| ericthecleric |
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[Here is my stab at updating the sohei class from the (3.0) Oriental Adventures book and 3.5 update article from Dragon 318 to Pathfinder rules. I’ve made some notes at the end.]
THE SOHEI
Sohei are warrior monks, religious soldiers who protect large monasteries and temple complexes. Unlike inquisitors, who seek enemies of the faith, sohei are more militant and receive very little religious instruction. Instead they are trained in the art of fighting. Sohei defend their monasteries against attacks and advance its political claims in the outside world. They are subject to the leader of their temple.
Role: Sohei mix martial prowess with divine power that grants them spell ability (as they gain experience), the ability to heighten their strength and speed in battle, and protection from mental and bodily harm. Very experienced sohei can shrug off physical damage and ignore certain magical effects. Their spells are useful in battle to grant protection, enhance attacks, and damage foes.
Alignment: Any lawful
Hit Die: d10
Base Attack Bonus: +1/level
Saving Throws: Fort Good, Ref Poor, Will Good
SOHEI SPECIAL ABILTIES
1___Ki frenzy, Weapon Focus
2___Deflect Arrows, frenzy power
3___Diehard
4___Frenzy power
5___Strength of Mind
6___Frenzy power, teamwork feat
7___Damage reduction 1/-
8___Frenzy power
9___Stalwart
10___Damage reduction 2/-, frenzy power
11___Greater frenzy
12___Frenzy power
13___Damage reduction 3/-
14___Frenzy power
15___Teamwork feat
16___Damage reduction 4/-, frenzy power
17___Tireless frenzy
18___Frenzy power
19___Damage reduction 5/-
20___Frenzy power, whirlwind frenzy
CLASS SKILLS
A sohei’s class skills (and the key ability for each school) are Athletics (Dex), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), and Profession (Wis).
Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
The following are class features of the sohei.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sohei are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with all armor (but no shields).
Weapon Focus: Sohei gain Weapon Focus with a weapon of their choice as a bonus feat.
Ki Frenzy (Ex): A sohei can focus her ki power into a frenzy of berserk energy. Starting at 1st level, a sohei can frenzy for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, she can frenzy for 2 additional rounds. Temporary increases to Constitution, such as those gained from spells like bear’s endurance, do not increase the total number of rounds that a sohei can frenzy per day. A sohei can enter frenzy as a free action. The total number of rounds of frenzy per day is renewed after resting 8 hours, although these do not need to be consecutive.
While frenzying, a sohei gains a +2 morale bonus to her Strength and Dexterity. She gains a 10-foot bonus to speed, and she can choose to make a flurry of blows with a full attack action in melee, making extra attack per round at her highest attack bonus while suffering a -2 penalty to every attack. While in frenzy, a sohei cannot use ant Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
A sohei can end her rage as a free action and is fatigued after frenzy for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in thefrenzy. A sohei cannot enter a new frenzy while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter frenzy multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a sohei falls unconscious, her frenzy immediately ends, placing her in peril of death.
Deflect Arrows: At 2nd level, a sohei gains the Deflect Arrows feat, even if she doesn’t have the prerequisite feat and Dexterity score.
Frenzy Powers (Ex): As a sohei gains levels, she learns to use her frenzy in new ways. Starting at 2nd level, a sohei gains a frenzy power. She gains another frenzy power for every two levels of sohei attained after 2nd level. A sohei gains the benefits of frenzy powers only while raging, and some of these powers require the sohei to take an action first. Unless otherwise noted, a sohei cannot select an individual power more than once.
Frenzy powers available are selected from the barbarian rage power lists from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (any rage power except Animal Fury, Intimidating Glare, Raging Climber, Raging Leaper, Raging Swimmer, Scent) and the Advanced Player’s Guide (any rage power except the alcohol-, brawling-, hurling-, mount-, and totem-related powers). They work exactly like a barbarian’s rage power of the same name, except that they pertain to sohei!
Diehard: The sohei gains Diehard as a bonus feat at 3rd level.
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a sohei gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells. To cast a spell, the sohei must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell’s level, so a sohei with a Wisdom of 10 or less cannot cast these spells. Sohei bonus spells are based on Wisdom, and saving throws against these spells have a Difficulty Class of 10 + spell level + Wisdom modifier. When the sohei gains 0 spells of a given level, such as 0 1st-level spells at 4th level, the sohei gets only bonus spells. A sohei without a bonus spell for that level cannot yet cast a spell of that level. A sohei has access to any spell on the list (see below for list) and can freely choose which to prepare. A sohei prepares and casts spells just as a ranger does. Through 3rd level, a sohei has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is equal to her sohei level -3. Use the ranger spells per day table to determine the number of spells & spell levels available.
Strength of Mind (Ex): A sohei of at least 5th level is immune to stunning and sleep spells and effects.
Teamwork Feat: At 6th level, a sohei gains a bonus teamwork feat (described in the Advanced Player’s Guide). She must meet the prerequisites for the bonus feat. At 15th-level, the sohei gains another bonus teamwork feat.
Damage Reduction (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a sohei gains damage reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the sohei takes each time she is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every three sohei levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0.
Stalwart (Ex): At 9th level, a sohei can use mental and physical resiliency to avoid certain attacks. If she makes a successful Fortitude or Will saving throw against an attack that has a reduced effect on a successful save, she instead avoids the effect entirely. A helpless sohei does not gain the benefit of the stalwart ability. (Note that unlike the inquisitor ability of the same name, a sohei can benefit from this whether they are wearing armor or not.)
Greater Frenzy (Ex): At 11th level, when a sohei enters frenzy, the morale bonus to her Strength and Dexterity increases to +4, the penalty she suffers on attack rolls from making a flurry of blows is reduced to -1, and her speed increases by 20 feet during her frenzy.
Tireless Frenzy (Ex): Starting at 17th level, a sohei no longer becomes fatigued at the end of her frenzy.
Whirlwind Frenzy (Ex): At 20th level, when a sohei enters frenzy, the morale bonus to her Strength and Dexterity increases to +6, she suffers no penalty on attack rolls from making a flurry of blows, and her speed increases by 30 feet during her frenzy.
SOHEI SPELL LIST
1st-level: Bane, Bless, Detect Chaos/Law, Divine Favor, Doom, Endure Elements, Magic Weapon, Protection From Chaos, Resistance, Shield of Faith, Virtue [+ Attraction and Weapon Bless from Oriental Adventures]
2nd-level: Animal Messenger, Bull’s Strength, Delay Poison, Lesser Restoration, Remove Paralysis, Resist Elements, Shield Other [+ Warning from Oriental Adventures]
3rd-level: Discern Lies, Dispel Magic, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Circle Against Chaos, Prayer, Protection From Elements [+ Castigate and Mental Strength from Oriental Adventures]
4th-level: Death Ward, Dispel Chaos, Divine Power, Freedom of Movement, Neutralize Poison, Order’s Wrath, Restoration, Spell Immunity [+ Discern Shapechange, Fatigue, Remove Fatigue, and Sustain from Oriental Adventures]
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Notes:
Replaced the (Concentration) and Iaijutsu Focus skills with Athletics and Perception.
Replaced the “mettle” ability with a modified Inquisitor’s Stalwart ability.
Eliminated access to certain barbarian rage powers because they don’t seem appropriate as sohei frenzy powers.
Replaced Defensive Strike bonus feat and blank 15th-level with two bonus teamwork feats.
Spells: What would be good replacements for the Oriental Adventures spells?
In my opinion, sohei are a nifty little class that has more of a defensive outlook, as opposed to the more offensive outlook of inquisitors.
Any other comments?
| DungeonmasterCal |
[Here is my stab at updating the sohei class from the (3.0) Oriental Adventures book and 3.5 update article from Dragon 318 to Pathfinder rules. I’ve made some notes at the end.]
Followed your link from the discussion on the Paizo messageboards about converting OA classes to PF. The sohei is probably my favorite class from OA, and I like what I see here. Good job!