Carl
2013-03-28, 01:18 AM
Alright the inspiration first.
Whilst there are countless variations on the concept of super skilled wielders of a specific weapon. The specific inspiration I chose was the Swordsmasters from Kristen Britan’s Green Rider series. I ignoring the Weapons as much as possible despite hem being the primary Swordsmasters, simply because they are a tiny bit insane in terms of capabilities. Nonetheless there was plenty of good inspirational Material there. One quote that sums up much of what they’re about Nicely is as Follows: “They settled into a level of Swordsmanship bordering on Mastery in which more was achieved-more power, more finesse, more sustained action. It was the stealth and stillness of hunting cats that placed Swordsmasters above all others”. Other sections speak about “Economy of Movement” and “Precision”. Training techniques involve various methods of limiting mobility of certain body parts and a strong emphasis on precision. A Swordsmaster knows how to achieve the required amount of speed or power with the bare minimum of movement. This allows them to sustain a given speed and power for longer whilst wasting less energy per blow on extraneous movements. They can generally through physical training and the same methodology achieve a speed and power nearly unmatchable by an opponent if the wish. Whilst possessing sufficient knowledge of various weapon techniques to recognise and correctly counter them, and in turn know how to throw combinations of blows their opponent will have little hope of stopping. The fact that they are as quick and ready to get out of the way as directly meet a blow doesn’t help. As such you can’t really hope to beat them with a few fancy techniques, or raw strength or speed, because they can use and/or counter all 3. At the same time the emphasise not making mistakes, so you can’t really hope to land a blow without forcing a mistake.
What does that all mean tough in game terms? Well at the core I wanted to create a class that mixed speed, strength and precision equally. SO I focused on emphasising Dex and Strength as stats whilst adjusting BAB mechanics to emphasise fewer precision blows over lots of sloppy ones.
Class Skills
Balance, Intimidate, Listen, Spot
Skills Points at 1st Level: (2 + int)*4
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int
Hit Dice: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Greater Quick Draw, Improved Parrying, Greater Feint
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0|Precise Attacks
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+1|Uncanny Dodge
4th|+2|+1|+4|+1|Evashion
5th|+2|+1|+4|+1|Lashing Strike
6th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Improved Defensive Fighting
7th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Improved Uncanny Dodge
8th|+4|+2|+6|+2|Improved Evasion
9th|+4|+3|+6|+3|Arrow Cutting
10th|+5|+3|+7|+3|Improved Precise Attacks
11th|+5|+3|+7|+3|Fatal Strike, Stunning Blow, Counterattack
12th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Spell Cutting
13th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Follow-Up
14th|+7/+2|+4|+9|+4|Deflection
15th|+7/+2|+5|+9|+5|Improved Attacks of Opportunity
16th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5|Slashing Strikes, Weakening Blow, Perfect Blow
17th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5|
18th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6|
19th|+9/4|+6|+11|+6|Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity
20th|+10/+5|+6|+12|+6|
[/table]
Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: Armsmasters have proficiency in Light, Medium, and Heavy Amour. They also have proficiency in one weapon, (see below under class features, Armsmaster Weapon).
Class Features:
Armsmater Weapon (Ex, Level 1): Armsmaters are proficient in one and only one weapon type. Choose one weapon to be your Armsmaster Weapon. This must be either a one handed, or a two handed melee weapon, but can be from the simple, martial or exotic lists. An armsmaster ignore's racial proficiencies entirely. See the section on multi-classing below for the details of multi-classing on this rule.
Greater Feint (Ex, Level 1): Whilst using your Amsmaster Weapon you may execute a Feint as a free action, and may add your Armsmaster level to your Bluff skill. When an opponent attempts to Feint against you, you may add your Armsmaster level to your Sense Motive Skill.
Improved Parrying (Ex, Level 1): So long as you are wielding only your Armsmaster Weapon in your hand/s you add strength modifier to your AC as a dodge bonus. Note that an Armsmaster wielding two or more weapons still benefits from this ability, but only if all weapons are his/her Armsmaster Weapon type.
Greater Quick Draw (Ex, Level 1): You may sheathe or unsheathe your Armsmaster Weapon/s as an immediate action.
Precise Attacks (Ex, Level 2):: If you’re total Attack roll exceeds the targets AC score when rolling to hit whilst wielding your Armsmaster Weapon you may add the amount by which you exceed the required score to your damage. If wielding a weapon in 2 hands, (but only if using one end for double weapons), you may double this amount. On a critical add the amount by which both rolls exceeded the required score.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex, Level 3): As Rouge et al.
Evasion (Ex, Level 4): As Rouge et al.
Improved Defensive Fighting (Ex, Level 6): So long as you do not utilize your special attacks, (see below), you no longer suffer the usual attack roll penalties for fighting defensively, or for the use of the combat expertise feat.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex, Level 7): As Rouge et al.
Improved Evasion (Ex, Level 8): As Rouge et al.
Arrow Cutting (Ex, Level 9): This function as per the Arrow Deflection feat except that an Armsmaster may only do it with their Armsmaster Weapon instead of with their bare hands.
Improved Precise Attacks (Ex, Level 10): You may add your dexterity modifier to both your attack modifier and your damage when wielding your Armsmaster Weapon. This is in addition to the normal strength modifier. When wielding a weapon in two hands the normal 1.5 times multiplier applies to the damage modifier, and when wielding a weapon in your off hand the normal 0.5 multiplier applies. This replaces Precise Attacks.
Spell Cutting (Ex, Level 12): An Armsmaster may now use their Arrow cutting Ability against a Spell instead of an Arrow. A deflected Spell is negated entirely.
Follow-Up (Ex, Level 13): If an enemy moves out of an Armsmasters threatened square/s, the Armsmaster may immediately take a free move action of his own after the enemy has finished their own movement but before they perform any other actions. He must use this move action to place the enemy back in a threatened square. If they are unable to do so then they may instead make a move action that places them as close as physically possible to said enemy. In addition the Amrsmasters base movement is increased by 10ft.
Deflection (Ex, Level 14): Whilst wielding his Armsmaster Weapon an Armsmaster may declare that he is using this ability against a single melee attack, (after damage has been rolled if applicable). The attack is completely negated and has no effect of any kind. This ability is separate to Arrow Cutting/Spell Cutting. However it also increase the number of Arrows/Spells you may deflect from 1 to 2. Remember however that this is a shared pool, (i.e. 1 arrow and 1 spell, or 2 arrows, or 2 spells. NOT 2 spells and 2 arrows)
Improved Attacks of Opportunity (Ex, Level 15): Feats and abilities, (e.g. defensive casting), that would normally deny an attack of opportunity for an action no longer do so vs the Armsmasters attacks.
Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity (Ex, Level 19): You may now use a single special attack, (see below), instead of an attack of opportunity. There is no limit on how many attacks of opportunity can benefit from this rule but the number of attacks of opportunity you may make are limited as per normal.
Armsmasters and Special Attacks: Armsmasters May utilize any one of the following the place of a standard Attack. They may Utilize 2 as a Full Round action. All are resolved at a full BAB and gain a modifier to the attack roll equal to the characters Armsmaster level.
Lashing Blow (Ex, Level 5): A Lashing Blow is resolved as a single normal attack. However your reach is doubled with a normal weapon and quadrupled with a reach weapon, (so normally 10 and 20 feet respectively).
Fatal Strike (Ex, Level 11): A Fatal Strike is resolved as a normal attack, however if it causes any damage at all the target must make a fortitude save at a DC of 5+half your Armsmaster level or die.
Stunning Blow (Ex, Level 11): A Stunning Blow is resolved as a normal attack, however if it hits the target must make a Fortitude save at 10+half your Armsmaster level or be stunned for a number of rounds equal to half your Armsmaster level.
Counterattack (Ex, Level 11): Conterattack grants you a +8 Dodge Bonus to your AC class until the start of your next round. For every attack attempted by any opponent in melee combat before then that is a miss you may make a single normal attack at your full base attack bonus against that target. This skill replaces the Total Defence Action for the Armsmaster class once acquired.
Slashing Strikes (Ex, Level 16): Resolve 2 attacks at your full base attack modifier and damage against each target within your reach, (no upper limit on the number).
Weakening Blow (Ex, Level 16): Resolve a single attack at your full base attack modifier. If it causes damage the target suffers a -1 modifier to all saves and attack rolls, as well as a -1 modifier to their total AC. They also suffer a -1 modifier to all skill and ability checks. This effect lasts till the end of the encounter and multiple Weakening Blows are cumulative.
Perfect Blow (Ex, Level 16): A Perfect Blow never misses, so do not roll to hit. It also bypasses all forms of Damage Reduction, as well as any other defensive measures that would normally prevent a hit or prevent damage. For the purposes of Greater Precise Attacks, treat it as having exceeded the required score by an amount equal to your Armsmaster Level.
Multi-classing and Armsmasters:
Armsmaster may either use their Armsmaster BAB modifier, (with normal improvements from other classes), with access to the Armsmaster special attacks, (as appropriate for their Armsmaster level), but with no Bonus attacks due to high BAB. Or they may use their combined non Armsmaster BAB with said BAB gaining a +1 modifier for each Armsmaster level. If they do this they may not use their Armsmaster special attacks, but they do gain bonus attacks for high BAB.
A Character multi-classing into Armsmaster must pick a weapon they are already proficient with to be their Armsmaster Weapon.
Now for a summary of each capability and how I see it all fitting together.
The save progression is pretty standard however the BAB progression is very weird. The latter however is offset by how Armsmasters interact vis a vis bonus attacks. Skills are fairly limited. Situational awareness and a couple of other skills that make sense for someone with the level of skill and focus on dexterity as well as strength that an Armsmaster has. Intimidate is kind of obvious why. Skill points are low but that’s fine for a class focused on combat so heavily. Class Ability wise the initial Master Weapon gives them a nice littlie boost to attack and damage whilst making the choice between 2-hander, Dual Wield, or Sword & Board much less dependent on feat expenditures. Greater Feint also helps emphasise the skill side of things by solidly integrating Feint into the Swordsmasters Repertoire. Improved Parrying helps ensure later changes don’t de-emphasise strength too much whilst providing a strong AC boost. At 2nd Level Precise Attacks throws a nice dual use ability at you that can make hitting much easier or let you hit for more damage whilst working the Dex score in as more integral to the overall class. 3Rd and 4th level continue the Dex focusing a bit further whilst improving survival and AC in a verity of situations. 5th levels bring in Greater Quick Draw to let you get your weapon in hand even in surprise situations and the like. The real benefits here though are the Special Atacks. Lashing low is a basic range extending utility attack. Flurry of Blows lets you pick between single powerful strikes, or several weaker one’s, depending on the situation, it’s primarily meant for extreme AC opponents and multiple targets. Overwhelming Blow is your basic, do more damage attack. The main point is it needs to be better across several level ranges, so that as Flurry gets more attacks it doesn’t overshadow it. Definitely an area I need advice in on balance. 6th level brings another powerful defensive boost, albeit you need a feat for full advantage and it limits your ability to use your best attacks. 7th, 8th, and 9th levels bring graded but still nice improvements to several area’s. 10th is where you see the next big jump. Improved Precise attacks means you can get a damage and an attack roll boost at the same time. Which given likely magic item boosting of stats is quite powerful at this point. 11th brings in a nice ranged defence and 3 new special attacks. Counterattack is basically an improved Total Defence since it not only buffs AC by more, but it also makes the enemy not want to attack you in the first place as much, great for those occasions when you need to be really hard to hurt. Stunning Blow is a passable debuff excellent at letting you get some “free” damage in, however it isn’t that hard to save against. Fatal Strike is fairly limited against on level targets, but it’s perfect for dealing with lower level stuff that might not be one shotted by normal attacks so easily. 12th level emphasises the defences again. 13th brings in the first affect that isn’t a direct damage or attack roll, or AC buff. What it does in simple terms is make escaping from an Armsmaster that much harder, you can’t deal with getting wailed on by running away after the fact so easy. It’s either avoid melee to start with or come in equipped to handle it, (or defeat the Armsmaster before he closes). 14th opens up a defence vs spells, albeit a limited one. 15th is probably the first jaw dropper of the upper levels. Given the numerous attack roll bonuses and high BAB at this point a Armsmaster is able to pick up huge amounts of bonus damage rather easily if the target doesn’t have too excessive an AC. 16th brings in yet more reasons to fear the Armsmaster in melee thanks to numerous actions provoking AoO now doing so despite feats or class features. It also brings some new attacks. Slashing strikes is your pure AoE now, it does step on Flurry of Blows a fair bit, but a fair tradeoff at this point IMHO. Weakening Blow is great for those opponents that can worry and threaten you since you can wear them down now over a number of rounds until their weak enough to finish of in some way. And Perfect Blow is a simple answer to all the varied, (mostly spell based), options for going “no you can’t hurt me actually”. It’s not any more powerful than a normal attack per blow. But it gives you a lot more options against unusually well protected targets. 17th level is a bit of a break form the existing power curve, but it’s still handy if a bit overshadowed by this point. 18th brings in a an improvement for the ranged/spell defence and adds a nice powerful melee defence to the mix as well. 19th builds on prior idea’s by making AoO something to live in terror of, you now really don’t want to tackle an Armsmaster head on without being able to directly deal with them. 20th brings in some real punch improvement at the expense of utilising improved defensive fighting, (but you can go counterattack + whatever you want for that now if you've got a full round action available).
That’s said all this capability does produce some concerns. Specifically the interaction between Overwhelming Blow and Greater Precise Attacks and how that then interacts with Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity. Between them that opens some painful amounts of damage output. On the other hand magic users can throw some real AoE and non-direct damage spells out of enormous power. But I’m not sure trying to match them is ideal. I basically want advice on how to revise Flurry of Blows and Overwhelming blow to perform their low level function, without scaling out of control at upper levels, and yet both remaining useful.
EDIT: Update:
Okay made a bunch of changes since my last post. At the request of one poster I’ve added level numbers to each ability and re-worked BAB vs special attacks a fair bit. I also dropped Overwhelming Blow and Flurry because I felt they got a bit redundant. Flurry became meaningless with Slashing Strikes and Overwhelming low and Greater Precise Attacks where filling the same purpose. So I dropped 2 attacks and replaced Precise attacks with the old Greater version. I also threw Master Weapon out as unnecessary at this point. This open up more places to fit things in so a number of abilities moved to new often lower level slots, making them available a littlie earlier.
Some problems have arisen though. I’m now lacking 2 special attacks, I could do with some level appropriate idea’s tbh. I’m also now possessed of insufficient skills to fill out the top third of the class levels, that’s a lot of dead levels tbh.
Still internally debating what to do with skills.
Whilst there are countless variations on the concept of super skilled wielders of a specific weapon. The specific inspiration I chose was the Swordsmasters from Kristen Britan’s Green Rider series. I ignoring the Weapons as much as possible despite hem being the primary Swordsmasters, simply because they are a tiny bit insane in terms of capabilities. Nonetheless there was plenty of good inspirational Material there. One quote that sums up much of what they’re about Nicely is as Follows: “They settled into a level of Swordsmanship bordering on Mastery in which more was achieved-more power, more finesse, more sustained action. It was the stealth and stillness of hunting cats that placed Swordsmasters above all others”. Other sections speak about “Economy of Movement” and “Precision”. Training techniques involve various methods of limiting mobility of certain body parts and a strong emphasis on precision. A Swordsmaster knows how to achieve the required amount of speed or power with the bare minimum of movement. This allows them to sustain a given speed and power for longer whilst wasting less energy per blow on extraneous movements. They can generally through physical training and the same methodology achieve a speed and power nearly unmatchable by an opponent if the wish. Whilst possessing sufficient knowledge of various weapon techniques to recognise and correctly counter them, and in turn know how to throw combinations of blows their opponent will have little hope of stopping. The fact that they are as quick and ready to get out of the way as directly meet a blow doesn’t help. As such you can’t really hope to beat them with a few fancy techniques, or raw strength or speed, because they can use and/or counter all 3. At the same time the emphasise not making mistakes, so you can’t really hope to land a blow without forcing a mistake.
What does that all mean tough in game terms? Well at the core I wanted to create a class that mixed speed, strength and precision equally. SO I focused on emphasising Dex and Strength as stats whilst adjusting BAB mechanics to emphasise fewer precision blows over lots of sloppy ones.
Class Skills
Balance, Intimidate, Listen, Spot
Skills Points at 1st Level: (2 + int)*4
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int
Hit Dice: d8
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+0|+0|+2|+0|Greater Quick Draw, Improved Parrying, Greater Feint
2nd|+1|+0|+3|+0|Precise Attacks
3rd|+1|+1|+3|+1|Uncanny Dodge
4th|+2|+1|+4|+1|Evashion
5th|+2|+1|+4|+1|Lashing Strike
6th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Improved Defensive Fighting
7th|+3|+2|+5|+2|Improved Uncanny Dodge
8th|+4|+2|+6|+2|Improved Evasion
9th|+4|+3|+6|+3|Arrow Cutting
10th|+5|+3|+7|+3|Improved Precise Attacks
11th|+5|+3|+7|+3|Fatal Strike, Stunning Blow, Counterattack
12th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Spell Cutting
13th|+6/+1|+4|+8|+4|Follow-Up
14th|+7/+2|+4|+9|+4|Deflection
15th|+7/+2|+5|+9|+5|Improved Attacks of Opportunity
16th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5|Slashing Strikes, Weakening Blow, Perfect Blow
17th|+8/+3|+5|+10|+5|
18th|+9/+4|+6|+11|+6|
19th|+9/4|+6|+11|+6|Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity
20th|+10/+5|+6|+12|+6|
[/table]
Weapon & Armor Proficiencies: Armsmasters have proficiency in Light, Medium, and Heavy Amour. They also have proficiency in one weapon, (see below under class features, Armsmaster Weapon).
Class Features:
Armsmater Weapon (Ex, Level 1): Armsmaters are proficient in one and only one weapon type. Choose one weapon to be your Armsmaster Weapon. This must be either a one handed, or a two handed melee weapon, but can be from the simple, martial or exotic lists. An armsmaster ignore's racial proficiencies entirely. See the section on multi-classing below for the details of multi-classing on this rule.
Greater Feint (Ex, Level 1): Whilst using your Amsmaster Weapon you may execute a Feint as a free action, and may add your Armsmaster level to your Bluff skill. When an opponent attempts to Feint against you, you may add your Armsmaster level to your Sense Motive Skill.
Improved Parrying (Ex, Level 1): So long as you are wielding only your Armsmaster Weapon in your hand/s you add strength modifier to your AC as a dodge bonus. Note that an Armsmaster wielding two or more weapons still benefits from this ability, but only if all weapons are his/her Armsmaster Weapon type.
Greater Quick Draw (Ex, Level 1): You may sheathe or unsheathe your Armsmaster Weapon/s as an immediate action.
Precise Attacks (Ex, Level 2):: If you’re total Attack roll exceeds the targets AC score when rolling to hit whilst wielding your Armsmaster Weapon you may add the amount by which you exceed the required score to your damage. If wielding a weapon in 2 hands, (but only if using one end for double weapons), you may double this amount. On a critical add the amount by which both rolls exceeded the required score.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex, Level 3): As Rouge et al.
Evasion (Ex, Level 4): As Rouge et al.
Improved Defensive Fighting (Ex, Level 6): So long as you do not utilize your special attacks, (see below), you no longer suffer the usual attack roll penalties for fighting defensively, or for the use of the combat expertise feat.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex, Level 7): As Rouge et al.
Improved Evasion (Ex, Level 8): As Rouge et al.
Arrow Cutting (Ex, Level 9): This function as per the Arrow Deflection feat except that an Armsmaster may only do it with their Armsmaster Weapon instead of with their bare hands.
Improved Precise Attacks (Ex, Level 10): You may add your dexterity modifier to both your attack modifier and your damage when wielding your Armsmaster Weapon. This is in addition to the normal strength modifier. When wielding a weapon in two hands the normal 1.5 times multiplier applies to the damage modifier, and when wielding a weapon in your off hand the normal 0.5 multiplier applies. This replaces Precise Attacks.
Spell Cutting (Ex, Level 12): An Armsmaster may now use their Arrow cutting Ability against a Spell instead of an Arrow. A deflected Spell is negated entirely.
Follow-Up (Ex, Level 13): If an enemy moves out of an Armsmasters threatened square/s, the Armsmaster may immediately take a free move action of his own after the enemy has finished their own movement but before they perform any other actions. He must use this move action to place the enemy back in a threatened square. If they are unable to do so then they may instead make a move action that places them as close as physically possible to said enemy. In addition the Amrsmasters base movement is increased by 10ft.
Deflection (Ex, Level 14): Whilst wielding his Armsmaster Weapon an Armsmaster may declare that he is using this ability against a single melee attack, (after damage has been rolled if applicable). The attack is completely negated and has no effect of any kind. This ability is separate to Arrow Cutting/Spell Cutting. However it also increase the number of Arrows/Spells you may deflect from 1 to 2. Remember however that this is a shared pool, (i.e. 1 arrow and 1 spell, or 2 arrows, or 2 spells. NOT 2 spells and 2 arrows)
Improved Attacks of Opportunity (Ex, Level 15): Feats and abilities, (e.g. defensive casting), that would normally deny an attack of opportunity for an action no longer do so vs the Armsmasters attacks.
Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity (Ex, Level 19): You may now use a single special attack, (see below), instead of an attack of opportunity. There is no limit on how many attacks of opportunity can benefit from this rule but the number of attacks of opportunity you may make are limited as per normal.
Armsmasters and Special Attacks: Armsmasters May utilize any one of the following the place of a standard Attack. They may Utilize 2 as a Full Round action. All are resolved at a full BAB and gain a modifier to the attack roll equal to the characters Armsmaster level.
Lashing Blow (Ex, Level 5): A Lashing Blow is resolved as a single normal attack. However your reach is doubled with a normal weapon and quadrupled with a reach weapon, (so normally 10 and 20 feet respectively).
Fatal Strike (Ex, Level 11): A Fatal Strike is resolved as a normal attack, however if it causes any damage at all the target must make a fortitude save at a DC of 5+half your Armsmaster level or die.
Stunning Blow (Ex, Level 11): A Stunning Blow is resolved as a normal attack, however if it hits the target must make a Fortitude save at 10+half your Armsmaster level or be stunned for a number of rounds equal to half your Armsmaster level.
Counterattack (Ex, Level 11): Conterattack grants you a +8 Dodge Bonus to your AC class until the start of your next round. For every attack attempted by any opponent in melee combat before then that is a miss you may make a single normal attack at your full base attack bonus against that target. This skill replaces the Total Defence Action for the Armsmaster class once acquired.
Slashing Strikes (Ex, Level 16): Resolve 2 attacks at your full base attack modifier and damage against each target within your reach, (no upper limit on the number).
Weakening Blow (Ex, Level 16): Resolve a single attack at your full base attack modifier. If it causes damage the target suffers a -1 modifier to all saves and attack rolls, as well as a -1 modifier to their total AC. They also suffer a -1 modifier to all skill and ability checks. This effect lasts till the end of the encounter and multiple Weakening Blows are cumulative.
Perfect Blow (Ex, Level 16): A Perfect Blow never misses, so do not roll to hit. It also bypasses all forms of Damage Reduction, as well as any other defensive measures that would normally prevent a hit or prevent damage. For the purposes of Greater Precise Attacks, treat it as having exceeded the required score by an amount equal to your Armsmaster Level.
Multi-classing and Armsmasters:
Armsmaster may either use their Armsmaster BAB modifier, (with normal improvements from other classes), with access to the Armsmaster special attacks, (as appropriate for their Armsmaster level), but with no Bonus attacks due to high BAB. Or they may use their combined non Armsmaster BAB with said BAB gaining a +1 modifier for each Armsmaster level. If they do this they may not use their Armsmaster special attacks, but they do gain bonus attacks for high BAB.
A Character multi-classing into Armsmaster must pick a weapon they are already proficient with to be their Armsmaster Weapon.
Now for a summary of each capability and how I see it all fitting together.
The save progression is pretty standard however the BAB progression is very weird. The latter however is offset by how Armsmasters interact vis a vis bonus attacks. Skills are fairly limited. Situational awareness and a couple of other skills that make sense for someone with the level of skill and focus on dexterity as well as strength that an Armsmaster has. Intimidate is kind of obvious why. Skill points are low but that’s fine for a class focused on combat so heavily. Class Ability wise the initial Master Weapon gives them a nice littlie boost to attack and damage whilst making the choice between 2-hander, Dual Wield, or Sword & Board much less dependent on feat expenditures. Greater Feint also helps emphasise the skill side of things by solidly integrating Feint into the Swordsmasters Repertoire. Improved Parrying helps ensure later changes don’t de-emphasise strength too much whilst providing a strong AC boost. At 2nd Level Precise Attacks throws a nice dual use ability at you that can make hitting much easier or let you hit for more damage whilst working the Dex score in as more integral to the overall class. 3Rd and 4th level continue the Dex focusing a bit further whilst improving survival and AC in a verity of situations. 5th levels bring in Greater Quick Draw to let you get your weapon in hand even in surprise situations and the like. The real benefits here though are the Special Atacks. Lashing low is a basic range extending utility attack. Flurry of Blows lets you pick between single powerful strikes, or several weaker one’s, depending on the situation, it’s primarily meant for extreme AC opponents and multiple targets. Overwhelming Blow is your basic, do more damage attack. The main point is it needs to be better across several level ranges, so that as Flurry gets more attacks it doesn’t overshadow it. Definitely an area I need advice in on balance. 6th level brings another powerful defensive boost, albeit you need a feat for full advantage and it limits your ability to use your best attacks. 7th, 8th, and 9th levels bring graded but still nice improvements to several area’s. 10th is where you see the next big jump. Improved Precise attacks means you can get a damage and an attack roll boost at the same time. Which given likely magic item boosting of stats is quite powerful at this point. 11th brings in a nice ranged defence and 3 new special attacks. Counterattack is basically an improved Total Defence since it not only buffs AC by more, but it also makes the enemy not want to attack you in the first place as much, great for those occasions when you need to be really hard to hurt. Stunning Blow is a passable debuff excellent at letting you get some “free” damage in, however it isn’t that hard to save against. Fatal Strike is fairly limited against on level targets, but it’s perfect for dealing with lower level stuff that might not be one shotted by normal attacks so easily. 12th level emphasises the defences again. 13th brings in the first affect that isn’t a direct damage or attack roll, or AC buff. What it does in simple terms is make escaping from an Armsmaster that much harder, you can’t deal with getting wailed on by running away after the fact so easy. It’s either avoid melee to start with or come in equipped to handle it, (or defeat the Armsmaster before he closes). 14th opens up a defence vs spells, albeit a limited one. 15th is probably the first jaw dropper of the upper levels. Given the numerous attack roll bonuses and high BAB at this point a Armsmaster is able to pick up huge amounts of bonus damage rather easily if the target doesn’t have too excessive an AC. 16th brings in yet more reasons to fear the Armsmaster in melee thanks to numerous actions provoking AoO now doing so despite feats or class features. It also brings some new attacks. Slashing strikes is your pure AoE now, it does step on Flurry of Blows a fair bit, but a fair tradeoff at this point IMHO. Weakening Blow is great for those opponents that can worry and threaten you since you can wear them down now over a number of rounds until their weak enough to finish of in some way. And Perfect Blow is a simple answer to all the varied, (mostly spell based), options for going “no you can’t hurt me actually”. It’s not any more powerful than a normal attack per blow. But it gives you a lot more options against unusually well protected targets. 17th level is a bit of a break form the existing power curve, but it’s still handy if a bit overshadowed by this point. 18th brings in a an improvement for the ranged/spell defence and adds a nice powerful melee defence to the mix as well. 19th builds on prior idea’s by making AoO something to live in terror of, you now really don’t want to tackle an Armsmaster head on without being able to directly deal with them. 20th brings in some real punch improvement at the expense of utilising improved defensive fighting, (but you can go counterattack + whatever you want for that now if you've got a full round action available).
That’s said all this capability does produce some concerns. Specifically the interaction between Overwhelming Blow and Greater Precise Attacks and how that then interacts with Greater Improved Attacks of Opportunity. Between them that opens some painful amounts of damage output. On the other hand magic users can throw some real AoE and non-direct damage spells out of enormous power. But I’m not sure trying to match them is ideal. I basically want advice on how to revise Flurry of Blows and Overwhelming blow to perform their low level function, without scaling out of control at upper levels, and yet both remaining useful.
EDIT: Update:
Okay made a bunch of changes since my last post. At the request of one poster I’ve added level numbers to each ability and re-worked BAB vs special attacks a fair bit. I also dropped Overwhelming Blow and Flurry because I felt they got a bit redundant. Flurry became meaningless with Slashing Strikes and Overwhelming low and Greater Precise Attacks where filling the same purpose. So I dropped 2 attacks and replaced Precise attacks with the old Greater version. I also threw Master Weapon out as unnecessary at this point. This open up more places to fit things in so a number of abilities moved to new often lower level slots, making them available a littlie earlier.
Some problems have arisen though. I’m now lacking 2 special attacks, I could do with some level appropriate idea’s tbh. I’m also now possessed of insufficient skills to fill out the top third of the class levels, that’s a lot of dead levels tbh.
Still internally debating what to do with skills.