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View Full Version : An alternative way to become a Drunken Master



Cain2005
2006-10-31, 01:15 PM
I been thinking about it, and the class Drunken Master is actually a great class, and its funny. This idea came from a great that I DM in my high school.

If a player rolls a critical failure (a 1 on the d20), and then rolls a critical success on the second roll (20 on the d20) that player may roll again, and if they get another critical success, they are allow to gain a level in Drunken Master.

My logic behind it is, the character just make a mistake, but in the act of making the blunder, he/she caused something to go right. In the example of my game in high school, a monk attacked a guard, and rolled a 1, I told the player to roll again to see how bad of a mistake he made, he rolls and gets a 20 this time. I then thought, that means he missed by catch himself, he might be able to attack again, so I told the player to roll a third time, and he rolled another 20. This means that the monks missed with his intended attack, but still connected with the foe while trying to catch himself. After the game, I was looking through a book which contain Drunken Master, and it told about its fighting style, which was like the way the monk had frought at the time.

So this idea was born, and now I put it before you to see what D&D thinks of it.

Halcyon_Dax
2006-10-31, 03:29 PM
Ehhhhhhh.....

No?

I guess i can see some logic behind it, but what? If someone rolls a crit fail and then 2 crit sucesses they are suddenly elegible to learn an entirely new fighting style? So would they automatically gain a level in the class, or just be eligble at next level up?

Eh....

Wizzardman
2006-10-31, 03:50 PM
Eh... I dunno.

It sounds like an interesting idea, but it probably doesn't really fit the Drunken Master class as it is now.

Also... so the class' only requirements are based on sheer random chance? All right, so what if the player really wants to get into the class, but is never so lucky? Or what if the player just writes that he performed such an odd manuever in his backstory?

I can see where you get the idea for benefiting from rolling that well, but... getting a new class becasue of it just seems a little weird.

Cain2005
2006-11-02, 01:06 PM
Well, I was not stating that should be the only way to get the class, players can still become Dunken master the normal way but I thought that could be a way to get it through role-playing. I mean the drunken master style of fighting is to make it look like your making mistakes, so lowering your foe guard, before attacking.

Yes, this method is more based on luck then anything else, maybe instead of gaining a level, the player gets some sort of bonus because of this luckly roll. Maybe they gain something that may allow them to gain some of the benefits of a drunken master, without actually have a level in it.

What do you think?

TheOOB
2006-11-02, 04:15 PM
Remember, druken masters fighting style is not based on luck or chance, heck, you don't even need to be drunk to use drunken boxing. Drunken boxing is all about making your movements seem erratic and sloppy, without acually being erratic and sloppy. Most opponents arn't used to fighting opponents who stumble around as if they where drunk, and thus they cannot properly defend agienst those opponents.

As with any monk based PrC, the drunken master isn't about inate skill or raw talent, its about long periods of strict training and pratice.

Macrovore
2006-11-02, 06:14 PM
and massive amounts of alcohol consumption. always a fun time.

LordOfNarf
2006-11-02, 06:23 PM
From a mathematical standpoint, thats a 1 in 8000 chance, thats the kind of statistical fluke that happens so rarly that you shouldn't base anything important on it.

sphing
2006-11-05, 11:54 PM
I never really liked the drunken master class, as pointed out in comic #209(yes i havfe a wierd memory), not every aspect of a character has to be defined by class. If a character uses drunken boxing which is very similar to unarmed fighitn already, a couple of well chosen feats should be able to represent that. I think character classes should be for introducing different concepts, yes the drunken master does have some unique abilities but it is one of those prestige classes which seems exessive.
And no i dnon't thin anyone should gain teh ability to gain levels in a class jsut beucase of one random role.

Pegasos989
2006-11-06, 10:02 AM
I never really liked the drunken master class, as pointed out in comic #209(yes i havfe a wierd memory), not every aspect of a character has to be defined by class. If a character uses drunken boxing which is very similar to unarmed fighitn already, a couple of well chosen feats should be able to represent that. I think character classes should be for introducing different concepts, yes the drunken master does have some unique abilities but it is one of those prestige classes which seems exessive.
And no i dnon't thin anyone should gain teh ability to gain levels in a class jsut beucase of one random role.


Well... yeah. If you just want to play character using drunken boxing, play normal monk: the bonuses to ac, unarmed fighting... All are already in-built.

The PrC is for those whose goals weren't already in existing classes.

Jimp
2006-11-06, 11:49 AM
Watch the movie Drunken Master and you will see how much work it took the lead character (a young Jackie Chan no less) to learn the Drunken Master fighting styles. As previously stated by others, the style is not based on luck or chance but rather fooling your opponent with sloppy, erratic or staggering movements and then using this false sense of security to launch surprising attacks against them.
A 1 in 8000 chance (too low if you ask me) to learn an entirely new fighting style which does require forethought, practice and certain levels of playing mind games with your opponent? I would say a definate no.

Cain2005
2006-11-06, 03:14 PM
*Cain sighs* Well, it was worth a shot, I did not mean to offend anyone, just throwing a idea out there.