Sacred Fist

[Eldorian]

My new epic treant is planning on taking this prestige class. I had a question earlier tho, does having a natural attack form, such as slam, count as improved unarmed strike? Or must I pick up a monk level (would require me to be lawful alignment for at least one level...)

I figure the sacred fist will make a good PrC for treants, especially since I can worship Fharlanghn for the Travel Domain, which I've always liked. (also gets me Wilderness lore as a class skill, and Fly on my spell list, neato!)

BTW, on the sacred fists bonus domain thingie, I DO add the domain to my spell list, right? The wording in the spells section is funny. Also, do I get a bonus domain spell per level?

Puissant Fists stacks with No Shadow Blows for overcoming Damage reduction, right? That works for epic levels too right? I mean, I can have +9 to overcome damage reduction with my fists, given a +5 Wis mod. Also, would Puissant Fists, which has the same mechanic as Ki Strike, work for epic feat requirements? I see them as the same ability with a different name, and I've always tended to treat the same ability with a different name as the same ability. The good unarmed combat epic feats require ki strike, so this is imporant.


Also, I'd like to see an epic progression of this class.

What do you say, normal continued Uncanny dodge, a feat every three levels, increased caster levels on evens? More uses Inner Armor?

About Inner armor, it's an Extrodinary ability right? What kind of action to activate, a free one like Rage?

Eldorian Antar

 

[Eldorian]

Bumpity bump bump

Any official errata out on the defenders of tha faith yet? Any advice? HELP! =)


Eldorian Antar

 

[jlhorner1974]

I don't have my books with me, but I think that Inner Armor should be an Ex ability invoked as a free action. If it isn't, I think it weakens the ability somewhat. It will be common for Sacred Fists to invoke Inner Armor just for the SR, just like Barbarians do for the extra hit points.

Yes, I would treat Puissant Fists/No Shadow Blows as Ki Strike for purposes for feats, but others may disagree.

For spells, you do get the domain (including the granted power), but you can only prepare those spells in your domain slots unless the spell is on your list already -- just as if you were a straight cleric getting a third domain. I don't think you get a bonus domain spell per level if you have any levels in Cleric already. (Remember, you need to be able to cast divine spells as a prereq.) If you are a Druid or Paladin or Ranger, I think you do get the bonus spells (1 domain slot for each spell level). Maybe someone can back me up on this.

IMO, the SR granted by Inner Armor (1/level of Sacred Fist) is way, way too low. At level 10 in the class, you max out at SR 10? SR 10 fails against a 1st level caster half the time, and you cannot get Inner Armor until you are at least about 15th level (don't remember the prereqs for Sacred Fist, sorry). At 15th level, SR 10 is pretty useless. I strongly think the SR granted by Inner Armor should be something like 15 + Sacred Fist class level. Normally I would say 10 + class level, but this is an ability that is not always active (you have to "turn it on"), and it has a limited (and relatively short) duration.

As for epic progression, tough to say. Inner Armor can probably continue to scale as its normal rate, but it probably isn't necessary. At 10/day, you already have enough to keep it up for almost every time you need it, so the extra uses are marginally useful as it is. Bonus feats are a possibility, but this gets a little boring. Uncanny dodge, possibly, but I would rather leave that to the Rogue.

Which brings me to Puissant Fists. This (and maybe No Shadow Blows) will probably need to change for 3.5 since DR of XX/+Y will no longer exist. Will the Sacred First get to bypass DR as a magic weapon at first level? Will it get upgraded later on? Beating DR and having his fists act as magic weapons as an Ex ability are a powerful feature of this class, and this PrC, more than most, will need some work to be useful again for 3.5, since bypassing DR was such a powerful ability before (under 3.0 rules, an 8th level Sacred Fist with a decent Wisdom could hit almost anything, even Epic monsters that have ridiculous DR like 50/+7)

With the DR changing as it is, the Sacred Fist will have to be overhauled, or Sacred Fist will be significantly weaker after 3.5.