Homebrew Saiyan Class/Race/Prestige Pathfinder

Apr 7, 2017 5:23 pm
Hey there. Brand new. I've been working on this Homebrew Saiyan class for Pathfinder. Currently the only real tester I have is in my homebrew game with MasakoX. Unfortunately, I am very bad at the whole balance thing so if anyone has any suggestions or is willing to rip this thing apart and help me balance it I'm open to most suggestions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x1RJt1gXph5bNV0z4FkM_2WtfIM6Rd7qpKP5OcLEx6A/edit?usp=sharing
Apr 7, 2017 7:14 pm
If I might make a suggestion...take a look at what The-Marksman put together for the Saiyan Warrior and the Saiyan race in D&D 3.5. Granted, they are put together with 3.5 rules instead of Pathfinder, and they do have a few balance issues of their own, but you might have an easier time putting it together if you take a look there and build off of that.

The biggest issue I have with the class you've put forward is the Super Saiyan prestige class. Even if you have to spend points each round to maintain it, that's still a massively overpowered beast to hand to players...and then we've they've exhausted themselves, they are absolutely powerless to stop you from steamrolling them with the monsters and challenges you'd have to throw at them to make things challenging and entertaining them.

Just my two cents...I can tell you've put a lot of thought into this, and the Ki Master class looks pretty good. There's a few changes I'd make to that, but it's more of a "let's make it make sense" thing than it is a "let's do some balancing" thing.
Apr 7, 2017 10:42 pm
I will take a look at these. thank you for the tip. I remember seeing the old Ki Master class on D&D wiki some time ago. That Saiyan Race though seems really hard to balance I think. Do you think there is any way to get it down to a +0 or +1 LA?

Just took a gander at that saiyan warrior though. It...honestly seems a bit more broken than my class. A single path class that unlocks prestige level abilities naturally...i dunno. i somewhat disagree with it. Plus with full BAB...i dunno man. I can't quite agree with everything there. unless i am just really REALLY awful at designing classes (I might be. not sure)
Apr 10, 2017 4:09 pm
The thing about Pathfinder is they did away with level adjustments, so to speak. They base it all on challenge ratings now, which changes things up a wee bit. Not much, but still enough to make it complicated.

I took a look at it real quick with this nifty little app on my phone that allows for customizable races. Making a few minor tweaks (Taking out the Con bonus, removing Zenkai, and removing Oozaru and Tail), I've got it at about 19 RP, which puts it in line with Aasimar, Drow, and a few of the other more "powerful" player races. If you added in Zenkai as it's written right now, that'd put it at about 23 RP, which is more than I like to let players have access to, unless they have a really good story in mind. At 23 RP, I'd guess that could still technically make it a +0 CR character, considering Svifrneblin are at 24 RP and are listed as a uncommon race in the ARG.

As for the class, it's easier to balance that out in my opinion. Change the BAB and Saves to match a Monk, remove the weapons proficiencies (leaving only unarmed strike), and make other tweaks here and there. For instance, I wouldn't leave them with Timeless body, I'd lower the bonuses on the SSJ abilities by half, and implement a system similar to opening the Chakras implemented in Occult Adventures (Ki point cost, Will save and Fortitude save every round, otherwise you drop out of SSJ and become fatigued/take non-lethal damage). I'd get rid of the Fusion Dance, making it a teamwork feat that two or more people have to have for it to work...and there are several other things I would try with it.
Apr 10, 2017 4:14 pm
irvanovich says:
The thing about Pathfinder is they did away with level adjustments, so to speak. They base it all on challenge ratings now, which changes things up a wee bit. Not much, but still enough to make it complicated.

I took a look at it real quick with this nifty little app on my phone that allows for customizable races. Making a few minor tweaks (Taking out the Con bonus, removing Zenkai, and removing Oozaru and Tail), I've got it at about 19 RP, which puts it in line with Aasimar, Drow, and a few of the other more "powerful" player races. If you added in Zenkai as it's written right now, that'd put it at about 23 RP, which is more than I like to let players have access to, unless they have a really good story in mind. At 23 RP, I'd guess that could still technically make it a +0 CR character, considering Svifrneblin are at 24 RP and are listed as a uncommon race in the ARG.

As for the class, it's easier to balance that out in my opinion. Change the BAB and Saves to match a Monk, remove the weapons proficiencies (leaving only unarmed strike), and make other tweaks here and there. For instance, I wouldn't leave them with Timeless body, I'd lower the bonuses on the SSJ abilities by half, and implement a system similar to opening the Chakras implemented in Occult Adventures (Ki point cost, Will save and Fortitude save every round, otherwise you drop out of SSJ and become fatigued/take non-lethal damage). I'd get rid of the Fusion Dance, making it a teamwork feat that two or more people have to have for it to work...and there are several other things I would try with it.
Things like this Saiyan race and class concept are what make me so uneasy about letting players bring in 3rd party and homebrew classes and races. A lot of times, they can really break a game, creating extra work for the GM as they try to balance out the crazy powerful new race/class. I tend to try to find something in the official rules and books that'll let them do what they're wanting to do in a not-gonna-break-the-game kind of way.
Apr 16, 2017 12:25 pm
irvanovich says:


I took a look at it real quick with this nifty little app on my phone that allows for customizable races. Making a few minor tweaks (Taking out the Con bonus, removing Zenkai, and removing Oozaru and Tail), I've got it at about 19 RP, which puts it in line with Aasimar, Drow, and a few of the other more "powerful" player races. If you added in Zenkai as it's written right now, that'd put it at about 23 RP, which is more than I like to let players have access to, unless they have a really good story in mind. At 23 RP, I'd guess that could still technically make it a +0 CR character, considering Svifrneblin are at 24 RP and are listed as a uncommon race in the ARG.
ooooh, what is this app you speak of? I'd like to download it O.o
Apr 17, 2017 4:14 pm
It's called "Pathbuilder" on the Google Play Store. While it's not perfect, it does a dang fine job of building a character using almost every available Paizo book out there, and includes tools to build custom equipment and races. It let's you build a character from 1 to 20, and then exports your character into a form fillable PDF sheet, depending on how much XP you have. Even includes a "spellbook" for your casters.

It's only on Android right now, though.
May 12, 2017 10:13 am
i use android so that should be just fine. thanks man!

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