PDA

View Full Version : Ki using monk-like Prestige class.



Ramza1987
2010-10-11, 11:33 AM
Well, a friend of mine, has created a D&D setting, full with cities, important people, a full Pantheon, even some races, particular too that setting.

One of the ideas, was a prestige class, for a special kind of monks from that setting, and a specific way of training for a race, found on that campaign setting. Those monks use Ki, to gain different advantages, like a Ki blast, or buff their physical stats; making ir a 10 lvls prestige class.

Some of the ideas that have been thrown, is to have the class require the ki blast feat; and enhance it while lvling the class (something like +1d6 every two lvls), And have the blast get some metamagic feats-like effects like empower.

Fluff-wise, they are contemplative, meditative, looking for self improvement of the body, mind and spirit, and mastery of the use of the ki.

Any ideas from you playgrounders, and greatly welcome.

Lev
2010-10-11, 11:41 AM
User "T.G. Oskar" is working on a monk with Ki homebrew i believe.
Ki as you might know is already quite prevalent in DnD, and has a variety of classes and PrC's that contain it.

Altissimus
2010-10-11, 11:49 AM
User "T.G. Oskar" is working on a monk with Ki homebrew i believe.
Ki as you might know is already quite prevalent in DnD, and has a variety of classes and PrC's that contain it.

Pathfinder has some pretty cool rules for Ki use for monks - worth checking for ideas.

I think it requires you to use less commas, though.

kestrel404
2010-10-11, 12:56 PM
Give the Monk the Psychic Warrior psionics progression. Call it Ki. Most of the monk's problems are now fixed.

T.G. Oskar
2010-10-11, 05:33 PM
Pathfinder has some pretty cool rules for Ki use for monks - worth checking for ideas.

I think it requires you to use less commas, though.

Here's the class (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk) if you wish to see it. IMO, it gives too few uses for ki as explained in Complete Adventurer and the Ninja class. The first three are very limited in scope (extra attack, but there are far more reliable ways to get extra attacks and this one is limited to Flurry; a 1-round boost to speed instead of free movement, and a fixed dodge bonus to AC). There are other uses which are good (Wholeness of Body being based on uses of ki is rather good, Abundant Step also based on ki, Empty Body based on ki) but others not so much (a +20 boost on Acrobatics/Jump+Tumble for 1 round isn't very good). So, while it has very good ideas (when I made the retooling for the Monk, I used a good deal of their ideas in the chassis but went a bit further), it's a bit...limited in scope. Most of the problems with the Monk aren't fixed, which is a shame. I can't say it's good or bad (haven't played with it), but the uses of ki could have been revolutionized. 1-round uses are far too limited for what the powers should grant.


Give the Monk the Psychic Warrior psionics progression. Call it Ki. Most of the monk's problems are now fixed.

While I support this idea, I'd rather say "Monk + Psychic Warrior + Tashalatora". It already exists in the game. It also exists in homebrew (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1986007&postcount=1), with a much, much better progression than mere Psychic Warrior/Psionic Fist/Zerth Cenobite progression.

In fact, going by those guidelines, refluffing this into ki (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/psionicFist.htm) is what you recommend, right? It's a slightly faster and quite reasonable progression IMO.

As for what Lev said, here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/psionicFist.htm) I offer my work for study and analysis. I rarely self-promote myself, but since I've given promotion to other homebrew (and official products, albeit 3rd party in terms of D&D and 1st party products based on Pathfinder), and to save some time in Google-fu, I decided to help.

I find that, if using the ki mechanics from Complete Adventurer, a duration of time equal to 1/2 your class level is effective enough. Wasting 1 point of ki (which is rare enough, unless you have 30+ Wisdom or something) for an effect that works only for 1 attack or 1 round without a purpose (such as being an ability that's far too powerful for the level it is gained) is a bad idea. I'd also recommend that, regardless of what you do, get one of the several threads in which the trouble of Monks is explained (but don't make a new one; the answer is usually dealt with several threads ago) and work with that. It doesn't matter if you don't use any of the homebrew in here, but at least that's a good place to start with. Not everyone will prefer one side to the other, and the question of the Monk is quite polarizing in these threads.

Hope that helps a bit.

Ramza1987
2010-10-11, 05:49 PM
Thanks for all the ideas, and advice, but i want to create a new prestige class, For use in that campaing setting my friend created.

I was thinking in toying with the idea of using a ki pool, or using stunning fist uses for fueling the various powers of the class, and another idea was having it have Ki blast as a prerequisite and then improve the feat while leveling the prestige class.

Keld Denar
2010-10-11, 05:51 PM
Yea, find some way to get the text of the feat Tashalatora (from Secrets of Sarlona). Take 2 levels of monk. Take 18 levels of some kind of full manifester. Tada, you have a pool of Ki (also known as Power Points), and you can spend them to produce various effects such as:

Expansion: Growing to large or huge size
Energy Ray, Energy Stun, Energy Wall, Energy etc: Blasting someone with Ki energy
Dimension Hop: port behind someone and sucker-punch them
Psionic Dimension Door: port long distances behind someone and sucker-punch them
Offensive Precog: Strike accurately
Defensive Precog: Dodge incoming blows
Force Screen: Create a shield of willpower (Ki) that blocks some attacks

etc etc etc...