Nightgaun7
2012-10-07, 09:45 PM
Reworking Fist of the Forest for an oceangoing campaign, because I love the idea of micro-PrCs and I liked the basic idea. Need some input. Tentatively named Maw of the Abyss. Someone else suggested Fist of the Coral. Maybe Claw of the Coral? I'm a sucker for alliteration.
First off, I'm not aware of a pelargic equivalent of the Guardians of the Green, and while I like the flavor, it's a bit too similar to a few other classes out there for my taste, so I want a bit less of the wild man hermit type thing, and a bit more seafood flavor. (ironically, I hate eating fish)
Secondly, I want to rework it a bit. I don't see people punching things to death underwater too much, so the FotF emphasis on doing just that should be eliminated or reworked. (Incidentally, WotC seems to really want barbarians to use unarmed combat. Out of the barbarian prestige classes presented in Being Bane, for example, over half improve or rely entirely on unarmed combat or grapples. And three of the others make you cast spells) I'd like this to be water-flavored, but not too useless on land. I'm also aware that lots of people only dip this for the first level, so I'd like to add a little something to make it attractive to stay in through to level 3. Something as simple as a bonus feat might do it, but again, suggestions are welcome
Here's what I've got so far. Bit light on fluff at the moment, will work on that later.
Maw of the Abyss (based on Fist of the Forest)
Requirements
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Handle Animal 4 ranks, Survival 4 ranks
Feats: Power Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Great Fortitude is rather boring, and Improved Unarmed Strike doesn't fit as mentioned previously. Was thinking about a simple swap for Improved Bull Rush, but other ideas are welcome.
Other: Racial Swim Speed
Hit die - d10
Skill points - 4 + Int Changed this to be in line with other barbarian PrCs, bit low if you get into this as a ranger or monk or something
AC Bonus (Ex): Heavy armor is a hindrance when submerged, and movements are often slowed by the pressure of the deep. Accordingly, you have learned to shift with the strikes. While unarmored or wearing light armor, you gain a bonus to your Armor Class equal to your Constitution bonus (if any). See the monk class feature (PH40). I changed this to enable light armor use for better synergy with a wider variety of classes, and for thematic purposes. You may notice that I'm big on things working together lol.
Swift Swimmer (Ex): Your base swim speed is faster than the norm for your race. See the barbarian Fast Movement class feature (PH 25). If you already have fast movement from another class, the bonuses to your speed stack.
Thalassal Trance (Su): Once per day, you can enter a battle trance. Your hands and feet become clawlike (destroying any shoes or gloves you are wearing), and your teeth lengthen and grow pointed. For the duration of the trance, you gain a +4 bonus to Dexterity and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with your unarmed strikes.
You can also make one bite attack per round at your highest attack bonus whenever you attack as a full-round action. The damage for this attack is 1d6 + your Str modifier, regardless of your size.
A feral trance lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + your Con modifier. While in a trance, you cannot perform certain actions, and afterward you are fatigued. These restrictions are the same as those for the barbarian’s rage class feature (PH25–26). If you have the ability to enter a rage, you can do so while in a feral trance, using your increased Constitution score to determine the duration of both effects.
At 3rd level, you can use this ability twice per day.
Wondering how to change this. I like the bite attack (sharks, morays, barracudas, etc etc), but what, if anything, to replace or change about the hands and feet getting claws? Was thinking about some kind of spines, a poison attack, shocking attack like an electric eel...huge array of ideas, really. Like I said, though, not too keen on punching and kicking being the order of the day
Primal Living (Ex): To maintain your powers, you must live like a wild animal. You must sleep in natural environments, never inside buildings, unless forced by circumstances . Furthermore, you cannot purchase food—you must obtain it by hunting, gathering, begging, or stealing. Some fists of the forest even give up speech, the use of fire and tools, and all possessions, but such extremes are not required. In any month in which you buy food or voluntarily sleep indoors more than three times, all your fist of the forest class features cease to function until you have spent thirty consecutive days living like an animal once more, or until a fellow Guardian of the Green casts atonement on you.
Again, wondering how to handle this. Thought about "must be completely submerged for 1 hour a day" or something but that might be too restrictive. Primal living doesn't hinder characters who go anywhere, it just makes them have to sleep on the roof and eat a rat if they live in the city for a bit. Whereas if we're busy fighting the volcano lords of Fieryplace, then the Maw of the Abyss here is out of luck.
Unarmed Damage (Ex): Moving in the depths of the ocean has made you stronger than others of your race. Your unarmed attacks deal more damage than usual. At 1st level, you deal 1d8 points of damage with each unarmed strike. When you attain 3rd level, this damage increases to 1d10 points. See the monk class feature (PH41). If your unarmed attack already deals this amount of damage, increase the base damage to the next step indicated on the monk class table.
Went through the other barbarian PrCs and a few ideas to replace this popped up - improved power attack and swing blindly (eye of gruumsh). I'm sure there are other good ideas, I just haven't thought of them yet.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): In the inky blackness of the ocean floor, one must acquire a sixth sense for danger. At 2nd level, you cannot be caught flatfooted, and you react to danger before your senses would normally allow you to do so. See the barbarian class feature (PH26). If you already have uncanny dodge from another class, you instead gain improved uncanny dodge.
Tidal Blow (Su): You can channel the tremedous power of the tides into your strikes. On reaching 2nd level, your unarmed strikes are treated as magic weapons; see the monk’s ki strike class feature (PH41). If your unarmed strikes are already magical, they instead are treated lesser ghost touch weapons. They deal full damage against incorporeal creatures 50% of the time and half damage the rest of the time.
Like the name, need a feature to go with it
Echolocation: as per the Darfellan ability. You have learned to pinpoint foes and get a feel of the countours of your surroundings by making noises and listening to the echo. You gain blindsense out to 20 feet, but the blindsense doesn't extend beyond the water.
This replaces Scent
First off, I'm not aware of a pelargic equivalent of the Guardians of the Green, and while I like the flavor, it's a bit too similar to a few other classes out there for my taste, so I want a bit less of the wild man hermit type thing, and a bit more seafood flavor. (ironically, I hate eating fish)
Secondly, I want to rework it a bit. I don't see people punching things to death underwater too much, so the FotF emphasis on doing just that should be eliminated or reworked. (Incidentally, WotC seems to really want barbarians to use unarmed combat. Out of the barbarian prestige classes presented in Being Bane, for example, over half improve or rely entirely on unarmed combat or grapples. And three of the others make you cast spells) I'd like this to be water-flavored, but not too useless on land. I'm also aware that lots of people only dip this for the first level, so I'd like to add a little something to make it attractive to stay in through to level 3. Something as simple as a bonus feat might do it, but again, suggestions are welcome
Here's what I've got so far. Bit light on fluff at the moment, will work on that later.
Maw of the Abyss (based on Fist of the Forest)
Requirements
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Handle Animal 4 ranks, Survival 4 ranks
Feats: Power Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Great Fortitude is rather boring, and Improved Unarmed Strike doesn't fit as mentioned previously. Was thinking about a simple swap for Improved Bull Rush, but other ideas are welcome.
Other: Racial Swim Speed
Hit die - d10
Skill points - 4 + Int Changed this to be in line with other barbarian PrCs, bit low if you get into this as a ranger or monk or something
AC Bonus (Ex): Heavy armor is a hindrance when submerged, and movements are often slowed by the pressure of the deep. Accordingly, you have learned to shift with the strikes. While unarmored or wearing light armor, you gain a bonus to your Armor Class equal to your Constitution bonus (if any). See the monk class feature (PH40). I changed this to enable light armor use for better synergy with a wider variety of classes, and for thematic purposes. You may notice that I'm big on things working together lol.
Swift Swimmer (Ex): Your base swim speed is faster than the norm for your race. See the barbarian Fast Movement class feature (PH 25). If you already have fast movement from another class, the bonuses to your speed stack.
Thalassal Trance (Su): Once per day, you can enter a battle trance. Your hands and feet become clawlike (destroying any shoes or gloves you are wearing), and your teeth lengthen and grow pointed. For the duration of the trance, you gain a +4 bonus to Dexterity and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with your unarmed strikes.
You can also make one bite attack per round at your highest attack bonus whenever you attack as a full-round action. The damage for this attack is 1d6 + your Str modifier, regardless of your size.
A feral trance lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + your Con modifier. While in a trance, you cannot perform certain actions, and afterward you are fatigued. These restrictions are the same as those for the barbarian’s rage class feature (PH25–26). If you have the ability to enter a rage, you can do so while in a feral trance, using your increased Constitution score to determine the duration of both effects.
At 3rd level, you can use this ability twice per day.
Wondering how to change this. I like the bite attack (sharks, morays, barracudas, etc etc), but what, if anything, to replace or change about the hands and feet getting claws? Was thinking about some kind of spines, a poison attack, shocking attack like an electric eel...huge array of ideas, really. Like I said, though, not too keen on punching and kicking being the order of the day
Primal Living (Ex): To maintain your powers, you must live like a wild animal. You must sleep in natural environments, never inside buildings, unless forced by circumstances . Furthermore, you cannot purchase food—you must obtain it by hunting, gathering, begging, or stealing. Some fists of the forest even give up speech, the use of fire and tools, and all possessions, but such extremes are not required. In any month in which you buy food or voluntarily sleep indoors more than three times, all your fist of the forest class features cease to function until you have spent thirty consecutive days living like an animal once more, or until a fellow Guardian of the Green casts atonement on you.
Again, wondering how to handle this. Thought about "must be completely submerged for 1 hour a day" or something but that might be too restrictive. Primal living doesn't hinder characters who go anywhere, it just makes them have to sleep on the roof and eat a rat if they live in the city for a bit. Whereas if we're busy fighting the volcano lords of Fieryplace, then the Maw of the Abyss here is out of luck.
Unarmed Damage (Ex): Moving in the depths of the ocean has made you stronger than others of your race. Your unarmed attacks deal more damage than usual. At 1st level, you deal 1d8 points of damage with each unarmed strike. When you attain 3rd level, this damage increases to 1d10 points. See the monk class feature (PH41). If your unarmed attack already deals this amount of damage, increase the base damage to the next step indicated on the monk class table.
Went through the other barbarian PrCs and a few ideas to replace this popped up - improved power attack and swing blindly (eye of gruumsh). I'm sure there are other good ideas, I just haven't thought of them yet.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): In the inky blackness of the ocean floor, one must acquire a sixth sense for danger. At 2nd level, you cannot be caught flatfooted, and you react to danger before your senses would normally allow you to do so. See the barbarian class feature (PH26). If you already have uncanny dodge from another class, you instead gain improved uncanny dodge.
Tidal Blow (Su): You can channel the tremedous power of the tides into your strikes. On reaching 2nd level, your unarmed strikes are treated as magic weapons; see the monk’s ki strike class feature (PH41). If your unarmed strikes are already magical, they instead are treated lesser ghost touch weapons. They deal full damage against incorporeal creatures 50% of the time and half damage the rest of the time.
Like the name, need a feature to go with it
Echolocation: as per the Darfellan ability. You have learned to pinpoint foes and get a feel of the countours of your surroundings by making noises and listening to the echo. You gain blindsense out to 20 feet, but the blindsense doesn't extend beyond the water.
This replaces Scent