SlamEvil's page

I'd like to run a very martially oriented game in the near future. It'll be low-magic, low-wealth, fast leveling, with a lot of role-playing to balance out the combat.
I'm wondering about making AC and Combat Maneuver Defense more like saving throws, where you actually roll. I feel like it would really crank up the intensity of combat.
I'm aware there is some precedent for this kind of thing, but I'm not sure where. First and foremost, a link please.

Also, what do people about this idea in general?
Will it bog down combat way too much?
Would it succeed in making combat feel more intense?

I'm aware of the Dodge/Block/Parry thread, and was partially inspired by it, but I didn't want to derail it with this other question.

I really really really really really reallyx100000 wanna play in a kung fu campaign.
Or any campaign with lots of martial arts.
The Wandering Ascetics
The Zen Swordsman
The Peasant Hero
its all just so cool!!!

I'm thinking there would definitely have to be some class restrictions, or at least some serious re-flavoring.

Obviously people would be heavily encouraged to take at least a couple monk levels.
I think I'd use the vitality/wound point variant from 3.5 Unearthed Arcana

Is this something anyone else has fantasized about? Has anyone actually done it?
What else would it need/how would you set this up?

In the upcoming campaign I'll be playing a gestalt Drunken Master of the Four Winds/Cleric of Community and Plant, with the sub-domains Family and Growth. I also took that channel energy variant associated with the Ale/Wine portfolio, making my character less effective at healing, but everyone's friend at a good party.

I've never really played a caster before, and I understand that Cleric Spells aren't really for combat, but I'm wondering what kind of spells I should be preparing.
Obviously if I know I'll be going into a haunted crypt, Hide from Undead, Remove Fear, and Cure Light Wounds are great options, but for day to day stuff, what would you all suggest?

btw, I'm level 3

The Enforcer feat on the SRD reads

"Enforcer (Combat)
You are skilled at causing fear in those you brutalize.

Prerequisite: Intimidate 1 rank.

Benefit: Whenever you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon, you can make an Intimidate check to demoralize your target as a free action. If you are successful, the target is shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt. If your attack was a critical hit, your target is frightened for 1 round with a successful Intimidate check, as well as being shaken for a number of rounds equal to the damage dealt."

Do unarmed strikes count as melee weapons?
What about for a monk? who is always considered armed?
Would I want to invest in a merciful weapon to really make use of this?
on that last note, what's the precedent for enchanting Portable Rams?

Im wondering if the different monk variants presented in the Advanced Core Clases section of the SRD can feasibly stack, specifically the Drunken Master variant and the Monk of the Four Winds variant.

I reasoned to myself, that since none of the abilities for these two variants conflict with each other, there's no reason that I can't have both. As long as I can justify it through role-playing.

So what's the verdict? Am I being a total tool, trying to eat my neighbor's cake and the pie? Or does an alcoholic pugilist with an intensely spiritual appreciation for the the mysteries of the natural world sound like a really interesting character to play?

I haven't rolled dice in a while. I used to play almost every week at school, but I'm in Jordan for 3 months and a lack of dice and a language barrier have prevented me from playing at all this summer. To sate my thirst I find myself crawling through forum after forum, website after website, trying to enjoy the thrill of RP vicariously through them interwebs. And then I found it.
PATHFINDER!!!!
It's like what 4th edition shouldve been! But its an SRD so its free!! yippee!

I immediately got to converting my character for this year's new campaign into pathfinder, and I'm still working on getting all the other guys to do the same (its harder when youre on the other side of the world)

anyway, I'm wondering what you guys think. I'm wondering how sound you think the basic build is, and maybe to help me flesh out the back story a bit.

Oh and to give all of this a little context, the character I played in last year's campaign (3.5) was a ridiks gestalt character half orc drunken master, the PrC class that is. His actual build was something like Barbarian 1/Monk 5/Drunken Master 10/Uncanny Trickster 3}{Fighter 2/Rogue 3/Monk 6-19. Like I said, ridiks. Anyway, in game he became a Drug Lord, and started an organization known as The Rainbow Tribe. It was basically like the Orc Mafia. Part Yakuza, part Rastafari. Well at the end of that campaign we succesfully defeated a bunch of Ur-Priests, but not before they had destroyed most of the multiverse and murdered most of the Gods. The surviving deities then granted our ridiculously broken gestalt characters divine status and allowed us to remake the world in our image. The Rainbow Tribe lives on!!! And so here it is, Bam Bam the Rainbow Warrior

Bam Bam and Tusker were both enforcerers for the Rainbow Tribe by the time they were 16. Brothers and drinking buddies they made an effective team, despite their radically different outlook and approach to the job. Bam Bam’s menacing demeanor, stoicism, and willingness to whatever it took to get a debtor to pay up brought him a fearsome reputation as a ruthless legbreaker, while Tusker’s unpredictable nature and keen sense kept The Tribe’s rivals from ever getting the jump on the brothers. Tusker eventually proved too unpredictable however, and after one paticularly lucrative shake-down, Tusker tried to break and run with the money. Stealing from The Tribe is a serious offense, and Bam Bam was ordered to pursue his brother and return with the stolen money. Bam Bam chased Tusker to the edge off a cliff, and after a fierce duel, Bam Bam broke Tusker’s chain. Bam Bam pleaded with his brother to return to the hangout and apologize for stealing the money, but Tusker refused to be taken alive and continued attacking Bam Bam in a reckless rage. Becoming desperate, Bam Bam threw his best friend off the cliff into the chasm below. Bam Bam hasn’t been the same since then. He’s declined any further asignments and has volunteered for bouncer duty in on of The Tribe’s fronts. There he leans against the door, night after night, his head swimming in pipe smoke and nightmares.

Name Bam Bam Race Half-Orc Class Drunken Master Monk 3 ECL 3
Alignment Lawful Neutral Age 24 Height 6’10” Weight 300 lbs
Speed 40 ft Vision Darkvision 60ft Languages Common, Orcish, Abyssal
Initiative +2 Perception +9

Str 20
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 13
Wis 17
Cha 14

Hp- 33

Ac- 18 =10+ 2+ 3+ 1+ 2+
ff- 16 tch- 18
cmd- 17=10+ 5+ 2+ + +

fort- 6
ref- 5
will- 5

bab+ 2 CMB+ 8
attack options
Orc Knucks+7…1d6+5…x2
Flurious Knucks+5/+5…1d6+5/1d6+5…x2/x2
Ram Rod +7…1d0+7..x2
Sunder+12
Javelin +3…1d6+5..x2..30 ft

racial features
Orc Blood
Darkvision 60 ft
Intimidating +2 on Intimidate
Gate Crasher +2 on Sunder & Str Checks to Break Objects
Weapon Familiarity

class features
Stunning Fist 3/day DC 14 Fort
Flurry of Blows
Evasion
Maneuver Training
Drunken Ki I

character traits/flaws
Abrasive +1 Intimidate/-1 Bluff & Diplomacy
Muscle Bound +1 on Str Checks & Str Skills/-2 on Dex checks & Dex Skills
Murky-Eyed Roll for Miss Chance Twice
Shakey -2 on Ranged Attacks

feats
Iron Hide +1 Nat Armor (FL)
Smash Ignore 5 points of Hardness for Unattended Items, +5 to Break Down Doors (FL)
Power Attack (1st)
Catch Off-Guard (M)
Dodge (M)
Improved Sunder (3rd)

Skills 5 Ranks per Level
Acrobatics+6
Climb+12
Intimidate +11
Perception +9
Sense Motive +9

equipment
carrying capacity
light load> 133 medium load 134 - 266 heavy load 267 - 400
Rainbow Monk Outfit –
Amulet of Natural Armor +1
Portable Ram 20lbs +5 to Break Down a Door
Masterwork Javelin 2lbs
Dagger 1lb
Flask
Backpack 2lbs
Bedroll 5lbs
Tinder Twigx10 1lb
Wooden Pipe -
Tobacco 1lb
Potion of Mage Armor x2
Potion of Cure Light Wounds -
Jump Potion -
Belt Pouch ½ lb
Potion of Mage Armor-
Belt Pouch ½ lb
Potion of Cure Light Wounds-
Total weight 40 lbs

Wealth
Pp Gp 10 sp 7 cp 9