I'm not sure if anybody's posted this before, but if they did I couldn't find it when I searched the forums. I noted there were a lot of comments on the Ultimate Combat errata thread about the Tetori's bonus feats, but no answers.
So I decided to see if I couldn't work out what these bonus feats were and post them here, for the sake of convenience. I invite discussion about my choices, as I am by no means the authority on what the tetori was supposed to have (that would be the domain of it's lead designer Jason Bulmahn, or any of its 13 other designers).
Anyway, now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, let's commence.
Bonus Feat: A tetori gains the following bonus feats: 1st level—Improved Grapple, 2nd level—Crushing Embrace, 6th level—Greater Grapple, 10th level—Twin Lock, 14th level—Chokehold, 18th level—Backbreaker. These feats replace a monk's normal bonus feats.
The feats in question are "Crushing Embrace" (2nd), "Twin Lock" (10th), and "Backbreaker" (18th).
Crushing Embrace = Final Embrace
I believe that crushing embrace is actually supposed to be the feat Final Embrace. This makes sense, as it gives the Tetori monk the grab and constrict special attacks. Grab allows them to start a grapple after hitting with their unarmed strikes, while constrict lets them deal unarmed strike damage whenever they make successfully grapple to do anything (including more damage). It may make grappling with a tetori a little unfair, but hey, that's what you get for tangling with a wrestler. Both abilities granted by the feat fit perfectly into the wrestler theme of the Tetori.
Now, as for those pre-requisites, recall that monks don't have to qualify for feats they gain as bonus feats, as long as they remain monks.
A monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.
Twin-Lock = Non-Existent
This one I am unsure about. In Shaolin martial arts, there is a technique called the "double lock," which is a blocking technique that utilizes the forearms. However, I doubt this is what the designer was going for. Most likely, based on the feat's name, it would allow the Tetori to grapple/pin two foes at once. To my knowledge, there are no feats (or rules) that cover trying to grapple multiple opponents at once (only for breaking grapples against multiple opponents).That being said, the feat I'd probably put here is Rapid Grappler, which builds on the Greater Grapple feat received at 6th. Granted, the monk already qualifies for Rapid Grappler at 9th level, but this seems to be the most logical step (to me, at least).
I might also recommend replacing this with Sleeper Hold (Dragon Empires Primer), as it's a bit out of the Tetori's qualification range (requires BAB +8), but fits thematically with a wrestler character.
Backbreaker = Neckbreaker
When you break someone's back and break someone's neck, your pretty much doing the same thing to them- paralyzing them for life (the only question is how much of their body will be paralyzed). Given how powerful this ability is, it seems natural that the Tetori would receive it as a bonus feat. He has stunning fist, and Neckbreaker doesn't utilize the previous feats in its chain (it just adds to what you can do).
No doubt Neckbreaker was originally called Backbreaker in some design document, but the mechanical intention is the same.
Well, I hope this helps all of you Tetori aficionados out there. The tetori's a great concept because it creates an enticing way to play a character that was pretty much impossible in 3.5 edition D&D. Of course, another reason I love the tetori is because he can put ghosts in a full-Nelson- I mean how cool is that?!
Monk: The tetori monk archetype (page 61) has three bonus feats that do not exist: 2nd level—Crushing Embrace; 10th level—Twin Lock; and 18th Level—Backbreaker. What feats should replace those missing feats?
Update: Page 16, change "2nd level—Crushing Embrace" to "2nd level—Stunning Pin"; change "10th level—Twin Lock" to "10th-level—Pinning Knockout"; and change "18th level—Backbreaker" to "18th level—Neckbreaker."
—Stephen Radney-MacFarland, 10/13/11
Errata and FAQ link to corrections
Monk: The tetori monk archetype (page 61) has three bonus feats that do not exist: 2nd level—Crushing Embrace; 10th level—Twin Lock; and 18th Level—Backbreaker. What feats should replace those missing feats?
Update: Page 16, change "2nd level—Crushing Embrace" to "2nd level—Stunning Pin"; change "10th level—Twin Lock" to "10th-level—Pinning Knockout"; and change "18th level—Backbreaker" to "18th level—Neckbreaker."
Err, right then. I guess my search perimeters were too specific. Could I get a mod to erase this post, seeing as it's effectively useless?
Err, right then. I guess my search perimeters were too specific. Could I get a mod to erase this post, seeing as it's effectively useless?
The post is not useless, as I am sure other people will use similar search parameters and find this post.
Well, then, hand me that towel so I can at least wipe the egg off my face =p
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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When we turned over our class sections for Ultimate Combat, we were supposed to also send through 5-10 feat kernels. The actual feats themselves ended up being developed by another crew of folks from those kernels.
For the tetori, since they were fairly central to the class, those kernels I wrote were pretty much full-text feat descriptions (though without pretty formatting), but at some point during the development process those feats got changed or axed.
As to what they did, I'm sure I posted more details somewhere before, but Crushing Embrace let you do more damage with grappling I think, Twin Lock let you grapple two people at once, and Backbreaker was exactly what it says on the tin. I actually included a number of crippling-type effects as ideas for monk stuff and barbarian rage powers, but in the end almost all ended up getting either axed or smoothed out into ability damage and similar stuff rather than "no, your ARM is LITERALLY ripped off, DEAL WITH IT!" and the like. :)
In any case, as noted above SRM has delivered the official errata on the subject, so done and done! BTW, I quite agree that being able to pull an inverted suplex submission hold on a ghost is pretty frickin rad. :)