.

[RuinousPower]

Possessed
Base class
Barbarian
Variations Redefine the Rage class feature - instead of being a bezerker, you are instead a haunted soul with nothing less than a bloodthirsty demon bound into your flesh. The demon isn't always there, but in times of stress or when you need to, you can let it slip the leash...Result
Wham! A super-simple one, this: spend your skill points carefully and build the archetype, and instead of a tribal warrior you have a man doomed to be a living prison for some terrible evil. It may be punishment, an accident or voluntary, but the raw physical power of letting the demon have its reign is always oh-so tempting.

This is such a simple and cool reimagining of the class that I hate myself for not thinking of it first. :)

[Mr Adventurer]

:)

[Master Of Desaster]

Very interesting idea. Can clerics turn clerics from the church of a rival god? ...cause that would be kind of cool.

"Turn Cleric of illbegotten faith"

I ... need ... to ... hold ... my ... self.

Kind of scary. I just think about a cleric walking through town seeing a cleric of a different deity preacing. He sneaks up behind and Calls "Turn Cleric".

I guess there would not be to many Clerics willing to bring their faith to people of a different god. Because the one who turns his opponent first, wins ...

[Mr Adventurer]

Actually, there is a spell in Complete Champion called "Turn Anathema", I think, that does exactly that.