The King of Fighters (3.5 base class + martial discipline, PEACH, WIP)

[Wahrheit]

Terry Bogard, a king of fighters

King of Fighters

Since long before the days of the Temple of Nine Swords, the world has seen those who seek to hone their skill in combat. Every so often, a warrior arises with the combination of a burning ambition to prove themselves the greatest fighter of all and an inborn ability to wield the power of the Void. These rare champions blaze a path to glory, defeating blade, armor, and spell with naught but their bare fists and determination. They are the kings of fighters.

Hit Die: d12

Class Skills: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Local), Martial Lore, Perform, Sense Motive, Swim, Tumble
Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int modifier (x4 at first level)

{table=head]Level|Base Attack[br]Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Unarmed[br]Damage|Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+0

|

1d6

|Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, AC Bonus

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+0

|

1d6

|Fast Movement

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|

1d6

|Mobility

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|

1d8

|Super Meter (1 Bar), Get Back Up

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|

1d8

|Fighting Spirit (magic), +1 AC

6th|

+6/+1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|

1d8

|Uncanny Dodge

7th|

+7/+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|

1d8

|Deadly Fist

8th|

+8/+3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+2

|

1d10

|Super Meter (2 Bars)

9th|

+9/+4

|

+6

|

+6

|

+3

|

1d10

|Improved Uncanny Dodge

10th|

+10/+5

|

+7

|

+7

|

+3

|

1d10

|Blindsense 30 ft., +2 AC

11th|

+11/+6/+1

|

+7

|

+7

|

+3

|

1d10

|Defensive Roll

12th|

+12/+7/+2

|

+8

|

+8

|

+4

|

2d6

|Super Meter (3 Bars)

13th|

+13/+8/+3

|

+8

|

+8

|

+4

|

2d6

|Corner Foe

14th|

+14/+9/+4

|

+9

|

+9

|

+4

|

2d6

|Fists of Fury, Unstoppable

15th|

+15/+10/+5

|

+9

|

+9

|

+5

|

2d6

|Mortal Combat, +3 AC

16th|

+16/+11/+6/+1

|

+10

|

+10

|

+5

|

2d8

|Super Meter (4 Bars)

17th|

+17/+12/+7/+2

|

+10

|

+10

|

+5

|

2d8

|Fighting Spirit (adamantine)

18th|

+18/+13/+8/+3

|

+11

|

+11

|

+6

|

2d8

|Unconquerable

19th|

+19/+14/+9/+4

|

+11

|

+11

|

+6

|

2d8

|Living Legend

20th|

+20/+15/+10/+5

|

+12

|

+12

|

+6

|

2d10

|Super Meter (5 Bars), SNK Boss, +4 AC[/table]

Starting Gold: 5d4 x 10 (125 gp)

Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Kings of fighters are proficient with light armor. They are not proficient with shields. A king of fighters is proficient in simple weapons and unarmed strikes.

Maneuvers: The king of fighters has access only to the Void Fury martial discipline, but automatically gains all maneuvers of each level in the discipline as soon as he qualifies for them.

Maneuvers Readied: You must choose a limited number of maneuvers to have readied with 5 minutes of practice. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to exercise again and change them. You begin an encounter with all readied maneuvers unexpended.

As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a king of fighters may taunt his opponents. This taunt recovers all expended maneuvers. One bar of Super Meter may be expended to avoid incurring attacks of opportunity.

The number of maneuvers readied will be added to the table when I finish Void Fury.

Stances Known: Kings of fighters know all Void Fury stances as soon as they meet their prerequisites, as all other Void Fury maneuvers.

Armor Bonus: When unencumbered and wearing up to light armor, kings of fighters add their Charisma modifier to AC. In addition, a king of fighters gains an additional +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by +1 every 5 levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, +4 at 20th).

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the king of fighters is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears medium or heavy armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Bonus Feats: At first level, the king of fighters gains Dodge and Improved Unarmed Strike as bonus feats. At third level, the king of fighters gains Mobility as a bonus feat. All prerequisites are waived.

Fast Movement (Ex): At 2nd level, the king of fighters gains a +10 enhancement bonus to his speed. He loses this bonus while carrying a medium or heavy load, or wearing medium or heavy armor.

Super Meter (Ex): At 4th level, the king of fighters gains access to a Super Meter with a maximum capacity of one bar. All damage done and taken by the king of fighters is added to this Super Meter; every 40 points of damage fills one bar. Any damage beyond the Super Meter’s capacity is wasted. The Super Meter gains one additional bar of capacity at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter (3 bars at 12th, 4 bars at 16th, and 5 bars at 20th). Full bars of Super Meter may be expended to power certain class features. Recovering maneuvers adds 10 points to the Super Meter. When out of combat, Super Meter drains at a rate of 40 points every 10 minutes.

Get Back Up (Su): At the end of an encounter, a king of fighters may expend unused Super Meter bars to heal himself as per the following table. The king of fighters uses his class level as his caster level.
{table=head]Super Meter[br]Used|Effect

1 Bar|Cure Moderate Wounds

2 Bars|Restoration

3 Bars|Cure Critical Wounds

4 Bars|Greater Restoration

5 Bars|Heal[/table]

Fighting Spirit (Su): At 5th level, the king of fighters’ unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. At 17th level his unarmed attacks are treated as both magic and adamantine for bypassing damage reduction.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 6th level, a king of fighters reacts to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

If a king of fighters already has uncanny dodge from a different class he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Deadly Fist (Ex): At 7th level, the threat range of unarmed attacks made by the king of fighters increases to 19-20.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 9th level, a king of fighters can no longer be flanked.

This defense denies rogues the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target.

If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Blindsense (Ex): At tenth level, the king of fighters gains blindsense out to 30 feet.

Defensive Roll (Ex): At 11th level, once per day, when the king of fighters would be reduced to -1 or fewer hit points by damage, he may make a Reflex save against a DC equal to the damage dealt. Success indicates the king of fighters takes only half damage.

Corner Foe (Ex): At 13th level, once per round, the king of fighters may expend one bar of Super Meter to make an immediate attack against a threatened enemy who has just taken hit point damage as a free action. This does not count as his attack of opportunity for the round, and damage done with this attack does not add to the Super Meter.

Fists of Fury (Ex): At 14th level, the critical multiplier of unarmed attacks made by the king of fighters increases to x3.

Unstoppable (Ex): At 14th level, the king of fighters becomes immune to death effects.

Mortal Combat (Ex): At 15th level, the king of fighters may draw upon his fighting spirit to call an opponent into a duel. No shared language is required to initiate Mortal Combat. Once invoked, the King of Fighters gains a bonus on all attack rolls made against his target equal to his character level/4 but takes a -5 attack roll penalty against all other targets. The target suffers a -5 penalty to attack any target other than the king of fighters, and all other characters suffer a -5 penalty to attack the king of fighters. The king of fighters gains spell resistance equal to 10 + his class level + his Charisma modifier against all spells cast by any character other than his Mortal Combat target. These bonuses and penalties apply until either the king of fighters or his target is incapacitated or dead. If the king of fighters drops his Mortal Combat target, he may spend one bar of Super Meter to make a coup de grace as a free action and simultaneously make an Intimidate check against all foes within 30 feet. This attack does not increase the Super Meter. Mortal Combat may be used a number of times per day equal to the king of fighters’ Charisma modifier.

Unconquerable (Ex): At 18th level, for one round after dropping an opponent, the king of fighters cannot die or be knocked unconscious. He is not treated as disabled at 0 hp or dying at -1 or less.

Living Legend (Ex): At 19th level, the king of fighters gains Frightful Presence (DC 10+ ½ character level + Charisma modifier), activated whenever the king of fighters attacks, recovers maneuvers, or charges. Foes who fail the save DC by more than 8 become panicked for 3d6 rounds; foes who fail the save by less than 8 become shaken for 3d6 rounds. Foes who succeed are immune to the king of fighters’ frightful presence for 24 hours.

SNK Boss (Ex): At 20th level, the king of fighters gains fast healing 5, DR 10/magic and adamantine, blindsight out to 30 feet, his Fast Movement bonus increases to +30 feet, and he no longer incurs attacks of opportunity for recovering maneuvers. Instead, spending one bar of Super Meter when recovering maneuvers grants him a single attack against a threatened enemy as a free action. This attack may be a martial maneuver and the king of fighters is considered to have recovered his maneuvers before making this attack. Damage from this attack is not added to the Super Meter.

[Wahrheit]

RESERVED for the Void Fury martial discipline.

Basic concept is a discipline with maneuvers that can be augmented by spending bars of Super Meter to give additional effects.

[Wahrheit]

RESERVED again

[Elfstone]

Sweet! I like it. However after just glancing through, I think that at lower levels, 40 points of damage is really really hard to get. Thats enough damage to level you.. or kill you a few times. Think about the fact that a level one human fighter has only (5 for 1d10, +3 con)8 hp at lv1. Thats 1/5 the amount needed to fill a bar. And killing 8 would level you. Just food for thought.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Sweet! I like it. However after just glancing through, I think that at lower levels, 40 points of damage is really really hard to get. Thats enough damage to level you.. or kill you a few times. Think about the fact that a level one human fighter has only (5 for 1d10, +3 con)8 hp at lv1. Thats 1/5 the amount needed to fill a bar. And killing 8 would level you. Just food for thought.

You take maximum on your hit die at first level, meaning the fighter has 13 hit points.

[Wahrheit]

Sweet! I like it. However after just glancing through, I think that at lower levels, 40 points of damage is really really hard to get. Thats enough damage to level you.. or kill you a few times. Think about the fact that a level one human fighter has only (5 for 1d10, +3 con)8 hp at lv1. Thats 1/5 the amount needed to fill a bar. And killing 8 would level you. Just food for thought.

The Super Meter isn't available until level 4, and it counts damage you both dish out and take. So, the level 4 king of fighters with +3 con would have (21 + 3d12) hp, and he would also count the damage he's dealing with his very painful fists towards filling the bar.

[Ziegander]

The Super Meter isn't available until level 4, and it counts damage you both dish out and take. So, the level 4 king of fighters with +3 con would have (21 + 3d12) hp, and he would also count the damage he's dealing with his very painful fists towards filling the bar.

Yeah, and actually, a total of 200 points to fill all five bars is trivially easy to attain at 20th level. Maybe scale each bar so that the successive ones take longer to fill?

[Glimbur]

I don't see how one can build a variety of fighters with this class. They all have the same maneuvers and other class features are also set in stone. We cannot build a light and quick character as opposed to a ponderous grappler with this class. Your source material allows these archetypes, so this is an issue.

On a more minor note, I wish King of Fighters was a title that was earned during the class or a class feature rather than the class name, as it is strange as a class name. I'm not sure of a good alternative though, as Tournament Fighter is also strange as a class name.

[Wahrheit]

Yeah, and actually, a total of 200 points to fill all five bars is trivially easy to attain at 20th level. Maybe scale each bar so that the successive ones take longer to fill?

Perhaps 40/60/80/100/120 points, respectively? This would probably still keep some of the Void Fury maneuvers balanced, since it would make it very easy to keep up the one- and two-bar augments, while making it more difficult to whip out the five-bar augments of doom.

For explanation, many of the Void Fury maneuvers will have the capability to do additional effects based on how many bars of Super Meter are expended when the maneuver is initiated.

[Voidhawk]

I don't see how one can build a variety of fighters with this class. They all have the same maneuvers and other class features are also set in stone. We cannot build a light and quick character as opposed to a ponderous grappler with this class. Your source material allows these archetypes, so this is an issue.

On a more minor note, I wish King of Fighters was a title that was earned during the class or a class feature rather than the class name, as it is strange as a class name. I'm not sure of a good alternative though, as Tournament Fighter is also strange as a class name.

I agree, I think this class has too few options to qualify for base class, though it would work really well as a PRC if you shrunk it down from 20 levels.

Alternatively you could rename it something like Mortal Kombatant and give it some more choices, perhaps some martial disciplines or other options that mimic the other charcters? A straight linear progression just feels too limited.

On the other hand, I really like the feel of the class, the Super Meter is a very cool theme to go with, and the Mortal Combat challenge ability is flavourful and effective. Thanks for posting it!

[Wahrheit]

I agree, I think this class has too few options to qualify for base class, though it would work really well as a PRC if you shrunk it down from 20 levels.

Alternatively you could rename it something like Mortal Kombatant and give it some more choices, perhaps some martial disciplines or other options that mimic the other charcters? A straight linear progression just feels too limited.

On the other hand, I really like the feel of the class, the Super Meter is a very cool theme to go with, and the Mortal Combat challenge ability is flavourful and effective. Thanks for posting it!

I can come up with some more class features and set up something similar to the Rogue's "special ability" feature, to give some options there. If I find the time I could also come up with one, maybe two more martial disciplines for it and give them the choice of any one (since part of the class design is absolute mastery of one augmentable discipline, with Super Meter able to bring even low-level maneuvers up to higher-level competence).

[Agent_0042]

I agree, I think this class has too few options to qualify for base class, though it would work really well as a PRC if you shrunk it down from 20 levels.

To be fair, there are plenty of official classes that are essentially a fixed list of abilities - monk, samurai, ninja, swashbuckler, barbarian, etc. I'm not saying this is a *good* model to emulate, but at least this has the advantage of maneuver selection, however limited that may be.

That said, Warheit, I agree somewhat with the other posters. I know you had a specific character in mind with this class, and if you want it to be the Elothar, Warrior of Bladereach, that's cool.

However, this does have the potential to be a general-use class, representing a number of fighting game characters. Easiest way to do this would probably be a few sets of ACFs, with part of each one being that you access a different discipline. Heck, you can probably model them off our Universal Legends project.

[Wahrheit]

To be fair, there are plenty of official classes that are essentially a fixed list of abilities - monk, samurai, ninja, swashbuckler, barbarian, etc. I'm not saying this is a *good* model to emulate, but at least this has the advantage of maneuver selection, however limited that may be.

That said, Warheit, I agree somewhat with the other posters. I know you had a specific character in mind with this class, and if you want it to be the Elothar, Warrior of Bladereach, that's cool.

However, this does have the potential to be a general-use class, representing a number of fighting game characters. Easiest way to do this would probably be a few sets of ACFs, with part of each one being that you access a different discipline. Heck, you can probably model them off our Universal Legends project.

I think I'm probably going to do that, to make more archetypes available. And damnit, now you're making me want to make a prestige class for someone who throws their lot in with Akem Manah.