So, should the Brother of the Seal utilize Awesome Blow as much as possbile? Looking at the class, I can't help but think you might as well get your mileage out of it and rock a DEX/WIS build since it benefits from WIS to damage. Move around the battlefield throwing people around like the best of them.
Would this happen to be GM Kyle from the CORE Greyhawk Campaign?
BTW, Awesome Blow is generally not thought of as a powerful move. Better to go with something that works off iterative attacks like Ki Throw, IMO.
Have you seen the Prestige Class? It allows you to use Awesome Blow as part of a Flurry of Blows and any sort of attack action to include Charging and Vital Strike. They get the ability to treat their unarmed strike as one creature size larger which should be fun for Vital Strike.
I'm sorry, I do not believe I have access to the particular PrC so I may not be able to give specific advice on that particular PrC's abilities. But from what you posted I think I get the general idea. How does it allow you to qualify for Awesome Blow?
Prerequisites: Str 25, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, size Large or larger.
Also it is a monster feat which often aren't meant for PCs and is typically left to DM discretion. Are you actually able to get to 25 Str somehow quickly? What about the size requirements? Or does it somehow allow it due to the size increase of your unarmed strike? Or is it just an exception to the rule situation where they are able to take the feat without meeting the prereqs?
Off the top of my head I can tell you that gaining reach would be good for a character knocking people about the battlefield so he can keep them within his reach after the Awesome Blow while staying out of their reach. The Lunge feat may be one option for this as could any reach weapon. Or both.
The use of the Ki Throw feat in conjunction with this would allow you to place your foe in any square you threaten and up to 10 ft. away. Improved Ki Throw would add that you can also throw them into spaces occupied by another creature.
I would speak with your GM about allowing Vicious Stomp to say "into a square you threaten with an unarmed or natural attack" rather than "adjacent to you" as it is more in tune with the intent of the feat. Taking that feat with this build would be good.
Take a look at this build for some ideas.
I'm sorry, I do not believe I have access to the particular PrC so I may not be able to give specific advice on that particular PrC's abilities. But from what you posted I think I get the general idea. How does it allow you to qualify for Awesome Blow?
As a bonus feat, which lets you bypass all requirements. The class has a bunch of abilities that enhance it, so it's really hard to make advice for the class alone only based on the monster version of Awesome Blow :P
Well, I still think I have the general idea about it. I figured it was a "bypass all requirements" type deal. It sounds like it is a battlefield control type martialist. I'm fairly certain without seeing the PrC that my advice is still relevant.
What book is this out of?
Of course it's still relevant. I apologize, I didn't mean to imply otherwise; I'm just trying to establish that someone with this PrC has far different capabilities than a monster, or any other PC that somehow manages to acquire the feat.
It's in the Prestige Class book in the Campaign Setting Line.
Dammit, I need these books.
Anyone know the typical time it takes before a book's info ends up on d20pfsrd or the SRD?
3-4 weeks after release, typically.
I don't know if the 1 week delay will affect that.
Thanx for the info, Mechalibur. The PrC does seem pretty interesting and I look forward to seeing more details on it. And no problem, I knew what you meant. I'm not offended or anything. :)
Honestly, it sounds like you have access to this material so you might have better advice specifically relating to the PrC than I would.
Awesome Blow is really 1/2 of the Brother of the Seal but when it comes to Awesome Blow, its very interesting. How so? Easy, let me explain.
1) Add Wisdom to Awesome Blow damage
2) Affect creatures the same size as the Monk by spending ki or stunning fist charges and affect one size category larger, later negate spending on same size and affect any size larger
3) The Monk adds his PrC level to damage when he uses Awesome Blow to knock a target into an obstacle
4) Can use Awesome Blow as part of a Flurry of Blows, Charge, Cleave, Vital Strike, or other standard combat action
5) When you Awesome Blow a target into another target, you gain an additional Awesome Blow attempt against that target -- this continues with increasing penalties
On top of this, the Monk's unarmed strike damage dice are treated as one size category larger.
Wow that sounds really neat. What does the prc give up that every monk doesn't want to be one?
Awesome Blow is really 1/2 of the Brother of the Seal but when it comes to Awesome Blow, its very interesting. How so? Easy, let me explain.
1) Add Wisdom to Awesome Blow damage
2) Affect creatures the same size as the Monk by spending ki or stunning fist charges and affect one size category larger, later negate spending on same size and affect any size larger
3) The Monk adds his PrC level to damage when he uses Awesome Blow to knock a target into an obstacle
4) Can use Awesome Blow as part of a Flurry of Blows, Charge, Cleave, Vital Strike, or other standard combat action
5) When you Awesome Blow a target into another target, you gain an additional Awesome Blow attempt against that target -- this continues with increasing penaltiesOn top of this, the Monk's unarmed strike damage dice are treated as one size category larger.
This is a little too rosy a picture.
0: The ability [Awesome Blow bonus feat] is not gained until 4th level of the PrC.
1: Add Wisdom to CMB for the attack, not to damage. Damage is his unarmed strike damage.
2: The "any size larger" isn't gained until 8th level (out of 10), and requires 1 Ki or Stunning Fist use per size category larger
3: At 6th level Brother of the Stone, not initially.
4: Not exactly. He can use it once per round as part of those things, but still only once per round. And that is not from the start of the PrC, but at 8th level again.
5: At 9th level, if the Awesome Blow drives the target into a second creature, he can make an additional CMB check with a penalty to see if that also knocks the second creature back. If there are multiple creatures in a straight line struck this way, he can keep making checks at an increasing penalty.
Treating Unarmed Strike damage as 1 size larger: At 7th level, not right from the start.
Overall, it looks like a decent PrC, but not the overwhelmingly good choice the OP's initial post sounds like. Levels of this PrC and Monk stack for Stunning Fist, Unarmed Strike, and Flurry of Blows progressions, but there is no additional movement speed or Armor bonus progression. Likewise, none of the other Monk special abilities (Slow fall, Ki pool, Ki strike) are gained through this class.
The rest of the flavor is quasi-magical, oriented toward doors/portals (and sealing or unsealing them). Thus, it requires 5 ranks of Knowledge (arcana) to get in.
Edit: Clarified details
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
|
That is pretty much the idea: it's supposed to be a decent PrC and not an overwhelmingly good choice. If PrC's were overwhelmingly good choices, everyone would always take them, and that's not the direction we were going in writing this product. Are they neat and do interesting stuff? Absolutely. Are they clearly better than the alternative, including staying single-classed. Nope, and they shouldn't be.
Urath: Thank you for the clarification.
Jason: Thank you for your contribution. :) It does sound like an interesting option and a good niche to have filled.
All that being said, I think I will stick with my initial response: Awesome Blow is generally not thought of as a powerful move. Better to go with something that works off iterative attacks like Ki Throw, IMO.
Those are things you can do every turn and more than once per turn. It still requires a feat but you do not have to be 9th level in a PrC before you are able to use it and it doesn't have restrictions about the size of the opponent it can be used on the same way that PrC does. I would again suggest taking a look at the build I posted above as it is fairly similar in it's design goals.