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TwinSteel
2007-12-12, 02:12 AM
Greetings,
The monks in my setting have some distinct background differences from those of the core. To incorporate those and add flexibility to note the many different monasteries of the setting, I've altered the regular monk. My goal is not to compare this to the original monk class, as a more central goal for this monk is to stun his opponents so as to allow the party to wail away on non responsive foes. One of the changes that might not be immediately obvious is the use of stun attempts as a type of pool to draw from similar to Power Points. Several of the core monk's per day abilities are powered here by stun attempts.

So I submit to you this class to balance mechanically in terms of its central ability (stunning fist and all its other paths) and placement in a 5 party group. If either Improved Natural Attack, Polymorph (or the like), or enchanted gauntlets affect your decision, please omit them. They are a non issue for the purposes of this discussion.

The class receives most of the monk’s abilities; however, they do not receive the 1/5 level armor bonus as well as a few other abilities a standard monk has. You may also notice that the Soul Strike/Ki Strike ability has been returned to a +1 to +5 scale. Please note that this for the purposes of your calculation, "magic" may replace the "+1", "+3", and "+5" if it bothers you. In general, this class follows the monk fairly closely, however there are some differences. If there seems to be a mistake, fixing that is also part of this "balancing" process.


Monk
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+2|
+2|
+2|Special Strike, Fighting Style I, Stunning Fist, Unarmed Strike

2nd|
+1|
+3|
+3|
+3|Fighting Style II, Evasion

3rd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Intuitive Melee OR Intuitive Ranged

4th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+4|Soul Strike (+1), Slow Fall OR Speed Climb

5th|
+3|
+4|
+4|
+4|Stun Feat, Still Mind

6th|
+4|
+5|
+5|
+5|Fighting Style III

7th|
+5|
+5|
+5|
+5|Stun Feat, Purity of Body

8th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+6|
+6|

9th|
+6/+1|
+6|
+6|
+6|Stun Feat, Improved Evasion

10th|
+7/+2|
+7|
+7|
+7|Soul Strike (+3, Lawful)

11th|
+8/+3|
+7|
+7|
+7|Stun Feat

12th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+8|
+8|Abundant Step

13th|
+9/+4|
+8|
+8|
+8|Stun Feat, Diamond Soul

14th|
+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+9|
+9|Stun Feat, Quivering Palm

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10| Soul Strike (+5, Lawful, Adamantine)

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Stun Feat, Timeless Body

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11|

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Stun Feat, Empty Body

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Perfect Self[/table]



Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
Monks are proficient with the club, crossbow (light, heavy), dagger (punching)*, gauntlets* (using standard gauntlet damage), handaxe, javelin, kama*, quarterstaff*, shuriken*, siangham*, sickle*, and sling. She may use weapons marked with an asterisk (*) as part or whole of a Flurry of Blows. The monk is proficient with light armor, however when wearing any heavier armor or shields, she loses many of her abilities. When wearing armor heavier than light or carrying a medium or heavy load, the monk loses her AC bonus, Fast Movement, and Special Strike.

AC Bonus (Ex)
When unencumbered and not wearing heavier than light armor, the monk may add her wisdom bonus to AC. This bonus applies even against touch attacks and when the monk is flat-footed. The bonus does not apply when the monk is immobilized or helpless, carrying a medium or heavy load, wearing heavier than light armor, or when she carries a shield.

Improved Speed (Ex)
Monks retain the same speed progression as in the PHB.

Special Strike
At first level, the monk learns to perform either a Flurry of Blows (PHB) or a Decisive Strike (PHBII). If Flurry of Blows is chosen, the ability improves to Greater Flurry at level 11 (PHB). The ability also improves at level 8 to allow the monk to perform the first two attacks in a flurry as pert of a charge instead of only a single attack. At level 3, Flurry of Blows improves to negate the standard limit of one Stunning Fist attempt per round. The monk may make as many attempts as she desires, within her limit of uses, in a round. Thus, a level 15 monk with eight Stunning Fist attempts remaining may perform five attempts (the number of attacks she may perform in her flurry). The following round, the monk may only perform three attempts even though she may make five attacks. The standard Stunning Fist limitation is lifted only when performing a Flurry of Blows or a Partial Flurry of Blows.

Fighting Style
The variant in the Unearthed Arcana that affects levels 1, 2, and 6.

Stunning Fist
The monk receives Stunning Fist as the feat at first level. The DC to save against any stunning fist attempts increases by one for every two attempts the monk has used, to a maximum of +5. For example, if a monk has 6 stun attempts remaining from her maximum of 9 and attempts a stunning attack, her total attempts in reserve fall to 5 and she receives a +2 to the DC of the attempted stun. A monk may also attempt to regain stun attempts by making a Soul Check (1d20 + Wisdom Modifier + Monk Level) against a DC equal to 10 + the number of stuns in reserve. For example, if the monk's normal maximum number of stuns in reserve is 7, and she only has 3 attempts remaining, the DC to regain one stun would be 13. The monk may make as many attempts to regain her stunning fists per day, however, each check requires one minute of meditation.

Unarmed Strike
The monk retains the same unarmed damage progression as in the PHB.

Evasion (Ex)
This grows to Improved Evasion at level 9.

Intuitive Melee OR Intuitive Ranged
The monk may chose to apply his wisdom to melee attack instead of strength, OR the monk may add wisdom to ranged attacks instead of dexterity.

Soul Strike (Su)
A monk’s unarmed strike progress as listed for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. At level 16, the monks unarmed strikes are treated as adamantine for the purposes of overcoming hardness as well as overcoming damage reduction.

Slow Fall OR Speed Climb (Ex)
The monk may choose to learn either Slow Fall as in the PHB or Speed Climb as per the Ninja in Complete Series. Both have the standard progression as listed in their appropriate source.

Stun Feat
At 5th level and every second level there after, to level 19, the monk may select a feat from the following list: Eagle Claw, Fists of Iron, Freezing the Life Blood (Must have two already), Pain Touch, Weakening Touch, Extra Stunning, Axiomatic Strike, Increase Max DC Bonus by 1, Distant Touch (Must already have Pain Touch and two others), Falling Star Strike, Hickory Punch (Link punch damage into one damage for purposes of damage reduction calculation – Costs one stun attempt for each linked attack).

Still Mind (Ex)
The monk gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells of the enchantment school.

Purity of Body (Ex)
The monk gains immunity to all diseases, except for supernatural and magical ones. The monk also gains immunity to all poisons.

Abundant Step (Su)
The monk can slip between spaces as if using the dimension door spell. Her caster level for this effect is one half her monk level. This ability has no limit on the number of attempts per day; however to use it, the monk must expend 4 stun attempts.

Diamond Soul (Su)
The monk receives a spell resistance equal to her current monk level + 10. The monk receives a bonus +1 to her SR for every 5 stun attempts she has used. This bonus has a maximum of +5.

Quivering Palm (Su)
The monk must declare her attempt by expending 7 stun attempts. If the monk strikes successfully, and the target takes damage, the quivering palm attack succeeds. Thereafter the monk may attempt to slay the victim at any later time, as long as the attempt is made within a number of days equal to her monk level. The monk wills the target to die (free action), and if the target fails a fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 monk’s level + wisdom modifier) it dies. For every 5 stun attempts the monk has used, the DC for the save increases by +1, to a maximum of +3. If the save is successful, the target is no longer susceptible to that particular quivering palm attack, but it may be targeted in the future. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits are immune to this attack.

Timeless Body (Ex)
The monk no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties she already has taken remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when her time is up.

Empty Body (Su)
The monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state, at the expense of two stun attempts, as though using the spell etherealness. The monk must expend one stunning fist attempt at the end of her turn each additional round she wishes to remain ethereal.

Perfect Self
The monk becomes a magical creature. She is forevermore treated as an outsider for the purposes of spells and magical effects. The monk also gains damage reduction 10/+5 and Chaotic. Unlike other outsides, the monk may be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.



Thanks,
TwinSteel

[Edit 13 Dec 2007: Fix Wording in Quivering Palm]
[Edit 14 Jul 2009: Alter Rules for Increasing DCs]

tyckspoon
2007-12-12, 02:53 AM
Looks pretty good. Likely still relatively weak, but far better at doing what you've said you want it to- this version of the monk does have a clear purpose and the mechanics to actually do it. It's still going to have some trouble doing decent damage, but then that's not your goal. Free Stunning Fist feats should be greatly appreciated in pursuit of effectively stunning stuff.

The wording on Stunning Fist is missing some words; your intent is still understandable, but it needs editing.

I've got one major concern and one suggestion. The concern is that you may be overcharging for the higher level abilities; a monk who DimDoor's a couple of times won't have a lot of attempts left to actually stun things with, and Quivering Palm will take half the base number of stun attempts of a max level monk.. hmm. I notice you upped the save DC on it, tho (monk level instead of 1/2 monk level.) Intentional change? If so, the increased lethality is probably worth the spent stunnings, and it's still usable far more often than the PHB version.

The suggestion is to add something somewhere to allow the monk to stun otherwise unstunnable things. It can be at reduced effectiveness like the Rogue alternate feature for sneak attacking immune creatures or require a hefty number of stun attempts to do, but your stun-focused Monk should only be reduced to ineffectually poking something with his fists if he's already spent all his stun attempts.

TwinSteel
2007-12-12, 04:37 PM
The wording on Stunning Fist is missing some words; your intent is still understandable, but it needs editing.

The concern is that you may be overcharging for the higher level abilities; a monk who DimDoor's a couple of times won't have a lot of attempts left to actually stun things with, and Quivering Palm will take half the base number of stun attempts of a max level monk.. hmm. I notice you upped the save DC on it, tho (monk level instead of 1/2 monk level.) Intentional change? If so, the increased lethality is probably worth the spent stunnings, and it's still usable far more often than the PHB version.

The suggestion is to add something somewhere to allow the monk to stun otherwise unstunnable things. It can be at reduced effectiveness like the Rogue alternate feature for sneak attacking immune creatures or require a hefty number of stun attempts to do, but your stun-focused Monk should only be reduced to ineffectually poking something with his fists if he's already spent all his stun attempts.

Thanks, tyckspoon. On the whole, your observations seem valid. As I noted in the intro, some areas may have typos due to the length, so thanks for alerting me to that. As to the costs, I worked some numbers, and I feel as though I would not agree with lowering the costs anymore than I have in this most recent edit. With regard to the extra ability, that could be covered under some of the Stun Feats; however I'd need more time to research into the creation of an ability that more purely synthesized your suggestion.

Thanks,
TwinSteel

TwinSteel
2009-07-13, 09:55 PM
The class and abilities sections have been returned to their previous working order.
Feel free to add your thoughts.
Thanks,
TwinSteel