The Direlock (Revised Edition)

This revised Direlock by Forest Guardian Press is 21 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 18 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Full disclosure: I was asked to critique the first draft of this class and have received no compensation for it, nor have I asked for any. I have had no hand in developing this final iteration of the class and consider my verdict in no way compromised.

That out of the way, let’s take a look! The Direlock is a new base-class that gets 3/4 BAB-progression, d8, 4+Int mod skills per level, proficiency with light armor, bucklers (but not other shields), all simple weapons and one melee weapon of choice, which is designated dire weapon, but more on that later. Said weapon may be exotic since the write-up per se does not prevent it – something to take note of. The direlock gets spellcasting at 4th level and up to 4th level spells they have to prepare ahead of time. They cast via Int and incur arcane spell failure when wearing medium/heavy armor, proper shields etc. They also get good fort- and will-saves. At higher levels, they may cast spells while wearing medium and heavy armors respectively.

So essentially we’re looking at a gish-class? Stifle the yawns, ladies and gentlemen, this actually does some unique things. But let’s break down those class abilities – first of which would be the dire pool, which is 1/2 level (min 1) + cha-mod points per day. Direlocks may expend said points as a swift action for +1 morale bonus to damage with the dire weapon for cha-mod rounds, scaling up by +1 for every 4 levels of the class to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. At 3rd level, the point may also be spent to get +2 to saves versus spells, spell-like abilities and hexes cast within the dire zone (more on that later) for cha-mod rounds. At 7th level, 2 points may be expended to penalize all saves of foes within the dire zone by -2 for cha-mod rounds as a swift action – the ability has been clarified. At 10th level, direlocks may add the spell-stealing quality temporarily to their weapon via the expenditure of dire pool points.

Now I’ve already mentioned the signature dire weapon, but what is so special about it? Well, first of all, it can’t be broken as long as the direlock has at least one point in his/her dire pool and repairs itself as long as the dire pool can refresh. It is also required to access the dire pool. Dire weapons net a constant +10 competence bonus to CMD versus sunder and disarm, which improves further by +10 for a total of +20 at 10th level, making the weapon hard to get rid of, but not impossible -as it ought to be, seeing how the direlock’s abilities hinge on it. I really like the revised weapon, since it makes the direlock less usceptible to disamr/sunder, while still making a specialist of both tactics a problematic foe for the class. More importantly is one rather interesting signature ability that sets the direlock apart from any other gish-class: They can counterspell – without magic. Essentially, they follow the same rules as standard counterspelling, but instead of using an appropriate spell, they expend as an immediate action 1 point from their dire pool per spell level to be countered – and poof, the magic is sliced to smithereens. Of course, the spell needs to originate within the direlock’s dire zone and after successfully counterspelling, all inimica (more on them later) are suspended until the direlock’s next turn.

Now I’ve already mentioned the Dire Zone – starting at first level, direlocks radiate a zone of 10 foot that scales up to 30 at 20th level. As long as s/he still has at least 1 point in the pool, the zone nets the direlock +1 to saves versus fear-effects and penalizes foes by the same amount – said bonuses scale up to a maximum of +/-5 respectively – more important, even creatures immune to fear lose this immunity while in the zone – a nod to Dreamscarred Press’ Dread-class.

Now the weapon’s been covered, let’s talk about the so-called “Fell Regalia” -adding these to armor and clothes, the direlock gets 1/ level to intimidate checks, but suffers the same as penalty to Diplomacy and Handle Animal. Now what were those inimica-things? Inimica can be activated by spending a swift action and affect those within the dire zone. When applicable, inimica have a save of 10+1/2 level+cha-mod. Direlocks start with cha-mod+1 inimica and learn an additional one at 2nd level and every two levels after that. Inimicas typically last until the end of the combat and can, as an additional limit, only be used 1/day, +1/day at 4th level and every 3 levels after that. Only one inimica can be in effect at any given time, though they may exchanged without additional point-expenditure of dire pool points and an incapacitated direlock only means that the effects in question are halted, not eliminated. Now let’s check out some examples of the 15 inimica provided, shall we?

On the more basic side of the scale, there’s an inimica that provides 1 hp bleed damage to foes hit by the direlock’s dire weapon, which continues until treated even after leaving the dire zone. More peculiar and absolutely awesome concept-wise would be the Dire Magic inimica – whenever an enemy caster casts an area of effect spell or spell-like ability at the direlock and his/her allies, its effects are also extended to the casting foe’s allies and potentially even the caster while within the dire zone. This inimica looks VERY powerful since its effect extends to otherwise rather hard to deal with spell-like abilities, but the limited range of the dire zone and the fact that channel energy for example, can’t be repelled by it keep me from complaining – as does the fact that the original targets are still affected. If this extended to supernatural abilities, we’d be looking at one killer combo here. (Hint for sadistic DMs seeking to truly torment their players…)

Increasing their own DCs and concentration DCs of foes is also within the possibilities of inimica. On the fluff/anti-gas side, we get a solution for one hole in the rules – you may conjure forth a strong wind within the zone, essentially dispersing gases and hampering ranged weapons. Ignoring some DR based on level, penalizing attacks and will-saves, skill-checks, damage inflicted, AC and CMD, decrease threat-ranges (and even multipliers for weapons that only threaten on a 20) – you get the drill. All of these scale slowly up with the level. There also are two different abilities that deal damage when foes consciously enter or leave the dire zone respectively (i.e. no skipping to-and-fro to make foes pass the barrier again and again) – interesting for tactical combat. beyond that, there also is an inimica called woundrede – which halves the effect of magical healing and penalizes applications of the heal-skill. Here, with a slight rephrasing, what has prior been a logic bug/rules-hole when dealing with healing via negative energy, has been fixed. Two thumbs up!

Direlocks also get Dire Senses, i.e. deflect arrow (a bit weird, since they are not very dex-centric) and can later choose to get a bonus to their flatfooted AC equal to cha-mod versus a foe in her/his zone, whereas invisible opponents have to contend with int-mod bonus to the AC – which makes more sense to me than the prior, more MAD-solution via wis.

Very interesting is the fearsome slough ability – via the expenditure of a point from the dire pool, the direlock may essentially transfer a limited set (and only one per round) of detrimental conditions that required a save and are not permanent as a swift action to an adjacent enemy by succeeding a reroll of the save that prompted the condition at a +10 morale bonus. The new target must make a save at the same DC as the one the direlock incurred when s/he suffered the condition – which is really cool, Also nice: Progressing conditions are now addressed.

The next class feature is also rather unique, the Dire Mantle – which essentially allows the direlock to absorb spells targeted directly at them of up to 3rd level (or cha-mod, if lower) if they succeed a Spellcraft check versus 15 + spell level as an immediate action – important since action economy is crucial for many of the direlock’s abilities. Each spell-level of the absorbed spell is essentially converted into a charge, of which no more than cha-mod can be held at any time. Additionally, spell-power thus absorbed may not exceed the dire mantle’s remaining capacity to store energy. These so gained charges can be expended via 8 different ways, three of which have a limit of 1/day 2/day at8th 3/day at 14th level (formerly: Once per combat – the change makes this ability actually work and not breakable with a bag of kittens) and require the expenditure of 3 spell levels at once. On the plus-side, metamagic and psionic powers are given guidelines for the ability as well.

Starting at 3rd level and every three levels after that, the direlock gains a so-called incunabula, essentially the talents of the class. They may also exchange these for direlock-class-level requiring feats and, if applicable, the DC is 10 +1/2 level + cha-mod. A total of 17 incunabula to choose from are provided herein. Incunabula allow the direlock to e.g. chose one spell from a specific witch’s patron (the choice is fixed) to add to their spell-list, learn a hex that is only usable within the direzone. These abilities are surprisingly versatile – for example, there is one that allows the direlock to reduce the amount of dire pool points his abilities cost by 1 for 1 round whenever s/he scores a critical hit or a foe fumbles while within his/her dire zone.

Beyond passive abilities like this one, we also get active ones – e.g. the option to make the dire weapon count as one size larger for one round for purposes of damage dealt. Dire spell is also interesting – 1/day, as a swift action, the direlock may cast an offensive spell that affects creatures within the dire zone. Said spell affects an additional target. Only spells gained from this class can thus be enhanced. No more complaints about the revised wording.

Another revised candidate would be the “Dread Assault” incunabula, which now can only be used for one point and as part of a full round action – by expending 1 point from the dire pool, a direlock may make an extra attack as part of a full-round action with said attack using the class level as BAB and if multiple attacks hit in one round, the direlock gets a +1 circumstance bonus to critical hit confirmation rolls.

Adding e.g. the progressing fear-themed conditions to foes works well, as do better chances of confirming crits, temporarily expanding the dire zone by 5 feet, adding spells from wizard, magus or alchemist spell-lists, turning undead or an increase in potency of ravening strike (allowing for the destruction of spells rather than the absorption) – the majority works as intended.

Ravening Strike? Yes, at 9th level, 1/round when criting with the dire weapon, a direlock may forego the additional critical hit damage in favor of leeching 1d4 available spell-levels from the target into her dire mantle – or dissipating it. As a balancing factor, lower level spells are consumed further, the target gets a save and the direlock takes minor damage when using ravening strike. Also, the may not draw spells whose level exceeds their cha-mod. A cool ability!

But I’ve skipped past perhaps one of the most ambitious abilities of the Direlock – Eldritch Tentacles. Essentially, direlocks of 5th level and above may establish as a move action that provokes an AoO one invisible tendril. Connecting said tendril takes a standard action (or a full round action for a set of tendrils), a successful touch attack and can only be done with a creature within the dire zone, plus one tendril for every 3 levels beyond 5th. These tendrils allow for the transference of conditions via fearsome slough. Beyond that, exiting the dire zone while such a tendril is attached causes pain to the target, dealing cha-mod x 1d4 damage. More importantly, direlocks may also take negative conditions from their allies and heal while being under the conditions, with the amount of hp regained per round depending on the severity of the condition. The ability can be used 1/day and is upgraded further at 17th level, making the attaching of tendrils faster.

At 8th level, the dire mantle is further upgraded, netting +2 to saves versus spells and effects analyzed, but not absorbed. Furthermore, somewhat akin to a rod of absorption, spell levels absorbed may be used to power the direlock’s spellcasting without expending the prepared slot. The wording here is a bit hard to understand at first – as an added caveat, a direlock needs to have spell-energy equal to the spell-level they wish to absorb for purposes of casting their own spell stored. That means to absorb a 3rd level spell and use it to power a third level spell of their own casting, they’d require 3 spell levels already stored in their mantle. At least that’s how I understood it. A slightly more concise wording would help this ability. Finally, direlocks may now also store a portion of a spell, exceeding their total capacity, e.g. absorbing a 3rd level spell when only having room for 1 more spell levels – this comes at a cost, though: Exceeding spell levels are lost and deal damage – though that damage still is significantly lower than what the respective spell would deal.

At 10th level, the inimica-list is expanded by 4 major inimicas: And yes, one allows for the absorption of area-spells cast in the dire zone – at a large dire pool cost, but still: Awesome! Another one allowy you to penalize enemy initiative, deal enhancement bonus damage to all foes within the dire zone when hitting foes as well as an expansion of the fearsome slough, which allows sloughed off conditions to move on to another target after a foe successfully saved against it. If all save, the condition lingers in limbo for one round and the save-game resumes the next round until either its duration expires or a foe fails his/her/its save.

At 13th level, direlocks may pay dire pool points to use cha-mod instead of wis-mod for a save (again, as an immediate action -action economy), at 14th level, spells of up to 5th level can be absorbed and as a capstone, both spell levels potentially absorbed via ravening strike and tendrils are upgraded and additionally, direlocks may now absorb spells of up to 7th level.

We also get favored class options for drow, dwarves, elves, gnomes, goblins, half-elves, half-orcs, halflings, humans and tieflings. The Half-elf bonus favored class option-bonus has been revised and now works properly.

Next up are new archetypes, first of which would be the Banelock, who gets diminished spellcasting,. Instead of dire pool/weapon, they get a bane pool, which may be used to add enhancement bonuses weapon qualities to their weapon. They may get up to 2 additional dire weapons and get the armor proficiencies 2 levels earlier. While it can be gleaned from the context easily, a special shout out that a bane pool works as a dire pool for all direlock abilities would have been nice – though since it’s so obvious and all but spelled out in one explanation, I won’t hold that against the pdf.

Number 2 of the archetypes would be the Dreadmasque: In place of a wizard’s book and spells, they get an eldritch warmask – hard to remove from their face and netting them bonuses versus mind-affecting effects and serving as the focus for their dire zone. Said warmasque stores spells akin to a witch, instead of storing them within the familiar, utilizing the mask. As swift actions, Dreadmasques may enter masques, essentially arcane katas that make spellcasting for the masque more difficult. This ability is usable 1/day +1/day at 4th level and every three levels after that and starts the game with one known masque and gets another one at 2nd level, 4th and every 3 after that. Dreadmasque’s Masque duration is now 1 min/level.

A total of 11 masques await for the taking and general confer a variety of scaling bonuses to different checks and also net access to specific witch hexes while enacting the respective masque. Analogue to regular inimica, we also get 4 greater masques that become available at 10th level. Medium armor proficiency is delayed to 10th level and dreadmasques pay for their masques (which are slightly stronger than inimicas) by losing among other thing, spellcasting in heavy armor. At 19th level, 4 masques based on major hexes also beckon.

The third and formerly final archetype would be the Fear Eater, who may eat fear of foes to heal him/herself and/or remove fear-themed conditions (and later use absorbed fear to negate his/her own non-fear-based negative conditions). They may also assign targets within the dire zone and hit them with fear-effects and cure allies of fear-based conditions. They also get an exclusive inimica that enhances their prowess when attacking fearful foes and a new incunabula for extended durations of the fear-effects they impart.

As a bonus piece of content, the revised edition now features the Predator as a fourth archetype (which is erroneously called banelock in the proficiency-section) that does not incur the regailia’s penalty on handle animal checks since it represents a more primal hunter. As such, the predator gains an animal companion (as per the druid) at effective levels -3 that may share in the benefits of the dire zone while inside, partake in the using of fearsome slough etc. – all this at the price of an incunabula, spellcasting and heavy armor proficiency.

Next up are 17 new feats, which cover the obligatory extra inimica, incunabula, pool points, tendrils, mantle capacity etc. and also provide a feat for more resilient eldritch tentacles. Speaking of tentacles – one feat allows you to share inimicas (and dire zone effects in the improved version) with a tentacled ally and another lets you transfer conditions from allies to foes via them. Nice! The most interesting ones would be those that allow for modification of the dire zone – by excluding a foe from it, you may extend the zone to include one foe within 5 foot of it and do this with 2 foes via a second feat. You may also exclude squares adjacent to you from the dire zone to expand its reach by 5-foot and increase this to 10 foot via another feat. Dire zone modification is now a move action.

The pdf also provides a new spell, the exclusive second-level Accumulating Error, which is a minor debuff that gets worse if the foe gets hit/fails to hit you and has it duration set depending on the amount of times s/he/it is hit/fails to save.

As a rather cool help, we get one-page of inimica cut-outs and a direlock management-sheet – awesome! Seriously, I wished all complex classes had one – two thumbs up for that, especially since the reference sheet has been further improved!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good. Layout adheres to a drop-dead gorgeous, atmospheric and very cool two-column b/w-standard with an easy to read font and is a beauty to behold – which can’t be said about the original pieces of full color artwork. While I understand that at this price-point, there’s no such thing as a big art budget (or any such budget, really), the artworks are very cartoony and actually imho detract from the grim, gritty, dark feeling of the direlock – especially faces look rather frightening – but perhaps that’s the goal? However, the armors of the characters look presentable – so that one works for me. Still, don’t expect to be blown away art-wise. The pdf comes in two versions, with the latter being more printer-friendly – both of which now come fully bookmarked. As an added benefit, the pdfs seem to now be working much smoother on my notepad.

Just when I thought I had finished the longest class-review I’ve ever done, lead-designer Morgan Boehringer cranks out a revision of the pdf that not only offers new content, but proceeds to systematically address all my gripes. So yeah, I cranked out that review and the pdf and started reading – and yep – there go all my painfully researched flaws, all those delicious nitpicks and issues I found. All gone. *sniff*Kidding aside: I LOVE it when publishers and designers clear up glitches and polish their pdfs and the direlock definitely deserves the revised edition that vastly improves the class, gets rid of minor issues and greatly streamlines it into a vastly superior class. Not a class for beginners, mind you – this is complex, but oh so rewarding: Finally, a fighting-class that can truly make those casters quake in their boots, studded with various unique mechanics. Two thumbs up and 5 stars + seal of approval for the revised version!

You can get this awesome class here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com’s shop!

Endzeitgeist out.

Comments