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RedHeadSamurai
2008-05-01, 11:50 PM
RUROUNI


“I was trained as a wanderer, I will fight as a wanderer, and I will remain a wanderer.”

The Rurouni is the stereotypical mystery man, he is the man sitting alone in
the bar, or the woman who just wandered into town, with nothing but the clothes on her back, and a bag on her shoulders. They are young and old, and of every race and religion. The one thing they have in common is they have no home, either by choice or by accident, and they were trained at some point in there life to use Maneuvers of the Sublime Way.

MAKING A RUROUNI
The Rurouni is a front line combatant.
Abilities: Strength and Dexterity are the most important for a Rurouni since they can only where light armor, Wisdom is good as well to gain the benefit of there AC bonus. Constitution is never bad, when it comes to Intelligence or Charisma, a Rurouni is more likely to pick up Intelligence for the skill points.
Races: Humans are the most likely to become Rurouni, and many enjoy the life of the wanderer, never being tied down, and living for adventure. Half-Orcs and Half-Elves also take well to this class, since they are most likely to be disliked by both of there races. Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings are unlikely to take this class for they are too tied to there own ways of life.
Alignment: Rurouni’s can be of any alignment, though most are Neutral Good.
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10
Starting Age: As Monk

Class Skills
Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge(Local), Knowledge(Nature),Listen, Martial Lore, Move Silently, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot, Swim, Tumble, *Iaijutsu Focus *Add for OA only
Skills Per Day at 1st Level : (6 + Int.)x6
Skills Per Day at Each Additional Level : 6 + Int.

Hit Dice: d8

Level BaB Fort Ref Will Special

1 +1 0 2 0 Quick to Act +1,
D.F. (Weapon Focus)
2 +2 0 3 0 AC bonus (Wis)
3 +3 1 3 1
4 +4 1 4 1 D.F. (Insightful Strike)
5 +5 1 4 1 Quick to Act +2
6 +6/1 2 5 2
7 +7/2 2 5 2 Combat Expertise
8 +8/3 2 6 2 Uncanny Dodge
9 +9/4 3 6 3 Evasion
10 +10/5 3 7 3 Quick to Act +3
11 +11/6/1 3 7 3 D.F. (Insightful Strike)
12 +12/7/2 4 8 4
13 +13/8/3 4 8 4
14 +14/9/4 4 9 4
15 +15/10/5 5 9 5 Quick to Act +4
16 +16/11/6/1 5 10 5 Improved Uncanny Dodge
17 +17/12/7/2 5 10 5 Improved Evasion
18 +18/13/8/3 6 11 6
19 +19/14/9/4 6 11 6
20 +20/15/10/5 6 12 6 Dual Strike;
Quick to Act +5

Code:
Maneuvers.
Level Known Readied Stances
1 3 3 1
2 4 4 1
3 5 4 1
4 6 4 1
5 7 5 2
6 7 5 2
7 7 5 2
8 8 6 2
9 9 6 3
10 10 6 3
11 11 7 3
12 12 7 3
13 12 7 4
14 12 8 4
15 13 8 4
16 14 8 4
17 15 9 5
18 16 9 5
19 17 9 5
20 17 10 5

Weapon Proficiencies: Rurouni’s have Proficiency with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, and no shields
Maneuvers: A Rurouni has access to four Martial Disciplines; Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Shadow Hand, and Tiger Claw.

Once you know a maneuver you must ready it. A maneuver used by a Rurouni is considered and Extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one.
Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one 1st-level stance from any discipline open to you. At 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level, you can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not need to ready them. All stances are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently in with a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description.
Discipline Focus (Ex): As a Rurouni, you can focus your training to take advantage of each discipline’s fighting style. Each time you gain the discipline focus ability, select one of the four Rurouni disciplines to which the focus applies. You can select a different discipline each time you gain discipline focus, but you must know at least one maneuver from the selected discipline. Even if you select a different discipline at higher levels, your discipline choice from earlier does not change.
This focus manifests in the following ways.
Weapon focus: At 1st level, you gain the benefit of the weapon focus feat for the weapons associated with the chosen discipline.
Insightful Strikes: At 4th level, you can add your Wisdom modifier as a bonus on damage rolls whenever you execute a strike from the chosen discipline. At 12th level you can choose a second discipline to which this ability applies.
You gain a +2 bonus on Martial Lore checks made regarding a maneuver in a discipline in which you have focus.
Quick to Act (Ex): You gain a +1 bonus on Initiative checks. This bonus increases at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level.
AC Bonus : Starting at 2nd level, you can add you Wisdom modifier as a bonus to Armor Class, so long as you wear light armor, are unencumbered, and do not use a shield. This bonus applies even against touch attacks or when you are flat-footed. However, you lose this bonus when you are immobilized or helpless.
Combat Expertise: at 7th level you gain the Combat Expertise feat for free.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 8th level you gain the ability to react to danger before your senses would normally allow you to do so. You retain your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if you are caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, you still lose your Dexterity bonus to AC if you are immobilized.
Evasion (Ex): At 9th level you can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If you make a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that would normally deals damage on a successful save, you instead take no damage. Evasion can be only used if you are wearing light armor or no armor. If you are helpless, you do not gain the benefit of evasion.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 16th level and higher, you can no longer be flanked; you can react to opponents on opposite sides of you as easily as you can react to a single attacker. See barbarian class feature (PH 26) for more information.
Improved Evasion (Ex): From 17th level on, you gain the benefit of improved evasion. You still take no damage from a successful Reflex save against an attack, and even if you fail the Reflex save, you only take half damage from the attack. If you are helpless, you do not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
Dual Strike (Ex): At 20th level, a Rurouni may make two Strike maneuvers at the same time. When using a Strike with an initiation action of one Standard action, the Rurouni may immediately make a second Standard action to use a second Strike maneuver. This action is not a separate action in and of itself, but is considered to be an additional effect of the first Strike used. This effect may only be used once per round, and only three times per day.

PLAYING A RUROUNI
A Rurouni is a front line combatant first and foremost, though with there many skills they can perform some roles of other classes well, though they are not as robust as Crusaders or Warblades.
Religion: Rurouni’s tend to stick to ideals, rather than worship gods, though those who are dedicated to the same goals of gods tend to follow them in some form or another
Other Classes: Rurouni’s get along well most classes, they can respect many others differences because of there outcast nature.
Combat: Rurouni’s are very straight forward in battle, though depending on there maneuvers they may either be powerful forward attacks, never letting up the assault, or they can use hit and run tactics, wearing there opponents down, or allowing them to make a mistake.
Advancement: A Rurouni is always wandering, seeking to atone for past sins, or just searching for something more. On one of these journeys perhaps a Master of the Sublime Way took a liking to you and trained you in his ways, though you did not know where they learned them to begin with. Or perhaps you were trained from birth, but always longed for the adventure that never came, until you took your life into you own hands. Whatever way you came to it, a Rurouni is always on the look for something more. And your fighting style is usually a major cause of that. You wander aimlessly seeking to test your strength, r to use your strength to help or harm others.

RUROUNI IN THE WORLD
“He’s new to town, a strange fellow, but he looks harmless to me…” – Innkeeper noticing a Rurouni
“There’s no need to thank me…It’s just my way.” A Rurouni after saving an innkeeper

Rurouni are considered to be harmless to the general onlooker, they come and go as they please, sometimes staying for only a few days, while others seem to stay for years before moving on. They tend to be overlooked, which is how some like, while others use disguises to help others, so as to not have there names or identities unveiled.
Daily Life: A Rurouni starts his day by meditation, usually either a simple training exercise or something to maintain there skills for about 5 mins.
Notables: Make The most famous Rurouni, Agavar Suthblade went under the disguise of a traveling salesman, he would set up shop in a town, and at night he would protect the town that he dwelled in, routing out the evils he saw harming the villagers. After this was done he would leave and continue on his travels. The infamous Drow Rurouni, Frix Baneclad would ask for shelter for the night outside of the homes of the wealthy, upon entering he would slaughter the family and rob them blind, then would sneak off into the dark, to hide his ever mounting treasure.
Organizations: Rurouni’s have no set organizations, they rarely even see another like themselves in life, though if one does they can usually tell each other upon sight.

NPC Reaction
Most government officials don’t take notice of Rurouni’s they are far too busy to deal with such things, unless they are aware of whom the Rurouni is or was. They tend to be too flighty to trust with any long term task. Peasants and other common folk tend to show a bit of care for them though.

neochaos
2008-05-02, 12:54 AM
...Kenshin?

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-05-02, 01:07 AM
Homebrew (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15)?words