PrC: Strikemaster

LazarusLong42

First Post
A new Prestige Class: The Strikemaster. Commentary to follow in a separate post so as to make the initial post self-contained.


"A rapier can hurt you very badly in many places, Montcheval. Behind your knee, for instance. At the base of your neck. Right at your solar plexus. Perhaps, if you're very unlucky, between your legs.

"Do you have a good codpiece, Montcheval?"


The Strikemaster is a student both of anatomy and weaponry. He has honed his abilities with a chosen weapon such that he can deal large amounts of damage with a single blow--and perhaps even a cheap shot now and then.

He tends not to stay in the thick of combat, instead preferring to wait on the sidelines for an opportunity to strike a vital spot. However, his wits and studies allow him to strike vital areas even when caught in the fray. His mastery of a single weapon also allows him to deal extra damage with it even when striking non-vital areas.

Strikemasters are generally fighters who have also studied the ways of another class. Rogues, bards and rangers all have much to teach a fighter about fighting dirty and waiting for the right opportunity to strike for maximum damage.


Alignment: Any nonlawful.
Hit Die: d8

Requirements:

  • Craft (Weaponsmith): 5 ranks.
  • Hide: 5 ranks.
  • Knowledge (Anatomy): 5 ranks.
  • Move Silently: 5 ranks.
  • Spot: 5 ranks.
  • Feats: Expertise, Weapon Focus (chosen weapon), Combat Reflexes, Quick Draw.
  • Special: Must own and be proficient with a masterwork or magic rogue melee weapon (for small characters: dagger, light mace, sap, short sword; for medium characters, also club, heavy mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, rapier). All bonuses listed work only with a masterwork weapon of the type initially chosen.

Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Code:
[size=3]Lvl	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special
----	----	----	----	----	-------
1	+0	+1	+1	+0	Smarter, not Harder +1
2	+1	+1	+1	+0	Sneak Attack +1d6
3	+2	+2	+2	+1	Know Thyself I, Dextrous Strike +2
4	+3	+2	+2	+1	Smarter, not Harder +2
5	+3	+3	+3	+1	Sneak Attack +2d6, Cheap Shot 1/day
6	+4	+3	+3	+2	Dextrous Strike +4
7	+5	+4	+4	+2	Smarter, not Harder +3, Cheap Shot 2/day
8	+6	+4	+4	+2	Sneak Attack +3d6, Know Thyself II
9	+6	+4	+4	+3	Cheap Shot 3/day
10	+7	+5	+5	+3	Smarter, not Harder +4[/size]

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The Strikemaster gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Class Features:

Smarter, not Harder: The Strikemaster knows his targets' anatomies so well that he can more easily strike vital parts. The critical range for the Strikemaster's chosen weapon is extended by the value listed. Note that this ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat, but bonuses from this ability are not doubled by Improved Critical.

Sneak Attack: As the Rogue's sneak attack. If the Strikemaster has Rogue levels, the bonuses stack.

Know Thyself I, II (Ex): The Strikemaster's knowledge of anatomy extends to his own body, and he can move rapidly to protect vital parts. When struck by a critical blow, the Strikemaster of 3rd level or higher may make a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt before the critical multiplier is applied) to take damage as if the blow were not critical, as long as he was not in a position to be denied his Dex bonus to AC. (Even if, because of Uncanny Dodge, he was not actually denied this bonus, the restriction remains.) The Strikemaster of 8th level or above ignores this restriction.

Dextrous Strike (Ex): The Strikemaster has honed his abilities with his chosen weapon so well that he can cause extra damage with it. He may add up to the listed points of his Dex bonus to the die category of his weapon. So, a 6th-level Strikemaster with a Dex of 18 wielding a short sword does 1d10 damage, rather than 1d6.

Note: At the DM's discretion, this may also lead to odd die "sizes." For instance, a 6th-level Strikemaster wielding a short sword, but with a Dex of only 17, is entitled to roll 1d9 for damage. The author recommends rolling a d10 and rerolling a roll of 10 in this situation, and similar procedures may be used for rolling d5, d7, d9, and d11.

Cheap Shot (Su): Every so often, an opportunity to take a below-the-belt hit presents itself. The Strikemaster is not above taking said opportunity, and is able to move unnaturally fast to do so. Once per day at level 5, and once more per day every two levels thereafter, the character may attempt a sneak attack regardless of conditions. If the attack roll succeeds, treat it as a normal sneak attack; if it fails, the attempt is wasted.
 

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OK, some quick discussion of this class.

First, motivation. I created this class for a rogue/fighter who was very much specializing in fighting with his rapier. However, it quickly became obvious that taking the Weaponmaster class almost required a dedicated fighter (it takes seven feats). So, this class was created as a roguish variant. However, it's difficult to take it as a pure rogue. Boiled down:

  • A pure Rogue can take the PrC at 8th level (human) or 10th level (non-human).
  • A pure fighter with Int 18 can take the class at 8th level (human) or 9th level (non-human). This is because most of the skills are CC to a fighter. And let's face it, a pure fighter with higher than 14 Int is rare.
  • A multiclassed rogue/fighter can take the PrC at 8th level, whether human or not, and will not have dedicated his entire complement of skills and/or feats to getting the PrC.
  • A munchkin could take the PrC at 5th level if his first four levels were Rogue, Fighter, Fighter, Bard. This might be a bit ridiculous though. :)

On the special abilities: The Strikemaster is specifically honed to focus on critical hits. However, he has to get a bit more than that.

The Dextrous Strike ability is the equivalent of a +1 to damage at each step, but is based on the character's Dex--that is, the character must have an 18 Dex to take advantage of it to its fullest. Though high Dex is not required to obtain the requirements for the class, this ability only becomes useful with a high Dex.

The Cheap Shot ability just needed an ability to go along with a cool name. :)

The Know Thyself ability needs a bit of rewriting, but for clarification, here's how the action would go:

(1) DM rolls a critical against the Strikemaster.
(2) DM rolls damage as if the hit were non-critical.
(3) Strikemaster rolls a Ref save against the damage number from (2).
(4) If Strikemaster succeeds at the save, he takes the damage rolled in (2). Otherwise, the DM rolls the extra damage that comes with the critical, and the Strikemaster takes the total damage.

On balance:

Compared to taking 10 Fighter levels, the character trades a high BAB, one hit die level, and five feats for 2 skill points per level, sneak attack ability (3d6), and about 5 feat-equivalent abilities.

(That's 1 for Dex Strike [+2 to hit is equivalent to Weapon Specialization]; 2 for Smarter not Harder [+2 critical range is (approximately) equivalent to Improved Critical]; 1 for Cheap Shot; and 1 for Know Thyself [vaguely equivalent to the Rogue's Defensive Roll])

Compared to taking 10 Rogue levels, the character trades 4 skill points per level, sneak attack (2d6 less), uncanny dodge against traps, and 3-4 feat-equivalent abilities (granted at Rogue lvl 10, 13, 16, 19) for a higher hit die and 5 feat-equivalent abilities.


All right... any thoughts from the crowd? At this point, given the character's early development, I'm likely not going to take the PrC, but I figured I'd post it here to see what people thought. And of course so you'll all have it to use in your own campaigns :)

LL
 

here is a sugestion
instead of adding to the incredible number of useless knowledge skills used only to qualify for PrC's and feats make it heal instead of knowledge (anatomy) that way his prowess benefits others
 

An interesting suggestion, that... Heal is still cross-class, so it doesn't upset the balance that my twisted mind has placed on the class. The major problem that comes to mind is a flavor one--the Heal skill has always seemed, to me, to be training in what we'd call First Aid. This requires almost zero knowledge of anatomy, and would likely provide little knowledge of where best to shoot someone. I'll think about it though.

Of course, that knowledge *could* easily work the other way, and as a DM I'd give someone with 5 ranks in Knowledge(Anatomy) a +2 synergy bonus to Heal.

Also, I'd disagree that knowledge of anatomy is necessary "useless." Coming upon corpses and being able to discren that a monster has been specifically ripping out hearts might be useful. I'd set that DC 25 for a Heal check, but DC 15 for a Knowledge (Anatomy) check.

As a side note: I don't think that all of the requirements for a PrC should necessarily be beneficial/useful. PrCs are usually slightly more powerful than standard classes (this one is, for instance, IMO), and if there's not some small cost to pay, then all a PrC is is a buff. Plus, certain requirements add flavor to the class... and in the end that's what roleplaying is about: the flavor, not the numbers. At least for me.
 

please note that heal is more than first aid and has a lot lot to do with anatomy you can't take an arrow out at random it has to be done with the location of vital organs, arteries, and stuff in mind
 
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I am one of those stick in the mud purists that hates just about every PrC and 'new feat' that I have seen.
That said... I kinda like this one.

I *like* the fact that some of the prereqs are not overly useful. IMO, one of the big misses many homebrew PrC/Feats have is that all the pre-reqs are no brainers anyway.

I am a bit nervous about the (eventual) +4 to the crit range, I think it may be open to abuse. But I am not sure of the math enough.

The only real suggestion I have is the 'Know thyself". Estimate what an 11th level fighter may do for damage, I think it will be an easy DC for your 3rd level SM; I think you are effectively making him immune to crits. Perhaps a DC of 10+damage.

Onto flavor, not sure about Move Silently... how about sense motive, to give him some insight...

Check out the skills again, maybe some other neat ideas will crop up.


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