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Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 02:03 AM
As I'm sure most of you have, by now, at least spotted on the front page day after day for a few months; there's been several metric tons of work poured into making an effective setting for Avatar: The Last Airbender, a show that has been best described on these forums as a bucket of pure liquid awesome being splashed in your face. Due to the main thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54063) becoming increasingly cluttered, I've opted to place my rendition of the fighters of the Avatar world here. This includes the Yu Yan archers, the Kyoshi warriors, a non-magic ranger variant, yet another monk variant, and apparent mountainloads of new feats, tactical and otherwise. The concepts for most of these are already fairly well defined, but I, in my to-a-fault perfectionism, would prefer to take them one at a time so you guys can give me effective feedback. Even if you do not watch Avatar, help with balance is still very necessary, and your assistance is more than welcome.

It may become quickly apparent that this system will not work well alongside Lord Tataraus' martial artist class. This is intentional; we're as of now planning to create both systems and allow players and DMs to decide which to use should they run and Avatar campaign.



Current topic of discussion
-Herbs for the Ranger's Wilderness Lore ability
-Finishing the Ranger's Combat Styles
-Reviewing the Monk variant

Directory

Main hub thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3539276)

Variant Classes
The Ranger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3536956#post3536956)
The Monk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3629354#post3629354)(In progress, under revision)

Representations of characters from Avatar
Ty Lee and the Chi Disruption feat tree (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3548456#post3548456)
Sokka's Master and related feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3536963#post3536963)

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 02:05 AM
The Ranger

Stalwart warriors and hunters in the wilderness, rangers are known for their ease in traversing difficult or seemingly impossible terrain and martial prowess. The outlands and wastelands and jungles, where contemporary knowledge fails and soldiers fear to tread, where the terrain is more deadly than any assassin and the elements are in their primal forms; these are the ranger's turf. He knows the wilderness as if it were his home (and, indeed, it often is) and he knows his prey in deadly detail.

Adventures - A ranger often accepts the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods.In addition, rangers carry grudges or special training against specific warriors and looks for opportunities to find and destroy them. He may also adventure for all the reasons that a fighter does.
Characteristics - A ranger can use a variety of weapons and is quite capable in combat. His skills allow him to survive in the wilderness, to find his prey, and to avoid detection. He also has special knowledge of certain fighting organizations, which makes it easier for him to find and defeat such foes. Finally, a ranger has such knowledge and experience of nature that he can find and apply natural herbs ranging from home remedies to deadly poisons.
Alignment - Rangers can be of any alignment. Most are good, and such rangers usually function as protectors of the wild areas. In this role, a ranger seeks out and destroys creatures and people that threaten the wilderness. Good rangers also protect those who travel through the wilderness, sometimes as unseen guardians. Many rangers are also chaotic, preferring to follow the ebb and flow of nature of their own heart instead of rigid rules. Evil ranger, though rare, are much to be feared. They revel in nature's thoughtless cruelty and seek to emulate her most fearsome predators.
Background - Some rangers gain their training as part of special military teams, but most learned their skills from solitary masters who accepted them as students and and assistants. The ranger of a particular master may count themselves as allies, or they may be rivals for the status of best student and thus rightful heir to their master's fame. Rangers are also commonly hired as mercenaries for their ability to track opponents quickly over long distances.
Nation - Rangers come from any nation and often view themselves as independent from them, since nature spans the world and belongs to no one. That being said, Air Nomads often take levels in ranger to assist them in their travels and survive their endless voyages throughout the world.
Role - The ranger's best role is that of a scout and secondary combatant. Without a fighter's heavy armor or the resilience of a barbarian, the ranger should focus on opportunistic and ranged attacks. When in combat against a favored enemy, however, rangers can quickly turn the tide of a battle.
Abilities - Dexterity is important for a ranger both because he tends to wear light armor and because several ranger skills are based on that ability. Strength is important for rangers that focus on melee combat. Several important ranger skills, such as Survival and Knowledge (nature) are based on Wisdom, meaning that the trademark abilities Track and Wilderness Lore are also dependent upon it.

Hit Die - d8
Class skills - Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill points at 1st level - (6 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level - 6 + Int modifier.

The Ranger
Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Defense bonus

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0| 1st Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy, Wilderness Lore|
+6

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Combatstyle|
+6

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Endurance|
+7

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Balanced Combatstyle|
+7

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|2nd Favored Enemy|
+7

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+2|Improved Combatstyle|
+8

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+2|Woodland Stride|
+8

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+2|Swift Tracker|
+8

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+3|Evasion|
+9

10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+3|3rd Favored Enemy|
+9

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+3|Greater Combatstyle|
+9

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+4||
+10

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+4|Camouflage|
+10

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+4||
+10

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+5|4th Favored Enemy|
+11

16th|
+16/11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+5|Combatstyle Mastery|
+11

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+5|Hide in Plain Sight|
+11

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+6||
+12

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+6||
+12

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+6|5th Favored Enemy|
+12

Class Features

Weapon and armor proficiencies - A ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).
Favored Enemy (Ex) - At 1st level, a ranger may select a group or organization to specialize in opposing. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.
This ability can affect groups such as Fire Nation infantry, Dai Li agents, members of a specific mercenary group, Southern Water Tribe waterbenders, martial artists of a specific style, or other groups of opponents with similar fighting styles.
Wilderness Lore - A ranger may use his knowledge and experience in the natural environment to identify plants with uses both medicinal and poisonous. Whenever a ranger uses the Survival skill to forage for food, he may also make a Knowledge (nature) check to identify herbs with useful properties. If the Knowledge check excceds the DC of each herb and if it is present in the area the ranger searches through, the ranger may gather it and apply it as noted in each herb's description.
Track - A ranger gains Track as a bonus feat.
Wild Empathy (Ex) -A ranger can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
Endurance - A ranger gains Endurance as a bonus feat at 3rd level.
Woodland Stride (Ex) - Starting at 7th level, a ranger may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment.
Swift Tracker (Ex) - Beginning at 8th level, a ranger can move at his normal speed while following tracks without taking the normal -5 penalty. He takes only a -10 penalty (instead of the normal -20) when moving at up to twice normal speed while tracking.
Evasion (Ex) - At 9th level, a ranger can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ranger is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless ranger does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Camouflage (Ex) - A ranger of 13th level or higher can use the Hide skill in any sort of natural terrain, even if the terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.
Hide in Plain Sight (Ex) - While in any sort of natural terrain, a ranger of 17th level or higher can use the Hide skill even while being observed.

Combat styles - At 2nd level, a ranger must select pne combat style to pursue from among the list below. This choice affects the character’s class features but does not restrict his selection of feats or special abilities in any way. The combat style treats the rangers as having feats, even if he does not have the prerequisites for them.
The benefits of the ranger’s chosen style apply only when he wears light or no armor. He loses all benefits of his combat style when wearing medium or heavy armor. Should the ranger already have a feat when he would earn it from his combat style, he may instead take another feat to which he has the prerequisites in its place.
Two-weapon melee
• Two-weapon fighting
• Two-weapon defense
• Improved Two-weapon fighting
• Improved Two-weapon defense
• Greater Two-weapon fighting, Greater Two-weapon defense

Two-handed melee
• Power Attack





One-handed melee
• Weapon Finesse or Power attack





Sniper
• Far Shot
• Precise Shot
• Sharpshooting
• Improved Precise Shot
• Greater Sharpshooting

Hunter
• Point-Blank Shot
• Rapid Shot
• Dead Eye (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Dead_Eye,all)
• Manyshot
• Improved Manyshot, Improved Rapid Shot

Mounted
• Mounted Combat
• Mounted Archery
• Ride-by Attack
• Trample
• Spirited Charge, Improved Mounted Archery (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Improved_Mounted_Archery,)


Knowledge (Nature)
.....There are many plants and roots both blooming and hidden throughout the world whose medicinal properties can only be harnessed by those that know how to bring them out. If you succeed on a check to identify an herb's use, it means you know the herb's properties as well as how to prepare it in order to bring it out. Failing a check by 4 or less means that you vaguely know what the herb does, but may be foggy on how to use it. Failing the check by 5 or more means that you don't know the herb's uses and may even have false information, which could lead to dire results as some plants are venomous if used incorrectly.
.....Wilderness Lore - Rangers (and NPC experts) can use this skill to even greater extents in order to find the plants themselves in the wild. A ranger may use his knowledge and experience in the natural environment to identify plants with uses both medicinal and poisonous. Whenever a ranger uses the Survival skill to forage for food, he may also make a Knowledge (nature) check to identify herbs with useful properties. If the Knowledge check exceeds the DC of each herb and if it is present in the area the ranger searches through, the ranger may gather it and apply it as noted in each herb's description.
Herb List
Ginger Root (DC 5) - Found almost anywhere in lightly to densely forested environments, this root has a strong, sharp flavor and is often used to flavor food. When boiled in water to make tea, ginger root fortifies the body's immune system, granting a +2 to fortitude saves against disease for one day. The average ginger root can weigh anywhere from two to eight ounces depending on size, and it takes half an ounce to make a cup of ginger tea.
Wumei (Plum) (DC 5) - Commonly found on plum trees in any deciduous forest, this specially prepared fruit is a very common medicine used for strengthening the body as opposed to healing it. One fruit grants a +2 bonus on all fortitude saves for 10 minutes. Additional fruits extend this duration by 10 minutes up to a maximum of 1 hour per day. Collecting takes a single move action per fruit and the preparing takes 1 hour for every 100 fruits, and there may be anywhere from 20 to 40 plums on a single tree during the spring. Eating at least one plum fruit every day for at least two weeks makes the bonus on Fortitude saves continuous for as long as one eats at least one plum a day. Missing a day once the two weeks are complete has no effect, though missing four or more consecutive days removes the bonus and two more weeks of eating plum are necessary to get it back. The average plum weighs 4 to eight ounces, depending on size and ripeness.
Jasmine Flowers (DC 10) - Commonly found in warm and tropical forests, these flowers have a distinctive star-shaped structure and grow as climbers vines on larger plants. Strongly and sweetly scented, the flowers may be boiled into a fragrant tea which grants a +1 to Fortitude saves against diseasefor rest of the day in which it is drunk. For every week in which at least one cup of Jasmine Tea is drunk every day, the bonus increases by 1 to a maximum of +3.
Sandalwood (Oil) (DC 15) - The oil of the Sandalwood tree is full of nutrients and curative agents that heal the skin. It takes one minute to harvest one square foot of bark from the sandalwood tree and one hour to prepare Sandalwood oil which requires 2gp worth of normal oil. Once prepared, the Sandalwood oil mixture can be applied to any burn, blemish, or other skin injury for 10 minutes to completely remove the effect. Sandalwood Oil cures 3d8 non-lethal damage with a single dose as well as 1d8+3 damage dealt by fire or acid. Pure Sandalwood Oil is extremely potent and should never be used, if pure Sandalwood Oil is used it causes 1d6 damage which cannot be healed except by the Healing Waters seed. Sandalwood Oil (in pure form) can also be used as a laxative that effects the drinker 1 minute after being taken causing the drinker to make a DC20 fortitude save or become nauseated. Sandalwood Oil has a distinct smell and taste which can be identified by a DC 5 Knowledge (Nature) check. Sandalwood bark weighs half a pound per square foot, sandalwood oil weighs the same as regular oil. Cost: 5gp per dose, 10gp per dose of pure oil
Frozen Wood Frogs (DC 20) - These frogs produce a potent medicinal slime that has the ability to cure even deadliest of diseases. By sucking on the frog for a continuous 2 hours, a patient is cured of any and all of the following conditions: confused, dazed, nauseated, and sickened. The frog's secretions are also a powerful medicine, and they may be used to cure any physical disease with a Fortitude save DC of 20 or lower. The frogs must have been frozen for at least a week before enough of the slime is produced to have any effect. The frozen frogs are actually quite tasty both raw and cooked, though few people would suffer the indignity of eating the animal. The frogs thaw out of their frozen state within a period of 1d2+4 hours.
Banana leaf -
Cactus Juice -


New Feats
Sharpshooting
Prerequisites: Precise Shot, Dexterity 13
Benefit:As a Full-Round Action, you do nothing else other than aim at your target using this feat. You may keep aiming at your target for as long as you wish, and each round adds a +2 to your next attack roll against that target (max +5). You fire the shot as a free action the round after you've finished aiming. If you are in a threatened square, are the subject of any attack, or lose sight of your target, you lose the benefits of this feat until you start aiming again.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Greater Sharpshooting
Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +14, Dexterity 15, Precise Shot, Sharpshooting
Benefit: When making use of the Sharpshooting feat, every other ranged attack made in the round you fire your shot gains a bonus equal to half the bonus your original attack received.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Both of these feats originated here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2997599&postcount=3). Unfortunately the original writer is inactive and I was unable to ask for his permission to use them.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 02:06 AM
Reserved for monk variant and styles.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 02:07 AM
Today I'll begin with Sokka's master and his fighting style, as could best be represented without going epic (which I think would be appropriate). Here's what I came up with.

Sokka's Master
Piend Hau (or something like that)
Male human fighter 20
NG Medium humanoid
Init +3 Senses Spot +1, Listen +17
Languages Common, Cryptic, Swordsmanese, Sokkan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC 31 (36 with Combat Expertise), touch 31, flat-footed 22
HP 160 DR n/a
Fort +14, Ref +9, Will +7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spd 30 ft (6 squares)
Melee longsword +33/+28/+23/+18 OR +29/+29/+24/+19/+14 (A Thousand Cuts feat) (1d8+5 damage)
Ranged none
Base Atk +20/+15/+10/+5
Atk Options Finisher Cut, Lunge, Manyslice, Shower of Sparks, Swath
Special Atks Diverting Defense, Cause Overreach
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities Str 11, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 9
SQ pwntasticness
Feats A Thousand Cuts, Balanced Blade, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Elusive Target (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Elusive_Target,CW), Greater Weapon Focus (longsword), Improved Disarm, Weapon of Renown, Weapon of Fame, Weapon of Glory, Weapon of Legend (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3476291#post3476291), Mobile Mastery, Mobility, Parry Defense, Solitary Strike, Weapon Focus (longsword), Weapon Specialization (longsword)
Skills Climb +12, Craft (painting) +16, Craft (calligraphy) +10, Craft (weaponsmithing) +26, Jump +11, Listen +17,
Possessions Longsword of Legend, Noble’s outfit



New Feats
Balanced Blade [style]
You have mastered the unique fighting style of wielding your sword in one hand, using your other hand to balance your strikes and gain better control over your motions.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Dodge, Weapon Focus (longsword), Intelligence 13
Benefit: When using a longsword in one hand and wearing no more than light armor, you gain a bonus on your attack rolls and a Dodge bonus to your armor class equal to 1+one-fifth your base attack bonus (round down).
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Parry Defense [general]
You have learned the value of deflecting your opponent’s strikes, leaving them open to counterattack.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Base Attack Bonus +5, Dexterity 13
Benefit: If an opponent attacks you and misses while you’re using Combat Expertise to increase your armor class, you get an immediate attack of opportunity against him, counting against your number of attacks of opportunity for the round.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

A Thousand Cuts [tactical]
You’ve found that opponents can seldom cope with the devastation caused by repeated attacks.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (any light or one-handed bladed weapon), Base Attack Bonus +6, Dexterity 13
Benefit: This feat enables you to use three tactical maneuvers when wielding any light or one-handed bladed weapon to which you have applied the Weapon Focus feat in one hand.
• Manyslice – When making a full attack with your chosen weapon, you may take -4 to all attacks that round to gain an additional attack at your highest base attack bonus.
• Double Counter - When readying an action to strike an opponent that comes within your reach, you may ready two attacks instead of one, using your base attack bonus normally.
• Shower of Sparks - You may make numerous, weak hits against an opponent to cause great injury, just as many small sparks do. You make a single melee attack against an opponent as a full-round action. If that attack hits, decrease the attack roll by -2; if the reduced roll still hits the opponent, apply damage and continue reducing the attack roll until an attack misses. The opponent takes damage normally hit by the first attack, and each additional attack deals 1d4 damage. These attacks are all quick stabs (dealing piercing damage).
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Solitary Strike [tactical]
The power and versatility of a single strike is all that it takes to swing the battle in your favor.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (any non-light slashing weapon), Base Attack Bonus +8
Benefits: You gain access to three tactical maneuvers when wielding a one-handed weapon by itself.
• Swath – As a standard action, you may make an attack with an arc so wide that it targets opponents in four adjacent squares within your reach; making as single attack roll against all the targets and taking a -4 penalty on this attack.
• Lunge – As a standard action, you may lunge forward, extending your body to the fullest, and deliver a single attack against an opponent usually beyond your reach. When using this maneuver, you effectively extend your reach by 5 feet for the attack, provoking attacks of opportunity (including from your opponent, if he can reach you).
• Finisher Cut – By making an attack as a standard action and taking -2 on the attack roll, you may make an attack dealing double damage on a successful hit.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Mobile Mastery [tactical]
You’ve found that understanding the influence of footwork and motion on a battle can be the keys to victory.
Prerequisites: Intelligence 13, Dexterity 15, Dodge, Mobility, Base Attack Bonus +9
Benefit: You gain access to three tactical maneuvers when wearing light or no armor.
• Clever Footing: If your opponent attacks and misses you in melee combat and you have enough of your full base land speed "left over" from your previous turn, you may choose to take a five-foot step immediately after your opponent’s attack.
• Tactical Maneuvering: When making a full attack, you may choose to make a five-foot step between each attack, though you may not move any further than your base land speed during one turn. This feat can also be used with consecutive uses of the Cleave feat, or in any such situation where multiple attacks are done consecutively during your turn.
• Press the Advantage: You may choose to forego a move action during you turn in order to follow cowardly opponents that turn their backs. In doing so, you may follow an opponent up to your base land speed on his turn. Your opponent still provokes attacks of opportunity if his motion would have carried him out of your threatened area and another if his motion actually does take him out your threatened area. This feat cannot be used to move in any direction or for any purpose other than to follow your opponent.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I plan to make fighters a bit more versatile than core material would suggest by liberal application of tactical and style feats (see Complete Warrior) throughout the system. Individual weapon arts will likely be represented by very weapon-specific style feats along with corresponding tactical feats. If you want something to Power Attack all day long like it's nobody's business and be done with it, kindly call up the Barbarian.


Major thanks to Lord Tataraus for letting me use some of his ideas from the martial artist system (specifically some of the Dragon Scholar's class features), a few of which were re-formatted into feat form here. What do you guys think? Is it balanced, broken, thematically appropriate, inaccurate, or clunky? Again, rampant perfectionism: please let me know how I can improve these to better represent Sokka's master, or any of the feats I've placed so far.

ErrantX
2007-11-18, 01:38 PM
I personally agree with your starting of this thread, Eighth Seraph. While I do enjoy the Martial Artist class that Tataraus has come up with (and I've contributed to it as well), I think that fighters and rangers and rogues have a place in this world. I initially posted a martial artist (monk variant without the overt supernatural stuff in it) on the main thread, but I think it was shot down in favor of the path based MA. You can find my monk right here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3416726&postcount=349). Hopefully this may help you with your own monk, Eighth Seraph.

Also, as this thread might be the best opportunity to bring this up, has anyone thought about adding Action Points (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionPoints.htm) to this system? I feel that it adds something to any game you add them too (and I make it a point to do so), as it allows for the addition of a little extra will behind actions. What do you all think?

-X

CabbageTheif
2007-11-18, 01:45 PM
i dont know about the AC for him. 17, 22 with added stuff is.... i dunno, anywhere between 7th level and 13th level, depending on class. a 20th level who has AC below 20?

unless i missed something. if i'm just going crazy, tell me.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-18, 01:46 PM
A note on the tactical feats: You should limit their use in some form or every single attack the fighter makes will be on of these abilities and that would become too broken. That's why I implemented the Ki point system.

As for action points, I prefer not making actual rules for action points, but instead allow the DM to choose to use them or not. I never liked how Eberron had some much action point abilities and feats and such. As a DM I do use "action points" in some games, but under my own rules that work more like Fate points from Spirit of the Century.

ErrantX
2007-11-18, 02:26 PM
New Feats
Balanced Blade [style]
You have mastered the unique fighting style of wielding your sword in one hand, using your other hand to balance your strikes and gain better control over your motions.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Weapon Focus (longsword), Intelligence 13
Benefit: When using a longsword in one hand and wearing no more than light armor, you gain a bonus on your attack rolls and a shield bonus to your armor class equal to 1+one-fifth your base attack bonus (round down).
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

The mechanic here is a little clunky, with the 1/5 base attack bonus as shield. Add Dodge as a prereq, and then I would say that when you're using a longsword in one hand like that, you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC, just straight out. Shield bonuses don't make sense as you're not using another object to protect you, and it's about balance and graceful movements.


Parry Defense [general]
You have learned the value of deflecting your opponent’s strikes, leaving them open to counterattack.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Base Attack Bonus +5, Dexterity 13
Benefit: If an opponent attacks you and misses while you’re using Combat Expertise to increase your armor class, you get an immediate attack of opportunity against him, counting against your number of attacks of opportunity for the round.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

This I'm more or less fine with, it is a little strong though. But I've seen stronger in sourcebooks.


A Thousand Cuts [tactical]
You’ve found that opponents can seldom cope with the devastation caused by repeated attacks.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (any light or one-handed bladed weapon), Base Attack Bonus +6, Dexterity 13
Benefit: This feat enables you to use three tactical maneuvers when wielding any light or one-handed bladed weapon to which you have applied the Weapon Focus feat by itself.
• Manyslice – When making a full attack with your chosen weapon, you may take -2 to all attacks that round to gain an additional attack at your highest base attack bonus. If you take the Weapon Specialization feat for the chosen weapon, you gain an additional attack at your second-highest base attack bonus.
• Double Counter - When readying an action to strike an opponent that comes within your reach, you may ready two attacks instead of one, using your base attack bonus normally.
• Shower of Sparks - You may make numerous, weak hits against an opponent to cause great injury, just as many small sparks do. You make a single melee attack against an opponent as a full-round action. If that attack hits, decrease the attack roll by -2; if the reduced roll still hits the opponent, apply damage and continue reducing the attack roll until an attack misses. The opponent takes damage normally hit by the first attack, and each additional attack deals 1d4 damage. These attacks are all quick stabs (dealing piercing damage).
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

First off, I'd remove the 2nd additional attack clause in Manyslice, the fighter is getting flurry of blows. That's beefy. Double Counter is okay, and Shower of Sparks is neat. Overall, to be honest, this feat is too powerful. This falls into the realm of class features, and I can't see a reason why a fighter wouldn't take this feat, as it is very easy to get. Anyone using a one-handed weapon two-handed could use this, or someone in heavy armor and/or a shield could make use of this too.


Solitary Strike [tactical]
The power and versatility of a single strike is all that it takes to swing the battle in your favor.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (any non-light slashing weapon), Base Attack Bonus +8
Benefits: You gain access to three tactical maneuvers when wielding a one-handed weapon by itself.
• Swath – As a standard action, you may make an attack with an arc so wide that it targets opponents in four adjacent squares within your reach; making as single attack roll against all the targets and taking a -2 penalty on this attack.
• Lunge – As a standard action, you may lunge forward, extending your body to the fullest, and deliver a single attack against an opponent usually beyond your reach. When using this maneuver, you effectively extend your reach by 5 feet for the attack, provoking attacks of opportunity (including from your opponent, if he can reach you).
• Finisher Cut – By making an attack as a standard action and taking -2 on the attack roll, you may make an attack dealing double damage on a successful hit.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Swath is too powerful. In the XPH, there is the War Mind class which has something like this. I'd reign it in and say the two adjacent squares next to the target, make it a full attack, and you attack all three with the same attack roll (highest base attack) at -2. That would go a long way towards balancing that. Lunge is good as it's a movement thing, but I'd say instead of provoking an AoO, I'd say it leaves you flat-footed. Finisher Cut, make it a full attack action and remove the -2 penalty.


Mobile Mastery [tactical]
You’ve found that understanding the influence of footwork and motion on a battle can be the keys to victory.
Prerequisites: Intelligence 13, Dexterity 15, Dodge, Mobility, Base Attack Bonus +9
Benefit: You gain access to three tactical maneuvers when wearing light or no armor.
• Clever Footing: If your opponent attacks and misses you in melee and you had move left at the end of your previous turn, you may choose to make a five-foot step immediately after your opponent’s attack.
• Tactical Maneuvering: When making a full attack, you may choose to make a five-foot step between each attack, though you may not move any further than your base land speed during one turn. This feat can also be used with consecutive uses of the Cleave feat, or in any such situation where multiple attacks are done consecutively during your turn.
• Press the Advantage: You may choose to forego a move action during you turn in order to follow cowardly opponents that turn their backs. In doing so, you may follow an opponent up to your base land speed on his turn. Your opponent still provokes attacks of opportunity if his motion would have carried him out of your threatened area and another if his motion actually does take him out your threatened area. This feat cannot be used to move in any direction or for any purpose other than to follow your opponent.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Clever footing is fine, but I'd reword it to say if the character has any movement remaining. Tactical Maneuvering is okay, but remove the reference to Cleave as it's not a prerequisite feat. Press the Advantage is good, I like it.

My critiques on your feats, like em or lump em.

-X

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 03:37 PM
i dont know about the AC for him. 17, 22 with added stuff is.... i dunno, anywhere between 7th level and 13th level, depending on class. a 20th level who has AC below 20?

unless i missed something. if i'm just going crazy, tell me. The reason his AC is so low is because he's not wearing armor AND because I apparently forgot to incorporate the class defense bonus variant we're using in the setting (which would give him a significant boost of +12 to his AC). Good eye, Thief, I'll fix it.


A note on the tactical feats: You should limit their use in some form or every single attack the fighter makes will be on of these abilities and that would become too broken. I'm personally fine with a fighter making every single attack an application of one tactical feat or another; it's what separates them from a warrior with full BAB and from Barbarians that can take insane amounts of punishment and deal it back in kind. The difficult is, as you mentioned, preventing their brokenness. Let's get on to fixing that, shall we?


The mechanic here is a little clunky, with the 1/5 base attack bonus as shield. Add Dodge as a prereq, and then I would say that when you're using a longsword in one hand like that, you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC, just straight out. Shield bonuses don't make sense as you're not using another object to protect you, and it's about balance and graceful movements. While I agree that the mechanic is more complicated than I usually like to do for feats; I wanted to make sure that this feat would be something that would be advantageous early on and would continue to be significant as the fighter levels. My original idea for making it a shield bonus is that the sword was being used for parrying, but I see now that that wouldn't make a great deal of sense. I'll change it to a dodge bonus and add Dodge as pre-req. Is the bonus too high, though?


This I'm more or less fine with, it is a little strong though. But I've seen stronger in sourcebooks. I was worried that it would be too simple to represent the complex system of parrying, but I'm glad you like it.


First off, I'd remove the 2nd additional attack clause in Manyslice, the fighter is getting flurry of blows. That's beefy. Double Counter is okay, and Shower of Sparks is neat. Overall, to be honest, this feat is too powerful. This falls into the realm of class features, and I can't see a reason why a fighter wouldn't take this feat, as it is very easy to get. Anyone using a one-handed weapon two-handed could use this, or someone in heavy armor and/or a shield could make use of this too.
Yeah, I was worried that it was severely overpowered, but I'm currently working under the "get it down, then clean it up" theory of design. Shower of sparks is completely Lord Tataraus' creation, so I can't take credit for it. Also, while this can be used sword-and-board, the weapon has to be wielded one-handed. I'll add that in. So let's take a look at Manyslice, then. It was, admittedly, a thinly-veiled attempt to give flurry of blows to a fighter. Maybe, in order to address Tataraus' concern, I could make it a -4 penalty to all attacks rather than a -2 and remove the clause for a second attack, which was just a way to make Weapon Specialization actually worth something. What if I made it require Weapon Specialization, would that address your concerns?

Swath is too powerful. In the XPH, there is the War Mind class which has something like this. I'd reign it in and say the two adjacent squares next to the target, make it a full attack, and you attack all three with the same attack roll (highest base attack) at -2. That would go a long way towards balancing that. Lunge is good as it's a movement thing, but I'd say instead of provoking an AoO, I'd say it leaves you flat-footed. Finisher Cut, make it a full attack action and remove the -2 penalty.I checked out the War Mind in the SRD, and Swath is significantly weaker than the War Mind's sweeping strike, simply because it's a standard action. The original draft had a smaller arc that was usable as the first attack in a full attack, but that clashed with the feats theme of powerful single strikes; so I made it a standard action for a single attack with a wider sweep. As for Finisher Cut, I think that a full-round action would be far too weak, since by this point the fighter has at least two attacks (BAB +8 prereq). That function came from the point in Sokka's duel with his master where Sokka was knocked back against the bamboo and his master ran up to him, aimed briefly and nearly decapitated him (meaning that there had to be a move action in there somewhere). Is the feat overall too powerful, or is it just Swath? I'm still unsure if it needs changing; let's see what others have to say.

Clever footing is fine, but I'd reword it to say if the character has any movement remaining. Tactical Maneuvering is okay, but remove the reference to Cleave as it's not a prerequisite feat. Press the Advantage is good, I like it.Yay! I just put the Cleave reference in there to give examples of non-BAB situations where it could be applied. I'll put in the clarifying clause you mentioned.

Alright, so the things that still need some spit 'n' polish are: Balanced Blade and A Thousand Cuts. Is everything balanced, though, taking their unlimited usage into account?

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-18, 03:44 PM
To balance Shower of Sparks rather than limit the number of uses, I'd increase the other "attacks" penalty to -4. Swath should have a -4 penalty to the attack. Also, are you going to add any mental stat synergy other than qualify for feats?

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-18, 04:08 PM
Well, as things stand now, major uses of the mental ability scores look something like this:

Intelligence: Rogues and related skillmonkeys, tactician-style fighters (feat qualications), NPC and occasional PC scholars (Knowledge skills: I like the Giant's variant use of them in the Gaming section of the site, too), admirals and other military tacticians.
Wisdom: Bending classes, sense motive, NPC sages
Charisma: Diplomacy, Bluff, leadership bonuses from splatbook class features (the Marshall applies, I think).

I see the reason for your concern, but I don't think is the right thread to discuss this. As the project grows, I've noticed that we're needing more threads for each specific purpose. I'm going to strip the main thread of its status, leaving it as the 'bender thread' and make a new hub for things pertaining to the setting itself as soon as I finish this post. That would include wealth-by-level, official variant rules used, and the role of ability scores for example. Thanks for reminding me!

Anyway, there's one major problem with Shower of Sparks that I think will limit its usefulness in the setting, and that's the "Armor as damage reduction" variant we're using. 1d4 damage quickly becomes up to 2 damage against any armored opponent, and unarmored opponents either have huge dodge bonuses or aren't meant to be in melee. I see your point though; a precision type like Sokka's master (as I've statted him, anyway), could get 14d4 bonus damage against an unarmored earthbender on a mediocre roll; though an armored earthbender could take up to 14 damage from this scenario. Hm...I'm unsure. What do the rest of you guys think?

EDIT: I changed the penalty for Swath to -4, as Tataraus suggested, so that it has to be a very serious situation before the tactic becomes worthwhile.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-19, 08:20 PM
Here's the beginnings of the magic-less Ranger variant for the setting. There's a great deal more to be added, but I wanted to leave it open for you guys to contribute (that and I have to other work to do right now). I'll add the rest of the fluff that precedes base classes once the mechanics are worked out.


**Ranger moved to its reserved post early in the thread**



As you can see, I cut alot out and didn't put too much back in. I'd like some feat ideas to expand on the Combat styles (I'd like to keep tactical feats separate from these if possible, so we don't pigeonhole individual rangers too much). I also cut out Favored Enemies, since the setting is very NPC based, and Humanoid (human) would be the obvious choice for every ranger, with the rest being just bonuses. I have a vague idea of replacing it with favored terrain, but my brain is shutting down today because of sleep deprivation.

This would represent the Yu Yan archers as rangers with the Sniper combat style; so keep in mind that that's the level of martial prowess and specialization that we're going for. Any ideas for additional class features?

Orzel
2007-11-20, 12:48 AM
I personally would give the ranger an aura, strike, or roar that causes fear..

Predatory Strike- A ranger can make an attack terrifying, even if it misses. Predatory Strike forces a foe targeted by your attack to make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + ½ your ranger level + Cha modifier) or be shaken for 2 rounds. A ranger may attempt a predatory strike once per day for every 2 ranger levels and no more than once per round. Creatures immune to fear are immune to predatory strike. An opponent that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to that same creature’s Predatory Strike for 24 hours.

Improved Predatory Strike- At the 10th level, a ranger's predatory strike causes the target to be Frightened on a unsuccessful Will save.

Healing herbs- Beginning at 2nd level, a ranger can heal wounds (her own or those of others) via eating natural herbs. Each day she can heal a total number of hit points of damage equal to twice her ranger level. A ranger may choose to divide her healing herbs among multiple recipients, and she doesn’t have to use it all at once. Consuming a ranger's herbs is a standard action that provokes an attack of oppontunity.

Rogue 7
2007-11-20, 01:45 AM
Maybe give the ranger full animal companion progression? It looks like you cut a bit from the standard ranger and gave him a bonus feat or two. I personally think that that sort of animal-companion-ness would fit fairly well with the setting. Besides, a ranger with a saber-toothed moose lion would be awesome.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-20, 10:39 AM
Firstly, Orzel, I really, really, don't like giving a Ranger fear effects. It does not fit the flavor at all and is more of an excuse to include more will saves.


Maybe give the ranger full animal companion progression? It looks like you cut a bit from the standard ranger and gave him a bonus feat or two. I personally think that that sort of animal-companion-ness would fit fairly well with the setting. Besides, a ranger with a saber-toothed moose lion would be awesome.

No one seems to have animals in the show besides the avatar (and that one king). I don't think that fits the ranger either.

My suggestion is to use the Favored Organization ability from urban ranger with the Solitary Hunter ability. So the Ranger chooses an organization (Fire Nation military, the Dai Lee, etc.) and gets a +2 to attack and damage against them as per the Favored Enemy progression. To replace spells, give some limited use abilities I can't think of anything right now though the Healing Herbs is a good idea.

Also, Hunter combat style should get the Rapid Shot, Manyshot, Greater Manyshot and Sniper should get Precise Shot, Far Shot, Improved Precise Shot. You might want to look at the various other combat styles for normal Ranger for inspiration such as Strong Arm which gives Power Attack, Improved Sunder, and Great Cleave or Mounted Combat which gives Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, and Trample.

Ceiling009
2007-11-20, 11:40 AM
You forgot about Jun, she has a full animal companion/mount type deal. Also, there should be classes where intimidate should be more than just a class skill. That would solve the lack of use for wisdom other than Lord's Martial Artist classes, if you're using that variant, or Seraph's what I would probably assume new standard classes, which will still probably involve the monk. Also, even combustion man, and Sokka have some form of animal companion, (sokka seems to be quite right with Appa, Momo, and Hawky)...

Mephibosheth
2007-11-20, 02:23 PM
I don't think anything in the show even comes close to representing an animal companion, except possibly Aang's relationship with Aapa and Roku's relationship with his dragon. Jun's Shirshu and Sozin's dragon are probably just well-trained pets/domesticated animals. I don't think we really need any classes that have animal companions.

Next, I present my write-up of Ty Lee that I promised in the first non-Eighth_Seraph post in this thread. I hope you guys like it.

My starting point for this project, in keeping with the goal of making the system as true to the show as possible, was to watch the episodes in which Ty Lee appears and determine exactly what abilities we see her demonstrating. The following is a list of her abilities (including screenshots)
incredible balance (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/203/244.jpg)
impressive climbing (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/203/441.jpg), including the use of a version of brachiation (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/305/291.jpg)
disrupting an opponent’s ability to move/attack (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/208/459.jpg)
disrupting bending (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/213/073.jpg)
stunning and rendering foes unconscious (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/213/083.jpg) – described as through chi blocking and precision rather than brute force
swimming (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/213/361.jpg)
tumbling (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/208/437.jpg)
This list leaves us with a sketch of a character who’s mobile, agile, and precise but who doesn’t deal massive damage and whose unarmed strikes rely on her chi disruption for their potency. With this in mind, this is how I’d stat Ty Lee. I’m stating her as a 20th level character simply for parity with Eighth_Seraph’s Piendao build.

Ty Lee
Female human Rogue 5, Thief Acrobat 5 (CAdv), Rogue (feat variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogue)) 10
CN Medium humanoid
Init +10 Senses Listen +1, Spot +14
Languages Common
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AC 27 (+2 Dodge, +6 Dex, +9 Class Defense) touch 27, flat-footed 12
HP 86 (20d6+20)
Fort +6, Ref +21, Will +6
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Spd 30 ft (6 squares)
Melee Unarmed Strike +19/+13/+9
Ranged none
Base Atk +13/+7/+3
Atk Options Sneak Attack +3d6, Acrobatic Charge, Defensive Roll 2/day
Special Atks Stunning Fist, Chi Immobilization, Chi Disruption
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities Str 11, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 16
SQ pwntasticness, adorability, Trapfinding, Evasion, Trap Sense +1, Uncanny Dodge, Fast Acrobatics, Kip Up, Steady Stance, Agile Fighting, Slow Fall (30 ft),
Feats Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Versatile Unarmed Strike (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Versatile_Unarmed_Strike,all), Brachiation (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Brachiation,all), Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Stunning Fist, Disrupt Bending, Chi Disruption, Combat Expertise, Ability Focus (Disrupt Bending), Chi Immobilization, Improved Chi Disruption
Skills Balance +31, Climb +23, Disguise +21, Escape Artist +29, Hide +29, Jump +25, Move Silently +29, Perform +13, Spot +14, Swim +18, Tumble +31

New Feats
DISRUPT BENDING
You accurately strike crucial points on a bender’s body, making it difficult to bend.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, BAB +6, Wis 13+
Benefit: At the cost of a Stunning Fist attempt, you may make a precisely-placed strike at a weak point on your opponent’s body, blocking the flow of his/her chi and disrupting his/her ability to bend. If you hit with an unarmed strike, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your character level + your Wisdom modifier) or take a penalty to all bending checks equal to half your character level. If you miss with your unarmed strike or the target successfully saves, you still count as having expended the Stunning Fist attempt. Unlike the Stunning Fist feat, you can use this feat multiple times in a single round, and multiple uses on the same target stack. You can only use this feat against foes of the Humanoid type.

CHI DISRUPTION
Your accurate strikes block the flow of chi with a person’s body, hampering their movement.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, BAB +8, Wis 13+
Benefit: At the cost of a Stunning Fist attempt, you may make a precisely-placed strike at a weak point in your opponent’s body, blocking the flow of her chi and making even simple movements difficult. If you hit with an unarmed strike, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your character level + your Wisdom modifier) or take a -2 penalty to Dexterity or Strength (your choice). If you miss with your unarmed strike or the target successfully saves, you still count as having expended the Stunning Fist. Unlike the Stunning Fist feat, you can use this feat multiple times in a single round and multiple uses on the same target are cumulative. This feat can never reduce a creature’s Dexterity score below 1. You can only use this feat against foes of the Humanoid type.

IMPROVED CHI DISRUPTION
With a flurry of precise blows, you are able to render a foe unconscious or immobile.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Chi Disruption, BAB +13, Wis 13+
Benefit: Your Chi Disruption attempts deal ability damage instead of imposing ability penalties. This means that you can reduce an opponent’s abilities to 0 using this feat. In addition, the DC to resist your Chi Disruption attempts increases by 2. Finally, if you reduce an opponent's ability score to 0 using this feat, the opponent must make a Will save or fall unconscious. You can only use this feat against foes of the Humanoid type.

CHI IMMOBILIZATION
You know the exact pressure points that cut off the flow of Chi to a foe’s extremities.
Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Chi Disruption
Benefit: At the cost of two Stunning Fist attempts, you can attempt to limit or cut off a foe’s use of her limbs. As a standard action, you make a single melee attack. If your attack hits, your opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half you character level + your Wisdom modifier) or lose the use of a single limb. Losing the use of an arm (or equivalent limb) gives the creature a -4 penalty to attack rolls and prevents the use of Two-Weapon Fighting and two-handed weapons. Losing the use of both arms increases the penalty on attack rolls to -8 and prevents the use of any weapons (though the creature can still make unarmed strikes using his/her legs or head). Losing the use of a leg gives the creature a -4 penalty to AC and halves the creatures base speed. Losing both legs renders the creature prone, eliminates any bonuses to AC other than Armor, Natural Armor, and Deflection bonuses, and limits the creature to 5 feet of movement per round. You can only use this feat against foes of the Humanoid type.
So there’s how I think Ty Lee can be represented with existing classes and only a few new feats. She can do everything we see Ty Lee doing in the show, and (with the exception of Trapfinding) she doesn’t deal massive damage or have any abilities her TV persona doesn’t have. I’m actually pretty happy with this rendition. I welcome any comments you guys have.

Mephibosheth

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-20, 04:11 PM
I like how you statted out Ty Lee, Meph; and your feats seem very balanced and progressive (a feat tree that's both worthwhile and balanced!). I think you might want to wait up on making that final 'til the monk variant is laid out. I'll make your feats canon, if you like, by starting a directory in the OP and moving Sokka's master to the 'vacant for when I need it' post.

Also, I checked out the Urban Ranger, and the favored enemy variant for organizations is perfect for the situation. Also, I'll update the combat styles to reflect Tataraus' suggestions. The quintessential rangers I'm using are the Yu Yan archers along with Aragorn and the LotR rangers. I like the idea of rangers having special uses for the Survival skill (like healing herbs). I'll work on that a bit later today. Thanks for the help, everyone!

ErrantX
2007-11-20, 05:41 PM
I also like your feats for the Chi Disruption stuff that Ty Lee has. The ranger variant also receives my seal of approval, provided you find some way to add a decent capstone ability. A lot of players find that classes with nothing at the top few levels of the class aren't worth taking to 20, so just an fyi.

-X

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-20, 05:48 PM
I understand the concept; but I'd rather finish up the body of the ranger first. I, personally, can't think of a capstone ability that would be appropriate here. Another +2 to favored enemy doesn't quite cut it, y'know? Anywho, I added favored enemy and finished the sniper combatstyle. I'm working on finishing the Hunter style, then Two-handed fighting.

Mephibosheth
2007-11-20, 07:17 PM
I just realized that we should probably make some changes to the Stunning Fist feat to increase its potency and make all of my chi disruption feats actually useful. The bold portion of the feat (below) is the change I recommend.

STUNNING FIST [General]
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +4 (or +6 if people think +4 is too easy, down from +8)

Benefit: You must declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll (thus, a failed attack roll ruins the attempt). Stunning Fist forces a foe damaged by your unarmed attack to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Wis modifier), in addition to dealing damage normally. A defender who fails this saving throw is stunned for 1 round (until just before your next action). A stunned creature drops everything held, can’t take actions, takes a -2 penalty to AC, and loses his Dexterity bonus to AC. You may attempt a stunning attack a number of times per day equal to your character level (increased from 1 per 4 levels, except for Monks), and no more than once per round. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be stunned.

Special:A fighter may select Stunning Fist as one of his fighter bonus feats.

I think this is a necessary change for three main reasons:

1. It makes Ty Lee builds viable at lower levels
2. It gives more uses of the feat per day, making disabling/disrupting on full attacks possible more than once.
3. It doesn't really seem that overwhelming of a feat at lower levels, particularly since Monks can use it at 1st level.

What do you think?

Mephibosheth

Edit: I'm find with you adding my feats to a directory in the first post, Eighth_Seraph. I'm just glad people like them. I know how beloved Ty Lee is.

Orzel
2007-11-21, 05:46 AM
Avatar doesn't really have a bard class but it has many mental abilities such as Sokka's ideas or Jun Shirshu control. Should they be a collect of feats of a separate "mindbender" class (lack of a better name or than "ideas guy") that says helpful stuff and makes plans with Tactics(int) being their "bending" skill.


Example power:
Plan
Base DC 5
The first ability a mindbender gains is the ability to develop a plan of action to handle the situation.

Prior or during to a dramatic situation, either combat- or skill-related, a mindbender can add a bonus to all skill checks and attack rolls made by the mindbender and his or her allies. The mindbender rolls 1d6 and the results become a a circumstance bonus to himself and all allies. This bonus lasts for 3 rounds at which point the plan unravels.

or seed could include lowering and raising morale (healing and dealing nonlethal damage), gaining animal companions, and copies of most of the bard's music abilities.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-21, 10:40 AM
I don't think tactics and such should be incorporated by feats. If the character is good at tactics than his player has to be good at tactics. I never liked feats that did that whole tactics thing because its too artificial. You get a bonus for doing nothing related to what it says you're doing. If you describe how you're using your superior knowledge of the terrain to fight, then I'll give a circumstance-based tactical bonus, but no feats. There already is a Knowledge (tactics) skill, but all I'd allow it to do is realize what kind of terrain or weather or whatever would be good for you to fight in and possibly use it to size up your foe.

Mephibosheth
2007-11-21, 11:18 AM
Here's an idea that might be able to create a middle ground between Orzel's idea and Lord Tataraus'. If we want to do something like this, I propose we encourage the use of Amber Smith's Knowledge skill alternate uses (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/paBcfg1YaEccDMQACfu.html) along with the alternate Knowledge uses we've already instituted (governing things like fortune-telling, for example). Then, we could create a feat or series of feats that enhance or expand the bonuses granted by these Knowledge skill uses. It could even be as simple as a feat that extends the benefit to all allies within a certain radius, or a feat that increases the bonus gained. We could even make feats that can de-buff opponents using these Knowledge skills (maybe even injecting some Will saves), essentially representing tactical feints or maneuvering opponents into disadvantageous positions.

Having proposed this idea as a possibility if we want to go down this route, I have mixed feelings about actually implementing it. On the one hand, our system doesn't really have a mechanic to allow buffing, and this could be a great way to inject some buffing (especially, buffing allies) into the setting. On the other hand, it would take a bit of work to implement and could be prone to abuse. Plus, other than Sokka's plans and maybe Prince Sozin's tree root maneuver (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/306/079.jpg), I can't think of any concrete examples of an ability like this in the show. So, I guess that in the end, I could be convinced either way. What says the community?

Mephibosheth

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-21, 12:08 PM
I actually use that knowledge system for time to time, though I'm a bit strict about it. I guess a feat tree would be ok. Like you said, this system is extremely low on buffing.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-21, 01:31 PM
Great! I was hoping to get some tactical bonuses and leadership applications into the system.

Anyway, there's something that you guys need to know. I've been spending far too much time on the forums lately, specifically on this project. My grades took a brief slip and I've been shirking responsibilities as a tae kwon do instructor and as part of my church in hopes to get this whole project over with quicker so things could get back to normal for me. Since that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon; I'm resorting to severely limiting the time I spend on these forums and with related homebrewing activity.

I don't know if you all know this, but I planned to make the four bending classes my last entanglement into D&D and related roleplaying until the end of the school year and maybe until the end of high school altogether. Since the project grew to such unexpected proportions, things didn't go as planned and my "see things through to the end, always" philosophy took over. It's more than likely that I will be here long enough to put all the bending classes to rest and finish up the planned parts of the non-bending classes I said I would make, but the rest of the setting will likely be made largely without my involvement. Before this happens, though, I'll make sure to finish any classes that I've actually begun; like the Ranger, for example.

Anyway, the idea of allowing the ranger access to healing herbs is an interesting idea, but I think it would require a very specific mechanism. Here's what I'm thinking of:

Wilderness Lore - A ranger may use his knowledge and experience in the natural environment to identify plants with uses both medicinal and poisonous. Whenever a ranger uses the Survival skill to forage for food, he may also make a Knowledge (nature) check to identify herbs with useful properties. If the Knowledge check excceds the DC of each herb and if it is present in the area the ranger searches through, the ranger may gather it and apply it as noted in each herb's description.

[insert list of herbs, their effects and locations here]

What do you guys think? And yes, I do realize that Wilderness Lore is the old name for the Survival skill.

Orzel
2007-11-21, 11:42 PM
Here's my ideas for the feats


Battle Plan
Prerequisite

Int 13. Knowledge (tactics) 4 ranks.

Benefit
You gain the ability to develop a plan of action to handle the situation.

Prior to a dramatic situation, either combat- or skill-related, you can add a bonus to all skill checks and attack rolls made by the your and your allies. You roll 1d6 and the result becomes a circumstance bonus to you and all allies. This bonus lasts for 3 rounds at which point the plan unravels. Your plan can affect a number of people equal up to 5 plus your Intelligence modifier.




Change Tactics
Prerequisite

Int 13. Knowledge (tactics) 4 ranks, Battle Plan

Benefit
You gain the ability to develop a new strategy to handle the changing situation.

During to a dramatic situation, either combat- or skill-related, you can grants you and your allies a +1 circumstance bonus to all skill checks, damage rolls, and attack rolls. This bonus lasts for 3 rounds at which point the enemy begins to grow wise. Your plan can affect a number of people equal your Intelligence score.




Affect Enemy (better name)
Prerequisite
Choose one type condition from the list.
Conditions available: Dazed, Frightened, Confusion

Cha 13. Perform (Act, Comedy, or Oratory) 4 ranks

Benefit

You gain the ability to change the mental state of an enemy

As a standard action, you can attempt to affect an enemy's mind. The target resists the change by making a Will saving throw vs your Perform check. Your target may add her BAB to her Will save. If the save fails, your target gains the chosen condition for 1 round.

Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat, choose another condition.


Greater Affect Enemy (better name)
Prerequisite
Choose one type condition from the list.
Conditions available: Confusion, Panicked, Fatigued, Fascinated

Cha 15. Perform (Act, Comedy, or Oratory) 8 ranks, Affect Enemy

Benefit
Same as Affect Enemy but with stronger conditions. and the effect lasts a number of rounds equal your Charisma modifier(minimum 1).

Special
You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat, choose another condition.

ArmorArmadillo
2007-11-23, 05:29 PM
I've been reading the Proof of the PDF, and I noticed a big whole regarding the crafting skill.

If it's linked to the standard usage of Crafting, then it'll take years to make any item above 1 or 2 masterworks.

If it's worked out in some other way, then it's not listed.

I'd recommend flat DCs and times for crafting, and controlling abuse of the skill by limiting availability of materials.

Mephibosheth
2007-11-24, 11:12 AM
Here's my proposed build for Mai. In keeping with my pre-established procedure for ensuring accuracy and completeness, I began by once again searching through screenshots and watching episodes to determine in detail what techniques and maneuvers Mai is capable of performing.
Throwing darts (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/203/213.jpg), daggers (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/203/855.jpg), and shurikin (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/208/669.jpg)
Palm throw (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/216/508.jpg)
Ranged pin (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/208/671.jpg)
Riding (http://dvdscreenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/208/569.jpg) and mounted combat
Mai
Female human Rogue 1, Fighter 5, Master Thrower 5, Exotic Weapon Master 2, Fighter 3, Rogue 4
CN Medium humanoid
Init +5 Senses Listen +12, Spot +16
Languages Common
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AC 27 (+5 Dex, +12 Class Defense)
HP 124 (6+5d10+5d8+2d10+3d10+4d6+40)
Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +5
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spd 30 ft (6 squares)
Melee Dagger +14/+9/+4 (1d4+1)
Ranged Dagger +23/+18/+13 (1d4+7) OR Shurikin +23/+18/+13 (1d2+7) OR Dart +22/+17/+12 (1d4+7)
Base Atk +15/+10/+5
Atk Options Sneak Attack +3d6, Double Toss, Palm Throw, Weak Spot, Close Quarters Ranged Combat,
Special Atks Ranged Disarm, Ranged Pin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abilities Str 13, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 10
SQ pwntasticness, super-emo-ness, Evasion, Trap Sense +1, Uncanny Dodge
Feats Flaw – Noncombatant, Dodge, Two Weapon Fighting, Point Blank Shot(B), Precise Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Shurikin), Weapon Focus (Shurikin), Ranged Pin (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Ranged_Pin,all), Quick Draw(B), Weapon Specialization (Shurikin), Ranged Weapon Mastery (Piercing) (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Ranged_Weapon_Mastery,all), Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Dagger), Dead Eye (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Dead_Eye,all), Mobility, Shot on the Run
Skills Bluff +15, Climb 21, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +5, Diplomacy +10, Disguise +10, Jump 27, Listen +12, Ride +24, Slight of Hand +24, Spot +15, Tumble +22

To be honest, it was possible to make a build for Mai that can do everything she's seen as doing by level 13. I added the extra fighter and rogue levels just to bring her power level up to that of Ty Lee and Piandao. If anyone has suggestions for how to fill those last 7 levels, let me know.

Also, this build uses substantially more non-OGL content than the Ty Lee build which, while Thief-Acrobat fits well and adds some useful abilities, could be re-done with only rogue levels, Avatar-specific content, and one or two non-OGL feats. I might try and make a thrown weapons fighter for the Avatar campaign world, or at least a collection of feats that let you make a more effective thrown weapons fighter. We'll see how that goes...

So, comments, questions, concerns?

Xiagu
2007-11-25, 11:47 AM
SQ pwntasticness, super-emo-ness, ...Are those feats? Can I give my character those? :smile: (do I get a cookie?)



*snip*
Favored Enemy (Ex) - At 1st level, a ranger may select a group or organization to specialize in opposing. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.
This ability can affect groups such as Fire Nation infantry, Dai Li agents, members of a specific mercenary group, Southern Water Tribe waterbenders, martial artists of a specific style, or other groups of opponents with similar fighting styles.
Track - A ranger gains Track as a bonus feat.
Wild Empathy (Ex) -A ranger can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
Endurance - A ranger gains Endurance as a bonus feat at 3rd level.
Woodland Stride (Ex) - Starting at 7th level, a ranger may move through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at his normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment.
Swift Tracker (Ex) - Beginning at 8th level, a ranger can move at his normal speed while following tracks without taking the normal -5 penalty. He takes only a -10 penalty (instead of the normal -20) when moving at up to twice normal speed while tracking.
Evasion (Ex) - At 9th level, a ranger can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ranger is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless ranger does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Camouflage (Ex) - A ranger of 13th level or higher can use the Hide skill in any sort of natural terrain, even if the terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.
Hide in Plain Sight (Ex) - While in any sort of natural terrain, a ranger of 17th level or higher can use the Hide skill even while being observed.
*snip*

Wait, there's something I'm just not getting about this...

The 'favored organization' thing is good, but it doesn't make much sense when combined with the other abilities, which are about the wilderness and stuff. This is a good class for guerilla fighters, but what's the point of having Woodland Stride, Track and Camouflage if you're living in a city? And how many Dai Li agents are you going to find wandering through a forest?

EDIT @V: And nobody even think of starting a thread entitled "Jokes of the Avatar World [Avatar Project]". Or else.

ErrantX
2007-11-25, 12:57 PM
And how many Dai Li agents are you going to find wandering through a forest?

That sounds like the beginning of a joke. "A couple of Dai Li agents were walking through the woods..." or "Have you the heard the one about the Dai Li agents who were wandering through the woods?"

I dunno, just being random today.

-X

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-25, 06:02 PM
I see your point, Xiagu. I'm not usually one to sacrifice flavor for functionality (as I'm sure you've all noticed), but this looks like a situation here I'm going to do just that. A really wilderness-based hunter could, I suppose, choose animals or spirits (if we eventually stat any out) as favored enemies. Whoever said anything about living in a city, though? I accepted the idea after thinking about Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. By standard favored enemy rules, he'd probably have orc, goblin, and Sauron-twisted humans as primary enemies. By these rules he'd have Mordor infantry and Ringwraiths instead. It doesn't have to be a local thing; just as long as the group has similar patterns. Does that make it clearer? More importantly, does that make it thematically appropriate, in your opinion?

Orzel
2007-11-26, 01:37 AM
Another option for is make the different benders and warriors as favored choices. Since each of the 4 nations is represented by a martial art and method of thinking, a ranger could possible learn the weaknesses of people of from the 4 nations. Because A ranger who has the Dai Li as an enemy should be able to applie that bonus on the Boulder! or King Bumi because they are all weird Hung Gar users.

{table=head] Type (Subtype)|Type (Subtype)
Animal| Spirit
Bender (air)|Warrior(air)
Bender (earth)|Warrior(earth)
Bender (fire)|Warrior(fire)
Bender (water)|Warrior(water)
[/table]

Mephibosheth
2007-11-26, 11:14 AM
I like the idea of allowing rangers to select benders and soldiers of the various nations as favored enemies. The link to the martial philosophy of bending in the show is strong, and even favored enemy (warriors) could be explained with knowledge of the various nations' militaries' standard operating procedures and the weaknesses and strengths of their armor and technology.

I don't think it would be unreasonable for us to fold some aspects of the Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRang er) variant into our version of the class. We could create variations of wilderness-specific class abilities that are more appropriate for urban environments and allow players to choose, much like combat styles. Camouflage and Woodland Stride could easily be altered to function in urban environments where rangers hide in side streets, shadows, and amidst the detritus of civilization instead of in the undergrowth and where crowd, congestion, and road construction limit movement. The Urban Ranger variant even contains rules for urban tracking that would be useful. This way, we can have all sorts of favored enemies that fit both urban and rural styles.

Mephibosheth

ErrantX
2007-11-26, 01:12 PM
@ Eighth Seraph

Let me offer some help towards the combat styles?

Two-handed melee
• Power Attack
• Cleave
• Improved Sunder
• Great Cleave
• Sundering Cleave*

One-handed melee
• Weapon Finesse or Power attack
• Combat Expertise
• Combat Reflexes
• Improved Disarm
• Improved Feint or Improved Trip

Sundering Cleave (General)
Prerequisites: base attack bonus +11, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder
Benefit: After making a successful sunder attempt that breaks an opponent's weapon, the player may make an immediate cleave attempt on the opponent using the same attack bonus.
Special: A fighter may select Sundering Cleave as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Just some ideas for that. What's the word on the martial artist you're working up, Eighth? Also, are there any plans if Fighter, Barbarian and Rogue are being changed or revised?

-X

ArmorArmadillo
2007-11-26, 05:31 PM
@ Eighth Seraph

Let me offer some help towards the combat styles?

Two-handed melee
• Power Attack
• Cleave
• Improved Sunder
• Great Cleave
• Sundering Cleave*

One-handed melee
• Weapon Finesse or Power attack
• Combat Expertise
• Combat Reflexes
• Improved Disarm
• Improved Feint or Improved Trip

Sundering Cleave (General)
Prerequisites: base attack bonus +11, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder
Benefit: After making a successful sunder attempt that breaks an opponent's weapon, the player may make an immediate cleave attempt on the opponent using the same attack bonus.
Special: A fighter may select Sundering Cleave as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Just some ideas for that. What's the word on the martial artist you're working up, Eighth? Also, are there any plans if Fighter, Barbarian and Rogue are being changed or revised?

-X

Heavy 2 handed fighting doesn't seem very suited to rangers...2WF and Archery always fit it because they were "Light" styles. If Avatar d20 is going to have Martial artists with varying styles, I have to question what the ranger is really bringing to the setting.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-26, 05:52 PM
I questioned whether 2-handed fighting was appropriate, myself, but then I remembered Aragorn, perhaps THE origin of the ranger, as well as Anduril, his legendary greatsword.

Orzel
2007-11-26, 08:23 PM
Not all rangers live in the woods. A huge weapon is perfect in the plains or desert where there isn't much cover to hinder big swings or charge attacks.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-26, 09:46 PM
Alright, I definitely like the idea of making bending classes as well as official military of the four nations possible favored enemy choices. Notice that I said official, because there'll be mercenaries, guerilla forces, self-taught barbarians and all other sorts of exceptions to this rule. The problem then lies in making the ability useful despite this. When we eventually make the monk rewrite, we might break them down into light, balanced, and heavy arts for this purpose; or maybe hard and soft arts instead. What are you guys' thoughts on this?

As for the herb list, I think that we might have some precedent and even some herbs to work off of. In The Blue Spirit, Aang mentions ginger root as a healing herb. I think we can all agree that Aang doesn't have any levels in Ranger and very few, if any, in Knowledge (nature) or Survival, so it stands to reason that ginger root is a commonly known remedy for illness. Let's get started with that.

Knowledge (Nature)
.....There are many plants and roots both blooming and hidden throughout the world whose medicinal properties can only be harnessed by those that know how to bring them out. If you succeed on a check to identify an herb's use, it means you know the herb's properties as well as how to prepare it in order to bring it out. Failing a check by 4 or less means that you vaguely know what the herb does, but may be foggy on how to use it. Failing the check by 5 or more means that you don't know the herb's uses and may even have false information, which could lead to dire results as some plants are venomous if used incorrectly.
.....Wilderness Lore - Rangers (and NPC experts) can use this skill to even greater extents in order to find the plants themselves in the wild. A ranger may use his knowledge and experience in the natural environment to identify plants with uses both medicinal and poisonous. Whenever a ranger uses the Survival skill to forage for food, he may also make a Knowledge (nature) check to identify herbs with useful properties. If the Knowledge check exceeds the DC of each herb and if it is present in the area the ranger searches through, the ranger may gather it and apply it as noted in each herb's description.

Ginger Root (DC 5) - Found almost anywhere in lightly to densely forested environments, this root has a strong, sharp flavor and is often used to flavor food. When boiled in water to make tea, ginger root fortifies the body's immune system, granting a +2 to fortitude saves against disease for one day. The average ginger root can weigh anywhere from two to eight ounces depending on size, and it takes half an ounce to make a cup of ginger tea.
Wumei (Plum) (DC 5) - This specially prepared fruit is a very common medicine used for strengthening the body as opposed to healing it. One fruit grants a +2 bonus on all fortitude saves for 10 minutes. Additional fruits extend this duration by 10 minutes up to a maximum of 1 hour per day. The collecting takes 2 minutes per fruit and the preparing takes 1 hour for every 100 fruits. Eating at least one plum fruit every day for at least two weeks makes the bonus on Fortitude saves continuous for as long as one eats at least one plum a day. Missing a day once the two weeks are complete has no effect, though missing four or more consecutive days removes the bonus and two more weeks of eating plum are necessary to get it back. The average plum weighs 4 to eight ounces, depending on size and ripeness.
Sandalwood (Oil) (DC 15) - The oil of the Sandalwood tree is full of nutrients and curative agents that heal the skin. It takes one minute to harvest one square foot of bark from the sandalwood tree and one hour to prepare Sandalwood oil which requires 2gp worth of normal oil. Once prepared, the Sandalwood oil mixture can be applied to any burn, blemish, or other skin injury for 10 minutes to completely remove the effect. Sandalwood Oil cures 3d8 non-lethal damage with a single dose as well as 1d8+3 damage dealt by fire or acid. Pure Sandalwood Oil is extremely potent and should never be used, if pure Sandalwood Oil is used it causes 1d6 damage which cannot be healed except by the Healing Waters seed. Sandalwood Oil (in pure form) can also be used as a laxative that effects the drinker 1 minute after being taken causing the drinker to make a DC20 fortitude save or become nauseated. Sandalwood Oil has a distinct smell and taste which can be identified by a DC 5 Knowledge (Nature) check. Sandalwood bark weighs half a pound per square foot, sandalwood oil weighs the same as regular oil. Cost: 5gp per dose, 10gp per dose of pure oil
Frozen Wood Frogs (DC 20) - These frogs produce a potent medicinal slime that has the ability to cure even deadliest of diseases. By sucking on the frog for a continuous 2 hours, a patient is cured of any and all of the following conditions: confused, dazed, nauseated, and sickened. The frog's secretions are also a powerful medicine, and they may be used to cure any physical disease with a Fortitude save DC of 20 or lower. The frogs must have been frozen for at least a week before enough of the slime is produced to have any effect. The frozen frogs are actually quite tasty both raw and cooked, though few people would suffer the indignity of eating the animal. The frogs thaw out of their frozen state within a period of 1d2+4 hours.
Banana leaf -
Cactus Juice -

Do you see where I'm going with this? I think that if we put in some good quantities of herbs to cover all the major environments (plains, deciduous forests, coniferous forests, mountains, seaside, desert, savannah, etc.) rangers can be a useful and flavored addition to any team. The question lies, of course, in what happens to the option of an urban ranger, if we allow that choice to be made within the class. I'd also like to add some poisonous plants in there, but I'm no good at making balanced poisons.

Darkbane
2007-11-27, 02:19 PM
Looks good, but I don't think you should restrict the Wilderness Lore use to rangers and experts. After all, Aang probably doesn't have Ranger levels and he was still able to harvest frozen wood frogs.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-27, 02:42 PM
Looks good Eighth, what do you think of my take on the Wood Frog?

Frozen Wood Frogs (DC 20) - These frogs produce a potent medicinal slime that has the ability to cure even deadliest of diseases. By sucking on the frog, a patient is cured of any and all of the following conditions: confused, dazed, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, sickened, and poisoned after 2 hours. The frogs must have been frozen for at least 2 weeks before enough of the slime is produced to have any effect. While the slime is very potent, it is not a wonder drug, there is only a 50% chance of the patient being successfully healed if the ailment requires a fortitude save above DC20. Once the patient has been treated with the frogs and the ailment was not cured, all other attempts with the slime have a cumulative -10% to cure the ailment.

Frozen Wood Frog Slime - The slime of a frozen wood frog can be harvested by those learned in the art of medicine with a successful DC 20 Wilderness Lore or DC 15 Craft (medicine) check. Each successful check creates 1 dose of Frozen Wood Frog Slime and takes 2 hours. Frozen Wood Frog Slime keeps its potency for 1 week after being harvested. After a week has passed, each dose loses half its effectiveness, requiring two doses of week-old slime to have the same effect. After 3weeks the slime loses all its healing properties. A DC 20 craft(medicine) check +5 per previous check can be made once a week to delay the loss of potency by one week. Cost: 20gp

Also, I agree with Darkbane that Wilderness Lore should not be restricted. I'll try to think of some more herbs based off Chinese medicine.

Mephibosheth
2007-11-27, 03:06 PM
I like how this is going, but Wood Frogs need to be toned down. Sucking on the frozen frog for <duration> should cure all non-magical diseases (effectually, all diseases since magic as such doesn't exist). Sucking on the non-frozen frogs should have no benefit. As proof, consider the following exchange from The Blue Spirit:

Aang: What about my friends?
Herbalist: Well, all they need is some frozen wood frogs. There's plenty of them down in the valley swamp.
Aang: What am I supposed to do with frozen frogs?
Herbalist: Why, suck on them of course!
Aang (shocked): Suck on them!?
Herbalist: The frog's skin excretes a substance that'll cure your friends, but make sure you get plenty. Once those little critters thaw out, they're useless!

Plus, a Heal effect is too powerful for a DC 15 Wilderness Lore check.

Mephibosheth

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-27, 03:40 PM
I like how this is going, but Wood Frogs need to be toned down. Sucking on the frozen frog for <duration> should cure all non-magical diseases (effectually, all diseases since magic as such doesn't exist). Sucking on the non-frozen frogs should have no benefit. As proof, consider the following exchange from The Blue Spirit:

Aang: What about my friends?
Herbalist: Well, all they need is some frozen wood frogs. There's plenty of them down in the valley swamp.
Aang: What am I supposed to do with frozen frogs?
Herbalist: Why, suck on them of course!
Aang (shocked): Suck on them!?
Herbalist: The frog's skin excretes a substance that'll cure your friends, but make sure you get plenty. Once those little critters thaw out, they're useless!

Plus, a Heal effect is too powerful for a DC 15 Wilderness Lore check.

Mephibosheth

I was going for the stuff that Heal removes, not the hit point healing, I'll tone it down a bit. I include that the frogs need to be frozen for any effect.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-27, 04:40 PM
I would actually say that Aang was able to find the frogs only because the herbalist told him how to find them and how to use them, the same way that a bard can make a Bardic Knowledge check, then tell the rest of the party what he knows. Again, this is just an expanded use of Knowledge (Nature) available to rangers, and not an independent skill. I put experts in there because I'm sure that a party could, at some point, need to protect an NPC herbalist while she searches for some extremely rare cure somewhere in the deep forest. This just establishes precedent.

levi
2007-11-28, 12:02 AM
I think I've figured out how an urban style Ranger can make use of Wilderness Lore. While there aren't many wild plants (or wood frogs) in a city, there are other sources of such things, like bazzars and apocatharies.

Taking ginger root as an example, the Ranger can proably locate it in a market. However, without the skill check, he doesn't know how to use it medicinally. As another example, needing some Frozen Tree Frogs, the Ranger visits an apocathary. The proprieter may know how to use them, but he'll likely charge a consulting fee of some sort. (Or, if medical practice is formally regulated, refer him to a licensed doctor, who'll charge as well.) However, if the Ranger makes the skill check, he knows what to buy (frogs, as opposed to white dragon lily or whatever), and how to apply it.

In this way, urban rangers will (likely) have a wider selection and/or easier time finding medicines, but will have to pay for them. On the other tentacle, wilderness rangers get them for free, but only if they are native, in season, and they can find some.

Do you think that'd work well?

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-28, 01:42 PM
I like it Levi.

Sandalwood (Oil) (DC 15) - The oil of the Sandalwood tree is full of nutrients and curative agents that heal the skin. It takes 1 hour to harvest and prepare Sandalwood oil which requires 2gp worth of normal oil. Once prepared, the Sandalwood oil mixture can be applied to any burn, blemish, or other skin injury for 10 minutes to completely remove the effect. Sandalwood Oil cures 3d8 non-lethal damage with a single dose as well as 1d8+3 damage dealt by fire or acid. Pure Sandalwood Oil is extremely potent and should never be used, if pure Sandalwood Oil is used it causes 1d6 damage which cannot be healed except by the Healing Waters seed. Sandalwood Oil (in pure form) can also be used as a laxative that effects the drinker 1 minute after being taken causing the drinker to make a DC20 fortitude save or become nauseated. Sandalwood Oil has a distinct smell and taste which can be identified by a DC5 Knowledge (Nature) check. Cost: 5gp per dose, 10gp per dose of pure oil

Here is my version of Sandalwood Oil, based off good ol' wikipedia's entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandalwood#Medicine). I figured I'd make the ingested bit a laxative even its not the same...

So, Eighth, what do you think of my Frozen Wood Frogs and Sandalwood Oil?

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-28, 05:21 PM
I love sandalwood, except for the clause that it cures all non-lethal damage. That may be a bit much, though around 2d6 cured damage might work. Now we need specifics on how much sandalwood (bark?) is needed to make a dose of oil, and how much a dose weighs when in wood form (I assume sandalwood oil weighs the same as normal oil per flask). This is to ensure that a ranger won't make an undefined amount of money making sandalwood oil from a single tree because there's no way to know how much oil can be extracted. I like that you put prices, though; and the effect, again, is very well presented. A good addition to anyone going up against firebenders.

As for the Frozen Wood Frogs, I'm a bit wary of how it's essentially a perfect panacea. They can, essentially, cure anything except hit point damage in two hours, including fatigue and exhaustion. Either make them very obscure knowledge (Heal is a very powerful effect here) or cut down on what they can do. I don't think that curing any and all diseases in two hours is a good place to start. Maybe diseases with a maximum fort save? Unless we want a lethal plague and the flu being cured by the same thing. I understand that the "frozen" clause is a good balancing factor...unless there's a waterbender nearby that can refreeze them every round.

Alright, the monk re-write is underway; we can keep working on herbs 'til I've polished it up a bit more.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-28, 06:07 PM
I love sandalwood, except for the clause that it cures all non-lethal damage. That may be a bit much, though around 2d6 cured damage might work. Now we need specifics on how much sandalwood (bark?) is needed to make a dose of oil, and how much a dose weighs when in wood form (I assume sandalwood oil weighs the same as normal oil per flask). This is to ensure that a ranger won't make an undefined amount of money making sandalwood oil from a single tree because there's no way to know how much oil can be extracted. I like that you put prices, though; and the effect, again, is very well presented. A good addition to anyone going up against firebenders.
Glad to hear you like it. I've toned it down by only healing 3d8 non-lethal. As for the number of trees needed, I wanted to leave it vague and assume that the ranger or whatever is searching through and collecting bark for most of an hour. It really depends on a lot of variables.


As for the Frozen Wood Frogs, I'm a bit wary of how it's essentially a perfect panacea. They can, essentially, cure anything except hit point damage in two hours, including fatigue and exhaustion. Either make them very obscure knowledge (Heal is a very powerful effect here) or cut down on what they can do. I don't think that curing any and all diseases in two hours is a good place to start. Maybe diseases with a maximum fort save? Unless we want a lethal plague and the flu being cured by the same thing. I understand that the "frozen" clause is a good balancing factor...unless there's a waterbender nearby that can refreeze them every round.
Added a clause to increase the balancing factor of being frozen (requires 2 weeks in that state) and added in that it doesn't cure everything 100% of the time.

I hope you like the changes better, I'll work on a few more herbs later, they're hard to research because I always get the controversy over Chinese medicine, anyone have a link?

Eighth_Seraph
2007-11-28, 09:56 PM
Um...I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. Here's more what I had in mind.

Frozen Wood Frogs (DC 20) - These frogs produce a potent medicinal slime that has the ability to cure even deadliest of diseases. By sucking on the frog for a continuous 2 hours, a patient is cured of any and all of the following conditions: confused, dazed, nauseated, and sickened. The frog's secretions are also a powerful medicine, and they may be used to cure any physical disease with a Fortitude save DC of 20 or lower. The frogs must have been frozen for at least a week before enough of the slime is produced to have any effect. The frozen frogs are actually quite tasty both raw and cooked, though few people would suffer the indignity of eating the animal. The frogs thaw out of their frozen state within a period of 1d2+4 hours.

As for sandalwood, it really is important to have a weight in ounces or pounds per dose; so that a ranger can know how much 'room' to set aside on a scavenging expedition and to make sure that we don't have a quarterstaff effect: non-masterwork quarterstaves are essentially free in some setting and thus their creation time equals 0 days. A monk can punch a door and get 10 quarterstaves out of it because their price is not listed. Let's keep our bases covered and err on the side of caution, eh?

Also, what were those two plants, the delectable tea and deadly poison, that Iroh mixed up? That would made an interesting addition to the list as an ingested poison, I think.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-28, 10:29 PM
Your revision of the frogs looks good, though I'd say fatigue and exhaustion be added to the list. Sure, part of it is because you're resting while taking it, but I think it would help with exhaustion (and thus fatigue as well).

Hm...good point on the Sandalwood, The Sandalwood Oil would weight the same as normal oil plus a bit extra, so how about 1.1lbs for 1 pint (same as a dose)? The pure stuff would come in a smaller "dose" quantity that would weight 0.25lb or less.

As for those two plants Iroh mentioned, I think that'll take a lot of digging to find.

Wumei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_blossom#Medicinal_use) (Plum) (DC 5) - This specially prepared fruit is a very common medicine used for strengthening the body as opposed to healing it. One fruit grants a +2 bonus on all fortitude saves for 10 minutes. Additionally fruits extend this duration by 10 minutes up to a maximum of 1 hour per day. The collecting takes 2 minutes per fruit and the preparing takes 1 hour for every 100 fruits.

I couldn't find anything on Plum Blossom, but the fruit has the above (supposed) property. One problem with Chinese medicine in this application is that the philosophy behind the medicine and beliefs is to prevent aliments, not heal as can be seen in the above example.

Xiagu
2007-11-29, 08:11 PM
Also, what were those two plants, the delectable tea and deadly poison, that Iroh mixed up? That would made an interesting addition to the list as an ingested poison, I think.

I believe the poison was the White Jade plant, and the tea was, umm... ...not sure.

EDIT: Aha, found it. The poisonous plant is the White Jade bush, and the delicious tea plant is the White Dragon bush, whose leaves make a "tea so heavenly...". Also, the bunch of berries are 'pakui' berries or something, which cure the white jade poison, or 'maka-oli' berries (or something), which cause blindness.

EDIT @V: Are you referring to the Hiro in Heroes or to Haru, the earthbender guy who now has a mustache? (Or is that just a horrendous misspelling of "Iroh"?)

Guyr Adamantine
2007-11-30, 09:08 AM
That's what happenwhen you fail a knowledge check.

Hiro took Knowledge (Nature) as a cross-class skill...

Eighth_Seraph
2007-12-06, 08:37 AM
Alright, I just wanted to let you guys know that the monk class variant will be here shortly. The still-prominent-but-not-as-central-as-Tataraus'-system styles are difficult to make and balance against each other making the class very time-consuming to complete. I'll finish up one or two styles, then post it up here maybe later today so you guys can see what I've been up to.

It's important for you guys to know, though, that the monk may very well be my last major contribution to this project before I have to move on to focus on schoolwork and church projects. Let's get these classes shaved down, shined up, and presentable for the pdf, then, eh?

Eighth_Seraph
2007-12-07, 06:37 PM
__________________________________________________ _____________The Monk
.....Dotted across the landscape are monasteries--small, walled cloisters inhabited by monks who pursue personal perfection through physical and mental training. Training themselves to be able warriors even when unarmed and dressed in peasants' clothes, monks may often walk unnoticed around a town's populace, serving as protectors of the farmers and other people residing near their training halls. Benign masters often train the residents of their monasteries to hold life dear and to ensure the safety of those around them. Other masters train their students so they can be the best and gain fame from the tournament victories their prodigies earn, while some monasteries serve as training grounds for elite forces of assassins, thieves, or spies.
.....In any case, monks train to perfect their own skills and power, not being dependent on specific equipment and always ready for when combat is necessary. As such, monks rarely care overmuch for material wealth, but will go to great lengths to further their skills and refine their respective arts.
Adventures - A monk often approaches an adventure as if it were a personal test. While not prone to shoing off, this type of monk is willing to try her skills against whatever obstacles confront her in order to perfect her art. Others travel the countryside, defeating any opponent foolish enough to accept her challenge in order to prove herself as the greatest warrior around. Still others are employed as mercenaries or special forces by governments and organizations tied to their monasteries and are assigned specific missions to infiltrate, steal, spy, or assassinate.
Characteristics - The key feature of the monk is her ability to fight unarmed and unarmored. Thanks to her rigorous training, she can strike as hard as if she were armed and strike faster than a warrior with a sword. The extent and variations of this ability is largely dependent on the art that individual monks learn at their monasteries, whose fighting styles vary widely depending on the intended uses of the art.
.....A monk's training also includes refinement of perception and mobility, and monks gain an instinctive awareness of opposition that she is not consciously aware of, and the ability to avoid attacks with frustrating regularity. While some monks attribute these abilities to an inner force, known as ki, others say that it is all a matter of physical training. In any case, monks are capable of feats that no other warriors have a chance of achieving.
Background - A monk typically trains in a monastery. Most monks were children when they joined the monastery, as many masters take in orphaned children or accept them from families that can't afford to feed or care for them. Life in a monastery is so focused that by the time a monk sets off on her own, she seldom feels any connection to her former family or village.
.....In larger cities, master monks have set up martial art schools to teach the interested and worthy. At times, there may be rival schools within a city that compete for the interest of prospective students through highly publicized bouts and tournaments.
.....A monk may feel a deep connection to her monastery or school, to the master who taught her, to the clan whose art she practices, or all of these. Some monks, however, claim none of these ties and simply follow their own path of personal development.
.....Monks often recognize each other as separate from the rest of the populace and can hold a deep respect for each other regardless of which art they practice. Others, however, hold contempt for the martial arts of others and fight to prove their art superior to all others at every turn.
Other Classes - Monks sometimes seem distant because they often have neither motivation nor skills in common with members of other classes, or because they have been accustomed to the strict training of their monasteries and are unused to being among people that do not share that singular passion.
Role - The best role for a monk depends largely on her style, which can vary from constantly mobile opportunistic attackers as is common with the Cobra Strike discipline, to rock-solid counter-attackers from the Denying Stance. In any case, monks are often glass cannons that must gauge the amount of punishment they take very carefully.
Abilities - Wisdom powers the monk's AC bonus and save DCs for offensive techniques. Dexterity is a vital ability for most monks in order to balance the lack of armor and give bonuses to useful skills. Strength is a necessity for offense-oriented monks that wish to deal significant damage. Constitution helps to balance out the relatively low hit die that monks have as a warrior class.

Hit Die - d8
Class Skills
The monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill points at 1st Level: (4 + Intelligence modifier) x 4.
Skill points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.

The Monk
Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Enhanced Strike, Combat technique, Style Training

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Style Feat, Evasion

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Still Mind

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1| Purity of Body

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+2|Style Feat
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+2|

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+2|

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+3| Improved Evasion
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+3|
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+3|Diamond Body

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+4 |Style Feat

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+4|

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+4|

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+5|

16th|
+16/11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+5|
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+5|

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+6|Style Feat

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+6|

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+6|

{table=head]Level| Flurry of Blows|Decisive Strike|Unarmored AC bonus|Unarmored Speed Bonus|Class Defense Bonus

1st|
-1/-1|
-1|
+0|
+0 ft.|
+4

2nd|
+0/+0|
+0|
+0|
+0 ft.|
+4

3rd|
+1/+1|
+1|
+0|
+10 ft.|
+5

4th|
+2/+2|
+2|
+1|
+10 ft.|
+5

5th|
+4/+4|
+4|
+1|
+10 ft.|
+5

6th|
+5/+5/+0|
+5|
+1|
+20 ft.|
+6

7th|
+6/+6/+1|
+6|
+1|
+20 ft.|
+6

8th|
+7/+7/+2|
+7|
+2|
+20 ft.|
+6

9th|
+9/+9/+4|
+9|
+2|
+30 ft.|
+7

10th|
+10/+10/+5|
+10|
+2|
+30 ft.|
+7

11th|
+11/+11/+6/+6/+1|
+12/+2|
+2|
+30 ft.|
+7

12th|
+12/+12/+7/+7/+2|
+13/+3|
+3|
+40 ft.|
+8

13th|
+13/+13/+8/+8/+3|
+14/+4|
+3|
+40 ft.|
+8

14th|
+14/+14/+9/+9/+4|
+15/+6|
+3|
+40 ft.|
+8

15th|
+15/+15/+10/+10/+5|
+16/+6|
+3|
+50 ft.|
+9

16th|
+16/+16/+11/+11/+6/+1|
+17/+12|
+4|
+50 ft.|
+9

17th|
+17/+17/+12/+12/+7/+2|
+18/+13|
+4|
+50 ft.|
+9

18th|
+18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+3|
+19/+14|
+4|
+60 ft.|
+10

19th|
+19/+19/+14/+14/+9/+4|
+20/+15|
+4|
+60 ft.|
+10

20th|
+20/+20/+15/+15/+10/+5|
+21/+16|
+5|
+60 ft.|
+10[/table]



Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, eskrima, javelin, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, sling, and any style weapons (see Style Training, below). Monks are not proficient with any armor or shields. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a monk loses her AC bonus, as well as her Enhanced Strike ability and possibly some style abilities.

Combat Technique (Ex): At 1st level, a monk learns how to deliver a rapid flurry of blows or a single decisive strike, as the situation demands. Monks learn both of these techniques and may choose which, if either, to use in any given attack.

When unarmored, a monk who is using the flurry of blows technique may strike with a rapid series 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. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows column on the above table. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. When a monk reaches 11th level, her flurry of blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack she gets from flurry of blows, she gets a second extra attack at her second-best base attack bonus. A monk must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with style weapons. She may attack with unarmed strikes and style weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1½ or ×½) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a style weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

When unarmored, a monk who is using the decisive strike technique may deliver a single powerful blow as a standard action or by making a full attack, in which case each decisive strike counts as two attacks (if the monk has attacks left over, these may be done as normal strikes; decisive strikes are in bold on the class table). When doing so, her attack roll is made with a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Decisive Strike column on the above table. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. At 11th level, a monk gains a +1 bonus on the attack roll of a decisive strike. A monk must use an attack action to perform a decisive strike. If the attack hits, it deals double damage. These modifiers and conditions apply for 1 round and so also affect any attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action.

When using a decisive strike, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with style weapons. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a style weapon for a decisive strike. Also, when using a decisive strike in a full attack, attacks may be done in any order, and not only as shown on the monk's class table. For example, a monk with a Base Attack Bonus of 14 may make a normal unarmed strike at a +14 modifier, then a decisive strike at a +9 modifier if she wishes.

If a decisive strike is used to deliver a stunning attack, the save DC to resist the ability is increased by 2.

Enhanced Strike (Ex): At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.

Usually a monk’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A monk’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of feats and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons (though not crafting bonuses, of course).

A monk also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, though the damage of individual strikes depends largely on her fighting style. See the tables below for specific damage.
{table="head"]Level|Light|Balanced|Heavy
1st|1d4|1d6|1d8
2nd|1d4|1d6|1d8
3rd|1d4|1d8|1d8
4th|1d6|1d8|1d10
5th|1d6|1d8|1d10
6th|1d6|1d10|1d10
7th|1d6|1d8|1d10
8th|1d8|1d10|2d6
9th|1d8|1d10|2d6
10th|1d8|1d10|2d6
11th|1d8|1d10|2d6
12th|1d10|2d6|2d8
13th|1d10|2d6|2d8
14th|1d10|2d6|2d8
15th|1d10|2d6|2d8
16th|2d6|2d8|2d10
17th|2d6|2d8|2d10
18th|2d6|2d8|2d10
19th|2d6|2d8|2d10
20th|4d4|2d10|3d6[/table]

Style Training: At 1st level, a monk chooses a martial art or style to follow, gaining a +2 competence bonus on a skill associated with her chosen style. The monk’s style also determines other factors such as damage done by her Enhanced Strike ability, weapon proficiencies (to an extent), and which bonus feats the monk receives at first, second, and sixth levels. If a monk already has a bonus feat provided by her style training, she may instead gain any other feat for which she qualifies in its place.

Unarmored AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).

Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level or higher if a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Still Mind (Ex): A monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against fear or mind-affecting effects.

Unarmored Speed Bonus (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk gains an enhancement bonus to her speed, as shown on the table above. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Purity of Body (Ex): At 5th level, a monk gains a +4 to saving throws against disease.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Beginning at 7th level, a monk retains his Dex bonus to AC even when flat-footed.

If a monk already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a monk’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Diamond Body (Ex): At 11th level, a monk gains a +4 bonus on saving throws against poisons of all kinds.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Beginning at 14th level, a monk can no longer be flanked.

Light Styles
Cobra Strike
Monks of the Cobra Strike School specialize in agility and defense. By making herself hard to pin down, the Cobra Strike monk forces the enemy to fight on her terms.
Style Weapons: dagger, javelin, kama, kukri, sai, shuriken, siangham
Skill Bonus: Escape Artist
1st Level Bonus Feat: Dodge
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Mobility
At 4th level, the dodge bonus to your Armor Class granted by your Dodge feat increases to +1/4 monk levels and may applies to one additional target for every 4 monk levels you have.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Spring Attack
At 8th level, you gain a +2 competence bonus on Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks. This bonus increases to +4 at level 16, this bonus increases to +4.
At 10th level, you gain Mobile Mastery as a bonus feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites
12th Level Bonus Feat: Bounding Assault
18th Level Bonus Feat: Rapid Blitz
At 20th level, you may make a full attack (including Flurry of Blows) with your Rapid Blitz feat, though you may still only use up to three attacks on a single opponent.

Balanced Styles
Denying Stance
The Denying Stance monk seeks to neutralize the opponent's maneuvers, thwarting him at every turn until he becomes so frustrated that he makes a crucial error.
Style Weapons: dagger, eskrima, kama, quarterstaff, sai
Skill Bonus: Tumble
1st Level Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Combat Reflexes
Denying Stance: Beginning at 3rd level, a monk of the denying stance can forgo any number of attacks she wishes in a full attack and ‘save’ them for use as immediate actions during the rest of the round. You may only use these attacks against opponents that attack you in melee before you next turn and the attacks are made directly after the opponent’s attack. In the case of a full attack, you may trade blow for blow, executing an attack after each of her opponent’s attacks. The number of attacks you can ‘save’ and their base attack bonuses is determined by your Flurry of Blows full attack.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Parry Defense
At 8th level, when fighting defensively or using the Combat Expertise feat, you gain a +2 bonus on grapple checks (including to initiate a grapple), trip attempts and disarm attempts. This bonus increases to +4 at level 14.
12th Level Bonus Feat: Defensive Strike
18th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Combat Expertise
At 20th level, your reflexes and defensive capabilities are such that attacks you execute while using your denying stance technique land before those of your opponent.
Hand and Foot (In Progress)
The hand and foot style emphasizes combinations interchanging speed and accuracy with the hands and powerful finishing strikes with the feet, confounding opponents' defenses by attacking from four limbs all at once.
Style Weapons: dagger, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, three-section staff
Skill Bonus: Balance
1st Level Bonus Feat: Stunning Fist
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Deflect Arrows
At 4th level, a monk of the hand and foot learns the founding principle of her art: the differing roles and capabilities of her hands and feet. Whenever making an unarmed strike, you must also specify if you are using your hands or feet (or other body parts, such as elbows and knees, as appropriate). Any unarmed strikes you make with your hands from this point on gain a +1 to attack rolls, plus another +1/four monk levels, and any strikes made with your feet gain a +1 to damage, +1/four monk levels. Unarmed Strikes made with the feet also count as two-handed weapons for the purpose of the Power Attack feat.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Trip
At 7th Level, You gain a +2 bonus on attacks of opportunity made against an opponent attempting to bull rush or trip you, and a +4 bonus on Dexterity or Strength checks to avoid being tripped or bull rushed
At 8th level, you gain one of the hand and foot techniques detailed below.
At 10th level, you gain one of the hand and foot techniques detailed below.
12th Level Bonus Feat: Flying Kick
At 13th level, you gain one of the hand and foot techniques detailed below.
At 16th level, you gain one of the hand and foot techniques detailed below.
18th Level Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
At 19th level, you gain one of the hand and foot techniques detailed below.
At 20th level, a monk of the hand and foot gains a +2 on all attack rolls, trip, bull rush, or bluff attempts used in her hand and foot techniques. In addition, whenever you make a full attack or flurry of blows, you gain a cumulative +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed strikes and attacks with style weapons for every previous successful hit in the full attack.
Hand and Foot techniques
Double Roundhouse Kick – As a standard action or part of a charge, a monk of the hand and foot may make two attacks at her highest base attack bonus instead of one. However, if either of these attacks fails to hit, you are considered flat-footed until you are hit with a melee attack or until your next turn.
Feint Jab - A monk of the hand and foot expands upon the principle of speed over power that dominates the use of her hands. During a full attack, you may make feint jabs as attack actions with your hands (this does not provoke attacks of opportunity), resolving it as a normal feint. However, your opponent is only considered flat-footed against the next attack you use during the same turn as the feint (unlike a normal feint, which can be followed up on your next turn).
Palm Strike – Whenever you make a decisive strike with your hands, you may also make a bull rush attempt against your opponent at a -2 penalty (This does not provoke an attack of opportunity, as you are not moving into your opponent’s square) as part of the attack, resolving it as normal. However, you do not have the option to move with your opponent, and it after the initial five feet your opponent is pushed back, your roll must be 10 points higher than your opponent’s in order to push him back an additional 5 feet (rather than 5 points higher, as normal). Stunning attacks made with palm strikes gain an additional +2 to their save DCs.
Push Kick – A monk of the hand and foot learns to use her superior leg strength in ways other than direct damage to her opponent. As an attack action, you may make a bull rush attempt against your opponent at a -2 penalty (This does not provoke an attack of opportunity, as you are not moving into your opponent’s square), resolving it as normal. However, you do not have the option to move with your opponent, and it after the initial five feet your opponent is pushed back, your roll must be 10 points higher than your opponent’s in order to push him back an additional 5 feet (rather than 5 points higher, as normal). If a push kick is made as part of a charge, it may deals normal unarmed strike damage as well as initiating a bull rush.
Sweep Kick – Whenever you successfully hit with a hand technique and then a foot technique during a full attack, you immediately gain a free trip attempt against your opponent.


Heavy Styles
Passive Way
The Passive Way focuses on making your opponent overreach himself or underestimate your skill.
Style Weapons: dagger, eskrima, kusari-gama, quarterstaff, sai
Skill Bonus: Bluff.
1st Level Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise.
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Improved Trip
At 3rd level, you learn the basis for your art: the passive stance. Whenever an opponent attacks and misses you in melee and misses by 5 or more while you are using Combat Expertise to increase your armor class, you automatically gain a trip, grapple, or disarm attempt against him, at your choice. This counts as an attack of opportunity, and you must be aware of your opponent before he makes an attack in order to use any attack from the passive stance.
At 5th level, you gain an additional ability to use with your passive stance, known as flowing. If your opponent attacks and misses you in melee, you may use his own momentum against him. Initially you make a touch attack, as for a grapple attempt. If it is successful, you and your opponent make opposed Strength or Dexterity checks (whichever is higher for each individual). If your check is greater, then you may shove your opponent 5 feet in any direction you wish, plus another 5 for every 2 points by which you won the opposed check (you may lessen the distance, if you wish). If an opponent is charging your or doing a bull rush attempt, you gain a +5 on your check. You must be able to execute an unarmed strike to do this technique.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Feint.
At 8th level, you gain a +4 bonus on all checks made as part of a technique from the passive stance (Strength checks for trip attempts, touch attacks for grapples, Dexterity checks to flow your opponent, etc.), as well as an additional +4 to any of these checks if your opponent is flat-footed. In addition you gain additional attacks of opportunity per round equal to your Wisdom modifier. This stacks with Combat Reflexes or any other source of attacks of opportunity.
At 10th level, you may execute an attack with a light weapon or unarmed strike as an immediate action against an opponent as you execute a flow on him. This does not require an additional attack of opportunity other than the initial one.
12th Level Bonus Feat: Defensive Strike
At 14th level, you may combine a flow attempt with any other special attack you can do in the passive stance. For example, you could trip your opponent, in which case he would fall face-first five feet away from you (or further, as appropriate). In the case of a grapple, you flow with your opponent, beginning the grapple in the square where he ends.
18th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Combat Expertise
At 20th level, you learn how to use your ability to flow offensively against opponents. As an attack action, you may make a touch attack against an opponent. If it is successful, you may flow your opponent as usual, including any bonuses or additional abilities you’ve gained with it.


Alright, the styles themselves are taking alot more time than I anticipated, since making them unique and yet broad enough to not refer to individual dojos is very difficult there's at least on example up there for you guys to check out, and another coming very soon. I borrowed alot of ideas from a monk redux belonging to Victorious Press, which was made on these very forums. Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35152&page=1), actually. What do y'all think so far? It'll be difficult to gauge power until more styles are up, but how's it look as things stand?

ErrantX
2007-12-07, 11:03 PM
First and foremost Eighth Seraph, you left off your 20th level.

Secondly, this is a great start. I'm going to go and look a lot more in depth now and I'll post again.

-X

Xiagu
2007-12-08, 10:52 AM
It looks pretty good at first glance, Eighth_Seraph.

Comment:

Balanced Styles
Denying Stance
The Denying Stance monk seeks to neutralize the opponent's maneuvers, thwarting him at every turn until he becomes so frustrated that he makes a crucial error.
Style Weapons: dagger, eskrima, kama, quarterstaff, sai
Skill Bonus: Tumble
1st Level Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Combat Reflexes
Denying Stance: Beginning at 3rd level, a monk of the denying stance can forgo any number of attacks she wishes in a full attack and ‘save’ them for use as immediate actions during the rest of the round. You may only use these attacks against opponents that attack you in melee before you next turn and the attacks are made directly after the opponent’s attack. In the case of a full attack, you may trade blow for blow, executing an attack after each of her opponent’s attacks. The number of attacks you can ‘save’ and their base attack bonuses is determined by your Flurry of Blows full attack.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Parry Defense
At 8th level, when fighting defensively or using the Combat Expertise feat, you gain a +2 bonus on grapple checks (including to initiate a grapple), trip attempts and disarm attempts. This bonus increases to +4 at level 14.
12th Level Bonus Feat: Defensive Strike
18th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Combat Expertise
At 20th level, your reflexes and defensive capabilities are such that attacks you execute while using your denying stance technique land before those of your opponent.



Wouldn't this be the perfect place to use the Behind the Back feat? It seems so perfect for this style...

Feat text here: Behind the Back [General]
Darting forward and circling your opponent, you manage to position yourself behind her back and avoid her strikes.
Prerequisites: Dodge feat or a dodge bonus to AC as a class feature, Tumble 9 ranks
Benefit: As a full-round action, you move into your opponent’s square and behind her back, rotating as she spins and moving as she moves. Whenever the opponent targets you with an attack, you make a Tumble opposed by her attack roll. You may add any Dodge bonuses to you have to your AC to this opposed check. If your check exceeds her attack roll, you are able to remain behind her and the attack is negated. If you fail, the attacker doesn’t need to make an additional attack roll, but must still hit your AC. You do not threaten any squares while using this maneuver. If the opponent moves, you may either elect to move with her, or may remain where you are (though neither of you provokes an attack of opportunity for moving out of each other’s spaces). An opponent can attempt to trick you using a Bluff check. If he/she wins this Bluff check, you cannot move with her. You can remain behind your opponent’s back as long as you succeed in opposed checks. If you are successfully hit by the opponent, you automatically move into an adjacent square of your choice and your attempt ends (though you can initiate another as a full-round action). I couldn't find this in the thread, so this is quoted from the PDF.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-12-08, 02:56 PM
I can definitely imagine a style based around that feat (Rock Lee's "fight like the leaf's shadow" thing, for example), but I would allow players to take that feat the old fashioned way, rather than it being automatically part of this style; it's too pigeonholing for such a generalized style like the Denying Stance. I'm trying to thing of abilities for other styles, but I'm running dry. I'll have to spend a few hours on that today and I'll get back to y'all later tonight.

Xiagu
2007-12-08, 03:11 PM
My reasoning for suggesting that Behind the Back feat as part of the Denying stance was based on the the fight that spawned Behind the Back. When Aang fights Hiide (the schoolyard bully), the whole fight seems to represent exactly what the Denying Stance fluff claims to do: thwart your opponent at every turn until he becomes so frustrated that he makes a crucial error.

But I'm fine with leaving the style as it is, if you feel that it's better that way.

Eighth_Seraph
2007-12-09, 07:29 PM
Alright, I've added the Cobra Strike and Passive Way as light and heavy styles, respectively. I like how different the styles are ending up to be, while still being distinctly monk-like. Cobra Strike seems like a generic ninja fighting style minus the disappearing acts and thrown weapon focus (easily added on with normal character feats). Denying Stance is a highly defensive hard art; the kind of guy that you think twice before attacking because he'll mess you up, but if only if you attack him first. Passive Way I'm unsure about, since it has a central ability, but I'm not sure how useful it is. Any comments, suggestions, congratulations, or aggravated ranting?

I'm currently working on Hand and Foot (a style near and dear to my heart), then Overwhelming Attack. Playtesting is welcome, if anybody wants to start doing that.

EDIT: The ranger has had fluff added and has proudly taken his place in the second post. One-handed and Two-handed melee combatstyles are still largely unfinished, if anybody wants to make those.

ninjatoman
2007-12-25, 05:22 PM
hi I'm new in the forum and reading your topic I'd say that you could create a "bounty hunter" calss. I don't know if I'm correct but I think that spark spark bomm man could have some lvls in this class

Eighth_Seraph
2007-12-26, 12:06 AM
Actually, a recent point we've made in the Avatar project is cutting down on classes and prestige classes in order to represent character concepts. Combustion Man could easily be a full-out firebender who happens to sell his services. In any case, I'm not sure if this thread is being retired along with myself, but a new non-bending thread should be made in the near future now that Mephibosheth is taking my place as leader, for those that haven't heard already.

Elan would cry tears of joy at that plot exposition, methinks.