New class in development

[ChimericDream]

I had a conversation several months ago with a couple gamer friends of mine, and we were talking about creating a martial arts character who advanced through different styles much the same way as a normal person advances through a particular martial art. Well, I've finally gotten around to starting the write-up for the class, and I'd like to get some preliminary opinions on it.

Game Rule Information
Abilities: Strength and Dexterity are key for most Martial Artists. Because the Martial Artist relies on his awareness of his surroundings as a means of protection, Wisdom is also an important ability for him.
Alignment: Any lawful.
Hit Die: d8

Class Skills
The Martial Artist's (Inv) class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are list skills.

Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + Int modifier) ×4
Skill Points at each additional level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Martial Artist
Level.....BAB.....Fort.....Ref.....Will.....Special
1.....+0.....+0.....+2.....+2.....AC Bonus, Unarmed Strike, Discipline
2.....+1.....+0.....+3.....+3.....Discipline
3.....+2.....+1.....+3.....+3.....
4.....+3.....+1.....+4.....+4.....Discipline
5.....+3.....+1.....+4.....+4.....Discipline
6.....+4.....+2.....+5.....+5.....
7.....+5.....+2.....+5.....+5.....Discipline
8.....+6/+1.....+2.....+6.....+6.....Discipline
9.....+6/+1.....+3.....+6.....+6.....
10.....+7/+2.....+3.....+7.....+7.....Discipline
11.....+8/+3.....+3.....+7.....+7.....Discipline
12.....+9/+4.....+4.....+8.....+8.....
13.....+9/+4.....+4.....+8.....+8.....Discipline
14.....+10/+5.....+4.....+9.....+9.....Discipline
15.....+11/+6/+1.....+5.....+9.....+9.....
16.....+12/+7/+2.....+5.....+10.....+10.....Discipline
17.....+12/+7/+2.....+5.....+10.....+10.....Discipline
18.....+13/+8/+3.....+6.....+11.....+11.....
19.....+14/+9/+4.....+6.....+11.....+11.....Discipline
20.....+15/+10/+5.....+6.....+12.....+12.....Discipline

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the martial artist class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A martial artist is familiar with the same weapons as a Monk. A martial artist gains no proficiency with armor or shields.

AC Bonus: When unarmored and unencumbered, the martial artist adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to his AC.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a martial artist gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A martial artist's attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a martial artist may even make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a martial artist striking unarmed. A martial artist may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.

Usually a martial artist's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A martial artist's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A martial artist deals damage with his unarmed strike based on his size category. A medium sized martial artist has a base damage of 1d6 plus any Strength bonus he may have. Some disciplines may increase this base damage, but it does not increase in level as a monk's damage does. See Table: Small or Large Monk Unarmed Damage in the SRD for the damage dealt by small or large martial artists. The base damage is equal to a 1st level monk.

Discipline: At all levels except those divisible by 3 (3rd, 6th, 9th, etc), the martial artist gains a new discipline. This can be an advancement in a martial style that he has already begun studying, or the martial artist may opt to begin studying a new style of martial art. At no time is a martial artist able to select a level of a style more than one level beyond his current degree of study in that particular style. For example, Itharun is a 12th level martial artist. When he gains 13th level, he can choose to advance to the next degree in a discipline he has already begun studying, or he may begin a new discipline at it's first degree. The disciplines are as follows:

Aikido
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Capoeira
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Hapkido
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Judo
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Jujutsu
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Karate
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Muay Thai
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

Taekwondo
1st Degree -
2nd Degree -
3rd Degree -
4th Degree -
5th Degree -
6th Degree -
7th Degree -
8th Degree -
9th Degree -
Master -

At this point, I've tried to select several real world martial arts that rely on different techniques. This class has the potential for *tons* of flavor, but I'm looking for ideas on different abilities for some of the martial arts. I personally have experience in Aikido, so I could come up with some things for that, but I have no direct experience with the rest.

As you can see, this is very much a work in progress, but any advice so far or help with specific abilities is greatly appreciated.

Side note: This whole thing came out of a discussion on the way home from seeing The Protector with Tony Jaa a few months back... kick @$$ movie! So many broken bones....

 

[Darklone]

Wohoo. Have a look at Hongs martial artist. The I'd gather as many unarmed feats as possible from any d20 book you can get. E.g. Grim Tales, Conand20...

 

[Ltheb Silverfrond]

As someone who has studied Judo, I am curious as to what you put for the "Master" rank. It seems like you equate each *Rank* as a Degree of black belt. There are no 10th Degree masters in Judo alive. (A couple of 9th, no 10th)

Perhaps the "Master" rank could be a Prestige or Leadership-like ability. Bonuses on Diplomacy or Intimidate, and perhaps another bonus of some kind. This could be unique to one Discipline or universal to all of them.

 

[ChimericDream]

Well, I'm trying to tie things loosely into the feel of each type of martial art. However, I'm not going with the same ranking system by any means. Essentially, I'm standardizing all of them to one advancement chain for ease of balance. For example, all of the abilities of Aikido will have the feeling of flowing blocks and redirecting opponents attacks, while disciples of muay thai (this description is based solely on my small understanding of this art, so bear with me) will focus more on blocks, breaks and pins.

That said, however, what resources would you all suggest for pulling feats and abilities from? I'm looking for OGC sources, as this will go on my setting site, which will be available to the public. I'd like to come up with as many original abilities as possible, keeping in line with the feel of each particular style.

I'm glad this is receiving good feedback so far. Any comments on the basic skeleton of the class so far?