CinuzIta
2013-12-07, 12:24 PM
Hello all!
I've created this class just for fun and I'd like to hear some comments on it:)
The Sword Saint
http://www.oocities.org/mamokat/DnD/redgar.jpg
"The best techniques are passed on by the survivors..."
―Gaiden Shinji, Sword Saint
A Sword Saint is a swordsman who has reached a peak of unmatched skill in the use of his weapon of choice, switching between different combat styles in order to face different situations at best.
Prerequisites
Bab: +8
Feats: Combat Focus, Improved Critical (Any sword), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Any sword).
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills: The Sword Saint’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (History) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at each Level: 4+Int modifier
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Battle Instinct, Combat Styles
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Strong Arms, Uncanny Dodge
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Unerring Strike
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Gash, Improved Uncanny Dodge
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Weapon Mastery[/table]
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: sword saints are proficient with all simple and martial weapons.
Battle Instinct (Ex): The sword saint gains a bonus equal to +1/class level to his initiative. Moreover, once per round, when he would normally be hit with a melee weapon or natural attack, he may parry it so that he take no damage from it. He must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to parry a melee weapon or natural attack doesn't count as an action. The sword saint cannot parry attacks made from creatures that are more then one step bigger then him. A sword saint can parry an additional attack per round at 5th level.
Combat Styles: Sword saints use two different kind of combat styles. Each of these provide different kind of bonuses. Combat styles can only be used if the sword saint is wielding a sword one handed or two handed and he cannot use shields that require the use of the other hand.
The sword saint can change combat style with a move action.
The combat styles are:
Strong Style: To use this style the sword saint must wield his sword two handed. The bonus provided by the Power Attack feat increases by .5 times. (e.g. a sword saint wielding a longsword with one hand who takes a -2 penalty to attack roll will receive a +3 bonus on damage rolls; if the same sword saint would have wielded his longsword two handed, the bonus would have been +6). While using this combat style, the sword saint is considered to be in possess of the Great Cleave feat and can take a 5-foot step between attacks when using the Cleave or Great Cleave feat. He is still limited to one such adjustment per round, so he cannot use this ability during a round in which he has already taken a 5-foot step.
Swift Style: To use this style the sword saint must wield his sword one handed. When the sword saint take a full round attack action, he may take a 5 foot step that doesn't provoke attack of opportunity between one attack and another. This free steps cannot exceed his maximum speed. When he reach his maximum speed he stops where he is, but he can still finish his attack action. He also gain another attack at his maximum base attack bonus when taking a full round attack action but at a -2 penalty on the attack roll. This extra attack stacks with that provided by haste and similar effects.
Strong Arms (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, the sword saint add 1.5 times his Strenght modifier to damage rolls made when wielding a sword one handed and 2 times his Strenght modifier to damage rolls made made when wielding a sword two handed.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a sword saint can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a sword saint already has uncanny dodge from a different class (a sword saint with at least two levels of barbarian, for example), he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.
Unerring Strike (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, the sword saint's mastery in swords fight prevent him to fall into the normal limits of other swordsmen. He no longer automatically fails an attack roll on a roll of 1. He might still fail the attack if his result fails to equal or beat the enemy's AC.
Gash (Ex): At 4th level and higher, the sword saint's attacks are so powerful that not even the hardiest opponent can resist them. The sword saint ignore 10 points of enemies' damage reduction, except for DR/Epic.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A sword saint of 4th level or higher can no longer be flanked; he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker. This defense denies to a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
Weapon Mastery (Ex): At 5th level, the sword saint truly becomes a master in the use of his sword of choice. A 5th level sword saint choose one kind of sword that can be wielded both one and two handed, such as longsword, bastard sword, great sword or scimitar. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example). In addition, he cannot be disarmed while wielding a weapon of this type.
---
I was also considering the possibility of adding in some special techniques tied to combat styles, usable a certain number of times per encounter (something like ToB maneuvers) but I couldn't think of something particulary innovative for the techniques: so far they were just feat and spells adaptations. If you guys have any idea (that is not "just go with ToB"), I'd like to hear it:)
I've created this class just for fun and I'd like to hear some comments on it:)
The Sword Saint
http://www.oocities.org/mamokat/DnD/redgar.jpg
"The best techniques are passed on by the survivors..."
―Gaiden Shinji, Sword Saint
A Sword Saint is a swordsman who has reached a peak of unmatched skill in the use of his weapon of choice, switching between different combat styles in order to face different situations at best.
Prerequisites
Bab: +8
Feats: Combat Focus, Improved Critical (Any sword), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Any sword).
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills: The Sword Saint’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (History) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at each Level: 4+Int modifier
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+2|Battle Instinct, Combat Styles
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+3|Strong Arms, Uncanny Dodge
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+3|Unerring Strike
4th|+4|+4|+1|+4|Gash, Improved Uncanny Dodge
5th|+5|+4|+1|+4|Weapon Mastery[/table]
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: sword saints are proficient with all simple and martial weapons.
Battle Instinct (Ex): The sword saint gains a bonus equal to +1/class level to his initiative. Moreover, once per round, when he would normally be hit with a melee weapon or natural attack, he may parry it so that he take no damage from it. He must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to parry a melee weapon or natural attack doesn't count as an action. The sword saint cannot parry attacks made from creatures that are more then one step bigger then him. A sword saint can parry an additional attack per round at 5th level.
Combat Styles: Sword saints use two different kind of combat styles. Each of these provide different kind of bonuses. Combat styles can only be used if the sword saint is wielding a sword one handed or two handed and he cannot use shields that require the use of the other hand.
The sword saint can change combat style with a move action.
The combat styles are:
Strong Style: To use this style the sword saint must wield his sword two handed. The bonus provided by the Power Attack feat increases by .5 times. (e.g. a sword saint wielding a longsword with one hand who takes a -2 penalty to attack roll will receive a +3 bonus on damage rolls; if the same sword saint would have wielded his longsword two handed, the bonus would have been +6). While using this combat style, the sword saint is considered to be in possess of the Great Cleave feat and can take a 5-foot step between attacks when using the Cleave or Great Cleave feat. He is still limited to one such adjustment per round, so he cannot use this ability during a round in which he has already taken a 5-foot step.
Swift Style: To use this style the sword saint must wield his sword one handed. When the sword saint take a full round attack action, he may take a 5 foot step that doesn't provoke attack of opportunity between one attack and another. This free steps cannot exceed his maximum speed. When he reach his maximum speed he stops where he is, but he can still finish his attack action. He also gain another attack at his maximum base attack bonus when taking a full round attack action but at a -2 penalty on the attack roll. This extra attack stacks with that provided by haste and similar effects.
Strong Arms (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, the sword saint add 1.5 times his Strenght modifier to damage rolls made when wielding a sword one handed and 2 times his Strenght modifier to damage rolls made made when wielding a sword two handed.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a sword saint can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a sword saint already has uncanny dodge from a different class (a sword saint with at least two levels of barbarian, for example), he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.
Unerring Strike (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, the sword saint's mastery in swords fight prevent him to fall into the normal limits of other swordsmen. He no longer automatically fails an attack roll on a roll of 1. He might still fail the attack if his result fails to equal or beat the enemy's AC.
Gash (Ex): At 4th level and higher, the sword saint's attacks are so powerful that not even the hardiest opponent can resist them. The sword saint ignore 10 points of enemies' damage reduction, except for DR/Epic.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): A sword saint of 4th level or higher can no longer be flanked; he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker. This defense denies to a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more levels than the target does.
If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.
Weapon Mastery (Ex): At 5th level, the sword saint truly becomes a master in the use of his sword of choice. A 5th level sword saint choose one kind of sword that can be wielded both one and two handed, such as longsword, bastard sword, great sword or scimitar. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example). In addition, he cannot be disarmed while wielding a weapon of this type.
---
I was also considering the possibility of adding in some special techniques tied to combat styles, usable a certain number of times per encounter (something like ToB maneuvers) but I couldn't think of something particulary innovative for the techniques: so far they were just feat and spells adaptations. If you guys have any idea (that is not "just go with ToB"), I'd like to hear it:)