Gladiator PrC - help wanted

[Kahuna Burger]

I've been toying with a gladiatorial PrC for a bit, but i figured I'd look for help in putting all the peices together in a balanced package. What I have so far -

Prereqs: Bab +5, perform: glad 6 ranks, intimidate 4 ranks, weapon focus: any melee, two feats from the power attack, combat expertise or two weapon fighting chains.

The feat requirements are broad because while I think a gladiator should have a "schtick", I don't think they all need the same schtick.

Fighter bab - its a fighter type prestige class.

Saves reflex & fort good.

2 skill points, fighter skills – ride, + tumble, bluff. I don't want to overpower the class by giving it a bunch of skill points, but I think coming to the class from the rogue-ish direction is fine, and I want the skills to support that fighting style if needed. Ride seems counterintuitive to a gladitorial ring, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

Improved intimidation abilities. I'd like gladiators to be able to do more thingswith intimidate. Distance, move action, multiple targets, free intimidate attempt with dropped opponent.

Fancy fighting (perform: glad replaces other skills under certain circumstances) bluff to feint, tumble for fight defensively, tumble for avoiding AoO.

Gladiatorial stunts - These would be somewhat similar to bardic music performances, except that they are usually just effecting the gladiator. You would have one stunt per day per gladiator level, and the effects would last for a number of rounds equal to gladiator level + cha mod. (minimum one round). As with bardic music, they would require a standard action to begin, and new stunts would be based on both gladiator level, and ranks in perform gladiatorial. Some ideas I had were taunt (opponents must make will save or focus all their efforts on attacking you), dodge bonus, wounding, feats (say the ability to act as if you have a feat you meet the prereqs for), fast movement, extra attacks....

So I have a pretty good idea of the abilities I want to include, now I just have to figure out how to portion them out over the levels of the class.

 

[Funeris]

hmmm...should this be moved to house rules?

 

[Kahuna Burger]

hmmm...should this be moved to house rules?

its for use in LEW,and I'll change it to a "proposal" thread once the details are ironed out. I just figured I'd call on the knowlege now, rather than submit it as a proposal with the benefits arranged willy nilly and getting the same feedback.

 

[Steve Jung]

OK. I got bored. Here's a chart listing at what level a single-classed character can satisfy the pre-requisites. So the quickest way in is to be a fighter or a human barbarian--5th level will get you in.

Class      Base   Perform    Intimidate   Feats   Earliest
           Atk  (gladiator)
Barbarian   5        3           1         6/3*     6/5*
Bard        7        3           5         6/3*      7
Cleric      7        9           5      6/3**/1***   9
Druid       7        9           5         6/3*      9
Fighter     5        3           1         2/1*      5
Monk        7        3           5         6/3*      7
Paladin     5        9           5         6/3*      9
Ranger      5        9           5         3/2*      9
Rogue       7        3           1         6/3*      7
Sorcerer    10       9           5         6/3*      10
Wizard      10       9           5         6/3*      10

* Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human character.
** Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human cleric or a non-human cleric with the War domain.
*** Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human cleric with the War domain.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

OK. I got bored. Here's a chart listing at what level a single-classed character can satisfy the pre-requisites. So the quickest way in is to be a fighter or a human barbarian--5th level will get you in.

Class      Base   Perform    Intimidate   Feats   Earliest
           Atk  (gladiator)
Barbarian   5        3           1         6/3*     6/5*
Bard        7        3           5         6/3*      7
Cleric      7        9           5      6/3**/1***   9
Druid       7        9           5         6/3*      9
Fighter     5        3           1         2/1*      5
Monk        7        3           5         6/3*      7
Paladin     5        9           5         6/3*      9
Ranger      5        9           5         3/2*      9
Rogue       7        3           1         6/3*      7
Sorcerer    10       9           5         6/3*      10
Wizard      10       9           5         6/3*      10

* Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human character.
** Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human cleric or a non-human cleric with the War domain.
*** Minimum level to fulfill the feat pre-requisite for a
human cleric with the War domain.

cool. I'm pretty happy with that spread.... I would see fighters and barbariansas making up the majority of gladiators, and monks and rogues having a "wildcard" stylish niche. Obviously, not everyone fighting in the gladiator pits will have levels in gladiator, so there is still plenty of room for magic users to appear in gladitorial campaigns.

 

[Bront]

Quick suggestion on the feats.

INstead of what you have in:

weapon focus: any melee, two feats from the power attack, combat expertise or two weapon fighting chains.

How about this?

Feats: Weapon Focus: Any Melee Weapon or Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Any Melee Weapon, and any 2 of the following feats: any of the Power Attack, Combat Expertise, or Two Weapon Fighting trees, or Weapon Specialization

This means that they are either:
A) Realy good with a normal Melee weapon
or
B) Use a strange weapon, which is also a good shtick
And still have a variety of other interesting feats to pick from.