“Every weapon has its own rhythm, whether its a simple bone sword or a cahulak. Here, let me show you.”
Ajax, mul weapon master
Any warrior worthy of the name can wield a weapon with some degree of competence, and most warriors on Athas can manage a high degree of skill and expertise with a virtual menagerie of weaponry. The weapon master surpasses them all. Bending their training and expertise to the masterful use of a single variety of melee weapon, a weapon master quickly becomes a deadly opponent. While most Athasian weapon masters focus on swords as their weapon of choice, almost any weapon that exists has at least one or two individuals who have mastered its use. The majority of weapon masters begin their careers as gladiators or fighters, although barbarians and rangers often find becoming a weapon master just as advantageous. Occasionally, a bard or rogue will develop enough skill and dedication to become a weapon master, but this is very rare. Psychic warriors almost never pursue weapon mastery in this fashion, preferring to develop their skills as psychic weapon masters.
Hit Die: d10.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Weapon Master, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +8
Skills: Bluff 3 ranks, Jump 3 ranks, Knowledge (warcraft) 5 ranks, Tumble 3 ranks
Feats: Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Weapon Focus (any one melee weapon of choice) plus Power Attack or Weapon Finesse
for you work.Cool. I only had time for a once over and will not be back until late tonight. I will give some more pointed feedback later today.
Mmmmm, coookies. Arrrggllllhh
Actually I just redid the weapon master prestige I use with my homebrew setting. It's kinda beefy, and probably needs to be toned down a bit ;)
It's kinda beefy, and probably needs to be toned down a bit ;)
I like it! it feals more like what the gladiators should have been.
I like it! it feals more like what the gladiators should have been.
If that's the case, you should see my version of the Gladiator core class ;)
Maximum Damage: Beginning at 1st level, once per day, the weapon master can declare maximum damage prior to making a melee attack roll against a target when using her preferred weapon (see below). If the attack succeeds, the weapon automatically inflicts maximum normal damage. This extends to extra damage from a critical hit, but not to extra damage from sneak attacks, magical effects, or other sources. If the attack misses, the use of this ability is wasted. A weapon master can declare Maximum Damage twice per day at 4th level, three times per day at 7th level, and finally four times per day at 10th level.
You should allow this ability to be used in conjunction with Power Attack, as it reads right now, the ability implies that it cannot be used in that way.
Critical Strike: Beginning at 3rd level, a weapon master can make attacks of devastating precision with her preferred weapon. Once per day, the weapon master can declare a melee attack with her preferred weapon as a critical strike, automatically inflicting a critical hit if the attack connects. The weapon master must declare the use of this ability before the attack roll is made, and the critical strike is wasted if the attack misses. A weapon master can use this ability twice per day at 6th level, and three times per day at 9th level.
Can you use this ability at the same time as the Maximum damage one, if so that seems a little over-powered. Especially if say, you take a level in wizard to get True Strike and then use that spell right before doing a Maximized Critical!
Lastly, I think have the Extra Preferred weapon feat takes things a little too far. A weapons master should be able to suddenly master other weapons too!
You should allow this ability to be used in conjunction with Power Attack, as it reads right now, the ability implies that it cannot be used in that way.
Power Attack is a strait point-per-point exchange of attack bonus for extra damage, with no random variables involved. Thus, Max. damage does not affect power attack but can be used in conjunction with it just fine.Can you use this ability at the same time as the Maximum damage one, if so that seems a little over-powered. Especially if say, you take a level in wizard to get True Strike and then use that spell right before doing a Maximized Critical!
Yeah, that's a bit of mega-beef leftover from my homebrew. I'll solve that in a moment of two here.
Lastly, I think have the Extra Preferred weapon feat takes things a little too far. A weapons master should be able to suddenly master other weapons too!
You're totally right on this one, without extensive training times involved, its totally unrealistic. Consider it changed ;)
This extends to extra damage from a critical hit, but not to extra damage from sneak attacks, magical effects, or other sources.
Or other sources seems to imply power attack to me, but I guess that kind of a fuzzy interpretation
Or other sources seems to imply power attack to me, but I guess that kind of a fuzzy interpretation
I like it! it feals more like what the gladiators should have been.
exactly what I was thinking!!!!
kiss my axe
Lastly, I think have the Extra Preferred weapon feat takes things a little too far. A weapons master should be able to suddenly master other weapons too!
there is a weapon master feat where you can choose a bunch of weapons, which you can use without penalty...so I would think that the weapon master should get a greater bounus on his favored weapon and no penalty on some chosen weapons. Besides, that a weapon master may just as well be a normal class as well as a fighter or cleric, I mean there are preservers and defilers which specialize their ways of drawing energy for magic use. Why not make a warrior class who specializes in a certain style of weapon use or martial. Plus there is need of a "martial master" class/prc, I know there is the monk class but I was thinking some more varieties of martial classes.
growling he picks up his axe and walks away, his red eyes fixed on the elf he hates the most...Nadal smiles...
There is no need to make classes that can already be easily represented through feat selection.
Yeah, you're right. I was just thinking of a prestige class similar to a monk, which doesn't rely on a weapon. Pure "almost impossible to fight in narrow combat fighting maschine" who doesn't need a weapon. A deciple like judo or jujitsu. With new feats which aren't presented in the PH or CWH.
I can't recall what reason he gave for removing it, but it does happen to be mentionned in VA that Raam has wrestling pits. Plus, there must be lots of places outside the cities that have wrestling pits, not counting illegal rings within cities. With modifications (which would make it more unqiue compared to the psionic monk) the Pit Fighter could be made into a wrestler. Just replacing the Penetrating Strike feature with something more appropriate would be enough.
Here are the class features for the 10 levels of the class:
Special
Increased damage
Penetrating strike (iron)
Improved critical (unarmed strike)
Crushing blow 1/day
Increased damage
Penetrating strike (magic)
Crushing blow 2/day
Improved grab
Increased damage
Penetrating strike (adamantium)
Special
Increased damage
Penetrating strike (iron)
Improved critical (unarmed strike)
Crushing blow 1/day
Increased damage, improved grab
Lock (like in judo)
Crushing blow 2/day
Power lock (puts the opponent to sleep, brakes\dislocates a limb ect. ) :D
Increased damage
Penetrating strike (adamantium)
For the abilites that would replace the three instances of Penetrating Strike, just inspire yourself from the unarmed feats found in Complete Warrior and Complete Adventurer, as well as the class features of the Reaping Mauler found in Complete Warrior.
Special
Increased damage
???
Improved critical (unarmed strike)
Crushing blow 1/day
Increased damage
???
Crushing blow 2/day
Improved grab
Increased damage
???
Rapid Strike: Upon reaching 5th level, a weapon master can make an extraordinarily fast flurry of attacks with her preferred weapon. When using this ability, the weapon master can make one additional attack with her preferred weapon at her highest attack bonus, but this attack an all others she makes in the round suffer a –2 penalty.
I'm curious...if you have a weapon master who opts to use two-weapon fighting, and both weapons are of the preferred type, does that mean this ability would allow for two extra attacks rather than just one?