Dmitropher
2012-12-06, 02:36 PM
Hey all,
I'm currently messing around with some homebrewing, and I was fooling about with Monk as a starting point, because I've always found monk to be strangely balanced, and a very specific feel of monk which does not necessarily fit with my own. I personally never really liked the idea of granting bonus AC equal to Wisdom (just my own silly quirks), so I'm thinking about doing something quite stupid instead. I also removed the flat AC bonus per 5 levels. There is a line of red text: I'm not sure if I want to keep this portion of the rule.
Fast Paced (Ex):
The monk has spent years training to be the quickest, be it in a monastery, or on the streets, always scrambling for survival. Not only is the Monk faster than the average person, but he or she also knows how to use that speed in combat, darting in and out of range, dodging attacks at the last second using hardened reflexes.
The Monk gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC per level per 10ft of move speed above their racial base move speed, provided this bonus does not exceed his or her monk level. This includes bonus move speed provided from an outside source, however this bonus cannot exceed his or her monk level (max +10 at 10th level).
In addition, a monk may gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC/10ft of total move speed by forgoing a move action in a round, provided that this bonus does not exceed his or her monk level. The monk may not fight defensively in the same round as he or she forgoes his or her move action in a round in this way.
These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks but not when the monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.
The bonus move speed progression is as follows:
{table]1|+10
2|+10
3|+10
4|+20
5|+20
6|+20
7|+30
8|+30
9|+30
10|+40
11|+40
12|+40
13|+50
14|+50
15|+50
16|+60
17|+60
18|+60
19|+70
20|+70
[/table]
Given other features of the class, I'm assuming that most players will take an ability score distribution something like:
Str:15 Dex:17 Con:13 Int:12 Wis:10 Cha:10
Total AC:
At level 5: 10+4(Dex) + 3(total Move Speed bonuses) + 1(Magic Item) = 18
(Assumptions: +1 to Dex at level 4, Some sort of magic item to enhance movement by +10ft or buff from ally, some sort of magic item to grant +1 AC)
At level 10: 10 + 5(Dex) + 6(total move speed bonuses) + 2(magic items) = 23
(Assumptions: Dex enhancing items up to +2 bonus to dex score, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +20ft, some sort of magic item that grants +2 AC)
At level 15: 10 + 7(Dex) + 9(total move speed bonuses) + 3(magic items) = 29
(Assumptions: +1 to dex at level 8 and at level 12, Dex enhancing items up to +4 bonus to dex, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +40ft, some sort of magic item that grants +3 AC)
At level 20: 10 + 8(Dex) + 12(total move speed bonuses) + 4(magic items/potions etc) = 34
(Assumptions: Dex enhancing items up to +6 bonus to Dex Score, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +50ft, some sort of magic item that grants +4 AC
There is also an ability in the works (I'm not even going to post the draft, it's quite rough) which gives an additional benefit to fighting defensively, which I hope will be enough to raise AC to a slightly better level (a light armor fighter is my target).
Bottom line: is this a bad direction to start working in? I know there is little magic in the core RAW world that increases movement speed, but hell there's Haste, and Expeditious Retreat (I see nothing wrong with allowing a nerfed version of that spell be a touch spell).
Edit: A few more of the riskier decisions (IMHO) that I've been making:
1) I was thinking about starting with four or five weapon proficiencies (dagger, quarterstaff, club, guantlets, brass knuckles) and giving the player the option to (every X levels) gain a new proficiency, and treat the new weapon as a monk weapon. All of the starting weapons are treated as special monk weapons.
2) I wanted to give some sort of additional bonuses to dodge when fighting defensively or taking the total defense action. My current thought was to grant an additional one-half of existing dodge bonuses (including the bonus for fighting defensively or total defense) in addition to existing bonus and then possibly progressing that to simply adding the dodge bonuses a second time. My worry with a mechanic like this is that it makes it harder to deal burst damage: if most of your AC comes from fighting defensively you're never going to use flurry of blows against any even slightly threatening opponent. That might not be a bad thing. I would really like to figure out a way to give them more AC without just giving a flat bonus, a non-Dex ability bonus, or forcing them to fight defensively all the time.
Anyway: questions, comments, criticisms and playful ribaldry all welcome!
I'm currently messing around with some homebrewing, and I was fooling about with Monk as a starting point, because I've always found monk to be strangely balanced, and a very specific feel of monk which does not necessarily fit with my own. I personally never really liked the idea of granting bonus AC equal to Wisdom (just my own silly quirks), so I'm thinking about doing something quite stupid instead. I also removed the flat AC bonus per 5 levels. There is a line of red text: I'm not sure if I want to keep this portion of the rule.
Fast Paced (Ex):
The monk has spent years training to be the quickest, be it in a monastery, or on the streets, always scrambling for survival. Not only is the Monk faster than the average person, but he or she also knows how to use that speed in combat, darting in and out of range, dodging attacks at the last second using hardened reflexes.
The Monk gains a +1 dodge bonus to AC per level per 10ft of move speed above their racial base move speed, provided this bonus does not exceed his or her monk level. This includes bonus move speed provided from an outside source, however this bonus cannot exceed his or her monk level (max +10 at 10th level).
In addition, a monk may gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC/10ft of total move speed by forgoing a move action in a round, provided that this bonus does not exceed his or her monk level. The monk may not fight defensively in the same round as he or she forgoes his or her move action in a round in this way.
These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks but not when the monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.
The bonus move speed progression is as follows:
{table]1|+10
2|+10
3|+10
4|+20
5|+20
6|+20
7|+30
8|+30
9|+30
10|+40
11|+40
12|+40
13|+50
14|+50
15|+50
16|+60
17|+60
18|+60
19|+70
20|+70
[/table]
Given other features of the class, I'm assuming that most players will take an ability score distribution something like:
Str:15 Dex:17 Con:13 Int:12 Wis:10 Cha:10
Total AC:
At level 5: 10+4(Dex) + 3(total Move Speed bonuses) + 1(Magic Item) = 18
(Assumptions: +1 to Dex at level 4, Some sort of magic item to enhance movement by +10ft or buff from ally, some sort of magic item to grant +1 AC)
At level 10: 10 + 5(Dex) + 6(total move speed bonuses) + 2(magic items) = 23
(Assumptions: Dex enhancing items up to +2 bonus to dex score, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +20ft, some sort of magic item that grants +2 AC)
At level 15: 10 + 7(Dex) + 9(total move speed bonuses) + 3(magic items) = 29
(Assumptions: +1 to dex at level 8 and at level 12, Dex enhancing items up to +4 bonus to dex, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +40ft, some sort of magic item that grants +3 AC)
At level 20: 10 + 8(Dex) + 12(total move speed bonuses) + 4(magic items/potions etc) = 34
(Assumptions: Dex enhancing items up to +6 bonus to Dex Score, better movement enhancement magic item or buff from ally +50ft, some sort of magic item that grants +4 AC
There is also an ability in the works (I'm not even going to post the draft, it's quite rough) which gives an additional benefit to fighting defensively, which I hope will be enough to raise AC to a slightly better level (a light armor fighter is my target).
Bottom line: is this a bad direction to start working in? I know there is little magic in the core RAW world that increases movement speed, but hell there's Haste, and Expeditious Retreat (I see nothing wrong with allowing a nerfed version of that spell be a touch spell).
Edit: A few more of the riskier decisions (IMHO) that I've been making:
1) I was thinking about starting with four or five weapon proficiencies (dagger, quarterstaff, club, guantlets, brass knuckles) and giving the player the option to (every X levels) gain a new proficiency, and treat the new weapon as a monk weapon. All of the starting weapons are treated as special monk weapons.
2) I wanted to give some sort of additional bonuses to dodge when fighting defensively or taking the total defense action. My current thought was to grant an additional one-half of existing dodge bonuses (including the bonus for fighting defensively or total defense) in addition to existing bonus and then possibly progressing that to simply adding the dodge bonuses a second time. My worry with a mechanic like this is that it makes it harder to deal burst damage: if most of your AC comes from fighting defensively you're never going to use flurry of blows against any even slightly threatening opponent. That might not be a bad thing. I would really like to figure out a way to give them more AC without just giving a flat bonus, a non-Dex ability bonus, or forcing them to fight defensively all the time.
Anyway: questions, comments, criticisms and playful ribaldry all welcome!