Fist of Zuoken expanded to 20 levels?

[Erekose]

Hi all,

In my other thread The Children of Gith I've commented on how at the end of the adventure discussed I will probably allow players to choose Githzerai as a race for new characters (potentially using the rules from Complete Psionic so they can be a LA+0 race).

Now the favoured class of Githzerai is Monk, which I have a variant of in the campaign called the Hermit but this wouldn't suit the Githzerai. I could introduce the Monk as a Githzerai-only class but I feel this would potentially be too confusing and not highlight the psionic ability of the Githzerai. What I would prefer to do, in keeping with the race which will be the only psionic race that players can choose from) is to expand the Fist of Zuokem from the XPH to 20 levels as a mix of the prestige class and the traditional Monk class.

Before I attempt this, I just wondered if anyone else had either done it already or if any one had some suggestions for how to do it (particulalrly with regard to balancing the new class with the core classes)?

 

[Narsil]

The Psychic Rogue (WotC) could be used as a guideline for power progression and any powers available.

Now for more info:

d6 HD
Rogue BAB progression
AC improvements progress normally
Unarmed Damage progresses at one stage slower than normal
Keep slow fall and movement speed improvements as they are

 

[Erekose]

The Psychic Rogue (WotC) could be used as a guideline for power progression and any powers available.

Thanks Narsil! I wasn't aware of the Psychic Rogue.

In terms of what the Psychic Monk would look like, a straight extrapolation from the Fist of Zuokem (FoZ) would be something like:

HD, Saves, Skill List & Skill points - As the FoZ

Improved Unarmed Strike, Unarmed Damage, Bonus to AC, Unarmoured Speed Increase, Weapon & Armour proficiencies - As the Monk

PP/Day, Powers Known, Max Power Level Known - As the Psychic Warrior

Bonus psionic feats - one at 5th level and then one additionally every 5 levels thereafter (i.e. 15th, 10th & 20th) - similar to the FoZ

Questions:

Is this balanced? If not what would you change?

Is this an interesting/playable class? If not what would you change?

 

[Erekose]

No comments? From anyone? I'd really appreciate some help with this.

 

[Nyaricus]

No comments? From anyone? I'd really appreciate some help with this.

There is a bit of a lack of Psionics love here on EN World, dude. I have the book but have only even had a cursory look-over of it, so sorry I can't help.

My suggestion would be to make a write of of [sblock]HD, Saves, Skill List & Skill points - As the FoZ

Improved Unarmed Strike, Unarmed Damage, Bonus to AC, Unarmoured Speed Increase, Weapon & Armour proficiencies - As the Monk

PP/Day, Powers Known, Max Power Level Known - As the Psychic Warrior

Bonus psionic feats - one at 5th level and then one additionally every 5 levels thereafter (i.e. 15th, 10th & 20th) - similar to the FoZ[/sblock] that and give EN World a looksie.

Best of luck.

 

[Erekose]

There is a bit of a lack of Psionics love here on EN World, dude. I have the book but have only even had a cursory look-over of it, so sorry I can't help.

. . . edit . . .

Best of luck.

Thanks Nyaricus - however, as all of the above are in the XPH or PHB (and if you don't have the XPH or PHB how can you comment?) I can't really add any more without potentially upsetting WotC

May be I'm being too paranoid

 

[Nyaricus]

May be I'm being too paranoid

Way too paranoid - there are worse offenders on WotCs boards in House Rules

Besides, PsiHB (the original, not expanded however - but who's counting?) is in the SRD, as is the PHB. Both can be referenced no prob.

Also, saying "PHB" is a no-no if you don't want to upset WotC, you must say "Core Rulebook I" dude

 

[Erekose]

Way too paranoid - there are worse offenders on WotCs boards in House Rules

OK- here we go . . .

Psychic Monk

HD - D6
Saves - two good (Ref and Will); one bad (Fort)

Skill List - Autohypnosis, Craft, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (psionics), Knowledge (religion), Listen, Move Silently, Psicraft, Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble.

Skill points - 4 + Int/level

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Proficient with club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham, and sling. Psychic monks are not proficient with any armor or shields. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a psychic monk loses her AC bonus, as well as her fast movement ability.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a psychic monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. Unarmed Damage increases as follows - 1st-3rd 1d6, 4th-7th 1d8, 8th-11th 1d10, 12th-15th 2d6, 16th-19th 2d8; 20th 2d10.

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the psychic monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a psychic monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five psychic monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).

Fast Movement (Ex): At 3rd level, a psychic monk gains an enhancement bonus to her speed as follows - 3rd-5th +10ft, 6th-8th +20ft, 9th-11th +30ft, 12th-14th +40ft, 15th-17th +50ft, 18th-20th +60ft.

PP/Day, Powers Known, Max Power Level Known - As the Psychic Warrior (too complex to go into but suffice it to say this is the "worst" progression of the full classes in XPH)

Bonus psionic feats - one at 5th level and then one additionally every 5 levels thereafter (i.e. 15th, 10th & 20th)

------------------

Hmm - the above feels a bit top heavy for a class, particulalrly when I'm tempted to add in Still Mind (as this is a prerequisite for the FoZ PrC) and the Ki Strike (as otherwise the unarmed damage becomes a lot less useful at higher levels) from the Monk.

May be add in the above Monk abilities and remove the bonus psionic feats?

What do people think?

 

[Nifft]

IMHO, too complex, and too powerful -- if you give full manifester progression, Psionic Powers should take the place of many Monk class abilities. Optional psionic powers. Better to start with the Psychic Warrior and swap things out:

- Armor Proficency: Wis bonus to AC. (Excellent synergy with Wisdom-based manifesting.)
- Good saves: Fort and Reflex. (One more than the PsiWar, and Wisdom will do some heavy lifting for will saves.)
- Weapon Proficency: Simple, plus Improved Unarmed Strike for free. (SIGNIFICANTLY worse than what a PsiWar gets, so we have bought some wiggle room for later class abilities.)

PsiWars get a lot of feats and quite a few powers -- almost twice as many as Wilders, so certainly NOT the worst progression in the XPH -- and we should count on those to make up for many classical Monk abilities. Speed of Thought, catfall, inertial armor, hustle -- these sort-of replace Monk speed bonus, Slow Fall, AC bonus, and speed bonus + Flurry (respectively).

The Claw power(s) can be seen as a replacement for Monk unarmed damage, but not in a particularly Monk-flavored way. So, I'd propose a replacement power:

Iron Blows [Lawful]
Psychometabolism
Level: Psi Monk 2
Display: Visual
Manifesting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour/level
Power Points: 3 (see text)

You call forth the iron fortitude of Mechanus, giving you deadly unarmed strikes.

Choose one of the following benefits:

- Damage Bonus: Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 damage (if Medium sized) as though you posessed the Improved Unarmed Strike feat. If you already have this feat, you instead deal an extra +1d6 damage with each unarmed strike.
- Magic Fists: Your unarmed strikes are considered magic for the purpose of penetrating DR.
- Iron Fists: Your unarmed strikes are considered cold iron for the purpose of penetrating DR.

You can Augment this power in the following ways:
+2 PP: You gain one additional benefit from the above list. You can spend 4 PP total in this way.
+4 PP: You deal an extra +1d6 damage with each unarmed attack.
+6 PP: Your unarmed strikes are considered Lawful-aligned for the purpose of penetrating DR.
+12 PP: Your unarmed strikes are considered adamantine for the purpose of penetrating DR.
-2 PP: The duration is reduced to 1 hour.



Notes on the power:
- Total damage for spending lots of points should be comparable to claws of the beast. However, that power gives you two attacks at your full attack bonus, while this one requires that you go through normal iterative attacks -- so the damage can be a bit higher.
- I've folded a number of Monk schticks into this one power. I think that's okay, but please let me know if you see a problem with it.

I'd also make a Burst augment that applies only if you have the feat Speed of Thought.

And I'd give them evade burst as a 2nd level power for free at 4th level. That's a nicely Psionic-flavored Evasion, and it gives them a good reason for their high Reflex save.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Erekose]

Thanks Nifft - nice to have comments from someone so knowledgeable of the XPH and psionics in general.

You've certainly given me something to think about - I think I came at this from the Monk + FoZ route rather than the customising the Psychic Warrior route.

I can see exactly where you are coming from with this and, as I've said, I'll have to give it some thought - a class which has psionic abilities which if chosen properly can mimic the Monk is not the Monk + psionic powers I'd been going for - but may be it can be (if customised as you've indicated)!

One minor (gentle) comment . . .

IMHO, too complex . . .

How is the class sketched out above more complex than a Monk taking the FoZ PrC?

I agree it's too powerful - but more complex?