Randori Master: New Prestige Class!

[Corlon]

This is just a prestige class I cooked up today after I finished my math test. It's based on cool defensive martial arts, and the fact that I don't think diarming and all those extra actions are all that great.

This prestige class is based off of making the 3.0 monk cool. I don't know how different the 3.5 monk is as of now...

The Randori Master

note: replace "defensive master" with "randori master" in all instances

**Enter Cool Flavor Text About Defensive Masters about them using enemies size and momentum against them, as well as fighting extremely well with their bodies in close quarters Here**

Prerequisites:
Base Attack Bonuse: +3
Feats: Improved unarmed strike, improved grapple (Oriental Adventures), improved disarm, combat reflexes
skills: tumble 8 ranks, ?
Special: Evasion Class Ability

Weapon/Armor Proficiency: Same as monk
Skills: Sane as monk
BAB: medium
Saves: all high (as monk)

Lv Special
1 Monk Abilities, Any Size Defense
2 Opportunistic Fighting I
3 Defensive Toss I
4 Flying Disarm I
5 Size Doesn't Matter
6 Defensive Toss II
7 Opportunistic Fighting II
8 Flying Disarm II
9 Defensive Toss III
10 Master of Momentum

Monk Abilities: If the Defensive Master has any monk levels, add his master levels to his monk levels to determine number of attacks, unarmed damage, speed, and AC bonus. In 3.5 the monk gains the flurry of blows abilities as the monk.

Any Size Defense: At 1st level while grappling, disarming, tripping, or tossing (see below), the Defensive Master suffers no penalties due to size, and his opponent gains no bonuses due to size. The Master still gains bonuses for his size (if any).

Opportunistic Fighting: At 2nd level if any opponent attacks and misses the Defensive Master then he may immidiatelly make a disarm or trip attempt against that opponent. This uses up an attack of opportunity for that turn, and the Defensive Master can not use the improved trip feat along with this ability. At seventh level, the Defensive Master may attempt to initiate a grapple for free instead of disarming or tripping.

Defensive Toss: At 3rd level defensive toss may be used as an opportunistic fighting action (see above). When this ability is used, the Defensive Master and the target both make opposed grapple checks. If the target fails then he is thrown in the same direction he attacked up to the number of feet (10 at 3rd, 20 at 6th, 30 at 9th). The target can be thrown at another creature (granted the creature is within range) with a ranged touch attack. If the creature is hit then both the thrown and the thrown at creatures take 1d6 damage per 10ft. of force applied behind the throw. If the Defensive Master misses with this throw, the creature just lands in a square as far away as the force behind the throw dictates(ie: the defensive master throws a creature a gorlack the minitaur who is 10ft. away. The defensive master puts 30ft. of force behind the creature so that gorlack will be dealt 3d6 damage if he's hit. The Defensive Master misses, however, so the thrown creature is sent 20ft. past the minitaur). If the creature hits a barrier (wall, etc.) it is dealt falling damage as if it had been falling horizontally (ie: 1d6 per ten feet left in the throw). After thrown, the target may make a reflex save (DC 15 + Defensive Master Levels) to stay standing, otherwise they fall prone. This ability may not be used on creatures the Defensive Master cannot normally grapple. At 6th level, in addition to being able to throw the target 20ft., the Defensive Master can throw the target anywhere within a 180 spread, as opposed to directly in the direction the attacker attacked. At 9th level, in addition to being able the throw the target 30ft., the Defensive Master can throw the target in any direction.

Flying Disarm: At 4th level whenever the Defensive Master disarms an opponent, the Defensive Master may cause the weapon to fly in any direction up to ten feet. At 8th level, the weapon can be sent up to 20 feet, and the defensive master can direct the weapon at any creature within range. The Defensive master makes a ranged attack role with a -4 penalty per size category of the weapon above small.

Size Doesn't Matter: At 5th level, the defensive master may grapple creatures up to three larger categories than him, rather than just two.

Master of Momentum: At 10th level, the Defensive Master can grapple creatures of any size.


First of all: Is the class balanced?
2nd: If not, how can it be balanced. If so, is it cool?
3rd: Should there be any more prerequisites?

Thoughts?

 

[Felikeries]

how about feats that act as their own experience table

Lethargic Preist 15,000 exp

any npc with this type of title will suffer +3d6 dmg every (dex/mod.)
any temple with 1d6 preists(wiz/mod) -4 defense multi-attacks
any weapon damage that wins DC 27(+stats preist) destroys a feature of preist costume related to their religion +10 attack next weapon attack

Dancing Nymph 10,000 exp
when player gets the ability to dance as a nymph
any cha. roll dc +4 in public situations
can use dodge ability 1d4 a day
when have killed a fey,faire,pixie,brownie,nymph etc +100 hp


Deeds of Malignment 6500 exp,and each extra
any checks made as for alignment will be made +4
any merchant with a bad repoire,+5 heckling
any deal with an evil lord,+4000 gp for mission (chr/mod.)+1,+3,+5 etc


phsycotic monk........20+level class exhange made cons. neccessary

 

[Corlon]

...

 

[Vlos]

First looks sort of cool.

Ok, breakdown concerning 3.5

In 3.5 they changed UAB. Its now based off of BAB. At 1st level you get Flurry of Blows which allows an extra attack with all attacks at a -2. At 5th level this penalty gets reduced to -1. At 9th level it gets reduced again to 0. At 11th level a monk gets Greater Flurry of Blows, which gives him another extra attack at highest BAB, no penalty.

So in your monk abilities, it needs to be defined how the above will be applied.(At least for 3.5).



Next you seem to have two thoughts going on here. One is the opportunistic fighting and the other is the grappling.

I like the opportunistic fighting. In fact I believe another Feat already does this granting a AoO for anyone missing an attack.

Though I question the reality of grappling (I know we are playing a fantasy game), but a halfling grappling a Dragon just doesn't seem possible.


I would change the following:
On the Defensive Toss, maybe rather than add more distance, allow one to change the direction upto either 45' or 90' (degrees). That way you could now redirect the attacker into an opponent.

Then I would add a Improved Flying Disarm, with a similar though to the above in that you can now direct the object at another target, using your BAB as an attack. Thus you knock the sword out of the hand and it flies at your opponents friend, striking him in the chest.

I would drop the Size doesn't Matter and the line upto Master of Momentum, basically because I can't see a halfling grappling a dragon, unless you only apply them to the above attacks. In which case I would just give bonus at specific level rather than removing it.


Again I like the ideas, disarm and throwing ideas, just general grappling. After that I would have to look at the requirments, initially minimal level is 5, but not sure with the feats/abilities if that raises it.

Again these are directed at 3.5.

 

[Corlon]

cool ideas.

I just like the idea of a halfling grappling a dragon, it just kind of makes me laugh. I was just thinking of all the cool prestige level ten abilities where they sort of become more than normal.

My thinking was that for tossing, the dragon would swipe his claw or something and somehow the defensive master would apply this small amount of momemtum to flip the dragon over his shoulder and into a wall.

I just think that at some points the unrealisticness of D&D just is what makes it D&D

For the 3.5 FOB thing, I think I'd just give the Defensive master those abilities instead of the number of attacks.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Defensive Toss

From a semi-knowledgable standpoint (at least, from my own training, long ago) you generally don't throw someone that far away. Aside from the Strength issues, you're usually better off maintaining a grip after the throw and attacking again. From a cinematic standpoint though it sounds cool.

Mechanically, I would use grapple checks. It makes the most sense. Personally I would make this an option for the class any time they have someone in a grapple, rather than just on a missed attack. Thus on the Opportunistic Attack they can grapple, and then throw on their turn.

First of all: Is the class balanced?
2nd: If not, how can it be balanced. If so, is it cool?
3rd: What check(s) should be used for defensive toss, and should there be any more prerequisite skils?

Currently I'm thinking that the flying disarm might get a bit out of hand, or there's some rule I've overlooked about disarming, tripping, or grappling that might make this class too powerful.

If anything, I would think this class is a little underpowered, but then I haven't playtested it at all. It definitely plays up the defensive nature of the Monk over the offensive. It still has the major disadvantages that the 3.0 Monk does, mainly range issues and overcoming DR. Overall I think it's great in that it gives a Monk more options when they're in melee, and a bit more of a defensive edge with the Opportunistic Attack, which they can definitely use. I'd playtest it a bit and see how it works, since it's a tough call whether it is underpowered or not, IMO.

Defensive Toss I covered above.

I think the prerequisites are fine.

Flying Disarm doesn't seem to me to be too out of hand, though I might reduce the ranges a bit. Either that or not allow it to be used with Opportunistic Attack - if the Monk wants to send it flying, it needs to be a planned strike, not a reactive one. I actually think I like the latter more.

 

[Corlon]

From a semi-knowledgable standpoint (at least, from my own training, long ago) you generally don't throw someone that far away. Aside from the Strength issues, you're usually better off maintaining a grip after the throw and attacking again. From a cinematic standpoint though it sounds cool.

Yeah, I've have some experience with matrial arts (aikido). The throw thing was based almost completely off of coolness, but it's also based off of circumstances where the person is under attack by multiple opponents. In a situation like that, it's less advantageous to hold and pin, and more advantageous just to throw them out of your way. The ludicrous amount of throwing power was just for kicks, and for the sake of having the master advance in it.



But I REALLY need a good name. Any ideas?

 

[JimAde]

For a name, maybe you could make up a name for the martial art. Then this is just a "master" of it. In my game I have "The Way of the Closing Circle" and "Master of the Circle" for a similar purpose.

It seems to me that completely eliminating the size modifiers on grappling is very powerful for so early in the progression. While halflings grappling dragons may be fun, I don't think you'd want 5th level characters doing it.

I've done some Aikido, too and came up with a bunch of feats to address these same issues. They aren't nearly as powerful as this, but they're not a character class, just feat trees. Check 'em out if you want:

http://home.comcast.net/~jim.ade/ilium/newfeats.html

The thing that bugged me is that you have to make a grapple check every round to maintain a pin, and there are no modifiers for the fact that you pinned the guy in the first place.

 

[Corlon]

you can only grapple people of any size at 10th level, so only a fifteenth level halfling could start throwing dragons around, plus he'd have to beat their mad grapple bonus.

 

[JimAde]

you can only grapple people of any size at 10th level, so only a fifteenth level halfling could start throwing dragons around, plus he'd have to beat their mad grapple bonus.

If I read the rule right, you can grapple successfully with anyone regardless of size. You can only initiate a grapple with someone of your own size, smaller or one size class larger, but if the other guy starts it you can take any normal grapple actions once the grapple has started. And presumably ogres would grapple halflings a LOT. Also, since the opponent gets no bonus for its size, the grapple bonus won't be as high as normal (still quite high for the big strength, of course).

Instead of just saying there are no modifiers for size, you could give levels of bonus (+2 per class level maybe) that only work to offset the opponent's size advantage. So by 10th level, the Master has offset 5 levels of size difference (which should cover just about anything).