Ballad of the Ancient Hero [3.PF Base Class]

[gkathellar]

Feats can be used for qualifiers and chaos shuffle shenanigans and other such things. There are probably other reasons that more knowledgeable folks can think of and mention, but those are the two that jump out to me (other than the mindset that giving out a ton of free feats can be a bad thing).

You don't happen to know where the True Two-Weapon Fighting feat is mentioned, do you? Mullet mentioned but I can't find it anywhere.

Trying to account for Chaos Shuffle is silly — it's a stupid trick, and in a campaign that uses it this class isn't going to blow anyone out of the water just because it trades out four bonus feats. And people can qualify with them as written anyway, because "equivalents" like the ranger's Combat Style count as feats for purposes of qualification.

Perfect Two Weapon Fighting is in the ELH, and on the SRD. It's one of those Epic Feats that has no business being an epic feat.

I may be scaling the weapon side back from 1/3 to 1/2 though, as Noctis suggested.

I support Noctis in this. The only perfectly-by-RAW way to use those TWF feats alongside unarmed striking is to mix a one-handed weapon with unarmed attacks (which, coincidentally, fits the wuxia image exactly).

Hm. That's a thought. Anyone else want to weigh in on this suggestion?

+1 for swift action healing Dim Mak.

It's pulled straight from the source material, which in of itself denotes a somewhat contradiction between the violence of Wuxia and how many protagonists tried to attain Buddhist ideals.

You should tone it down, I think. Not all youxia in the stories are Buddhist monks, dedicated Buddhists or even Buddhist at all (the Wudang school is usually cast as Taoist, for instance) — and of those that are, the stories they're set in don't always take such a harsh attitude towards killing guys. In fact, killing someone as a matter of honor or simple opposition is usually par for the course in jiang hu. There's a classic poem that's kind of the definitive statement of what wuxia is about:

For ten years I have been polishing this sword;
Its frosty edge has never been put to the test.
Now I am holding it and showing it to you, sir:
Is there anyone suffering from injustice?

In other words: you don't devote yourself to a life of enforcing justice and become a master swordsman so you can not kill people.

It also kind of implies that social justice wouldn't be upheld, since quite a few disputes are legal matters, not things you settle over a street fight or honorable duel.

Historically, this is wildly incorrect. For much of human history in much of the world, judicial combat was a primary means of settling civil disputes.

An example that comes to mind, and deride me for using it if you wish, is Goku's fight with Frieza from Dragonball Z.

Goku is a pretty poor model for a youxia, if only because he doesn't care about honor in the slightest. He might make for a pretty good Buddhist monk, but you should allow for different takes.

Anyone else want to agree with him on this? Because I don't see this class as being Tier 5.

It's not. I could see mid-to-high Tier 4 argued, but I'm inclined to say middle-ground Tier 3.