My first attempt at a new Class: The Hexblade

When your ma died in a freak accident, it was a tragedy. When lightning from a clear blue sky burnt your house to the ground, it was a farce. When the only dragon in 1,000 miles decided to raze your village to the ground on a lark, you knew yourself to be cursed.

But you've a survivor-you've had to be, and you'll be damned if you let a little bad luck stop you. You've turned it into a weapon, striking down your enemies with inexplicable accidents and curses that make them beg for death. And for the foes who have nothing left to lose, the ones who don't care if their lives come crashing down around them? A nice sharp blade to the gut will do the trick. You're nothing if not practical.

Let mages theorize about disruptions in the laws of probability, let the shamans speak about disruptions in the balance, and the priests prattle on about the infinite wisdom of divine providence. You know a deeper truth: real capital-H Heroes don't make their own luck. They take it.

Names
An Ominous Name, a Sinister Name, an Everyday Name, an Unlikely Name

Look[/b]
Choose One For Each

Tired Eyes, Jaded Eyes, Mocking Eyes, Dangerous Eyes

Ruffled Hair, Shaved Head, Unnaturally Colored Hair, Not a Hair out of Place

Patchwork Clothes, Damaged Clothes, Clothes from a victim of misfortune

Scarred Body, Well-Traveled Body, Worn Body, Fit Body

Stats

Your Maximum HP is 8+Constitution

Your base Damage is d8

Starting Moves
Choose a race and gain the corresponding Move:

Human:
Despite the baleful coincidences that surround you, people are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. When your powers cause trouble in a civilized area, the authorities won't catch on that you're the source of the problem for at least a couple of days, no matter how obvious the link

Tiefling:
The wrath of a scion of the hells is legendary. When you Parley, you may always use "Not cursing you with a fate worse than death" as leverage.

Half-Elf:
Your keen senses and your powers leave you constantly prepared for the worse. When you discern realities you may ask the GM "What would it take for things to go horribly wrong here?"

Aura of Misfortune
After each time you make camp, you lose any Misfortune you previously held and gain 3 Misfortune. Whenever an ally within rolls a 6 or lower or the GM Advances a Threat Countdown you gain 1 Misfortune. You may spend one point of Misfortune to do any of the following:

• Inflict a horrific accident on someone you can see. Inflict your class damage on the target with the following tags: Far/Close, Messy, Piercing 2, Dangerous.
• Make a foe share your ill-luck. When you suffer a negative consequence from rolling a 7-9, or a 6- you force your foe to suffer the same consequences that you do. Describe how Fickle Fortune conspires to bring the same ruin to your foe that she's brought to you.
• Find yourself exactly where you need to be to inflict the most chaos upon your foes.

Hex
When you pronounce a fate worse than death on someone who has wronged you roll +Cha.

On a 10+, it happens to them just as you said, and soon.

On a 7-9 it happens but choose one:

• Their ill-fate is slow in coming, and they're coming for you.
• Your curse strikes someone you did not intend for it to affect, as well

On a 6- your baleful influence runs wild.
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Bad News
You qualify for the Outstanding Warrants move in any civilized area where you have spent more than a few days. If you try to Recruit in such a settlement, you automatically succeed as if you rolled a 10+ but anyone who shows up interested in working for you is a desperate sort with nothing left to lose.

Blade of Ill Omen
When you attack an opponent facing horrible odds or unusual misfortune either inflict your damage, or roll +Cha
On a 10+ choose 2, on a 7-9 choose 1.

• You gain 1 Misfortune
• The wound you inflict will never heal
• Wherever your opponent flees, so long as you follow you'll always be right behind them.

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Alignment
Choose an Alignment:

Good: When you punish evil with an ironic twist of fate.

Neutral: When you sacrifice  to keep someone or something you care about from being harmed by your powers.

Evil: When you ruin someone because of a perceived slight.

Chaotic:When you turn a crisis to your own advantage.

There's what I have thus far. It's a conversion of the old 3.5 class from the Complete Warrior that I always thought was dripping with potential, but that was saddled with weak mechanics that did nothing to evoke the concept of "A walking nexus of bad juju". Let me know if I've hit on something interesting, and I'll come up with Gear, Bonds, and Advanced Moves.

Hope to hear from you soon.

With Blade of Ill Omen, you say "When you attack an opponent facing horrible odds or unusual misfortune either inflict your damage, or roll +Cha." One of the options is "The wound you inflict will never heal." So, if you choose to roll you inflict no damage, but the no-damage wound will never heal?

I really like it! I think you've captured the feel of the class much better than Complete Psionic!

You're absolutely right...I subconsciously stole Blade of Ill-Omen from the Thief's back stab, and obviously forgot to change the wording a bit. Anyway, since there seems to be a bit of interest I'll be posting Bonds, Gear, and Advanced Moves soon. t

This is probably the first custom base class I ever loved at first sight. Great job!

Bonds
Fill in the name of one of your companions in at least one

___________ has lived a blessed life, with every advantage. I can't help but envy them.

___________ is doomed, but doesn't know it yet. I will do what I can for them

___________ is intrigued by my powers, not understanding their price.

___________ believes their talents to be more potent than mine. I'll relish the chance to prove them wrong.

Gear
Your load is 9+Str. You start with Leather Armor (1 Armor 1 Weight) or Patchwork Armor (1 Armor 1 Weight), and dungeon rations (5 uses 1 Weight) and 15 coins. Choose Your Arms:

Scimitar (Hand 1 Weight)
Longsword (Hand 1 Weight)

Then choose one:

Shield (+1 Armor 1 Weight)
Healing Potion (0 Weight)
Dark Memento (0 Weight, anyone who carries this or has it nearby them can be targeted by your Aura of Misfortune even if you can't see them)

Advanced Moves
When you gain a level from 2-5 choose one of these moves:

Rambler, Gambler, Nightrider
Choose one Move from the Warlock, Fighter, or Thief lists. You're treated as one level lower for purposes of that move.

Fiasco
When you're near a crowd of NPCs and need a diversion or escape route describe the chain of events that will make things go horribly wrong. If you do, the crowd will immediately turn to one of the following (your choice):

Backstabbing and Infighting
Rioting and Looting
Confusion and Utter Panic
Vigilante Action

Then Roll +Int
On a 10+ the mob will ignore you and your allies completely, allowing you and your companions to take advantage of the chaos.
On a 7-9 some of the mob's fear, rage, or avarice will be focused on you and your companions, but just the fringes.
On a 6- things go wildly out of control and you gain 1 Misfortune.

Dwarven Roulette
When you charge blindly into danger, trusting only in Lady Luck to save you, gain +1 Ongoing until you wise up and gain 1 Misfortune.

Grim Foreboding
When you harry someone and terrify them with omens of their coming doom you deal +1d4 damage against them in combat and gain +1 Armor against them until they're able to best you definitively, and prove you to be a mortal and not a nightmare.

Dark One's Own Luck:
When you need something material, spend 1 Misfortune to acquire it through a grim twist of fate. Then the GM will choose one of the following:

The previous owner of the item knows who has it now, and has a general impression of where you are.
The object is broken (but reparable) or cursed.
Your powers made people suffer and die for the item in an obvious and unnatural way. Their allies will be looking for payback.

When you gain a level from 6-10 choose one of these moves:


Bad Things Happen To Other People
When you Defy Danger, on a 12+ the danger becomes redirected at someone else nearby instead of you (your choice). If you choose an innocent bystander or an ally you gain 1 Misfortune.

Fate's Not Done Toying With Me
When you take your last breath on a 7-9 someone close to you (not another player character) will die a horrible death in your stead, and you return to life with the memory of their final moments seared on your mind.



Double or Nothing:
When you get a 6- or lower on a roll ask the GM to raise the stakes and he'll tell you what horrible thing could happen if you tempt fate. If you're still game, spend 1 Misfortune and re-roll the dice.

If you get at least a 7 whew that was close. Use that result in place of your original roll.  Then take -1 Ongoing to Double or Nothing re-rolls until you Make Camp.

If you get 6-, then the horrible fate the GM mentioned comes to pass, in addition to what would have happened anyway had you not used this Move. You then gain 1 Misfortune.

I'll be writing up more advanced moves as I think of them. Let me know what you think of them thus far, and if you have any ideas for other potential Moves for the Hexblade. My eventual goal is to get this published as a PDF for sale, ala the Warlock, Shaman etc. Thank you everyone who's posted their encouragement and options! It's really flattering to get such a warm reception from a community that I've admired for so long, but am now just starting to post in.

I really dig this class. Like, a LOT. However, you have a few non-choices in the Gear. Why not beat-up breastplate (2 armor, 3 weight) instead of leather armor? Same thing with the weapons; why not make them a rapier (close, precise, 1 weight) or scimitar (close, +1 damage, 2 weight)? Otherwise, I think this class rocks!

Thank you Inferno, for the praise. It's good to know that people here like my work. On the subject of Gear you're absolutely right, the final draft will have Rapier vs. Scimitar or Longsword and Leather Armor vs Beaten Up Breastplate for choices.

Now to add a few more advanced moves for levels 2-5:

Entropy's Grasp:
When you grasp something small enough to hold, and non-magical you may have it rust, decay, or melt into nothingness. If you spend 1 Misfortune, you may cause the same effect to any single such object at Close Range.

Gallows Humor:
When you grimly joke about how an overwhelming danger will destroy an ally they gain 1 Experience if they confront it anyway, and you gain 1 Misfortune.

Onto The Seventh Generation:Any Hex that you lay upon a creature is passed on to it's children when it dies and it's children's children, onto the seventh generation. If the creature dies without having children, or cannot have children, then when it dies the hex passes on to the being who created it, or to it's next of kin.

Blade of Dread Omen: When you strike someone with your Blade of Ill Omen choose 1 option from the list even if you roll a 6 or lower.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: When you spend Misfortune to deal damage by creating a horrific accident it effects all enemies within close range of the initial target, so long as you can describe how one unfortunate accident leads to another (and another, and another, and another).

Levels 6-10

Offering To La Fortuna: Any ally you can see may choose to sacrifice some of their luck to augment your powers. When they do so, they gain -1 Forward, and you gain 1 Misfortune and +1 Forward.

The Grim (Replaces Grim Foreboding):When you harry and terrify someone with omens of their coming Doom deal +1d6 damage against them in combat and gain +2 armor against their attacks. In addition, no matter where they go, you may choose to appear right behind them or hidden in some shadowed corner, ready to strike.

Blade of Apocalyptic Omen (Replaces Blade of Dread Omen): When you strike someone with your Blade of Ill Omen you always choose 1 option even on a 6-. On a 12+ you get all three options and any foes within close range of you have fate itself turn away from them: their next efforts are doomed to failure.

Apologies for the thread necromancy, but did anything "official" ever come of this? I'd love to be able to present my GM with a playbook so I can wreak havoc, sow chaos and revel in the misfortune of others...  :D

Great job on the conversion, IMO.

I had a great role player of mine try this class out.  He gave it an honest effort.  It became obvious that is class would be awesome and loads of fun as a solo adventure class.  Too much focus needs to be centered on this character to properly use the moves to their fullest.