Benly
2011-11-09, 06:06 PM
This post was originally about my "light" monk fix, which makes a few changes to the PF monk to make it a more effective melee class. However, as I thought about it, the star of the show became Martial Techniques, a sort of martial-arts technique which is also a magic weapon - it seems a bit more flavorful than everyone wearing brass knuckles while keeping unarmed combat competitive in a magic-weapons-focused game.
The contents of the light monk fix are as follows. It is compatible with almost all existing PF monk material, and is not required for the use of martial techniques.
The monk is a full BAB class. Because PF largely standardizes hit dice, it also has a d10 hit die. It also gains two modifications to the ki pool class feature:
* Ki Pounce: By spending a ki point as a swift action, the monk can infuse her movements with alacrity. For the remainder of the round, she may make a full attack with her unarmed strike or a monk weapon at the end of a charge instead of a single attack. This includes Flurry of Blows. This ability is gained at fourth level as part of the Ki Pool class feature.
* Ki Recovery: When a monk confirms a critical hit with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, or reduces an enemy to 0 HP or lower with an unarmed strike or monk weapon in the heat of combat, she recovers a ki point. This ability is also gained at fourth level as part of the Ki Pool class feature.
And here is the new category of magic items:
Martial Technique: While other warriors seek out powerful enchanted blades to augment their fighting ability, monks and other martial artists seek to develop martial arts techniques which focus their inner strength into more powerful blows. Such techniques are often outright supernatural in their capabilities, such as wreathing the practitioner's limbs in flames or filling them with unholy might.
Each martial technique takes the form of a scroll or tablet containing the secrets of a supernatural martial arts technique. Martial techniques have an enhancement bonus and may optionally have special abilities, just like a magic weapon. A martial technique may only be used by a character who has Improved Unarmed Strike as a feat or class feature. While the character is attuned to a martial technique, her unarmed strikes gain the enhancement bonus and special abilities with which the scroll is enchanted. Any special abilities which may only be applied to particular sorts of weapons only grant their benefits if the attuned character's unarmed strike counts as that sort of weapon (for example, a +2 keen martial technique will only grant the benefits of a +2 martial technique unless the character's unarmed strikes deal slashing damage.)
A character who qualifies to use a martial technique may spend fifteen minutes of meditation, practice and study of the scroll to attune her fighting style to the martial technique encoded in the technique's scroll. Alternately, a character with the ki pool ability may expend a ki point to attune to a martial technique as a move action while studying its physical scroll, as long as she has ever been attuned to the technique before. A character may also choose to use either of these methods to attune herself to a martial technique to which she has previously been attuned within the past 72 hours without requiring the physical scroll, and is often said in this case to possess the technique. A character may possess as many techniques as she wishes; many martial artists have morning training sessions in which they cycle through all their collected martial techniques to retain this connection. A character may only be attuned to one martial technique at a time, and only one character may be attuned to any copy of a martial technique at a time, although multiple characters may possess any given copy of a technique.
When a character who qualifies to attune to martial techniques defeats a character attuned to a martial technique in a duel, he may choose to attune himself to the defeated character's martial technique immediately as a free action, breaking the defeated character's attunement. A character whose technique is stolen in this way ceases to possess the technique, as if she had not been attuned within the past 72 hours. Further, a character who steals a martial technique this way gains an instinctive awareness of the location of the original technique scroll as long as he remains attuned to the technique. Exactly what constitutes a proper duel for this purpose is a matter of DM's discretion.
Martial techniques may be created by any character who has Improved Unarmed Strike and either Craft Wondrous Item or the ki pool class feature. The creation of a martial technique is a process of meditation and training rather than research and magical enchantment, but the time and cost required for the process are the same as normal magic item creation. The creator must meet any level-based requirements of the bonuses she wishes to add; she does not need to supply specific spells required for special abilities, although this does not change the price of the ability. A martial technique has a market value of 500 GP plus the price of its enhancement bonus and special abilities. A martial technique's enhancement bonus may be increased or new special abilities added by a character attuned to the technique using the same crafting process, with a market value equivalent to the difference in market value between the old and new bonuses. It is possible to create a martial technique with no enhancement bonus, which grants a +1 nonmagical enhancement bonus to attack rolls as if using a masterwork weapon. A martial technique whose magical effects are suppressed, such as by an antimagic field, also gives this +1 bonus to attack rolls.
The contents of the light monk fix are as follows. It is compatible with almost all existing PF monk material, and is not required for the use of martial techniques.
The monk is a full BAB class. Because PF largely standardizes hit dice, it also has a d10 hit die. It also gains two modifications to the ki pool class feature:
* Ki Pounce: By spending a ki point as a swift action, the monk can infuse her movements with alacrity. For the remainder of the round, she may make a full attack with her unarmed strike or a monk weapon at the end of a charge instead of a single attack. This includes Flurry of Blows. This ability is gained at fourth level as part of the Ki Pool class feature.
* Ki Recovery: When a monk confirms a critical hit with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, or reduces an enemy to 0 HP or lower with an unarmed strike or monk weapon in the heat of combat, she recovers a ki point. This ability is also gained at fourth level as part of the Ki Pool class feature.
And here is the new category of magic items:
Martial Technique: While other warriors seek out powerful enchanted blades to augment their fighting ability, monks and other martial artists seek to develop martial arts techniques which focus their inner strength into more powerful blows. Such techniques are often outright supernatural in their capabilities, such as wreathing the practitioner's limbs in flames or filling them with unholy might.
Each martial technique takes the form of a scroll or tablet containing the secrets of a supernatural martial arts technique. Martial techniques have an enhancement bonus and may optionally have special abilities, just like a magic weapon. A martial technique may only be used by a character who has Improved Unarmed Strike as a feat or class feature. While the character is attuned to a martial technique, her unarmed strikes gain the enhancement bonus and special abilities with which the scroll is enchanted. Any special abilities which may only be applied to particular sorts of weapons only grant their benefits if the attuned character's unarmed strike counts as that sort of weapon (for example, a +2 keen martial technique will only grant the benefits of a +2 martial technique unless the character's unarmed strikes deal slashing damage.)
A character who qualifies to use a martial technique may spend fifteen minutes of meditation, practice and study of the scroll to attune her fighting style to the martial technique encoded in the technique's scroll. Alternately, a character with the ki pool ability may expend a ki point to attune to a martial technique as a move action while studying its physical scroll, as long as she has ever been attuned to the technique before. A character may also choose to use either of these methods to attune herself to a martial technique to which she has previously been attuned within the past 72 hours without requiring the physical scroll, and is often said in this case to possess the technique. A character may possess as many techniques as she wishes; many martial artists have morning training sessions in which they cycle through all their collected martial techniques to retain this connection. A character may only be attuned to one martial technique at a time, and only one character may be attuned to any copy of a martial technique at a time, although multiple characters may possess any given copy of a technique.
When a character who qualifies to attune to martial techniques defeats a character attuned to a martial technique in a duel, he may choose to attune himself to the defeated character's martial technique immediately as a free action, breaking the defeated character's attunement. A character whose technique is stolen in this way ceases to possess the technique, as if she had not been attuned within the past 72 hours. Further, a character who steals a martial technique this way gains an instinctive awareness of the location of the original technique scroll as long as he remains attuned to the technique. Exactly what constitutes a proper duel for this purpose is a matter of DM's discretion.
Martial techniques may be created by any character who has Improved Unarmed Strike and either Craft Wondrous Item or the ki pool class feature. The creation of a martial technique is a process of meditation and training rather than research and magical enchantment, but the time and cost required for the process are the same as normal magic item creation. The creator must meet any level-based requirements of the bonuses she wishes to add; she does not need to supply specific spells required for special abilities, although this does not change the price of the ability. A martial technique has a market value of 500 GP plus the price of its enhancement bonus and special abilities. A martial technique's enhancement bonus may be increased or new special abilities added by a character attuned to the technique using the same crafting process, with a market value equivalent to the difference in market value between the old and new bonuses. It is possible to create a martial technique with no enhancement bonus, which grants a +1 nonmagical enhancement bonus to attack rolls as if using a masterwork weapon. A martial technique whose magical effects are suppressed, such as by an antimagic field, also gives this +1 bonus to attack rolls.