The Scholar works very well for a martial artist, so long as you are looking more for Quai-shin Kain (sp? the guy from "Kung Fu") than something from Crouching Tiger.
Example Kung-Fu Masta: Khitan Scholar 6/Thief 4
28 point buy
Str 10 (11 at 6, 12 at 8, 13 at 10) = 13
Dex 16 (17 at 6, 18 at 10) = 18
Con 12 (13 at 4, 14 at 6, 15 at 10) = 15
Int 13 (14 at 6, 15 at 10) = 15
Wis 14 (15 at 6, 16 at 10) = 16
Cha 9 (10 at 6, 11 at 10) = 11
Hp 6d6 + 4d8 + 20 = 54 (a bit on the low side, consider Toughness in the future)
Fort 5, Ref 10, Will 11 (Great Fortitude is another feat to consider picking up)
Base PP = 9
He knows 3 Sorcery Styles and 5 Advanced Spells. Take Oriental Magic and one of counterspells, divination or hypnotism depending on what flavor of mysticism you want. Cash in your third Style for Defensive Martial Arts. For spells choose: Darting Serpent, Warrior Trance, and then whatever spells you want from your other style.
He has a butload of skills, particularly Knolwedge skills. This guy will be very usefull out of combat. (pay attention to Bluff and Tumble)
From racial bonuses, favored class bonuses, class features, and regular feats he will have. Improved Unarmed Strike, Brawl, Weapon Focus [unarmed], Expertise, Improved Trip, Dodge, Defensive Martial Arts, Light Footed, and Fleet Footed (raise move to 40 ft).
Fists are a finesse weapon so he will attack at +12 meele finesse for 1d6 + 1. Now that isn't much but he also has 3d6/3d8 sneak attack (choose Unarmed as a sneak attack style) so he can tumble into flanking position to take advantage of that, plenty of damage to cause a massive damage save.
But wait, it gets better. For every 2 pp he drops into Darting Serpent he gets +2 Dex: meaning he can pump his finesse attack up to +16 at the drop of a hat. And I'm not through yet, if his opponent is wearing really heavy armor he will just trip him. Between his feats he gets a +6 to trip attempts for a total of +7, unless his opponent also has Improved Trip he will likely succede most of the time giving him another +4 for attacking a prone opponent. That means that in just one round of prep and one round of combat he will be making a finesse attack at +20. This guy ignores armor outright. If he happens to be flanking or have pulled off a feint then you have a character who can kill a guy in full plate with just one blow, with his fists :shock:
Things also look good on the defensive end. He has a base dodge DV of 20. Add in Darting serpent and he can get it up to 24. Add in Expertise and Fighting defensively and he can get it to 32 while still making finesse attacks at +7. Remember all those threads about Defensive Blast being too powerful? And how people like me said that it was balanced because a scholar isn't gonna want to get near meele with his lousy defenses? This is the character who breaks that mold.
There are varaitaions on this build too. Want a martial artist who uses a bo staff? Change Weapon Focus unarmed to staff and Brawl to Improved Disarm. A staff is finnesable and is two handed which means a +8 on disarm attempts which means a total of +20 to disarm or +24 with Darting Serpent. And you can do that at 10' reach!
What you can't do with a martial artist is get really good at it right away. Which fits the genre I think. It takes dedication and hard work but a master who has studied his entire life will be very impressive.
