Magi-tek engineering and you!

Today we cover the basic rules of magi-tek engineering. First off, magi-tek weapons are counted as masterwork weapons, so enchanting a magi-tek item is completely possible, and sometimes encouraged.

Basic magi-tek rules, anything can be made magi-tek. Any weapon, armor, mundane item, rope, wand, ship, horseshoes, anything. Magi-tek items are often ran by a magi-tek battery, which is typically a gem, stone, or other small item charged with energy.

While magi-tek items are "magical" in the sense that magic is used in part to power them, they are also technological, using electricity, and alchemy, to produce effects similar to pure magical spells. This gives magi-tek items a big advantage that other items do not have, they only have a chance to fail in an anti-magic zone. Each round spent in an anti-magic zone gives the item a 25% chance of failure. Once an item fails though, it has a 25% chance each round after of turning right back on. This can make airships going through an anti-magic zone quite the turbulent ride, activating and deactivating at random intervals.

Magi-tek items have any enchantment found in any book, and it may be applied to a lot of non-traditional items. For example, a grappling hook may have both the returning and electric burst enchantments, making a deadly weapon to toss over that city wall, that can return to you with a word.

Magi-tek items follow pretty much all the standard rules in the DMG for making magic items, except with the following rules: they may only be made by magi-tek engineers using the Craft(magi-tek engineering) skill, this skill may be used to 'substitute' for any sort of spell or material component, with a DC that is assigned on a case by case basis, but will most likely be something like 20+2 per spell level of the spell you're attempting to replicate. (Example, the grappling hook above needs a lightning bolt spell, which this specific engineer does not have, the character may roll a DC 26 craft check to attempt to grant the same enchantment without the needed spell)

The DC will increase the more things you need to replicate/try to stack on. The base might increase to 25 or 30 + 2 per spell level if the player is attempting multiple rolls on the same item. Most magi-tek engineers use some of their own magical powers, augmented by their skill to create whatever item they are going for.

A magi-tek engineer also does not need any item creation feats to make any items. If a magi-tek engineer wanted to be a weaponsmith, they would take both craft(weapons) and craft(magi-tek engineering) to make awesome magi-tek weapons. An engineer may also buy an item of masterwork quality and upgrade it in much the same fashion a wizard would.

*UNIVERSAL RULE CHANGE* Anyone who makes an item can ignore any exp penalties for making an item. I've always hated sacrificing your experience points to make an item, I feel it really discourages people from taking those feats and getting creative with items. This combined with my skill point formula will allow people who want to be creative with making items much more freedom in that endeavor.

Moving on to magi-tek weapons, there are some commonalities between all magi-tek weapons. They deal at least two types of DR, typically magic and cold iron, though magic and silver are also very common. (The items will not be made from the material, this is an odd side effect of the battery/energy mix on the weapon.) Magi-tek items are priced pretty much identically to magic items in the DMG. Magi-tek armor is done the exact same way weapons are, they do not gain any inherent damage reduction type or bonus like weapons do.

Mundane items, like ropes or dinner plates, may have virtually any enchantment put on them.

Covering that simple stuff... lets get to the good stuff: AIRSHIPS + BIPLANES (This part has its own soundtrack.)

An airship is any types of medium sized or larger floating ship like device. They come in a large variety of shapes and styles. The vast majority of airships and planes are found only on the sky layer of Artheria, only going to large populated centers like Contrador rarely to trade.

Airships over Entrar

The basic construction of an airship involves 3 distinct 'parts.' The ship body, the anti-gravitational proponent, and the forward thrust component. These come in many types and varieties, from the sail bound ships like those above, to crazy propeller types like so.

(This airship is predominantly propeller powered)

Building the body of a ship is just like building/purchasing a sea bound ship, and rules for that may be found in the core books. Adding upward thrust via magical or magi-tek sails, balloons, or propellers is a must, these have a base cost of 5000 gold per unit, and different size ships require more units. A small 3 man air ship would only need 1 upward thrust and 1 forward propulsion. (Thus a small canoe-like airship with the bare minimum costs about 10100 gold.)

The base speed for all types is 150 feet a round, and unlike a dragon or living creature, they can not force the ship to move at 3 or 4 times speed. All airships have clumsy maneuverability.

Biplanes are actually easier to build and prepare than an airship, as all a biplane needs is a body, which can be built with a Craft(Aeronautical Engineering) check DC minimum 25, modified by complexity of the framing. All planes can, at most, carry 2 people comfortably, though people may hold onto wings for dear life. (Airborne gnoll raiders, using goblin planes, will often leap from the wing of a plane down onto an airship.) A plane only needs a body, and a propeller, so they are definitely the cheaper option. (Average plane cost starts at 6000 gold, 5000 for the propeller, and 1000 for a very basic body) 

Planes are faster, starting with a base speed of 200 feet a round, and they also have much higher maneuverability. (Average at least.) Planes are more common in goblin territories. 

HP of planes and airships is dependent on type and body, and material used in the construction. Airships will always have more HP and DR than a plane. (Unless it is a really epic plane... maybe made out of mithril) They will have more room for cargo, people, and weapons on the whole. Planes are mainly used by raiders and organized air forces. The goblins have the most advanced planes on Artheria, gnomes have the most advanced airships. 

(Please click the links for awesome pictures of all these devices.)

Now that we've covered some basics, lets get to the gear of airships and biplanes: 

*Note* All DCs for the various weapons are DC 10 + ranks in Profession (Navigator), opposed Profession checks are made whenever a ballista grapple bolt hits, (same as an opposed grapple, only using the skill instead) and even attack rolls are performed the exact same way. Profession (Navigator) is an extremely important skill for ship to ship combat. Attacking airship to airship, or large creatures, like a huge+ size dragon, suffer no penalty on attacks, attacking a biplane or a standard (large size or smaller) flying creature with any siege artillery type weapon suffers a -4 penalty. Intelligence bonus is added to all airship weapon damage.

Item:                                                    Cost:                             Effect:

Afterburner (1d4+1 round duration)     10,000 gp                     Momentary boost, +500' per round  

Ballista (Multiple ammo types)             700 gp (60 gp bolts)      3d10 base bolt, 150' range

Exploding Ballista Bolt                         250 gp each                  6d10, 10' radius, 150' range

Grapple Bolt (Comes with rope)           180 gp                          2d12, 120' range, initiates grapple

Poison Gas Bolt                                    220 gp                        3d10, 30' radius, Stinking Cloud

Magi-tek Gatling Gun (Sling rounds)     4000 gp                       10d10 60' Cone

Airship Trebuchet (LARGE SHIPS!)       2000 gp                       Dependent on ammo, range 250' 

Trebuchet Grenade (Big boom)             300 gp each                 7d10, 15' radius

Poison Bomb (Stinking Cloud)               280 gp each                 4d10 30' radius

Anthrax Bomb (CLOUDKILL)                  1700 gp each               4d10, 40' radius, cloudkill

Large Rock                                           30 gp                          3d12

Blackpowder Air to Ground Bomb          2000 gp                        10d20, 100' radius

Blackpowder Cannons                          1000 gp                         Range 100'

Standard Cannonball                             60 gp                           3d12

Grapeshot                                            100 gp                         5d12, range 50'

Chain-ball shot                                     150 gp                         6d12, range 80'

Air to Air Magi-tek Missile                    1000 gp                        12d10, range 400'

Every weapon listed above may be equipped onto an airship of proper size, and planes may equip the afterburner, Gatling gun, any bomb, and the magi-tek missile. (Though many mount Cho No Ku with exploding bolts for a cheaper, yet still effective, air to air weapon.)

Ballista and Trebuchet are large weapons, cannons medium, missiles, bombs, and the menacing Gatling gun are small weapons as far as ships and planes go. On the airships, a small weapon is mounted in a medium slot.

Now we move onto the classes of ships and planes, with their specifics. 

Starting with planes, since they are pretty much the easiest. They come in 2 varieties, single wing and double wing. (Biplane is the actual term for this type of construction, though I'm using it as a catch all)

Now, in reality, the biplane is the more primitive design, but we're changing that around for the game. The single wing holds less weight, and can at most have 4 small weapons mounted. (Say, 1 Gatling cannon, 2 missiles, and a bomb.) The biplane may have 6 small weapons. (Same load out, 4 missiles instead of 2) A single wing can have 2 humanoids on the wings, for boarding. (and it has to be 2 for balance purposes) A biplane may carry up to 5 humanoids on the wings. (3 on the top wing, 2 on the bottom) 

The single wing starts with 120 HP base, with no DR, modified by materials and the workmanship of the craft. The double wing starts at 140 HP base, also with no DR. Purchasing a plane costs 4000 gold for the single wing variety, 6000 for the dual wing.

There are no large bomber type planes on Artheria that are mass produced, and the few that exist follow airship rules.

Which brings us to the airship rules. They are all based on the size and 'class' of the ship, each has a different amount of cargo it can hold, crew size, weapon slots, HP, etc. We will start small, and go on to larger ships.

Canoe: The smallest, most basic framing for an airship. It can hold 3 people, has room for 1 small weapon, very little cargo, and requires both 1 vertical thrust and 1 forward thrust device. Base HP 100, no DR, and 10100 base price.

Clipper: The next smallest class of vessel is a very fast type of ship made primarily for speed. It requires 2 upward and 2 forward thrust devices to function properly. It has a smaller body than the rest of the ships, and like the Corsair later, it has a 200' movement base. It has room for a crew of 12, room for 6 medium weapons and 1 large weapon. It carries 2 tons of cargo. Base HP is 300, with 5/- DR. Base Price is 23,000 gold.

Cog: We move up to a primitive early raiding vessel, the cog, this requires only 1 upward thrust device, but requires 3 forward thrust devices. It has a maximum crew of 28, room for 8 medium weapons and 2 large, with a bay for bombs as well. (All airships need special mounts for air to air missiles) It may carry up to 2 tons of cargo.

Base HP is 400 with 5/- DR. Base price is 30,000 gold.

Corsair: Also known as a more advanced longship, (viking ship) this ship has multiple sails, and was traditionally powered by rowing. This ship requires 3 upward thrust devices, and 4 forward thrust devices. Unlike other ships, this has a base 200' move per round. It is otherwise identical to the Cog, except it may carry 4 tons of cargo. Base price is 40,000 gold. 

Caravel: This is quite the technology jump from the corsair, this is the more traditional pirate/renaissance style ship. Both the Nina and the Pinta of Columbus's fleet were Caravels. They require 4 upward and 4 forward thrusting devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 40, room for 10 medium weapons, 4 large weapons, they carry up to 8 tons of cargo. Base HP is 500, with 5/- DR. Base price is 48,000 gold.

Carrack: A larger, heavier duty version of the Caravel, the Santa Maria, Columbus's flagship, was a Carrack. It requires 5 upward and 5 forward thrust devices to power. This ship has a maximum crew of 60, with room for 12 medium weapons, 5 large, and 12 tons of cargo. Base HP is 600, with 5/- DR. Base price is 60,000 gold.

Galleon: While most 'galleon' class vessels were actually smaller than the Carrack, these are modeled after the Spanish Galleon, which were actually double the size of a Carrack. They require 8 upward and 8 forward thrust devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 120, with room for 20 medium weapons, 10 large weapons, and 24 tons of cargo. Base HP is 800, with 10/- DR. Base price is 120,000 gold.

Man of War: The largest class of vessel available, it is about 50% larger than a galleon. These ships are massive, and typically very heavily armed. They require 12 upward and 12 forward devices to power. They have a maximum crew of 160, with room for 30 medium weapons, 14 large weapons, and 32 tons of cargo. Base HP is 1000, with 10/- DR. Base price is 250,000 gold. 

These are all the base prices and stats at minimum for each. Adding more thrust devices will increase the speed of your airship slightly, (10' or so) and adding extra devices to planes increases the speed by 20'. The HP and DR will be modified by the quality and type of the material, and skill checks when making the ship. This will all modify the price as well. 

Thus concludes basics on magi-tek and airships. Quite the post. I'm looking forward to epic airship battles, and gnolls in planes and on half-fiend hippogryphs attacking airships.... While many of these weapons will kill something like a hippogryph in 1 hit, remember that these weapons have very limited angles of firing. You can only angle a cannon or ballista so much, and you certainly can't just move them all over your ship at will. If a foe attacks from an angle you don't have a weapon, there will be very little you can do to defend yourself.

I'm looking forward to this, Skies of Arcadia style airship battles, dragons, planes, goblins, gnomes, the sky realm is going to be great fun. 

"Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price." Amelia Earhart 

Standard Item Upgrades and Custom Shops

Now that I've gone through all the Oriental Adventures gear, (and made an easy catch all fix for Dark Sun gear) we are tackling the PHB. While I ranted and raved about how superior so many items from Asian cultures were if you compared them to an equivalent European styled weapon, there are certainly things that the European craftsmen did better, like the halberd. This rework is not going to be a lot, in anyway, but the stuff after everyone will be interested in: armor upgrades and custom potions. Standard PHB (European style) items cost twice as much in Oniboros.

Universal rule change for all spear weapons: If you have a minimum strength score of 13, you may wield a spear with a light shield, spartan style, 15, you may wield any spear with a medium shield, 17, heavy shield, 19, tower shield.

Starting with weapons, (chart is a little bit down)

The simple chart is mostly ok, making darts weaker is the only change, if a shuriken is 1d3 a dart is not 1d4. Darts are now 1d2 weapons, and they may be poisoned.

The martial chart will get a few more tweaks, starting with the throwing axe and the light hammer. Both now deal x3 damage on a crit.

Moving onto the flail, an incredibly difficult to wield, yet very destructive, weapon, I'm now giving it a +2 bonus to both disarm and trip, and increasing the crit damage to x3. Beware though, while this item is better now statistically than the battle axe, the critical failures with a flail will be extra painful for you, like slamming yourself in the face with a swinging ball of spikes for x3 damage bad.

Warhammer, this weapon is fine, I'm just adding options for hammers with a different style head on them. You can have the sterotypical Thor style hammer to smash anyone to bits, or for double the base price, you can have 1 side of the hammer be a hammer, and the other side be a heavy pick style weapon, (which would deal 1 dice lower, piercing damage, and x4 crit) or a large axe head type. This deals identical damage to the hammer, even a x3 crit, but is slashing damage. The ultimate in zombie and skeleton slaying utility!

There is also now a two handed great hammer option, called the Maul, that is statistically identical to the great axe, just dealing bludgeoning damage. The base price for the maul is 25 gold, being slightly more expensive then a great axe. It also weighs 18 lbs, being a heftier weapon than the great axe as well. The warhammer versatility options apply for the Maul as well.

Moving onto two handed weapons....

The falchion is now 1d10 18-20x2 critical, increased from the 2d4.

Tridents now do x3 damage on a critical hit, and can now attempt disarm checks, just like the ranseur. (With a +2 bonus) This weapon may still be thrown, unlike the polearm.

Polearm rework:

Like I hinted at above with the halberd, the polearm is something that European cultures actually did better than Asian cultures. (Though the Chinese had some really awesome unique polearms.) The reasoning for this was two fold, first, peasant militias would need to make their own weaponry a lot of the time, so using farm tools on long wooden poles became a common practice. The most powerful force in Europe at the time was the heavy horse Calvary, and weapons like pikes and spears were the only weapon that gave you range against a horseman. These weapons were also more prevalent because horses were more prevalent in European culture. Not that horses didn't exist in Asian cultures, they did, the Mongolians had the best horse archers arguably on the planet during the time of Ghengis Khan, just the emphasis on the mounted heavily armored warrior was much less in those cultures.

This moves me on to the actual weapons...

Guisarme, is a primitive polearm that is defined by a hook used to dismount mounted opponents. There are many varieties of Guisarme, dependent on culture and historical time frame, but as far as polearms go, this one is of the more primitive variety. This weapon can make an attack to dismount an opponent, which is an opposed grapple check. (Same as a trip attempt) The polearm grants a +2 bonus on that check against mounted opponents. This weapon may now also set vs. charge as long as it has an actual spear tip. (Several varieties do not)

Simplified: Can set vs. charge if it has a spear tip.

Moving onto the ranseur, this type of weapon is in essence a sai on a stick. This weapon may be used to disarm with the tri-pronged edge, gaining a +2 bonus on disarm checks. The only change I'm making is that this weapon, since it is primarily a thrusting weapon, may be used one handed like a spear if you meet the requirements. *Update* I'm increasing the damage on the ranseur slightly, (now 2d4+1) just to make it different from the trident, which is a more versatile weapon.

Simplified: Subtype is now polearm/spear, damage increases to 2d4+1.

Which brings me to the Halberd, the arguably best, most advanced polearm. This weapon has an axe head, a spear head, and a dismounting hook/pick end all in one. This was the actual culmination of all the various peasant style polearms with some actual applied science, making an incredibly formidable reach weapon, that was effective against mounted opponents, and unlike the majority of other polearms, has decent capability in the melee. The weapon may be slashed, thrust, spun around to parry blows, and could work moderately well by the trained soldier in close combat. (Move the grip up, and bring your thrusts closer into your body, then thrust out, establish control of the range.)

I'm giving this weapon quite frankly ludicrous abilities. First, I'm keeping the +2 bonus to trip attempts, and the setting vs charge, but I'm giving it another ability, it may attack in the melee, only suffering a -2 penalty while doing so. (All other polearms may not attack in close) The weapon may also make a bull rush attempt, (provoking an attack of op unless the warrior has the improved bull rush feat) to establish your more controlled 10 foot attack range. The halberd gains a +2 bonus on this roll. The hook end may also be used to make disarm checks with a +2 bonus. Should any of these attempts fail, you may drop the polearm to avoid the counter attempt. The halberd now deals slightly increased damage as well, doing 1d10+1 base. (thus a MW halberd has +1 to hit and damage, a +1 halberd has +2 to damage and +1 to hit.)

Simplified: +2 bonus to trip, disarm, and bull rush attempts. May attempt attacks in the melee at -2, and 1d10+1 damage base.

There are an enormous variety of polearms out there, some of which have made appearances in past editions but were omitted in 3.5, like the mancatcher. Many of these are in other books, like the 3.5 arms and equipment book. While I won't rework all of them, (except maybe on the fly if needed) they are available in Artheria.

Thus concludes the PHB work over, I'm keeping all the armor the same, because I'm adding an awesome upgrade system which I will be moving on to next.

As unique as weapons have been through out history, armor has also had a very unique evolution and variety. I'm making a change to how MW armor works, the base cost increase is now +300, just like weapons, but the effects are better. The armor check penalty change stays at -1, but the armors max dex bonus increases by 1.

There are now several upgrading options to purchase.

Armor hardening: this may be performed on any armor. This is applying hardening lacquers, paints with ground up adamantine, or just thicker materials onto the base armor. While this does increase the toughness on armors, it comes by sacrificing mobility. Each rank grants +1 to AC. The first rank of this subtracts -1 to the max dex, and then an additional -1 for every 2 ranks beyond that. Armor check penalty increases as well by 1. (1,3,5 etc.) Light armors may have a max of 3 ranks of hardening, medium armors 5, and heavy armors 6. The max dex bonus of an armor may not go below -1. (So stiff... can't move...)

For light armor, the cost per point is typically 200, +100 per additional point increase. (Example, my studded leather costs 200 gold to harden the first time, 300 gold the 2nd, and 400 gold the final time, increasing the armors stats to +6 AC with only a +3 maximum dexterity bonus, and it still counts as light armor. (Evasion go!) This is a non-magical upgrade, and may stack with any magical bonus. If the above studded leather was a +5 piece of armor, it would have +11 AC with a +4 maximum dex bonus. (All magical items are masterwork, which gives it the increased dexterity bonus)

For medium armor, it works the same way, just the base is 300 +100 per point increase.

Heavy armor gets more expensive, starting at 350, and increasing at 150 per point.

And while you may now harden armor, you can also augment the maneuverability of any armor. These abilities may be stacked, and also apply to all armors. Each rank purchased will add +1 to the max dex bonus, and -1 from armor check penalty. Light armor may have this applied up to 3 times, medium armor 4, and heavy 5. The upgrades themselves start out as things like custom fitting each piece of the armor to the person, tailor making it for the individual, then move on to scientifically analyzing weight distribution, and making adjustments to materials and styles accordingly. The cost is identical to the hardening above. If the same piece of studded leather armor had 3 ranks of mobility, it would have +11 AC with +7 maximum dex, or +18 maximum AC potential, while still evading fireballs and dragon breath.

These upgrades will greatly enhance armor, at the same time making it a genuine money tank. (Also, I tend to be stingy with monetary rewards... I tend to give much more items and ability style rewards then just money.) A suit of full plate mail (1500 gold) if you wanted a maxed out suit of masterwork full plate with 6 ranks of hardening and 5 ranks of mobility would cost you 4050 gold base, (+14 AC, max dex +4, +18 AC non magical) more than doubling the price. Now you want to enchant it? Ok, now go find a wizard to spend even more money on. (Of course, having a +5 full plate like that would have potentially +23 AC...)

All these upgrades may be performed on armor made of exceptional material, like adamantine or mithril, just the cost increases drastically, at least x10 for mithril, and x20 for adamantine.

The final custom item I'm adding in with this post are potions that permanently increase stats. These are very expensive, and act like the various "Manual of (insert stat here)" items. Unlike those items though, there are potential side effects.

The person may drink a number of potions equal to their constitution mod +2 before having to make fortitude saves every time they drink another. The save is base 15, +1 for each potion drank for the first roll. If that roll succeeds, every time a player drinks another, the save increases by +4. Should this save fail at any time, the player permanently loses ALL stat points gained through this way, plus an additional 50% permanent debuff. Example, a warrior with 18 con has drank 6 potions, all in strength for this example, and he decides to drink a 7th. The base save is a fortitude save DC 22. (15+7) He succeeds, and goes about his adventures. After slaying a dragon, he takes his share back to the alchemist for an 8th potion, which he intends to place in strength. This time, the fortitude save is 26. He fails this one, and not only loses all 7 points that he previously gained, and an additional 4 more points in strength. (This will always round AGAINST the player in the case of odd numbers, like the 7 in this instance.) Should the same warrior have mixed it up, say adding 4 to strength and 4 to dexterity, (attempting the 4th with this purchase) and failed, he would lose all his points he gained though potions, and an additional 2 to each of those stats. Increasing the con mod does increase the amount of potions one can drink before making the save, but if the player has already had to make a save, and then increases his con mod though this or other magical means, the player must continue to make saves.

Moving onto the potions themselves, everyone has a DC 45 to brew, and requires some unique ingredients, which powerful alchemist will often pay good money for. The base price for all these potions is 25,000 gold, though if there isn't a powerful alchemist that can brew them, the price will double or triple depending on the location on Artheria.

Titan's Blood Potion: +1 strength, made from the distilled blood of giants, dwarves, and titans.
Elixir of Air Elemental Grace: +1 dexterity, made from the powdered essence of an elder air elemental, and the blood of a noble djinn.
Potion of Troll's Toughness: +1 constitution, despite the name, trolls blood is not used in this, dragon's blood and ground girallion teeth are the primary ingredients.
Pickled Mindflayer Essence: +1 intelligence, this potion requires slime from an aboleth, and the grey matter of a mindflayer, it is topped with troll's blood as a stabilizing agent.
Angel's Tears Potion: +1 wisdom, and has no celestial tears. It uses ground up feathers from most greater celestial creatures. (Astral Deva, Solar, etc.)
Potion of Nymph's Grace: +1 Charisma, this potion requires the blood of an elf, powder from a pixies wings, and a tear or a lock of hair from a nymph or dryad.

Thus concludes some upgrades to standard equipment. Note that I am pretty stingy with gold, that isn't how I typically reward players, I pretty much ignore the suggestions in the various monster manuals and DMG. I only use the random treasure charts when I absolutely have too.

And with that, I'm off.

“If you wish to control others you must first control yourself”
― Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

Classes of Artheria (PHB Edition)

Much like the races of Artheria, there have been some class changes as well. First, one should know how characters are made in Artheria. (General note, I'm linking to the source site for my images in the captions below.)

*RULE CHANGE* Since we are playing gestalt characters, favored class really doesn't mean much. I am making a subtle change to make the favored classes of races more tempting. If you have your favored class in your gestalt combo, two things happen. First, every time you level up your favored class, regardless of what you roll for HD, you gain a +1 bonus to it, and 2nd, the base skill points for the class increase by +2. (Example, a halfling is a rogue/fighter. He would roll 1d10 still for HD, explained below if you are unfamiliar with Gestalt rules, gaining a passive +1 bonus on top of constitution modifier, and their rogue levels would have 10 skill points base instead of 8.) These two changes should make picking your racial favored class more tempting.

First, all PCs (player characters) are a modified gestalt build. Gestalt, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is a type of character that levels up two classes instead of one each time they level, taking the best abilities of the classes. That sounds a little confusing, let me use an example. We are going to make a standard fighter/wizard.

We look at the classes, and we take the best aspects of both. The fighter wizard combo would use fighter base attack bonus (BAB), and fighter hit dice, (HD for short, a d10 in this case) and get the combined saving throws, fighters having strong fortitude saves and wizard having strong will saves, thus a fighter wizard has good will saves and fortitude saves, but reflex still levels up slowly. A fighter/wizard gains bonus feats like a fighter, gets spells and familiar like a wizard, and is able to use both abilities freely. (Of course things like arcane spell failure still apply.)

That is pretty much identical to the rules in Unearthed Arcana, where my rules change is with skill points. I have always thought that the skill points in 3rd edition are too few, and my new formula takes care of that. To figure out skill points per level, we take class 1 base skills, + class 2 base skills, +2, + intelligence mod, per level.

Using our fighter wizard example, we have 4 base skills for fighter, (change I made to the class) 2 base for wizard, +2 for the general bonus, + intelligence modifier, we will say the fighter/wizard has 16 intelligence, which is +3.

Therefore, our fighter wizard receives 4+2+2+3 (11!) skill points per level, x4 at level 1. (44 at level 1) Level limits on skill points still apply, you should just have a lot of skill points. The fighter/wizard above could start at level 1 with 11 skills at 4 ranks each. He might have several knowledge and craft skills in addition to the standard athletics and spellcraft of a fighter/wizard. I like my players to have a lot of skills, and to be creative with them.

Being that every character is gestalt, there isn't much reason to overhaul all the classes, as classes start to add up, the bonuses become more and more powerful. While some classes have been much more upgraded than others, (Sorcerors and wizards are completely different now, for example.) certain classes have never needed upgrades. (Clerics and Barbarians for example) While others have been under powered from the start. (Thinking mainly about the Bard in this instance.)

We will start with the classes in the Players Handbook...

My format is essentially going to be me ranting about my thoughts on the various classes, my reasoning for the changes I list, followed by a simplified, short and sweet version of the changes. If anything seems confusing in here, look at the short version at the end.

Barbarian: Barbarians are insane already, they are, frankly, one of the best classes in the game. Rage is an incredible ability that continues to increase in power as they level, they gain innate damage reduction, and they have several rogue qualities, (uncanny dodge and trap sense) that other warrior classes don't get, and there are several EXTREMELY good prestige classes available only to Barbarians. (Frenzied Beserker and Bear Warrior are two really overpowered examples of this.) The disadvantages of the barbarian, mainly illiteracy, will most likely be negated by whatever your 2nd gestalt class choice is. (If you pick anything with an education, that will go away.) The only increase I'm giving barbarians is increased damage reduction (DR). It starts with 1 at level 1, then increases every 3 levels. (1,4,7 etc.)

Simplified: Damage reduction at levels 1,4,7, etc.

(Barbarians are fierce, brutal warriors, able to shrug off more than any other class.)

*Bard:* *Complete Overhaul* The bard, even with a lot of extra spells and bonus weapons and feats, still just doesn't cut it. This class has been a conundrum for many, and I personally have tried over 4 ways now to rework them, from turning the bard into a Skald-like class, (d8 and fighter BAB) to advancing spell levels to level 9, to just a lot of feats.... none of these have worked though, and kept the feel of the bard that I like.

(General update, bards may be of any alignment, this is a house rule that has been around in my games so long I forgot to even include it... 12-13 year old rule. Rogues can be any alignment but not bards? Makes no sense at all.)

This brings me to my 4th attempt, and I think my best. Taking a page from the Seeker of the Song prestige class, I'm giving bards several more songs, increasing the HD, and some specific gestalt bonuses to make the class more attractive and useful overall.

This too was a great challenge, because if I gave the bard all the seeker of the song abilities, and then eliminated the prestige class altogether, (which I did in the first, non-published update I've been working on...) the Bard becomes too strong quite frankly, with DCs based on ranks in perform giving them the hardest to resist abilities in the game, and nearly 20 additional song abilities if you count the refrains on the seeker songs. (For those unfamiliar with the class, this sounds like technical mumbo jumbo, because it is, but it means way too good.)

I didn't want to eliminate the prestige class either for it's even better abilities, like combine songs. The seeker of the song makes the bard go from a horrible class to an incredible class... it just takes 10 agonizing levels of bard to unlock. The other bardic prestige class, the sublime chord, allows spell level up to level 9, and while this does really balance out the bard, I don't like it stylistically at all, because what is a bard? The bard is a jack of all trades musician, traveler, poet, etc. They aren't wizards or sorcerers. The magic of the bard comes from their music and their performance. So I stuck with the general idea of seeker of the song, meaning I like the idea of more musical abilities. I'm going to actually borrow from many of my previous attempts at bard, and mix in something completely different.

First off, making the bard a tougher character in two ways, they now have a d8 for hit dice, and they gain 3 bonus martial weapons at level 1, and 1 bonus exotic weapon proficiency.

I'm also keeping the bonus spell every 4 levels, which may be taken from the wizard, cleric, wu jen or shugenja list, these spells are vitally important as a bard will have to pick spells like levitate or fly to enchant airships if the bard is wishing to captain their own airship. (There is always use magic device though.) I like the versatility idea of bards, so I'm hoping bonus spells will really help with that. To further enhance this, I'm increasing bard base skills to 8 + int mod, no longer 6.

The final changes, and the actual good ones, are the new songs.

First off, at level 2, a bard gets the Intimidation song, this song is a very simple effect, performance vs will save, if those who hear fail, they are shaken, suffering a -2 on most rolls. This is a mind affecting fear effect, and things like paladin immunities or halfling bonuses apply. The penalty lasts for as long as the bard sings/plays, and 1 round per point of charisma mod after.

Then, at level 5, the bard gains the Elemental Rock Out ability. The bard chooses one element, and they can play a song that deals 4d6 damage of that element, modified by the result of their perform roll. This ability continues to improve every 5 levels, the bard gets to choose another type of element that they can deal damage with, and the base damage also increases by 2d6. (6d6 level 10, 8d6 level 15, etc.) The ability allows a reflex save for half damage, the DC is always half bard level + charisma mod. This abilty is modified by how well the bard performs, according to the chart below:

Check Result:

1-15: ability does not function. (Natural 1 always fails, even if the bard can not roll below a 10.)
16-20: ability functions at half damage dice, and can only be a 20' line ranged touch attack.
21-25: functions normally, 20' ranged touch only.
26-30: normal damage, 30' line or 20' cone. +1 to save DC.
30-35: +1d6 damage, 40' line, 25' cone, +1 save DC.
36-40: +1d6 damage, 50' line, 30' cone, +2 save DC, can arc line up to 3 other targets, full damage
41-45: +2d6 damage, 60' line, 35' cone, +2 save DC, arc up to 4 targets, or element specific attack mode. (Huge area of effect (AOE) for fire, damage over time for acid, large stunning radius effect for sonic, slowing for cold, and dazed for electricity)
46-50: +2d6 damage, 70' line, 40' cone, +3 save DC, arc up to 5 targets, can add an earthquake spell, centered on you. (Bard and his 'band mates' are immune, can combine this with element specific effects, example, tossing out a cone of acid that deals damage over time, while the earth shakes.)
51-55:  +3d6 damage, 80' line, 45' cone, +3 save DC, arc up to 6 targets
(Results continue like so.)

Critical performances: rolling a natural 20 on an elemental rock out is a great thing. First off, they aren't that hard to confirm, the DC for the confirmation is always 25, which will be difficult to hit in the level 3-5 range, but once you're a moderately more advanced bard, with a decent charisma score, that 25 will be achieved over 70% of the time. (95% of the time by the time you're level 12.)

The following effects occur:

Double damage (example, a level 5 bard critically confirms a performance check, his total on the perform check is 32, which gives +1d6 damage and +2 to DC. This would be 5d6 damage, because of the critical it is 10d6 damage)

Added Elemental Effect, (From the 41-45 chart) even if the bard doesn't qualify for it. If he does, the effect intensifies by 50% (The area of a fire effect increases further, daze, slow, and stun last longer, acid deals another round of damage over time, at half dice.)

And the reflex save DC that those affected have to make increases by an additional +2.

That concludes elemental rock out, the next song is gained at level 7, and is the Summoning Song. This functions like a summon monster spell, modified by the perform check. At level 7, the base spell is summon monster 2, every 7 levels after, the base increases by +1, (Summon Monster III at level 14, IV at 21, etc.) this is modified though by the chart below.

Performance check result:
1-20: Ability does not function
21-35: Normal function
36-50: +1 spell level, (Summon Monster II to III, for example)
51-65: +2 spell level
66-80: +3 spell level, add augmented summoning feat.
For every 15 points higher, add +1 more to summoning level. This can not increase a summons Summon Monster IX, though it may add in an extra summon monster IV or V for truly epic results.

Critically confirming is on a DC 30, and adds the augmented summoning bonuses even if you don't match the mighty 66 roll. If you are over that number, double the stat bonuses on a confirmed critical.

There is one final song I'm adding to bards, the dispelling song. This song functions very much like a greater dispel magic spell, with the bards level as the caster level. The bard gains this at level 10.

The final bonus I'm giving the bard is the gestalt hybrid bonus, which is a special added effect depending on gestalt class combination.

Bard/Barbarian: This would historically be called a skald, who was just the best storyteller/poet/musician of a warrior group. (The narrator character who is sent away from the last battle in 300 is a great example of this.) This class combination can use bardic abilities while raging, and gain a +2 bonus on perform checks while doing so.

Bard/Druid: This is an interesting combination, nature's bard, this combination can use a bardic music ability while in wildshape to perform the intimidation song, summoning song, (functions identically just as a summon natures ally) and elemental rock out. (as a mighty roar or some such)

Bard/Paladin or Bard/Knight: This is essentially the celebrity musical noble leader, and as such, this combination starts with the leadership feat, for free, regardless of starting level.

Bard/Fighter: This combination is exceptionally skilled with exotic weapons, this gestalt combination gains 4 bonus exotic weapon proficiency feats, instead of 3 martial and 1 exotic. This bonus is only available upon character creation, a bard character can't just toss in a level of fighter and get 4 bonus weapon feats.

Bard/Wizard or Wu Jen: Unlike any other armored caster combination, (except the magi-tek engineer) the bard can pass his innate light armor casting to the wizard or wu jen classes. Should the bard/wizard become proficient in medium armor somehow, they may take the armored caster feat from the complete arcane. Bard/magi-tek engineers may also take the armored caster feat.

Bard/Dragon Shaman: May activate songs and auras at the same time, and may combine elemental rock out with draconic breath weapons in the same round for extra elemental bursting capability.

Bard/Swashbuckler: Once the bard/swashbuckler reaches level 3 in both classes, the insightful strike ability deals bonus damage equal to both intelligence modifier and charisma modifier. This may only be done with the same weapons that qualify for precise strike.

Bard/Samurai: The 'singing samurai' gains a unique bonus, Iaijutsu with a chosen instrument. If the bard is a mandolin player, the bard may perform a surprise attack Iaijutsu, denying the opponent a dexterity bonus to AC, and typically dealing 1d4+str bonus +*cha bonus too!* + Iaijutsu bonus. (Bard/Ninja/Samurai would add sneak attack damage as well.) Many bard/samurai have battle ready instruments that do much more damage. (Charisma bonus damage only applies when using the instrument)

Bard/Ninja: The bard/ninja is a great combination, that has an entirely different outlook on the ninja, hiding in plain sight. Distracting with song, and then vanishing. The bard/ninja gains 2 bonus songs, at both classes being level 3, you gain the disappearing song, which allows you to make a perform check, and all in attendance must make a will save against whatever you roll. Should the crowd fail, you can leave whenever you desire, and the crowd will believe you are still there playing for a round per point of charisma mod. The next song is unlocked at level 8 for both classes, and is the Iaijutsu Ninja Song. This allows you to make a perform check, and make a sonic based sneak attack. This deals 2d8+charisma mod, + sneak attack, subdual damage to all that can hear. ('Band mates' immune if the ninja so chooses)

Bard/Duskblade or Bard/Warmage: The bard may cast bardic spells in whatever armor the warmage or duskblade levels grant the player.

Bard/spellthief: At level 6 each, the Bard/Spellthief gains a new song, Stealing Song, this very potent song may steal a spell level, like the spellthief's spell steal ability, and may also affect other bards taking music abilities or spell levels. This forces all who hear to make a save to make a will save (DC = 10 + half bard level + cha mod.) or suffer the effects of a spell steal. This is an instantaneous song ability that may not be maintained with concentration.

*Bard/Monk: The singing monk is a great class, that can help their allies while smacking around everyone with fist and banjo. Monks may use their musical instruments as exotic monk weapons in their flurry of blows, dealing unarmed damage with it. (until it breaks, more experienced monks have custom made battle instruments) Monk/Bards, at level 5 each, adds the characters charisma bonus to AC and saving throws for special abilities, stacking with the wisdom mod.

Bard/Magi-tek engineer: this combination is the ultimate jack of all trades, and the ultimate in 1 man bands. The bard/m-tek engineer gains 2 companions, but they must be incorporated into his act in some way. (Even if it means function as a giant moving speaker...)

Thus concludes the hybrid bonuses, I might add more as I think of them, hopefully this complete overhaul will allow bards to shine on their own two feet, and be able to compete with the other buffed up classes of the world.

Simplified: HD to d8, 8 + int mod skill points, intimidating song level 2, elemental rock out level 5, summoning song level 7, dispelling song at level 10, gestalt bonuses, and 3 bonus martial and 1 bonus exotic weapon feat.

(Traveling musicians, spell casters, warriors. Bards are the jack of all trades.)

Cleric:* the spell casting heavily armored holy warriors are often overlooked in many games, (Ahh... a healer? come on!) and this is stupid, quite frankly. Clerics are one of the most flexible, greatest classes in DnD. They can wield any weapon or armor that they are proficient in, and have total freedom of spellcasting without any specific class or feat requirements. Also, unlike wizards or sorcerors, clerics just have access to all their spells, this is an amazing advantage. Open up the PHB, complete divine, draconomicon, almost any book with spells, and you will find cleric spells, guess what, unless it is restricted by your alignment, you can memorize it.

Add in the spontaneous conversion ability of clerics and you don't even need to memorize healing spells, almost ever. You can stack buffing spells and attack spells, and if you don't use them, just convert into healing spells and patch everyone up... and while you're at it, you have full plate armor on and a heavy shield, wade into that melee.

Clerics were upgraded hugely from 2nd edition to third edition. Not limiting weapons on clerics was a truly amazing thing. Have 1 level of fighter or paladin, and your cleric can now use any martial weapon. Screw maces and hammers, get out the longbow and claymore. If you know how to build a cleric, they are amazing, and they only become better in gestalt mode.

The only 2 thing I change with clerics is flexibility in deity weapon and domains, and an extra domain every 10 levels. If you worship Pelor, for example, ignore the listed domains on the chart in the PHB, and ignore the chosen weapon. As long as you can make a good reason for whatever your character wishes to pick for domains and favored weapon, go for it. The books are really repetitive with domains and chosen weapons. (Sickle, heavy pick, and unarmed strike being really popular for whatever reason.) While this is a relatively small change, it will make clerics a little more battle capable without any major alterations. Every 10 levels, the cleric also gets closer to their deity, and gains another domain.

*Major change* despite the PHB specifically saying clerics don't have to worship a god, they can just worship an idea, I'm changing that. If you are a cleric, you need a deity. This change doesn't affect any current characters in the trial games.

Simplified: Freedom of choice for domains and deity's favored weapon. Bonus domain every 10 levels.

(The power to heal. The power to harm. The burden of choice.)

Druid: Druids are another often underrepresented class in DnD, (They weren't even included in the first PHB for 4th edition... much to my dismay.) which is unfortunate, because they're amazing. Druids casts spells just like clerics do, which is really really good, they just can't cast it in any kind of metal armor. They can, however, use any weapon they are proficient in without penalty. Which brings me to the only change I've made to druids, weapon proficiency. I've always thought the druid weapon choices don't make any sense. Why can I use a scimitar as a druid and not a bow or a long sword? The 'peasant weapon' theme that druids apparently have really doesn't make sense in DnD, and a lot of it is the scimitar, why is that a nature weapon? Scythe would match that theme much better, for example. As far as buffs go, bonus feat every 10 levels, must be a 'wild' or nature based/styled feat.

Simplified: Bonus feat every 10 levels, must be a 'wild' feat or nature based/styled. Weapon proficiency changes to all simple weapon proficiencies, and on the martial chart, they also have handaxe, kukri, light & heavy pick, trident, scythe, falchion, short bow and long bow. Druids of Artheria are much closer to rangers in mindset than on other worlds, and this improved weapon selection represents that.

(Priests of nature, druids have many mysterious powers.)

Fighter: Fighters are the most flexible class in the game. All fighters get are bonus feats, every 2 levels, forever. This means the effectiveness of the individual character is entirely up to the player, and the feats chosen. This makes fighters an exceptional primary or secondary class. If you want to make the most incredible tough warrior around, play a dwarf or orc barbarian/fighter. If you want to be a spell casting sword wielder, fighter/sorcerer or fighter/wizard. And the damage output of a fighter/rogue is absolutely incredible. (Sneak attack with that bastard sword with weapon specialization.... it will hurt really really bad.)

Overall, the only change I've added to fighters is an increase in base skill points, now being set from 2 base to 4 base. (4+int modifier instead of 2+ intelligence modifier.) Fighters have always been a very good class, in gestalt, they're just better.

*8/30* Adding a few skills as class skills for Fighters, Knowledge (Warfare) and Survival are now class skills for Fighters. Probably going to be adding some more of these as I go.

(Fighters come in a wide variety from every culture)

Monk: The monk is a very unique class. One that isn't based mainly on attack power, but on special abilities and survival. Monks will get more AC (armor class) then anything else in the game, by far. Also, the bonuses that monks get to their ac count for touch AC, and they are nearly impossible to catch flat footed once they reach mid level. Monks, as a DM, are very difficult to deal with, they have all great saves, evasion and improved evasion, and a huge amount of special attacks. (Like Stunning fist) Gestalt monks are very powerful, being set up to easily be arcane or sacred fists. (Monk/wizard or monk/cleric) For a more unique combat monk, monk/fighter or monk/druid can be an incredible combo as well.

The only change to monks I'm making is when the monk gets a choice of bonus feats, they get both feats. For example, a monk doesn't have to pick between improved grapple and deflect arrows, they get both.

(Monks are mighty unarmored warriors, masters of body and mind.)

Paladin: The paladin I've made 3 major changes too. The first, and most important, is innate damage reduction. Paladins gain 1 DR every 5 levels. This stacks with any other sources, such as dwarf or orc DR, barbarian or dwarven defender levels. Also, I have increased the power of the Smite Evil ability, a paladin adds their charisma bonus, if any, to the attack roll, as normal. However, the damage bonus is now level + charisma mod, not just level. (Example, a level 4 paladin with 18 charisma would get a +4  to hit, and +8 damage, 4 for level 4 for charisma mod) Finally, paladins receive an innate ability to neutralize poison, as the spell, every time they gain remove disease. They get to use both abilities per week, like listed in the chart.

Overall, I've always really liked paladins, lay on hands and a special mount are awesome. Over the many years of DnD games I've ran though, I've found that paladins just can't keep up with the other warrior classes. Fighters have awesome feat selection, the abilities and HP of barbarians are superior to paladins, and the skills and abilities of rangers, with their spell selection, makes them a superior class as well. 2nd edition paladins were exceptionally good, and very difficult to unlock. (you had to roll a 17 out of 18 on charisma to be a paladin... and they were worth it.) I'm hoping these 3 changes will even out the Paladin, and make it a comparable class to the other warrior options. *UPDATE* To add differentiation between paladin and knight mounts, paladin mounts now gain a template, this can be anything from celestial to draconic, or even something more mundane, like warbeast from monster manual II. Either way, a paladin mount will be better than a knight mount.

Simplified: DR at levels 5.10,15,20, etc. Smite evil deals bonus charisma damage, and paladins can heal poison as well as disease later on. Also, template added to special mount.

(Halfling paladins are fearsome warriors.)

Ranger: Rangers are possibly my favorite class. (it's really a toss up between Druid, Ranger, and Sorcerer.) Saying that, rangers are also one of the most balanced classes in 3.5. (They were truly awful in 3rd edition... weakest class IMO back then.) in 3.5, they are practically perfect in my mind. Super skillful, capable warriors, and the way they redid favored enemies is great. (I enhance this slightly, the damage bonus becomes to hit and damage.) The weapon styles are also fantastic. Add in animal companions and spells, and rangers are really a fantastic class. The only change I make to them is adding another level of combat mastery at level 16. If the ranger has two weapon fighting, they gain Two Weapon Mastery, which adds a fourth attack with the off hand, if they have archery, they gain the shot on the run feat.

Elves do not innately gain these ranger abilities at level 16, (see the elf entry on the playable races post for more information.) though elven rangers would get both at level 16.

Simplified: Favored enemies now add the bonus to hit and damage, and at level 16, there is another level of weapon mastery.

(Rangers are exceptional hunters and trackers.)

*Rogue:* The rework of the first and 2nd edition thief, the rogue is one of those "better in almost every way possible than it was" classes. Very few people in 2nd edition played a pure thief. (not counting kits in this, which alter everything in 2nd edition.) Despite its way faster level tree, the skills, other than backstab (which if you had the assassin kit or were just a high level thief was insane), were absolutely required in any dungeon, but truly horrible to attempt to play. First off, the skills like stealth and finding traps, were based on percentage dice, which no matter what started out terrible. You could be a halfling thief with 19 dexterity wearing nothing (which was the best possible way to use thief skills, getting bonuses for not having armor.) and at levels 1-3, you still barely had a 50% chance of success for most skills. It made every party I ever played with have either a fighter/thief, mage/thief, or fighter/mage/thief. (Oh yeah... love me some old school AD&D games sometimes. The classes are really weird.) 3rd edition introduced an actual functioning skill system that was incredibly kind to the rogue class, and allows much more wiggle room as a DM to custom tailor things to your group.

Rogues really are one of the most customizable classes in the game, and they are only better in gestalt mode. The combinations that rogues can undertake are truly great, a fighter/rogue is a heavily armed and armored killing machine, able to extreme advantage of any flaws in an opponents defense, ranger/rogues are the most skillful combination in the game, and would become the ultimate hunter, sneak attacking favored enemies for extreme damage. Wizard/rogues are set up for becoming arcane tricksters, which are exceptionally capable in gestalt mode. Overall, the only changes I'm making to rogues are that they may sneak attack with any weapon they are proficient with, (Why the hell can't I swing my scythe perfectly under his ribs from behind? Or kidney shot with my great axe?) and they also gain a bonus feat every 5 levels. (5, 10, 15 etc.) This feat may be any that the character has the prerequisites for.

Simplified: May sneak attack with any weapon, and while wearing any armor the rogue is proficient with. (Though certain rogue abilities, like evasion, require light armor.) Bonus feat every 5 levels.

(Beware, they're sneaky.)

Sorcerer: The sorcerer class was my favorite class on the original 3rd edition release... in idea anyway. An innate caster, whose power comes not from book learning, but from innate willpower. The description in the players handbook is that of a rugged, self taught adventurer, traveling the world, unlocking secrets of themselves and the world around them. The issues? They are practically identical to wizards in every way numerically. Same hit dice, same base skills per level, same crappy base attack bonus. They get fewer spells, can't specialize, and don't get bonus metamagic feats. Also, charisma primary casting stat, so they will have not have even close to the skill points of wizards. In addition, you couldn't even use some metamagic feats (quickened spell...) since casting a spell with a metamagic feat is a full round action no matter what. This made almost every person I've ever seen play a sorcerer make them multiclass, which slows their already slower spell progression.

The changes I've taken in part from complete arcane, with a few added of my own thoughts. First off, sorcerers now can cast in light armor, gaining light armor proficiency as well. They use a d8 for hit dice instead of that paltry d4. They also use cleric BAB. They now have 4 base skill points instead of 2. They do lose familiars however. This makes sorcerers much more viable for gestalt warrior characters, paladin/sorcerers are truly awesome.

Simplified: hd increase to D8, use cleric BAB, 4 base skills, light armor casting and proficiency, at the cost of familiars.

(The power of the sorceress comes from within)

Wizard: The studious robe wearing caster, head in a book, an arm full of scrolls. This is the image of the stereotypical wizard, and wizards are amazing. Wizards in the PHB gain spells at a much faster rate then sorcerers, and while they don't get as many spells per day as a sorcerer, they get bonus metamagic feats, and in the original rules they fought just as well as sorcerers and were just as tough. With the proper usage of feats, the damage output of a wizard is insane, much more so than any sorcerer. Any wizard worth anything will take quickened spell, which allows you to cast a spell as a free action by memorizing the spell using a spell slot 4 levels higher. This allows you to cast 2 spells in the same round. Playing out our scenario, we have a level 14 wizard, he has access to 7th level spells. Approaching a village of giants, the wizard has memorized a quickened fireball, and delayed blast fireball. The wizard stands about 700 feet away, since both spells have long range, and launches an opening salvo of a fire ball and delayed blast fireball. At level 14, the fireball does 10d6, and the delayed blast fireball does 14d6. 24d6 damage in a single round from farther than any archer can be. Now lets say they're frost giants, and have fire vulnerability, that wizard just did 48d6 damage in a large area, all of which is based on a reflex save, guaranteeing damage to the giants.

By the time the wizard hits level 17 and gets 9th level spells, a wizard can unleash so much damage stacking quickened spells and normal spells while time stopped, (9th level spell) as to start breaking game dynamics.

Now that I've established how awesome wizards are when used properly, lets point out the obvious weaknesses. Terrible hit dice, can't wear any armor, base attack bonus is terrible, and with the upgrades I made to the sorcerer, wizards just aren't as effective in gestalt. To augment this, I've increased the magical capability of wizards significantly. Wizards now gain more spells, more feats, and more spell power. Wizard spell progression continues to 6 spells per level, (it stops at 4 currently) and they gain bonus metamagic feats every 4 levels, not 5. They also gain the improved familiar feat for free at level 7. The final increase is that wizards get to add their intelligence bonus as a flat bonus to all spell damage. This is only applied once, for example, a wizard with 18 intelligence, (+4 bonus) who casts a lightning bolt spell (lets say he's level 10) would deal 10d6+4, this would apply the same way to a spell like magic missile. The same mage would deal 5d4+5+4 (+9 total) with magic missile. (The bonus wouldn't apply to each missile) These changes truly separate the wizard and sorcerer. Wizards are much better casters now, and sorcerers are much more flexible for gestalt play.

*update* I seem to have forgotten all about specialist wizards. I'm only making one addition to the specialist, at level 1, and at every 10 levels after, (10, 20, etc.) +1 passive DC increase for specialty school. This stacks with spell focus, racial bonuses and the like.

Simplified: Increased spell capacity, progress to 6 max per spell level, not 4. Bonus metamagic feat every 4 levels, not 5. Free improved familiar feat at level 7, and apply intelligence bonus to spell damage.

((The embodiment of wizardry.)

And thus concludes all the classes in the PHB, later we will go into changes to the classes in PHB II, the complete warrior, complete divine, complete arcane, and complete adventurer. Classes for the game are only allowed from those books.

"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." J.R.R. Tolkien

Classes of Artheria (PHB II edition)

(UNIVERSAL UPDATE! I am linking directly to webpages with the class information, so there is a easy frame of reference, this should make comparing the classes a lot easier.)

Next book in line for some revamps, the Players Handbook II. Overall, probably one of the most balanced books. It has really good core classes, and a lot of really good feats, (like two weapon rend...) and affiliations and groups are another way to add extra depth to a game. The four new classes are all very good, and this update is actually the least work for me.

We start with the Beguiler, a mix between the rogue and an enchanter/illusionist. They specialize in using surprise and spells to overcome their opponents.  They get access to 9th level spells, (unlike the hexblade or duskblade) and while they aren't as tough as either of those classes, they are a great core class that has properties of both rogues and wizards. If I didn't buff the other classes, I wouldn't even have to buff them. Even so, I'm only changing two things, the first thing is the advanced learning can be from any school, not just illusion or enchantment. The next, every 5 levels after 10, the beguiler gets a bonus feat, this must be chosen from the wizard bonus feat list. This will enhance the flexibility of the class, and as we are playing gestalt, the beguiler will only be made stronger depending on the class combination.

Simplified: Advanced learning may select any wizard spell, and a bonus feat every 5 levels after 10, (15, 20, etc.)

(The power to manipulate thought, and wield blade, the beguiler is an impressive force.)

Dragon Shaman: One of the genuinely most unique support classes in any book, the Dragon Shaman, while stylistically nothing like the bard, with its auras, great hit points and combat ability, fills the 'help out the group/4th or 5th member' slot significantly better than a bard ever would. And yes, I realize drawing a connection between these two classes is rather odd, but hear me out. The bard has many kinds of songs, some of which you won't unlock until level 16, with all manner of buffing/debuffing capabilities, increasing bonuses on skill checks, and the like. The dragon shaman has auras that don't require skill points, and by level 9 you will have 7 to choose from. You can give everyone in your party, (that is 30 feet from you) bonuses to damage, elemental resistance, even healing. So, the dragon shaman is pretty much as effective in the support role as the bard. Then the dragon shaman has natural armor and breath weapons and energy immunity. This class is great. The only change I'm making to them is increasing the HD from d10 to d12. They're already great, they don't need anything else. (Pondering the idea of a dragon shaman/bard... stack auras and song, now that is an idea...)

Simplified: HD is now d12.

(Dragon Shaman use their connection with draconic power to project auras of power.)

Duskblade: The duskblade is a fantastic class. Spell casting warrior wearing armor and channeling spells through their blades. There have been many prestige classes attempting to do just this since 3rd edition began. A core class that has fighter BAB, decent HP, and casts spells in mithril full plate? Yep, that is the duskblade. This is one of my favorite classes, and the only one that actually needs an overhaul in the PHB II, and the reason? The spell progression is really weird. First off, they use intelligence as the primary casting stat, but they learn and cast spells like a sorcerer. (UPDATE: you can choose to have either charisma or intelligence as your primary casting stat, duskblade/paladin go!) Then, they only learn very very few spells. They start with 4 at level 1, +1 per intelligence mod, then they gain 1 per level, (sounds fine so far...) until level 5. Then every 2 levels, they get the option of losing a spell to learn another. Then it gets stranger, as duskblades get more spells per day than any spell casting class in the game. They top out at 10 (!) per level, the most other classes get is 6, so it is a huge difference, and with incredibly limited spell selection. So keep using the exact same spells over and over and over again... My changes to duskblade then? Change the stupid spell progression. Instead of having to sacrifice a new spell after level 5, you now gain a new spell every level, and not sacrifice an old spell anymore. (The spell list is really long for duskblade as well, I don't know what they were thinking with it.)

Simplified: No longer have to sacrifice an old spell to gain a new one after level 5, and new spells every level instead of every other level. Can choose intelligence or charisma for primary casting stat.

(Masters of blade and sorcery, the duskblade can channel spells through a weapon.)

Knight: The knight is a really good class in PHB II. They have great HP, wonderful crowd control abilities, and great fighting ability. I have a theory with this class, they made it too strong. They have willpower as their only good save, and they get a lot of mounted combat style feats, but they don't get any sort of mount. I feel like if they did that, the knight would just be so much better than the paladin as to really over shadow it. The new additions I'm adding are two fold, first off, primary saves are now fort and will, and they gain a special mount, like a paladin. (NOTE: Check the PHB post again, adding a boost to paladin mounts to change them from knight mounts!) Overall, the knight is a phenomenal class, and gestalt wise, it is only better. (Paladin/knight is the embodiment of holy mounted warrior.)

Simplified: Fort and Will now strong saves, and gain a special mount, (using the paladin table) at level 5. 

(The prototypical knight in shining armor is an incredible warrior.)

Thus concludes my easiest post yet. All the PHB II classes are really good, as I've said, you can't really go wrong with having any of these classes in your gestalt combo. 

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Oriental Armor Rework

Today we tackle the gear in the Oriental Adventures handbook. I have a big issue with a lot of the weapons, as they are really bi-polar. Most of them are exotic weapons, with pretty high costs, and while they will have special abilities, like tripping or easily hidden, they do overwhelmingly inferior damage. Even the items that are pure clones of standard items, like a katana being a masterwork bastard sword, still cost more for the exact same item. (Same case with the wakizashi and masterwork short sword.) Then there are the items I really hate what they did with, like the Kusarigama, an incredibly awesome weapon that makes absolutely no sense numerically in DnD. Also, there is no mention of the Kanabo, the Japanese great club that is made to literally break swords and shields, or the No-dachi, which is what Sephiroth's Sword is based off of. Then there is the armor, which in some cases is better than the standard equivalent, but in most cases makes absolutely no sense, like the Ashigaru light armor, which is essentially a peasants/mercenaries tossed together splint mail. It has solid metal bands, and is bound together with chain, cloth, lacquer and rope. Yet it is the equivalent in the rule book to studded leather armor. This makes absolutely no sense, splint mail is the same as studded leather? As my rambling shows, I take this kind of seriously, so we're reworking the entire oriental armory. (Standard speed rules apply for armor types. Saving myself several columns with that.)

those with a "*" next to them have been reworked extensively, and will have explanations below. If it doesn't have an "*" next to the entry, it is for the most part identical to the version found in the Oriental Adventures handbook.

Starting with the armor (Page 75 in PDF, can't find an isolated chart for the life of me):
                   AC:    Max Dex:     Armor Check:        Arcane spell failure:    Cost:  Weight:  
Light Armor:
Cord Armor*               +1        +8                  -1                              5%                     15g      15 lbs.
Bone Armor                  +3        +4                  -3                             15%                  20g      20 lbs.
Leather Scale*              +5        +5                  -2                             15%                  300g    20 lbs.

Medium Armor:
Dhuenka* (Eliminated)
Ashigaru Armor*          +5         +3                 -4                             30%                 200g      30 lbs.
Brigandine*                  +5         +4                 -3                             25%                250g      25 lbs.
Partial Armor*             +6          +4                 -3                             25%                500g      30 lbs.

Heavy Armor:
Lamellar*                    +7          +1                 -6                             30%                  700g     40 lbs.
Great Armor*              +8         +2                  -4                             40%                 1700g    45 lbs.

Shields and Add-ons:
Chahar-aina                +1           -                    -1                              5%                    75g       10lbs.
Dastana                      +1           -                    -1                              5%                    25g         5lbs.
Tessen                        +1           -                    -1                              5%                    12g       1lbs.
Kappa Shell*              +3*         -                    -6                            30%                   100g       35lbs.

Thus concludes the actual chart, for those unfamiliar with the base chart, this is the one we're using for the game and the rest of the information here is a little extraneous.

First off, we will start with light armors. Cord armor I've changed to be pretty much identical to padded armor. From what I can tell, this is an armor type mostly made up in the oriental adventures handbook, made of knotted together cord and rope. I certainly don't doubt armor of this makeshift type has existed through out history, I can't find actual pictures or anything, no wikipedia page, nothing. The basic picture of the armor is pretty much a retarded rope bee keeper suit. I'm changing this to essentially an upper body only style armor, (like mostly every other light armor in DnD is) and it is identical to padded armor. I hypothesize that in reality, this type of armor is better against slashing weapons, and worthless to piercing weapons, like daggers or arrows. (Chain mail has this exact same weakness)
Moving onto bone armor, I haven't changed that because I didn't want to have only 2 light armors. That is it, I think this is another kind of stupid made up armor. This armor makes much more sense in the dark sun setting than the oriental adventures setting, where even peasant militias had Ashigaru armor, which was a poor man's splint mail, made out of metal.
Leather scale, as described, makes very little sense. It is scale mail, just with leather scales instead of metal.... but scale mail was made onto a leather/cloth/tiny bit of chain backing. Scale mail predates chain mail by many hundreds of years, it was being made by Persians, Romans, and many other cultures out of bronze before metal working became prevalent. Therefore this armor doesn't make much sense as written, leather scales on a leather/cloth backing? So it is just thick leather armor, or hide armor? This armor is now a much more expensive, much better put together piece of equipment. It has leather scales, but placed onto a mixed chain shirt/cloth backing. This better distributes the weight, while making the armor thicker and more protective. (The issue with all chain shirt/chain mail armors is the entire weight is placed only on the shoulders, and it wears you out very fast.) The new product is the most expensive, best light armor available. (This armor is 600g base in Contrador, 900g in the elflands, and 1200g base in the sky or underdark.)

Moving onto medium armors, we start off with the Dhuenka, which is a super thick, partially enchanted rhinocerous hide armor. (Where the hell are the Japanese, Chinese, or Koreans getting Rhino hide anyway? The nearest rhino species is in India... and Asian cultures were excellent metal workers. Makes way more sense in Dark Sun) It is supposedly used by spellcasters, in the description, yet it has really high arcane spell failure, and isn't a light armor, so bards or warlocks, the normal armored caster types can't even use it. Having hide armor made out of a more exotic or thick animal hide, like a rhinoceros or elephant, will yield a superior product with better than +3 ac. Therefore, this armor is not needed. DELETED!

Which brings me to the first major rework of this chart, Ashigaru armor. In the normal chart, it is light armor identical to studded leather, in reality, it is a steel plated armor held together with chain, leather, cloth, rope, and lacquer depending on the time frame. (This style of armor dates back passed 1000 AD, and was in use in the 1700's.) In reality, this armor was mass produced in the mid 1400's, and given mostly to peasants and mercenaries. Comparing this to studded leather.... shoot a piece of lacquer coated steel with a crossbow, maybe it will go through, maybe it won't. Shoot a piece of leather with some metal rivets in it... and it will go through the giant majority of the time. The armor was even made collapsible, so warriors could store it in a backpack and carry it around. It is now a medium armor, set up much more like the oriental adventures equivalent of chain mail. (Adding the "Collapsible" ability to the armor adds 200g to the cost, a gnome may store this armor in a pocket plane if it is all folded up, and any other warrior may carry it on their person in an easy to get to pack, this makes it very popular among oriental rogue/warrior and ninja/warrior gestalt mixes, staying to a cheaper light armor for day to day use, and unfolding the tougher Ashigaru armor when needed.)
Moving onto brigandine, this is actually not an Oriental style armor at all. This armor, by this specific name, is another medieval European armor, that in 1st and 2nd edition, was included in the expanded arms and equipment guide. While the picture in the Oriental Adventures hand book looks Asian influenced, and there certainly were brigandine style armors in Japanese and Chinese culture, the way it is described is pretty much like the european style minus one thing, the metal plates are more exposed on the Asian styles. (Note the game of thrones picture has almost no metal visible, it is placed between two layers of leather.) This armor was primitive, but fairly inexpensive to make, and much more stealthy and easier to move in than the standard chain mail/ring mail armors of the period. In 2nd edition DnD, brigandine was the only heavier armor that rangers and fighter/thieves could wear and still use stealth abilities. (Later books and kits would add rules giving penalties depending on armor type, which is much more realistic and allowed all of us to have Minsc in BGII go stealth in full plate mail and walk with your assassin and be a tank once that backstab went off.) I'm making the following changes to the armor, first off, it is available at this price anywhere, not just Oniboros, (my Oriental Adventures continent for those unfamiliar) and it has a significantly higher max dex bonus, and is as strong as chain mail now. In fact, it is more expensive, better chain mail, which is more realistic anyway. (With the possible exception of a well placed slashing attack, Brigandine is better in almost every situation. Chain mail is incredibly weak to piercing attacks in reality, and things like arrows and crossbow bolts, and later bullets, went through chain mail as if it were not even there, and those are incredibly common weapons through out history.)

Partial Armor, this is in essence the PHB breastplate. Just a piece of a heavy armor to allow maximum mobility. I'm changing the name to Haramaki-do, and despite the explanation in the Oriental Adventures book, which states it is pretty much everything except the helmet and half the arm guards, this is only the breastplate/shoulder covering. This is very popular among Samurai/duskblades. I increased the base AC by 1 to make it better than the others numerically... only difference.

Moving onto heavy armor, there are now 2, lamellar (please ignore the ridiculous metal mask.) and 'great armor.'

Starting out with lamellar, this is in reality samurai armor. (Though lamellar armor is prevalent in many cultures) For gameplay purposes, this is just a not as well put together samurai armor. It is slightly better than half plate in standard armor.

Then we move on to "Great Armor." First, the name is now the proper Tosei-Gusoku, and it is equivalent to full plate mail, with a slightly better dex bonus. Historically, European culture stopped using armor only a few hundred years after the discovery of black powder weaponry, the most famous gun using, sword wielding, armor wearing European warrior is the French Musketeer, (the most elite of all Musketeers really... and were in use from mid 1600's to the mid 1700's.) which is honestly the pinnacle of gun/armor/sword warrior in European culture. In Japanese, (and other Asian) cultures though, armor was continuing to be used with guns into the 1800's. Ashigaru armor, which I spoke of above, was reworked in the mid 1600's to be better protection against firearms of the time, and was mass produced to be flexible, collapsible, and able to withstand early matchlock style firearms. The elite samurai armor was made even better than the Ashigaru, and as such was still being used in the somewhat modern era. (mid 1800's.) By the time long rifles and more advanced rounds came out though, armor really became more of a hindrance, and that is why armor isn't in use today.

Oh I forgot the Kappa shell. Small races can use it as listed in the Oriental Adventures book, hiding under it for cover, but everyone else just gets a +3 bonus, it is the equivalent of a heavy shield.

Well, that concludes our strange history lesson/ stat update. I wanted to do the weapons as well, but that will be an even bigger rework, since there are so many more. This one ended up taking hours of research, typing, and editing. The chart is obviously the important part of this post, and shall be referenced with all oriental armor from here on out.

"You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain." Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of the Five Rings