Martial Arts Styles

[generalhenry]

that this character will never be disarmed

well of course, in 4E the only things that can be disarmed are traps.

 

[Stormtalon]

To further refine that, make it "Enchant Martial Tattoo", and you get something that lies in-between the flavor of the 3.5 Tattooed Monk and Kensai prestige classes. And I would probably add a caveat that you can only have one martial tattoo per martial style feat, and you have to designate what style each tattoo applies to.

Ahh, excellent addition, yes.

Personally, I'm not as keen on the idea of "Martial Tomes". It seems the easy way out, especially when you consider that this character will never be disarmed, and will never "lose" a weapon. And besides, the notion of having a "monk" dedicate the time and energy himself to gather residuum and then turn it into a martial tattoo has a great deal of appeal to me.

Well, the idea behind them is to allow the monk-like character a way to gain --using your above refinement-- Martial Tattoos that are 1-4 levels above him, the same way everyone else gains magic items as treasure. Using the Enchant Magic Item rules they'll never be able to do anything other than <= level, which makes them a bit sub-par.

As far as disarming goes, well, here's where the exception-based design can kick into play. Perhaps these Martial Style feats can have an overall rule stating something to the effect that any power which would disarm a weapon leaves a single feat unusable (save ends). That should bring them right into line with most other weapons, I think.

 

[tafkamhokie]

Re. the enhancement bonuses:
If you want to make it an item, why not:
Yellow Belt: +1
Blue Belt: +2
Green Belt: +3
Brown Belt: +4
Black Belt: +5
Black Belt w/one stripe: +6
Black Belt w/two stripes: +7
etc.

Re. the styles...why not go with traditional martial arts styles:

Snake (Viper) - light blade
Snake (Constrictor) - flail
Crane - spear
Dragon - heavy blade
Tiger - axe
Mantis - polearm
Monkey - staff
Ram - hammer
Gorilla - mace

Pure fluff...but each of the various animal styles are very distinctive and a lot of them lend themselves quite nicely to a weapon adaptation.

I had to pull the Constrictor snake out of thin air as I could not think of a flail-like animal, but most of the others work quite will. A crane's beak is a long, pointed weapon. A dragons teeth and claws are frequently compared to swords. A viper strike is certainly daggerlike. Tigers deliver powerful slashing blows. A mantis claw has all kinds of hooks and barbs and is one of the most versatile striking appendages in nature (much like a polearm). The ram and gorilla should be obvious. Monkey is a bit of a stretch unless you study Chinese martial arts (the monkey stick is a short staff used by monkey stylists).

 

[Stormtalon]

Heck, why not go all out and add 5 more feats, while also slightly changing the name of the Tattoo ritual to Enchant Mystic Tattoo to encompass all of them?

Way of the Shimmering Moon [Mystic Style]
Prerequisites: Int 15
Benefit: Your unarmed attack counts as an orb. You may use the ritual Enchant Mystic Tattoo to apply any magical orb effect to this feat as if you were using Enchant Magic Item to create an implement.
Special: You may select one Mystic Style feat in the Heroic tier, and one in the Paragon tier. If you have more than one mystic style feat, you gain the benefits of only one at a time. You can change which feat you benefit from as a minor action.

Way of the Dancing Willow [Mystic Style]
Prerequisites: Int 15
Benefit: Your unarmed attack counts as a wand. You may use the ritual Enchant Mystic Tattoo to apply any magical wand effect to this feat as if you were using Enchant Magic Item to create an implement.
Special: You may select one Mystic Style feat in the Heroic tier, and one in the Paragon tier. If you have more than one mystic style feat, you gain the benefits of only one at a time. You can change which feat you benefit from as a minor action.

Way of the Eternal Tree [Mystic Style]
Prerequisites: Int 15
Benefit: Your unarmed attack counts as a staff. You may use the ritual Enchant Mystic Tattoo to apply any magical staff effect to this feat as if you were using Enchant Magic Item to create an implement.
Special: You may select one Mystic Style feat in the Heroic tier, and one in the Paragon tier. If you have more than one mystic style feat, you gain the benefits of only one at a time. You can change which feat you benefit from as a minor action.

Way of the Steadfast Column [Mystic Style]
Prerequisites: Cha or Con 15
Benefit: Your unarmed attack counts as a rod. You may use the ritual Enchant Mystic Tattoo to apply any magical rod effect to this feat as if you were using Enchant Magic Item to create an implement.
Special: You may select one Mystic Style feat in the Heroic tier, and one in the Paragon tier. If you have more than one mystic style feat, you gain the benefits of only one at a time. You can change which feat you benefit from as a minor action.

Way of the Eternal Soul [Mystic Style]
Prerequisites: Wis 15
Benefit: Your unarmed attack counts as a holy symbol. You may use the ritual Enchant Mystic Tattoo to apply any magical holy symbol effect to this feat as if you were using Enchant Magic Item to create an implement.
Special: You may select one Mystic Style feat in the Heroic tier, and one in the Paragon tier. If you have more than one mystic style feat, you gain the benefits of only one at a time. You can change which feat you benefit from as a minor action.