[Avatar d20 Project] Warrior Base Classes

[Eighth_Seraph]

Related Threads
Avatar d20 Project Hub (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67493)
Playtesting Arena: Round II (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71539)

As the Avatar project has exchanged leadership and expanded from the creation of the bending classes into the design of an entire setting, it's become very clear that the magical and quasi-magical abilities of the PHB base classes do not fit the Avatar world. As such, new ways to represent these classes are needed. Specifically, the Ranger, Paladin, and Monk need to go. The Ranger and Monk, at least, need to be replaced with non-magical variants.

The purpose of this thread is to create and refine these classes, as well as make a list of non-magical classes from splatbooks that can be applied to the setting. And with that, we can get started. Here are the precedents we need to account for so far in the show.

The Yu Yan archers (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/113/044.jpg)
Ty Lee and other martial artists
Sokka's Master (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/304/273.jpg)

So let's get started then, eh?

[Eighth_Seraph]

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|Favored Environment, Track, Wild Empathy, Wilderness Lore|
+6

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Favored Enemy, Combatstyle|
+6

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

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

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|2nd Specialization|
+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 Specialization|
+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 Specialization|
+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 Specialization|
+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 Environment - At 1st level, a ranger may select a natural environment from among those given on Table: Ranger Favored Environments. Due to the ranger's experience in that environment, he gains a +2 bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills in that environment. He also gains the same bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks made in association with that environment (or on Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks made in association with underground environments, if the ranger has selected underground as a favored environment).
If the ranger chooses desert or forest, he must also choose a climate type, as indicated on the table (either "cold" or "temperate or warm" for desert, or "cold or temperate" or "warm" for forest).
Favored Enemy (Ex) - At 2nd 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.
This ability can affect groups such as Fire Nation infantry, Dai Li agents, members of a specific mercenary group, Water Tribe waterbenders, martial artists of a specific style, or other groups of opponents with similar fighting styles, as displayed on the table below.
Specialization - At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (at 10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored environment or favored enemy from those given on their respective tables and gains an identical bonus on the appropriate checks in that environment or against that opponent. In addition, at each such interval, the bonuses in any one specialization (including the one just selected, if so desired) increase by 2. For example, a 5th-level ranger has two favored environments. In one he has a +4 bonus on the appropriate skill checks, and in the other he has a +2 bonus. At 10th level, he has three favored environments, and he gains an additional +2 bonus, which he can allocate to any of his three favored environments. Thus, his bonuses could be either +4, +4, and +2 or +6,+2, and +2. Also, if a Ranger is applying his skills against a favored enemy while within his favored environment, the ranger applies whichever skill bonus is greater adds half of the lower bonus to it.
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 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.
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.

One-handed melee
Combat Style - Weapon Finesse OR Power Attack
Balanced Combat Style -
Improved Combat Style -
Greater Combat Style -
Combat Style Mastery -

Two-weapon melee
Combat Style - Two-weapon fighting
Balanced Combat Style - Two-weapon defense
Improved Combat Style - Improved Two-weapon fighting
Greater Combat Style - Improved Two-weapon defense
Combat Style Mastery - Greater Two-weapon fighting, Greater Two-weapon defense (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Greater_Two-weapon_Defense,CW)

Two-handed melee
Combat Style - Power Attack
Balanced Combat Style - Cleave
Improved Combat Style - Favored Power Attack (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Favored_Power_Attack,CW)
Greater Combat Style - Great Cleave
Combat Style Mastery - Favored Power Attack

Sniper
Combat Style - Far Shot
Balanced Combat Style - Precise Shot
Improved Combat Style - Sharpshooting
Greater Combat Style - Improved Precise Shot
Combat Style Mastery - Greater Sharpshooting

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

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

Favored Enemies List
{table=head]Type (Subtype)|Type (Subtype)
Animal (mammal)|Earth Kingdom (military)
Animal (bird)|Earth Kingdom (Dai Li)
Animal (reptile)|Air Nomads (airbender)
Animal (aquatic)|Swamp (waterbender)
Magical Beast|Sun Warrior (firebender)
Vermin|Sun Warrior (warrior)
Fire Nation (firebender)|Monk (agile)
Fire Nation (military)|Monk (evasive)
Water Tribe (waterbender)|Monk (hard)
Water Tribe (military)|Monk (quick)
Earth Kingdom (earthbender)|Monk (resilient)
Raider|Prowler[/table]
Favored Environments List
{table=head]Environment|Examples
Aquatic|sea, ocean (on or under water)
Desert, cold|tundra
Desert, temperate or warm|badlands, sandy desert
Forest, cold or temperate|pine or deciduous forest
Forest warm|jungle
Hills|rugged terrain up to 2,000 feet elevation
Marsh|bog, moor, swamp
Mountain|rugged terrain above 2,000 feet elevation
Plains|farmland, grassland, steppe, prairie
Underground|dungeons, caverns[/table]
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 disease for 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.
Dogwood leaf (DC 20) - Dogwoods are a family of bushes and small trees that can be found wild in humid, tropical settings. One specific species of the dogwood family has medicinal properties, while the rest have no such use. A DC 15 Knowledge (Nature) check identifies a tree as a dogwood tree, while a DC 20 identifies the medicinal plant. When ground into a powder, the dogwood leaf may be used as a counteragent against snakebite. When applied to the wounds of a creature afflicted with a natural poison, the creature is granted a new saving throw against the poison. In addition, if a creature is sustaining damage or suffering other ill effects from blood loss, twice-daily applications of dogwood leaf will stop the flow over the course of two days.
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]

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 showing 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), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), 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|Stances Known

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

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

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Still Mind|
2

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1| |
2

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1| Purity of Body|
3

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+2|Style Feat|
3

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+2| Uncanny Dodge|
3

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

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

10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+3| |
4

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+3|Diamond Body|
4

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

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+4| |
5

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+4|Improved Uncanny Dodge |
5

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

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

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+5| |
5

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+6|Style Feat|
5

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+6| |
5

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

Style Abilities
{table=head]|Quick Styles|Strong Styles|Evasive Styles|Resilient Styles|Agile Styles|Contemplative Styles

Level|Flurry of Blows|Decisive Strike|Unarmored Dodge Bonus|Damage Reduction|Unarmored Speed Bonus|Will Save

1st|
-1/-1|
-1 |
+0| |
+0 ft.|
+2

2nd|
+0/+0|
+0|
+0; Evasion||
+0 ft.|
+3

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

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

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

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

7th|
+6/+6/+1|
+6|
+1 |
1/- |
+20 ft.|
+5

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

9th|
+9/+9/+4|
+9 |
+2; Improved Evasion|
2/- |
+30 ft.|
+6

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

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

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

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

14th|
+14/+14/+9/+9/+4|
+15/+5|
+3 |
3/- |
+40 ft.|
+9

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

16th|
+16/+16/+11/+11/+6/+1|
+17/+10|
+4 |
4/- |
+50 ft.|
+10

17th|
+17/+17/+12/+12/+7/+2|
+18/+11|
+4 |
4/- |
+50 ft.|
+10

18th|
+18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+3|
+19/+12|
+4 |
4/- |
+60 ft.|
+11

19th|
+19/+19/+14/+14/+9/+4|
+20/+13|
+4 |
4/- |
+60 ft.|
+11

20th|
+20/+20/+15/+15/+10/+5|
+21/+14|
+5 |
5/- |
+60 ft.|
+12
|
+12
[/table]
Enhanced Strike Damage
{table="head"]Level|Light Styles|Balanced Styles|Heavy Styles

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|
1d10|
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|
3d8[/table]




Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, eskrima, javelin, quarterstaff, 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.


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, as well as adding it to her class skill list. 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.

Styles are broken down into light, balanced and heavy styles in terms of Enhanced Strike damage. Further, the benefits granted by each style depend on what type of styles they are. Style types stack if any abilities grant similar bonuses.

Also, most monks apply their Wisdom as a bonus to armor class. Specific styles, however, may apply Intelligence or Charisma modifiers instead, reflecting an analytical or impulsive approach to fighting, respectively. Intelligence-based styles are labeled Rational, while Charisma-based styles are labeled Vagrant.


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.

Stances - A 1st-level martial artist knows one stance from his chosen style. At 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 20th levels, you learn an additional stance, either from your chosen style or any of its aspects. For example, a martial artist of the Hand and Foot style may choose stances from Agile, Evasive, Quick, and Strong styles at the appropriate levels. You can enter a stance or change stances as a swift action. Stances are extraordinary abilities unless otherwise noted.

Unarmored AC Bonus: When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC.

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

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 studying an style retains his Dexterity 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.

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.


Agile Style Abilities
Agile styles are those which put an emphasis on movement and using it to your advantage, maneuvering around your opponent, staying out of range, and charging suddenly into the fray before an opponent can prepare a countermeasure.

Unarmored Speed Bonus (Ex) - At 3rd level, a monk studying an agile style 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.

Agile Stances

Tiger Stance - By distributing your weight evenly on the balls of both feet and leaning your body forward, you gain the ability to execute a deadly combination when charging an opponent. While in the tiger stance, you may do a full-attack at the end of a charge. However, you may not execute a flurry of Blows or Decisive Strike as part of the charge.
Leaf Stance - Focusing your attention to your defense, you learn to break from an opponent's combination before he can follow up. If an opponent misses you with an attack while you are in the leaf stance , you may move up to 10 feet away as an immediate action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You may "reserve" up to your base land speed in movement (by taking a move action and not moving your full speed) during your turn in order to use this this ability several times during a round.
Contemplative Style Abilities (Note: not meant for the Avatar setting)
Martial artists that practice contemplative styles train their minds as strongly as they train their bodies. Such styles replace their Will save progression with the one described in table 2: Style Abilities.

Contemplative Stances

Inner Shield Stance - By taking a deep breath, relaxing your body and focusing your mind on the energies swirling around you, you may guard your body from harmful effects. While in the inner shield stance, you gain Energy Resistance 5 to Fire, Cold, Electricity, Sonic, Force and Psychic damage.

Diamond Soul Stance - You sharpen your senses and tense your muscles, forcing your mind and body to the peak of their resistant power. While in the Diamond Soul Stance, you gain a +2 to all saving throws and gain Spell Resistance = your martial artist level +15.


Defensive Style Abilities
Defensive martial arts focus heavily on forcing an opponent to come to you, and devastating him once he does. Because of this, fighters of a defensive style place heavy emphasis on their ability to dodge blows effectively, so that they may survive long enough to deliver their lethal counterattacks.

Solid Guard - When fighting defensively, taking the total defense action, using the Combat Expertise feat, or using a similarly defensive action, a monk of a defensive style gains half again (1.5) the bonus to AC as a dodge bonus, rounded down. For example, if a monk of the Denying Stance were to take a -4 penalty to attack rolls using Combat Expertise, he would gain a +6 to AC, instead of +4, as normal.

Impenetrable Guard - At level 15, this bonus increases to double the bonus granted by defensive actions.
Evasive Style Abilities
Evasive styles focus on avoiding attacks and damage, forcing the opponent to engage and frustrating him with your superior reflexes, opening him up for a counterattack.

Unarmored AC Bonus - A monk of an evasive style gains a +1 Dodge bonus to AC at 4th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every four monk levels thereafter (+2 at 8th, +3 at 12th, +4 at 16th, and +5 at 20th level). This stacks with the monk's normal AC bonus. A monk wearing any armor or carrying a medium or heavy load does not gain the benefits of this ability.

Evasion (Ex) - At 2nd level or higher if a monk studying an evasive style 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 this ability.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, the evasion ability of a monk studying an evasive style 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.

Evasive Stances

Fluid Stance - Nothing is more revealing about a foe's combat style than how they miss. By paying careful attention to your foes, you can read their attacks, adapting your defenses appropriately. Whenever an enemy makes a melee attack against you and misses, you may gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against all melee attacks that enemy makes. This bonus increases by +1 for each additional miss your opponent makes, up to a maximum of 1/4 your class level. You may only have this bonus against one enemy at a time. If you choose to apply it against the attacks of a new enemy, you must give up the bonus to AC against the previous enemy. In addition, you gain a +2 to Reflex saves while in the fluid stance.

Oaken Roots Stance - You raise up a powerful defense, a fluid, constantly changing stance that lets you adapt to your enemies. You gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC. Each round you remain in this stance, the bonus to AC increases by one, to a maximum of one-quarter your class level, rounded up. While in the Oaken Roots Stance, you may not willingly move from your square except by taken a 5-foot step. If you are unwillingly moved from your square, the bonus to AC from this stance drops back to +1.
Quick Style Abilities
Quick styles focus on getting within melee range of an opponent and keeping him there, overwhelming him with a series of blows that make it extremely difficult to defend.

Flurry of Blows - When unarmored, a monk studying a quick style 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.
Resilient Style Abilties
Resilient styles don't bother overmuch with defending against an opponents' they rather focus on bearing pain and increasing their own resistance to damage, allowing them to shrug off attacks and deal the damage back in kind.

Damage Reduction - at level 4 monk of a resilient style gains Damage Reduction 1/-. This bonus increases by 1 for every four monk levels thereafter (2/- at 8th, 3/- at 12th, 4/- at 16th, and 5/- at 20th level).

Resilient Stances

Iron Horse Stance - You bend your knees and sink your weight into your legs, solidly asserting your position. While you remain in the iron horse stance, you gain a bonus of +4 to all Strength or Dexterity checks resist being tripped, bull rushed, grappled, or otherwise moved from your position, but you also suffer a -10 ft. penalty to your base land speed. At 10th level, the bonuses from this stance increase to half your class levels.
Boulder Stance - You resign yourself to being struck in combat, tensing your muscles and raising your guard. While in the boulder stance, you may transfer as many points of your Wisdom bonus to armor class into your Damage Reduction, gaining DR 1/- for each point transferred.
Strong Style Abilities
Strong styles emphasize powerful strikes in melee, pounding the enemy with powerful single strikes and making it too costly for an opponent to engage in melee combat. Strong styles also tend to train by breaking strong objects, such as wooden boards and bricks.

Decisive Strike - When unarmored, a monk studying a strong style 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.

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. A monk may not use a decisive strike as part of a flurry of blows.

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

Strong Stances

Dedicated Offense – By positioning your hands to a level specifically suited to delivering hard, fast punches, you enter a stance that puts all of your strength and energy into an effective offense. So long as you are in the dedicated offense stance, you gain +1 to attack and damage with unarmed strikes and style weapons per four class levels.

Penetrating Attack - By positioning your feet so as to swing the weight of your entire body into a strike, you may make powerful strikes more efficiently. When in the Penetrating Attack stance, your unarmed strikes and style weapon are considered two-handed weapons for the purposes of adding your Strength score to damage, as well as the Power Attack feat. In addition, upon entering the stance, you may choose to transfer one point of your Wisdom bonus to AC to all damage rolls with unarmed strikes and style weapons.


Light Styles
Cobra Strike
Agile, Evasive, Quick Rational Style
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
Strong, Quick, Resilient Style
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
Agile, Evasive, Strong, Quick Style
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, Bluff
{table=head]Level|
Special

1st|Bonus Feat: Stunning Fist, Foot and Fist training, Flurry of Blows, Decisive Strike
2nd|Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
3rd|Still Mind, Hand and Foot technique, Unarmored Speed Bonus (10 ft.)
4th|Hand and Foot technique, Unarmored AC Bonus
5th|Purity of Body
6th|Bonus Feat: Improved Trip, Speed Bonus (20 ft.)
7th|Bouncing Stance
8th|Hand and Foot technique
9th|Speed Bonus (30 ft.)
10th|Combination Focus
11th|Greater Flurry, Diamond Body
12th|Bonus Feat: Flying Kick, Speed Bonus (40 ft.)
13th|Hand and Foot technique
14th|
15th|Speed Bonus (50 ft.)
16th|Hand and Foot technique
17th|
18th|Bonus Feat: Deflect Arrows, Speed Bonus (60 ft.)
19th|Hand and Foot technique
20th|Combination Mastery[/table]

Foot and Fist training - At first 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.

Bouncing stance - At seventh level, a monk of the hand and foot gains a greater understanding of what mobility means in combat, and how a balanced, constantly moving stance can serve as a great defensive asset. 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. Also, you no longer take penalty to armor class when making a charge action.

Combination Focus - The Hand and Foot style places heavy emphasis on combination strikes, and experienced practitioners learn to take greater advantage of this aspect of their art. Whenever you execute more than one attack against an opponent during a single turn, you gain a +1 to attack and damage rolls on unarmed strikes and attacks with style weapons for every previous successful hit in the combination.

Combination Mastery - 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, the bonus gained from Combination Focus increases to +2 per each successful 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 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, using the foot technique's base attack bonus.
Fade-Away Kick - Whenever you use a five-foot step that moves your threatened area away from an opponent, you may immediately make a single foot technique against that opponent at your base attack bonus, as a free action.
Sliding Side Kick - You may execute a decisive strike at the end of a charge in lieu of a normal attack. If you choose to do so, however, you may not take any action (including taking attacks of opportunity) until the start of your next turn.


Heavy Styles
Overwhelming Attack (In Progress)
Strong, Quick, Resilient Style
The overwhelming attack fighting style works under the theory that an opponent that cannot get up cannot hurt you. As such, the style has little in the way of defensive power, but seeks to pound enemies into submission before they become a threat.
Style Weapons: dagger, naginata, quarterstaff, siangham
Skill Bonus: Intimidate
1st Level Bonus Feat: Power Attack
2nd Level Bonus Feat: Improved Bull Rush
At 3rd level, you learn the basis for your art: an aggressive stance. You may switch in or out of an aggressive stance as a free action, though you cannot switch out of an aggressive stance on the same turn as you go into it. When in the aggressive stance, you lose your Wisdom bonus to AC and instead gain your Wisdom modifier to attack rolls.
At 5th level, you gain the ability to make a reckless assault when in your aggressive stance. When making a reckless assault, you may reduce your armor class by an amount up to your total dodge bonus (including Dexterity bonus to AC, the Dodge feat, etc.) and apply that same amount to your attack rolls for the rest of the turn. This bonus to attack my not surpass your base attack bonus.
6th Level Bonus Feat: Improved Overrun
At 7th level, you apply your Wisdom bonus to damage while in the aggressive stance.
At 8th level, you may make a move action alongside a full attack on any turn that you begin in the aggressive stance.
At 10th level, you gain half the amount sacrificed as part of a reckless assault as a damage bonus to all attacks that round.
12th Level Bonus Feat: Shock Trooper
At 14th level, the damage bonus for your reckless assault equals the amount of your Dodge bonus sacrificed.
18th Level Bonus Feat: Leap Attack
Passive Way
Evasive Style
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
{table=head]Level|
Special

1st|Bonus Feat: Combat Expertise
2nd|Bonus Feat: Combat Reflexes
3rd|Passive Stance, Flowing
4th|Gentle Way technique
5th|
6th|Bonus Feat: Dodge
7th|Passive Resistance
8th|Gentle Way technique
9th|Double Take-down
10th|Counter Hold
11th|
12th|Bonus Feat: Close Quarter Defense
13th|Gentle Way technique
14th|Triple Take-down
15th|
16th|
17th|
18th|Bonus Feat: Improved Combat Expertise
19th|Gentle Way technique
20th|Offensive slam[/table]

Passive Stance - 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, it creates an opening, which you may use to initiate one of your Gentle Way techniques. Taking advantage of an opening counts as an attack of opportunity.

Flowing - The most basic of all Passive Way techniques, you may use the momentum of a brash opponent 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), with you gaining a +2 on the check. If your check is greater, then you may draw your opponent into your space and shove him 5 feet in any direction you wish (including back to his original position), plus another 5 for every 2 points by which you won the opposed check (you may lessen the distance, if you wish). In addition, a successful flow attempt ends your opponent's full attack. If an opponent is charging you 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.

Passive Resistance - At 7th 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.). 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.

Double Take-down - At 9th level, you may combine a flow attempt with any other Passive Way technique 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.

Counter Hold - At 10th level, you may initiate any of your Passive Way techniques as an attack of opportunity.

Triple Take-down - At 14th level, you may combine any two Passive Way techniques with a flow attempt when in the passive stance.

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.

Passive Way techniques
Timed Strike - You may execute one attack with a style weapon or unarmed strike as an immediate action when you have an opening against an opponent.

Knee Strike - You may execute two attacks instead of one when using the Timed Strike technique, though at least one of them must be unarmed.
Foot Sweep - As your opponent's weight shifts to facilitate a strike against you, you can sweep his footing out from under him. When you have an opening against an opponent, you may immediately make a trip attempt against him.
Ankle Twist - Whenever you make a successful trip attempt against an opponent, the target must make a fortitude save. Failing the fortitude save imposes a -2 penalty to Dexterity and -10 feet to base land speed until he rests his leg for at least eight hours. In addition, a twisted ankle imposes a -5 penalty to Concentration checks.
Disabling Hold - By taking hold of the limb your opponent uses to attack you, you may draw him into closer quarters than he anticipated. When you have an opening against an opponent, you may immediately begin a grapple attempt against him.
Counter-Disarm - As an opponent's weapon misses your defensive stance, you reach in and grab his arm to relieve him of it. When you have an opening against your opponent, you may immediately execute a disarm attempt against him.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Here is the first of my ultimate styles, mean to be match the power of the average ToB class. Heavily inspired by this PrC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10568&highlight=Ansatsuken) by Rolaran.

Ansatsuken (Ryu, Ken, and Akuma from Street Fighters)
Strong, Resilient, Contemplative Style
A powerful fighting style that teaches fluid, devastating strike and kick combinations as well as the channeling of the fighter's ki in order to augment his physical abilities, or to release the ki in waves of energy to blast opponents. Because of the spiritual energies involved in the application of this style, those that study it and follow an evil path may bend to the murderous intent, one of two major branches of the Ansatsuken style.
Style Weapons: None
Skill Bonus: Concentration, Jump

{table=head]Level|
Special|
Techniques Known

1st|Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike), Decisive Strike|
1

2nd|Bonus Feat: Power Attack|
2

3rd|Still Mind|
3

4th|DR 1/-, Dedicated Offense|
3

5th|Purity of Body, Intermediate Techniques|
4

6th|Bonus Feat: Stunning Fist|
4

7th|Uncanny Dodge|
4

8th|DR 2/-|
5

9th||
5

10th||
5

11th|Diamond Body|
6

12th|Bonus Feat: Fists of Iron (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Fists_of_Iron,CW), DR 3/-|
6

13th||
6

14th|Improved Uncanny Dodge, Advanced Techniques|
7

15th||
7

16th|DR 4/-|
7

17th||
8

18th|Bonus Feat: Fiery Fist (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Fiery_Fist,all)|
8

19th||
8

20th|DR 5/-|
9[/table]

Ansatsuken Stances
Coursing Stance - You shift your weight towards your back leg and focus on the energy coursing within you, imbuing it with the strength and tenacity of your own spirit. While in the coursing stance, you may add your Wisdom modifier as a bonus to attack rolls with all techniques derived from the hadouken, and you may apply your Wisdom modifier to damage twice, instead of once. Further, the DCs of saving throws against any of your Ansatsuken techniques increases by 2.

Ashura Senkuu – A difficult stance to master and thus seldom taught by most masters of Ansatsuken, the ashura senkuu involves standing on the ball of one foot while releasing your ki from the sole of that foot, sliding along the ground using your energy, and releasing your inner strength from the pores of your skin. While in the ashura senkuu stance, any opponent wishing to make an attack of opportunity against you must first make a Will save (DC= 10 + ½ class levels + Wis modifier), and if successful takes a -4 penalty to the attack roll.

Ansatsuken Techniques

Basic Techniques
Hadouken (Surging Fist)– The most basic and fundamental application of an Ansatsuken fighter’s ki, the hadouken is a ball of the fighter’s internal energy made manifest into his hands. You may execute a Hadouken at the same rate that you execute Decisive Strikes. A Hadouken is a ranged touch attack that deals damage equal to your Unarmed Strike (not Decisive Strike), except that it uses your Wisdom modifier to damage in place of your Strength modifier. The range for a hadouken is 30 ft. + 5 per class level. Executing a hadouken provokes attacks of opportunity, as normal for ranged attacks.

Shoruyken (Rising Dragon Punch) – The signature technique of the Ansatsuken style, the dragon punch is a powerful uppercut punch that launches both the attacker and the target into the air, leaving both dangerously vulnerable to counterattack. When executing a decisive strike, you may declare it to be a dragon punch. If the attack is successful, target is launched 10 feet into the air and falls to the floor, taking 1d6 non-lethal damage from the fall and provoking attacks of opportunity. If a creature hit by a dragon punch fails a Reflex Save (12 + ½ class levels + Wis bonus), he lands prone in his square). However, after the attack has been made, you are vulnerable for a moment, provoking an AoO from any opponent that was not hit (including the targeted one, if the attack was unsuccessful). Executing a Dragon Punch ends a full attack, regardless of whether you had additional attacks left unused.

Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku (Hurricane kick) – One of the primary techniques of Ansatsuken, this technique is the primary ability that the Ansatsuken uses against groups of opponents. When using a hurricane kick, you may attack each opponent you threaten with an unarmed strike as a standard action. However, when this is finished, you provoke an attack of opportunity from any opponent you did not manage to hit.
Intermediate Techniques
Shakunetsu Hadouken (Fiery Surge Fist) - Your hadouken becomes imbued with the flame of your spirit, burning a hole into your opponents. When executing a Hadouken technique, you may take a swift action to imbue the blast with additional power, allowing it to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage per two class levels upon a successful hit (max 5d6). Further, anyone hit by a shakunetsu hadouken must make a Fortitude save (12 + ½ class levels + Wis bonus) or be dazed for one round. This does not apply to any other specializations of the Hadouken.

Shinkuu Hadouken (Vacuum Surge Fist) – By investing more of your spiritual energy into your hadouken, you may achieve spectacular results. A Vacuum Wave Fist deals force damage as decisive strike in a line 30 ft. long + 5 ft. per class level, using your Wisdom score in place of your Strength score for damage. All creatures in the line must make a Reflex save (10 + ½ class levels + Wis modifier) for half damage. Executing a vacuum wave first is a standard action. After using this ability, you must wait 5 rounds before using any technique derived from the Hadouken. You must know the hadouken technique before learning the shinkuu hadouken.

Shoryeppa (Bursting Dragon Punch) – Your fist burns with the fire of your inner strength, consuming the target of your dragon punch. When executing a shoruyken, you may move 5 ft. as part of the technique, targeting an opponent up 10 ft. from your original position. Also, your attack deals an additional 1d6 fire damage per two class levels upon a successful hit (max 5d6), and you may choose to have your opponent land 10 ft. away from you, instead of adjacent to you. You must know the shoryuken technique before learning the shoryeppa.

Shippu Jinrai Kyaku (Flying Hurricane Kick) – When executing a hurricane kick, you may move up to one-half your base land speed (rounded up to the nearest 5 ft.) in a straight line as part of the technique, attacking every opponent adjacent to you along the way. Further, if there is an opponent in your path, you may push him back 5 ft. with every successful attack, gaining the opportunity to attack him again as you move. You still provoke attacks of opportunity when you are done moving. You must know the tatsumaki senpuu kyaku technique before learning the shippu jinrai kyaku.
Advanced Techniques
Denjin Hadouken (Charged Surging Fist) – An advanced application of the simple wave fist, the denjin hadouken allows the ansatsuken to build his energy up to explosive levels before releasing it. A denjin hadouken requires a standard action to initiate, during which you build up energy. You may then either release the attack as a move action or continue to build up energy as a full-round action. A denjin hadouken may be charged for a total number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier.
When released, the denjin hadouken is a ranged touch attack with a range of 60 ft. that deals damage as a Decisive Strike, using Wisdom instead of Strength for damage. For every full-round action spent charging the denjin hadouken, it deals an additional 2d8 force damage. Anyone hit by the denjin hadouken must make a Fortitude save (12 + ½ class levels + Wis modifier) or be stunned for one round per two rounds that the attack was charged (rounded up, minimum 1). The target may make a new Fortitude save at the beginning of each turn to negate the stunning. You must know the hadouken technique before learning the denji hadouken.

Shinryuken (Hyper Dragon Punch) – A finishing move for shoryuken specialists, the shinryuken is deadly spiraling uppercut that devastates opponents in a column of fiery destruction. When executing a shoryuken, you may declare it a shinryuken, taking a full-round action to execute the attack. If the initial decisive strike of a shinryuken is successful, you may make two normal unarmed strikes against your opponent as part of the strike, and your opponent is considered flat-footed against them. You must know the shoryuken technique before learning the shinryuken.

Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku (Whirling Hurricane Kick) – The intense spinning of your body during a hurricane kick creates sucking winds that draw people into your attack. By taking a full-round action to execute this technique, you force every creature within 10 feet of you to make a Reflex save (10 + ½ class levels + Wis modifier) or be drawn 5 ft. closer to you. After this is done, you execute 1d4+1 unarmed attacks against every creature within your reach. You provoke attacks of opportunity from any opponent you did not manage to hit. Once you have used this technique, you may not use it again for 10 rounds (1 minute). You must know the tatsumaki senpuu kyaku technique before learning the shinkuu tatsumaki senpuu kyaku.

Shon Goku Satsu – An extremely dangerous technique, forbidden by most teachers of Ansatsuken, the Shon Goku Satsu amplifies the evil energy within a creature’s body, allowing its own personal demons to rip it to shreds. To use this technique, you must successfully initiate a grapple. Once you have established a hold, you may execute the Shon Goku Satsu as a swift action. This technique deals 5d6 damage to a good-aligned opponent, 8d6 damage to a neutral-aligned opponent, and 10d6 damage to an evil-aligned opponent. As well, the target must make a Fortitude save equal to the amount of damage taken, or die.
However, the energy fills your body as well, and you must immediately make a Will save (DC 25) or suffer an alignment change. If you fail, you become one step closer to chaotic evil (from lawful or good to neutral, from neutral to chaotic or evil). After you have initiated the technique, you may choose to continue the grapple as normal.

That last paragraph is subject to DM discretion.


Ansatsuken Feats
Double Blast
You learn to release your ki in lesser amounts in order to make quicker, less powerful hadouken blasts.
Prerequisites: Concentration 6 ranks, BAB +6, Hadouken class ability.
Benefits: You may launch hadouken techniques at your normal rate for unarmed strikes, and you may launch two by taking a singe standard action. When you do so, however, the blast deals damage equal to a normal unarmed strike, instead of a decisive strike.
Special: You may choose to to take this feat in the place of any bonus feat you receive from the Ansatsuken style, though you must meet the prerequisites for it if you choose to do so.

Ki Expulsion
You put strong emphasis on the power of your dragon punch, and expand avoid making yourself vulnerable at its end, by burning anyone that would dare to offer reprisal.
Prerequisites: BAB +9, Shoryeppa class feature
Benefits: When executing any Ansatsuken technique derived from the shoryuken, your ki burns around you, consuming those standing too close. Treat this as a 5 ft radius cylinder 15 ft high, centered on you, dealing 3d6 fire damage to anyone caught inside and rendering prone them on a failed Reflex Save (12 + ½ class levels + Wis bonus). You still provokes an Attack of Opportunity afterwards if any opponent not rendered prone can attack. This damage stacks with fire damage from the Shoryeppa technique.
Special: You may choose to to take this feat in the place of any bonus feat you receive from the Ansatsuken style, though you must meet the prerequisites for it if you choose to do so.

Student of Goutetsu [Vile]
You follow the original path of Ansatsuken intended by the style’s creator, Goutetsu. This branch of Ansatsuken is an assassination art known as “the murderous intent”, created to bring out the full power of the practitioner by using dark energies within his spirit to utterly destroy opposition without mercy or restraint. As you bring your power to bear, your ki manifests with dark energy and purple flames dance along your hands and feet.
Prerequisites: Martial Artist (Ansatsuken) level 10, non-good alignment
Benefits: All of your Ansatsuken techniques derived from the Hadouken deal an additional 1d4 untyped vile damage, and your unarmed strikes deal an additional 1 untyped vile damage.
Special: You may choose to to take this feat in the place of any bonus feat you receive from the Ansatsuken style, though you must meet the prerequisites for it if you choose to do so.

Student of Gouken [Exalted]
You have chosen to stray from the lethal tendencies of the Ansatsuken style, seeking instead to use it for more peaceful methods. As such, your ki is directed to avoid permanent harm to your opponents, and your fiery attacks never result in immolation. When you release your energy, your ki shines with a pure blue light.
Prerequisites: Martial Artist (Ansatsuken) level 10, non-evil alignment
Benefits: You may choose to deal non-lethal damage with all of your Ansatsuken techniques derived from the Hadouken. In addition, your exceptional self-control allows you to lower the damage done by your unarmed strikes and fire-based techniques by as much as you wish, to a minimum of 1 point of damage. Fire damage done by your techniques is still considered lethal damage.
Special: You may choose to to take this feat in the place of any bonus feat you receive from the Ansatsuken style, though you must meet the prerequisites for it if you choose to do so.

Zanku Hadouken
You emphasize on mobility more than most practitioners of your style, and you gain the ability to launch a hadouken even as you hurtle towards a foe.
Prerequisites: Jump 9 ranks, Hadouken class ability
Benefits: When charging, if you are at least are at least 5 feet above your opponent at any point during the charge, you may execute a hadouken at that point in lieu of making a melee attack at the end of the charge.
Special: You may choose to to take this feat in the place of any bonus feat you receive from the Ansatsuken style, though you must meet the prerequisites for it if you choose to do so.

[ErrantX]

You posted the Ranger twice, Eighth Seraph :smallredface:

Might wanna erase one of em.

-X

[jagadaishio]

I take it from the fact that you posted this modified monk that you don't plan on using Lord Tartaraus's martial artist class?
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63272

[Ceiling009]

I think either class sets work, Lord T's is something that would definitely destroy many of the melee standards set in the PHB; which from all the "Fighter Fixes" I've read about, is something that's probably needed. The Fighter class isn't bad in itself, but the options presented need a severe overhaul, while the chassis of the class just needs to be upgraded slightly. Eighth's is another variant where there isn't one end all martial class, like Lord T's...

[FlyMolo]

There's no fighter upgrade/Avatar version in here, which is a pity, because that monk fix is AMAZING. It's literally the best monk fix I've ever seen. It's also exactly what I wanted out of the monk. A little heavy on the documentation, but SO COOL!!!!

[Uthug]

I agree; however, are these classes supposed to be able to keep up with benders of the same ECL? They don't seem able to. I sort of like Lord Tartaraus's martial artist as an alternative; seems much more able to attempt to keep up with the benders.

[Eighth_Seraph]

You posted the Ranger twice, Eighth Seraph :smallredface:
Er. I meant to do that. Totally. It was, uh, a test. You passed. Congrats.
Nice catch, X.


I take it from the fact that you posted this modified monk that you don't plan on using Lord Tartaraus's martial artist class?
I never really like Tataraus' martial artist classes, and I made that clear as they were being designed. I did the monk redux in order to represent the large variation in martial arts and apply to a largely eastern setting where martial arts are prominent. It's a very untested class, though, and it'll need some playtesting and number crunching before it's ready for use. I would be more than happy to take a synopsis of different martial arts and fighting styles and try to represent them with the new class.

In terms of keeping up with the benders' power; Meph set up a new set of arena battles for us to test these in party battles alongside the benders. I'm more worried about the Ranger being underpowered than the monk, though. If you're up for a playtest, there should be a link at the main hub.


There's no fighter upgrade/Avatar version in here, which is a pity, Well, it's debatable whether a fighter fix is really necessary, since I statted up Sokka's master as a level 20 fighter in the original thread to test it, and it turned out pretty well. I lost by one attack in the playtest against a level 20 waterbender. Of course, I got beat by Wave/Freeze. 'Nuff said.

Any ideas or concerns on balance or how to make the monk tables flow better?

[Lord Tataraus]

I think either class sets work, Lord T's is something that would definitely destroy many of the melee standards set in the PHB; which from all the "Fighter Fixes" I've read about, is something that's probably needed. The Fighter class isn't bad in itself, but the options presented need a severe overhaul, while the chassis of the class just needs to be upgraded slightly. Eighth's is another variant where there isn't one end all martial class, like Lord T's...

Technically, my classes are the variant since they are basically non-cannon. These are the official classes. Some of the largest participants in the project preferred to keep extremely conservative when it comes to extrapolating from the canon. Which is fine, though not particularly my style. :smallbiggrin:


I agree; however, are these classes supposed to be able to keep up with benders of the same ECL? They don't seem able to. I sort of like Lord Tartaraus's martial artist as an alternative; seems much more able to attempt to keep up with the benders.

That is a very good question, I know a fighter variant needs to be made to stay on par with benders, other than that these need to be playtested. (which I think might be happening relatively soon)

So, any ideas on a good fighter variant Eighth? Or are you going to stick with making uber feats? If the latter, that's fine but it is easier sometimes to just make a new class since some of the stuff will be so awesome all fighters would take it and at that point you might as well make it a class feature.

By the way Uthug, I like to keep my name 2 letters off from the underworld one is just too close to be comfortable, I don't want to step on Hades' toes too much :smallamused:

[Eighth_Seraph]

I've seen some decent fighter fixes over time on the forums, including one that really caught my eye. I'll try to dig it up so you guys can take a look at it. My main concerns for the existing classes right now is making a one-handed and two-handed melee combat styles for the ranger, and organizing the monk to make it an easier read. Ideas on either of this.

[jagadaishio]

I've seen some decent fighter fixes over time on the forums, including one that really caught my eye. I'll try to dig it up so you guys can take a look at it. My main concerns for the existing classes right now is making a one-handed and two-handed melee combat styles for the ranger, and organizing the monk to make it an easier read. Ideas on either of this.

Perhaps for the one-handed style you could either include something for the use and mastery of shields in the off hand, or make some sort of a set of homebrew feats for the use of free hands in combat (e.g. arm locks, grappling, some sort of parry).

As for the two-handed weapon style, you could give them Favored Power Attack from Complete Warrior.

As an alternative to these fighting styles built as a list of feats, you could just assign abilities in place of feats where no pre-existing feats existed. That would allow from somewhat more unique fighting styles that fighters would not be able to duplicate.

You could also have each style be a sort of generalized Weapon Style feat which allows for the gaining of new abilities based on your BAB or your ranger level. Since a lot of what I said is ideas which contradict each other, I hope that you were able to at least get something out of this which helped.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Huh. I like the idea of giving homebrewed abilities to the ranger at different stages in his combatstyle progression. Before we give either class more abilities, though, it's important that we playtest the existing ones. I've put a link to the new arena in the OP. The revamped Ranger and Monk as well as the PHB Fighter and Rogue are needed to test their usefulness and balance alongside benders in combat.

Playtesting Arena: Round II (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71539)

While we're waiting to get results, though, I'm completely stumped on feats for one-handed melee and two-handed melee combatstyles for the Ranger. In the old thread, it was suggested that the styles be broken up into more specific strategies (sundering, multi-cleaving styles, etc.). What do you guys think?

[jagadaishio]

You could go the Cleave and Great Cleave route with the two-handed weapon tree. As for the one-handed weapon, the only real value to using one would be the use of a shield. For that reason, you should try to look into feats dealing with shields, rather than augmenting the one-handed weapon directly. There are some feats for that right here on the site:

http://www.giantitp.com/articles/tAIsESE3xc7MFFjrPPQ.html
http://www.giantitp.com/articles/ruIuiKxNerFBCOi5fK8.html

[Mephibosheth]

My initial impression of both these classes is extremely favorable. Nothing really jumps out at me as a source of cheese (always a good thing) and a lot of the abilities sound interesting. I'll have to give some thought to homebrewed class abilities that can be granted via Ranger combat styles.

At this point, my only comments are more organizational than substantive. First, I think you should explicitly state in the Ranger Combat Style explanation that "Balanced Combat Style," "Improved Combat Style," "Greater Combat Style," and "Combat Style Mastery" all grant an additional feat from the style's progression. It's pretty easy to figure out given that there are 5 abilities with the words "Combat Style" in their name and 5 feats on each list, but it's always good to be clear. Perhaps format the style lists like this:

Two-weapon melee
Combat Style - Two-weapon fighting
Balanced Combat Style - Two-weapon defense
Improved Combat Style - Improved Two-weapon fighting
Greater Combat Style - Improved Two-weapon defense
Combat Style Mastery - Greater Two-weapon fighting, Greater Two-weapon defense

My second comment concerns the monk styles. Specifically, the different classifications of styles are a little bit confusing. Perhaps if you grouped all the classification descriptions together and had a few sentences explaining what they mean it would be easier to decipher. Again, I can figure out what you mean, but it's always good to be clear. The idea is brilliant, and I really like the variety it brings to the monk class. These are shaping up to be great additions to the setting.

Edit: I think I see what was confusing me. You have two list of style categories. The one directly beneath the class table lists evasive, mobile, quick, hard, and resiliant styles. The second, located at the end of the description, lists agile, evasive, hard, quick, and resiliant. I think these are duplicate lists, intended for clarification, with one containing a description of the abilities and the other containing a table. I was confused because of the positioning of the lists and the name discrepency between mobile and agile. Perhaps including the table and the description in the same place would make this clearer.

Another thing that has come to my attention recently is the high prerequisites for the Chi Disruption and Stunning Fist. I propose reducing the BAB requirement for Stunning Fist to +4, BAB +6 for Chi Disruption, and +9 for Improved Chi Disruption. Because the save DC's for these abilities are based on character level, I don't think that allowing these feats at lower levels is unreasonable. For reference, the feats can be found here (http://avatar.d20.googlepages.com/feats). What says the playground?

Mephibosheth

[ErrantX]

I like lowering requirements on feats like that. I support it.

I am, however, not sure why the combat styles aren't finished. I know this was an issue before, I'm sure it was due to the fact that Eighth Seraph didn't want to set up a Cleave/Sunder progression or something along those lines. But I think that's what should be set up.

Example:
One-handed:
1) Combat Expertise
2) Combat Reflexes
3) Improved Disarm
4) Improved Combat Expertise (Complete Warrior)
5) Improved Feint

Two-handed:
1) Power Attack
2) Cleave
3) Favored Power Attack (Complete Warrior)
4) Great Cleave
5) Favored Power Attack (pick another one)

I dunno, I think that being moderately more generic in this sense might be good, most two-handed weapon fighters take the Power Attack -> Great Cleave route for example. Just something to think about.

-X

[Eighth_Seraph]

My initial impression of both these classes is extremely favorable. Nothing really jumps out at me as a source of cheese (always a good thing) and a lot of the abilities sound interesting. Alright! My primary and secondary aims in creating these classes have been accomplished, then.

I'll get right on fixing all of the organizational problems between today and tomorrow. I'm going to integrate all of the monk style tables into a single table, then make the spoiler tags with a couple sentences of fluff text and some explanations. Does that sound about right?


Two-handed:
1) Power Attack
2) Cleave
3) Favored Power Attack (Complete Warrior)
4) Great Cleave
5) Favored Power Attack (pick another one)Hm. It covers all the basics for the ranger and allows for individual rangers to fine-tune their builds. I like it! I'm a bit worried about Great Cleave's reputation for semi-uselessness, though...


One-handed:
1) Combat Expertise
2) Combat Reflexes
3) Improved Disarm
4) Improved Combat Expertise (Complete Warrior)
5) Improved Feint You had me, up until Improved Feint. It just doesn't seem like a worthy level 16 feat. Is there anything from Complete Warrior that would work better?

By the by, I also support changing the pre-reqs. I'm actually considering making Ty Lee's martial art into a monk fighting style, but am weighing it carefully since we've proven that she can be represented by available means.

[ErrantX]

How about:


One-handed:
1) Combat Expertise
2) Combat Reflexes
3) Quick Draw
4) Improved Disarm
5) Improved Combat Expertise (Complete Warrior)

-X

[Eighth_Seraph]

Alright, I've taken all of the comments you guys have given me and done my best to work with them.

First off, the monk tables should now be legible. Huzzah. I'll work on the fluff for the style categories tomorrow, as reworking large tables is draining work. I've also added X's Two-handed Melee combat style for the ranger and reworked the format as per Meph's suggestions. I'm still apprehensive about the One-handed Melee combat style, but I'll poke around some borrowed sourcebooks for something that fits.

I would still love for someone to playtest either of these classes...

[Mephibosheth]

How about including the revised version of Deflect Arrows in the one-handed melee style. A lot of characters in this Avatarverse seem to have that feat. Another option would be to include some of the tactical feats you designed for Piandao. Maybe altering the prerequisites for Balanced Blade to allow its use with any one-handed melee weapon and giving that as part of the style?

[Eighth_Seraph]

I'm apprehensive about doing that, since I somehow can't see club or hammer being used that gracefully; the feat was very much designed for slashing weapon builds. In any case, giving a [Style] feat as a bonus feat seems too restricting to me in terms of builds. What can be done to make a hammer-and-medium-shield style work alongside a graceful sword-style? Maybe a sword-and-board Combat Style tree is in order?

On the other hand, shields have never really fit the ranger paradigm...

[Sir Shadow]

Rangers seem more like a "blades or bow" style class

Leave clubs, hammers (prefferably, ALL blunt weapons), and shields to the Fighters. What else would they be good for then?

I saw a really interesting Archer base class a while ago that may fit the Avatar setting after amputating magical influence and a bit of tweeking: Shadowfoot's Archer (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-174367)

[Eighth_Seraph]

Well, a large number of the feats homebrewed for the class would make good additions to a Hunter Ranger build, but I don't think the class as a whole would apply to the Avatar setting as we've built it. Of course, any player could ask for DM approval to play it anyway, and it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, I've gotten an idea in regards to the ranger. What if we traded out two or three of the Favored Enemies in exchange for Favored Environment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#favoredEnemyVariantFavore dEnvironment)? I've always thought that specializing in an environment fit the ranger's flavor much better, but was nowhere near as useful in combat. My current idea is to switch move the first level Favored Enemy to second level, and put a favored environment at first level; then allow a player to choose whether to specialize in a single enemy, environment, or branch out in either direction for the rest of his levels. Thoughts on this?

[FlyMolo]

*snip*
Well, it's debatable whether a fighter fix is really necessary, since I statted up Sokka's master as a level 20 fighter in the original thread to test it, and it turned out pretty well. I lost by one attack in the playtest against a level 20 waterbender. Of course, I got beat by Wave/Freeze. 'Nuff said.?
:smallbiggrin:

In other news, I'm really pleased about this monk fix here. I cannot stress how happy I am with this. It's everything the monk should have been, but awesomer.

[Sir Shadow]

there needs to be a better bonus other than skill checks. At least some bonus AC when fighting in their favored environment?

But your right. Having a favored enemy (even when narrowed to Human(Air Nomads, Fire Nation, etc) is just too broad for the Avatar setting.

[jagadaishio]

Well, a large number of the feats homebrewed for the class would make good additions to a Hunter Ranger build, but I don't think the class as a whole would apply to the Avatar setting as we've built it. Of course, any player could ask for DM approval to play it anyway, and it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, I've gotten an idea in regards to the ranger. What if we traded out two or three of the Favored Enemies in exchange for Favored Environment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#favoredEnemyVariantFavore dEnvironment)? I've always thought that specializing in an environment fit the ranger's flavor much better, but was nowhere near as useful in combat. My current idea is to switch move the first level Favored Enemy to second level, and put a favored environment at first level; then allow a player to choose whether to specialize in a single enemy, environment, or branch out in either direction for the rest of his levels. Thoughts on this?

It seems to me that there are only three types of enemies in the Avatar setting: Animals, Humans, and Spirits. If I'm wrong, please correct me, but I think that would make favored enemy a very limited ability. For that reason, I rather like the idea of incorporating the favored environment idea. Beyond that, I think that it may be an interesting idea to allow the characters to have a favored weapon group, based on the categories listed here:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/weaponGroupFeats.htm

If, at each level that a ranger would normally choose a favored enemy, it can instead choose from enemy, environ, or weapon group, it would make a much more effective and interesting class to play.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hmm...I'm glad that everyone likes the Favored Environment idea, and I'll work on incorporating that right away. As for weapon groups, Jag, I'd rather leave that to the Fighter, if you don't mind. I'm still looking out for that one fighter fix that fits into place here (with all the fixes out there, there's got to be at least one), but I'd like to keep the roles more or less the same.

Now, in regards to Favored Enemy being too restricting in this setting, I might have an idea. See, a bonus against everyone in the Fire Nation seems far too powerful to me, and a bonus against all animals seems nigh impossible in a setting where the Animal type includes things like mongoose dragons, kimodo rhinoceroses, and Shirshu. I'd say that if we made the categories narrower, the ability would serve the purpose it does in standard D&D. Something like this:

{table=head]Type (Subtype)|Type (Subtype)
Animal (mammal)|Earth Kingdom (military)
Animal (bird)|Earth Kingdom (Dai Li)
Animal (reptile)|Air Nomads (airbender)
Animal (aquatic)|Swamp (waterbender)
Magical Beast|Sun Warrior (firebender)
Vermin|Sun Warrior (warrior)
Fire Nation (firebender)|Monk (agile)
Fire Nation (military)|Monk (evasive)
Water Tribe (waterbender)|Monk (hard)
Water Tribe (military)|Monk (quick)
Earth Kingdom (earthbender)|Monk (resilient)
Raider|Prowler[/table]

This would make the ability considerably less powerful, and we'll have to define Fire Nation military, for example, as anyone trained to be part of the Firelord's armies and state that for any creature that falls into more than one category the ranger uses the highest modifier. What do you guys think?

[Sir Shadow]

{table=head]Type (Subtype)|Type (Subtype)
Animal (mammal)|Earth Kingdom (military)
Animal (bird)|Earth Kingdom (Dai Li)
Animal (reptile)|Air Nomads (airbender)
Animal (aquatic)|Swamp (waterbender)
Magical Beast|Sun Warrior (firebender)
Vermin|Sun Warrior (warrior)
Fire Nation (firebender)|Monk (agile)
Fire Nation (military)|Monk (evasive)
Water Tribe (waterbender)|Monk (hard)
Water Tribe (military)|Monk (quick)
Earth Kingdom (earthbender)|Monk (resilient)[/table]

This would make the ability considerably less powerful, and we'll have to define Fire Nation military, for example, as anyone trained to be part of the Firelord's armies and state that for any creature that falls into more than one category the ranger uses the highest modifier. What do you guys think?

This is an awesome idea. but what about just a regular "human" for people that don't fall into those. I mean, someone can be from a nation but not be a bender or in the military, or by military do you mean people that use weapons?

[Eighth_Seraph]

By military, I mean anyone trained to be a soldier in the military. The idea is to target similarities in how people move and think. I got the idea when I thought of a tournament I went to, when I saw that the guy I would spar in the first round had "Red Dragon Karate" on the back of his uniform. I assumed he'd fight like with a hand-heavy, block-and-counter style (my specialty), but he turned out to be all dodging and made mincemeat out of me. Therefore, understanding the way an opponent fights can grant bonuses which may be vital to defeating him.

I know that this system leaves huge gaps for self-trained people like Jet who, quite frankly, don't belong to any particular training organization, but I can't think of any way to do that without getting into specifics, like a ranger specializing into hunting down Jet's freedom fighters. Before we get into the specifics on how to make the system work, I'd like to know if people like it. What do you guys think?

[Sir Shadow]

I still say its a really good idea.

[Pirate_King]

I think Jet could fall under a category (guerrilla). Even though he's self trained, he still uses certain stereotypical styles in his raids. A ranger could specialize in countering such groups.

Is there any way to keep a ranger's animal companion as an option, crunched in a different way? I'm thinking messenger hawk, or ostrich horse, or any of the mounts the fire nation uses. A shirshu, even, for a higher-level ranger.

[Eighth_Seraph]

A ranger would be constrained by all the normal rules for keeping pets and/or mounts, though Wild Empathy definitely broadens the options for adult animals that a ranger could reasonably domesticate.

[Pirate_King]

What about animals that are already domesticated? What sort of price range and access rules are we looking at for mongoose-dragons, ostrich-horses, kimodorhinos, dragonmoose, and so on? I suppose that would go into a different thread, perhaps machines, with the relation to mode of transport.

[Shades of Gray]

I think that the passive way for monks should have tiger-hook swords or whatever they're called. I can imagine a monk letting the enemy miss, then he grabs on to him with the blades and throws him away.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hm. The weapon is compatible with the style, but I think that making it a style weapon would be a bit too specific. It's a very powerful exotic weapon, so I'll leave it for specific dojos to teach the use of the weapon.

Translation: If you want to synergize, burn a feat and put it into your backstory. Then negotiate with your DM to count it as a style weapon for the sake of damage and bonuses. It's a strong weapon, and would be even more so if the crossguard and hilt spike were all doing Enhanced Strike damage.

[Shades of Gray]

Couldn't this be balanced by the fact you can't even afford one until level 3, and then you are blowing 8/9 of your money on it?

Could we make a variant weapon like the hooked sword, except it only has the hooked part and the cross guard? Or the hooked and the spike only? It wouldn't be worth the feat, but it could be used for monks and there weapon styles.

Feat
Extra Style weapon
Prerequisites: 6 levels in Monk. Weapon Proficiency with new weapon.

Benefit: You may add an extra weapon to the style weapons list for monks. The requirements for that weapon are:

Cobra Strike: Must be a light piercing or slashing weapon. Must have a critical threat range of 19-20 or betterr.
Denying Stance: Must be a light weapon, must be a weapon you can trip with.
Hand and Foot: Must be a double weapon. Twin Dao count for this purpose.
Overwhelming Attack: Must be a weapon that either has reach, or a weapon that you can trip with.
Passive Way: Must be a weapon that you can trip with.

[Pirate_King]

For prerequisites, I'd add weapon focus: whatever weapon added to the style. That would represent the necessary familiarity with the weapon required to incorporate it into the style training.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hm. As a martial artist, I'm not really a huge fan of this feat, but I see the reasoning. As a homebrewer, I agree that there should be such a feat, but as things stand the feat isn't worth it. Let's use the twin dao as an example. Putting aside the issue of money, a monk (Hand and Foot) would need to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, then Extra Style Weapon before the feat becomes worthwhile. I think if we cut out Weapon Focus and changed the pre-reqs to proficiency with the weapon it would be alright, without getting broken. I think, from experience, that martial artists generally tend to incorporate a weapon into their art before becoming familiar with them. That's how I learned to use a wakizashi, anyway. I still have no idea how to use a sword without throwing kicks in between cuts.

I like the idea of balancing the addition of potentially powerful weapons with restrictions based on style. I think we might need to refine the restrictions a bit more, but I definitely like the idea. The Denying Stance, Hand and Foot and Passive way restrictions, for example, don't quite seem to fit. I'll work with you more on this tomorrow, as it's getting late and I need to sleep.

[Darkkwalker]

Regarding the favored enemy bit. I think there should be a human (White lotus member) catagory. Just sayin'. I know that this isn't explicit, but it seems to me that the group is widespread and non-exclusive. Though it does seem to be a secret organization. Also, human(guerilla) as previously mentioned, wouldn't be amiss. Though Jet and the others are members of the earth kingdom in general. so yeah. I also think there should be a human (civilian) in there somewhere. as civilians don't really change too much from country to country. but then you'd need human (criminal) as well to show that civilians and criminals are different. It just gets really complicated. anyhow, I think the white lotus thing is the most important.

That is all.

oh, spirits too. or are they being placed under magical beast? because Koh doesn't seem like a beast, more an evil spirit. so yeah. though, adventures in the spirit world aren't cannon, well, except for the avatar. anyhow. yeah. thoughts?

[Mephibosheth]

I know this is something of a non sequitur, but the recruitment and character development process for my "The Fall of Chin the Great" campaign has got me thinking about animal companions. This is something of a reveral from my previous position on this issue, but I'm starting to think that there are characters in the show who exhibit a relationship with a certain animal that transcends the relationship between a person and an animal under normal circumstances. Here I'm thinking about Aang and Appa, Roku and his dragon, and Jun and her shirshu. To this end, I've devised the following feat. Let me know what you think.

I'm Great with Animals!
You have befriended an animal, who trusts you implicitly and accompanies you on your travels.
Prerequisites: Character level 6
Benefit: You gain an animal companion as the Druid class feature. You count as a Druid three levels lower than your character level for the purpose of this class ability.

You can choose your animal companion from the following list:

{table=head] 1st level or higher | 4th level or higher | 7th level or higher | 10th level or higher | 13th level or higher

Bearded Cat|Bear|Armadillo-lion|Giant Beetle|Badger-mole

Buffalo-deer|Bull-antelope|Buzzard-wasp|Kimodo-rhinoceros|Boar-q-pine

Cat-owl|Cat-gator| |Mongoose-dragon|Flying Bison

Dragon-moose|Ostrich-horse| |Platypus-bear|Shirshu

Fox-antelope|Wolf-bat

Hog-monkey

Messenger Hawk

Polar Bear-dog

Raven-eagle

Winged Lemur[/table]

As to the issue of Favored Enemies, I like breaking it down by nation and training/organization, but I don't know how keen I am on extremely specific categories like Human (guerilla). I think a simple Human (unaffiliated) or similar catch-all category would suffice and would be more useful to rangers. Perhaps even slightly more specific categories like Earth Kingdom (unaffiliated) would be better. It just seems like very specific categories like Human (guerilla) would never get selected unless it was a guerilla-specific campaign.

Those are my thoughts. Let me know about the feat.

Mephibosheth

[Pirate_King]

Yay! Animals! :smallbiggrin:

perhaps for guerrilla, it could be combatant(raider) that would be a blanket term for a member any sort of gang that would use hit & run raids, such as guerrilla teams, gangs of bandits, pirates, etc

[Eighth_Seraph]

The kimodo-rhinoceros tore through the village, paying no heed to the wooden houses upon which it wreaked havoc. The bandit upon the beast spurred it on, throwing bombs and dynamite sticks every which way while roaring with glee at the devastation accumulating around him. On a rooftop a mere fifty feet away, two boys watched him with increasing fury.

"Damn those pirates!" said one "This the third year they've done this, and our militia doesn't stand a chance against that force of arms." He sighed hopelessly "I'm sorry that you had to come at a time like this. We usually like to give travelers better hospitality. We should get out of here before that drunken fiend sees us."

The other boy didn't say a word, but drew his shortbow and nocked an arrow to the string. The boy predicted the pirate's moves expertly, and his bow sang. Three arrows sank deep into the man's chest, and he immediately collapses, bleeding and dying.

The younger boy stood dumbfounded. "Wha? How did you do that?"

"My village was destroyed by raiders from the plains. These people are all the same."


In other words, I kinda like Raider as a Favored Enemy and the animal idea. I'll go ahead and add it. I really don't think that Civilian and Criminal would be good categories, as nobody actually specializes in killing Commoners, and criminals vary widely. Maybe Prowler or somesuch for Rogues, What do you guys think?

[Pirate_King]

I think criminal could either fall under the raider category, for organized crime and such, and one that worked alone could fall under the rogue category. It'd be a nice way to make a sort of law enforcer/private investigator/bounty hunter kind of ranger.

[Lord Tataraus]

I was just about to add the monk table to the pdf and I noticed that it does not have a column for Defense Bonus progression. Is this on purpose or was it excluded on accident? I finally have some free time to work on the pdf so if you could answer quickly that'll be great. Also, in addition to this monk and ranger, what non-bender classes should be included in the pdf?

Thanks.

[Pirate_King]

it probably didn't have the column because it's right there on the srd, column a, I think. Lowest one.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Nah, I didn't expect people to known what's in the SRD from Unearthed Arcana. Since the original draft of the style-based monk back on the original melee thread, I decided to get feedback from the playground as a whole and post the class as a stand-alone thread here on the homebrew forum. To avoid confusion, I removed that class defense column so people wouldn't think that I was giving monks another AC bonus in addition to core abilities. I'll stick it back on so you can copy/paste the whole thing, Tataraus. Thanks for the update, by the way.

[jgmaurer]

First off, I would like to say that I love this project, and that I want to help out...even if only a little bit :smallcool:

Second, I have a few ideas (note all thoughts are based on the web-site, the pdf wasn't working so if things are different or I am stating redundant material I apologize in advance):

Martial Artist:

Add Vagrant to the passive style, you don't have any Vagrant styles and this one seems the most likely.



Can't think of anything else right now....or anything else I was thinking about has already been changed on this thread :smalltongue:

[black dragoon]

From what I've seen of your work I've gotta say kudos. I would never have been as tenacious as you guys. Why is'nt there a drunken fighting style anyways?

[ErrantX]

Because it's a Nickelodeon cartoon, duh :P

-X

[jagadaishio]

This may be a little late of a comment but when it says 'Agile' in the various style tags, do you actually mean 'Mobile?' If not, I'm not sure what the tag is referring to.

Do monks get the class defense bonus as listed for classes with no armor proficiency?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm

[Eighth_Seraph]

Yes on both accounts. I should probably get around to adding the class defense bonus on the table like I said I would a few months ago...

[Mephibosheth]

I made the replacement on the website, but I may have missed one or two. If I have, let me know.

Also, has there been any progress on completing the one-handed Ranger combat style? As far as I know, it's the only one we haven't finished.

Mephibosheth

[Bandededed]

Well, there are also some monk combat styles that haven't been finished yet, as well. As for the one-handed combat style, would some abilities like these work?

Set-up Strike: As a standard action, or instead of two attacks in a full-attack action, any ranger wielding only a 1 handed weapon in one hand and either nothing or a shield in his off hand may make a touch attack with their off hand against any opponent within melee range. If this strike is successful, instead of dealing damage, their opponent is instead considered flat-footed until the beginning of the opponents next turn.

Reactive Theft: When missed by a melee attack made by an opponent's weapon, a one-handed style ranger may react to take the weapon from his enemy.

Resolve this as a disarm attempt as normal, except that it provokes no attacks of opportunity and the ranger gets a +2 bonus to the attempt. The bonus stacks with all other bonuses.

If the attempt is successful, the weapon is either on the ground (if the ranger has a shield), or in the ranger's possession (if the ranger has a free hand). If unsuccessful, the opponent may not react to disarm the ranger.

Use of this ability counts as an attack of opportunity for the ranger, and cannot be used if he has none of these remaining.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Ooh! I likes 'em. The problem is that the structure we have now kinda requires feats, so we'd have to turn these into tactical feats, which would mean that we'd have to put both of them (and one more) into a single feat. But I like 'em a whole lot

And...yeah. I'm completely stuck on the monk fighting styles. I have no idea what to do with Overwhelming Attack, and I was going to make an Inner Fire, based around the good ol' Dragon Ball Z fighters, toned down to sane levels and sans flying. More like the original Dragon Ball, really. Then I was going to go on to make Ansetsuken, Street Fighter style. But yeah. I'm stuck. Help?

But before I do anything else, I have an idea. I've been to a couple tournaments since I made the write-up for Hand and Foot, and I've noticed a few things. First includes a pair of new techniques I made (Fade-Away Kick and Sliding Side Kick), and the second is that Tae Kwon Do is a pretty standard hard art. I mean really standard, what with it being a mix of every hard Korean art in existence before 1973. What that means is that a whole bunch of other hard arts have techniques very similar to what I've restricted to Hand and Foot up until this point.

So my question is: what would you guys think of my transferring the Decisive Strike ability to a new art category, and instead granting all hard arts limited access to the Hand and Foot technique list?

[String]

A minor thing, since I've been working under the assumption that Kyoshi Warriors are monks of some type: Warfan? should it be a style weapon of some sort?

[felinoel]

A minor thing, since I've been working under the assumption that Kyoshi Warriors are monks of some type: Warfan? should it be a style weapon of some sort?

Really? Because we have been having them be the passive style of the Martial Artist class

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hrm. I guess I should make up a style heavily specialized to be the Kyoshi warriors. The main problem is that they wear armor in a fight, though. I'll get working on it, since representing the show is, after all, what this class was meant to do. Suki's fighting style in The Boiling Rock does seem like a soft art, and she can definitely fight unarmed and unarmored, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Thanks for the reminder, String.

[String]

Felinoel: Ah. my bad. the martial artist isnt in this thread (is it? I thought it was separate) and so I must have missed that. And isnt there also a monk style called the "passive way"? is that different from the martial artist style?

[Eighth_Seraph]

Er. I'm pretty sure that Felinoel meant my Monk class. I still mess up and call it a Martial Artist from time to time. But yeah, Passive Way is one the monk styles I've made. It's actually going to be playtested tonight or tomorrow, hopefully. Should be interesting.

[felinoel]

Er. I'm pretty sure that Felinoel meant my Monk class. I still mess up and call it a Martial Artist from time to time. But yeah, Passive Way is one the monk styles I've made. It's actually going to be playtested tonight or tomorrow, hopefully. Should be interesting.

Ah yes, they kept switching names between the monk and martial artist class, Sokka's classes needs to be changed then, a perfect time for me to update it! I was thinking about adding two or three more levels in ranger...


Or we could take the two builds and make them one? If I had rememebred the Wilderness Rogue I would have used it, but I still say Sokka's sword is adamantine, he could only possibly have 1 level in passive way Monk, and he speciallizes in so many things so he should have several classes, I forget what else were key things in mine that weren't in Meph's

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hey, something that playtesting has taught me is that under this non-magical system, padded armor proficiency would be both thematically appropriate and a non-broken advantage to the monk class. Under normal item enhancement rules, though, any kind of armor proficiency is a no-no. I'm thinking of giving the proficiency in padded armor anyway. Any thoughts.

[String]

This may be me being dumb, but if you could explain why the non-magical system makes padded armor for monks non-broken, and why magical breaks it. I agree that it makes thematic sense and I just want to understand your reasoning.

[Eighth_Seraph]

It's a good question. The reason it's broken under the normal magic system is that if you have any kind of armor, it can be enchanted. That means that the normal +1 to AC from padded armor quickly becomes +5 Reflecting Fortified Padded Armor.

Because we use the Class Defense bonus under the Avatar setting, even Padded Armor of Legend provides no AC bonus, and it grants no DR, so there's nothing to be added there, either. All you get is the ability to grant your padded martial arts uniform some minor enhancements which aren't that useful in the long run.

In theory.

[String]

So, in effect, Padded armor in our the Class-defense non-magical enhancement setting gives no defensive help? That strikes me as odd.

[AstralFire]

Actually... um, monks can still do that, it's legal to just enchant a piece of cloth with all of that stuff. (A wondrous item or two in the DMG actually work exactly like that, specifically being listed as having an enhancement bonus to their armor class, and Magic Vestment lists cloth as being treated as armor with an enh bonus of 0.) Just no one complains because monks need a lot of help unless they're in a nearly DR-less, big monster-less campaign.


So, in effect, Padded armor in our the Class-defense non-magical enhancement setting gives no defensive help? That strikes me as odd.

It grants some cold/fire resist and minor protection from crits/sneak attack. I'd take it, better than nothing.

[String]

Ah. Well, thats good. I vote for added padded armor to the Monk's armor proficiencies, then.

[AlterForm]

Very small thing, but under the Sliding Side Kick ability of the Hand and Foot style of the Monk, it says "you may not take any action (including taking attacks of opportunity) until the start of your next turn." This doesn't seem very restricting, since all it really does is prevent you from using extra actions (if there are any in the system) and attacks of opportunity until your next turn. Was it mean to read, say, "until the start of your turn after your next turn," or "until the end of your next turn?" As it is, I'd have to say there's not a whole lot of reason not to use the ability on a charge.

[Eighth_Seraph]

You read it right the first time. The Hand and Foot style is based largely on tae kwon do, which is what I practice, and this is one of my favorite moves to use against combo counter-attackers. The problem is that if you miss with a skipping or sliding side-kick, your momentum and the angle of your body prevent the use of both hands and feet until you put the foot down and get back into your stance. To a character using this style, that means no Attacks of Opportunity, no use of Deflect Arrows, Snatch Arrows, or Deflect attack (if multiclassed into some sort of bender), and a few other things. It's not meant to be a crippling downside, but it allows opponents to circle the attacking monk without fear of a Stunning AoO, making the technique an unwise one to use against a group of opponents, which reflects the real-life kick rather well.

[String]

So, Seraph: what has our draw told us about the Passive Way monk? I sortof feel like he mightve done better in a party situation, where his ability to flow can give his allies all sorts of AoO's that could actually bypass a DR 8/- character.

[Eighth_Seraph]

I agree. I mean, the Passive Way monk still has full BAB and some decent damage dice on its style weapon and unarmed strike damage, but it won't match up to any fighter or barbarian in offensive power. I was thinking of slamming damage, where a flow can turn into bash against the floor, dealing additional damage that bypasses DR. Also, arm locks, choke-holds (as the feat, maybe), more powerful Ankle Twist, and automatic Improved Disarm, Improved Trip with the appropriate Passive Way techniques.

My current project is making a set of techniques given to all hard arts at first level, as well as a set for all soft arts, and a set for weapon-based arts. Yeah. Let's see how that comes along.

[String]

Well it certainly appears that Hand and Foot needs to share it's steroids with Passive way. You took down two benders pretty much by yourself. Then Again, Hand and Foot is supposed to be more direct damage than Passive way...but Twice his HP? Thats more than dead


Thats like...Xykon. or Roy at this point.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Yeah, I started a thread on the Gaming forums asking whether that was broken damage or not. I was actually only supposed to get one Decisive strike, not two, and then a normal attack; since I can't Decisive Strike as part of a Flurry of Blows. That, and I could only get the second attack because of the chi-enhancing tea. Seriously, though. I think the fault lies more in the benders' terrible AC than anything else. I mean, I fought unarmed, so no weapon enhancement attack bonuses, with a full -5 to Power Attack and could still count reliably on hitting the pathetic AC 19 of a fully armored waterbender. And my opponent stayed still long enough for me to full-attack. It was a death-trap.

My build was hard-core, though. Just sayin'. I want to try it against a good fighter. And against a Passive Way monk. Want to break Gong out again?

[AlterForm]

I also think the problem is with the Bender AC, and not the monk. It wouldn't be so bad(as evidenced by the thread in general), but you auto-hit my AC with your foot even. Add in that your AC was crazy (24ish, right?) and the only save I could target (reflex; are there any seeds that target fort/will?) was +12, and we practically could've called it from the start.

I think the problem might be that the Armor-as-DR and Defense Bonus systems don't stack very nicely. Anything below chainmail isn't going to affect your AC (minimum defense bonus is +2, which doesn't stack with armor), and everything else up to fullplate will be outclassed by level 3 or 6. Perhaps the system should let the two bonuses stack? That would've meant an extra 6 AC, and a slim (35%) chance that Rialu didn't connect.

[Eighth_Seraph]

That's starting to seem like a surprisingly good idea. I'll have to make sure that it's necessary at higher levels, and that'll be taken care of in the PCs vs. Monster(s) match comin' up soon. We'll try without stacking the AC bonuses for a bit more, then we'll change it if it becomes necessary. That'll mean overriding Unearthed Arcana and making our own custom variant. Not a new thing to us, of course, but it could be confusing to newcomers, since we can't just link to the SRD anymore.

Also, I've had some pretty convincing examples on the gaming boards here at GitP showing that my character's damage was not only not broken, but actually sub-par in a standard D&D game. As for the waterbender's damage, I was expecting you to use no-save abilities like Wave and mix them with Freeze. Keeping up your Tentacle form or turning it into an Octopus would have been very dangerous to me, by the way. Remember these strategies for your next match.

[String]

Gong is raring to go. Gong versus your HandnFoot would be cool, since you don't have to worry about me completely squishing you, and I don't have to worry about all your AoO options.

[Superglucose]

One really simple way that you could boost Passive Way (that would make sense flavor-wise) is to let them make chi-distruption attempts as part of a flow. The end of the series makes it clear that the Kyoshi Warriors (I'm assuming they're the archetype for the Passive Way) added Chi Distruption to their skills. And Ty Lee once used chi distruption with a version of the passive way against Sokka (first time they fought, she just ducked out of the way and poked his back making his arms go limp).

Also give Passive Way mobility? That would solve the problem of them being exclusively close range. Maybe give them something they can do with their special weapon, like deflect ranged attacks or even deflect bending (we've seen the Kyoshi Warriors do a sort of deflect bending).

All of this without adding damage!

Oh, by the way, I love your martial artist class so much that I'm trying my damndest to find someone to playtest the martial artist class (as well as the fighter) in a standard 3.5 environment.

[String]

I like those ideas! You get +2 to your String affiliation score. :smallbiggrin:

Oh, and Seraph: I brainfarted. I cant do the Gong vs. Hand-Foot fight until I get back from vacation on the eighth or ninth. But once I get back i'm totally up for it.

[Superglucose]

String affiliation score? :smallconfused:

[Eighth_Seraph]

It's a reference to his most recent work on the Setting Hub, which involves making official affiliations for the four nations and their armies, as well as more oblique affiliations like the Dai Li and the Order of the White Lotus. It's from the PHB II, which I don't have, so I can't give you any more than that.

As for the Passive Way monk, I'm kind of apprehensive at the fact that every fix that I've thought of and that y'all have suggested involves heaps more feats. I was thinking of giving automatic Improved Grapple, Improved Trip, and Improved Disarm when a monk takes the corresponding Passive Way technique. Also, I was thinking that a flow could deal slam damage in some way measured by class levels.

And just for the record, it's a complete coincidence that the Kyoshi warriors are easily represented by the Passive Way. As a martial artist, I just made a mental list of martial arts archetypes, which included a Judo/Jiu Jitsu-style defensive counter-attacking soft art.

[Superglucose]

Oh, I don't think you need to add a feat. Why would a monk of the passive way automatically learn chi distruption? Only Ty Lee started the series with Chi Distruption and heaps of those folks were high level passive way users (Suki, for instance). Just make it so that it's possible to use that ability during a flow.

And giving it mobility would make some sense flavor wise based on the show. And it's a style, not a feat :smallwink: (I realize your point though, don't want to just give heaps of stuff to Passive Way. I'm really just trying to make its existing stuff more versatile)

So far I don't think I suggested ever giving a passive way monk a feat, just giving them more options to use during a flow. Right now Flow is of limited use because, quite frankly, bullrush/trip/disarm/grapple is of limited use. "ONOES! I lost my sword! Guess I'll have to waste a move action picking it up... too friggen bad you don't do enough damage to capitalize." But Chi Distruption, for anyone who has it, is always relevant...

I could also see letting a passive way monk use a distrupt bending ability or stunning fist. Here's how I would write it up:


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. If you have the necessary feats, you may instead chose to use a stunning fist attempt or an ability that uses a stunning fist attempt. 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.

That alone would make Passive Way much better.

EDIT: the way I wrote it was so broken open the first time...

[Superglucose]

Sorry for the double, but this is kind of important:

Shower of Sparks only deals 1d4 regardless of the weapon used. Why would a quick strike with a crummy dagger made of wood deal more damage using shower of sparks? Why would a really sharp dagger not get a bonus to damage for shower of sparks?

As it stands, Shower of Sparks is irrelevant as a feat because per RAW the opponent takes 1d4 damage. Whoopee! None of that will ever get past any dr.

Here's what I propose:

When you use One Thousand Cuts, the iterative 1d4 damage is considered part of the first attack, not a seperate attack. Now it's not utterly overpowered (such as letting a firebender use Flame Blades to get 1d4+6d6, or adding crazy bonus damage) but still relevant.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hrm. You're right about A Thousand Cuts, the feat is absolutely worthless in the setting due to the ubiquitous nature of damage reduction. I like your suggestion, and I'll see if I can't try and put it on par with Solitary Strike. Also, Superglucose, what you're suggesting with the Stunning Fist is already possible. All you need is the Timely Strike technique, and you can make the granted attack a Stunning Fist if you'd like.

Anyway, I've been thinking more and more about the monk, and I'm rolling with the idea of granting techniques for all hard styles (notice that I changed the Decisive Strike ability to "Strong" styles). Also, I want to grant each fighting style at least one stance that grants certain bonuses and penalties as long as it's held. I mean, Hand and Foot, Passive Way, and Denying Stance all have their own stances already.

Then I realized something. The monk as I've made it is turning into the Unarmed Swordsage. And I'm somehow okay with that. It'll be a slow, steady process now that school's going to start back up for me in two weeks, but I think it's gonna be great. I'm going to make techniques and stances that will be open for all hard arts, then I'm going to move on to give each art its own techniques and stances. It's gonna be great. I'm also thinking of making a similar set for soft arts, but I dunno if I'd be able to pull that off. We'll see.

[Superglucose]

Nonono... not using the stunning fist with the free attack. As I read the rules, I get to make a normal attack after flowing, and that's great. But that's not the flow action. Here's how I read the round going:

Miss by 5 on my ac
Initiate flow, bullrush+trip+attack. I get to use the attack to make a chi distruption attempt.

Here's how I want it to go:

Miss by 5 on my ac
Initiate flow, bullrush+chi distrupt+attack. I can use Chi Distrupt (provided I ahve enough stunning fist uses left) on this second attack as well.

[Eighth_Seraph]

I have just completed my masterpiece. First, you will all want to look at a new section under the monk's class abilities, where it says Stances. Then you'll want to check out all the different types of styles, several of which have been granted such stances. Then you'll want to look at the post directly after the Monk, where you will my masterpiece, the Ansatsuken style.

Now I just need to get a jolteon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86733) as an animal companion and convince someone to playtest against me.

However, I've noticed that this has eaten up far too many hours of my time. I dunno if I'm going to go through the trouble of fixing the Passive Way or make stances and fill in dead levels for all the other styles. We'll see.

[String]

Something about the ansatku-whatsit style strikes me as broken beyond believe, but I dont know what. Also, the ability of the hand and foot monk to adda bonus for each successful consecutive strike nerfs the fighter, who (to my knowledge) was previously th oly class able to do that, and only after investing a considerable number of his only class features (his feats), and tthen only getting tthe ability at (i believe) 14th level. Just a thought.

Otherwise I like it. As a side note: do passive way monks have proficiency with bastard swords and warfans right off the bat? I ask to better gain insight on how my Kyoshi warriors affiliation affects them.

[Eighth_Seraph]

Hrm. It's probably about as powerful as Hand and Foot, or maybe a bit more powerful. The only thing is that there are several levels of Ansatsuken techniques, so they get better at higher levels, while Hand and Foot techniques are all available at first level, and thus balanced for first level. Looking everything over, though, the class doesn't look broken unless you go out of your way to break it.

I want to playtest it, though. Since I clearly can't represent Akuma, the Raging Demon before epic levels, I'm gonna make a character called Amaku, the Cajun Teaman. He's gonna be a Native Australian-esque fighter with ranks in Profession (Tea Brewer).

[String]

I'll be willing to put Gong against anyone you need to test. Now tat I'm back from the Emerald Isle.

[Superglucose]

I want to try a different build for the Passive Way monk if you'd let me, but I'd also like to test out a level 20 firebender/cobra strike I have. Let me know which you'd prefer to face.

[String]

Either. Your preference.

[Superglucose]

I want to see what the Cobra Strike can do. Can you advance Gong to level 20?

[String]

Let's take this to the recruiting thread.

[Superglucose]

Also, Eighth, have you pulled the trigger on the Thousand Cuts change?

[Eighth_Seraph]

That sounds awfully similar to "I have a secret weapon, but I need it to be canon."

I'll make the fix, sure. But you guys should probably know that my homebrewing is pretty much over. There's still lots of problem with the styles that I haven't fixed, but I've decided not to. It takes too much time that would be better spent with my friends, family, and schoolwork.

EDIT: Hrm. There's a problem. I don't have jurisdiction over the website, where the official version of A Thousand Cuts is kept. I'll just make a new version and post it here, I guess.

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, you may ready two attacks instead of one, taking a -5 penalty on the second attack.
• 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 from the first attack, and each additional attack deals 1d4 damage. These attacks are all quick stabs (dealing piercing damage), and are resolved as a single attack for the purposes of damage reduction. If the weapon utilized has any damage bonus, you may apply the bonus to each strike.
Special: A fighter may take this as one of his fighter bonus feats.

[Superglucose]

Ok, that rewrite just broke my class. I think I can fix it though, so thanks for all your help! Never mind, I misread it. That was a clever wording, Eighth. who do you think is going to take your position as 'official changer of feats and such'?

Also,


That sounds awfully similar to "I have a secret weapon, but I need it to be canon."

Que?

[Twilightwyrm]

Hey, thought I should let you guys know, the modified ranger and martial artist classes have their links mixed up. That is to say, while each link on the main website leads to the respective classes, the actual links read as follows:

Ranger- http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/ranger

Martial Artist- http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/ranger

(Not to mention the titles of the pages on the browser also read the reverse titles.)

I realize this is largely an aesthetic issue, but was unaware whether you were aware, and thought I should let you know.

P.S. I post this here principally because this is the section discussing those two classes. If this is not the right forum, please direct me to the correct one.

[felinoel]

Hey, thought I should let you guys know, the modified ranger and martial artist classes have their links mixed up. That is to say, while each link on the main website leads to the respective classes, the actual links read as follows:

Ranger- http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/ranger

Martial Artist- http://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/ranger

(Not to mention the titles of the pages on the browser also read the reverse titles.)

I realize this is largely an aesthetic issue, but was unaware whether you were aware, and thought I should let you know.

P.S. I post this here principally because this is the section discussing those two classes. If this is not the right forum, please direct me to the correct one.
You shouldn't post in old threads, you get mods yelling at you and the threads locked apparently