Omegonthesane
2009-09-01, 06:47 AM
I was thinking of ways to let Monks keep up with the rest of the party. While not having many ideas for a sumo wrestler or heavyweight champion type, I came up with this tongue-in-cheek PrC for Stretch Armstrong. Or for Dhalsim to dip into.
Elastic Warrior
"Yes, I did just beat him up from across a chasm. Stop complaining."
The first Elastic Warriors were an order of monks who, frustrated with the range limits of the human body, discovered means of stretching it far beyond these limits by supernatural means. By consistently training, meditating, and deforming their body, they can perform feats that confound even spellcasters, and certainly the best of them are prized for their power to match any spellcaster's range.
Requirements:
- Base attack bonus +3
- Evasion
- Escape Artist 8 ranks
- Improved Unarmed Strike
- Must do more unarmed strike damage than a typical person of your race, whether by being a Monk or having Superior Unarmed Strike or any other method.
Hit Die: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|AC bonus|Elastic Grappler bonus
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Short range punch (full round), unarmed damage, please to not be abusing armour, elastic grappler|+0|+2
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Improved Evasion, AC bonus|+1|+3
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Ki strike (magic)|+2|+4
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Short range punch (standard action)|+3|+5
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|--|+4|+6
6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+2|Short range grapple|+5|+7
7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+2|Short range punch (attack action), sniper fist (full-round action)|+6|+8
8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+2|--|+7|+9
9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+3|Stretch up!|+8|+10
10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+3|Sniper fist (standard action), elastic anatomy|+9|+11[/table]
Class Skills
The elastic warrior's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points/level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon Proficiencies: Elastic warriors gain no new proficiency with any weapon or armour.
Class Features
The following are class features of the Elastic Warrior class.
Short Range Punch (Su): With an effort of will, an elastic warrior can extend her limbs far beyond their usual proportions when attacking. As a full round action, she may make one unarmed melee attack at a range of up to 25 feet + her character level. At 4th level she may do this as a standard action, allowing her to move and pull it off in the same round. At 7th level she may do this as an attack action, allowing her to use a full attack with it. She cannot make attacks of opportunity with this ability, nor can she grapple with it until 6th level. No matter what obscure rule is invoked, an elastic warrior cannot make a full attack in the same round as using short range punch until 7th level.
Unarmed damage: Elastic warrior levels stack with Monk levels for the purpose of determining damage done by unarmed strikes. An elastic warrior who is not a monk gains unarmed strike damage as a monk of her class level before working out improvements like Superior Unarmed strike, if this would improve her unarmed damage.
Please to not be abusing armour: Elastic warrior class features, other than unarmed damage, do not function if the warrior is wearing any item with an armour check penalty. This includes all shields, and nearly all armour.
Elastic Grappler (Ex): An elastic warrior's stretchy nature makes her both extremely good at tying enemies up and extremely hard to hold down in a grapple. She gains a bonus on all Grapple checks equal to 1 + her class level. So a 7th level elastic warrior would get a +8 bonus on all grapple checks.
Improved Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level, if she didn't have it before, an elastic warrior gains the benefits of Improved Evasion as spelled out in the Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue base classes.
AC Bonus (Ex): Without fixed joints getting in your way, it becomes a lot easier to dodge blows in general. An elastic warrior gains an untyped bonus to AC equal to her class level minus one (so a 7th level elastic warrior would get a +6 bonus). This bonus applies in every conceivable situation except when the elastic warrior is immobilized or helpless, or is using an item that gives her an armour check penalty.
Ki strike (magic) (Su): As the Monk special ability. If an elastic warrior already has this ability, she instead gets a bonus feat, which may be any feat that she meets the prerequisites for.
Short Range Grapple (Su): At 6th level an elastic warrior becomes so good at grappling that she doesn't need to be close to an enemy to do it. She may attempt to grapple with attacks granted by Short Range Punch, and may maintain such a grapple without moving into the target's square. However, she does not gain the benefit of Elastic Grappler unless she does move into the target's square.
Sniper Fist (Su): By 7th level, an elastic warrior has begun to transcend reality itself to a ludicrous extent, never mind the limits of her own body. As a full round action, she may make one unarmed melee attack at a range of up to 400 feet + 40 feet per character level. At 10th level she may do this as a standard action, allowing her to move in the same round - but using Sniper Fist as a standard action always provokes attacks of opportunity, due to the level of focus required. She cannot make attacks of opportunity with this ability, nor can she grapple with a sniper fist attack. No matter what obscure rule is invoked, an elastic warrior can never make a full attack in the same round as using sniper fist.
Stretch Up! (Ex): Having stretchy limbs makes for an easier time than most mortals have for many physical tasks. A 9th level elastic warrior adds her Dex bonus (if any) as well as her Strength bonus to Climb, Jump, and Swim checks.
Elastic Anatomy (Ex): A 10th level elastic warrior is so stretchy that it is hard to pin her vital organs down. Whenever she suffers bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, she automatically makes a Will save before the damage is rolled. The save DC is equal to 10 + the attacker's base attack bonus + the attacker's Wisdom bonus (if any). If she passes this save, she is immune to critical hits and precision damage caused by that attack only.
Multiclass note: If for some reason you abide by the Monk's multiclass restrictions, a monk who becomes an elastic warrior may continue advancing in level as a monk.
((Problems I can already see but can't think of a solution to:
- Sniper Fist stamps all over archers. This is mostly a problem with archers being not all that good, IMHO, but its primary purpose is to let you punch out spellcasters who are on your material plane without yourself being a spellcaster.
- I'd rather not make Standard Action Sniper Fist the capstone. At least, not on its own. Can anyone think of a flashy but not unbalancing ability that's appropriate? Thought of one while typing the flavour text, but it may be unbalanced.
EDIT: I'm aware that you can enter this class at level 5 if you went straight Monk 4. That's a design decision, not an oversight.
EDIT EDIT: Elastic Grappler now scales to class level directly. This leaves me with two dead levels, so I need ideas.
Short Range Punch and Sniper Fist have been buffed. The latter especially, as it's specifically so you can punch out flying spellcasters and the like.))
Elastic Warrior
"Yes, I did just beat him up from across a chasm. Stop complaining."
The first Elastic Warriors were an order of monks who, frustrated with the range limits of the human body, discovered means of stretching it far beyond these limits by supernatural means. By consistently training, meditating, and deforming their body, they can perform feats that confound even spellcasters, and certainly the best of them are prized for their power to match any spellcaster's range.
Requirements:
- Base attack bonus +3
- Evasion
- Escape Artist 8 ranks
- Improved Unarmed Strike
- Must do more unarmed strike damage than a typical person of your race, whether by being a Monk or having Superior Unarmed Strike or any other method.
Hit Die: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|AC bonus|Elastic Grappler bonus
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Short range punch (full round), unarmed damage, please to not be abusing armour, elastic grappler|+0|+2
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Improved Evasion, AC bonus|+1|+3
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Ki strike (magic)|+2|+4
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Short range punch (standard action)|+3|+5
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|--|+4|+6
6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+2|Short range grapple|+5|+7
7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+2|Short range punch (attack action), sniper fist (full-round action)|+6|+8
8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+2|--|+7|+9
9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+3|Stretch up!|+8|+10
10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+3|Sniper fist (standard action), elastic anatomy|+9|+11[/table]
Class Skills
The elastic warrior's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points/level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon Proficiencies: Elastic warriors gain no new proficiency with any weapon or armour.
Class Features
The following are class features of the Elastic Warrior class.
Short Range Punch (Su): With an effort of will, an elastic warrior can extend her limbs far beyond their usual proportions when attacking. As a full round action, she may make one unarmed melee attack at a range of up to 25 feet + her character level. At 4th level she may do this as a standard action, allowing her to move and pull it off in the same round. At 7th level she may do this as an attack action, allowing her to use a full attack with it. She cannot make attacks of opportunity with this ability, nor can she grapple with it until 6th level. No matter what obscure rule is invoked, an elastic warrior cannot make a full attack in the same round as using short range punch until 7th level.
Unarmed damage: Elastic warrior levels stack with Monk levels for the purpose of determining damage done by unarmed strikes. An elastic warrior who is not a monk gains unarmed strike damage as a monk of her class level before working out improvements like Superior Unarmed strike, if this would improve her unarmed damage.
Please to not be abusing armour: Elastic warrior class features, other than unarmed damage, do not function if the warrior is wearing any item with an armour check penalty. This includes all shields, and nearly all armour.
Elastic Grappler (Ex): An elastic warrior's stretchy nature makes her both extremely good at tying enemies up and extremely hard to hold down in a grapple. She gains a bonus on all Grapple checks equal to 1 + her class level. So a 7th level elastic warrior would get a +8 bonus on all grapple checks.
Improved Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level, if she didn't have it before, an elastic warrior gains the benefits of Improved Evasion as spelled out in the Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue base classes.
AC Bonus (Ex): Without fixed joints getting in your way, it becomes a lot easier to dodge blows in general. An elastic warrior gains an untyped bonus to AC equal to her class level minus one (so a 7th level elastic warrior would get a +6 bonus). This bonus applies in every conceivable situation except when the elastic warrior is immobilized or helpless, or is using an item that gives her an armour check penalty.
Ki strike (magic) (Su): As the Monk special ability. If an elastic warrior already has this ability, she instead gets a bonus feat, which may be any feat that she meets the prerequisites for.
Short Range Grapple (Su): At 6th level an elastic warrior becomes so good at grappling that she doesn't need to be close to an enemy to do it. She may attempt to grapple with attacks granted by Short Range Punch, and may maintain such a grapple without moving into the target's square. However, she does not gain the benefit of Elastic Grappler unless she does move into the target's square.
Sniper Fist (Su): By 7th level, an elastic warrior has begun to transcend reality itself to a ludicrous extent, never mind the limits of her own body. As a full round action, she may make one unarmed melee attack at a range of up to 400 feet + 40 feet per character level. At 10th level she may do this as a standard action, allowing her to move in the same round - but using Sniper Fist as a standard action always provokes attacks of opportunity, due to the level of focus required. She cannot make attacks of opportunity with this ability, nor can she grapple with a sniper fist attack. No matter what obscure rule is invoked, an elastic warrior can never make a full attack in the same round as using sniper fist.
Stretch Up! (Ex): Having stretchy limbs makes for an easier time than most mortals have for many physical tasks. A 9th level elastic warrior adds her Dex bonus (if any) as well as her Strength bonus to Climb, Jump, and Swim checks.
Elastic Anatomy (Ex): A 10th level elastic warrior is so stretchy that it is hard to pin her vital organs down. Whenever she suffers bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, she automatically makes a Will save before the damage is rolled. The save DC is equal to 10 + the attacker's base attack bonus + the attacker's Wisdom bonus (if any). If she passes this save, she is immune to critical hits and precision damage caused by that attack only.
Multiclass note: If for some reason you abide by the Monk's multiclass restrictions, a monk who becomes an elastic warrior may continue advancing in level as a monk.
((Problems I can already see but can't think of a solution to:
- Sniper Fist stamps all over archers. This is mostly a problem with archers being not all that good, IMHO, but its primary purpose is to let you punch out spellcasters who are on your material plane without yourself being a spellcaster.
- I'd rather not make Standard Action Sniper Fist the capstone. At least, not on its own. Can anyone think of a flashy but not unbalancing ability that's appropriate? Thought of one while typing the flavour text, but it may be unbalanced.
EDIT: I'm aware that you can enter this class at level 5 if you went straight Monk 4. That's a design decision, not an oversight.
EDIT EDIT: Elastic Grappler now scales to class level directly. This leaves me with two dead levels, so I need ideas.
Short Range Punch and Sniper Fist have been buffed. The latter especially, as it's specifically so you can punch out flying spellcasters and the like.))