Because I'm procrastinating, I thought I'd make up some prestige classes for my martial artist class. Here's one of them; it's basically a fighter/cleric type. Comments appreciated.
Martial arts styles can be roughly classified as either “external” or “internal”. An external style is one that emphasises physical strength, speed and power. Such styles teach ways of defeating one’s opponents in battle, by direct application of skill at arms. An internal style, by contrast, is one that emphasises inner strength. Fighting techniques are important only to provide a focus for the martial artist’s training; more important is learning how to control the flow of one’s internal energy, often known as ki. The Mountain Spirit martial arts style is an example of such an internal style.
The Mountain Spirit style is not as well-known as most other martial arts styles. It requires not just fighting skill, but also knowledge of divine magic. While it isn't as combat-oriented as some other styles might be, a practitioner who dedicates herself to learning its secrets can gain many exceptional abilities, including disabling attacks and healing powers. A grand master of this style, with divine aid behind her and with total control of ki at her fingertips, can be a deadly adversary — or a worthy ally.
Mountain Spirit Mastery
Prerequisites: Non-evil, non-chaotic alignment, Endurance, Improved (or Enhanced) Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Still Mind, Stunning Fist, ability to cast 3rd level divine spells, 8 ranks Concentration, 8 ranks Spellcraft.
Training Benefit: Once per day you can generate a soul ward, a supernatural ability granting you a +5 sacred bonus to all saving throws. Activating the soul ward is a standard action, and it lasts for one round per level.
Mastery of the Mountain Spirit style is a prerequisite for taking the mountain spirit adept prestige class, detailed below.
Mountain spirit adept
Prerequisites
Must have achieved mastery of the Mountain Spirit style.
Class Statistics
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points/level: 4 + Int modifier.
BAB: as cleric (level x3/4)
Good saves: Fort, Ref, Will
Specials:
1: Ki Strike
2: +1 caster level
3: Restore ki
4: +1 caster level
5: Blinding strike
6: +1 caster level
7: Diamond soul
8: +1 caster level
9: Paralyzing strike
10: +1 caster level
Mountain spirit adept special abilities
Weapon and armour proficiency: The mountain spirit adept gains no weapon or armour proficiencies beyond what she already has.
AC bonus: The mountain spirit adept can stack her prestige class levels with her martial artist levels (if any) for the purpose of determining her level-based dodge bonus to AC.
Ki Strike (Su): At 1st level, the mountain spirit adept gains this as a bonus feat. She does not have to meet the usual prerequisites for this feat.
Spells: At every other level starting from 2nd, the mountain spirit adept gains new spells per day as if she had gained a level in a previous divine spellcaster class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit of the other spellcasting class, such as turning undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on.
Restore ki (Su): At 3rd level, the mountain spirit adept can use her knowledge of ki to aid those whose flow of internal energy has been disrupted. This ability lets the adept remove stunning, paralyzation, blindness, deafness and hold effects from a subject whom she touches. She can do this up to three times per day. Each effect removed counts as a use of the ability; for example, restoring sight and movement to a blinded, held character counts as two uses and requires two standard actions. The adept can use this ability to restore her own ki.
Blinding Strike (Ex): At 5rd level, the mountain spirit adept learns to use her stunning attacks to blind humanoid opponents. When an opponent fails their save against the adept’s stunning attack, she can choose to blind them for 1 round per class level instead of stunning them. In addition to the obvious effects, blinded creatures suffer a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have full concealment), lose any Dexterity bonus to AC, grant a +2 bonus on attackers’ attack rolls, move at half-speed, and suffer a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skills. The adept must declare her intention to make a blinding strike before the attack is made.
Diamond Soul (Su): At 7th level, the mountain spirit adept gains spell resistance equal to 20 plus her levels in this prestige class.
Paralyzing Strike (Ex): At 9th level, the mountain spirit adept learns to use her stunning attacks to paralyze humanoid opponents. When an opponent fails their save against the adept’s stunning attack, she can choose to paralyze them for 1d4 rounds instead of stunning them. A paralyzed creature stands rigid and helpless, unable to move or act physically. Their effective Strength and Dexterity scores are 0, but they may take purely mental actions. The adept must declare her intention to make a paralyzing strike before the attack is made.
Martial arts styles can be roughly classified as either “external” or “internal”. An external style is one that emphasises physical strength, speed and power. Such styles teach ways of defeating one’s opponents in battle, by direct application of skill at arms. An internal style, by contrast, is one that emphasises inner strength. Fighting techniques are important only to provide a focus for the martial artist’s training; more important is learning how to control the flow of one’s internal energy, often known as ki. The Mountain Spirit martial arts style is an example of such an internal style.
The Mountain Spirit style is not as well-known as most other martial arts styles. It requires not just fighting skill, but also knowledge of divine magic. While it isn't as combat-oriented as some other styles might be, a practitioner who dedicates herself to learning its secrets can gain many exceptional abilities, including disabling attacks and healing powers. A grand master of this style, with divine aid behind her and with total control of ki at her fingertips, can be a deadly adversary — or a worthy ally.
Mountain Spirit Mastery
Prerequisites: Non-evil, non-chaotic alignment, Endurance, Improved (or Enhanced) Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Still Mind, Stunning Fist, ability to cast 3rd level divine spells, 8 ranks Concentration, 8 ranks Spellcraft.
Training Benefit: Once per day you can generate a soul ward, a supernatural ability granting you a +5 sacred bonus to all saving throws. Activating the soul ward is a standard action, and it lasts for one round per level.
Mastery of the Mountain Spirit style is a prerequisite for taking the mountain spirit adept prestige class, detailed below.
Mountain spirit adept
Prerequisites
Must have achieved mastery of the Mountain Spirit style.
Class Statistics
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills: Alchemy (Int), Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points/level: 4 + Int modifier.
BAB: as cleric (level x3/4)
Good saves: Fort, Ref, Will
Specials:
1: Ki Strike
2: +1 caster level
3: Restore ki
4: +1 caster level
5: Blinding strike
6: +1 caster level
7: Diamond soul
8: +1 caster level
9: Paralyzing strike
10: +1 caster level
Mountain spirit adept special abilities
Weapon and armour proficiency: The mountain spirit adept gains no weapon or armour proficiencies beyond what she already has.
AC bonus: The mountain spirit adept can stack her prestige class levels with her martial artist levels (if any) for the purpose of determining her level-based dodge bonus to AC.
Ki Strike (Su): At 1st level, the mountain spirit adept gains this as a bonus feat. She does not have to meet the usual prerequisites for this feat.
Spells: At every other level starting from 2nd, the mountain spirit adept gains new spells per day as if she had gained a level in a previous divine spellcaster class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit of the other spellcasting class, such as turning undead, metamagic or item creation feats, and so on.
Restore ki (Su): At 3rd level, the mountain spirit adept can use her knowledge of ki to aid those whose flow of internal energy has been disrupted. This ability lets the adept remove stunning, paralyzation, blindness, deafness and hold effects from a subject whom she touches. She can do this up to three times per day. Each effect removed counts as a use of the ability; for example, restoring sight and movement to a blinded, held character counts as two uses and requires two standard actions. The adept can use this ability to restore her own ki.
Blinding Strike (Ex): At 5rd level, the mountain spirit adept learns to use her stunning attacks to blind humanoid opponents. When an opponent fails their save against the adept’s stunning attack, she can choose to blind them for 1 round per class level instead of stunning them. In addition to the obvious effects, blinded creatures suffer a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have full concealment), lose any Dexterity bonus to AC, grant a +2 bonus on attackers’ attack rolls, move at half-speed, and suffer a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skills. The adept must declare her intention to make a blinding strike before the attack is made.
Diamond Soul (Su): At 7th level, the mountain spirit adept gains spell resistance equal to 20 plus her levels in this prestige class.
Paralyzing Strike (Ex): At 9th level, the mountain spirit adept learns to use her stunning attacks to paralyze humanoid opponents. When an opponent fails their save against the adept’s stunning attack, she can choose to paralyze them for 1d4 rounds instead of stunning them. A paralyzed creature stands rigid and helpless, unable to move or act physically. Their effective Strength and Dexterity scores are 0, but they may take purely mental actions. The adept must declare her intention to make a paralyzing strike before the attack is made.
