The Beast Incarnate (3.5 PrC PEACH)

[NeoSeraphi]

The Beast Incarnate


"I have seen the animals who pin their prey down in the wild. I have seen the weak lie helpless as a bear or a tiger simply ripped it apart and then devoured the remains. And I decided then and there, that if that was to be my fate, I would rather be the animal than the prey." - A beast incarnate, as he examined his claws wistfully

Prerequisites:
Feats: Improved Grapple, Close-Quarters Fighting
BAB: +5
Skills: Escape Artist 4 ranks

Hit Dice: d8
Class Skills: The beast incarnate's class skills are Autohypnosis, Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Spot, and Tumble
Skill Points Per Level: 4+Int modifier

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Size Doesn't Matter

2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Fangs of the Champion

3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Lord of the Ring

4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Reverse Hold

5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Claws of the Champion

6th|+6|+5|+2|+2|Size Does Matter (For Me)

7th|+7|+5|+2|+2|Brutalize

8th|+8|+6|+2|+2|Anti-Magic Grip

9th|+9|+6|+3|+3|Power of the Champion

10th|+10|+7|+3|+3|Legendary Wrestler, Finishing Blow
[/table]

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
The beast incarnate gains proficiency with his unarmed strike and deals damage with it as a monk of his character level. (This confers no special benefits if the beast incarnate already had levels of monk) He gains no proficiency with any armor or shield.

Size Doesn't Matter (Ex): To a beast incarnate, the monster you're facing, be it a gnome or a dragon, needs to go down. You won't let its size get in the way. The beast incarnate does not automatically fail his grapple-related checks made against a creature two or more Size categories larger than him, though he may still fail if the creature rolls higher than him.

Fangs of the Champion (Ex): A beast incarnate is a master of fighting dirty and fighting bare-handed. When you've got someone pinned down, their throat is all of a sudden a very vital target. Starting at 2nd level, a beast incarnate gains a bite attack as a natural weapon. He may use his bite attack during the same attack routine as his unarmed strike, however doing so requires him to treat his unarmed strike as a natural attack (only 1 attack with it, regardless of BAB). He may choose which of his natural attacks is his primary attack each attack routine. (His chosen secondary natural attack takes a -5 penalty to hit and only adds half his Strength modifier in damage). The beast incarnate's bite attack deals damage of a shortsword sized for the beast incarnate. (1d6 for a Medium beast incarnate, 1d4 for a Small, 1d8 for a Large, etc)

Additionally, if the beast incarnate has his target pinned, he is able to shred his opponent's jugular with his bite. If the beast incarnate successfully pins his opponent for the round, he receives an automatic bite attack at his highest attack bonus and if he hits, he rips his fangs into the creature's neck, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage along with the normal damage. (No save)

Lord of the Ring (Psi): The beast incarnate gains the ability to manifest expansion as a psi-like ability, once per day per class level, with a manifester level equal to his character level.

Reverse Hold (Ex): Sometimes a beast incarnate relies more on his speed and knowledge than brute Strength to pin his opponents. Starting at 4th level, the beast incarnate gains the ability to use the Escape Artist skill check as an offensive grapple check made to establish holds, pin, and etc. He does not add his Size modifier, bonus or otherwise to this check, nor does he add his Base Attack Bonus. Other modifiers to grapple checks, such as the bonus from Improved Grapple, apply to Escape Artist checks made in this manner.

Claws of the Champion (Ex): The beast incarnate is a monster-hunter, and he has the tools necessary to fight with other monsters. At 5th level, the beast incarnate's nails extend and form sharp deadly claws, dealing damage as a dagger sized for the beast incarnate. (1d4 for a Medium, 1d3 for a Small, 1d6 for a Large, etc). The beast incarnate may use these claws in tandem with his bite and unarmed strike. His claws may both be selected as his primary attack or may both be selected as his secondary attack in any given attack routine.

The beast incarnate uses his claws for more than just simple slashing though, he uses them to tear his opponent's helpless body to shreds. Also starting at 5th level, the beast incarnate gains a rake attack, allowing him to instantly deal damage equal to his claw damage + his Strength modifier on a successful grapple check.

Size Does Matter (For Me) (Ex): The beast incarnate knows how to throw his weight around, and unlike a dragon or a giant who simply grabs someone and crushes them, a beast incarnate has trained his body long and hard for the ability to grip, hold and pin. Starting at level 6, the beast incarnate doubles his Size bonus to all grapple checks (in this case, a bonus is a positive modifier). If the beast incarnate instead has a Size penalty to his grapple checks, he negates it. If the beast incarnate has neither a Size penalty or a Size bonus, he instead gains a +4 bonus to all grapple checks, but only as long as he remains Medium. (If he manifests his expansion power, for instance, the bonus disappears, being replaced by a +8 bonus since his character would be Large and would receive double the Size bonus instead from this class feature)

Brutalize (Ex): The beast incarnate is a savage who can fight like the best of them, tearing his opponents and trashing them good. Starting at 7th level, the beast incarnate automatically deals damage with all of his natural attacks with a successful grapple check, including his unarmed strike, his bite, his two claws, and his rake, as well as any other natural attacks he may have from another source. (This overlaps the auto-rake ability)

Anti-Magic Grip (Ex): The beast incarnate is a master tactician who can use his skills to completely outmaneuver even magical defenses. Starting at level 8, the beast incarnate constantly emits an extraordinary anti-magic field from his body, except it only suppresses spells, items, and supernatural effects that grant the freedom of movement ability.

Power of the Champion (Ex): The beast incarnate is a deadly warrior who uses his natural attacks to their fullest, even managing to break through a creature's natural defenses. Starting at level 9, the beast incarnate's natural attacks receive a +1 enhancement bonus to their attacks and damage for every 4 character levels the beast incarnate possesses (to a maximum of +5 at level 20). Additionally, the beast incarnate's natural attacks are all treated as his alignment for overcoming damage reduction (if the beast incarnate is Lawful Evil, his natural attacks overcome both DR/Lawful as well as DR/Evil). If a beast incarnate is Neutral on either axis, his natural attacks are treated as adamantine. (All of these bonuses apply to his unarmed strikes as well)

Legendary Wrestler (Ex): The beast incarnate is the ultimate, unmatched warrior of close-combat holds. At 10th level, he gains the Legendary Wrestler feat as a bonus feat. He need not meet the prerequisites, including the Epic prerequisite.

Finishing Blow (Ex): The beast incarnate is a deadly combatant who can use his claws and fangs to slice and dissect as well as any doctor's scalpel. If the beast incarnate has pinned a creature for 3 consecutive rounds, all the beast incarnate's further attacks against that creature (including every separate attack from his Brutalize ability) are treated as cou'de'grace attacks that require a Fortitude save (DC 10+damage dealt) or instantly slay the target. This ability ends when the creature is no longer pinned.

[TravelLog]

This class would be a gamebreaker when paired with an Illithid Savant since it could take the brain of anything because of enhanced grappling.

[NeoSeraphi]

This class would be a gamebreaker when paired with an Illithid Savant since it could take the brain of anything because of enhanced grappling.

Given the general consensus of the class, I'm not worried (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86569)

On an unrelated note, that's a pretty fantastic avatar you've got there.

[GFawkes]

Seems semi-balanced to me. Grappling rules are complex enough that anyone who understands them is at an immediate advantage, and that's maybe .4% of the gaming community.

As for name, how about Savage Grappler?

[eftexar]

While Size Doesn't Matter is cool, this ability doesn't matter that much (heh unintentional pun) because you still have a -12 penalty or higher for grapples against foes of that size. I would suggest either straight up reducing this penalty (and before you gain Size Does Matter) or rewording it to: You are considered two sizes larger for the purposes of grappling.
I'm not familiar with the expansion power.
Reverse Hold is pretty cool.
Brutalize might be a bit much. May I suggest that strength can only be added to one of these attacks?
Anti-Magic grip is one of those odd abilities that is just so weird it's cool, and is probably my favorite feature even though it is highly situational.
I would also like to suggest higher prerequisites. It grants too many high powered abilities too early, to allow level 5 access in my opinion. Maybe up the bab requirement to 8 or 10? And the 4 skill points just seem unnecessary for such a brutal class.

[NeoSeraphi]

While Size Doesn't Matter is cool, this ability doesn't matter that much (heh unintentional pun) because you still have a -12 penalty or higher for grapples against foes of that size. I would suggest either straight up reducing this penalty (and before you gain Size Does Matter) or rewording it to: You are considered two sizes larger for the purposes of grappling.
I'm not familiar with the expansion power.
Reverse Hold is pretty cool.
Brutalize might be a bit much. May I suggest that strength can only be added to one of these attacks?
Anti-Magic grip is one of those odd abilities that is just so weird it's cool, and is probably my favorite feature even though it is highly situational.
I would also like to suggest higher prerequisites. It grants too many high powered abilities too early, to allow level 5 access in my opinion. Maybe up the bab requirement to 8 or 10? And the 4 skill points just seem unnecessary for such a brutal class.

Heh. The expansion power allows you to grow two sizes, so that addresses your first concern.

Brutalize is based on an existing prestige class known as the Black Blood Cultist (Champions of Ruin). Since it's from WotC already, I don't think it's that unbalanced.

The skill points are because it's a monk's chassis, basically, just without all good saves.

As for the prereqs, I'll hold off on that, see if anyone else agrees with you before I make that decision.

[NeoSeraphi]

Seems semi-balanced to me. Grappling rules are complex enough that anyone who understands them is at an immediate advantage, and that's maybe .4% of the gaming community.

As for name, how about Savage Grappler?

Eh, but the main class feature of the Black Blood Cultist is called "Savage Grapple" so I don't want to use that..thanks for the suggestion through.

[Cieyrin]

Giving Expansion and a power pool seems kinda overkill if all you want is them to have the power. Just make a Psi-like ability (which auto-augments to full by default) usable class level/day, with ML = class level. Yeah, you won't be able to go up 2 size categories till much later but I don't really see why it needs linking up with character level to be viable, either.

Also, getting Legendary Wrestler as a capstone just seems lackluster, as all you get is +10 grapple. While that's a nice bit of bonus, it's boring.

As for a name, how about Beast Incarnate? It seems to draw from animals, so it would follow to draw the name from there.

Antimagic Grip is a misleading name, given it only negates Freedom of Movement, so something like Confining Grasp would be in order.

I'm fine with the skill points, as this seems primarily a Barbarian, Ranger or Monk PrC to me. Plus, adventurers should have at least 4+ skill points, as you make a piss-poor one if you can't contribute more than crushing windpipes till the bad people fall down.

Prereqs are a little bit loose in my opinion, especially since they suddenly learn to will their bodies to grow. Knowledge(Psionics) 3-4 ranks could be in order, as well as raising BAB to +6 to match up with it. Requiring Earth's Embrace would also do well in your initial studies of breaking smaller men.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

[NeoSeraphi]

The full manifester level is so it isn't as easily dispelled, and also because you start fighting Huge creatures around CR 11, so granting the grappler Huge size around ECL 8-10 (if the character was in a 3/4 BAB class like psychic warrior) is necessary.

I changed the ability to psi-like, though, as you suggested.

Anti-Magic Grip may be misleading, but I like the name. It reminds me of the Shards of Alara reprint of Cancel, where the mage is crushing a card in his hand. (Magic the Gathering)

Growing claws and fangs isn't a psionic ability, however, and the BAB prerequisite is already high for a 3/4 class.

The problem with Earth's Embrace is that I was intending this class to be for all types of grapplers, including the small halfing or gnome who wanted to take down titans (Hence Reverse Grip). 15 Str prerequisite for Earth's Embrace is a bit much for a Small grappler.

Beast Incarnate sounds good. I'll change it in a bit, thanks.

Legendary Wrestler does seem a bit underwhelming. What would you suggest?

[Cieyrin]

The full manifester level is so it isn't as easily dispelled, and also because you start fighting Huge creatures around CR 11, so granting the grappler Huge size around ECL 8-10 (if the character was in a 3/4 BAB class like psychic warrior) is necessary.

I changed the ability to psi-like, though, as you suggested.

Anti-Magic Grip may be misleading, but I like the name. It reminds me of the Shards of Alara reprint of Cancel, where the mage is crushing a card in his hand. (Magic the Gathering)

Fair enough.


Growing claws and fangs isn't a psionic ability, however, and the BAB prerequisite is already high for a 3/4 class.

Makes me think of the Claws of the Beast power but I did forget about Tashalatora Grapplers and Psychic Warriors in general having 3/4 BAB, so I'll concede on the BAB requirement.


The problem with Earth's Embrace is that I was intending this class to be for all types of grapplers, including the small halfing or gnome who wanted to take down titans (Hence Reverse Grip). 15 Str prerequisite for Earth's Embrace is a bit much for a Small grappler.

The Psuedodragon Breaker of Halfling will be pleased. :smallamused: Still, it does still feel prereq light for what it gives. How about Close Quarters Fighting, then? Keeping out of grapples you don't want to be in, especially against those Improved Grabbers, seems like a good idea and isn't stat dependent, making it viable for either stripe of grappler, Average or Full BAB.


Beast Incarnate sounds good. I'll change it in a bit, thanks.

Pleasure to be of service.


Legendary Wrestler does seem a bit underwhelming. What would you suggest?

I was thinking of a Signature Move type deal. Something akin to a Grappling Smite, go straight to pin, inflict Paralysis, you get the idea. Something on the level of a 9th level martial maneuver should work well, methinks.

[NeoSeraphi]

Makes me think of the Claws of the Beast power but I did forget about Tashalatora Grapplers and Psychic Warriors in general having 3/4 BAB, so I'll concede on the BAB requirement.



The class is based on the Black Blood Cultist from Champions of Ruin, which is based on lycanthropy, actually. So it's completely unrelated to psionics. I just added expansion because it's good.



The Psuedodragon Breaker of Halfling will be pleased. :smallamused: Still, it does still feel prereq light for what it gives. How about Close Quarters Fighting, then? Keeping out of grapples you don't want to be in, especially against those Improved Grabbers, seems like a good idea and isn't stat dependent, making it viable for either stripe of grappler, Average or Full BAB.


Hey! With an optimized Escape Artist build, that halfling would be pinning demons and dragons like it was nothing! (It would have to run from the Tarrasque, obviously, but +84 is way too high for level 20 anyway)








I was thinking of a Signature Move type deal. Something akin to a Grappling Smite, go straight to pin, inflict Paralysis, you get the idea. Something on the level of a 9th level martial maneuver should work well, methinks.

A 9th level maneuver? What, like 2d6 Con with no save 9th level, or like your entire party gets to charge one enemy and smash his face in? (Or you get to stop time?)

The 9th level maneuvers are a pretty diverse bunch.

Let's see what I can do though.

Edit: There. Cou'de'graces are deadly (and with a minimum of 5 required saves per round, you have a pretty good chance of failing)

[Cieyrin]

The class is based on the Black Blood Cultist from Champions of Ruin, which is based on lycanthropy, actually. So it's completely unrelated to psionics. I just added expansion because it's good.

Indeed, though Expansion certainly made me think that way.


Hey! With an optimized Escape Artist build, that halfling would be pinning demons and dragons like it was nothing! (It would have to run from the Tarrasque, obviously, but +84 is way too high for level 20 anyway)

Nothing some skill optimization couldn't help, Divine Agility, MW Tool, Slippery armor enhancements...


A 9th level maneuver? What, like 2d6 Con with no save 9th level, or like your entire party gets to charge one enemy and smash his face in? (Or you get to stop time?)

The 9th level maneuvers are a pretty diverse bunch.

Let's see what I can do though.

Edit: There. Cou'de'graces are deadly (and with a minimum of 5 required saves per round, you have a pretty good chance of failing)

Time Stands Still doesn't actually stop time, you just attack real bloody quick so it seems you're moving in a different time stream. In any case, I just meant as guidelines.

[NeoSeraphi]

Bam. New name. How's the class look?

[Cieyrin]

Looking at Brutalize, I realized how sick that can get built off of a Totemist base. Youch! :smalleek:

As for Finishing Blow, i'm not sure how often you'll see it come up, as if you optimize your damage well enough, they should die well before then. Kinda the same problem that Reaping Mauler has, really. The coup de graces seem like a good start, though.

[NeoSeraphi]

Looking at Brutalize, I realized how sick that can get built off of a Totemist base. Youch! :smalleek:

As for Finishing Blow, i'm not sure how often you'll see it come up, as if you optimize your damage well enough, they should die well before then. Kinda the same problem that Reaping Mauler has, really. The coup de graces seem like a good start, though.

Actually, since Totemist naturals don't stack with other naturals, the best you'd see is Four Claws (Girallon Arms), 1 rake, 1 Rend (Girallon Arms), Bite, and Unarmed.

Now, if a dragon took this class on the other hand...

[NosferatuZodd]

Sorry to say but there's already a base class that is similar in fluff and most of the abilities are the same. Black Blood Cultist from Champions of Ruin


Ah, wait. Read more of the thread and you notice this.


It's still too similar to really be different though, there's little difference overall.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sorry to say but there's already a base class that is similar in fluff and most of the abilities are the same. Black Blood Cultist from Champions of Ruin


Ah, wait. Read more of the thread and you notice this.


It's still too similar to really be different though, there's little difference overall.

Black Blood Cultist is a prestige class. It's also much weaker than the Beast Incarnate, as it provides similar natural attacks, but only while you rage, it has an alignment restriction, and it doesn't let you grapple larger creatures or grow in size. So this is just basically a better version of the Black Blood Cultist that's not specific to barbarians.

[NosferatuZodd]

Actually Black Blood Cultist can use it's natural weapons whenever once it reaches level 10.

And sorry, I meant to say prestige class.

And is it truly better that it's stronger, BBC is still a really solid and powerful prestige class. This just seems to take away the requirements that make it less of a game-breaker.

[NeoSeraphi]

Actually Black Blood Cultist can use it's natural weapons whenever once it reaches level 10.

And sorry, I meant to say prestige class.

And is it truly better that it's stronger, BBC is still a really solid and powerful prestige class. This just seems to take away the requirements that make it less of a game-breaker.

I personally think that any grappling class that doesn't help you grapple is a bad design. The black blood cultist class does not assist in grappling, it only allows you to deal more damage while you grapple. It doesn't fix the auto-immunity that larger creatures have, so against a creature two sizes larger than you, a 9th level or below black blood cultist doesn't have many options, and a 10th has only slightly more.

Meanwhile, a beast incarnate can throw down with the biggest creatures without worrying. With Legendary Wrestler and expansion, as well as Size Does Matter (For Me), the beast incarnate is actually able to succeed on his grapple checks against larger creatures, instead of just clawing at them while he rages.

The majority of grapple builds involve monk (which is lawful and therefore not Black Blood Cultist eligible) or psychic warrior (who can't rage) anyway.

Also, Black Blood Cultist deals with a Forgotten Realms deity (Malakair). So it's very, very specific. (Mostly evil campaigns, requires barbarian build, Forgotten Realms deity in a 3.0 sourcebook)

[NosferatuZodd]

You mean Malar, and fluff is something that is incredibly easy to change if your DM has a problem with it. And most optimized builds i've seen for a BBC includes a level dip in monk, but if you just choose the right feats you can be a perfectly fine grappler without expansion. And besides, any DM worth his salt allows lee-way with the moronic grappling rules and would probably allow you to go Shadow of the Colossus on a larger enemies bum.

Unless you're playing with rollplayers and grognards at least.

[NeoSeraphi]

You mean Malar, and fluff is something that is incredibly easy to change if your DM has a problem with it. And most optimized builds i've seen for a BBC includes a level dip in monk, but if you just choose the right feats you can be a perfectly fine grappler without expansion. And besides, any DM worth his salt allows lee-way with the moronic grappling rules and would probably allow you to go Shadow of the Colossus on a larger enemies bum.

Unless you're playing with rollplayers and grognards at least.

That's nice. If it helps, think of this class as an improved, 3.5 non-Campaign Specific, non-lycanthropic, non-alignment specific version of the Black Blood Cultist. Like a monk fix or something.

[NosferatuZodd]

BBC isn't lycanthropic to begin with, and fluff wise. I don't see how something that emulates predators to MAUL his enemies to death by biting and clawing and thus eating or tasting his "prey". I cannot see how that is at all lawful.

[Cieyrin]

The majority of grapple builds involve monk (which is lawful and therefore not Black Blood Cultist eligible) or psychic warrior (who can't rage) anyway.

You could add Rage to either, just pick up Barbarian for Psychic Warrior, go Half-Orc Paragon for Monk. Psychic Warriors won't be able to manifest while raging without shenanigans but manifesting Expansion and Grip of Iron before letting loose the berserker spirit can work out rather well. :smallbiggrin:


BBC isn't lycanthropic to begin with, and fluff wise. I don't see how something that emulates predators to MAUL his enemies to death by biting and clawing and thus eating or tasting his "prey". I cannot see how that is at all lawful.

Sounds to me like Survival of the Fittest and following the Natural Order to me. If anything, that's a matter of the good-evil axis, not the law-chaos axis.

[NosferatuZodd]

It's not the natural order for a being like a human or an elf to do such things. And good-evil axis makes no sense considering if you use the natural order to justify lawful, that's implying all carnivores are evil.

[Cieyrin]

It's not the natural order for a being like a human or an elf to do such things. And good-evil axis makes no sense considering if you use the natural order to justify lawful, that's implying all carnivores are evil.

Malar's doctrine believes in carnivores being an evil force, which Black Blood Cultists follow. Looking at the PrC's prereqs, you basically have to follow that doctrine, as the alignment restriction is within one step of Malar's alignment.

As for the natural order bit, why does it have to be specifically humans or elves? Are they common Malarites? The illustration that comes with and Malar's common worshippers would suggest that most BBC's are lycans and monsters, for which that would be the natural order of things, them hunting and mauling their prey. I suppose in this particular incidence, due to the connection the class has with Malar, they can't be lawful but I see no reason for the Beast Incarnate to have a similar restriction. Look at the Fist of the Forest, very similar idea and no alignment restriction. How about LN druids? They're permissable and you could have a LN Monk/Druid that could follow the natural order as being irrefutable laws of the world.

[NosferatuZodd]

Most black blood cultists are humans and other humanoids who often worship lycanthrope packs and by proxy, Malar.