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Dakeyras
2010-12-04, 08:49 PM
Monastic Barbarian

Pre-Reqs:
Class feature: Rage 2/day, Flurry of Blows.

Hit Dice: d10
Class Skills: (2+Int Mod) Appraise (Int), Jump (Str), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Survival (Wis)

{table]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1|+1|+2|+2|+2|controlled Rage +1/day, monk training, Pounce, weapon flurry
2|+2|+3|+3|+3|Armoured wisdom, controlled Rage +2/day, Rage focus (skills)
3|+3|+3|+3|+3|Rage strike
4|+4|+4|+4|+4|enraged mind, controlled Rage +3/day
5|+5|+4|+4|+4|Greater controlled Rage, Improved weapon flurry
6|+6|+5|+5|+5|controlled Rage +4/day,
7|+7|+5|+5|+5|Rage focus (battle)
8|+8|+6|+6|+6|controlled Rage +5/day,
9|+9|+7|+7|+7|
10|+10|+7|+7|+7|controlled Rage +6/day, [/table]


Class Features:

controlled Rage(Ex): Through the training the monks have given him, the Former barbarian has learnt how to tap into his rage and control it. Once an encounter he may invoke his rage, which last a number of rounds equal to the character’s (newly improved) Constitution modifier. In a white rage he temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +2 bonus to Constitution, and a +4 bonus to Ac . In addition white rage stacks with rage for number of use per day and counts as rage for requirements, but rage confer no other benefit to controlled rage.

Greater controlled Rage(Ex): The bonus while raging now increases to +6 strength, +6 constitution, +2 dexterity and + 4 A/c

weapon flurry The Monastic Barbarian may flurry with any weapon he has proficiency with at -2 to each attack, this stack the the normal penalty to flurry.

Improved weapon flurry The Monastic Barbarian may flurry with any weapon he has proficiency with no extra penalty to attack.

Armoured monk The Monastic Barbarian has started to learn how to move like a monk even when armoured, he now adds his Wisdom bonus rounding up to his AC while wearing light or medium armour and may flurry while armoured.

Pounce As spirit lion Barbarian

Rage focus (skills) The Monastic Barbarian has learnt to channel there rage into the task at hand, by using one use of controlled rage he may add Hd to any skill check.

Rage strike The Monastic Barbarian has learnt to focus has rage into a powerful and directed blow, he may as a standard action use up 1 controlled rage to strike a blow, which if it connect dose max damage and bypass hardness and dr. He may not use this ability if he currently in a controlled rage.

Enraged mind: whenever the Monastic Barbarian is raging and fails a will save against a spell that gives the caster direct access to his mind (such as through a Detect Thoughts spell or one with the [compulsion] descriptor), they may spend a use of rage as an immediate action to make the caster fly into a rage. The caster rages as a 1st level Barbarian or may instead use any Rage or Frenzy ability they already have without cost, but in either case they may not end their rage until the Monastic Barbarian does

Rage focus (battle) By using one use of controlled rage a day you next attack counts as a crit, you may stack this with Rage strike.




SO here my first attempt at home-brew, so was hoping for a little help, I need a cap stone ability, and may be a couple of extra ways of using the controlled rage. Is it any good so far?

any way thanks
Daks

Kilbourne
2010-12-04, 09:51 PM
This seems like a very difficult PRC to get into, considering that Monk class features require the character to be Lawful, and Barbarian features require the character to be non-Lawful.

Can you describe a situation in which a character would be able to fulfill the prerequisites for this class without losing other class abilities for a time?

Fizban
2010-12-05, 06:19 AM
It's actually really simple. You just take one, change alignments, and then take the other. Sure it may seem abusive of the system, but these are the two classes with the worst justification for alignment restrictions anyway.

The only problem I see with the class is having any reason to take it. You can already combine the two without needing a PrC, so all this is giving you is: rage boosts AC but has less con, wis to AC in armor, pounce, and enrage people that try to mind control you. Wis to AC in armor is nothing special (Swordsage has it), the constitution boost of regular rage is arguably more useful than an AC boost, pounce is basically free for barbarians, and the Engraged Mind ability allows a will save to negate, which is a spellcaster's highest save. Although I should also point out that the save is too high: you're adding all class levels, when the standard is either half your own levels/hit dice, or the full PrC level. Either should max out at DC 20+ability modifier, unless you're specifically trying to make the save DC higher than usual (such as a Bard's Fascinate, which uses a skill roll to make the DC much higher than that of a spell). You also didn't list what Weapon Flurry does, even if it's easy to guess.

Change the requirements to: Rage 2/day, Flurry of Blows. This means that normally people will enter after 5th level (though Extra Rage would let someone sneak in early). Give full wis bonus to AC, pounce, and flurry with any weapon at 1st level. Have the PrC also stack with monk levels to determine Flurry of Blows, unarmed damage, and Unarmored AC bonus (even though they can wear armor, some might not want to). This is basically required just to make the two classes work together: not progressing any of that monk stuff makes that stuff almost useless, and pounce is absolutely required to make Flurry of Blows viable, since you need to full attack to use it. The barbarian variant that grants pounce goes into almost every optimized melee build, but in case they didn't take it, this class should grant it immediately.

I like the idea of burning spare uses of Rage for extra effects, so come up with some new abilities that use that, and change the rage use progression to just +1 every even level. Don't start giving out these abilities until the character is expected to have at least 4 uses of rage though, otherwise they won't have enough to rage in every fight. Make them as strong as abilities that are normally only useable a few times per day: this will force them to choose between awesome one shot abilities, or having enough rage to fight all day, and reward people who take Extra Rage with more versatility.

Enraged Mind needs to work differently. I suggest: whenever the Monastic Barbarian is raging and fails a will save against a spell that gives the caster direct access to his mind (such as through a Detect Thoughts spell or one with the [compulsion] descriptor), they may spend a use of rage as an immediate action to make the caster fly into a rage. The caster rages as a 1st level Barbarian or may instead use any Rage or Frenzy ability they already have without cost, but in either case they may not end their rage until the Monastic Barbarian does. This gives them a very powerful anti-caster tool, shutting down all their spellcasting without a save, but it only activates when the MB has already failed their own save.

I like this idea because you don't have to worry about your enemy making a save against such a niche ability, since when it actually comes up you really want it to work. The result is a balance: the party loses control of their Barbarian, but the enemy caster is also no longer a threat. If you don't want the MB to have to fail a save, than stick with the version that allows the caster a save. Do note that a normal rage can be ended voluntarily, so if you want it to shut down a caster, you have to specify that they cannot end it voluntarily.

playswithfire
2010-12-05, 08:08 AM
Since barbarians who become lawful lose the ability to rage, it's rather difficult to have Rage and be lawful, unless I'm missing something. The only way I can think of to enter this prestige class is as a Monk/Half-Orc Paragon.

Jukebox Hero
2010-12-05, 10:29 AM
It doesn't seem as if a penalty to wisdom makes sense for a "controlled rage" and besides, "controlled" and "rage" are polar opposites, and there is a reason one can not be both at the same time (namely being a monk and barbarian simultaneously).

Fizban
2010-12-05, 06:44 PM
Since barbarians who become lawful lose the ability to rage, it's rather difficult to have Rage and be lawful, unless I'm missing something. The only way I can think of to enter this prestige class is as a Monk/Half-Orc Paragon.

You don't lose monk stuff for being non-lawful, so normally you'd take monk first then barbarian second if you wanted to combine them. Since this class requires lawfulness, you have to do it the other way. The very first ability of the class is to use rage even though you're lawful. The only problem is spending a level trying to gain experience without rage available, which is often just written into the backstory.

Dakeyras
2010-12-05, 08:07 PM
The only problem I see with the class is having any reason to take it. You can already combine the two without needing a PrC, so all this is giving you is: rage boosts AC but has less con, wis to AC in armor, pounce, and enrage people that try to mind control you. Wis to AC in armor is nothing special (Swordsage has it), the constitution boost of regular rage is arguably more useful than an AC boost, pounce is basically free for barbarians, and the Engraged Mind ability allows a will save to negate, which is a spellcaster's highest save. Although I should also point out that the save is too high: you're adding all class levels, when the standard is either half your own levels/hit dice, or the full PrC level. Either should max out at DC 20+ability modifier, unless you're specifically trying to make the save DC higher than usual (such as a Bard's Fascinate, which uses a skill roll to make the DC much higher than that of a spell). You also didn't list what Weapon Flurry does, even if it's easy to guess.


So I did not do as well as I hope then :smallfrown: Oh well... time to improve :smallbiggrin:



Change the requirements to: Rage 2/day, Flurry of Blows. This means that normally people will enter after 5th level (though Extra Rage would let someone sneak in early). Give full wis bonus to AC, pounce, and flurry with any weapon at 1st level. Have the PrC also stack with monk levels to determine Flurry of Blows, unarmed damage, and Unarmored AC bonus (even though they can wear armor, some might not want to). This is basically required just to make the two classes work together: not progressing any of that monk stuff makes that stuff almost useless, and pounce is absolutely required to make Flurry of Blows viable, since you need to full attack to use it. The barbarian variant that grants pounce goes into almost every optimized melee build, but in case they didn't take it, this class should grant it immediately.

Pretty much done everything here, but put armoured monk on level two. Also change the rage ability to hopefully increase it usefulness.


I like the idea of burning spare uses of Rage for extra effects, so come up with some new abilities that use that, and change the rage use progression to just +1 every even level. Don't start giving out these abilities until the character is expected to have at least 4 uses of rage though, otherwise they won't have enough to rage in every fight. Make them as strong as abilities that are normally only useable a few times per day: this will force them to choose between awesome one shot abilities, or having enough rage to fight all day, and reward people who take Extra Rage with more versatility.

I agree, just thinking of extra abilitys is the problem, I'm still pretty new to the game, so any suggestion? I thinking a dispelling effect at later level may be cool, or possible regeneration? let us know what you thin


Enraged Mind needs to work differently. I suggest: whenever the Monastic Barbarian is raging and fails a will save against a spell that gives the caster direct access to his mind (such as through a Detect Thoughts spell or one with the [compulsion] descriptor), they may spend a use of rage as an immediate action to make the caster fly into a rage. The caster rages as a 1st level Barbarian or may instead use any Rage or Frenzy ability they already have without cost, but in either case they may not end their rage until the Monastic Barbarian does. This gives them a very powerful anti-caster tool, shutting down all their spellcasting without a save, but it only activates when the MB has already failed their own save.

Love it and have stolen it. :smalltongue:



It doesn't seem as if a penalty to wisdom makes sense for a "controlled rage" and besides, "controlled" and "rage" are polar opposites, and there is a reason one can not be both at the same time (namely being a monk and barbarian simultaneously).

well rage is just extreme anger, and it possible to be controlled and anger so I have to disagree with you here.

And to posters who dislike the idea, it comes from a game I'm playing (not optimise i stress) where my Barbarian was saved from death by some monk and as he stayed with them he became a monk after healing.

Edit: on a random note i do plan to do many unusually multi-class prestige class once I gotten a little better at this home-brew malarkey, prob do a paladin-bard, or paladin-warlock next. :smallcool:

vasharanpaladin
2010-12-05, 08:25 PM
Ahem: SOHEI. That is all. :smallwink:

Dakeyras
2010-12-05, 08:27 PM
I have just goggle SOHEI and :smalleek:...awesome

blackjack217
2010-12-05, 08:28 PM
You know the argument about how you can't have a controlled rage? I know someone who did, drizzt. His "hunter mode" works very well as a controlled rage, you might want to look at it for fluff.

vasharanpaladin
2010-12-05, 08:30 PM
You know the argument about how you can't have a controlled rage? I know someone who did, drizzt. His "hunter mode" works very well as a controlled rage, you might want to look at it for fluff.

I know not this "drizzt" of which you speak. You may wish to use references that actually exist outside of someone's crazed Marty Stu fantasies. :smallannoyed:

blackjack217
2010-12-05, 08:52 PM
I know not this "drizzt" of which you speak. You may wish to use references that actually exist outside of someone's crazed Marty Stu fantasies. :smallannoyed:

My appoligies for you confusion to clarify I mean this guy:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20051003220639/forgottenrealms/images/thumb/5/55/Drizzt_Pic_1.jpg/240px-Drizzt_Pic_1.jpg

SamsDisciple
2010-12-05, 09:08 PM
Back to the original build another issue I see is that you have controlled rage and normal rage stacking with each other... so you are so angry you get strength from it but then you lose yourself to that anger and get stronger? Don't think that really works.

Dakeyras
2010-12-06, 05:39 AM
Back to the original build another issue I see is that you have controlled rage and normal rage stacking with each other... so you are so angry you get strength from it but then you lose yourself to that anger and get stronger? Don't think that really works.


Sorry, I meant they only stack for number of uses i.e rage use convert to controlled rage on entering class, hopefully have clarified. Also have added to abilities Rage focus (skills) and Rage focus (battle).

Kilbourne
2010-12-06, 04:25 PM
I know not this "drizzt" of which you speak. You may wish to use references that actually exist outside of someone's crazed Marty Stu fantasies. :smallannoyed:

Oh man, I am definitely going to keep this quote. Hilarious!

Dakeyras
2010-12-07, 10:49 AM
Any comments on the new abilitys? the edited ones?