Monk variant, balanced off warlock

[starwed]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I added Effortless Flight as a perfect mantra; it grants not just perfect maneuverability flight, but the benefits of fly-by attack and improved fly-by attack. (Seems fair for it being two tiers higher than the warlocks Fell Flight.)

I also added Tiger's Jump as a waking mantra, which gives a +10 bonus to jump checks and eliminates falling damage. Should there be a warlock style mantra which grants +6 to Tumble, Balance, Escape Artist? (Or maybe some other skills....) I'm not sure if it's necessary or not.

Regarding the astral ability, I was following the warlock's lead and having this be a "selfish" class. That said, some astral based stuff would be especially fitting with psionics in play.

Also, I've posted a list of the available strikes. In addition to balance issues, if you think of better names for any of them let me know.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Regarding the astral ability, I was following the warlock's lead and having this be a "selfish" class. That said, some astral based stuff would be especially fitting with psionics in play.

Well, cutting it from 2/level to 3/level is a bit more selfish. I just figure it you make a plane-shifting ability that doesn't bring other characters means it won't be used. And at 3/level pretty much ensures you are bringing along a party of 6 characters plus oneself at the level such a monk gets the ability... Anyway... astral projection is just totally a new ager meditative thing and seems perfect for a monk, however you implement it.

 

[Nifft]

Arise, Foul Thread! I Command Thee To Return!

/me casts animate thread...

Very cool. In light of the Tome of Battle : Bo9S maneuvers (specifically, stances vs. boosts), how would you consider revising this?

I could easily see Styles using the same mechanics as Stances (Swift action to change style). I could also see a lot of the Mantras turning into Boosts or Strikes, and a few turning into Counters. The augmentation via Psi Focus is excellent; please keep that whatever changes get made!


Elemental Resistance seems like a good candidate for a Psionic feat that requires you to maintain your Focus.

Cheers, -- N

 

[sigma999]

*necromancy*

i like this a lot, possibly more than my "chi monk" based off the 3.5 ninja

 

[starwed]

I've got an updated version that I've been sitting on for a while, that I should actually get around to posting. ^_^ Right now I have a problem set to be working on, but after tomorrow I'll put up the more polished version.

It actually describes the style system, and has some feats that complement the class. I decided not to take any cues from ToB, since that didn't have quite the feel I wanted, awesome though it is. ^_^

 

[Crashy75]

This looks really fun. I'll have to give this a close look. Do you have the Tob?
EDIT: Sorry. Didn't read any of the replies...

 

[jedavis]

How does one utilize the augmentation? Just expend psionic focus?

EDIT: Whoops, I guess I should have read both the PDFs before asking. Can you use a mantra at half your class level (to augment it) if you wouldn't normally be able to use it at half of your class level?

I like this a lot. Good for kung-fu movie style martial arts action. Or the Matrix.

 

[Crashy75]

...
I decided not to take any cues from ToB, since that didn't have quite the feel I wanted, awesome though it is. ^_^

Ya know there really is some good stuff in the ToB. I'll be the first to admit, there is also a lot of weirdness (that fireball punch dw maneuver, healing/gaining DR if you make a successful melee strike and so on), but there is some good stuff there too.
Some of your strikes look a lot like maneuvers. What was it about the ToB that felt wrong? There is quite a bit that I didn't like, so I am changing it.

 

[starwed]

I uploaded the most recent version of the class, in one PDF file. It modifies styles a little bit, includes some feats just for this class, and hopefully has less spelling/grammar errors. ^_^ Oh, and it has all the basic class info, although since it's pretty much the same as the monk most of it is just a copy-paste job. I imagine some of the sample in the 2nd post is out of date now, so I'll try and fix that up. Oh, and if anyone wants the original open office file, PM me. (The upload system allows .doc but not .odt. Booooo! )

What was it about the ToB that felt wrong?

I think mostly that a special attack style of maneuver was always a standard action, so full attacks become much less common using that system. And I wanted something balanced assuming that you could use the same special attack every round, if you wanted to. Definately not the case, with ToB.

And lastly, that I wanted the final product to be completely OGL. ^_^ (Which is why several mantras, which do pretty much the same thing as warlock invocations, are written from scratch.) I imagine that converting the class to use ToB maneuvers and stances wouldn't be too hard, though.

 

[jedavis]

The only thing I saw reading through the new pdf was that you had Empty Strike listed as a Perfect Strike on the list of strikes, but in its individual description it was listed as Waking.
Otherwise, very nice. Better rules description than previously. The Extend Style feat is mildly confusing, though... and the Mindknife Strike appears to be quite powerful. Deals damage like sneak attack by a rogue of equal level every round, starting at 1st level if you want.