Martial artist updated for 3.5E

[hong]

To the 3 people whom I definitely know are using my <s>ranger</s> martial artist class, and anyone else who cares , I'm updating it for 3.5E. See the work in progress at:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56977

and at

http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/martialartist_35e.htm
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/ma_feats_35e.htm
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/combatfeats_35e.htm

Comments much appreciated.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Comments much appreciated.

Does "3.5 sellout b****!" count as a constructive comment?



-BG

PS I'll check 'em out tonight. I expect nothing but excellence.

 

[Cyronax]

Hey hong I've enjoyed using your priest in two campaigns i've run so far. I was wondering about your martial artist class however, specifically how they fit into your games. Are monks supposed to be more enlightened, mystical yet badass martial artists (kind of how monks in OA are compared to the more martial sohei), while your core class martial artist is just a "guy" who's good with his fists and quick on his feet?

C.I.D.

 

[Darth Shoju]

I really like the martial-artist class you present here. I've always wished for a more generic martial-arts combatant as opposed to the more mystic and specific monk class. I'll likely use this class in an upcoming campaign of mine. Thanks!

 

[diaglo]

buy low sell high

don't spit into the wind

don't take any wooden/plug nickels

avoid the brown acid

keep on truckin'

 

[hong]

Re: Re: Martial artist updated for 3.5E

Does "3.5 sellout b****!" count as a constructive comment?

Well, technically I didn't specify that comments had to be constructive, so that's okay, I guess.

Hey hong I've enjoyed using your priest in two campaigns i've run so far. I was wondering about your martial artist class however, specifically how they fit into your games. Are monks supposed to be more enlightened, mystical yet badass martial artists (kind of how monks in OA are compared to the more martial sohei), while your core class martial artist is just a "guy" who's good with his fists and quick on his feet?

The aim of doing this was to 1) create a class that's more flexible than the monk, for the purposes of portraying an unarmoured and/or unarmed warrior; 2) beef up the monk so that it's more useful as a combatant class, as opposed to a specialist mage-killer; 3) get rid of that awful, clunky unarmed BAB progression that causes no end of confusion.

(3) is now superfluous but the other two still stand, I think. The class can be a mystical, enlightened character, like your stereotypical Shaolin monk; or it can have a more practical bent, like a rapier-wielding swashbuckler. Martial artists don't all have to be the same, just like fighters don't have to be the same.

buy low sell high

don't spit into the wind

don't take any wooden/plug nickels

avoid the brown acid

keep on truckin'

Once you pull the pin, Mr Grenade is NOT your friend.

If you smell bat guano, duck and cover.

Don't bother hiding behind a hostage. He'll only stop 10 points.

 

[pogre]

buy low sell high

or the accountants' version:
Buy High Sell Low, make it up on cost of inventory.

 

[ruemere]

Wishlist / feature request

Hong,

Your Martial Artist class should, IMHO:

1. Support shools or styles of martial arts.

The customizability of your character class makes it also flavorless. Adding a talent/feat tree (see d20 Modern core classes) could make the difference.

2. Support for supernatural martial artists.

In some HK movies martial artists use magic items (scroll look alikes), exorcise spirits and travel between worlds. How about adding talent trees for those, who want to develop more supernatural abilites? Inivisible ninjas, taoist exorcists etc...

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[hong]

Re: Wishlist / feature request

Hong,

Your Martial Artist class should, IMHO:

1. Support shools or styles of martial arts.

There's a bunch of pages on my site that talk specifically about that; see http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/ma_schools.htm

The customizability of your character class makes it also flavorless. Adding a talent/feat tree (see d20 Modern core classes) could make the difference.

Well, see, if I was designing a class for d20 Modern, I probably would have talent trees. As it happens, however, I'm not designing a class for d20 Modern, I'm designing a class for D&D. As such, I'd prefer not to use mechanics that (so far) only appear in one incarnation of d20, and probably won't be making it into D&D any time soon. Note that a lot of aspects of d20M aren't quite the same as in D&D, from talent trees to what a class is supposed to represent.

2. Support for supernatural martial artists.

In some HK movies martial artists use magic items (scroll look alikes), exorcise spirits and travel between worlds. How about adding talent trees for those, who want to develop more supernatural abilites? Inivisible ninjas, taoist exorcists etc...

Prestige classes are your friend. There are already six million ninja PrCs. A taoist exorcist wouldn't be that different to either the sacred exorcist or church inquisitor from DotF, with a few tweaks.

 

[ruemere]

Hong,

I prefer customizable classes to stiff prestige classes corsets (CORPS lovers unite!). I consider your Martial Artists superior because of its flexibility... so, using a prestige class to portray just one style is not a concept I'd cherish. Besides, 20 levels is not going to suffice if you want to create Bruce Lee clone.

On the other hand, martial arts are all about perfection, attaining certain ideals, etc. I feel that it would be better idea to allow for tree (path/ladder/whatchumcallit) mechanic to justify the existence of grandmasters (you know, these old panty chasing hundred year old freaks) and style specialists. Chainmail Bikini Games Beyond Monks would be a good example of similar solution (there are some problems with d20 mechanics which made me skip the book). And while talent paths are not a part of standard d20, feat trees surely are - just look at Whirldwind Attack requirements.

By creating Graceful Crane Stance Mastery feat and listing a list of prerequisites ("any three of the following list") you'd reproduce the mechanic while allowing the player to choose the way he or she is going to use to achieve the feat.

This way, there is going to be a sound reason to stay in your class, and, at the same time you'd ensure that Martial Artists were unlikely to be the same.

Regards,
Ruemere

PS. One does not have to be of a ninja class in order to be called one. Personally, I'd prefer a Martial Artist with a good choice of feats and skills.

edit: corrected typos
edit: corrected publisher for Beyond Monks