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Martial Artist

Dotted across the landscape are monasteries—small, walled cloisteres inhabited by martial artists who are warriors that train themselves to be versatile combatants that are skilled at fighting without weapons or armor. The inhabitants of monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant clothes, martial artists can travel unnoticed among the plpilace, catching bandits, arlords and corrupt nobles unaware. In contrast, the residents of monasteries headed by evil masters rule the surrounding lands through fear, as an evil warlord and his entourage might. Evil martial artists make ideal spies, infiltrators and assassins. An individual martial artist is unlikely to care passionately about championing commoners or amassing wealth. She cares primarily for the perfection of her art.

Making a Martial Artist

The key feature of a martial artist is the ability to fight unarmed and unarmored. Thanks to her rigorous training, she can strike as hard as if she were armed, and she can strike faster than a warrior with a sword. In most adventuring parties, the martial artist serves as a melee combatant, charging into the fray while his comrades support him with spells, ranged attacks and ofther effects.

Abilities: Wisdom powers the Martial Artists spelcial offensive and defensive capabiliies. Dexterity provides an aunarmored Martial Artist with a better defense and with bonuses to some class skills. Strength helps a Martial Artists unarmed combat ability.

Races: Monasteries are found primarily amoung humans, who have incorporated them into their ever-evolving culture. Thus, many martial artists are humans, and many more are half-orcs or half-elves who live among humands. Elves are capable of single-minded, long-term devotion to an interest, art or discipline and some of them leave the forests to become Martial Artists. THe Martial Artist is alien to dwarf and gnome culture, and halflings typically have too mobile a lifestyle to commit themselves to a monastery, so dwarves, gnomes and halflings very rarely become monks.

Alignment: Any Non-Chaotic.

Starting Gold: 5d4 gp.

Starting Age: "Complex" or "As wizard"

Table: The Martial Artist

Hit Die: d10

Level Base
Attack Bonus
Saving Throws Special Flurry of Blows
Attack Bonus
Unarmed
Damage1
AC
Bonus
Unarmored
Speed Bonus
Fort Ref Will
1st +1 +2 +2 +2 Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows, Natural Grappler –1/–1 1d6 +0 +0 ft.
2nd +2 +3 +3 +3 Uncanny Dodge, Battle Instincts +1 +0/+0 1d6 +0 +0 ft.
3rd +3 +3 +3 +3 Close Quarters Fighting, Acrobatic Combatant +1/+1 1d8 +0 +0 ft.
4th +4 +4 +4 +4 Ki Strike (Magic), Body Shield +3/+3 1d8 +0 +10 ft.
5th +5 +4 +4 +4 Improved Uncanny Dodge +4/+4 1d8 +1 +10 ft
6th +6/+1 +5 +5 +5 Retaliation (Maenuvers) +5/+5/+0 1d8 +1 +10 ft.
7th +7/+2 +5 +5 +5 Keen Kick +1 +7/+7/+2 1d10 +1 +20 ft.
8th +8/+3 +6 +6 +6 Improved Flanking, Greater Flurry +8/+8/+8/+3 1d10 +1 +20 ft.
9th +9/+4 +6 +6 +6 Keen Kick +20, Blindsense 30 ft. +9/+9/+9/+4 1d10 +1 +20 ft.
10th +10/+5 +7 +7 +7 Ki Strike (Lawful), Defensive Roll +10/+10/+10/+5 1d10 +2 +30 ft.
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +7 Keen Kick +2, Battle Reflexes +2 +11/+11/+11/+6/+1 2d6 +2 +30 ft.
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +8 +8 Leg Sweep +12/+12/+12/+7/+2 2d6 +2 +30 ft.
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +8 Retaliation (Throw) +13/+13/+13/+8/+3 2d6 +2 +40 ft.
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +9 +9 Whirlwind Kick +14/+14/+14/+9/+4 2d6 +2 +40 ft.
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +9 Penetrating Kick +15/+15/+15/+10/+5 2d8 +3 +40 ft.
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +10 +10 Ki Strike (Adamantine) +16/+16/+16/+11/+6/+1 2d8 +3 +50 ft.
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Timeless Body +17/+17/+17/+12/+7/+2 2d8 +3 +50 ft.
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 Retaliation (Redirect) +18/+18/+18/+13/+8/+3 2d8 +3 +50 ft.
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +11 Blindsight 30 ft. +19/+19/+19/+14/+9/+4 2d10 +3 +60 ft.
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Battle Instincts +3 +20/+20/+20/+15/+10/+5 2d10 +4 +60 ft.
  1. The value shown is for Medium Martial Artists. See Table: Martial Artist Unarmed Damage by Size for Martial Artists of all sizes.

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level)
Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex)


Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Martial Artist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Martial Artists are proficient with club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham, and sling.

Martial Artists are not proficient with any armor or shields.

When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a Martial Artist loses her AC bonus, as well as her fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.

Fighting Style: You begin your career in martial arts with knowledge of four martial arts maneuvers. All different flows of martial arts (that is to say Active, Aggressive, Hard, Reactive, Soft and Tempered) are open to you. For more information on the particular 'flows', see Martial Arts Maneuvers below.

Once you know a martial arts maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied below). A martial arts maneuver is always considered a extraordinary ability. Martial arts maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one. You learn additional martial arts maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on Table: The Martial Artist. You must meet a martial arts maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. The table also shows the highest-level maneuvers you can learn.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered martial artist level after that, you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in exchange for a new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

Maneuvers Readied: You can ready three of the martial arts maneuvers you know at 1st level. You ready your maneuvers by exercising for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to exercise again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in practice, you can change your readied maneuvers.

You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (until you recover them, as described below).

You can recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a melee attack or using a standard action to do nothing else in the round (such as executing a simple martial arts kata or a flourish with a weapon). You can not initiate a maneuver or change your stance while you are recovering your expended maneuvers, but you can remain in the stance in which you began your turn.

Maneuvers are not like spells or powers, and are initiated rather than cast or activated. A martial artist has an initiator level equal to his class level.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one 1st level stance from any flow of martial arts. At 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th and 19th level, you can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action. A stance always is an extraordinary ability.

Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.

Martial Arts Maneuvers

Maneuvers are the meat and bones of a martial artist's ability. A martial artist's fighting style consists of maneuvers that are divided up into techniques and stances. They often say that the fighting style defines the martial artist, and matures as the martial artist develops his skills. Martial arts maneuvers come in various shapes and sizes, and are divided into 5 levels. Higher level maneuvers are correspondingly more powerful than lower level maneuvers and are learned over time. A martial artist has a maximum number of techniques readied (see Table: The Martial Artist.

Techniques: A technique is a maneuver that is consciously activated during battle. Techniques are divided into action techniques and counter techniques. Action technique include attacks, movements and boosts and are always activated during the martial artist's turn. Attack actions require a standard action to initiate unless their description says otherwise, whereas Movement and Boost actions usually require a move action. Counter techniques are always immediate actions, that can be activated in response to actions taken by an opponent. A martial artist can employ a maximum of one action technique and one counter technique per round.

Stances: A stance is not so much a maneuver, but rather a position or a range of positions your body gets into in order to better focus its power or abilities. Stances have no fixed duration and can remain active for lengthy periods of time, although certain stances are dropped when you take specific actions. Assuming or switching stances requires a swift action.

Flows

Martial arts techniques are divided into several substrata called flows. A martial artist naturally possesses certain personality traits, and as such he is limited to a small number of styles and philosophies to convert into fighting skill. Certain flows focus on dealing massive damage and crippling the opponent, whether others seek to be more reactive or attempt to strike more surgically. Flows come in opposites. All six of these flows are open to the martial artist, but focusing on specific flows for his fighting style nets the martial artist bonuses in and out of combat. Furthermore, focusing on one or two of the six flows will allow the martial artist to better qualify for the most powerful 5th level maneuvers at high levels.

Hard / Soft: Hard flow focuses the power of the body outward, culminating it in powerful strikes that damage the enemy. Hard flow is associated with the fist, and superficial damage. On the other hand, soft flow focuses the power of the body inward. Soft flow is associated with the palm, and internal damage.

Aggressive / Tempered: Aggressive flow focuses on unrelenting assault, often attempting to overwhelm the enemy by denying him the time to recover. Aggressive flow contains relatively many boost action techniques. Tempered flow is more patient, focusing on moving as little as possible, or making as few attacks as possible with the greatest possible effect.

Active / Reactive: These two opposed flows both deal with taking charge of the battlefield. Active flow signifies action before reaction, and deals with taking the initiative to strike effectively and with conquering the opponent through those means. Reactive flow prefers to let the enemy act first, and deals with allowing you to react accordingly.

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the Martial Artist adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a Martial Artist gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five Martial Artist levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the Martial Artist is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmored, a Martial Artist may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a –2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Martial Artist. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the Martial Artist might make before her 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 or with special Martial Artist weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special Martial Artist weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a Martial Artist applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1-1/2 or ×1/2) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The Martial Artist can’t use any weapon other than a special Martial Artist 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 she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

When a Martial Artist reaches 11th level, her flurry of blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack she gets from flurry of blows, she gets a second extra attack at her full base attack bonus.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a Martial Artist gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. 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 her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a Martial Artist striking unarmed. A Martial Artist may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.

Usually a Martial Artist’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A Martial Artist’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A Martial Artist also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown on Table: The Martial Artist. The unarmed damage on Table: The Martial Artist is for Medium Martial Artists. A Small Martial Artist deals less damage than the amount given there with her unarmed attacks, while a Large Martial Artist deals more damage; see Table: Martial Artist Unarmed Damage by Size.

Combat Style: The combat style of a Martial Artist depends greatly upon where (or by whom) the Martial Artist was trained. A 1st level Martial Artist (reguardless of character level) may choose one of the combat styles described below. By selecting a combat style, she dicates which bonus feats she gains at 1st, 2nd and 6th level. In addition, at 1st level she gets a +2 bonus on a skill check with the skill that accompanies the style she chooses. Finally, she gets a bonus ability at 6th level if she has met all of the prerequisites by that time. If the character hasnt yet met the prerequisites, she does not gain the ability, and nor does she gain the ability listed even if she meets the prerequisites at some later time.

These fighting styles serve a number of purposes in a campaign. Each one might symbolize a different monastery, creating a rivalry (friendly or unfriendly) between their students. Perhaps a specific master teaches each style to a few select students, meaning that the Martial Artist must emplore and convince the master to teach her the style. Alternatively these styles could just represent each Martial Artist choosing thier own path in life, and could possibly be the Martial Artist styling themselves after the great Martial Artists of the past.

Cobra Strike Martial artists of the Cobra Strike School specialize in agility and defense. By making herself hard to pin down, the Cobra Strike martial artist forces the enemy to fight on her terms.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Escape Artist
* 1st-Level Feat: Dodge
* 2nd-Level Feat: Mobility
* 6th-Level Feat: Spring Attack
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: The dodge bonus granted by your Dodge feat increases to +2. Prerequisites: Balance 4 ranks, Escape Artist 9 ranks.

Crippling Touch The martial artist of the Cripple Touch knows all of the senstive pressure points on the human body and enjoys using them to debilitate and severely weaken their opponents before they move in for the kill.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Heal
* 1st-Level Feat: Stunning Fist
* 2nd-Level Feat: Pain Touch (Complete Warrior)
* 6th-Level Feat: Weakening Touch (Complete Warrior)
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: If you successfully make a stunning fist attack, or any attack or ability that uses up a stunning attempt, the duration of the effect is doubled. Prerequisites: Heal 4 ranks, Spot 4 ranks, Skill Focus (Heal).

Defensive Throw A martial artist of the Defensive Throw style are masters of triping and throwing opponents by using their own body weight and momentum against them.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Balance
* 1st-Level Feat: Dodge
* 2nd-Level Feat: Combat Reflexes
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Trip
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: If the opponent you have chosen to use your dodge feat against attacks you and misses, you can make an immediate trip attack against that opponent. This attempt counts as one of your attacks of opportunity for the round. Prerequisites: Balance 9 ranks, Escape Artist 4 ranks.

Denying Stance The Denying Stance martial artist seeks to neutralize the opponents menuvers, thwarting him at every turn, until he becomes so fustrated that he makes a crucial error.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Tumble
* 1st-Level Feat: Improved Grapple
* 2nd-Level Feat: Combat Reflexes
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Disarm
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: When fighting defensively or using the Combat Expertise feat, you gain a +2 bonus on grapple checks and disarm attempts. Prerequisites: Tumble 9 ranks, Combat Expertise.

Disarming Strike A martial artist of the Disarming Strike likes to make his opponent uncomfortable by taking away his weapon so that he fights on the martial artists terms, always keeping an eye out for the right opportunity to take it.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Spot
* 1st-Level Feat: Combat Reflexes
* 2nd-Level Feat: Deft Opportunist (Complete Adventurer)
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Disarm
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: If you strike an opponent with an attack of opportunity, you may also make an immediate disarm attempt as a free action with a +4 bonus on the check. Prerequisites: Spot 9 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks.

Hand and Foot Students of the Hand and Foot style learn to use their appendages for both offense and defense.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Balance
* 1st-Level Feat: Stunning Fist
* 2nd-Level Feat: Deflect Arrows
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Trip
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: You gain a +2 bonus on attacks of opportunity made against an opponent attempting to bullrush or trip you, and a +4 bonus on Dexterity or Strength checks made to avoid being tripped or bullrushed. Prerequisites: Balance 9 ranks, tumble 4 ranks.

Invisible Eye Martial Artists of the Invisible Eye rely on their senses, particularly hearing, to aid them in combat.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Listen
* 1st-Level Feat: Combat Reflexes
* 2nd-Level Feat: Lightning Reflexes
* 6th-Level Feat: Blind-Fight
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: When unarmed and fighting defensively, using Combat Expertise, or the total defense action, increase the dodge bonus to Armor Class that you gain from using that tactic by 1. Prerequisites: Listen 9 ranks, Agile

Iron Strikes A martial artist of the Iron Strikes style harden the bones and skin of their body and desenstizes their nerves, by ruthlessly beating them with sticks and iron bars and slamming them again and again into rocks and tree trunks in order to effectively strike their opponent at maximum volocity.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Concentraition
* 1st-Level Feat: Stunning Fist
* 2nd-Level Feat: Fists of Iron
* 6th-Level Feat: Flying Kick
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: Once per round, when an opponent would be denied his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, the martial artist deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on a melee attack made with their unarmed strikes. Any creature immune to sneak attack is immune to this ability. Prerequisites: Concentraition 9 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks.

Overwhelming Attack A martial artist trained in the Overwhelming Attack style always presses the advantage, preferring a showy display of all-out-offense to any form of defense.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Intimidate
* 1st-Level Feat: Power Attack
* 2nd-Level Feat: Improved Bullrush
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Overrun
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: If you have used Intimidate to demoralize your opponent at any time in the last 10 rounds, you gain a +4 bonus on Strength checks made to bull rush or overrun that opponent. Prerequisites: Intimidate 4 ranks, Preform (dance) 4 ranks.

Passive Way The Passive Way focuses on making your opponent overreach himself or underestimate your skill.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Bluff
* 1st-Level Feat: Combat Expertise
* 2nd-Level Feat: Improved Trip
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Fient
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: You gain a +4 bonus on Strength checks made to trip an opponent who is denied his Dexterity bonus to armor class. Prerequisites: Bluff 4 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks, Skill Focus (Bluff).

Sleeping Tiger The Sleeping Tiger style mixes smooth motions with powerful strikes. It favors a quick first-strike approach, preferrably from a position of ambush.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Hide
* 1st-Level Feat: Weapon Finesse
* 2nd-Level Feat: Improved Inniative
* 6th-Level Feat: Improved Sunder
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: Once per round, when an opponent would be denied his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, the martial artist deals an extra 1d6 points of damage on a melee attack made with a light weapon. Any creature immune to sneak attack is immune to this ability. Prerequisites: Hide 9 ranks, Power Attack.

Undying Way Martial Artists of the Undying Way believe in patience above all else. They work to outlast their opponents by means of superior endurance.
* 1st-Level Skill Bonus: Concentraition
* 1st-Level Feat: Toughness
* 2nd-Level Feat: Endurace
* 6th-Level Feat: Diehard
* 6th-Level Bonus Ability: When fighting defensively, using Combat Expertise or using the total defense action, the martial artist gains damage reduction 2/— Prerequisites: Concentraition 9 ranks.


Bonus Feat: At 1st level, a Martial Artist gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to her combat style feat, the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The Martial Artist gains an additional bonus feat at 4th level and every three Martial Artist levels thereafter (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats, or any feat that the DM rules is a feat that would be aimed at or be suitable for a Monk or for the Martial Artist. A Martial Artist must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. A Martial Artist acts as a fighter of her level when deciding if she qualfies for feats which require levels of fighter such as the advancements of Weapon Focus, but only with the weapons which this class gives proficency, including unarmed strikes. These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels.

Evasion (Ex): 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, she 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.

Innitiate of the Eastern Wind (Su): At 3rd level, a Martial Artist unarmed attacks become intune with her life energy and she becomes able to direct the force of her punch across the wind itself to hit opponents from a distance. As a full round action, that provokes an attack of opportunity, a Martial Artist may strike the air in the direction of a target that is between 10 and 30 feet away from her whom she has line of effect to. The Martial Artist's strikes are carried across the wind to the Martial Artists opponent whom the Martial Artist must make a ranged touch attack against. If successful the target takes 1d4 untyped damage plus the Martial Artists normal applicable damage modifiers. The Martial Artist may make only one such attack per round.

Fast Movement (Ex): At 3rd level, a Martial Artist gains an enhancement bonus to her speed, as shown on Table: The Martial Artist. A Martial Artist in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Ki Strike (Su): At 4th level, a Martial Artist’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. Her unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character’s Martial Artist level. At 10th level, her unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. At 16th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

Adept of the Eastern Wind (Su): At 8th level, the Martial Artist gains a better understanding of her life energy and she becomes able to better direct the force of her punch across the wind to hit opponents from a distance. As a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity, a Martial Artist may strike the air in the direction of a target that is between 10 and 80 feet away from her, to whom she has line of sight to, even if the opponent has partial cover or concealment, but not total cover, but the Martial Artist must role for concealment as normal. The Martial Artist's strikes are carried across the wind to the Martial Artists opponent whom the Martial Artist must make a ranged touch attacks against. If successful the target takes 2d4 untyped damage plus the Martial Artists normal applicable damage modifiers. A Martial Artist may make as many such attacks as she has attacks allowed by her base attack bonus, but all attacks must be made against the same target.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a Martial Artist’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Martial Artist does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Master of the Eastern Wind (Su): At 14th level, the Martial Artist masters her understanding of her life energy and she becomes able to skillfully direct the force of her punch across the wind to hit opponents from a distance. As a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, a Martial Artist may strike the air in the direction of a target that is within 150 feet away. These attacks can even be made against targets whom the Martial Artist cannot see, but are aware of the general location of. If for example, the Martial Artist is blinded by an opponent, and she hears the opponent run around the corner of a building, and the Martial Artist is generally familiar with the area, she may, while still blinded, use her Master of the Eastern Wind ability to strike against that opponent as normal, so long as the total distance the wind would need to travel to reach the opponent is within 150 feet. This ability would also work against an opponent who hides behind an object for cover, or has concealment, so it could fly over a 7 foot brick wall that an opponent is getting total concealment from, but not an opponent that were in a closed solid container, or inside a house with no open doors or windows. The Martial Artist's strikes are carried across the wind to the Martial Artists opponent, whom the Martial Artist must make a ranged touch attacks against. If successful the target takes 3d4 untyped damage plus the Martial Artists normal applicable damage modifiers. A Martial Artist may make as many such attacks as she has attacks allowed by her base attack bonus, and Master of the Eastern Wind is useable in conjunction with her Flurry of Blows ability. All attacks need not be made against the same target so long as no target is any farther than 50 ft away from any other.

Quivering Palm (Su): Starting at 15th level, a Martial Artist can set up vibrations within the body of another creature that can thereafter be fatal if the Martial Artist so desires. She can use this quivering palm attack a number of times per week equal to her Wisdom modifier, but no more than once per target in a 24 hour period, and she must announce her intent before making her attack roll. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. Otherwise, if the Martial Artist strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow, the quivering palm attack succeeds. Thereafter the Martial Artist can try to slay the victim at any later time, as long as the attempt is made within a number of days equal to her Martial Artist level. To make such an attempt, the Martial Artist merely wills the target to die (a free action), and unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw DC 10 + 1/2 the Martial Artist’s level + the Martial Artist’s Wis modifier), it dies. If the saving throw is successful, the target is no longer in danger from that particular quivering palm attack, but it may still be affected by another one at a later time.

Timeless Body (Ex): Upon attaining 17th level, a Martial Artist no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the Martial Artist still dies of old age when her time is up.

Table: Martial Artist Unarmed Damage by Size
Level Fine Diminutive Tiny Small Medium Large Huge Gargantuan Colossal
1st–3rd 1 1d2 1d3 1d4 1d6 1d8 2d6 3d6 4d6
4th–7th 1d2 1d3 1d4 1d6 1d8 2d6 3d6 4d6 6d6
8th–11th 1d3 1d4 1d6 1d8 1d10 2d8 3d8 4d8 6d8
12th–15th 1d4 1d6 1d8 1d10 2d6 3d6 4d6 6d6 8d6
16th–19th 1d6 1d8 1d10 2d6 2d8 3d8 4d8 6d8 8d8
20th 1d8 1d10 2d6 2d8 2d10 4d8 6d8 8d8 12d8

Ex-Martial Artists

A Martial Artist who becomes chaotic cannot gain new levels as a Martial Artist but retains all Martial Artist abilities.

Like a member of any other class, a Martial Artist may be a multiclass character, but multiclass Martial Artists face a special restriction. A Martial Artist who gains a new class or (if already multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise her Martial Artist level, though she retains all her Martial Artist abilities.

Epic Martial Artist

Table: The Epic Martial Artist

Hit Die: d8

Level AC
Bonus
Unarmored
Speed Bonus
Special
21st +4 +70 ft.
22nd +4 +70 ft. Bonus Feat
23rd +4 +70 ft.
24th +4 +80 ft.
25th +5 +80 ft. Bonus Feat, Epic Bonus Feat
26th +5 +80 ft.
27th +5 +90 ft.
28th +5 +90 ft. Bonus Feat
29th +5 +90 ft.
30th +6 +100 ft. Epic Bonus Feat

4 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis) Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex),


AC Bonus: The Martial Artist’s bonus to Armor Class when unarmored increases by +1 every five levels higher than 20th.

Unarmed Strike: The damage for a Martial Artist’s unarmed strike does not increase after 20th level.

Fast Movement: The epic Martial Artist’s speed when wearing no armor increases by 10 feet every three levels higher than 18th. The unarmored speed of Small and dwarven Martial Artists increases by 5 feet instead of 10 feet.

Ki Strike: The Martial Artist’s ki strike ability does not automatically increase with class level after 16th level.

Bonus Feats: The epic Martial Artist gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Martial Artist bonus feats) every five levels higher than 20th.

Epic Martial Artist Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Blinding Speed, Damage Reduction, Energy Resistance, Epic Prowess, Epic Speed, Epic Toughness, Exceptional Deflection, Fast Healing, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Ki Strike, Improved Spell Resistance, Improved Stunning Fist, Infinite Deflection, Keen Strike, Legendary Climber, Legendary Wrestler, Reflect Arrows, Righteous Strike, Self-Concealment, Shattering Strike, Vorpal Strike.


Half-Orc Martial Artist Starting Package

Weapons: Quaterstaff and Sai.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill Ranks Ability Armor
Check
Penalty
Escape Artist 4 Dex
Knowledge (Nature) 4 Int
Profession (Herbalism) 4 Wis
Tumble 4 Dex

Feat: Weapon Focus (Unarmed)

Style Feat: Stunning Fist.

Bonus Feats: Combat Reflexes

Gear: Backpack, 2 Torches, 1 Tent, 1 Bedroll, 1 Grappling Hook, 50ft of Hempen Rope, Waterskin, 2 trail rations.

Gold: 5d4.


Campaign Information

Playing a Martial Artist

Religion: Shinto is the natural spirituality of the Martial Artist, meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao). Shinto is a religion in where practice (actions) and ritual, rather than words, are of the utmost importance. Shinto is characterized by the worship of nature, ancestors, polytheism, and animism, with a strong focus on ritual purity, involving honoring and celebrating the existence of Kami. Kami are defined in English as "spirit", "essence" or "deities", that are associated with many understood formats; in some cases being human like, some animistic, others associated with more abstract "natural" forces in the world (mountains, rivers, lightning, wind, waves, trees, rocks). It may be best thought of as "sacred" elements and energies. Kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity.

Shinto teaches that certain deeds create a kind of ritual impurity that one should want cleansed for one's own peace of mind and good fortune, not because impurity is wrong in and of itself. Wrong deeds are called "impurity". Normal days are called "day" (ke), and festive days are called "sunny" or simply "good".

Before eating, many (though not all) Martial Artist say, "I will humbly receive" to show proper thankfulness to the preparer of the meal in particular and more generally to all those living things that lost their lives to make the meal. Failure to show proper respect can be seen as a lack of concern for others, looked down on because it is believed to create problems for all. Those who fail to take into account the feelings of other people and kami will only bring ruin on themselves.

The worst expression of such an attitude is the taking of another's life for personal advancement or enjoyment. Those killed without being shown gratitude for their sacrifice will hold a grudge and become a powerful and evil kami that seeks revenge, killing living beings should be done with reverence for taking a life to continue one's own and should be kept to a minimum. .

Other Classes: Martial Artists may sometimes appear to be aloof or somewhat distant to their allies, but this stems from the fact that they generally have neither the motivation nor skills in common with members of other classes. Martial Artists do, however, work well with the support of thoehrs, and they usually prove themselves reliable companions..

Combat: By and far a Martial Artists best roll in combat is as a support fighter. They do not have the hit points to make good tanks or lead fighters, but along side any other warrior class that has better hit dice, they make excellent combatants, especially as their talents and skills progress, they may be able to outshine some of the main tanks in the amount of damage afflicted.

Advancement: Because of the multiclass restriction on the Martial Artist, most Martial Artists do not often leave the class as it would be impossible to return, unless they use one of the few select prestige classes that allow Monks to return to their normal class as well.

Martial Artists in the World

Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both....and surpass the result.
—Tien T'ai, Human Sage

Notables: Holden Price a human Martial Artist who joined the army of a great and massive kingdom. He went to war for the king and was a crucial factor of the biggest battle of the war, as he blurred across the battle field disarming and crippling opponents around him in waves. Holden would retired to the service of the kings army a short time there after as a trainer, teaching the kings soldiers the art of self defense.

Organizations: Sometimes, large amounts of Martial Artists are trained at monasteries and on occasion several monasteries get together and have combat tournaments, where the students of each temple can compete with only one monastery taking home the honored distinction of having the best student.

Martial Artist Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (History) can research Martial Artists to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (History)
DC Result
5 Martial Artists are like monks, but they forsake the pursuit of perfection to become skilled combatants, worried only about their skill in combat, they far surpass a monk in direct combat..
10 They are excellent acrobats, able to jump, climb and tumble much better than the average monk, even capable of tumbling over long distances even if it means doing so by tumbling across a table and then then jumping off of a balcony.
15 They also have excellent reflexes, able to dodge and react to events slightly faster than a traditional monk, and they learn to strengthen their attacks before they learn to move faster as opposed to a monk who balances the two.
20 Unlike normal monks, martial artists channel their life force into learning how to direct the force of their punches across the winds to strike at enemies from a distance..

Martial Artists in the Game

Sample Encounter: in one of the larger, lawful good cities in your campaign, Holden is a trainer for the kings army, he teaches hand to hand combat in the castle courtyard every afternoon. Depending what the PC's are up to, they could encounter Holden in a variety of ways: They may have good favor with the king and he may offer the fighters of the group to train with Holden, after they put in X amount of hours of training with Holden perhaps you could give them a chunk of experience, or maybe bump them up to the next level they may be close to, or if the PC's are into subterfuge and sneaking around the castle for a hidden agenda, perhaps Holden catches them in a castle cooridor they shouldnt be in and approaches them to question them. Alternatively they might cause a disruption in the town square or local town area, which causes a comotion and Holden could be near by and come over to deal with it, being closer to the disruption than any town guards.

Note: If you do decide to put the PC's in an opposing situation to Holden, be aware that he has a very high damage output potential, so be sure that your PC's can be ready for it, or that maybe you have someone in the group that has the sense not to mess with someone as heavily built as Holden. Holden's Roundabout Kick feat gives him the ability to get an extra kick any time he confirms a critical hit, and having the high threat range from his Keen Kick class features and his improved critical feat means that he could potentially get that extra attack often. Also, being a student of the Disarming Strike, Holden gets an automatic free disarm attempt anytime that he sucesflly strikes with an attack of opportunity. His combat focus, combat stability and combat vigor feats can be found in the Players Handbook II .

EL 14:

Holden Price
6'6" Male Human Martial Artist 14 Medium Humanoid (Human) Hit Dice: 14d8 (63) + (56 con) = (119 hp average or 168 hp max)
Initiative: 7 (5 Dex, 2 Battle Reflexes)
Speed: 70 ft
Armor Class: Normal 30 ( Armor +4, Dex +5, Wis +5, Natural +2, Deflection +2, Monk +2), Touch 24, Flat Foot 25
Base Attack / Grapple: +14 /+20 (+8 for resisting grapples while in combat focus)
Full Attack: Unarmed Flurry of Blows +22/+22/+22/+17/+12 2d6 + 10 15-20 X3
Space / Reach: 5 ft / 5 ft
Special Abilities: Combat Style, Evasion, Battle Reflexes +2, Master of the Eastern Wind, Ki Strike (Magic, Lawful), Keen Kick +2, Improved Evasion, Acrobatics +4 Fast Healing 4 (while in Combat Focus)
Saves: Fort 13, Ref 18, Will 11 (+4 during combat focus)
Skills: Climb 10, Escape Artist 13, Hide 22, Intimidate 10, Jump 10, Listen 22, Move Silently 22, Spot 22, Tumble 26 ranks
Flaws: Shaky, Weak Willed Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (unarmed), Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Roundabout Kick, Combat Focus, Deft Opportunist, Close Quarters Fighting, Weapon Specialization (Unarmed), Improved Disarm, Prone Attack, Combat Stability, Improved Critical, Greater Weapon Focus (unarmed), Greater Weapon Specialization (unarmed), Combat Vigor
Abilities: Str: 23, Dex 21, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 15
CR: 14
Treasure: Amulet +2, bracers +4, ring +2, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds X4, 800 gp worth of mundane general goods, 2,000 gp
Alignment: Lawful Good



Marksman's Homebrews
^The-Marksmanv
Classes Battle Juggernaut, Bewitcher, Bounty Hunter, Cat Burglar, Divine Healer, Enchantress, Footpad, Grimslayer, Half-Nymph, Half-Rylvain, Hunter, Ki Warrior, Martial Artist, Noble, Platinum Dragoon, Radiant Champion, Rylvain, Saiyan Warrior, Scout, Socialite Deluxe, Spy, Undead Slayer, Undead Stalker, Warlord, Wolverine
Races Elven Nymph, Half-Drow, Elf, Half-Giant, Half-Nymph, Half-Rylvain, Half-Saiyan, Liantia, Moogle, Namekian, Ronso, Rylvain, Saiyans, Xanthian
Character Options Ascended Super Saiyan, Ascetic Juggernaut, Awesome Blow, Enhanced Ki Pool, Full Power Super Saiyan, Saiyan Elite, Tail Defense, Ultra Super Saiyan
Equipment Cloak of Bullshit, Cloak of Greater Bullshit, Cloak of Lesser Bullshit, Dragon Balls, Excalibur, Potion of Youth
Spells & Powers Condition, Eternal Charm Monster, Eternal Charm Person, Eternal Slumber, Reraise, Restore Youth, Steal Youth, Summon Wyvern
Invocations After Image, Alternate Delivery, Beam Blast, Candy Beam, Death Beam, Destructo Disc, Dragon Fist, Energy Channel, Energy Rings, Explosive Wave, Final Explosion, Flash Step, Four Witches, Fusion Dance, Greater Ki Transmutation, Healing Spirit, Improved Intimidating Ki, Improved Ki Charging, Improved Ki Flying, Improved Ki Volley, Instant Transmission, Intimidating Ki, Kaio-ken, Ki Barrage, Ki Charging, Ki Enhancement, Ki Flying, Ki Sense, Ki Shield, Ki Sight, Ki Supression, Ki Sword, Ki Transmutation, Ki Wind, Lesser Electrical Transmutation, Lesser Fire Transmuation, Lesser Frost Transmutation, Master Ki Transmutation, Multi-Form, Neo Tri Beam, Nova Chariot, Power Ball, Scatter Shot, Solar Flare, Spirit Ball, Spirit Bomb, Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, Tri Beam, Warp Blast
Espers Bomb, Cactuar, Cait Sith, Chocobo Esper, Cockatrice, Esper, Goblin, Kirin, Mindflayer, Shiva, Siren, Sylph, Tonberry, Unicorn
Monsters Adamantoise, Ash Viper, Behemoth, Drake, Malboro V.2, Murder of Crows, Tangle Tree
Other Aralhal, Celesdra, Golbez System, James Houlton, Levels That Spells Are Obtained, Rydel Taerun, Shenron, Spirit Beast
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