Optional Classes: Assassin and Monk

[talysman]

After reading Tim Kask's blog post about how class level limits for druid, assassin and monk were set, it occurred to me that you could make a few simple changes to the Delving Deeper thief to turn it into an assasin, for those who need such a class:

• Use Thief hit dice and abilities, but Fighter xp progression;
  
• Add +1d6 to surprise attack damage;
  
• Add a disguise ability that works the same as the thief abilities (fools observers on 3+).
  

You can give assassins the option to learn alignment languages like regular languages, too. The level limit would not be a class feature, but a setting feature: the local guildmaster assassin won't tolerate another assassin of equal level, whatever that is, and neither will the grandfather of assassins, but that's all roleplaying, not a hard limit.

I think you could do a passable monk in a similar way:

• Use Thief hit dice and abilities, but Fighter xp progression;
  
• Backstab bonus becomes barehand/kick attack bonus;
  
• Armor class equals armor worn or AC 5 at 5th level, AC 3 at 10th.
  

Not as fancy as the Blackmoor or AD&D monk, but still in keeping with the David Carradine inspiration. Other monk powers could be added as individual quests instead of class features. ("I heard you know the secret of quivering palm, Master. Will you teach me?" *BOOT TO THE HEAD*)

[idrahil]

Neat and efficient extra classes! I have a question, the thief's backstab requires a specific circumstance to pull off. What prevents the Monk from applying the bonus every attack?

[talysman]

Oct 28, 2012 17:39:53 GMT -6 idrahil said:

Neat and efficient extra classes! I have a question, the thief's backstab requires a specific circumstance to pull off. What prevents the Monk from applying the bonus every attack?

It's a barehand attack. The monk loses the bonus if using a weapon or hand protection. The monk takes any risk that touching the target would entail.

If that doesn't seem like enough of a restriction: automatically consider the monk's attack to be an attack to subdue unless the monk's (unarmored) armor class is better than the target's armor class, ignoring shields. Barehand attacks by a monk of level 1-4 will thus only injure AC 9 or 8; at levels 5 through 9, they can injure AC 7 through 4; at level 10+, they can injure AC 3 and 2.

EDIT: Had the wrong ACs in a couple places.

[Deleted]

What would the prime requisite be for the monk? I assume DEX for the assassin.

[talysman]

Oct 29, 2012 1:02:20 GMT -6 @grimshwiz said:

What would the prime requisite be for the monk? I assume DEX for the assassin.

Also DEX, because of the thief abilities.

[Deleted]

Ok, I wasn't too sure if you were basing it more on the Blackmoor Monk, but the DEX does make more sense here.

[talysman]

Nah, in this case, I took just the intention behind both classes, but ignored all official implementations of them, and simply modified the thief class to fit the concept. So the assassin is a thief who's good at disguise and sneak attacks, and the monk is a thief who's good at hand-to-hand combat and defense.

[idrahil]

Oct 28, 2012 23:24:09 GMT -6 talysman said:

Oct 28, 2012 17:39:53 GMT -6 idrahil said:

Neat and efficient extra classes! I have a question, the thief's backstab requires a specific circumstance to pull off. What prevents the Monk from applying the bonus every attack?

It's a barehand attack. The monk loses the bonus if using a weapon or hand protection. The monk takes any risk that touching the target would entail.

If that doesn't seem like enough of a restriction: automatically consider the monk's attack to be an attack to subdue unless the monk's (unarmored) armor class is better than the target's armor class, ignoring shields. Barehand attacks by a monk of level 1-4 will thus only injure AC 9 or 8; at levels 5 through 9, they can injure AC 7 through 4; at level 10+, they can injure AC 3 and 2.

EDIT: Had the wrong ACs in a couple places.

These are pretty good limitations. I might let them injure bandits in leather though. thanks!

[talysman]

Oct 29, 2012 9:34:08 GMT -6 idrahil said:

Oct 28, 2012 23:24:09 GMT -6 talysman said:

It's a barehand attack. The monk loses the bonus if using a weapon or hand protection. The monk takes any risk that touching the target would entail.

If that doesn't seem like enough of a restriction: automatically consider the monk's attack to be an attack to subdue unless the monk's (unarmored) armor class is better than the target's armor class, ignoring shields. Barehand attacks by a monk of level 1-4 will thus only injure AC 9 or 8; at levels 5 through 9, they can injure AC 7 through 4; at level 10+, they can injure AC 3 and 2.

EDIT: Had the wrong ACs in a couple places.

These are pretty good limitations. I might let them injure bandits in leather though. thanks!

That's certainly an option. I picked the numbers I did to make it intuitive. They can't hit hard enough to do real damage unless their natural armor is equal or better than the armor being struck. And I picked AC 5 at 5th level because that's easy to remember.

[waysoftheearth]

Really nice work Talysman, have an exalt!