Muay Thai Warrior, the Master of the Eight Limbs [3.5, PrC, PEACH]

[Proven_Paradox]

The Master of the Eight Limbs

Many martial artists focus on striking, and seem fixated on the first four limbs; two fists, and two feet. However, some martial artists know that while these four limbs are strong, they are not all a fighter possesses. Utilizing his knees and elbows in addition to the first four limbs, the Master of the Eight Limbs brings deadly, powerful strikes against his foes, able to knock them senseless in one might blow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Proven_Paradox/rong4.jpg
A Master of the Eight Limbs prepares for a bout.

Hit Dice
d10

Requirements
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Power Attack
Skills: Jump 12 ranks

Class Skills
The Master of the Eight Limbs' class skills (and the key ability for each skills) are: Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Sense Motive (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points per Level
2 + int modifier

MASTER OF THE EIGHT LIMBS
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Heavy Striking, Stunning Strike, Unarmed Damage

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Eight-Limb Strike, Extra Stun 1/encounter

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Eight-Limb Strike, Close Quarter Striking

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Eight-Limb Strike, Extra Stun 2/encounter

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|Eight-Limb Strike, Superior Heavy Striking

6th|
+6|
+5|
+5|
+2|Eight-Limb Strike, Extra Stun 3/encounter

7th|
+7|
+5|
+5|
+2|Eight-Limb Strike, Close Quarter Dodging

8th|
+8|
+6|
+6|
+2|Eight-Limb Strike, Extra Stun 4/encounter

9th|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+3|Eight-Limb Strike, Penetrate Immunity

10th|
+10|
+7|
+7|
+3|Eight-Limb Strike, Dual Strike, Extra Stun 5/encounter[/table]

Class Features
The following are the class features of the Master of the Eight Limbs.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Master of the Eight Limbs gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies. Armor does not interfere with a Master's maneuvers more than they would for anyone else, but most of his class features requires that he keep both hands free, so shields hamper his ability to fight effectively.

Heavy Striking (Ex)
A Master has trained to make his unarmed strikes particularly heavy. When it's advantageous to him, he may treat his unarmed strikes (but NOT monk special weapons) as a one-handed weapon rather than a light weapon. This may only be applied when both of the Master's hands are free.

In addition, a Master add his Master levels with his monk levels when determining the damage of his unarmed strikes. If he does not have monk levels before entering this class, treat him as a monk whose level is equal to his Master level when determining his unarmed strike damage.

Stunning Strike (Ex)
A Master is a specialist in stunning foes with his attacks. He gains an additional daily use of his stunning fist feat for each of his Master levels. In addition, when both of his hands are free, he may use his strength modifier to determine the save DC of his stunning fist attempts.

Eight Limb Strike
Masters train in making their stunning blows particularly damaging, and can add additional effects to his stunning fist attempts. At every level except first, the Master may choose one of the abilities in the list below. This choice is final; once chosen the ability cannot be changed.

There are two types of Eight Limb Strikes: active and passive. All passive strikes may be applied during every stun attempt, while only a single active strike can be applied to stunning attempts at a time. Unless otherwise stated, applying an active strike to a stun attempt requires no action beyond the attack. Eight Limb Strikes apply only to unarmed strikes, not with stun attempts made with monk special weapons, and only when both of the Master's hands are free.

All Eight Limb Strikes are extraordinary abilities.

Passive
Knock-Down Stun
A Master strikes a target with such force that they are knocked to the ground, in addition to being knocked senseless.
Prerequisites: Master level 5 or higher.
Any time a Master successfully stuns a foe with an attack that has an attack penalty of at least 2 for power attack, that foe is automatically knocked prone. Note that this is NOT a successful trip attempt (and therefore doesn't grant additional attacks through the Improved Trip feat).

Knock-Back Stun
A Master strikes a target with such force that they stagger backwards.
Prerequisites: None
Any time a Master successfully stuns a foe, they are also knocked back (away from the Master) five feet.

Superior Knock-Back Stun
A Master strikes a target with such force that they stagger backwards.
Prerequisites: Knock-Back Stun, Master level 5 or higher.
Any time a Master successfully stuns a foe with an attack that has an attack penalty of at least 2 for power attack, that foe is also knocked back (away from the Master) ten feet. This strike supercedes and replaces the benefits of Knock-Back Stun.

Dazzling Stun
After suffering a stunning blow from a Master, the target begins seeing stars.
Prerequisites: None
Any time a Master successfully stuns a foe, that foe is takes a penalty to attack rolls equal to half the master's class levels for however long he is stunned plus 2d4 rounds.

Sure Stunning
A Master trains himself to be better at stunning more resilient foes.
Prerequisites: None
Increase the save DC of all stun attempts by 1.

Certain Stunning
Advanced Masters stunning strikes are nearly impossible to resist.
Prerequisites: Sure Stunning, Master level 5 or higher.
Increase the save DC of all stun attempts by 2. This stacks with Sure Stunning.


Active
Extended Stun
Masters stun their opponents longer than most other martial artists.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike lasts for 1d4-1 rounds (minimum 1).

Strength Sapping Stun
A Master strikes the target in the chest with his elbow. Once they come around, find their muscles have weakened.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 strength damage.

Constitution Weakening Stun
A Master strikes the target in the stomach with his knee. After they catch their breath, they notice they feel weaker of fortitude.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 constitution damage.

Uncoordinating Stun
After a particularly nasty strike to the back, a target finds its muscles responding differently than they are accustomed to, leaving them unbalanced and clumsy.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 dexterity damage.

Head Rattling Stun
The Master strikes his foe on the top of his head, and when the victim comes around, they find their minds clouded, unable to focus, and perhaps missing some crucial memories.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 intelligence damage.

Mind Clouding Stun
The Master sends a high, powerful kick into the victim's temple. When they awaken, they find their senses dulled and their instincts clouded.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 wisdom damage.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Proven_Paradox/ongbak3.jpg
A Master of the Eight Limbs kicks a man in the face--leaving his mind clouded even after he comes to his senses.


Charisma Draining Stun
The Master strikes his foe directly in the face. Once they recover from the blow, their confidence plummets, and they question themselves more than ever before.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike deals 2 charisma damage.

Sickening Stun
The Master strikes his foe in the gut. They promptly expel its contents, and continue feeling the ill effects on his gut after the strike.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike causes the target to become sickened. A sickened target is instead nauseated. This lasts for as long as the target is stunned + 1d4 rounds.

Exhausting Stun
The Master strikes his foe in the chest, and they are unable to get their wind back afterwards.
Prerequisites: None
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike causes the target to become fatigued. A fatigued target is instead exhausted. This lasts for as long as the target is stunned + 1d4 rounds.

Disorienting Stun
The Master strikes his foe in the head, and they are so rattled that they are no longer able to tell fried from foe.
Prerequisites: Master level 5+
A successful stun attempt augmented with this active strike causes the target to become confused. This lasts for as long as the target is stunned + 1d4. The attack that delivers this stun does not count as attacking the target for determining the target's actions while confused.

Staggering Stun
Even when a target shrugs off the worst of a Master's stunning blow, they aren't completely unaffected by it.
Prerequisites: Master level 5+
On a successful stun attempt, this active strike has no effect. However, if the target successfully makes their save, they are still treated as staggered for one round (they do not take non-lethal damage equal to their current HP, but they still take the penalties of being staggered). The target must take damage from the attack for the effect to take place.


Extra Stun (Ex)
Starting at second level, once per round per encounter, a Master may make a stun attempt that does not count against his daily total. This is in all other ways a normal stun attempt. A Master can perform an extra stun an additional time per encounter at every even level thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th). This may only be done with an unarmed strike, not with monk special weapons.

Close Quarter Striking (Ex)
At third level, a Master is able to use his knees and elbows far more effectively than most others in extreme close quarters fighting. He no longer takes penalties to attack rolls with unarmed strikes while grappling. This may only be applied when both of the Master's hands are free.

Superior Heavy Striking (Ex)
At fifth level, a Master has perfected his ability to make his strikes particularly hard hitting. When it is advantageous to do so, he may treat his unarmed strikes as a two-handed weapon. This may only be applied when both of the Master's hands are free.

Close Quarter Dodging (Ex)
At seventh level, a Master is able to avoid blows even while pinned by an opponent. The AC penalty normally applied to a pinned target is no longer applies to the Master.

Penetrate Immunity (Ex)
At ninth level, a Master is able to stun a creature normally immune to stunning—to an extent. If the target of a stunning attempt is normally immune to stunning, they must still make a fortitude save at the standard stunning fist DC. If they fail the save, they are treated as staggered (they do not take non-lethal damage equal to their current HP, but they still take the penalties of being staggered) . This effects targets even if they are normally immune to being staggered. The only extra effects targets normally immune to stunning take from Eight Limb Strikes are ability damage (if applicable), which is reduced to one. (Creatures normally immune to ability damage are still immune to this damage.)

Dual Strike (Ex)
At tenth level, a Master has become an unsurpassed master of stunning foes with a single blow. He may now apply two active Eight Limb Strikes to his stun attempts.

---

Thanks to Swooper for ideas and feedback during creation.

So, it's been far too long sense I've done anything with my homebrewing muscles. This is an idea I've been playing with for a long time. It seems to me that a stunning focused PrC is long overdue (if one already exists, I'm unaware of it). After watching Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, I thought that flavoring the class around the Muay Thai martial art style would work for it.

Overall, I like the way this turned out. I don't like the names of some of the Eight Limb Strikes, but other than that, I'm satisfied.

So, what do you guys think?

[Baron Corm]

For active stuns, Extended Stun is much better than the others. The creature is basically dead right there if it can't do anything for 1d4+1 rounds. The only other active stun I might take is Staggering Stun, for when I'm not certain of success. Speaking of which, some people might say that being staggered does nonlethal damage to you equal to your maximum hit points, so you might want to make a note.

A passive stun that strikes me (ha ha) as useless compared to the others is Dazzling Stun. It's flavorful though, so you might want to say "the dazzled penalties are equal to half the master's class level", or whatever you feel is more balanced.

All of the stuns with a duration of "for as long as the target is stunned + 1d4 rounds" are still pretty useless when you have Extended Stun. The thing should be dead by then. So I would take out Extended Sun completely and let those others shine through.

[Proven_Paradox]

I'll clarify staggering stun; that's certainly not the intention.

Would reducing extended stun to one extra round be more reasonable?

[dyslexicfaser]

Interesting. A grappling monk build, plus the Stunning Fist improvements? Very powerful.

For extended stun: perhaps rework it a little, make it last for 1d4-1?

That way, it's not a guaranteed death sentence: it might be even less effective than a standard Stunning Fist.

[Exanedral]

I didn't see this in there, but is there any limit to how many active strikes the Master can use per day? I think if there were a restriction, it would make the passive strikes a more appealing option despite their relative weakness.

Overall, I like it! I've seen the movie, and I know what you're going for. Very cool, but I think toning down some of the abilities and granting some of the unarmed combat feats from Complete Warrior and such might be good too, that way you encourage a variety of maneuvers and techniques instead of just different stuns. Also, if you use skill tricks in the campaign, you should have those as part of the requirements.

.... I think I'm going to introduce a very interesting NPC monk to my players, though. This makes me want to have a wall-jumping, sliding, tumbling ass-kicker. Muay Thai is intense.

[Icewalker]

Looks awesome. I watched The Protector a while ago, and the fighting is fantastic. That's a different variation though, Smashing Elephant Muay Thai, focusing on throws and breaking bones.

One question: Extra Stun: once per round per encounter? ie, every round during a fight, the warrior can make strikes that deal 2 ability damage and stun, or a longer stun? Seems really powerful...

[Proven_Paradox]

Interesting. A grappling monk build, plus the Stunning Fist improvements? Very powerful.

For extended stun: perhaps rework it a little, make it last for 1d4-1?

That way, it's not a guaranteed death sentence: it might be even less effective than a standard Stunning Fist.Hm. I don't want to make it that much of a gamble; someone focused in stunning shouldn't run a risk of actually being less stun-happy than a non-focused character. However, perhaps 1d4-1, minimum 1 would work--that way, it may be just a normal stun.


I didn't see this in there, but is there any limit to how many active strikes the Master can use per day? I think if there were a restriction, it would make the passive strikes a more appealing option despite their relative weakness. Frankly, for anything except for spellcasting, I think limiting abilities to a per day basis is a lame way to go. The Master can use an active strike all day, every day.

Other than dazzling strike (which I will be improving eventually--that was not well thought out), I don't think the passive strikes are that weak. Especially Improved Knockback and Knockdown stun--I was actually worried those would be hailed as too powerful; knocking someone back ten feet and prone on every stun? There's a lot of shutdown power there.


Overall, I like it! I've seen the movie, and I know what you're going for. Very cool, but I think toning down some of the abilities and granting some of the unarmed combat feats from Complete Warrior and such might be good too, that way you encourage a variety of maneuvers and techniques instead of just different stuns. Also, if you use skill tricks in the campaign, you should have those as part of the requirements.See, I was wanting this to primarily focus on the powerful striking aspects rather than the acrobatics. Those CWarrior abilites are pretty cool, I grant that--but if a character wants to take those with this class, they can do so with normal feats I think.


.... I think I'm going to introduce a very interesting NPC monk to my players, though. This makes me want to have a wall-jumping, sliding, tumbling ass-kicker. Muay Thai is intense.It is intense, but note that this class doesn't actually get anything acrobatics related. They get class skills that can make them acrobatic if they want to be, but I want this to be completely accessible to fighters, barbarians, crusaders, and other heavy armor classes--hence none of the abilities are restricted by armor (though shields are a no-go).

Still, if you wanna throw this at your players, please feel free! Just tell me how it goes, allright?


Looks awesome. I watched The Protector a while ago, and the fighting is fantastic. That's a different variation though, Smashing Elephant Muay Thai, focusing on throws and breaking bones. Sounds like a Setting Sun swordsage--there was another homebrewed martial discipline that did this kind of thing too around here somewhere that I thought was pretty cool too.


One question: Extra Stun: once per round per encounter? ie, every round during a fight, the warrior can make strikes that deal 2 ability damage and stun, or a longer stun? Seems really powerful...Hm. The wording is unclear I suppose. You can use an extra stun once per round, and you have a number of extra stuns available to you per encounter as given on the class table. Is that clearer?

And for at will ability damage, swordsages focused in Shadow Hand with a bit of Stone Dragon have much higher potential.

Powerful, yes. But is it overpowered? I know a wizard or two who think not...


[edit]Just thought of something. What is the forum's general opinion on making Extended Stun require a full-round action to perform?

[KKL]

[edit]Just thought of something. What is the forum's general opinion on making Extended Stun require a full-round action to perform?
My opinion leans towards no.

[SilentNight]

Very nice, although I will agree that 1d4+1 rounds of stun=death. Unless the thing can't be stunned in the first place.

[Proven_Paradox]

I forgot to put this in at the initial posting, but thanks to Swooper for ideas and feedback during creation.

I've altered Dazzling Stun so that it now imposes an attack penalty equal to half the Master's Class levels. Also, Extended Stun now lasts 1d4-1 (min 1) rounds.

[opakedragon]

I was thinking that maybe a passive stun can be suppressed like you can choose not to knock the guy ten feet back. I say this because implying that it can't be turned off suggests that the "Master" does not have complete control over his actions...

Like if a Dim Mak master constantly killed people every time he hit them, it would be irresponsible :-P and uncontrolled especially if he wanted to just knock them out....

[Proven_Paradox]

Ah, I had intended for that to be possible, but I see that I didn't clarify that. I'll add in a bit that makes it so that one can choose to not apply a passive stun if they like. Good catch.

[opakedragon]

happy to help :smallsmile: