Wufflykins
2016-03-04, 07:56 AM
Way of the Black Tiger – Second Edit
The Tiger's natural grace fluidity hides it's ferocious power and dominance, this style captures the overwhelming power, grace, and ferocity of its namesake. Practitioners use acrobatic footwork and strong attacks to overwhelm foes, sacrificing defence and relying rather on brutal unreasoning force to carry the day.
Monks of the Black Tiger rely upon their sudden and explosive force delivery to be dominating, powerful and larger than life; intimidating prey and achieving victory through feral but experienced assaults.
Unlike many other creatures, who would fight to the death over a kill, when a tiger crosses paths with another tiger while hunting, they often share the meal together. Also, when several tigers are present at a kill, the males will wait for females and cubs to eat first. Just as Tigers, Monks of the Black Tiger are creatures of duality; their practices and teachings typical promote levity, peace and generosity; however when the threshold of peace is crossed one can expect a savagery rivaling that of majestic tiger itself.
I love the idea of a more 'brawler' style monk without the Drunken Monk flavour and the Way of the Open Hand always seemed a bit too tranquil.
The key ideas behind this brand of monk are: Fast, Aggressive, Intimidating. I also wanted them to adopt the kind of dualistic nature the tiger.
3rd Level:
Tiger Aspect
You channel your ki to invoke the aspect of the tiger, provided that you are wielding no weapons, shields or armour. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and power.
You can use a bonus action to start the Tiger Aspect in combat or out of combat, which lasts for 1 minute.
You can also dismiss the Tiger aspect at any time you choose (no action required).
While your Tiger Aspect is active, you gain the following benefits:
You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Strength Modifier.
You may choose to have your unarmed attacks deal slashing damage instead of bludgeoning.
You have add your proficiency to Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, doubling your proficiency bonus for any skill you are already proficient in.
You gain the ability to pounce. If the Monk moves at least 15 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with an unarmed attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
Notes on Tiger Aspect:
It's limited to unarmed combat only; I think this helps balanced it's power against the other options at this level but I'm not sure the balance is completely there yet. It's meant to be useful outside combat as well, for a series of acrobatic or athletic challenges
I'm not sure about having an AC bonus but half-damage was too much and no defensive bonus felt too weak; I'd take suggestions for replacing this as well.
6th Level:
Roar of the Khan
As your foe is torn apart by your slashing flurry, you channel your ki into a guttural roar which shatters the chaos of the battlefield. Your enemies shriek in fear at their ally’s grisly demise. If you reduce a living opponent to 0 or fewer hit points during your turn, you can initiate this roar at the cost of 2 ki points. Forcing all your enemies within a 30-foot radius to make successful wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you for 1 minute. If a foe ends it's turn more than 30 feet away from the Monk it may attempt another wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.
This ability can only be used once per short rest.
A tiger's intimidating roar has the power to paralyze the animal that hears it and that even includes experienced human trainers. So as an ability I love this, might need to be balanced for range - but a ki cost and short rest requirement I think places it in the realm of 'playable'.
11th Level:
Feral Tempest.
With a deft sweep of your leg or a hurricane of frenzied swings, you strike each foe nearby. You can spend 2 Ki as an Action to make a single unarmed strike against each creature within your reach making a separate attack roll against each opponent. Each creature successfully hit must make a strength saving throw or be knocked back 10 feet.
I like this ability but it does feel a bit bland - I am however trying to balance it against Open Hand's Tranquility feature (which seems a bit rubbish). At the moment it feels like a slightly weaker 'thunderwave'.
17th Level:
Tiger Fang.
Your can break your enemies assault by going on the offensive when they falter; when an opponent’s melee (changed this to prevent abuse against archers)attack misses you on it's turn (toying with the idea of making this like 'deflect missiles' but for melee; 1d10 + Dex Mod + Monk Level), as a reaction you can move up to half your speed toward the attacker and make an opportunity attack against that opponent using either an unarmed strike or one of the following options; this movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.
Additionally when you are afforded an opportunity attack you may either take your normal reaction or spend 1 ki point to attempt one of the following:
Shred:
Make two unarmed strikes as part of the reaction.
Overpower:
Make a single unarmed attack to force the target to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you.
Body Slam:
Force the target to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by the Monk's Strength (Athletics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). Failure means the target is knocked prone prone and has it's speed reduced to 0 until the start of it's next turn.
The movement portion of this is to allow the monk to close on larger beast and polearm users, not archers and such. I also wanted to sync up with feats like Sentinel - as to not completely discourage the DM from attacking the monk as it's meant to be a bit more 'tank' like than the other options.
The Tiger's natural grace fluidity hides it's ferocious power and dominance, this style captures the overwhelming power, grace, and ferocity of its namesake. Practitioners use acrobatic footwork and strong attacks to overwhelm foes, sacrificing defence and relying rather on brutal unreasoning force to carry the day.
Monks of the Black Tiger rely upon their sudden and explosive force delivery to be dominating, powerful and larger than life; intimidating prey and achieving victory through feral but experienced assaults.
Unlike many other creatures, who would fight to the death over a kill, when a tiger crosses paths with another tiger while hunting, they often share the meal together. Also, when several tigers are present at a kill, the males will wait for females and cubs to eat first. Just as Tigers, Monks of the Black Tiger are creatures of duality; their practices and teachings typical promote levity, peace and generosity; however when the threshold of peace is crossed one can expect a savagery rivaling that of majestic tiger itself.
I love the idea of a more 'brawler' style monk without the Drunken Monk flavour and the Way of the Open Hand always seemed a bit too tranquil.
The key ideas behind this brand of monk are: Fast, Aggressive, Intimidating. I also wanted them to adopt the kind of dualistic nature the tiger.
3rd Level:
Tiger Aspect
You channel your ki to invoke the aspect of the tiger, provided that you are wielding no weapons, shields or armour. It graces you with supernatural speed, agility, and power.
You can use a bonus action to start the Tiger Aspect in combat or out of combat, which lasts for 1 minute.
You can also dismiss the Tiger aspect at any time you choose (no action required).
While your Tiger Aspect is active, you gain the following benefits:
You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Strength Modifier.
You may choose to have your unarmed attacks deal slashing damage instead of bludgeoning.
You have add your proficiency to Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, doubling your proficiency bonus for any skill you are already proficient in.
You gain the ability to pounce. If the Monk moves at least 15 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with an unarmed attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
Notes on Tiger Aspect:
It's limited to unarmed combat only; I think this helps balanced it's power against the other options at this level but I'm not sure the balance is completely there yet. It's meant to be useful outside combat as well, for a series of acrobatic or athletic challenges
I'm not sure about having an AC bonus but half-damage was too much and no defensive bonus felt too weak; I'd take suggestions for replacing this as well.
6th Level:
Roar of the Khan
As your foe is torn apart by your slashing flurry, you channel your ki into a guttural roar which shatters the chaos of the battlefield. Your enemies shriek in fear at their ally’s grisly demise. If you reduce a living opponent to 0 or fewer hit points during your turn, you can initiate this roar at the cost of 2 ki points. Forcing all your enemies within a 30-foot radius to make successful wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you for 1 minute. If a foe ends it's turn more than 30 feet away from the Monk it may attempt another wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.
This ability can only be used once per short rest.
A tiger's intimidating roar has the power to paralyze the animal that hears it and that even includes experienced human trainers. So as an ability I love this, might need to be balanced for range - but a ki cost and short rest requirement I think places it in the realm of 'playable'.
11th Level:
Feral Tempest.
With a deft sweep of your leg or a hurricane of frenzied swings, you strike each foe nearby. You can spend 2 Ki as an Action to make a single unarmed strike against each creature within your reach making a separate attack roll against each opponent. Each creature successfully hit must make a strength saving throw or be knocked back 10 feet.
I like this ability but it does feel a bit bland - I am however trying to balance it against Open Hand's Tranquility feature (which seems a bit rubbish). At the moment it feels like a slightly weaker 'thunderwave'.
17th Level:
Tiger Fang.
Your can break your enemies assault by going on the offensive when they falter; when an opponent’s melee (changed this to prevent abuse against archers)attack misses you on it's turn (toying with the idea of making this like 'deflect missiles' but for melee; 1d10 + Dex Mod + Monk Level), as a reaction you can move up to half your speed toward the attacker and make an opportunity attack against that opponent using either an unarmed strike or one of the following options; this movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.
Additionally when you are afforded an opportunity attack you may either take your normal reaction or spend 1 ki point to attempt one of the following:
Shred:
Make two unarmed strikes as part of the reaction.
Overpower:
Make a single unarmed attack to force the target to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you.
Body Slam:
Force the target to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check contested by the Monk's Strength (Athletics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). Failure means the target is knocked prone prone and has it's speed reduced to 0 until the start of it's next turn.
The movement portion of this is to allow the monk to close on larger beast and polearm users, not archers and such. I also wanted to sync up with feats like Sentinel - as to not completely discourage the DM from attacking the monk as it's meant to be a bit more 'tank' like than the other options.