[PrC] Juppon Gatana- Fallen Priest

[polaris1110]

Hey guys, Last week I had the idea of creating prestige classes based on the Juppon Gatana from Ruroni Kenshin. There are going to be 10-12 classes over the next couple of weeks. This class is based on Anji. Enjoy.

Fallen Priest
In the center of a church turned to ash a man collapses, screaming at the heavens. How could the Gods allow this to happen?

A fallen priest is not someone who fell out of the grace of God nor did the person even have to worship a God. A fallen priest is characterized by his hate for the Gods and his wanting of revenge against them. A fallen priest has been harmed by the Gods in such a way that he will never be able to forgive them. It his personal duty to destroy the God that harmed him and everyone associated. He will routinely attack churches that worship the deity he is against. Many fallen priests have called for war against all Gods, sacking all churches and killing all churchgoers they see. The fallen priest has a soft side and is usually extremely kind to children and other people who can’t protect themselves.
The fallen priest does not join with others unless they will help him in his quest against the Gods. He will not join a group of adventurers with a cleric and, depending on whom the cleric worships, may try to kill the cleric.

Game Rule Information
Hit Die: d8

Requirements
Alignment: Lawful evil
BAB: +7
Skills: Knowledge (Religion) (13 ranks)
Feat: Stunning Fist, Improved Unarmed Strike

Class Skills
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier
Class Skills: The fallen priest’s class skills are Knowledge (religion), Jump, Listen, Spot, Hide, Move Silently, Swim, Tumble, and Concentration.

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

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Monk Abilities

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Futae no Kiwami

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Kiwami Hazushi

6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+5|

7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+5|Giant Stature

8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+6|

9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+6|

10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+7|Touate[/table]

Class Features
All of the following are features of the Fallen Priest prestige class:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Fallen Priest gains no proficiency with weapon or armor.

Monk Abilities
A Fallen Priest adds his class level to his monk level to determine his class based AC bonus, his unarmed damage, his unarmored speed bonus, and the number of daily attempts of his stunning fist feat. If he has no monk levels he gains the AC bonus, unarmed damage, and unarmored speed bonus of a monk whose level equals his fallen priest level but he can’t add his wisdom bonus to his AC.

Futae no Kiwami (Ex)
At 2nd level, Fallen Priests can throw a punch that erodes a person’s natural defense. As a standard action, the Fallen Priest may expend one use of his Stunning Fist ability to make an attack. If it hits, the attack does double damage. Using this ability multiple times per day is strenuous for the Fallen Priest – each use after the second causes 1d4 non-lethal damage. The Futae no Kiwami ignores the first 20 points of hardness against unattended objects.

Kiwami Hazushi (Ex)
At 5th level, a Fallen Priest can add +5 to any save roll, 3 times a day as an immediate action. This technique comes from the Fallen Priest’s ability to keep his body finely tuned. This attack causes the Fallen Priest to expend one use of his Stunning Fist ability.

Giant Stature (Ex)
At 7th level, a Fallen Priest has developed his musculature to a near superhuman level. From now on, he counts as though he was one size category larger than he really is if doing so would be beneficial to him. This acts in all ways as the Powerful Build racial ability.

Touate (Ex)
At 10th level, a Fallen Priest can use a sword to focus the energy of the Futae no Kiwami. The Fallen Priest plunges his sword into the earth emitting a burst of energy. He makes a single attack against each opponent within a 15 foot radius doing 3x his normal melee damage if the attack hits. He may only attack targets standing on the ground. In addition to the damage, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 17 plus the Fallen Priest’s Wisdom modifier) or be knocked prone. When used against unattended objects, the Touate ignores the first 20 points of hardness. Each use of this ability expends two uses of the Fallen Priest’s Stunning Fist per day.

I would like to thank PhoeKun for introducing me to D&D and other various and sundry help with this class.

[Hoorex]

My favorite character from the series! Good Work!

[Assasinater]

You should add the anti-Futae no Kiwami, which is used on self to counter the attack (though you should come up with a better name for that :).

And, Futae no Kiwami should do much better than just double the damage. It should at least ignore hardness and damage reduction as an addition to the double damage.

[polaris1110]

The Kiwami Hazushi is the anti-Futae no Kiwami, although it isn't apparent, and I did want to make the Futae no Kiwami ignore the first 20 points of hardness like the Touate does.

[Assasinater]

You may want to change Kiwami Hazushi to require an expenditure of a stunning fist, just like Futae no Kiwami, and upgrade Futae no Kiwami to what you said. And the strain from the technique should be heightened as well, it should be much more than 1d4 damage.

Anyway, great job, and I wait for your other prestige classes.

[polaris1110]

Good ideas, thanks for that. I am going to make Kiwami Hazushi cost a stunning fist but feel that the strain damage is good. I mean it is costing a stunning fist in addition to damage.

[kellandros]

Should the kindness to children and the weak be a part of the class flavor? I would think it is (in the inspiration case) tied to the reason why they have rejected their faith. They continue to believe and work toward their personal cause no matter what opposition or tragedies befall them.

If they are no longer a priest, they should no longer have access to their former clerical abilities(similar to fallen palidin). Perhaps need some method to replace those levels?

[polaris1110]

He doesn't have any clerical abilities. He's coming up from the monk standpoint, it would be near impossible to create him from a cleric. He's also not getting anything special from the Gods so there is nothing for them to take away.
As for the flavoring, I put that stuff in there because its important to the character from the show, which is the entire inspiration for the class.

[kellandros]

Sorry, saw the word priest and assumed. Everything else did say monk about it.

Perhaps name the class Rockbreaker(if I recall, it was a very similar sounding term in Japanese, and Sannosuke originally thought thats what he called himself)? The tragedy and abandonment of his vows is more personal to the character. All the class mechanics would be identical. Then could also add some flavor to qualifying for the class(similar to the training Sannosuke underwent).

Anji himself could then be written up as an example of the class(Monk 10/Fallen Priest 10 or such).

[polaris1110]

The whole class is based around Anji that is why I put that stuff in there. This whole thing is pretty much an example of Anji if he were a D&D character. As for the name of the class, in the show he is referred to as both a fallen priest and a fallen monk, and I chose to name it fallen priest because it had more of kick to it. Rockbreaker says nothing about the religious aspect of the class, which there is, even if its just that he is going a gainst the Gods.

[elliott20]

I like this class.

I would like to add some suggestions on top of the pile.

1. the first ability is cool. The ability to overcome damage reduction rocks. But I feel that this ability should have a growth effect to it. Perhaps something like, ignores 5 DR every 2 levels or maybe even something like, "unarmed strike counts as cold iron / mithril / adamatine" as you level up.

2. Tuoate is a great ability. I would think though, that the save should be a reflex one or a range trip attack. (in effect, Anji gets a free trip attempt on everybody within his radius when he does this.)

3. I think a mechanic that allows you to trade monk levels for this would be appropriate, kind of how like a paladin going to black guard can trade levels in to get more power.