My preference for mundane(ish) class design philosophy

[gooddragon1]

What initiated this: I was looking for a homebrew of Haki (from One Piece), but nothing much showed up initially (one result in Italian).

Affix to the end of each sentence acronym: IMO (in my opinion)
I just personally prefer that the difference between mundane and magical is the expenditure of resources. I'm fine with exceptions, but I'd prefer that mundane be able to do what it does all the time whereas magical must expend resources. Spell slots are certainly more powerful in my opinion. What I mean by this is that I prefer that a class get a static yet improving bonus rather than one they have to activate. So, I hate rage, but I love unarmed monk damage improvements. At will abilities are fine, and perhaps a few (veeeery few) x/day abilities, but most everything else should be available all the time. I know that some people find it boring, I just hate that it seems to be the norm for so much of a mix of resource management for almost all classes.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm going to have to think of a homebrew that uses the two common kinds of haki, a feat for the third, and perhaps the sky walk ability for air combat/jumping... of course without the resource management I despise so much :)

[Karl Aegis]

Would you be opposed to a feat that gave a dodge bonus to AC and reflex saves based on a spot/sense motive check? Say +1 for 15 or less, +2 for 16-25, +3 for 26-30, +4 for 31-35 and +5 for 36 or higher? The numbers probably aren't high enough to matter in most situations, but it is something that is somewhat like observation haki. Most mundanes don't have enough skill points to spend on spot and most mundanes don't have spot on their class list, but you can get sense motive as a class skill with Martial Study and a Setting Sun Maneuver.

Better yet, make it a soulmeld that can be bound to your brow chakra. +2 bonus +2 for each essentia invested.

[Flickerdart]

I feel like Rage is actually a pretty good example of a mundane power, daily uses limit aside. The barbarian temporarily pushes beyond his limits, but suffers consequences and can't Rage again until he has shaken off his fatigue through a short rest. A character who could never exceed his limits would be dull!

[Eloel]

I feel like Rage is actually a pretty good example of a mundane power, daily uses limit aside. The barbarian temporarily pushes beyond his limits, but suffers consequences and can't Rage again until he has shaken off his fatigue through a short rest. A character who could never exceed his limits would be dull!

I like the Berserker Strength barbarian variant from PHB2 for the reasons stated - it's "at-will", and still gives the rage feeling.

[gooddragon1]

Would you be opposed to a feat that gave a dodge bonus to AC and reflex saves based on a spot/sense motive check? Say +1 for 15 or less, +2 for 16-25, +3 for 26-30, +4 for 31-35 and +5 for 36 or higher? The numbers probably aren't high enough to matter in most situations, but it is something that is somewhat like observation haki. Most mundanes don't have enough skill points to spend on spot and most mundanes don't have spot on their class list, but you can get sense motive as a class skill with Martial Study and a Setting Sun Maneuver.

Better yet, make it a soulmeld that can be bound to your brow chakra. +2 bonus +2 for each essentia invested.

Don't know about soulmelds and don't have the book. I do like skill checks though...

Edit: This may get complicated and take longer than I thought. Probably not allowed to discuss homebrew here though.

[Eloel]

Probably not allowed to discuss homebrew here though.
It's not that it's not allowed, it's just that there'd be more meaningful contributions in the homebrew section.

[Psyren]

I think mundane can have limited resources too, just make them per encounter (or per-minute if you want less time abstraction.) This lets them get slightly more powerful effects than at-will stuff because you're still preventing spammability, but in aggregate they can still do their thing whether there are 5 encounters/day or 50.

PoW/ToB maneuvers are a good example of this - if you don't use the recovery mechanic, typically you're out of a particular move for the rest of the combat. If you do, you're typically moved into a release/recover cycle that makes your output more manageable for the GM challenge-wise.

Pathfinder Unchained will be coming out with a "stamina" system that purports to give most mundanes a "per-encounter" resource that will allow them to do more interesting things than full-attack every turn or try a maneuver that might fail - you may want to borrow that as an alternative to using Strikes, Boosts and Counters outright.

[Flickerdart]

I like the Berserker Strength barbarian variant from PHB2 for the reasons stated - it's "at-will", and still gives the rage feeling.
Isn't that the one that triggers whenever you are at under 5HP/level? That doesn't seem like enough control, unlike saying "I use my super duper power move!" at a critical situation. Plus you get into weird situations where raging turns off the rage since you are now above 5HP/level.

Paladin actually has a good example in spells like divine sacrifice - damaging yourself to damage an enemy more. A class of this type might have abilities like "extra damage but fatigued for 1 round" to create a cool-down mechanic that's much less arbitrary than ToB style "this maneuver is now expended until you re-ready it." You could also have Body Fuel style abilities where you burn your own ability scores for temporary benefits, which creates a daily limit without straight up saying "this is your limit for the day."

[iDesu]

Isn't that the one that triggers whenever you are at under 5HP/level? That doesn't seem like enough control, unlike saying "I use my super duper power move!" at a critical situation. Plus you get into weird situations where raging turns off the rage since you are now above 5HP/level.

That's not a worry with Berserker Strength, it doesn't add constitution. You get just a strength bonus, save bonus, damage reduction and an AC penalty.

[gooddragon1]

It's not that it's not allowed, it's just that there'd be more meaningful contributions in the homebrew section.

In that case, and so I don't forget my basic notes... here's a teaser :P

Haki skill checks are performed once per day. Rokushiki skill checks are performed upon usage.
All skill check DCs are increased while in an Anti-magic field

Armament Haki [Concentration] - Improve damage of attacks, gain natural armor/potentially damage reduction, bonuses to Fortitude saves and Will Saves
Observation Haki [Sense Motive] - Improve attack rolls, gain dodge bonus to AC, bonuses to Reflex saves, potentially Aura Sight (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/auraSight.htm) (no daze chance) with distance dependent on check result and intervening obstacles

Geppo [Jump] - Jump checks to move on air (actual "flight" at 7th, long distance "flight" 11th, second jump for starters)
Tekkai [Concentration] - Temporary Hitpoints
Shigan [Concentration] - Bypass damage reduction and hardness/natural armor bonuses and armor bonuses with a weapon
Rankyaku [Jump] - Deal area of effect damage with a weapon
Soru [Jump] - Improve movement speed
Kami-e [Balance] - Gain a miss chance against attacks

Epic Features
Rokuogan - Attack of pure destructive energy converting all weapon damage into untyped damage, damage dealt by this attack is unaffected by regeneration and resists healing.
Conqueror's Haki - Enemies must save or be Dazed for 1 round and Put to Sleep if lower in HD

This is not finalized, this is just my notes for now

[Tvtyrant]

Within reasonable limits Psionics already patterns physical abilities. Using only powers that mimic physical actions, like Hustle, you can just pretend that your power points are a measure of stamina and you wear yourself out as you fight. Certain actions, like taking 1d4 extra turns in 6 seconds, drain a lot of stamina while others, like flexing to gain a small amount of damage reduction, taking very little stamina.

It would be kind of fun to take all of the powers you can easily attribute to physical actions and make a full BaB class that gets just those powers. Timeless Body would be the strongest probably, while Evade Burst is on the weak end.