Painter (3.5e Class)

Author: Aeturo (talk) Date Created: 1/24/2017 Status: Looking for Art ideas Editing: Clarity Edits only please

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There are those who make painting into more than a simple painting. Their paintings are not only lifelike, but alive. The Painter utilizes his ink and paintbrush to bring life to his art, and turning it into a deadly weapon. 20 1 Moderate Poor Poor Good Other Other

Painter

Painters use their paintbrush and ink to create weapons, tools, structures, and even living creatures. Armed with only a paintbrush and their own creativity, the Painter is a deadly force to be reckoned with.

Making a Painter

While a painter is powerful in creating useful tools and creatures to aid the party, they are quite weak themselves. Without taking certain abilities, the Painter cannot wield weapons, other than Simple, or wear armor, have two poor saves, and a mediocre hit die, so they are likely best remaining in the back of a conflict, supporting the others from afar. But this is not always the case, as the right ability choices can make them a formidable melee opponent.

Abilities: Charisma determines the power of most of the Painter's art, so it should be his highest ability score. Behind that are Dexterity and Constitution, especially if the Painter wishes to participate in melee.

Races: Any race that tends to become bards could quite easily create Painters.

Alignment: Any

Starting Gold: As Bard

Starting Age: Moderate

Table: The Painter

Hit Die: d6

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Art Pieces Known
		Fort	Ref	Will		Paintings	Masterpieces
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Sketches, Running Paint	1	0
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3		2	0
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3		3	0
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4		3	0
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4		4	0
6th	+4	+1	+1	+5		4	0
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5		5	1
8th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6		5	1
9th	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6		6	1
10th	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7		6	1
11th	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7		7	2
12th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8		7	2
13th	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8		8	2
14th	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9		9	3
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9		9	3
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10		9	3
17th	+12/+7/+3	+5	+5	+10		10	3
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11		10	4
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		11	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12		11	5
Class Skills (6 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Painter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Painters are proficient with simple weapons only.

Sketches: The Painter can create items and equipment using his brush, ink, and paper. This is a swift action to do. The Painter can create one item that fits within one cubic foot per level and costs less than 5 gold per level. The item can never be magical, be liquid, have charges, or have complex moving parts. All items and equipment are destroyed after one use. Weapons are destroyed after hitting with them once, armor is destroyed after taking one hit, and items are destroyed after one use, such as climbing up the ink ladder or using an ink lockpick (or one hit if used as an improvised item).

Running Paint: A Painter's ink is powerful indeed but has a glaring inherent weakness. It is not waterproof. Splashing water on any of the Painter's creations cause them to disappear, and splashing it on the Painter causes him to lose any self buffs he has due to the paint. In the rain, Living Ink Creatures will no longer obey the Painter and will instead rush to cover as fast as possible. If no cover is available they will rush at an enemy and attack them. Rain kills the Living Ink Creatures after one turn of exposure.

Starting Equipment: The Painter begins the game with a brush, a seemingly endless vial of ink, and a nonmagical art scroll. These should only need replacing if one is lost. The Brush is 3 gp to replace, the ink is 200 gp to replace, and the scroll is 1 gp.

Art Pieces (Su): The Painter has the ability to create paintings and masterpieces that cause amazing effects as they leap off the paper. The Painter begins play with knowledge of how to create one Painting and gains more as shown on the class table. All Art Pieces have Somatic components, as you have to paint what you wish to create, and these do suffer from Arcane Failure chance, despite not being arcane magic, since the armor hinders your ability to draw. If you do fail, you still create the art, but it is hideous. All variables such as damage are halved for these failed creations, and upon creation you must roll a d20. If you roll below a 6, the failed creation turns on you, but rolling a 6 or above means the failed creation will still attempt to serve you.

Paintings:

• Ink Whip: You do not require paper for this one. You dip your brush into the ink and move as if you were painting towards the enemy. This creates a whip-like tendril from the brush. This is an attack action and functions mechanically as if it were a whip dealing 1d8 damage (+1d4 for every 3 painter levels). You are proficient with the Ink whip. This requires a Brush and Ink.

• The Hound: As an attack action, you paint a hound, or similar four-legged animal such as a tiger, that flies towards your enemy. The Hound lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Painter level. It has a bite attack that deals 1d8+Str Mod damage and two claw attacks dealing 1d4+1/2 Strength Mod each. The Hound uses your charisma modifier in place of strength. The Hound has 1 HP and an AC equal to 10+1/2 your Painter level. You may have only one Hound on the battlefield at first, but can have up to two at a time at level 8 and three at level 15. You require the brush, ink, and paper to use this.

• The Serpent: You draw a serpent, tendril, or similar and it jumps from the paper and into the ground, rising again to strike under your opponent. The Serpent targets someone of your choice within medium range who must be on the same landmass as you (Not across a river or valley or floating) and deals 1d10+1d6 per 2 Painter levels) piercing damage as it sinks its teeth into the opponent. If you choose a tentacle or tendril design this instead deals bludgeoning damage but is otherwise identical mechanically. The Serpent retreats back undergound but can strike again after 1d20 – Painter level turns. This can happen up to 3 times. Telling it to strike again is a standard action. You require the brush, ink, and paper to use this.

• Artist’s Block: You hit a creative wall and it, ironically, inspires you. You may draw walls. The walls must be in Close Range of you and all be connected. The walls are a foot thick and five feet long. Each has 2 hit points per Painter level. They last for a number of rounds equal to double your Painter level. You require the brush, ink and paper to do this.

• Blueprint (passive): You may now create structures out of paint using Sketch. The size and gp limit of your Sketches doubles and any structures you create, such as ladders and stairs, persist for a number of rounds equal to double your Painter level instead of disappearing after a single use. Items and Equipment still disappear after one use, however, and they still have only 1 hit point.

• Abstraction: You paint a picture that defies sense. All enemies that can see the painting must make a Will Save or be subject to a single turn of Confusion, as the spell. Treat this as a gaze attack, so enemies may look away. For every 5 Painter levels you have, the number of turns that they are confused doubles. You require the brush, paper, and ink to use this.

• The Falcon: You may create a small sized Falcon or other avian that lasts for 1 hour per Painter level. The Falcon can stray from you up to a mile per Painter level. At level 1, you are treated as having Empathetic Link. At level 10 you may speak telepathically to the Falcon but he is not a great conversationalist. At level 15, as a full round action, you may put your consciousness into the Falcon and see through his eyes and control him directly, using your own Spot and Listen modifiers. He has 1 hit point, no attacks, an AC of 10+1/4th of your Painter level+your charisma modifier, and a fly speed of 60. If you paint a Falcon while another still lives the older Falcon turns into lifeless ink. You require the brush, ink, and paper to use this.

• Surrealism: By painting lines across yourself, another willing person, or an object, you give it qualities it did not have before. If it is a person, their reach extends 5’ as their arms can now stretch, they gain a +10 to Escape Artist checks, and their body resists breaking. They gain 5% fortification for every Painter level the Painter has. This does not require paper, but still requires the brush and ink.

• Ink Blot: You splat your paintbrush haphazardly onto the paper, creating many small creatures. For each Painter level you have you create 2. These Blots rush towards enemies as fast as they can and leap onto them. Each blot can be assigned its own target if the painter wishes. The blots have a land speed of 20, an AC of 10+1/4th your painter level+your charisma modifier, and have no attacks. However, once they reach their target they leap onto them as hard as they can. This deals 1d4+your charisma modifier damage to the target and kills the blot. This requires the brush, ink, and paper.

• Ink Armory (passive): You can now create weapons and armor that work well with your Sketch ability. The weapons must be nonmagical and have no complicated moving parts. You are automatically treated as proficient with simple and martial weapons created this way, though handing them to someone else that is not proficient does not make them proficient in the weapon. Weapons and Armor created this way are mechanically identical to real ones, but are obviously fakes and will not sell for much. They last for 1 minute per Painter level.

• Ink Spill: You may spill your ink onto the ground to duplicate the effects of a grease spell. You do not need your brush or paper for this, only the ink.

• Finger Painter (passive): You may Paint without need of a brush. You do not add your charisma to any Paintings or Masterpieces you make with this ability due to the lack of detail you can put in without your brush. When combined with Blood Painter, you add your regular Charisma modifier instead of none, as Finger Painter, or double, as Blood Painter.

• The World is a Canvas!: You may paint on any surface even if the ability specifies you require paper.

• Realism (passive): Any Living Ink Creature can be created to look as if it were a real creature of its type, though it is still normally mute and acts under your complete control.

Masterpieces:

• Blood Painter: By taking 1 damage per two Painter levels, rounded up, you may paint without need of ink or paper. Additionally, living ink creatures, such as the Hound, Falcon, and Blot, double your charisma modifier for the purposes of AC and damage, if applicable, and has HP equal to your Painter Level instead of just 1.

• The Dragon: Painting the dragon is a full round action. On the first turn the dragon is treated as a line attack, rushing out of the paper and damaging all enemies in the line for 2d10 Bludgeoning damage(+1d6 per four Painter levels) in a 60 foot line, reflex to half. After hitting the enemies in the line it flies upward into the sky 100 feet. On the turn after this it comes down and may be used as a Living Ink Beast. It has a fly speed of 60(Clumsy) but can hover in place with Perfect Maneuverability. It has HP equal to double your Painter level and an AC of 5+1/4th your Painter level+your charisma Modifier. It has a bite attack that deals 1d8 + your charisma modifier damage and can spew a ball of ink that is treated as a ball of acid that deal 1d6 damage (+1d4 per four Painter levels. You may not create two Dragons within an hour of each other and you may never have more than one Dragon at a time, unless you have the Artist’s Perfection ability. The Dragon lasts for an hour per Painter level. Its size is Huge. This requires a Brush, Ink and Paper.

• Artist’s Perfection (passive): You may create double the normal Living Ink Creatures as normal, but you take a Temporary HP damage so long as they exist, as it is taxing to create life in large amounts. For each Hound that you create past your normal limit you take 1/2 your Painter level in Temporary HP damage, for each Falcon you take 1/4th, for each Blot you take 1/8th, and each Serpent is 1/2. Warriors cause you to take your Painter level in damage. Dragons are the most taxing. Creating an extra dragon causes you to take twice your Painter level in damage and so long as two Ink Dragons exist under your control you are Shaken. If you are an Art Flow User, this temporary damage bypasses your regeneration. You recover lost hit points once the excess Ink Creatures disappear unless you are disabled or dying.

• The Warrior: As a full-round action, you may create an Ink Warrior. These are obviously nonhuman and cannot pose as humans without the Realism ability. Warriors have one half the amount of class levels you do but can only have them in Warrior, Partisan, Sneak, or Tribal classes. They have no skill ranks unless they are a sneak, in which case they have half the maximum amount of ranks in Hide and Move Silently. They use your Charisma Modifier to determine their Hit Points instead of their own constitution. They have 15, 13, 10, 10, 10 as their possible attributes and can be assigned to any upon creation. You may only create one per 10 Painter levels at a time, rounded down, without the Artist’s Perfection ability. They are always medium sized. Creating them requires Ink, Paper, and a brush.

• Ink Form: True power lies within your paint, and you can take it for yourself. By pouring your ink, as a move action, on yourself you can become a powerful entity. The appearance you take on is up to you. It can be anything from simply a black coat of paint on your body, a massive ball of raw paint, tor something resembling Marvel’s Carnage, but mechanically they are the same. While in Ink Form, you gain a temporary hit point per Painter level you have, these are depleted before your normal HP and do not stack with other sources of temporary HP, and your BAB is treated as full. Your base speed raises by 20 feet. You may use your Charisma in place of your strength for attack and damage rolls. You gain two claw attacks that deal 1d6+Strength damage each. While in this form you may only use the Sketch ability or the Ink Blot ability. Each Ink Blot you create reduces the number of turns you have by one, but neither this nor the Sketch ability require Ink, Brushes, or paper as you are using your own body. This form lasts a number of turns equal to your Painter level. Once the form ends, you lose the Temporary HP and all other benefits of the form and may not reenter it again for 1d4 rounds.

Creativity: Imaginative characters can invent their own paintings and masterpieces, with DM supervision.

Halfling Painter Starting Package

Weapons: A dagger and a light crossbow.

Skill Selection: Profession(Painter), Craft(Paintings), Perform(Painting), Intimidation.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Intimidation	4	Cha	—
Perform (Painting)	4	Cha	—
Profession (Painter)	4	Wis	—
Craft (Painting)	4	Int	—

Feat: Skill Focus (Profession (Painter))

Gear: Brush, Ink, Scroll

Gold: 40 g

Campaign Information

Playing a Painter

Religion: Painters obviously drift towards gods of art, but they also gods of the common men such as Cayden Cailean. Painters also may pretend worship of the dominant deity of the area and paint beautiful pictures of their visage for the buyers. Devout Painters may base their art around their chosen deity, such as The Warrior appearing to be a one eyed orc and their Hound being a worg.

Other Classes: Painters get along famously with Bards due to their similarities, both being art majors that starve on the street looking for a paying job. Typically the Painter likes the front row fighters as well, for keeping his insides where they belong. Unlike the bard, the Rogue and Painter rarely get along. Painters like everyone to see their art and show it off, and rogues want the opposite. He may find nature classes, such as the druid, to be a beautiful muse but Painters have no universal idea on tree huggers. That whole concept of "Painting with the colors of the wind." is lost on most Painters. You can't see wind. What color is it? Druids are weird.

Combat: Painters can fill a melee role but typically not as well as most other classes. The Painter's usual niche is that of a pseudo summoner, creating minions to fight for him and attacking from behind them in-between summons.

Advancement: Painters have poor synergy with most other classes since the Art abilities do not use pre-existing mechanics. Illusionary based casters may seem to be an attractive option to the Painter, or the life of a bard as they expand their artful tastes. Summoning with Spell Thematics: Paint could also fit the Painter.

Painters in the World

“	If I could do this with words there would be no reason to paint.	”
—Edward Hopper, Human Painter, Inktopia of the Paintian Empire

Painters are not a common class of adventurer, as the skill to paint with such majesty is not an everday ability. Painters normally begin their adventurers with a Bard they met in college and adventurer to spread their love of art!...just kidding it's to pay off their loans. Bardic Colleges aren't free.

Daily Life: When not adventuring the Painter typically leads a relatively easy life. They spend their time painting, selling their paintings, inflating their egos, and having their ink creatures cater to their every whim. Most begin adventuring because they want to find their muse, whether it be a fair princess, a righteous paladin, a battlefield razed by dragons leaving nothing but charred remains of the poor souls who fell in battle, or a beautiful dryad they saw in a fleeting moment in the forest.

Notables: Brushogun, a level 20 painter who used his ink warriors to terrorize Notokyo. Sai, a Painter who specialized more in the melee aspect of the painter but also created Hounds and the Dragon on multiple occasions. He went on to join a ninja death squad.

Organizations: Typically Artists join travelling bard groups, congregate in art conventions, or spend their time alone, brooding. As of now there are no groups specific to the Painter class since so few of them exist.

NPC Reactions: Painters are typically treated the way one would treat a bard. Many are looked down upon because they should have gone to Fighter School or Mage's College to get a real education. Painters who have shown their skills of in full are often treated with more respect, however, as their skill with the brush makes them powerful allies and very valuable. .

Painter Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Local) can research Painters to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Local)

DC	Result
5	Painters can paint good, and their paintings are almost lifelike.
10	Painters can create life with the swing of a brush, birthing into the world a new being.
15	The life Painters create is diverse and a never before seen species. Their level of sentience is unknown but they can create humans, dogs, snakes, birds, and even dragons.
20	Painters are powerful beings indeed, as some can be thrown in prison completely naked and without items but fight their way out wearing full plate made of their own blood.

Painters in the Game

Painters are short term item suppliers with a seemingly endless pool of resources to use to this end. Additionally they can create hordes of loyal servants and become something more than human when fighting. Painters make good allies to the party or can be powerful enemies. As lighthearted and goofy as the class can be in the way I've written it Painters can fill the tortured villain archetype and would make decent medium power villains. For example: a man paints a beautiful woman and brings her to life so that they can be together but she corrupts him. He begins using this gift to gain anything he's ever wanted in life. Money, power, and his own kingdom.

Adaptation: A painter using occult magic to bring his paintings to life to serve his dark purposes, a man who paints seals on small slips of paper and when activating the seals the item he needs flies off the seal and into his hand (such as summoning a sword out of a slip of paper), or a blood mage using his own blood to create hordes of loyal creatures.

Sample Encounter: A Painter has been terrorizing locals with his minions and the PCs must stop him, only to find he was a tortured soul enslaved by the local lawman who was painting himself as a hero by forcing the Painter to make mooks for him to slay after they attack the town.

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