[3.5] The Master of One, specialist of the Sublime Way [ToB, PrC]

[ErrantX]

Master of One

Al'cuin, a Tiger Claw master

Some masters of the Sublime Way believe that by learning each of the nine paths, that they achieve martial perfection. And then there are those that believe by focusing upon only one path, that a different sort of perfection can be achieved. The Master of One is a martial adept who has focused intensely upon mastering one of his disciplines to the exclusion of others. A rare breed of warrior, but one who learns that mastering his art requires dedication from the ground up.

Most masters of one are warblades or crusaders, but sometimes swordsages or fighters with the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats (taken a few times) find them their way into this class. All, however, share a fierce dedication to their singular art.
Hit Die: d10

Requirements:
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Martial Lore 9 ranks, chosen Discipline's associated skill 9 ranks.
Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (must be with one of your chosen discipline's weapons), Blade Meditation (chosen discipline).
Maneuvers: Knowledge of two maneuvers and one stance of the chosen Discipline, ability to initiate 3rd level maneuvers.
Special: Character may not possess any levels in the Master of Nine prestige class previous to entry to this class, or after it; the class if forever barred.

Master of One
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|

Special

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|Discipline Initiate

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|Discipline Recovery

3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+1

|Discipline Adept

4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+1

|Perfect Form

5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+1

|Discipline Master[/table]

Maneuvers
{table=head]Level|Known|Readied|Stances

1st|

1

|

1

|

0

2nd|

1

|

0

|

1

3rd|

1

|

1

|

0

4th|

1

|

0

|

1

5th|

1

|

1

|

0

[/table]

Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Martial Lore (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Master of One gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Maneuvers: At each level, the Master of One gains new maneuvers known from his chosen discipline. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your Master of One levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 1st, 3rd, and 5th level you gain an additional maneuver readied per day, but these maneuvers must be of your chosen discipline.

Stances Known: At 1st and 4th level you learn a new martial stance from your chosen discipline. You must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.

Discipline Initiate (Ex): Due to his study of his chosen Discipline, the Master of One's discipline shapes him as a warrior. One of his saving throws based on his chosen Discipline and improves to the Good saving throw progression. Masters of the Devoted Spirit, Iron Heart, and Stone Dragon disciplines gain the good saving throw progression for Fortitude saves. Masters of the Desert Wind, Shadow Hand, and Tiger Claw disciplines gain the good saving throw progression for Reflex saves. Masters of the Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, and White Raven gain the good saving throw progression for Will saves. Regardless of chosen discipline, the master of one gains the Skill Focus feat in his discipline's associated skill as a bonus feat.

Discipline Recovery (Ex): The Master of One gains the Sudden Recovery feat as a bonus feat, usable only with his chosen Discipline a number of time per day equal to his class level.

Discipline Adept (Ex): Masters of One train extensively with their chosen discipline to master its secrets to their fullest extent. The Master of One receives a bonus feat based upon his chosen discipline: Desert Wind (Desert Fire or Desert Wind Dodge), Devoted Spirit (Devoted Bulwark), Diamond Mind (Unnerving Calm), Iron Heart (Iron Heart Aura), Setting Sun (Falling Sun Attack or Superior Unarmed Strike), Shadow Hand (Shadow Blade), Stone Dragon (Stone Power), Tiger Claw (Rapid Assault), or White Raven (White Raven Defense). When initiating strikes of his chosen discipline, he gains a +2 perfection bonus to attack rolls.

Perfect Form (Ex):At 4th level, you initiate your maneuvers with greater fluidity, power and grace. For use of your chosen discipline, your initiator level is considered one higher, and the save DC (if any) of any maneuver of your chosen discipline you initiate increases by 4.

Discipline Master (Ex): As a true master of their chosen discipline, the Master of One may learn maneuvers from their chosen discipline regardless of what initiator classes they pursue in the future, even if the initiator class does not offer the discipline. He may subtract 25% of the XP cost when creating new maneuvers and stances for his chosen discipline as well. The Master of One also gains the ability to utilize two stances of his chosen discipline simultaneously, and is treated as having Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in all of his chosen discipline's weapons.

[Pramxnim]

I think you've yet again made a solid class, ErrantX. There are a few kinks however:

Requirements:
Skill Focus? Weapon Focus? Together? I think this set of requirements would make the Master of One quite underpowered. Considering that you get WF for all associated weapons at 5th level, I'd think making it just Skill Focus is fine. Blade Meditation is a nice requirement, but it conflicts with the BAB requirement (you need +4 BAB for BM, but only +3 for this class). I'd say make Blade Meditation a bonus feat for Discipline Initiate (instead of the +2 to save series, since then you're effectively given the PC a +4 to one save just by entering this class, which is a bit redundant).

The BAB, maneuver requirement conflict with the skill requirement. You'd need to be level 6 to get those skill ranks, but only level 5 to get the BAB and Maneuver requirements. I think you intended for this class to be taken at 6th level, up to 10th (which explains why none of the class abilities are that powerful), and not 7th to 11th (but I could be very wrong in this regard). Nevertheless, the different requirements send off mixed signals, which I think could be fixed to avoid misinterpretations.

Abilities

Discipline Initiate: You already know the discipline, so its skill is already your class skill (you even have skill focus in it), so that line is redundant. Other than that, see my suggestion above.

Discipline Recovery is quite underwhelming, and Swordsages can do better with Adaptive style. If you really want to keep the ability, I suggest making it usable more times per day (3 or 4 sound about right, or maybe make it usable according to the levels in Master of One that you have, to a max of 5). Otherwise, I think another ability that's not a bonus feat would fit well here.

Discipline Adept: Looks good, though I wouldn't mind seeing a minor benefit as well (such as a +1 to attack bonus when initiating strikes of that discipline, explained as mastering the timing of the strike to increase accuracy).

Perfect Form: I like this. The increase in DC is much appreciated (with Blade Meditation, that's a +5 to DC total. T-Up

Discipline Master: A bit underwhelming for a capstone ability. Essentially just 2 feats (applied to a lot of weapons, but then again Warblades also get that) and a bit of flexibility. I'd think about maybe changing this or swapping it with Perfect Form (and buff up the Initiator level by a bit) to make PF the capstone.

[SurlySeraph]

Nice. I don't have anything to add beyond what Pramxnim said - make it a bit more powerful - except that this is a great concept for a class.

[ErrantX]

Made some revisions based on the suggestions above, thank you for your praise and feedback on it. It's something that I've been tinkering with for a few weeks off and on. Let me know what you think of the revisions. I think I gave it a significant bump in power.

-X

[ErrantX]

Here's a quandary:

Do I up the maneuvers gained (and stiffen entry reqs) to make it's maneuver progression match Master of Nine?

-X

[Pramxnim]

Nah, I don't think that's a good idea. Master of Nine needs lots of maneuvers known because it has access to all disciplines. You won't even have any maneuvers to learn if you increased the amount of maneuvers known like that. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery (and often a safe card to play), but originality wins you cake :D

[ErrantX]

Cool then :)

What do you think of the changes to the class? Are they a bit stronger / more fitting of the concept? I erred on side of caution initially, so what do you think now that I've stepped up a bit on its power level?

-X

[Draz74]

I kinda liked the requirements better before. Blade Meditation was so very appropriate.

[Stycotl]

nice revisions. the capstone still doesn't strike me as capstone-ish enough. i'd put all of that stuff into lower levels–break it up some–and then give a powerful maneuver as a capstone (stances are especially nice, but strikes, boosts, and counters might be more flexible).

the maneuver should belong to whatever discipline you are specialized in, require a skill check of the appropriate sort, and then give some sort of cool action or ability. making the effect the same no matter the discipline would be the easiest of course, but wouldn't be very flavorful.

you could do this (using a boost as an example):

all attack rolls this round deal an extra 5d6+1/initiator level damage; further, you gain a special effect based upon your mastered discipline.

desert wind: cool ability
devoted spirit: cool ability
diamond mind: cool ability

etc...

[Pramxnim]

I think it's fine as it is now. The capstone is now a proper capstone at last :D
Now you just have to playtest it or something...

[SurlySeraph]

Nice revision. Maybe change the Skill Focus requirement to Blade Mediation, but other than that I think it's great.

[vasharanpaladin]

...I think a Tiger Claw Master of One would be just mean now. Won't stop me from playing one if the opportunity presents itself, but still mean....

[ErrantX]

Based on some suggestions, I changed the entry req to Blade Meditation in the chosen discipline and for Discipline Initiate I gave it Skill Focus in the discipline's associated skill as a freebie.

@Stycotl: While normally I would agree with you, as this class is rather open ended, I'd have to make up 9 unique abilities (not counting homebrew disciplines) and to be honest, I'm kind of lazy I think dual stances of the same discipline would be rather appropriate. Some combos could get really mean as it doesn't have a duration on it, unlike with Master of Nine's dual stance ability.

I'm glad people like it (and yes vasharanpaladin, a Tiger Claw specialist could be incredibly mean, especially if they were something ridiculous like a thri-kreen or some other multi-armed race).

-X

[SurlySeraph]

I'd say it's excellent now. I'll be bookmarking this.

[ErrantX]

I'd say it's excellent now. I'll be bookmarking this.

Awesome, thank you :) Glad you like it. If anyone gets a chance to use this in a game, I'd love to hear how it goes. Any other feedback is also appreciated!

-X

[Tatsel_Ganav]

This needs full BAB, and at least one good save. Fort, or Ref.

EDIT: Actually, I would do this for all 3 saves, personally.
+1
+1
+2
+2
+3

[ErrantX]

This needs full BAB, and at least one good save. Fort, or Ref.

EDIT: Actually, I would do this for all 3 saves, personally.
+1
+1
+2
+2
+3

Umm... please read the actual class before critiquing it. The Discipline Initiate class feature is what determines what save you get that is good. All three saves do not make sense at being good, the Master of Nine gets two good saves and has hellish feat reqs to get in; this class, while strong and fills a niche, does not have the same kind of requirements. Less of an entry fee / less of a boost. The only classes that get all full saves are classes like Monk; a class which surely needs it.

And, like the Master of Nine, it does not get a full BAB. This is because it, like the Master of Nine, has a swordsage sort of base to it. You get insane boosts to one Discipline, and I feel that should more than make up for the loss of 2 points of BAB.

Sorry if I'm snarky, but I don't like being critiqued when it seems that you're not comprehending how it works.

-X

[DracoDei]

How should we handle the integration of this with Falling Anvil?

Basically are you willing to edit what I give you into the OP, or should I put it as an addendum in Falling Anvil with a link here?

[ErrantX]

I would placed it as an addendum in your homebrew discipline; I want this to stay true to the core and I'll let other DM's and players work out what homebrew disciplines that they'd allow with this class. Myself, I'd like to keep this one to core.

-X

[DracoDei]

I would think that most GMs would allow it for all disciplines they allowed in their campaign if they allowed it for any, but Ok.

[Godskook]

I would placed it as an addendum in your homebrew discipline; I want this to stay true to the core and I'll let other DM's and players work out what homebrew disciplines that they'd allow with this class. Myself, I'd like to keep this one to core.

-X

Especially with the way your class is designed, I'd say include the information for additional disciplines here, if you can. Intuitively, it makes more sense, and mechanically, it hurts nothing, since disciplines other than those the character already knows can't be learned while in this prestige class.

Couple of minor things:
1.I'm not sure how the weapon focus feature of the swordsage works, but does that work to qualify for this? If so, the capstone needs a boost against this, perhaps say "if you have the swordsage discipline weapon focus class feature in your chosen discipine, you are now treated as having greater weapon focus for all weapons of your chosen discipline". Yeah, poor wording.

2.The table and the text do not agree on when new stances are learned.

3.Back to the capstone, it'd be helpful if you explained how that interacts with other abilities that grant additional stances active. For instance, the warblade capstone, and Krimm's feats.

And, like the Master of Nine, it does not get a full BAB. This is because it, like the Master of Nine, has a swordsage sort of base to it. You get insane boosts to one Discipline, and I feel that should more than make up for the loss of 2 points of BAB.

Except it doesn't have a swordsage feel. Swordsages aren't about specialization, they're about variety. That's why they've got the best maneuvers readied of any of the three classes. This class, it limits variety for the sake of consistency, and thus, flavor-wise, fits better with warblade or crusader. So I guess, my point is, if your only reason for cutting the BAB is the 'swordsage' feel, you might want to give it full. Balance-wise, tough call, but fluff-wise, definitely. I mean, Mo9 is described as being primarily Swordsage/Warblade due to the # of disciplines they have access to, so the opposite class should be described using the opposite reasoning, namely the classes with the least # of disciplines they have access to, the crusader/warblade.

[Tatsel_Ganav]

Umm... please read the actual class before critiquing it. The Discipline Initiate class feature is what determines what save you get that is good. All three saves do not make sense at being good, the Master of Nine gets two good saves and has hellish feat reqs to get in; this class, while strong and fills a niche, does not have the same kind of requirements. Less of an entry fee / less of a boost. The only classes that get all full saves are classes like Monk; a class which surely needs it.

And, like the Master of Nine, it does not get a full BAB. This is because it, like the Master of Nine, has a swordsage sort of base to it. You get insane boosts to one Discipline, and I feel that should more than make up for the loss of 2 points of BAB.

Sorry if I'm snarky, but I don't like being critiqued when it seems that you're not comprehending how it works.

-X

I fully understand that Didn't understand the Disciple Initiative. But, I still think it should have full BAB. It limits you down to one discipline - you should be a BAMF at that one thing, in every way.