Master of One [ToB PrC]

Master of One

“How can these dabblers claim to have ‘mastered’ the Sublime Way? They jump and hide with their cowardly Shadow Hand techniques, swarm me with White Raven, leap around growling like idiots with Tiger Claw. I am a master of the true path of the Sublime Way—and that Way is Diamond Mind.”

—a Master of the Diamond Mind

Most practitioners of the Sublime Way seek to diversify their training through knowledge of as many disciplines as possible, some going so far as to call themselves Masters of Nine. However, there are some who claim that true mastery only comes through the complete knowledge of one school to the exclusion of all others—these are the Masters of One, and they have a talent with their chosen discipline that no other martial adept can match. Masters of One are fierce proponents of their chosen school and defend it at all costs; they almost never learn even a single maneuver of another school, believing it weakens them (though of course the more moderate Masters will dabble occasionally). The first Masters of One, many years ago, were those who did not share the vision of the Temple of the Nine Swords, but instead believed that each discipline should be taught separately and in secret and that obviously their discipline was superior to the rest; for this reason, Masters of One learn to overcome the weaknesses of their own disciplines and learn tricks to specifically counter other disciplines. (Strangely, all Masters of One seem to learn the same tricks against a given school no matter their chosen discipline; it is doubtful the original Masters of One would appreciate the irony.)

Design Notes

Spoiler

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Rather than being simply a PrC for those who like one discipline, this is a PrC for those adepts absolutely obsessed with one and severely disdainful of others. It grants fairly powerful abilities at the cost of limiting a character to a single discipline, so the critique I'm most looking for is how the discipline-specific abilities work out for someone limited solely to that discipline; I've tried to give weaker disciplines stronger abilities and vice-versa, but I'm not sure how closely I've hit the mark.

Becoming a Master of One
A Master of One typically begins as a swordsage; due their large number of maneuvers known, swordsage Masters of One have the potential to learn every maneuver in their respective chosen schools. However, Masters of Iron Heart usually begin as warblades, and Masters of Devoted Spirit tend to begin as crusaders, for obvious reasons.

When becoming a Master of One, you must choose a favored discipline. This choice determines which skill and feats are involved in the prerequisites for the class, as well as some of your class abilities. A Master of One is thereafter known as a Master of his favored discipline, not a Master of One; for example, a Master of One specializing in White Raven as his favored discipline would simply be known as a Master of White Raven.

Entry Requirements
Skills: 12 ranks in the key skill of the favored discipline
Feats: Blade Meditation (favored discipline), Adaptive Style, favored discipline’s tactical feat
Martial Maneuvers: No more than 1 maneuver each from any discipline other than your favored discipline, and all maneuvers known of the two highest levels to which you have access must be from your favored discipline.
Special: If a potential Master of One cannot meet the Martial Maneuvers requirement, see Ex-Masters of One, below.

The Master of One

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Maneuvers Known	Maneuvers Readied	Stances Known	Special
1	+0	+2	+0	+2	2	1	1	Focused Study
2	+1	+3	+0	+3	2	1	1	Unparalleled Prowess
3	+2	+3	+1	+3	2	1	1	Discipline Strike
4	+3	+4	+1	+4	2	1	1	Focused Rivalry
5	+3	+4	+1	+4	2	1	1	Absolute Mastery

Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Martial Lore, Sense Motive, Swim, Tumble
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int modifier


Class Features
The Master of One focuses on expanding his repertoire of maneuvers in his favored discipline as quickly as possible, as well as eliminating the weaknesses of his favored discipline. He also practices tricks to combat martial adepts using maneuvers of other disciplines and learns ways to get the most out of his favored discipline, so he can prove that his favored discipline is superior to all others.

Maneuvers: At each level, you learn two maneuvers from your favored discipline. You must still meet the maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it, and you add your full Master of One levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest level of maneuvers known. A Master of One may never learn a maneuver from a discipline other than his favored discipline, even through feats such as Martial Study.

Stances Known: At each level, you learn an additional stance from your favored discipline. You must still meet the stance’s prerequisite to learn it.

Focused Study (Ex): For the purposes of learning maneuvers from his chosen discipline, the Master of One's initiator level is treated as being one higher. Additionally, if a Master of One has learned every maneuver in his favored discipline, he may “re-learn” maneuvers to allow him to ready multiple copies of a given maneuver.

Unparalleled Prowess (Ex): A 2nd-level Master of One has such mastery of his favored discipline that he can ignore limitations to its use that would impede or thwart lesser adepts. He gains a benefit from the list below based on his favored discipline:

• Desert Wind: An adept of Desert Wind is normally at a loss when facing creatures resistant or immune to fire, but a Master’s flame can scorch even a fire elemental. The maneuvers of a Master of Desert Wind ignore a creature’s fire resistance; if a creature has fire immunity, he may still affect it, but it only takes half damage.
• Devoted Spirit: An adept of Devoted Spirit is limited morally and ethically in pursuit of his cause, but a Master’s devotion transcends alignment bounds. A Master of Devoted Spirit may ignore alignment requirements when learning a maneuver, and may treat targets of his maneuvers as whatever alignment would be most beneficial for the Master.
• Diamond Mind: Though all adepts have tremendous mental focus, a Master sees the entirety of combat as just another exercise of concentration. Before making any attack roll, a Master of Diamond Mind may choose to not automatically fail the attack roll on a natural 1, but should he do so, he does not automatically succeed on the attack roll if he rolls a natural 20.
• Iron Heart: Adepts of Iron Heart may be restrained in their power, but Masters cannot be stopped except by death. Masters of Iron Heart may initiate maneuvers even when normally unable to do so, such as if they are bound or charmed.
• Shadow Hand: Most Shadow Hand adepts are beaten when they cannot get the drop on their opponents, but a Master can sneak attack the invulnerable and surprise the imperturbable. A Master of Shadow Hand may ignore the requirement for an opponent to be flat-footed for purposes of initiating maneuvers (but not for sneak attacks, sudden strikes, or other similar abilities).
• Stone Dragon: If an adept of Stone Dragon is on any surface other than stone, he is usually powerless, but a Master takes the essence of stone with him wherever he goes. A Master of Stone Dragon may ignore the requirement to be standing on earth or stone to be able to initiate Stone Dragon maneuvers and may target any airborne or levitating enemies within reach.
• Setting Sun: While any adept of Setting Sun can apply leverage against his enemies, a Master can knock enemies over with an unbelievably small and precise application of force. When making opposed checks, such as grapple or trip checks, a Master of Setting Sun uses the higher of his Strength or Dexterity modifier and his opponent use the lower of its Strength or Dexterity modifier.
• Tiger Claw: Though most adepts of Tiger Claw fight with two weapons, a Master can strike with both weapons and have time left over. A Master may always attack with as many weapons he is holding as part of a strike, although unless the strike specifies use of multiple weapons only the first attack gains extra damage or other effects of the strike and the other attacks are made at the Master of One's lowest iterative attack bonus.
• White Raven: An adept of White Raven is normally greatly diminished when he has no allies to support with his maneuvers, but a Master is an army unto himself. A Master of White Raven may count himself as an ally for purposes of his maneuvers, in addition to any benefit he may gain as the maneuver’s initiator.

Discipline Strike (Ex): A 3rd-level Master of One has perfectly internalized the principles of his favored discipline. He takes techniques and footwork from various maneuvers and combines them to produce a strike that only an adept familiar with his favored discipline has a chance to counter. Whenever the Master of One makes a single melee attack which is not made in conjunction with (or granted by) a maneuver (such as a standard attack, an attack of opportunity, etc.), it gains a bonus equal to the number of strikes of his favored discipline he has readied, with the bonus divided between an attack bonus and a damage bonus as desired. For example, if a Master of Diamond Mind has readied 9 Diamond Mind strikes, the bonus would be +9; the Master could then make an attack with a +9 attack bonus, an attack that deals an extra 9 damage, or any combination of attack and damage totaling 9.

Focused Rivalry (Ex): A 4th-level Master of One learns special techniques to specifically thwart other paths of the Sublime Way and render several maneuvers entirely worthless, as he is determined that his favored discipline be proven the best of the nine. Each of the abilities in the list below overlays a stance; a Master of One may switch between the benefits of one of these abilities and a regular stance as if switching stances normally. A Master of One may not gain the ability associated with his favored discipline, due to his belief that it is the most perfect and therefore that one should never learn anything that might undermine it, but he may choose any two other abilities.

• Desert Wind: A Master of One using this ability gains immunity to fire damage.
• Devoted Spirit: A Master of One using this ability is treated as being whichever alignment is most beneficial to him for purposes of effects dependent on alignment.
• Diamond Mind: A Master of One using this ability takes normal damage from attacks that would deal multiplied damage (from critical hits, maneuvers specifying “2 x melee damage,” etc.).
• Iron Heart: If a Master of One using this ability is targeted by a strike allowing attacks against multiple opponents, and his opponent misses on one of the attacks, the Master of One’s opponent misses on all of them.
• Shadow Hand: A Master of One using this ability is never flat-footed and always retains his Dexterity bonus to AC.
• Stone Dragon: Any damage reduction a Master of One using this ability might have may not be ignored, and his possessions are immune to attempts to ignore hardness.
• Setting Sun: A Master of One using this ability is immune to being tripped.
• Tiger Claw: A Master of One using this ability may take an attack of opportunity against any opponent Jumping or Tumbling to, from, or through a square adjacent to him.
• White Raven: A Master of One using this ability only provokes attacks of opportunity when moving through threatened squares, not from other actions or strikes that cause him to provoke.

Absolute Mastery (Ex): A 5th-level Master of One has such skill with his favored discipline that his maneuvers are superior to those of any other martial adept. When initiating a strike, boost, or counter maneuver, a Master of One may either gain double the numerical benefits or halve any penalties associated with the maneuver; while in a stance, the Master of One may choose to either multiply its numerical benefits by 1.5 or remove any penalties. Variable bonuses are not multiplied, but static bonuses are, as normal. This ability may not be applied to maneuvers above 6th level.

Ex-Masters of One
If at any time a Master of One learns a maneuver from any discipline other than his favored discipline, he immediately loses all class abilities from his Master of One levels until and unless he retrains the maneuver to one from his chosen discipline, but he retains maneuvers readied and maneuvers and stances he learned as a Master of One. He may receive an atonement spell to lose the maneuvers of disciplines other than his favored discipline and regain his abilities. If a Master of One is ever under the effects of a spell, ability, or item that would temporarily allow him to initiate maneuvers of another discipline, such as a crown of white ravens or its derivatives, he loses access to his class abilities and readied maneuvers for as long as the effects last or as long as he wears the item and for 1 minute afterwards, as the knowledge of other fighting styles interferes with his focus.

If a martial adept wishes to become a Master of One but has already learned maneuvers of multiple disciplines, he may undergo a process known as the Epiphany of the Way. He must seek out a Master of the discipline he wishes to choose as his favored discipline as well as a cleric able to cast atonement; after 8 hours of meditation and the casting of atonement, the prospective Master of One may swap out any maneuvers from other disciplines for maneuvers from his new favored discipline (though he must still meet any and all prerequisites for the new maneuvers).

Playing a Master of One
To you, there is only one discipline worth learning, and only one true path to the Sublime Way. You might respect adepts of other disciplines, simply feeling pity for their misguided ways and acknowledging that while they aren’t as perfect as your favored discipline the other disciplines might show some slight promise, or you might arrogantly proclaim that your favored discipline is the only right path and any who prefer other disciplines are idiots and fools at best; most Masters of One in modern times tend towards the first approach, sometimes even learning a single technique from other schools to show that they haven't knocked them without trying them, but any who were trained by the original martial adepts from whom Reshar stole the secrets of their discipline (or the students of those adepts, or the students’ students, and so on) might tend toward the second. You are intensely driven, focused on mastering every technique of your favored discipline and perfecting every swing, every step, and every motion of those maneuvers. You can’t wait to demonstrate to other adepts their mistakes and show them the true path of the Sublime Way.

As a group, Masters of One have no formal organizations; indeed, as each believes his own favored discipline is superior to all the rest, Masters of One are their own eight worst enemies. They often work at cross-purposes, trying to bring over a majority of martial adepts to their way of thinking and even sometimes attempting to destroy all knowledge of other disciplines until theirs is the only one left, although such extreme Masters of One are quite rare.

Combat
You prefer to vanquish martial adepts who use other disciplines as quickly and decisively as possible, to prove your favored discipline’s superiority, but you don’t necessarily care if you have converted another student to the one true path of the Sublime Way or if you have simply removed an obstacle to your favored discipline’s preeminence.

Masters of One in the World
“I’ve heard of these so-called ‘masters of one’. They don’t sound so scary. Sure, there are rumors of adepts who can burn red dragons with their blows and kill people while bound hand and foot, but I don’t believe them. No crazy mental duelist can dodge my blows, and no fancy shadow swordsman can surprise me; do you really expect me to believe that obsessing over one combat style can let you do the impossible?”

—Galen Blackcloak, assassin, now deceased

“Actually, yes.”

—a Master of Shadow Hand, right behind Galen

Masters of One are in many ways archetypal martial artists, perfecting their chosen style to the point that they can defeat any others. The best means of doing this is through adventuring, as the more opponents they face the better-honed their own abilities become. Masters of One enjoy dueling other martial adepts and proving their superiority.

NPC Reactions
Most people cannot tell the difference between Masters of One and any other adept of the Sublime Way, but some martial adepts consider them simply unreasonably obsessive adepts who don’t have enough skill to learn more than one kind of fighting—until, that is, they cross swords, in which case they either reassess their opinions upwards or don’t live to tell the tale. Most adepts appreciate their views, even if they don’t support or understand them; however, Masters of One are particular rivals of enemies of Masters of Nine, and both parties begin encounters with one another with an attitude one degree closer to hostile (the most extreme Masters of One sometimes attacking a Master of Nine on sight).

Master of One Lore
Characters with ranks in Martial Lore can attempt to learn more about Master of One.
DC 10: Though most martial adepts learn maneuvers of several schools, Masters of One focus on one favored discipline to the exclusion of all others, gaining benefits from their devotion.
DC 15: Masters of One believe their favored discipline is the only “true” path of the Sublime Way, and they learn special tricks and techniques to specifically counter other disciplines’ maneuvers and remove their own. favored discipline’s weaknesses.
DC 20: The maneuvers of a Master of Nine are more powerful and effective than the same maneuvers used by any other martial adept, and Masters of One have the potential to learn every single maneuver of their favored discipline, sometimes learning the same maneuvers more than once.
DC 30: Information about Masters of One in your campaign.

Two comments. (Yes I know this was a finished PrC that's being reposted after it got lost on the WoTC board): First:

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Though all adepts have tremendous mental focus, a Master sees the entirety of combat as just another exercise of concentration. A Master of Diamond Mind no longer automatically fails attack rolls on a natural 1, nor automatically succeeds on a natural 20.

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I don't really see the point of the second bit and this is the only one of the 9 that gets a drawback.

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Masters of One are particular enemies of Masters of Nine, and most will attack a Master of Nine on sight.

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This seems to presume a high degree of violence and a general lack of ethical tendencies. Maybe just move them generally 1 step closer to hostile?

I tend to agree that that seems a little ridiculous.

Also, I think this is impossible to enter. Is it even possible to choose only maneuvers from one discipline by level 9 or later? Let's see.

Crusaders at 9th level get two maneuvers from each of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels, plus one from 5th. OK, this is possible with every discipline they have access to, whoo. Rough, though; you're taking pretty much every maneuver the discipline has available.

A 9th level Swordsage has four 1st level maneuvers, and 3 of each of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, plus one of the 5th. But only Desert Wind and Shadow Hand have more than 2 maneuvers of 2nd level, and Shadow Hand only has 2 non-stance maneuvers of 1st level.

If you took away an extra 2nd maneuver instead of 1st, you have 5/2/3/3/1 - great, but no discipline has five non-stance maneuvers at 1st level (actually, Desert Wind is the only one to have five maneuvers, including stances, period, at that level).

So a Swordsage could be a Master of Desert Wind, but nothing else, as there simply aren't maneuvers to take. Whoo. A Swordsage/Bloodclaw Master could maybe pull off Master of Tiger Claw?

Warblade, I imagine, has the easiest time. At 9th, they have one maneuver from 1st and 5th, and two from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. OK, they can also do it with every discipline.

So, alright, Crusaders and Warblades can do this, with difficulty. Outside of Desert Wind, though, Swordsages can't. I think that requirement needs reworking.

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Originally Posted by DragoonWraith

So, alright, Crusaders and Warblades can do this, with difficulty. Outside of Desert Wind, though, Swordsages can't. I think that requirement needs reworking.

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Hmm, maybe just require them to have all their maneuvers of their highest level be from that one discipline?

Building on what DW mentioned, maybe consider allowing for a minimum of non-favored maneuvers for the Master of One? Either 3/4s or just a simple majority should work, as there are 9 disciplines anyhow and having at least half come from your BFF-one should suffice. The exact wording could use a hammer, admittedly.

However, if you did intend for it to be more in-line for non-swordsages, may I consider increasing the BAB to good?

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Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Two comments. (Yes I know this was a finished PrC that's being reposted after it got lost on the WoTC board):

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Well, this isn't the final version (the wayback machine only had an earlier draft), but it is a repost. Doesn't mean I'm not open to feedback.

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First:

I don't really see the point of the second bit and this is the only one of the 9 that gets a drawback.

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Diamond Mind has several maneuvers that let you make Concentration checks instead of attacks or saves, which are mostly used (at least in my experience) to avoid rolling 1s; what this is essentially supposed to do is turn every attack roll into something like that. On further reflection, though, this should be phrased as a "may" ability rather than a "must" ability, so I'll change that.

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This seems to presume a high degree of violence and a general lack of ethical tendencies. Maybe just move them generally 1 step closer to hostile?

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That works too.

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Originally Posted by DragoonWraith

Crusaders at 9th level get two maneuvers from each of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th levels, plus one from 5th. OK, this is possible with every discipline they have access to, whoo. Rough, though; you're taking pretty much every maneuver the discipline has available.

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That's sort of the point. :smallwink:

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Warblade, I imagine, has the easiest time. At 9th, they have one maneuver from 1st and 5th, and two from 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. OK, they can also do it with every discipline.

So, alright, Crusaders and Warblades can do this, with difficulty. Outside of Desert Wind, though, Swordsages can't. I think that requirement needs reworking.

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Two things. First, it was intended that it be easier for crusaders and warblades to get in, since Masters of Nine are easier for swordsages. I probably should have stated that at some point, but I figured it was a minor point.

Second, keep in mind the Special clause:

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If a martial adept wishes to become a Master of One but has already learned maneuvers of multiple disciplines, he may undergo a process known as the Epiphany of the Way. He must seek out a Master of the discipline he wishes to choose as his favored discipline as well as a cleric able to cast atonement; after 8 hours of meditation and the casting of atonement, the prospective Master of One may swap out any maneuvers from other disciplines for maneuvers from his new favored discipline (though he must still meet any and all prerequisites for the new maneuvers).

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You don't necessarily have to take only maneuvers from one discipline from level 1, so it's a bit easier than it first appears.

EDIT: ...hold on a second. :smallsigh: In the final WotC draft, there was an ability that let you take stances instead of maneuvers and vice versa, and a clause to that effect in the Epiphany of the Way, so I've been counting total number of maneuvers without considering which are stances. In that case, yes, it's pretty much impossible to make it in as a swordsage. Since I don't want to change one of the abilities back to that one, I've loosened the entry requirements and changed the flavor accordingly.

Ok. Looks all good now.

Is that one maneuver from each of the unfavored disciplines, or one total? Anyway, I think it helps quite a bit.

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Originally Posted by DragoonWraith

Is that one maneuver from each of the unfavored disciplines, or one total? Anyway, I think it helps quite a bit.

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Pretty sure he means one each otherwise the bit about having the highest two levels have to be all from the favored wouldn't make much sense.

Yeah, but that's not what it actually says, RAW. It says "one from any of the other disciplines", not "one from each of the other disciplines". As it's currently worded, it's a total of one maneuver, period.

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Originally Posted by DragoonWraith

Yeah, but that's not what it actually says, RAW. It says "one from any of the other disciplines", not "one from each of the other disciplines". As it's currently worded, it's a total of one maneuver, period.

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I have no idea what you're talking about. *cough cough* It now says one from each.

Does the Diamond Mind Rivalry reduce the total damage taken to 0, or just remove the multiplication?

The Unparalleled Prowess ability for Falling Anvil:

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Falling Anvil: A Falling Anvil madman is often hampered by the very madness that protects him, but a Master of One can sometimes channel the zaniness to a more benign form. Any and each time a Falling Anvil maneuver they initiate would cause a bad effect they are allowed a Will save versus a DC of 14 + Maneuver Level to negate this effect. No Maneuver may be used to alter or effect this will save. Example: If they are under the effects of Pull Yourself Together, then each time they are struck with a slashing weapon they are allowed a DC 19 Will save to have the cut close up mere inches behind the weapon as it travels through their body. Similarly, if they are in Not Looking Down they may choose to not be flat-footed against any given attack, but after the attack resolves, they must make a DC 22 Will save or fall. In the case of the Give Bomb, Give Bundle of Dynamite, Give Box of Dynamite, and any similar maneuvers maneuvers, if the Adept loses the opposed bluff check, the object created disappears after the Adept yanks the fuse(s) out.

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My first idea was to give them full immunity to the side effects of their maneuvers, but since I consider Falling Anvil pretty powerful, I thought that would be overkill, here it is basically saving against the DC of the maneuver, but with a static 18 initiating stat. At higher levels this might become trivial, but I think that is perfectly fine, and even a 5% failure chance can induce some dramatic tension and/or caution.



And here is my best guess at a Focused Rivalry ability:

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Falling Anvil: A Master of One using this ability gains immunity to all non-damage related effects of Falling Anvil strikes. For this purpose bypassing damage reduction is considered a damage related effect, and thus not protected against by this class feature. This includes the trip attempts of banana peels, and the rough terrain genertated by many of the higher level _______ Drop maneuvers.

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Balance-wise I am not sure of this, but since it turns the 9th level strike into a mere standard attack, I think it has strong possibilities. If it needs to be a bit stronger I could reverse the bit about DR (not useful to most Masters of One) and/or have it grant resistance to each energy type against damage from Falling Anvil maneuvers (which would be especially effective against Accursed Thunderhead since that deals both Electricity and a small amount of Sonic damage).

EDIT: Master of One seems to be missing class-skills and skill-points per level! (Now fixed)

EDIT^2: Added more clarifying language to the Unparalleled Mastery and Focused Rivalry stuff above.

Also, what may be one of the board's quickest produced prestige classes...

Adept Hunter

“You handle a blade well... tough luck for you.” —an Adept Hunter

Becoming an Adept Hunter
Most Adept hunters are simply Masters of Broken Blade who decide to continue their training to become skilled against a greater variety of opponents.

Entry Requirements
Special: 5th level Master of One in Broken Blade.
Skills: Martial Lore 17 ranks

Adept Hunter
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Maneuvers Known|Maneuvers Readied|Stances Known|Special
1|+1|+2|+0|+2|1|0|0|Focused Rivalry, Path of the Foes
2|+2|+3|+0|+3|2|0|0|Focused Rivalry
3|+3|+3|+1|+3|1|1|0|Focused Rivalry
4|+4|+4|+1|+4|2|0|0|Focused Rivalry
5|+5|+4|+1|+4|1|0|1|Dual Defense[/table]

Skills:
Knowledge[local] (Int), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str) plus the associated skill for each discipline you know at least one maneuver from.

Skill Points: 4 + Int

Class Features
The Adept Hunter on learning an every increasing tricks to combat other martial adepts.

Maneuvers: At each level, you learn one maneuvers from any discipline. You must still meet the maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it, and you add your full Master of One levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest level of maneuvers known. Thanks to Path of the Foes an Adept Hunter may learn a maneuvers from any discipline, including through feats such as Martial Study (provided all the requirements of that maneuver are known). At levels 2 and 4 you may swap out maneuvers known, as per the standard mechanic for swapping maneuvers. In no case may either learning a maneuver or swapping a maneuver result in your knowing more than 2 maneuvers from any given discipline OTHER than Broken Blade.

Stances Known: At 5th level, you learn an additional Broken Blade stance. You must still meet the stance’s prerequisite to learn it.

Focused Rivalry (Ex): As per the Master of One ability except that you must know at least one maneuver from a discipline to select it.

Path of the Foes (Ex): Learning a non-Broken Blade maneuver no longer causes you to lose your Master of One abilities.

Dual Defense (Ex): At 5th level you are better able to deal with even well diversified martial adepts. Each time you enter the Focused Rivalry stance you may select two different options, and benefit from both of them simultaneously. You may change one or both of your selections as per the usual mechanics for changing stances.

Playing an Adept Hunter
Most Adept Hunters are simply driven to "be the best in the world", others are vengeance seekers against martial adepts as a whole. Some few are the enforcers of various organizations of martial adepts, hunting down apostates and traitors.

Combat
As per Master of One.

Adept Hunters in the World
See "Playing an Adept Hunter"

NPC Reactions
Most people cannot tell the difference between Adept Hunters and any other adept of the Sublime Way, and even adepts often don't know the difference between Masters of the Broken Blade, and Adept Hunters.

Adept Hunter Lore
Characters with ranks in Martial Lore can attempt to learn more about Master of One.
DC 15: Though most martial adepts learn maneuvers of several schools, Masters of One focus on one favored discipline to the exclusion of all others, gaining benefits from their devotion.
DC 20: Masters of One believe their favored discipline is the only “true” path of the Sublime Way, and they learn special tricks and techniques to specifically counter other disciplines’ maneuvers and remove their own. favored discipline’s weaknesses.
DC 25: The maneuvers of a Master of Nine are more powerful and effective than the same maneuvers used by any other martial adept, and Masters of One have the potential to learn every single maneuver of their favored discipline, sometimes learning the same maneuvers more than once.
DC 40: Information about Adept Hunters in your campaign.

Draco, that's going to require working out what the Focused Rivalry and Unparalleled Prowess should be for the Broken Blade. But I like the idea.
I'd maybe have the max number of maneuvers you may have known from any other discipline increase by 1 at each odd level. So up to 2 at 1, 3 at 3, and 4 at 5.

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Originally Posted by DracoDei

Does the Diamond Mind Rivalry reduce the total damage taken to 0, or just remove the multiplication?

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Just removes the multiplication. I'll rephrase it to make that more clear/

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And, since it is needed, here is the Unparalleled Prowess ability for Falling Anvil (naturally we should try to complete the class for as many homebrew disciplines as possible):

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Whoa there. I think keeping it to the base 9 for right now is the best bet; if I were to make abilities for the other disciplines, things could get out of hand.

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EDIT: Master of One seems to be missing class-skills and skill-points per level!

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Fixed.

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Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

I'd maybe have the max number of maneuvers you may have known from any other discipline increase by 1 at each odd level. So up to 2 at 1, 3 at 3, and 4 at 5.

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Again, the idea is to focus on one discipline; the maneuvers from other disciplines are there mostly to allow you to get in, but once you're in you should be focusing on your favored discipline.

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Originally Posted by PairO'Dice Lost

Again, the idea is to focus on one discipline; the maneuvers from other disciplines are there mostly to allow you to get in, but once you're in you should be focusing on your favored discipline.

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My comment was in reference to Draco's PrC which uses Broken Blade.

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Originally Posted by PairO'Dice Lost

Whoa there. I think keeping it to the base 9 for right now is the best bet; if I were to make abilities for the other disciplines, things could get out of hand.

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I certainly never thought it should be YOU doing very much of it, if any at all. It would be very helpful for Age of Warriors. If you think it would clog up the thread too much I can move the Falling Anvil and Adept Hunter stuff to a separate thread "Expanded Master of One", leaving only a link behind. For convenience I might copy the mechanical aspects of your class there if you wouldn't mind. All of which is basically hypothetical since, personally, I don't see any reason to move anything, I am just offering the option.


As for the expanded list, JoshuaZ is quite right. The key reason I included that in MY PrC was that Broken Blade maneuvers have pre-requisites that include knowledge of maneuvers from OTHER disciplines.

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Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Draco, that's going to require working out what the Focused Rivalry and Unparalleled Prowess should be for the Broken Blade. But I like the idea.

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Unparalled Prowess, yes. Focused Rivalry could be omitted at least for the moment (although doing so is kinda "lopsided"). In fact I think I know what Unparalled Prowess should be, and it helps both PrCs...

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Broken Blade: An adept of Broken Blade is normally distracted from focusing his energies by the need to study a wide variety of other paths, but a Master’s mind is unhampered by the need for such deep understanding. The maneuvers of a Master of Broken Blade have their requirements for maneuvers known from another discipline reduced by 1, to a minimum of zero.

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That might be a bit underpowered, but it certainly is a critical ability, especially for base classes that have a very limited number of maneuvers known, and/or number of disciplines they have access to.

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Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

I'd maybe have the max number of maneuvers you may have known from any other discipline increase by 1 at each odd level. So up to 2 at 1, 3 at 3, and 4 at 5.

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That would theoretically let you get the 9th level maneuvers in many disciplines (rather than just Stone Dragon and Broken Blade). For this reason going up to 4 is a bad idea, but 3 might be OK. I think that stacked with my above change, it might be good, although it still sticks you with only low-level maneuvers and stances from most disciplines. Then again, some lower level maneuvers, and, in theory, all stances, maintain their usefulness regardless of level. Key example: The saving throw replacing maneuvers of Diamond Mind (and the parallel ones in Falling Anvil).

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Originally Posted by DracoDei

I certainly never thought it should be YOU doing very much of it, if any at all. It would be very helpful for Age of Warriors. If you think it would clog up the thread too much I can move the Falling Anvil and Adept Hunter stuff to a separate thread "Expanded Master of One", leaving only a link behind. For convenience I might copy the mechanical aspects of your class there if you wouldn't mind. All of which is basically hypothetical since, personally, I don't see any reason to move anything, I am just offering the option.

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As long as I'm not the one having to come up with all the abilities for however many umpty-bazillion disciplines we have, go right ahead.

Ok, well, here is something brain-stormy for Broken Blade Focused Rivalry:

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Broken Blade: You automatically succeed on all Will saves against Broken Blade Maneuvers. Twice per day you may chose to not count as a martial adept for purposes of Broken Blade Strikes or have a strike you are performing not count as a maneuver for purposes of Broken Blade Counters, Boosts, and Stances.

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Should I drop the second part? Maybe just part of it?

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Discipline Strike (Ex): A 3rd-level Master of One has perfectly internalized the principles of his favored discipline. He takes techniques and footwork from various maneuvers and combines them to produce a strike that only an adept familiar with his favored discipline has a chance to counter. To use this ability, a Master of One makes a single melee attack with a bonus equal to the number of strikes of his favored discipline he has readied, with the bonus divided between an attack bonus and a damage bonus, as desired. For example, if a Master of Diamond Mind has readied 9 Diamond Mind strikes, the bonus would be +9; the Master could then make an attack with a +9 attack bonus, an attack that deals an extra 9 damage, or any combination of attack and damage totaling 9.

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How often can you use this? Is it a once-per-encounter, once-per-day, once-per-hour, at-will, or etc. ability?

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Originally Posted by TSED

How often can you use this? Is it a once-per-encounter, once-per-day, once-per-hour, at-will, or etc. ability?

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At will. I'll rephrase it to clarify.

Here is what I have thought of for Steel Mountain. Again, these are thematics driven, not balance driven, but they should be good starting points at the least.

The Unparalleled Prowess ability for Steel Mountain:

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Steel Mountain: A steel mountain adept tends to lack some of the hitting power of their two-handed weapon wielding brethren, but you have learned to use your shield as a counter-weight to add additional force to your blows and block attempts to knock your weapon out of your hand, without impairing it from its defensive (or offensive) role. When using a shield, you may designate any one other weapon that you wield in a single hand. You count this weapon as being two-handed whenever it would be beneficial to do so, such as for your damage bonus when attacking with it, power attack, and disarm attempts. You may change which weapon you are so designating once per round on each of your turns as a free action.

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And here is my best guess at a Focused Rivalry ability:
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Steel Mountain: If they insist on getting all your attacks to hit their shield, then hit it you will! You gain twice your class level as a bonus on all to-hit, opposed checks, and damage rolls involved in a disarm or sunder attempt directed at a shield.

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If this is overpowered I/we could limit it to functioning against the shields of people in a Steel Mountain stance, or with at least one Steel Mountain maneuver readied, but I don't think that is necessary. If this was a 10 level PrC I wouldn't have done the doubling thing, but as it is I think it is necessary to get such a weak mechanic up to usefulness.

Nero24200 author of Steel Mountain has given his approval with the following words:

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Looks fine to me. Feel free to add it to the class.

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EDIT: And so as not to Triple (Quadrupal?) post, here is another discipline: Black Heron:

The Unparalleled Prowess ability for Black Heron:

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Black Heron: When confronted by those whose morals are middle of the road, or those who pursue Evil, but along a path that brings them into conflict with the Black Heron Adept, the strikes are not as powerful. A Master of Black Heron on the other hand, has such conviction in HIS brand of cruelty, sadism, and greed that he treats all targets as good for purposes of determining the amount Unholy damage they take from his maneuvers.

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Keep in mind that this works against summoned elementals and most constructs, vermin, and animals, and not a few magical beasts.


And here is my thought for a Focused Rivalry ability:

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Black Heron: You take half the unholy damage you would otherwise take. This means that if you are neutral or evil, you will generally take 1/4 the rolled amount.

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I don't know how many sources of Unholy damage their are out their, so I don't know how powerful this is.



Also, it occurs to me that "Focused Rivalry" gets a BIT weaker the more disciplines there are, although a lot of the abilities have broader utility than just countering the specific discipline. Given that the idea here is that Adepts are supposed to be really common in this setting, I don't think this is much of a problem for AoW, since even the most obscure disciplines should come up once or twice in a given campaign.


EDIT^2: Also, the Tiger Claw Unrivaled Mastery ability actually penalizes you for having a higher BAB sometimes. "and the other attacks are made at the Master of One's lowest iterative attack bonus." so if you have a +10 you get your second at +5, but if you have a +11 you get your second at +1.