Martial Artist
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A martial artist, outside of a bastion, understands the dangers of technology. He believes in the balance of science and magic. If sides were drawn, he would choose science. He may employ weapons but understands against the enemies outside, the lack of technology is science's best edge against magic. The martial artist deals with personal discipline and gains no magical powers. Where the monk uses his talents to focus his mind, the martial artist focuses his mind to be better at his talents. The martial artist, though not gaining the supernatural abilities of the monk, offsets this deficiency with fewer constraints. He is not bound by any belief system. He can wear armor and still perform without fault as well as wield firearms. The martial artist is the best techan class as he maintains
his power regardless of his location in the world or the state of his gear.

Role: A martial artist, like the brute, seldom takes a leadership role. However, he does not operate alone, preferring to work in tandem with other members. A martial artist is almost exclusively a close fighter. As a result, he often takes roles as a bodyguard to a commander in the field. He is also teamed up with infiltrators or brutes to offer balance to their abilities, forming into a focused well-trained pair with few weaknesses.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Abilities: Above everything else, the martial artist needs a high Dexterity, as it adds to their ability to strike and avoid being hit. Strength and constitution is of a secondary importance. Wisdom is not as big a concern as with monks.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.

CLASS SKILLS

Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Perception (Wis) Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str),

Level Base Attack Fortitude Ref Save Will Save Special Bonus Defense Flurry of Blows Unarmed Damage Unarmored Speed
1st 1 2 2 2 Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows 1 1d6 –1/–1 0 ft.
2nd 2 3 3 3 Evasion, Fast Movement 2 1d6 –0/–0 0 ft.
3rd 3 3 3 3 Flying Kick 2 1d6 1/1 10 ft.
4th 4 4 4 4 Ignore DR 2 3 1d8 2/2 10 ft.
5th 5 4 4 4 Bonus Feat 4 1d8 3/3 10 ft.
6th 6/1 5 5 5 Martial Smash 4 1d8 4/4 20 ft.
7th 7/2 5 5 5 Ignore DR 3 5 1d8 5/5 20 ft.
8th 8/3 6 6 6 Bonus Feat 6 1d10 6/6/1 20 ft.
9th 9/4 6 6 6 Improved Evasion 6 1d10 7/7/2 30 ft.
10th 10/5 7 7 7 Ignore DR 4 7 1d10 8/8/3 30 ft.
11th 11/6/1 7 7 7 Bonus Feat 8 1d10 9/9/4 30 ft.
12th 12/7/2 8 8 8 Martial Smash 8 2d6 10/10/5 40 ft.
13th 13/8/3 8 8 8 Ignore DR 5 9 2d6 11/11/6/1 40 ft.
14th 14/9/4 9 9 9 Bonus Feat 10 2d6 12/12/7/2 40 ft.
15th 15/10/5 9 9 9 Iron Fist 10 2d6 13/13/8/3 50 ft.
16th 16/11/6/1 10 10 10 Ignore DR 6 11 2d8 14/14/9/4 50 ft.
17th 17/12/7/2 10 10 10 Bonus Feat 12 2d8 15/15/10/5 50 ft.
18th 18/13/8/3 11 11 11 Martial Smash 12 2d8 16/16/11/6/1 60 ft.
19th 19/14/9/4 11 11 11 Ignore DR 7 13 2d8 17/17/12/7/2 60 ft.
20th 20/15/10/5 12 12 12 Bonus Feat, Iron Fist 14 2d10 18/18/13/8/3 60 ft.

CLASS FEATURES

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A martial artist receives the Personal Firearms Proficiency and Simple Weapons Proficiency as well as being proficient in light armor.

Unarmed Strike: The martial artist gains the Unarmed Strike ability the same as the monk. A martial artist's attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a martial artist may even make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a martial artist striking unarmed. A martial artist may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.

Usually a martial artist's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

Flurry of Blows: The martial artist gains the Flurry of Blows ability at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, he may make one extra attack in a round at his highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does every other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: Techan Martial Artist. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the martial artist might make before his next action. When a martial artist reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. A martial artist must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, a martial artist may attack only with unarmed strikes, special monk weapons (club, dagger (normal and punching), handaxe, kama, kukri, mace (light), nunchaku, quarterstaff (or Sanjiegun), sai, shortspear, shortsword, shuriken, siangham). He may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a martial artist applies his Strength bonus (not Str bonus x 1-1/2 or x 1/2) to his damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether he wields a weapon in one or both hands. The martial artist can't use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a martial artist may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that he has enough attacks in his flurry of blows routine to do so. When a martial artist reaches 11th level, his flurry of blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack he gets from flurry of blows, he gets a second extra attack at his full base attack bonus.

Evasion: The martial artist gains the Evasion ability the same as the monk. At 2nd level or higher, if a martial artist makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a martial artist is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless martial artist does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Fast Movement: The martial artist gains the Fast Movement ability same as the monk. At 3rd level, a martial artist gains a bonus to his speed, as shown on Table: Techan Martial Artist. A martial artist in armor heavier than light or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Flying Kick: At 3rd level, a martial artist can use a charge to deliver a devastating flying kick to an opponent. At the end of this charge, the martial artist adds his class level as a bonus to the damage he deals with an unarmed strike.

Ignore DR: The martial artist at 4th level ignores 2 points of an opponent's DR, regardless of its type. This increases by one every 3 levels, finally reaching 7 at 19th level.

Bonus Feats: At 3rd level and every 3rd level after that, the martial artist gets a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be
selected from the following list, and the martial artist must meet all the prerequisites of the feat to select it: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Blind Fight, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Snatch Arrows, Spring Attack, Stunning Fist, and Toughness.

Martial Smash: At 6th level, the martial artist increases melee damage (lethal or non). He receives +2 bonus damage to all melee damage. At 12th level, this increases to +4 and, at 18th level, it increases to +6.

Iron Fist: At 15th level, a martial artist may increase the damage he deals to a single opponent with a single unarmed strike in combat. The martial artist declares the use after making a successful unarmed strike. The damage is +1d6 + Strength bonus and can only be used as many times a day = to the martial artist's Dexterity modifier. At 20th level, this ability improves. The martial artist now adds the result to all successful attacks he makes in a round for as many rounds = to his dexterity modifier.

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