Martial Arts moves as weapons?

[awesomessake]

I haven't seen anything about this before, so i'll just throw it out there.

I've been wondering about treating martial arts moves and styles (Muay Thai, Specialized Punching, Jyu Jutsu, etc) as weapons instead of extraordinary abilities like the monk.

For Example:
"Ti Khao" or the knees (Muay Thai)

Dmg (Small): 1d6
Dmg (med): 1d8
Range: personal
Special: If it hits in the diaphragm, it counts as a critical hit.

Has this been done? and if so, where can i find it? if not, than i quess this belongs here.

[Innis Cabal]

Unarmed Strike can be any part of the body. So there's no need for this.

[awesomessake]

Unarmed Strike can be any part of the body. So there's no need for this.

Okay, i guess this is null.

[wayfare]

Actually, this isn't a half-bad idea. Almost like "equipping" a kata or martial arts form.

Example:

Hammer Blow
Reqs: Base Attack +3, Power Attack
Effect: Your unarmed strikes count as 1 size category larger, and you add 1.5 times your strength bonus to the damage inflicted.

Scything Axe Hand
Reqs: Base Attack +5, Improved Critical (Unarmed Strike)
Effect: Your unarmed strikes add 1 to their critical damage multiplier, and you gain the benefis of the Cleave feat. If you already have the cleave feat, you gain the benefits of the Great Cleave feat.

Saints Palm
Reqs: Base Attack +15, Empty Body Class Feature
Effects: Your attacks count as brilliant energy weapons or disruption weapons. Each round you use this attack counts as a use of Empty body.

Essentially, you can ony use 1 "weapon" each round, but you can switch between different styles as a free action (Maybe DC 20 concentration check required). Any effects from feats or class features would still apply.

[Fable Wright]

I haven't seen anything about this before, so i'll just throw it out there.

I've been wondering about treating martial arts moves and styles (Muay Thai, Specialized Punching, Jyu Jutsu, etc) as weapons instead of extraordinary abilities like the monk.

For Example:
"Ti Khao" or the knees (Muay Thai)

Dmg (Small): 1d6
Dmg (med): 1d8
Range: personal
Special: If it hits in the diaphragm, it counts as a critical hit.

Has this been done? and if so, where can i find it? if not, than i quess this belongs here.

Actually, I would but it more like this:
"Ti Khao" or the knees (Muay Thai)

Dmg (Small): 1d6
Dmg (med): 1d8
Special: If a person using this combat style scores a critical hit, they hit the diaphragm, causing the opponent to be fatigued for 3 rounds.

How would these styles be gained? Bonus feats to augment Unarmed strike? Bonus styles for the monks? What?

[Kumori]

Sounds like it could be a pretty cool basis for a prestige class, granting a selection of abilities a class features. Alternately, feats or maneuvers might be best.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

How would these styles be gained? Bonus feats to augment Unarmed strike? Bonus styles for the monks? What?

An interesting option would be making them take up weapon proficiency slots. You could take EWP: Muay Thai, the monk and monk PrCs could grant proficiency in one or more styles, etc.

[Ziegander]

An interesting option would be making them take up weapon proficiency slots. You could take EWP: Muay Thai, the monk and monk PrCs could grant proficiency in one or more styles, etc.

This seems closest to the OPs intention, and I find it fairly interesting as well.

[awesomessake]

To be honest, this was just something floating around in my head...

I wasn't really sure where to take it, so i brought it here and wanted to see what everyone thought.

It seems to be gaining popularity so i might as well throw around some ideas.

Firstly, i have nothing personal against monks. I have no great love for them, but i have no hate either... If i were to play a martial artist though, i'd like to play one that didn't have the ki lawful meditation thing going on... The martial artist i have in mind is basically a fighter who has mastered different styles of fighting techniques, without the whole Ki magical must be lawful mo-jo attached to the monk.

The other thought i had was that each fighting style had it's own feat tree.
Inorder to gain a fighting style, you take a basic feat, and if you want you can either master it completely (will eat away at levels) or become a generalist (Great variety, but will never become a kung fu movie star...)

Just throwing out my thoughts.

[Ziegander]

Well, for example, you could give up the Fighter's proficiency with all martial weapons and replace it with Improved Unarmed Strike and a "Fighting Style" made up of several martial arts moves, such as but not limited to, Ti Khao. It would be very cool if there were multiple such Fighting Styles for the Fighter-turned-Monk to choose from.

[Fizban]

If DnD didn't work on a "proficiency with all X" mechanic, this would be great. If you use a weapon group variant or just limit the number of free proficiencies then it could work. You could simple/unrefined arts that are just light/one handed/two handed, dealing damage depending on what part of your body you use to hit, then the martial level would get higher damage/trip/disarm/whatever bonuses, and then exotic would cost feats and give you extra abilities. The best part is that since not all of them would be "light" weapons, you could actually use some decent feats with them that aren't already unarmed fighting feats.