Jack Daniel
Mongoose
I'm just tossing out ideas here, but I do know that my steampunk campaign is in dire need of a martial artist. Vocations are probably pretty easy to come up with (monk, ninja, black belt, mystic), but I'm going to need some help eyeballing the balance aspect.
Hit Die: d8 + Con modifier
Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier
Class Skills: (I'll do this part later.)
Bonus Feat List: (This too. In fact, I'll probably just copy both from the D20 Modern martial artist.)
Unarmed Strike: Works just like the D&D monk's unarmed strike ability, except without all that vaguery surrounding off-hand attacks. Just for the record (and this is true in D&D too, at least as far as v3.5 is concerned), yes, unarmed monks can make off-hand unarmed strikes.
Unarmed Base Attack Bonus: When attacking with unarmed strikes, quarterstaff, kama, nunchaks, &c., the martial artist's multiple attacks come at iterations of -3 rather than -5. A multiclassed martial artist simply piles his other classes' attack bonuses on top of this and continues iterating at -5, if possible, so a level 10 martial artist/level 10 adventurer would have an unarmed attack bonus of +17/+14/+11/+6/+1.
Two-Handed Fighting: When unarmored, the martial artist is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. From 6th level onward, the martial artist is considered to have Improved Two-Weapon Fighting when unarmored, which allows an additional off-hand attack at -3 with an unarmed strike or special martial artist weapon (or, when BAB reaches +6, at -5 with a normal weapon).
Evasion: A 13th-level martial artist receives Evasion, or Improved Evasion if already in possession of the Evasion talent.
Five-Finger Exploding Heart Attack: Same as the D&D Quivering Palm, but with a much catchier name.
Vocations: The martial artist's vocations (which I'll flesh out some other time) are the black belt, monk, mystic, and ninja.
--Black Belt: Until the 1970s, the only martial art that any Westerners were even passing familiar with was judo. In a game set in the 1800s, it's very unlikely that someone not from the Far East would know any other martial art, so this one gets its own vocation, purely for flavor purposes (and because it's pretty easy to come up with talents designed around throwing, grappling, & tripping).
--Monk: The standard kung-fu expert, talents will concentrate more on feats of amazing athleticism & combat skill than anything supernatural.
--Mysitc: The Kwai-Chang Kaine knock-off. Here's where you'll find wuxia flying, Hadoken waves, and those funky high-level D&D-monk abilities.
--Ninja: Heavy on the bonus class skills, talents are obviously going to involve sneak-attacking, assassinating, and poison-use. I might also give ninja access to the Ritual (Enticement) skill, since ninjas ought to have access to at least Illusion-type magic.
Code:
LV BAB F/R/W SPECIAL
1 +0 +1 Starting Vocation, Unarmed Strike (1d6)
2 +1 +2 Two-Handed Fighting
3 +2 +2 --
4 +3 +2 Unarmed Strike (1d8)
5 +3 +3 Talent or Trait, Bonus Feat
6 +4 +3 Improved Two-Handed Fighting
7 +5 +4 --
8 +6/+1 +4 Talent or Trait, Unarmed Strike (1d10)
9 +6/+1 +4 --
10 +7/+2 +5 Bonus Feat
11 +8/+3 +5 Talent or Trait
12 +9/+4 +6 Unarmed Strike (2d6)
13 +9/+4 +6 Evasion
14 +10/+5 +6 Talent or Trait
15 +11/+6/+1 +7 Bonus Feat
16 +12/+7/+2 +7 Unarmed Strike (2d8)
17 +12/+7/+2 +8 Talent or Trait
18 +13/+8/+3 +8 --
19 +14/+9/+4 +8 Five-Finger Exploding Heart Attack
20 +15/+10/+5 +9 Talent or Trait, Bonus Feat,
Unarmed Strike (2d10)
LV UBAB DV REP
1 +0 +2 +0
2 +1 +3 +0
3 +2 +3 +1
4 +3 +4 +1
5 +3 +4 +1
6 +4/+1 +5 +2
7 +5/+2 +5 +2
8 +6/+3 +6 +2
9 +6/+3 +6 +3
10 +7/+4/+1 +7 +3
11 +8/+5/+2 +7 +3
12 +9/+6/+3 +8 +4
13 +9/+6/+3 +8 +4
14 +10/+7/+4/+1 +9 +4
15 +11/+8/+5/+2 +9 +5
16 +12/+9/+6/+3 +10 +5
17 +12/+9/+6/+3 +10 +5
18 +13/+10/+7/+4/+1 +11 +6
19 +14/+11/+8/+5/+2 +11 +6
20 +15/+12/+9/+6/+3 +12 +6Hit Die: d8 + Con modifier
Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier
Class Skills: (I'll do this part later.)
Bonus Feat List: (This too. In fact, I'll probably just copy both from the D20 Modern martial artist.)
Unarmed Strike: Works just like the D&D monk's unarmed strike ability, except without all that vaguery surrounding off-hand attacks. Just for the record (and this is true in D&D too, at least as far as v3.5 is concerned), yes, unarmed monks can make off-hand unarmed strikes.
Unarmed Base Attack Bonus: When attacking with unarmed strikes, quarterstaff, kama, nunchaks, &c., the martial artist's multiple attacks come at iterations of -3 rather than -5. A multiclassed martial artist simply piles his other classes' attack bonuses on top of this and continues iterating at -5, if possible, so a level 10 martial artist/level 10 adventurer would have an unarmed attack bonus of +17/+14/+11/+6/+1.
Two-Handed Fighting: When unarmored, the martial artist is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. From 6th level onward, the martial artist is considered to have Improved Two-Weapon Fighting when unarmored, which allows an additional off-hand attack at -3 with an unarmed strike or special martial artist weapon (or, when BAB reaches +6, at -5 with a normal weapon).
Evasion: A 13th-level martial artist receives Evasion, or Improved Evasion if already in possession of the Evasion talent.
Five-Finger Exploding Heart Attack: Same as the D&D Quivering Palm, but with a much catchier name.
Vocations: The martial artist's vocations (which I'll flesh out some other time) are the black belt, monk, mystic, and ninja.
--Black Belt: Until the 1970s, the only martial art that any Westerners were even passing familiar with was judo. In a game set in the 1800s, it's very unlikely that someone not from the Far East would know any other martial art, so this one gets its own vocation, purely for flavor purposes (and because it's pretty easy to come up with talents designed around throwing, grappling, & tripping).
--Monk: The standard kung-fu expert, talents will concentrate more on feats of amazing athleticism & combat skill than anything supernatural.
--Mysitc: The Kwai-Chang Kaine knock-off. Here's where you'll find wuxia flying, Hadoken waves, and those funky high-level D&D-monk abilities.
--Ninja: Heavy on the bonus class skills, talents are obviously going to involve sneak-attacking, assassinating, and poison-use. I might also give ninja access to the Ritual (Enticement) skill, since ninjas ought to have access to at least Illusion-type magic.
