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Vortling
2008-05-20, 07:33 PM
My current campaign is coming to an end in a few months. I recently saw Forbidden Kingdom. I'm thinking of starting a kung fu/wire fu game of DnD for my next campaign.

As far as backstory and world go I'm still hammering out the details. I'm looking at restricting the player classes to one of two sets. The first set I'd have them all playing swordsages for the 'wandering monk' feel. The second set I'd have them play warblades, swordsages, and cloistered clerics to cover samurai, monks, ninjas, and wandering mystics.

I'll be allowing the players the PHB, PHB2, the Completes series, the Races series, and ToB (obviously). Likely starting level is 3-5 and I'm hoping to get to 20 if the story lasts long enough.

Are there other classes in DnD that cover kung fu action movie archetypes well? The class doesn't have to have a built in oriental feel to it. Does the second group of classes all play at around the same power level without stepping on the other classes toes?

Any suggestions for creating the kung fu action movie feel as far as fluff, world building, and DMing go?

Rachel Lorelei
2008-05-20, 07:36 PM
Warblades don't actually wire-fu very well. They can jump, but that's about it. They work for samurai.

As for suggestions--I'd go with a Mythic China inspiration, not Japan. Wuxia's chinese.

Then I'd drop D&D and use Weapons of the Gods, which is amazing for all your kung-fu needs.

UserClone
2008-05-20, 07:37 PM
Oriental Adventures is the obvious answer for me. I think that the Blade Dancer PrC in particular is very "Wire-Fu" with its Acrobatics and Leap of the Clouds abilities.

Thiel
2008-05-20, 07:38 PM
If you have access to it you could incorporate some of the elements from Iron Heroes. The scaling feat system is worth looking into.

Chronicled
2008-05-20, 08:10 PM
If you have access to it you could incorporate some of the elements from Iron Heroes. The scaling feat system is worth looking into.

The Harrier from Iron Heroes is practically an embodiment of wire-fu.

I've never tried Weapons of the Gods, so I don't know how it compares to that; but within systems I've tried it's one of the most wire-fu classes/archtypes I've seen.

tyckspoon
2008-05-20, 08:13 PM
Psychic Warriors with the right selection of self-enhancing powers and feats; Up The Walls and Speed of Thought in particular. Maybe blend with some Tome of Battle for the jumping stance and boost in Tiger Claw to get those jumps that are almost like flying.

Rachel Lorelei
2008-05-20, 08:16 PM
The Harrier from Iron Heroes is practically an embodiment of wire-fu.

I've never tried Weapons of the Gods, so I don't know how it compares to that; but within systems I've tried it's one of the most wire-fu classes/archtypes I've seen.

Let me put it this way: everyone gets to pick some Kung Fu to start with.
Everyone automatically gets one rank of the Lightfoot Kung Fu, letting them run on water, jump from tree branch to tree branch, stick to walls, etc.

Vortling
2008-05-20, 08:25 PM
Warblades don't actually wire-fu very well. They can jump, but that's about it. They work for samurai.

As for suggestions--I'd go with a Mythic China inspiration, not Japan. Wuxia's chinese.

Then I'd drop D&D and use Weapons of the Gods, which is amazing for all your kung-fu needs.

The problem with that is I have to buy and learn an entirely new system, then teach it to all my players. Only one of them has played anything besides 3.5 DnD. However I will look into it anyways.