Barbarian / Monk

[kaomera]

I have a somewhat odd concept for a character that I worked up a while ago and I was thinking I might dust it off for a game I'm hopefully getting into in the near future.

Khor is a half-orc whose father is the chieftain of an orc tribe. Due to being a half-blood he is pretty much treated as his father's personal slave (not that this makes him all that much different from the rest of the tribe). One day the tribe was out raiding human lands and they came upon a hermit living on a small plot of land on the side of a mountain. The chieftain stepped up to cleave the old man in two with his greataxe, but the monk sidestepped and with one hand deflected the axe so that the orc went tumbling into a pile of firewood. Several other orcs came forward, but they met with the same fate, as did the chieftain each time he picked himself up and tried again. Eventually the orcs decided that this human was obviously some sort of a wizard, and since they didn't think magic was really fighting fair they decided to leave...

Khor, however, was fascinated by what he had witnessed, and stayed behind. For a month he followed the old man, trying to help out in any way that he could see possible, desperate to ingratiate himself. Eventually it became clear that the old man (Khor never did learn his name, or even hear him speak) neither wanted or needed Khor's servitude. When this lesson was learned he moved on to others, going through various training regimens while Khor did his best to shadow him. At first he failed. A lot. But every time he fell down Khor got back up and tried again. After five years he had most of the basics of a training in the martial arts, mixed with a Lawful philosophy developed from the old man's example, the harsh conditions of his training, and some impromptu meditation...

Then one night the old man dug up a strange gourd at the edge of the field he called home. Inside was a potent drink which he shared with Khor... who awoke the next afternoon with a spliiting headache to find the cottage completely deserted. He thought about staying, he really wished it was that sort of a test, but instead he reluctantly headed of to make his way in the world...

Mechanically the character is (ex-)Barbarian 2 / Monk n (starting from 3rd level)
Abilities (preliminary): Str 16, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 10
Skills and Feats I'm less sure of. Barbarian skills would probably be 5 ranks each in Climb, Intimidate, and Jump with 5 more divided between Listen, Survival, and Swim (and possibly cross-class Concentration...). Monk skills would probably be 4 ranks in Tumble...
Feats might include Acrobatic, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack (Cleave, Improved Bull Rush), or Weapon Focus. (Also, I don't have my Eberron book handy, but I believe there's a feat in there that IIRC lets you use Longspear as a "special Monk weapon"; would it possibly be worthwhile to see if my DM will let me take that?)

So I don't think this is exactly what you'd call an optimized concept, but I'd be interested to know what anyone here thinks, and any suggestions you might have for the character. I'm mainly interested in roleplaying Khor, but he's liable to be more fun the closer he comes to being effective in combat. I could potentially drop the levels in Barbarian, possibly finding a way to pick up a few ranks in some appropriate skills to represent his life "before 1st level", but I kind of like the idea of playing an ex-Barbarian Monk...

 

[Notmousse]

I had a similar idea only it was a monk what went wild after his monestary was razed.

First I'd go with the Horc and orc paragon levels for Rage and added Str. Remember, that as a Barb you lose your rage if you go Lawful. I *think* you retain rage as a paragon feature.

 

[Arkhandus]

Neat. Also kinda fits the style of my old Rage Adept prestige class for monk/barbarian types. It might be a bit overly strong since I made it back in 2001, but I dunno, never got the chance to use it in play before.

[sblock]Rage Adept
Deep in a lush jungle lies a hidden monastery unlike any other. It is the Rage Academy, and its students are a far cry from the monks of other monasteries. Those who train at the Rage Academy learn to harness their rage and their primal instincts to become an unstoppable fighting machine. Those who graduate from the Academy are called Rage Adepts.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become an adept, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +5.
Concentration: 4 ranks.
Alignment: Any non-lawful.
Feats: Expertise, Power Attack, and Improved Bull Rush.
Class Skills
The adept’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Decipher Script (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Read Lips (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Rage Adept prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Adepts do not gain proficiency with any weapons, armor, or shields.
Monk-Like AC Bonuses: The adept gains armor class bonuses like a monk. The adept adds their Wisdom modifier, if positive, to their Armor Class. They also gain a special AC bonus as they gain levels, getting a +1 AC bonus at 2nd-level and a +2 AC bonus at 5th-level. The adept loses all of these AC bonuses whenever he would lose his Dexterity bonus to AC, or when wearing armor.

Unarmed Prowess: The adept fights skillfully while unarmed, like a monk, and the adept’s unarmed strikes are much more powerful than those of others who do not take any martial arts training. At 1st-level, the adept gains the benefits of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat while unarmored; thus, his unarmed strikes do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Also, because of the adept’s martial arts training, their unarmed strikes deal normal damage rather than subdual damage; however, the adept may choose to deal subdual damage when grappling, just as a monk can. The adept’s unarmed strikes also deal more damage than before, dealing 1d6 damage at 1st-level, increasing to 1d8 damage at 3rd-level, and increasing again to 1d10 damage at 5th-level. Additionally, the adept can attack more quickly with their unarmed strikes than normal; their Unarmed Attack Bonus reflects this.

Lastly, in combat, the adept may choose to unleash a Flurry of Blows; they choose to do so at the beginning of their turn in a round, and they must be unarmed when performing a Flurry of Blows; when using the technique, the adept gains an additional attack at their highest base attack bonus; however, they then apply a -2 attack penalty to all attacks they make in that round and up to their next turn, including the extra attack and any attacks of opportunity they make; the adept must use the full-attack action to perform a Flurry of Blows.

The rage adept’s Unarmed Attack Bonus is determined as though they were a monk with Unarmed Attack Bonus equal to his total Base Attack Bonus, and consults the monk table to determine the overall bonus and number of attacks per round; the rage adept’s Unarmed Attack Bonus cannot exceed that of a 20th-level monk, however.

Rage: At 1st-level, the adept gains the ability to fly into a berserker rage once per day. At 5th-level, they can rage twice per day. While in a rage, the adept gains +4 to Strength and Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but suffers a -2 penalty to AC. The increase in Constitution increases the adept’s hitpoints by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the rage, and are not lost first the way temporary hitpoints are.

While raging, the adept cannot use skills or abilities that require patience or concentration. He may use any feat he has except Expertise, item creation feats, metamagic feats, and Skill Focus (if it’s tied to a skill that requires patience or concentration). The rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s newly improved Constitution modifier, though the adept may end the rage voluntarily. After raging, the adept is fatigued (-2 to Strength and Dexterity, can’t charge or run) for the duration of the encounter. The adept can fly into a rage once per encounter, and only a certain number of times each day. Entering a rage takes no time itself, but can only be done during the adept’s action.

Uncanny Dodge: At 2nd-level, the adept gains an innate danger sense and henceforth retains his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class when caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. At 4th-level, this danger sense becomes more acute, and the adept can no longer be flanked, and thus cannot be sneak attacked by a rogue flanking him, except by rogues at least 4 levels higher than him.

Stunning Attack: At 2nd-level, the adept gains the ability to make stunning attacks. The adept can use this ability once per round, but no more than once per level per day. The adept must declare that he is using a stunning attack before making the attack roll; thus, a missed attack ruins the attempt. The adept makes a normal unarmed strike, but if they hit, then the foe must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the adept’s level + Wisdom modifier), in addition to receiving normal damage. If the saving throw fails, the opponent is stunned for 1 round; a stunned character can’t act and loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, while attackers gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls against a stunned opponent. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be stunned by the adept’s stunning attack. This is a supernatural ability.

Fast Movement: At 3rd-level, the adept’s training has made them fleet of foot. The adept’s base movement speed increases by +10 feet. At 5th-level, the adept becomes even faster still, and their base movement speed increases by +20 feet instead; this overrides the earlier speed bonus.

Slow Fall: At 3rd-level, the adept learns how to slow their descent when falling. When they are falling and are within arm’s reach of a wall, they may use the wall to slow their descent. At 3rd-level, when doing so, the adept suffers damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. At 5th-level, the adept’s ability to slow their fall improves, and they take damage as if the fall were 30 feet shorter than it really is.

Deflect Arrows: At 4th-level, the adept gains the Deflect Arrows feat as a bonus feat.

Improved Trip: At 4th-level, the adept gains the Improved Trip feat as a bonus feat.

Leap of the Clouds: At 5th-level, the adept learns to jump incredibly high and far. His maximum jump distance is no longer limited by his height.

Furor: At 5th-level, the adept develops the ability to make a fast and furious series of blows, using his fury to drive him to strike faster and harder. When the adept uses a Flurry of Blows, he gains two additional attacks that round instead of one additional attack, he deals +2 damage with each attack he makes until his next turn as if from a high Strength score, and the attack penalty he suffers is increased to -4.

Ex-Adepts: If an adept changes to a lawful alignment, they can no longer use Rage, Flurry of Blows, or Furor, and they may not gain further levels as a Rage Adept unless they revert back to a non-lawful alignment. If a Rage Adept gains a level in another class or, if already multiclassed, raises a level in another class, they cannot advance any further as a Rage Adept.

The Rage Adept

[B]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	UAB	Save	Save	Save	Special[/B]
1	+1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Monk-Like AC Bonuses, Unarmed Prowess, Rage
2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Uncanny Dodge, Stunning Attack
3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+1	Fast Movement, Slow Fall
4	+4	+4/+1	+4	+4	+1	Deflect Arrows, Improved Trip
5	+5	+5/+2	+4	+4	+1	Leap of the Clouds, Furor

[/sblock]

 

[Milagroso]

You can always start him as a 1st level monk all the way to 20th and avoid the barbarian business all together. In this way, everything that occurred in Khor's life is nothing more then flavor and biography you do not need to represent it or justify it with taking levels of a class you are going to lose some of the benefits with.

Or, you can keep him as a straight Barbarian who just *thinks* he's a monk. You could give him some monk feats like Improved Unarmed Strike and whatnot. I played a Ranger once who was convinced he was a Druid. Its all in the role play.

If you prefer to take a few levels of a combat oriented class before you hit monk, try going with Fighter instead of Barbarian. You'll get more feats and not lose much when you take Monk.

However, your concept is intriguing, and if you don't mind wasting two or so levels on Barbarian I say run with it the way you posted it here initially.

 

[Quartz]

Take a look at this character. Level progression was Bar 2 / Ftr 2 / Mk 2 / Ftr +4. Basically a barbarian youth come down to take service in the city, taught to fight (fighter levels), taught discipline (monk levels), then focussing on the halberd (more fighter levels).

 

[Sound of Azure]

You could give the 3-level Fist of the Forest class from Complete Champion a go, if you wanted. It gives monk-like benefits (Con to AC, unarmed strike, fast movement), as well as an extra rage-like state (you can rage at the same time as you use this trance), and scent, in return for a special code of conduct (live like an animal, have to hunt/gather all food (no buying food), don't sleep inside more than a few days).

 

[Darklone]

Get Heroes of High Favor from Wulf Ratbane (Badaxegames). The halforc book has prestige classes for all bbn/X multiclass options and some nice specialised feats.

Then the PHB2 fire bonus feats instead of the normal monk stuff might be stylish for an orc.

 

[phindar]

I had a similar character, except like Notmousse I went Monk first. Sol Korgul was a half-orc orphan raised in a monastery and spent most of his life training to be a monk. At 9th level he finally succumbed to the rage in his half-human heart, went Chaotic and started taking Barbarian levels. He was a Spring Attacker with a 70' natural Move, and a 24 Str when Raging. That was also an extremely low magic campaign (at 10th level, I had less than 10k worth of gear), and the large number of class abilities really helped out. Good skill selection too. He was a PHB-only character build, but I was always really happy with how he turned out.