Ultimate Combat has made this so much more feasible. So far, what I have come up with to best approximate the four elements and minimizing the impact of energy damage on the theme (as you can't actually have pure elements like Air because of electricty damage, etc) is this:
Waterbender: [Flowing] Monk/Wildblooded Seaborn [Aquatic] Sorcerer
Airbender: Monk/Wildblooded Arial [Stormborn] Sorcerer
Firebender: Monk/Fire Elemental Sorcerer
Earthbender: [Maneuver Master or] Monk [of the Sacred Mountain]/Wildblooded Bedrock [Deep Earth]
Non-Bender: Any monk, but Martial Artist probably best fits the bill.
Granted, any monk class could probably pull this off, but the water and earth styles seemed to be very well complemented by those monk archetypes. I considered Monk of the Lotus for a generic airbender, but I'm not as sure about that one; Flowing Monk could work with air as well as water, maybe?
Taking Sorcerous Strike (and probably Sorcerous Bloodstrike from UM) is a must, especially for the waterbender who gets that awesome bloodline power at 1st sorcerer level.
I plan on making a list of spells that each would want to take as sorcerer spells to maximize the theme. I would think this should be a gestalt theme, but I think that just multiclassing would do the trick, starting characters at higher levels.
Any thoughts, suggestions, senseless flaming?
Edited for readability.
I don't see how this is a conversion. As far as I know, there's not an RPG out of TLA, and asking for advice on how to more closely approximate this theme isn't "converting" anything.
This thread is on the wrong board now.
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I think they put it in conversions because you're converting a TV show to a game. That's where they tend to put "How do I make x from popular literature/tv/etc to PFRPG?" threads.
As to the question:
Firebenders could be quinggong monks (UM) to get scorching ray.
With any and all of these I'd take Elemental Fist. Might even suggest taking the Monk of the Four Winds archetype to get scaling elemental damage.
All in all I'm not sure the Pathfinder/3.5 rules really capture the abilities of a bender. I'd look at the Mutants and Masterminds rules or the old DC Heroes rules from Mayfair Games. You might even look at
Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium d100 system (Basic Roleplaying). These systems are much more flexible and customizable when it comes to recreating benders.
All in all I'm not sure the Pathfinder/3.5 rules really capture the abilities of a bender. I'd look at the Mutants and Masterminds rules or the old DC Heroes rules from Mayfair Games. You might even look at
Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium d100 system (Basic Roleplaying). These systems are much more flexible and customizable when it comes to recreating benders.
I don't think d20 can completely convey the abilities of a bender. The focus is too narrow on martial arts and elements, rather than swords and sorcery. So I am aware that there are some shortcomings in my suggestion, but what I am trying to do is simulate those abilities.
A flowing monk archetype with a few levels in seaborn sorcerer has access to hydraulic push, obscuring mist, create water, etc, and the feat Sorcerous Strike...
...which allows him to make an unarmed attack, and immediately follow up with a blast of water that can act as a bull rush attempt as a swift action. Very waterbender-y to me, and I've done very little right there.
Firebenders are stupid easy. Scorching ray, produce flame, burning hands, fireball... Earthbenders and airbenders are the most difficult, but I don't think they're impossible. And I think the only reason the waterbender was the easiest for me is because that's my favorite. I'm sure other people can come up with something at least as good as what I did for the other three elements.
A flowing monk archetype with a few levels in seaborn sorcerer has access to hydraulic push, obscuring mist, create water, etc, and the feat Sorcerous Strike...
** spoiler omitted **
...which allows him to make an unarmed attack, and immediately follow up with a blast of water that can act as a bull rush attempt as a swift action. Very waterbender-y to me, and I've done very little right there.
Wow... Reading about this makes me want to try out a "waterbending" monk. That sounds amazing! Since there are too many feats in UC for me to even remember, is there a strike feat that works with oracle or wizard abilities? That way you could take the metal elements from UM and try to make Toph! I love her.
EDIT: Herp derp... Revelation Strike and School Strike. Revelation Strike + Rusting Grasp = not that flavorful. School Strike + Shrapnel Burst = I'm not sure if it's legal by RAW, but it sounds really cool.
The guys over at the GItP forums did a pretty good job on homebrew bender classes a while back, let me see if I can find a link for you.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68630
There you go.
The guys over at the GItP forums did a pretty good job on homebrew bender classes a while back, let me see if I can find a link for you.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68630
There you go.
I downloaded this a long time ago. Most of you are missing the point though... I did not want to homebrew or house rule or anything like that. I was trying to get as close as I could using only official Pathfinder material. Simple.
Firebenders are stupid easy. Scorching ray, produce flame, burning hands, fireball... Earthbenders and airbenders are the most difficult, but I don't think they're impossible. And I think the only reason the waterbender was the easiest for me is because that's my favorite. I'm sure other people can come up with something at least as good as what I did for the other three elements.
You might take a look at Super Genius Games' Guides To Air Magic, Earth Magic, and Fire Magic. There's also an Ice Magic pdf. Some good ideas in them.
EDIT: Ooops....I didn't see the Pathfinder only part of your post. Sorry.
That way you could take the metal elements from UM and try to make Toph! I love her.
EDIT: Herp derp... Revelation Strike and School Strike. Revelation Strike + Rusting Grasp = not that flavorful. School Strike + Shrapnel Burst = I'm not sure if it's legal by RAW, but it sounds really cool.
I think the best route would be the Deep Earth (or variant) sorcerer and just ask the DM if you could add some metal-based spells to your repertoire. Can you add spell-storing to an amulet of mighty fists? :D
It is that necessary for benders to be monks? How often did Katara throw a punch?
It is that necessary for benders to be monks? How often did Katara throw a punch?
A little bit of necromancy here, but this question is valid enough:
In short, no, but there are reasons why you might want to make it your first consideration. Firstly, you get scaling unarmed damage and AC, which helps you maintain the martial arts flavor without making you resort to weapons and armor, which is rarely used in TLA. Secondly, the monk archetypes like the master of many styles and the maneuver master could play into these themes far better than other classes.
Sorcerer makes a decent base if you choose that, as your spell pool does not need to be quite so extensive, and being able to keep "casting" all day helps, however, they have a poor BAB, which makes for a poor melee combatant, and if you really know anything about the series, sometimes even benders get in close. If your martial prowess happens to be your greatest asset against a particular foe, or you are up against something with decent SR/saves, having a low BAB is going to hurt.
Fighter is always an option, especially with non-benders. This is kind of a no-brainer though.
Magus could be an interesting choice, though I have not played one yet and I'm not sure how it would work. A magus with a gauntlet and improved unarmed strike, maybe some house-ruled style feats... could be fun to work with.
Beyond that, it's a matter of looking at thematic spells. You most likely would have to custom build some spell lists to make this work in an ideal manner.
I'd suggest looking at Naruto D20 for your purpose
Firebenders are monks all the way, although with Zuko you could make a case for a magus with a fire theme, due to his extensive sword work (even though I think he only combined firebending and swordplay once during the series).
The temple sword is a Monk weapon. You can make a flurry of blows with it, so you could probably still argue that quiggong monk with the Ifrit Stance abilities is your best option.
Firebenders are monks all the way, although with Zuko you could make a case for a magus with a fire theme, due to his extensive sword work (even though I think he only combined firebending and swordplay once during the series).The temple sword is a Monk weapon. You can make a flurry of blows with it, so you could probably still argue that quiggong monk with the Ifrit Stance abilities is your best option.
This... and there's also this feat from Ultimate Magic:
Eldritch Heritage
You are descended from a long line of sorcerers, and some portion of their power flows in your veins.
Prerequisites: Cha 13, Skill Focus with the class skill of bloodline selected for this feat (see below), character level 3rd.
Benefit: Select one sorcerer bloodline. You must have Skill focus in the class skill that bloodline grants to a sorcerer at 1st level (for example, Heal for the celestial bloodline). This bloodline cannot be a bloodline you already have. You gain the first-level bloodline power for the selected bloodline. For purposes of using that power, treat your sorcerer level as equal to your character level – 2, even if you have levels in sorcerer. You do not gain any of the other bloodline abilities.
Select Fire Elemental Bloodline... and you got the firebolt power.
Hey fog, Not to hijack the thread and I know this isn't what you've been looking for, but I figured I'd post anyways. Its a revision/conversion/mixing of the other d20 a:tla, but incorporates a lot of the style feats (as well as other feats)