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Crystall_Myr
2007-03-07, 01:07 AM
I had this idea running through my mind, and when I saw Crazedloon's version of this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35917) I decided to "borrow" from it a bit and change it to fit what I see it as.

The Martial Artist
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Many fables of legends and adventures speak of the monk who fights with not but his hands and feet, and destroys a dragon with sheer mastery of the body. However, even more often is the tale of a man or woman who has mastered the art of the blade to a degree that it could only be considered godly. These, who have taken a worldy weapon, and shaped its power to become a gateway into the untapped power of mortality, are the martial artists.
From soldiers to the wandering mercenary, martial artists are a common, but oft-forgotten class of warriors. This is because, despite their power, that most martial artists seek only to improve, not flaunt what they already have.

Age
Same as fighters.

Starting Gold
4d4 x 10 (av. 100g), same as bards.

Alignment
Any, unlike the monk, the martial artist only requires on to improve on what they know, and sometimes this may be a completely chaotic fighting style. There is no typical alignment for one, because for every just and right martial artist, there is one who kills for no reason other then enjoyment and suffering.

Hit Die
d8

Class Skills
Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha) Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points
4 + Int modifier (x 4 at first level)


{table]Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special
1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Mastered weapon, mastered armor, technique
2nd | +1| +3 | +3 | +0 | Technique
3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +1 |
4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 |
5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Technique
6th | +4 | +5 | +5 | +2 |
7th | +5 | +5 | +5 | +2 | Weapon power
8th | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +2 | Technique
9th | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +3 |Graceful shielding
10th | +7/+2 | +7 | +7 | +3 |
11th | +8/+3 | +7 | +7 | +3 | Technique
12th | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +4 |
13th | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +4 | Graceful warrior
14th | +10/+5 | +9 | +9 | +4 | Technique, weapon power
15th | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +9 | +5 |
16th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +5 |
17th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +5 | Technique
18th | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +11 | +6 |
19th | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +11 | +6 | Graceful infliction
20th | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +12 | +6 | Technique[/table]Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Martial Artists are proficient with all simple weapons.

Martial Artists are not proficient with any armor or shields.

When wearing any type of armor or shield, a martial artist loses access to Techniques and all the graceful abilities.

Mastered Weapon
At first level, a martial artist chooses a single simple or martial of her choice to be her mastered weapon. This is a specific weapon, so if a martial artist chooses the longsword she's holding, she won't gain the bonus from a different longsword. She gains proficiency with that weapon, as well as Weapon Focus for that weapon as a bonus feat.

If a martial artist chooses exotic mastery as her first-level technique, she may choose an exotic weapon as her mastered weapon instead.

A martial artist may take eight hours of training to switch their mastered weapon to a different one, but only if it's the same type of weapon as the original. (She may not, for example, switch from a +1 longsword to a +1 greatsword, but she can switch to a +1 flaming longsword.)

Mastered Armor
At first level, a martial artist chooses either light or no armor to be her mastered armor. If she chooses light armor, she gains proficiency with light armor, bucklers, and light shields, and also does not lose any class abilities for using those. If she chooses no armor, she gains a bonus to her armor class equal to her charisma modifier. (Like the monk ability, but with charisma.)

Technique
At first level, second level, and every three levels after that, a martial artist may choose one of the below techniques. These are rendered ineffective if the martial artist is weaing any armor or shields.

Exotic Mastery: 1st level only. The martial artist may choose an exotic weapon as her mastered weapon.

Flurry of Blows: So long as she is using her mastered weapon, a martial artist may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the martial artist might make before her next action. When she reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. She must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows. See the monk ability in the PhB

Improved Flurry: Requires Flurry of Blows and 11th level or higher. The martial artist may make on additional attack during a flurry of blows.

Greater Flurry: Requires Improved Flurry and 17th level or higher. When using a flurry, you may make a number of extra attacks past the normal at your max base attack bonus. For each extra attack, you take a -2 penalty plus another -2 penalty of each extra attack before it. You may only make a maximum number of attacks equal to your base attack bonus.

Relentless Flurry: Requires Improved Flurry and 17th level or higher. When using a flurry you may take a -2 to all attacks in the round. If you you may make an extra attack at the end. If that attacks successfully hits, you may make an addition attack, and repeat this proccess until you fail to hit or make a number of attacks that round equal to your base attack bonus minus five.

Forceful Blow: If a martial artist take a -5 penalty to her next attack, she may attempt a forceful blow. If it succeeds, her opponent moves back 5 ft. for every five damage (lethal or nonlethal) the attack deals and is knocked prone.

Parry: The martial artist may choose to "delay" any number of her attacks and turn it into a parry. If she does, she may use an immediate action in response to one of her opponent's attacks. If she does, she makes the delayed attack roll opposed to the opponent's attack roll. If she wins, both attacks are neutralized.

Counterattack: Requires 11th level or higher and Parry. Whenever a martial artist wins an opposed attack roll, she may use that attack roll to attack her opponent immediatly after she parries the attack.

Sidestep: Every time an attack misses the martial artist by five or more, she may take a five-foot step as a swift action. If the attack was part of a charge or a bull-rush, she may switch squares with that opponent instead.

Improved Sidestep: When a martial artist sidestep an attack, the attacker becomes flat-footed, and she may make a single attack on him at a -5 penalty.

Twin Mastery: 1st level only. A martial artist may choose two weapons as her mastered weapons instead, but she only gains bonuses for them when she wields both at the same time.

Combat Efficiency: The martial artist gains a bonus feat, as the fighter ability. She may treat martial artist levels as fighter levels for determining preresiquites for the feats Improved Weapon Focus, Improved Weapon Specialization, and Weapon Specialization, but only for her mastered weapon.

Weapon Power (Ex)
At seventh level, and every seven levels after that, a martial artist treats her mastered weapon's damage as though it were one size catigory larger then it is.

Graceful Shielding
At 9th level a martial artist may add her charisma bonus to her saving throws.This is rendered ineffective if the martial artist is weaing any armor or shields.

Graceful Warrior
At 13th level, a martial artist may add her charisma bonus to all attack rolls with her mastered weapon. This is rendered ineffective if the martial artist is weaing any armor or shields.

Graceful Infliction
At 19th level, a martial artist may add her charisma bonus to damage rolls with her mastered weapon. This is rendered ineffective if the martial artist is weaing any armor or shields.
[hr]
Well? Overpowered :smalleek:? Underpowered :smallfrown:? Just right :smallbiggrin:? Any techniques you guys can think of?

jlousivy
2007-03-07, 02:13 AM
counter attack seems a bit.. too powerful... i don't know why

adding str and cha to all attack/dmg rolls is a bit much

I've made a class before that allows levels to count as fighter levels for feats, and it was shot down, seeing how those couple feats are one of the few things fighter has going for them (granted they are crappy feats)

side-step- swift actions are on your turn, so it would be an immediate action

Greater Flurry- no... -5 on all attacks for 5 more attacks? that seems a bit too much, especially since you can add your cha bonus to hit/dmg as written

I love the concept.

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-07, 02:18 AM
Heh, I knew it would end up being overpowered, that's the way I am.

Perhaps adding charasma instead of strength for damage, and making greater flurry a penalty equal to the total number of attacks? (IE: For five extra attacks at level 20, it takes -10, and for 10 extra attacks (the max) it's -15)

I had the same worries for counterattack, but I'm not sure how to do it right, mayhaps make you "forfiet" an attack in order to counterattack one attack?

jlousivy
2007-03-07, 02:29 AM
forfeiting an attack is the best idea for counterattack, however i think it should only deflect an attack, not cancel and hit them

Greater Flurry maybe have it be relentless furry- if all attacks hit, you may keep making additional attacks at a cumulative -2 until one misses

Graceful line- techniques instead possibly?

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-07, 02:54 AM
Perhaps make a technique called parry, which deflects an attack, then make a follow-up technique that lets you attack in response?

Relently Flurry is a nice concept, but I really like the idea of a, say, archer, firing off 15 arrows in one round. :smallsmile: Here's an idea...

Greater Flurry: Requires Improved Flurry and 17th level or higher. When using a flurry, you may make a number of extra attacks past the normal. For each extra attack, you take a -2 penalty plus another -2 penalty of each extra attack before it. You may only make a maximum number of attacks equal to your base attack bonus.

Relentless Flurry: Requires Improved Flurry and 17th level or higher. When using a flurry you may take a -2 to all attacks in the round. If you you may make an extra attack at the end. If that attacks successfully hits, you may make an addition attack, and repeat this proccess until you fail to hit or make a number of attacks that round equal to your base attack bonus.

I'm not so sure about making the graceful abilities techniques, as my opinion is that all martial artists are graceful.

This is all for tonight, but I have an idea for a technique that will take a lot of work for tomorrow.

jlousivy
2007-03-07, 03:14 AM
Greater Flurry: Requires Improved Flurry and 17th level or higher. When using a flurry, you may make a number of extra attacks past the normal. For each extra attack, you take a -2 penalty plus another -2 penalty of each extra attack before it. You may only make a maximum number of attacks equal to your base attack bonus.

i could be reading htis incorrectly, but standard 5 attacks, but this basicly grants 10 additional attacks, near the end it pretty much says: "hey! roll a d20 a few times and if you get a natural 20 you'll hit" so base of
15/15/15/10/5/3/1/-1/-3/-5/-7/-11/-13/-15/-17
while i know there are class combinations that give you a much higher number of attacks, and probably with better +to hit

Relentless Furry- if the penalty is not cumulative, possibly make the max bonus attacks 5 instead of 10 as a balancing factor

skills: bluff and diplomacy, why would a martial artist have these skills?

Technique: Bonus Feat from the list of fighter feats assuming you meet the prerequisites,

Question1: if you choose no armour, you gain your cha bonus to armour-why(fluff)
Question2: as written, you may choose no armour, but then take armour proficiency light and still attain the benefits.
Question3: does monk's armour bonus stack with this?
--if so, duelist+monk+martial artist for int+wis+cha for ac bonus :-)

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-07, 05:08 PM
For greater flurry, the "flavor" I'm going for is that of a spray of wild attacks. My thought was that the extra attacks were at your max attack bonus, meaning...

15/15/15/13/11/10/9/7/5/5/3/1/-1/-3/-5

But that may be too overpowered... hm...

For relentless, yes, that should work well. (Max attacks equal to BaB-5)

Diplomacy: Fighters get it, I don't see this as being any different. I mean, charismatic warriors? Of course they should be able to talk nicely.

Bluff: This is mostly for feinting.

Hmmm, fighter bonus feat as a technique... Yeah, that does sound good. I'll add that.

1: The martial artist uses charisma, force of personality, and grace, in order to fight with a man-made weapon so efficiently. Wheras a monk uses wisdom, awareness, and strength of will in order to fight with their fists. Also, I like charisma. :smalltongue:

2: That... is a very good point :smallredface:, I'll change that to. Thank you.

3: By the current rules involving bonuses, it does... but is that really too overpowered?

EDIT: On the issue of Graceful Infliction, I could take that one out and leave the other two in, perhaps replace it with a different graceful thing maybe?

EDIT #2: Here's a 17th level+ technique that I've been dwelling on. I'm working on not making it overpowered.

Flash: Requires a dexterity of 15 or greater, and 17th level or higher. The martial artist may move at a level of speed for a short time that almost looks like teleporting. As a swift action, she may slow time down and take an extra move or standard action, interrupting all other events happening at the moment. If she takes a standard action, the strain on her body causes 5 nonlethal damage. All attacks made while using this ability cause your opponent to be flat-footed, unless they have the uncanny dodge ability.
A martial artist may use this ability as an immediate action, if she does, she takes an additional 5 nonlethal damage, and if she moves during it, all attacks aimed at her square miss unless the DM rules that the attack was moving fast enough (such as a ray of light).
If two martial artists use this abilty at the same time, they act in order of initiative, and they're attacks against each other do not cause the other to be flat-footed.



I'm thinking of increasing the nonlethal damage, but 5 seemed a good place to start. Though I admit a free haste every round is pretty scary, I don't want this ability to have a number of times per day thing, as I've been trying to avoid that.

EDIT # 3: I changed Weapon Power to 7th level and every seven levels after that, as I thought three size boosts at level 20 was too much.

jlousivy
2007-03-08, 01:02 AM
fighters don't get diplomacy..

Flash... the wording---slowing down time-no. that is magic, this person is a martial artist and is just physically moving really quickly.
I can agree with a 'swift action' granting an additional standard action(no point saying move or standard action seeing how either can be done with a standard action) at the expense of his body(i would say 1 con damage?). And a 'cooldown' period. If she chooses not to abide by the cooldown.... it is increasingly more taxing on her body. Then you can create a feat/technique? that reduces the cooldown.

edit: 1- i see grace as dexterity, but ok
3- not overpowering at all, if someone goes and dips in all 3 classes, (and meeting the qualifications for duelist) they can go ahead and do it

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-08, 01:47 AM
Right, sorry. Monks get diplomacy.

Slowing time is just the way it came out, because that's how it feels to the user, but I can change it a bit.

Here's the things I want for flash
-No penalty (or a very small one) to just add a move action, because really it's just a 30 ft. speed boost (or a free crossbow reload, weapon draw, and other random stuff). This is the reason it's "Move or standard action", because one hurts you and the other doesn't.
-Nonlethal damage, not constitution damage, because constitution goes away too fast and comes back to slowly. Mayhaps make it 1 nonlethal damage for every 2 HD your character has? (This means 10 damage at 20th level)
-The ability to, at a price, use it as an immediate action.

A cooldown I don't like that much, but if it can be ignored (for a penalty), and if it only applied to extra standard actions, then I would accept it. Maybe 4 rounds, minus 1 round for every three levels past 17th you are. And, if you ignore the cooldown, you take an additional (10 x the number of rounds before it cools down) damage.

So here's how it works...
---Extra move action deals 1 nonlethal damage.
---Extra standard action deals 1 nonlethal damage for every 2 HD you have, and gives you five cooldown points, minus one for every three levels past 17th you are.
---If you take an extra standard action while you have cooldown points, you take an additional 10 damage for each point on you, and you gain another (5-1 for every 3 levels past 17) cooldown points.
---Extra attacks given by flash deny your opponent's dexterity bonus.
---You may choose to use flash as an immediate action, but if you do you take another 1 nonlethal damage for every 2 HD you have.
---If two martial artists use this abilty at the same time, they act in order of initiative, and they're attacks against each other do not cause the other to have their dexterity bonus denied..



Grace can either be dexterity or charisma, but I found a new way to describe it...

Intelligence-based spells and abilties are studied, and can often be tought by someone.
Wisdom-based spells and abilities focus on the world around the user, and either use heightened senses or shape the world around them.
Charisma-based spells and abilities look inside for their power, and are granted by an inner power that cannot be taught.

Just look at Wizards (Spellbooks), Clerics (Deities), and Sorcerers (Inner power).

jlousivy
2007-03-08, 01:57 AM
by the time you attain this ability... 1 point non-lethal is a joke
and the reason i say no immediate action... is because then you'll never be full-attacked

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-08, 02:35 AM
The whole point of only doing 1 nl damage is so that it doesn't hurt the character to use it a few times to speed up something, but you can't just speed boost all day.

I suppose that's true, alright, no immediate actions.

jlousivy
2007-03-08, 02:56 AM
you can't speed boost all day? you regain 1hp(non-lethal) / level each hour, so every hour 17 times... 5 points wouldn't be bad, especially since at lvl 17 (lets be mean and say he only has a +3 bonus even with items) and he got a 3 on all hp rolls (except first). lvl 17 = 107 hp so just taking 1 hp away for a free move/standard action is a REAL bargain.

Also, you may want to have the martial artists move speed increase a bit over time so that there is more of a justification for the sudden jump in his speed ability


edit: so what does everyone else think of this class?

Caewil
2007-03-08, 04:40 AM
Well, it looks okay. It depends on what you're comparing it to.

If it's to the ToB, it's about balanced. Compared to the other melee classes, it's slightly overpowered.

Crystall_Myr
2007-03-09, 01:14 AM
Ah, but it's not 1hp for a standard action, it would be 8 hp for a standard action at 17th level. From what I see, if you used a standard every round for an hour, you would take 2,863 nonlethal damage. If you used an extra move action every round for an hour, it would be 343 nonlethal damage.

Let's look at a level 20 martial artist using this. Let's say he averages to 10 health at every level, giving him 200 hp, and assume that the average encounter lasts 1 minute (or six rounds). If he uses an extra move action half the battle, and an extra standard action the other half, he takes 33 nonlethal damage. If every average encounter should take 20% of the character's max recources, that would mean taking 40 damage. He ends the battle with 160 health and 33 nonlethal damage, which might as well be 127 health in most cases. If he kept this up, he would only be able to do one more battle like this before he would have less then 73 health. Seeing as most people should be able to do four battles without dropping, reducing it to two in order to use this ability seems fair to me.

@Arachnid: ToB is overpowered? Or is it just slightly more powerful then most? I don't have it, so I wouldn't know. But do you have any ideas for improvements?

[hr]

I'm going to be gone till sunday, but please throw around some ideas while I'm gone.

jlousivy
2007-03-09, 11:55 AM
Good good, that seems appropriate (however remember non-lethal heals much faster so i don't really count that as resources except in a battle)