Sindeloke
2014-11-17, 11:47 AM
I'm having this issue updating my setting for 5e, and I'm hoping you guys can help me out. In this setting, there are two varieties of unarmed, unarmored warriors. In 3rd, I statted both of them out as monks, using ACFs to differentiate their vastly different practices.
The first, in the southern deserts (a sort of hybridized Aztec/Ancient Egypt culture), is a martial tradition that arose out of the secret rebellion of an oppressed underclass. Its practitioners were forbidden weapons or armor, so they learned to fight lethally with farm implements and bare hands. They were trying to protect themselves from and eventually overthrow powerful mages, so they developed supernatural self-discipline that helped them throw off enemy magic. Their signature abilities and style were basically the default monk with a bit of balance fixing: very fast movement and skirmishing, high evasiveness, magic resistance, pouncing flurries of strikes at overwhelming speed. They tended to emphasize weapon+fist combos, stuns/dazes/other condition debuffs, and acrobatics/stealth.
The second, in the northern taiga (a sort of mishmash Apache/Viking/orc culture), is a martial tradition that rose out of bravado and crazy, basically. Its practitioners were too macho for their own good and had some strong opinions on the spirituality of punching things while standing naked in the cold, so they went out and learned how to survive negative thirty wind chill and wrestle bears through sheer cussedness. Their signature ability was an aura of either flame or cold, which gave them elemental resistance, did cold or fire damage to anyone they touched or who touched them, and could be sort of kamehameha'd at distant foes. They focused on sacrificing full attacks for single powerful blows, enduring damage with DR and high hit points rather than evading it, and were basically designed to bull rush storm giants off the side of a glacier with a single punch or grapple ancient dragons into submission. They were great at athletics and had a lot of insight and spiritual resilience.
The southern group maps pretty well to both Open Hand and Shadow monks, I think; I'd just have to swap Sun and Moon for something less kung-fu-mysticism and say they're both legit sub-traditions. The northern group, though, I cannot even begin to place. Different monk subclass? The presence of Flurry and Empty Body in the base class is too counter to the very physical, present, one-hit theme. (Also I have an irrational hatred of Ki and don't want to work with it.) Fighter subclass? Four attacks per round is even worse. Barbarian subclass? Actually sounds pretty good, it's got the big-hits theme and resilience, and rage could turn into the flame aura, but given the strength of the base class I'm not sure there's room for grapple+shove bonuses plus unarmed attack progression plus flame aura in a subclass. New class entirely? A lot of work and a lot harder to balance and I can't even think of two subclasses I could make for it, unless I ditched monk entirely and put both desert and taiga disciplines together.
I dunno. I'm leaning toward barbarian at the moment, I guess, but I eagerly solicit ideas and convictions on the matter that are stronger than my own indecisive confusion.
The first, in the southern deserts (a sort of hybridized Aztec/Ancient Egypt culture), is a martial tradition that arose out of the secret rebellion of an oppressed underclass. Its practitioners were forbidden weapons or armor, so they learned to fight lethally with farm implements and bare hands. They were trying to protect themselves from and eventually overthrow powerful mages, so they developed supernatural self-discipline that helped them throw off enemy magic. Their signature abilities and style were basically the default monk with a bit of balance fixing: very fast movement and skirmishing, high evasiveness, magic resistance, pouncing flurries of strikes at overwhelming speed. They tended to emphasize weapon+fist combos, stuns/dazes/other condition debuffs, and acrobatics/stealth.
The second, in the northern taiga (a sort of mishmash Apache/Viking/orc culture), is a martial tradition that rose out of bravado and crazy, basically. Its practitioners were too macho for their own good and had some strong opinions on the spirituality of punching things while standing naked in the cold, so they went out and learned how to survive negative thirty wind chill and wrestle bears through sheer cussedness. Their signature ability was an aura of either flame or cold, which gave them elemental resistance, did cold or fire damage to anyone they touched or who touched them, and could be sort of kamehameha'd at distant foes. They focused on sacrificing full attacks for single powerful blows, enduring damage with DR and high hit points rather than evading it, and were basically designed to bull rush storm giants off the side of a glacier with a single punch or grapple ancient dragons into submission. They were great at athletics and had a lot of insight and spiritual resilience.
The southern group maps pretty well to both Open Hand and Shadow monks, I think; I'd just have to swap Sun and Moon for something less kung-fu-mysticism and say they're both legit sub-traditions. The northern group, though, I cannot even begin to place. Different monk subclass? The presence of Flurry and Empty Body in the base class is too counter to the very physical, present, one-hit theme. (Also I have an irrational hatred of Ki and don't want to work with it.) Fighter subclass? Four attacks per round is even worse. Barbarian subclass? Actually sounds pretty good, it's got the big-hits theme and resilience, and rage could turn into the flame aura, but given the strength of the base class I'm not sure there's room for grapple+shove bonuses plus unarmed attack progression plus flame aura in a subclass. New class entirely? A lot of work and a lot harder to balance and I can't even think of two subclasses I could make for it, unless I ditched monk entirely and put both desert and taiga disciplines together.
I dunno. I'm leaning toward barbarian at the moment, I guess, but I eagerly solicit ideas and convictions on the matter that are stronger than my own indecisive confusion.