Mountain Crusher (base class)

[Behold_the_Void]

I made this class on a whim since I've had a character concept floating around in my head that's much like this guy, but I've never had anything to properly represent it. I just kind of threw this together in a way that seemed balanced, and he should be about as strong as a Tome of Battle character in theory.

“Look out!” Jyathia cried as the massive red dragon bore down on the broad-chested but completely unarmed man. Desperately, she reached into her spell component pouch, calling to mind the words of arcane power that might save the man from his fast-approaching fate.

The man smiled as the dragon’s gaping maw moved to swallow him whole. As he raised his arms, his muscles bulged and rippled, almost making him appear far larger than he truly was.

As the dragon slammed into him, he firmly grasped its razor-sharp fangs with his bare hands. Planting himself into the ground, he was pushed back mere millimeters before the dragon’s charge was stopped dead.

“It’ll take more than a little lizard to beat me!” he said jovially as a snap of his arms threw the dragon to the ground with a deafening thud. With a quick jerking motion, the man snapped the dragon’s neck with one clean stroke, killing it instantly.

The words of power died on Jyathia’s lips. Truly, this man could not be human.

Mountain Crusher

Mountain Crushers are powerful men and women who have trained in the art of unarmed and close-quarters combat. Skilled at grappling, they can tackle and throw creatures many times their size with ease.

Making a Mountain Crusher

With their high hit die, full base attack bonus and strong combat abilities, Mountain Crushers epitomize the front-line melee combatant. The wealth of combat abilities they have give them several options beyond the standard attack and full-attack, although they can excel at sheer damage if built with that in mind. The ability to fight with most weapons also allows a Mountain Crusher to select a style most appropriate to the feel they require.
Abilities: Strength and Constitution are crucial to a Mountain Crusher. Depending on the desired armor, Dexterity can be as well. Most of the Mountain Crusher's abilities rely on strength, although many can make use of Dexterity instead.
Adventures: Many Mountain Crushers adventure in a quest for greater personal power. The credo of the Mountain Crushers is "strength conquers all," and most believe that in order to become stronger, they must travel, experience new things, and hone their combat abilities.
Characteristics: Mountain Crushers excel at making use of their bulk and their ability to act as if much bigger than themselves to control the battlefield by grappling, tripping, disarming, and bullrushing. They tend to work best at disabling larger threats from the front lines, although they can be useful in pinning a magic user if they have the means to get close enough to do so.
Alignment: Mountain Crushers have no preferred alignment, the class focuses on strength of arms and sheer power, something that can appeal to people from any point of the alignment spectrum.
Religion: Mountain Crushers tend to follow Kord, Hextor, St. Cuthbert, or Hieronius, if anybody. They value strength and martial ability above all else, and many don't spend much time with worship at all.
Background: Although there is a certain amount of tradition to the Mountain Crusher discipline, it is easily self taught. The abilities of a Mountain Crusher rely on a great understanding of how to use one's bulk and strength in the most advantageous ways, and many Mountain Crushers are simply self-taught, having chosen to focus on a combat style that allows their abilities to flourish in that direction. There are some schools that teach the discipline, but it is fully capable of being self-taught if one possesses the will and general strength to do so.
Races: Mountain Crushers have a proud history among the dwarves, where the discipline is said to have originated. Many humans also have the strength to follow the discipline, as do Half-Orcs and Half-Elves. Elves tend to find the style distasteful and also tend to lack the strength required. Halflings and Gnomes are generally considered unsuited for the role, although there are stories of a select few among both races that have tried.
Other Classes: Mountain Crushers get along best with martially oriented classes, especially Fighters, Barbarians, and Warblades. The pursuit of strength and physical prowess earns a person respect in the eyes of a Mountain Crusher. Clerics of strength-based dieties and Druids who emphasize Wild-Shape also tend to earn the respect of Mountain Crushers, whereas arcane spellcasters tend to be viewed as anywhere from an odd but valuable companion to a weakling who lacks the strength to master a real fighting style.
Starting Gold: As Fighter
Starting Age: As Fighter

Hit Die: d12

Weapon Proficiencies: The Mountain Crusher is proficient with all Simple and Martial Weapons, as well as light, medium, and heavy armor.

Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex)

Skill Points at 1st Level

(2+Int Modifier)x4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level

2+Int Modifier

Mountain Crusher
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Unarmed Damage

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Unarmed Strike|1d6

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+3|Improved Grapple, Constrict 1d6|1d6

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Mettle, Combat Maneuvering|1d6

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+4|Bonus Feat, Constrict 2d6|1d8

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+4|Powerful Form|1d8

6th|
+6|
+5|
+2|
+5|Constrict 3d6|1d8

7th|
+7|
+5|
+2|
+5| Expert Grappling|1d8

8th|
+8|
+6|
+2|
+6|Firm Grip, Constrict 4d6|1d10

9th|
+9|
+6|
+3|
+6|Bonus Feat|1d10

10th|
+10|
+7|
+3|
+7|Mighty Form, Constrict 5d6|1d10

11th|
+11|
+7|
+3|
+7|Brute Force|1d10

12th|
+12|
+8|
+4|
+8|Skillful Grappler, Constrict 6d6|2d6

13th|
+13|
+8|
+4|
+8|Improved Mettle|2d6

14th|
+14|
+9|
+4|
+9|Bonus Feat, Constrict 7d6|2d6

15th|
+15|
+9|
+5|
+9|Towering Form|2d6

16th|
+16|
+10|
+5|
+10|Unyielding Grip, Constrict 8d6|2d8

17th|
+17|
+10|
+5|
+10|Masterful Grappling|2d8

18th|
+18|
+11|
+6|
+11|Crushing Force, Constrict 9d6|2d8

19th|
+19|
+11|
+6|
+11|Bonus feat|2d8

20th|
+20|
+12|
+6|
+12|Mountain Form, Constrict 10d6|2d10[/table]

Unarmed Strike

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

Usually a Mountain Crusher’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A Mountain Crusher’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A Mountain Crusher also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown in the class ability table.

A Mountain Crusher wearing Gauntlets may use their unarmed strike damage instead of the gauntlet’s normal damage.

Improved Grapple

At 2nd level, a Mountain Crusher gains Improved Grapple as a bonus feat.

Constrict

At 2nd level a Mountain Crusher gains the ability to constrict your opponent while in a grapple for additional damage. Whenever a Mountain Crusher succeeds a grapple check, he may constrict his target for 1d6 + 1-1/2 times Str bonus (if any) damage. The Constrict damage increases by 1d6 every 2 levels thereafter.

Mettle

At third level and higher, a Mountain Crusher can resist magical or unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that would normally have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as a spell with an entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping Mountain Crusher does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Combat Maneuvering

At third level, the Mountain Crusher gains an intuitive understanding of various combat maneuvers. They count as meeting the prerequisites for any feat that requires Combat Expertise, even if their Intelligence score isn’t high enough or they do not possess the Combat Expertise feat.

Bonus Feat

At 4th level and every 5 levels thereafter, the Mountain Crusher gains a bonus feat, which can be selected from the Fighter bonus feat list.

Powerful Form

At 5th level, the Mountain Crusher counts as one size larger for the purpose of grappling, tripping, bullrushing, or any other combat maneuver that is related to size. They gain the +4 size modifier to any rolls they make regarding a combat maneuver. They can also initiate grapples as if they were one size larger than they normally are. This is a virtual size category, even Colossal Mountain Crushers gain benefit from this ability.

Expert Grappling

At 7th level, a Mountain Crusher can use one-handed weapons to attack while engaged in a grapple.

Firm Grip

At 8th level, a Mountain Crusher’s grip is so firm it is impossible to wriggle free. Anything grappled by a Mountain Crusher receives a -10 penalty when attempting to use Escape Artist to escape from a Mountain Crusher's grapple.

Mighty Form

At 10th level, the Mountain Crusher counts as two sizes larger for the purpose of grappling, tripping, bullrushing, or any other combat maneuver that is related to size. They gain the +8 size modifier to any rolls they make regarding a combat maneuver. They can also initiate grapples as if they were two sizes larger than they normally are. This ability replaces Powerful Form. This is a virtual size category, even Colossal Mountain Crushers gain benefit from this ability.

Brute Force

At 11th level, the Mountain Crusher may add 1.5 times their strength bonus to the damage of their unarmed strike and counts as a one-handed weapon for purposes of disarming, tripping, and any other combat maneuvers.

Skillful Grappler

At 12th level, the Mountain Crusher gains the ability to take 10 on any grapple rolls they make.

Improved Mettle
At 13th level, the Mountain Crusher gains Improved Mettle. This ability works like Mettle, except that while the Mountain Crusher still takes lesser effect on a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw against attacks henceforth he takes only the secondary effect on a failed save. An unconscious or sleeping Mountain Crusher does not gain the benefit of improved mettle.

Towering Form

At 15th level, the Mountain Crusher counts as three sizes larger for the purpose of grappling, tripping, bullrushing, or any other combat maneuver that is related to size. They gain the +12 size modifier to any rolls they make regarding a combat maneuver. They can also initiate grapples as if they were three sizes larger than they normally are. This ability replaces Mighty Form. This is a virtual size category, even Colossal Mountain Crushers gain benefit from this ability.

Unyielding Grip

At 16th level, the Mountain Crusher’s grip cannot be foiled, even by magic. Spells that would allow the target to automatically escape from a grapple such as Freedom of Movement or Dimension Door do not work. Spells that would allow the caster to escape such as Dimension Door must be cast with a -10 penalty to concentration, and spells that would negate the grapple entirely instead give a +5 bonus to Escape Artist checks for each spell level the spell is.

Masterful Grappling

At 17th level, the Mountain Crusher can use two-handed weapons to attack while engaged in a grapple.

Crushing Force

At 18th level, the Mountain Crusher’s unarmed strike counts as a two-handed weapon for purposes of the Power Attack feat, as well as for the purposes of disarming, tripping, and any other combat maneuvers.

Mountain Form

At 20th level, the Mountain Crusher counts as four sizes larger for the purpose of grappling, tripping, bullrushing, or any other combat maneuver that is related to size. They gain the +16 size modifier to any rolls they make regarding a combat maneuver. They can also initiate grapples as if they were four sizes larger than they normally are. This ability replaces Towering Form. This is a virtual size category, even Colossal Mountain Crushers gain benefit from this ability.

[Stycotl]

i really like the premise for this class. there are a couple of issues though.

1-bonus feat progression does not match description.

2-this is so specialized that i do not see it being used; i think it might work better as a prc.

3-unyielding grip is powerful enough that i would bump it up to a higher level-maybe switch it with skillful grapple at 16th, which isn't too powerful to warrant a 12th level spot. i also like the idea of giving foes a chance to beak firm grip and unyielding grip. without escape art and magic. there is *nothing* that a nongrappler can do against this guy. either make it similar to uncanny dodge (a foe of so many HD more than the crusher can still escape art or magic their way free as normal) or just give some hefty penalties to everyone (which would help against some of the large foes that you would be grappling that are going to have more HD than you anyway).

4-let's say that an ogre takes levels in this class. obviously he's going to reach colossal size sooner than a human would with this progression. additionally, the 20th level power is not going to do anything for him. i would specifiy that these are virtual size categories or something, and specify that even a storm giant that starts out at colossal still gains virtual size categories. also, you might want to change the names on the last two, just because of the possible disparities between a small, medium, or large (as examples) character taking this class.

5-you are kind of going in two different directions at the same time with regards to weapons. you give them augmented unarmed strike damage, but then let them weild weapons in a grapple. i have no problem with that on some levels--variety and choice is always nice. but it might be a better idea to pick one and stick with it. a character who ends up with a two-handed artifact weapon is never going to use his unarmed strike, even in a grapple. maybe stick with one or the other.

6-along the lines of unarmed strike, you have given them some very nice things that i wish the monk had base, like the ability to count uas as two-handed for power attack. i think that it would be good to stick to uas, give him the ability to use one-handed weapons in a grapple, give light armor, and simple weapons as proficiencies, and concentrate on uas. then come up with a couple of complete scoundrel-type feats, like 'ascetic grappler' or something that allow users to stack monk and crusher levels for the purpose of determining uas, ac bonus, and/or size modifier or something.

7-over all, very nice. as i said, you have done some cool things with this class. constriction damage was a very good idea. this gives some merit to some of the otherwise dusty grappler prestige classes that i have wanted to use, but couldn't get over the enormous sacrifice involved. this guy can still fight, and is nearly as good at stand-up uas as a monk, but like a good ufc fighter, is most comfortable on the mat.

that's it for now. good job, aaron out.

[Behold_the_Void]

i really like the premise for this class. there are a couple of issues though.

1-bonus feat progression does not match description.

Oops, that was a mistake. I was trying to give the class something interesting at each level, I'll mess with it.


2-this is so specialized that i do not see it being used; i think it might work better as a prc.

The idea when I built the class was to have it grapple-focused, but to allow it to do other things. The fact that the size bonus applies to things like Disarm and Trip are huge, you CAN do other things with the build, I just felt Grapple needed the most of a boost off the box because grappling is hardest to get to work, what with Freedom of Movement, massive monsters that you can't conceivably grapple, and whatnot.


3-unyielding grip is powerful enough that i would bump it up to a higher level-maybe switch it with skillful grapple at 16th, which isn't too powerful to warrant a 12th level spot. i also like the idea of giving foes a chance to beak firm grip and unyielding grip. without escape art and magic. there is *nothing* that a nongrappler can do against this guy. either make it similar to uncanny dodge (a foe of so many HD more than the crusher can still escape art or magic their way free as normal) or just give some hefty penalties to everyone (which would help against some of the large foes that you would be grappling that are going to have more HD than you anyway).

I was actually thinking it might be a bit much, I think what I may do is impose some rather severe penalties to break out with it.


4-let's say that an ogre takes levels in this class. obviously he's going to reach colossal size sooner than a human would with this progression. additionally, the 20th level power is not going to do anything for him. i would specifiy that these are virtual size categories or something, and specify that even a storm giant that starts out at colossal still gains virtual size categories. also, you might want to change the names on the last two, just because of the possible disparities between a small, medium, or large (as examples) character taking this class.

I can definitely specify, the intent was indeed that they would be virtual size categories so that larger races off-the-box can still take it up. I'll rename the abilities too, just need to think of some grandiose words to work with it.


5-you are kind of going in two different directions at the same time with regards to weapons. you give them augmented unarmed strike damage, but then let them weild weapons in a grapple. i have no problem with that on some levels--variety and choice is always nice. but it might be a better idea to pick one and stick with it. a character who ends up with a two-handed artifact weapon is never going to use his unarmed strike, even in a grapple. maybe stick with one or the other.

The entire idea IS the choice. They can kick your ass with their bare hands or with a weapon. If they want to grab someone and start yanking them apart with their bare hands, they can. Or, if they want to grab someone and start dicing them with a greatsword, they can do that too.


6-along the lines of unarmed strike, you have given them some very nice things that i wish the monk had base, like the ability to count uas as two-handed for power attack. i think that it would be good to stick to uas, give him the ability to use one-handed weapons in a grapple, give light armor, and simple weapons as proficiencies, and concentrate on uas. then come up with a couple of complete scoundrel-type feats, like 'ascetic grappler' or something that allow users to stack monk and crusher levels for the purpose of determining uas, ac bonus, and/or size modifier or something.

While I want him to be a very capable unarmed strike fighter, since it's a base class I don't want to restrict him to one particular combat style. While he has huge boosts in the grappling department, it's possible to build a Mountain Crusher who doesn't need to grapple at all (although off the box he's damn good at it). The focus is on giving him all the viable Fighter-y tricks, and making him awesome at all of them if he wants to be.


7-over all, very nice. as i said, you have done some cool things with this class. constriction damage was a very good idea. this gives some merit to some of the otherwise dusty grappler prestige classes that i have wanted to use, but couldn't get over the enormous sacrifice involved. this guy can still fight, and is nearly as good at stand-up uas as a monk, but like a good ufc fighter, is most comfortable on the mat.

that's it for now. good job, aaron out.

I considering doing the Prestige Class route, but as I was saying, since I made it a base class I decided I wanted to give him a lot more options than just grappling and unarmed strike.

[lord of kobolds]

I just need to throw in my opinion.
This is a great class, and i can only find one problem.
Evasion.
This class seems to focus more on overpwering the opponent, and evasion just doesn't s4eem to fit the flavor.
again, this is a great class that i might even find myself wanting to use.

[Stycotl]

while i can understand the premise, i think that evasion fits perfectly.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Mettle would be a decent switch for Evasion. :smallbiggrin:

[Stycotl]

already has mettle at 3rd level.

wasn't there an improved mettle?

i would support switching improved evasion for improved mettle.

[Behold_the_Void]

Evasion's a hold-over from when it wasn't a heavy armor class and it was a bit more monk-like. I think there is an Improved Mettle that I'll probably substitute in for Evasion, and maybe add another bonus feat or something. I don't like classes with dead levels.

Fortunately, Evasion was sharing a level with another ability, so the fix was easier made. I've switched Reflex with Will as well, a good Reflex save, again, isn't really as appropriate since it became a heavy armor class.

[dyslexicfaser]

Neat class. Imp Mettle confuses the heck out of me, though.

[Roderick_BR]

A cool class I'd like to play sometime.
Btw, unarmed strikes already allow you to use Power Attack with a 1:1 trade. Ironically, if you wear spiked gauntlets, they are light weapons instead of unarmed strikes, and then you can't use Power Attack with it.
You could make Brute Force allow you to add 1.5x your Strength bonus to each unarmed damage, and Crushing Force allow you to add twice your Strength bonus to each of your unarmed strikes. Better than mess with Power Attack, since a character could not even have it.
Towering and Mountaun forms could become a bit powerful, as you'll be able to grapple medium-sized characters like crazy. If it's more designed to grapple/bullrush larger creatures, you could just reduce the bonuses larger creatures gains when resisting your attack rolls for Towering Form, and then negate the bonuses from larger creatures with Mountain Form.

[Stycotl]

If it's more designed to grapple/bullrush larger creatures, you could just reduce the bonuses larger creatures gains when resisting your attack rolls for Towering Form, and then negate the bonuses from larger creatures with Mountain Form.

i actually like this idea quite a bit. kind of evens things out, without getting super powerful.

[Behold_the_Void]

The idea behind the bonuses is to also make it effective at grappling smaller creatures. If you want to grapple a large creature at level ten, the class is designed to give you a nice bonus against them. Otherwise, the most identifying class feature it has would be nigh useless in most encounters. This guy is made to be able to out-grapple just about any regular human, he is still challenged by some of the bigger, nastier creatures, but someone his own size just can't stand a chance.

That's interesting, I didn't notice that on the power attack thing. I'll change the ability a bit.

[Stycotl]

does a crusher that has a constriction attack from another source (racial for axample) stack constrict damage, or use highest?

[Behold_the_Void]

does a crusher that has a constriction attack from another source (racial for axample) stack constrict damage, or use highest?

I think the general rule is different kinds of bonuses stack, so a racial constrict bonus would stack with the Mountain Crusher constrict. Of course, one could argue that it's an ability in and of itself, so you'd pick whichever one you want to use (generally the higher one) but I'm not enough of a rules lawyer to know which is more applicable.

[Stycotl]

well, i must say that over all this is a cool class. i like it. i am already putting together a banelar npc that will have levels in this class.

[Behold_the_Void]

well, i must say that over all this is a cool class. i like it. i am already putting together a banelar npc that will have levels in this class.

I don't have a game to playtest this with, so let me know how it works.

[Stycotl]

sounds good. i changed it htough, won't be a banelar. will be a rukanyr. with the constricting rend (or whatever it is called) feat from serpent kindgoms.

[SilentNight]

Well, seems like everything's been said already. Great concept. I actually nominate a switch back to evasion, which seems to fit the flavor better. I agree with Stycotl about the weapon/unarmed strike choice. You might want to see if you could add DR like the barbarian or the holds that the reaping mauler gets.(Complete warrior) Problem is I can't see where you could throw it in without overpowering the class.