Unstoppable Force [PrC]

[Cybren]

The Unstoppable Force is my tribute to characters such as Solid Snake, Zaraki Kenpachi, Rocky Balboa, and every character Kurt Russel has ever played. Many of the abilities were inspired by BWL's Art of War fighter fix.


The Unstoppable Force is exactly that. A warrior who fights and cannot be stopped, either by steel, or magic, or death itself. There are no secret masters, training students these ways. There are no abandoned temples filled with scrolls of lost lores. One can only become an Unstoppable Force by never giving in. By standing and fighting, and not running away. They must persist, even until their bodies have been broken.

Unstoppable Forces are typically lawful, as their training requires dedication and stubbornness, qualities that those lawful individuals are more likely to have. Nevertheless, there are examples of chaotic UF's. Neither good nor evil are more common, and infact it seems neutral is the most prevelant moral alignment among the unstoppable forces.

Most UF's tend to be Humans or Half-Orcs. There are some examples of Dwarf or Gnome UF's ,and out of all the races, Elves are the least likely to be a UF.

Prerequisites
BAB+6
Diehard
Toughness or Improved Toughness
Special: Must have defeated a foe or overcome an obstacle, very soon after recovering from, or still being at, near-death. (Commonly fulfilled as defeating an enemy while at -HPs using Diehard)




The Unstoppable Force
d12 hitdice
The Unstoppable Force's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb(str), Concentration(con), Craft(int), Heal(wis), Jump(str), Profession(wis), Survival(wis), Swim(str)

The Unstoppable Force receives 2 + int modifier skill points per level.

The Unstoppable Force receives no new weapon or armor proficiencies
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort |Ref |Will |Special

1st|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+2

|Skin of Steel

2nd|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|Unstoppable Speed 1/e, Stubborn Mind

3rd|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|Superior Endurance

4th|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|A Good Nights Rest, Unstoppable Speed 2/e

5th|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|Never Say Die
[/table]

Class Features

Skin of Steel(Ex): At 1st level, and Unstoppable Force's whole body hardens and becomes tougher. The bones denser, the skin calloused and thicker. He receives a natural armor bonus to armor class equal to his constitution modifier.

Unstoppable Speed(Ex): At 2nd level, an Unstoppable Force may take a move action as an immediate action, once per encounter. She receives an additional use of this ability at fourth level.

Stubborn Mind(Ex): At 2nd level, an Unstoppable Force may overpower his own will. An Unstoppable Force may treat a failed will save as a successful one by taking 10 damage per point by which the save was missed. If the Unstoppable Force rolls a natural one, he must take an additional 10 damage (If the save was only failed because it was a natural one, he would only take 10 damage.)

Superior Endurance(Ex): At 3rd level the Unstoppable Force becomes immune to Fatigue effects, and any effect that would cause him to be exhausted instead causes him to become fatigued. The fatigue will stack to exhaustion as normal, if multiple effects that (normally) cause exhaustion overlap.

A Good Nights Rest(Ex): At 4th level an Unstoppable Force recovers from injury much, much quicker than a normal person. The Unstoppable Force adds his constitution modifier plus his class level to his character level when determining hit points recovered each night. The Unstoppable Force recovers from ability damage faster as well, recovering one point per constitution modifier per night. Finally, even his body will even recover from ability drain, regaining one lost ability point per night.

Never Say Die(Ex): At 5th level, the Unstoppable Force is truly that. [Death] attacks and other instant death effects do not cause death. Instead, they lower the Unstoppable force to -1 HP and render him unconscious.

In addition, the Unstoppable Force is no longer staggered from being reduced to -hp's, or having his non-lethal damage equal to his current hit points, and is staggered when his nonlethal damage exceeds his hit points, rather than knocked unconscious.
EDIT: 11/11/2008 Changed will save to good.

[Lord_Gareth]

Well, keeping in mind that I'm only about average at balancing, I shall declare this balanced and good. And it combos well/may respect or associate with the Pelorian Crusaders in my sig.

[JackMage666]

Nothing looks too powerful, and it's all and all pretty balanced - Actually it's quite a bit weaker than many PrCs, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. More PrCs should be like this, giving good benefits and flavorful things, instead of Super-powering characters.

[Spiryt]

Well, I really like it. Yeah, when you read it you see Kurt Russel, Bruce Willis or Indiana Jones, but in fact it fits any determined hero of fantasy world.

And Unstoppable Speed is really good help for characters who want to execute full attack, but enemy keep running (Two weapon fighters).

Anyway, I would give him good Will save. Yeah, he has Stubborn Mind but, still such guy should be always unbroken, can't you see

It won't unbalance thing, since in standard D&D ecounters good offence is anyway much better than even brilliant defence.

[...Eh?]

*Looks at this*

Hm. I really like this PrCl, anf the name makes me think of the whole Unstoppable Force/Immovable Object thing...actually, I kind of want to make an Immovable Object PrCl now.

[Finerty]

I like the idea, and it's a neat little 5-level PrC - however, it feels very dipworthy. Might I suggest making skin of steel a bonus to natural armor equal to Con modifier, to a max of class level (until fifth level, when you may add your entire Con modifier)? Otherwise, your monk duelist is going to take one nice level in this and add 4 stats to AC. Also, Good Night's Rest is great, but a little on the fluffy side - a lot of DM's treat healing between adventurers as throwaway. I'd suggest switching it with Stubborn Mind (which I really like).

[Deepblue706]

Excellent work! I am greatly impressed. Though simple, it fills a much desired niche - to be really badass.

Consider the suggestions already made, but I think you should also consider about being able to delay lethal damage itself. For instance, a Frenzied Berserker can stay active at -500 hps, so long as they remain in a frenzy (and then they die afterwards). Perhaps the UF can keep going a number of rounds equal to their class level, or CON modifier, or something else along those lines?

[Xeran]

While I think you should consider what Deepblue706 and Finerty suggested, I think beyond that the class looks balanced and very well done. Kudos.

[Dove]

Oooh, I like this very very much. Bookmarked and very likely to be played.

[Cybren]

Okay, so for another ability:

But I Get Up Again (Ex): An Unstoppable Force may ignore death during those moments where it isn't quite that convenient. An Unstoppable Force may continue to fight after reaching -10 hit-points for a number of rounds equal to half his constitution modifier. After the rounds are up, the Unstoppable Force dies, regardless of any healing received during that period.


I'm not sure if it fits properly into the whole of the class.

Opinions before I edit the op?

[Finerty]

... That sits so poorly with having a class ability called "Never Say Die".

[Cybren]

... That sits so poorly with having a class ability called "Never Say Die".

I concur!


Then we are agreed. My work is complete and super ultra double perfect as is!


All should praise!