3.5 Reaping Mauler

[Celeres]

good in theory, terrible in practice. basically a tournament prestige class, and even that's a bit of a stretch.

not only that, the prerequisites make it appear to be more of a class that focuses on taking down thing bigger than you (Clever Wrestling, Defeat 3 opponents one size category larger than you with your bare hands)

and for a grappling class, getting a +2 grapple over any martial PrC doesn't seem worth it. sure, they get improved grapple, but so does Justiciar.

which brings me to... The Rewrite!

Reaping Mauler:

*wall of text saying how awesome this class sounds, blah blah blah*

Prerequisites:
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Tumble 5, Escape Artist 5
Feats: Clever Wrestling, Improved Unarmed Strike
Special: Defeat 3 opponents of at least one size category larger than you with your bare hands

Skills: same as original
Base attack bonus: same as original
Saves: Same as original

Abilities:
1st: Mobility, Improved grapple, Adaptive Grappling(Huge), Adept Wrestling +1
2nd: Adept Wrestling +2
3rd: Counter grapple, Sleeper Lock, Adept Wrestling +3, Adaptive Grappling (Gargantuan)
4th: Adept Wrestling +4
5th: Devastating Grapple, Adaptive Grappling (Colossal)

ok, so, the abilities are pretty much the same, except that Adept Wrestling gives you a bonus at every level, and my addition.

Adaptive Grappling: Your specialized training in dealing with larger creatures is far beyond that of a normal person. At 1st level, if you grapple with a creature larger than you (up to Huge size), you receive their size bonus to grapple in place of your own. at 3rd level, this advances up to Gargantuan creatures. at 5th level, you've learned to deal with any creature, and can properly grapple with even a Colossal creature.

feel free to criticize/flame all you want.

[Samurai Jill]

Umm... I'm not particularly expert WRT 3e classes, but I think there's a standard format for write-ups of this form.

[Lappy9000]

Yes there is, actually. It's here in Fax's fantastic Guide to Homebrewing.

*wall of text saying how awesome this class sounds, blah blah blah*

Well, don't make it a text wall, but those few sentences on the Reaping Mauler's fluff really helps others get a feel for the class. Otherwise, it's difficult to make suggestions more than basic crunch issues.

EDIT: Celeres, is that a monkey with a stapler? That's a little awesome :p

[Stycotl]

Yes there is, actually. It's here in Fax's fantastic Guide to Homebrewing.

Well, don't make it a text wall, but those few sentences on the Reaping Mauler's fluff really helps others get a feel for the class. Otherwise, it's difficult to make suggestions more than basic crunch issues.

EDIT: Celeres, is that a monkey with a stapler? That's a little awesome :p

seconded. don't assume that others know what the fluff text is already, even if it is core material (some of these gamers only have the srd online, which conveniently ignores a lot of fluff text to save readability).

format it out, make it look good, and then the rest the plagrounders will actually look at it. most of the time, if it isn't formatted, people will glance at it for two or three seconds, and then leave--kinda like waiting for a slow web page to load.

aaron out.