A Fighter Archetype: The Impervious Zealot


Homebrew and House Rules


I was mulling over the idea of a character whose unconditional devotion to mastering their physical body made their flesh almost impenetrable, and then it hit me to make a Fighter archetype with a Monk-like feel. Thus I sprang to life The Impervious Zealot archetype.

The highlights:

-Removed all Armor and Shield proficiencies, switched around 4 class skills (removed 4 from Fighter chassis and added 4 from Monk chassis), and threw in a Lawful alignment requirement (to take levels in, anyway).

-Applies Strength to AC as an Armor Bonus and can enhance themself as if they were a suit of armor (this is remediated by removing of proficiencies, and the enhancement and Strength modifier benefits only work while not wearing an armor or shield, and not affected by medium or heavy encumbrance).

-Grants a scaling DR and provided the ability to take a "Rage Power" feat for a Bonus Feat to increase this DR by ignoring pre-requisites. This is remedied in the early game by affixing the 1st and 4th level bonus feats, and remedied by the late game, enforcing the "can only be taken 3 times" rule.

Things left to consider

-I might want to remove their overall martial weapon proficiency and make them only proficient in all Monk weapons, so as to enforce the monastic theme, though this can kill the concept of a regular guy who is so strong he shrugs off blows with his mere figure.

-I will definitely change the Bravery feature, though I am not sure as to which angle I want to change it as. One idea was to implement the Flurry of Blows class feature, though this forces the player into a niche that's not only inoptimal, but also counterintuitive, since some of their bonus feats are already picked for them. It fits the scale well enough, though. Another was the Ki Pool class feature, but for what it grants, it shoehorns the character concept if they want to make full benefit of it, and it also provides a power boost that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with in comparison to what it replaces.

-I'm also debating of switching up or restricting the Weapon Training selections, as well as the Weapon Mastery feature, but the former runs into the same problem as above with weapon proficiencies, and the latter seems good enough in my book.

Please review the concept, rate the result, and provide helpful constructive suggestions/feedback!


Bump.

I guess everybody is speechless over this, or think it's so bad they don't want to say anything...


Proficiencies
Rather than subtraing from the fighter proficiencies, the document would be more user friendly is you simply rewrote it in its entirety. I'd allow shields though.

Skill
Same thing. Write out the new complete list.

Bonus feat
I would remove he reference to taking the rage power feat. It's very specific. Leave bonus feat the same and move this to body training.

Protection of force
Hmm. Not so sure about using strength. Sure, a class like wizard only needs one ability score pumped, but that doesn't make it ok for the fighter to do the same thing. If anything, make it constitution based and have it increase every four levels the way a monks AC bonus does. Remove the reference about encumbrance and let them use shields.

Body training
Since level 1 already has a bonus feat that ignores 3 prerequisites and what basically amounts to a supernatural ability, I would drop this at level 1 and simply have it begin at 3rd level to replace armor training at the appropriate levels. Create a combat feat with body training as a prerequisite to let the character beef this up. Or, just say something to like "in leiue of selecting a bonus feat at even numbered level, an impervious zealot can choose to instead increase his DR by 1. He cannot select this option more than three times".

Improved stalwart
I'd move this to a higher class level. Maybe 8th or 10th.


I suppose I could list out all the skills, though the archetypes in the books only reference what is added/removed for class skills, not the entire list.

Adjusting the bonus feat language would probably work better than trying to reference a Rage Power feat, it'd just end up confusing people...

The problem with making it Constitution based is that you run into a really MAD character; Constitution represents life force, something that shouldn't be used when referencing the sheer muscle mass being able to thwart attacks. Although that's a Monk concept, it's one that I don't want to emulate with a Fighter archetype.

The encumbrance comes from them having to both manage their weight and manage their muscular contractions to deflect attacks. As for shields, it defeats the purpose of them relying on their own body for protection instead of armor. I suppose I could put in a clause that says they can use a shield as a weapon, but cannot receive a Shield Bonus to AC from it.

I could make Improved Stalwart a 6th level instead of a 4th. Again, Stalwart has a couple unnecessary feat taxes which have nothing to do with the feats own benefits, so it's honestly fitting that I fix the 1st level bonus feat to help clear that.

I'll update it again soon, but for now I need to get to work.


Updated the content some.

I edited the class skills section, stating what they gain as class skills and what class skills they replace to help clarify that they originally came from the Fighter class (if some of the replacements weren't obvious enough).

I decided against limiting the weapon proficiency list and Weapon Training/Mastery features, since there are some monasteries in fantasy that don't use explicitly monk weapons (although they can most certainly advocate them), so it can still fit that theme without having to compromise it.

I adjusted the confusing language regarding the bonus feats, stating that they can forgo the bonus feat at the respective level interval to increase the damage reduction granted from their Body Training feature by 1, and the option can only be done 3 times.

I still made them non-proficient in using shields, but I allowed them to use shields as weapons, it's just they won't be able to benefit from the shield bonus to AC in doing so, otherwise they lose the benefits of their Protection of Force class feature.

Lastly, I changed the Improved Stalwart to replace the 6th level bonus feat.

I'm still stuck as to what I want to do with the Bravery class feature. Introducing Ki Points can hurt the concept of a brute-like monastery character, and having that require Wisdom as well makes the character all kinds of MAD. If I throw in a Flurry of Blows equivalent, it either becomes useless or very convenient, depending on the playstyle; although that about fits the power level of Bravery, I don't want to force players to have to rely on unarmed strikes that deal piddly damage or Monk weapons in order to benefit from the feature. Some guidance here would be greatly appreciated.


Another quick bump.

I decided to go with a feature called "Power Surges" for replacing Bravery, something that I reflavored to work similar to Ki, but instead be Constitution-based; I also changed around some of its power and increased the costs due to the early access, as well as edited some of the effects to help establish the flavor.

I'm a little worried that it's probably a bit much for what it replaces, but since the power strike can be used with all melee and thrown weapons (and those weapons can be made of special materials), and each of the costs are one step higher (that is, requiring a point equates to spending a point, and spending a point equates to spending 2 points), I think it balances out in the usefulness aspect.

From here, I think the archetype is about as complete as it's gonna get. Enjoy!

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