DIY 30 Day 5

5. What sort of abilities would a Bug Knight class give to a character?

You're an ascended insect, given sapience and a vaguely humanoid form by your patron, which is some sort of powerful lawful being. You have no need for armor, naturally possessing a chitinous exoskeleton, and you are proficient with shields and all melee weapons. You also are granted some minor powers from your patron, and can cast cleric spells as a cleric of half your level, rounding up. 

Bug Knight 

Hit Dice: D8s

Armor Proficiency: None, but by default you have an armor class equivalent to chain mail. You can use shields though.

Weapon Proficiency: All melee weapons.

Experience Progression: As Elf (Or magic-user/fighter if using a race separate from class system)

Saving Throws: As Fighter of equivalent level.

Spell Casting: You can cast cleric spells as a cleric of half your level.

Linguistic Pheromones: You can speak with all kinds of arthropods through the release of chemicals.

Arthropod Origin: You can choose one of the following species of bug, gaining the benefit described, or talk to your game master to come up with another type.

• Spider: You have a natural bite attack which you can use in lieu of your normal melee attack. It deals 1d4 damage on a successful hit, and requires the target to make a poison saving throw or take an additional 1d6 damage per Bug Knight level.
• Mantis: You have two natural claw attacks which you can use instead of your melee weapon. Each one deals 1d6 damage. If both hit, then your target is grabbed and must make a saving throw versus dragon breath to escape.
• Grasshopper: You can leap 60' feet instead of moving normally on your turn. If you attack while leaping, you take a -2 penalty to hit but deal and additional +2 damage.
• Cockroach: You can eat almost any organic material, and are immune to all forms of poison.
• Firefly: Your butt glows like a lantern. Hey c'mon, admit it, thats pretty cool.
• Land Crab: You can breath underwater, and your armor is treated as plate instead of chain mail. But you can only walk sideways and diagonally.
• Pill Bug: You can, as a move action, curl up into a ball. This increases your effective armor class to Plate mail and Shield +1. However, while in this state, you cannot do anything else except wait or uncurl from your ball as a move action.

Code Of Honor: If you use an alignment system in your game, Bug Knights must be the most lawful and good alignment available. They must strive to protect the innocent, to vanquish evil wherever it may strike, and to assist the poor when able. If a Bug Knight chooses to not follow this code of honor, they will lose 1 point of intelligence per day until they gain forgiveness from their patron. At 1 intelligence, they revert back to the bug they originally were.