Fist Master (4e Class)
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Fist Master[edit]
| “ | So you have a big sword. Meet my weapons : Lefty and Righty. And that's just two of them. | ” |
| Class Traits |
| Role: Striker. You fight bare-handed, hitting where it hurts most, and inflicting all kinds of conditions to your enemies. |
| Power Source: Martial. Years of training taught you how to use every part of your body as a deadly weapon. |
| Key Abilities: Dexterity, Strength, Wisdom |
| Armor Proficiencies: Cloth |
| Weapon Proficiencies: None |
| Implements: Ki focuses |
| Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Fortitude |
| Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score |
| Hit Points per Level Gained: 5 |
| Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution modifier |
| Trained Skills: Acrobatics and Athletics. From the class skills list below, choose 3 more trained skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Bluff(Cha), Heal(Wis), Endurance (Cha), Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Thievery (Dex) |
| Build Options: Forceful Master, Disabling Master |
| Class Features: Unarmed Mastery, Resonant Ki, Path, Combat Awareness, Light Step |
Fist Masters go by many names. Some feel unjustified to be called "Master" when one can never truly master their art. Others feel unjustified to be reduced to their fists. Others again don't care what they're called, they only live to fight. Some are wanderers, helping those in need on their way, some fight in the pits for gold and glory, some live as bodyguards, some even vow never to fight another living being. Whatever their names or motivations, they all have one thing in common: they know how to fight without using weapons or armors. Most have trained for years, under masters or on their own, learning how to use any part of their body to damage opponents, even when those opponents fight with broad swords and heavy armors.
Fist Master Overview |
| Characteristics: Speed and agility allows you to stay out of range of damage, and you use your body to hit where it hurts, grab, lock, knock down... |
| Religion: Fist Masters follow any kind of religion. Some revel in the fights and would rather follow Kord, others will concentrate on the art of their fighting, revering Corellon, while wandering souls will worship Avandra. Many are also godless, concentrating all their attention on their own body. |
| Races: Fist Masters need to be quick and nimble, thus Halflings and Elves make good Fist Masters. Half-Orcs possess the necessary might for a good Fist Master. Eladrins tend to disfavor unarmed fighting, although they are good at it when they forego their prejudices. Dwarves are certainly not quick and nimble, but their love for a good brawl tends to draw them to the Fist Master path. |
Creating a Fist Master[edit]
The Forceful Master and the Disabling Master are two versions of Fist Master. The first concentrates on dealing high damage, while the second concentrates on inflicting conditions to their opponents, the better to take them out of the fight, even if it is only for a couple of seconds.
Forceful Master[edit]
The Forceful Master concentrates on inflicting heavy damage to his opponents through strong techniques. Dexterity should still be his main ability, since it's the base of his attacks. Strength comes second, since it will improve many strength-based powers' damage. Third comes Wisdom if he wishes to still take some controlling powers. Constitution is also a popular choice to improve survivability.
- Suggested Feat: (Human Feat:)
- Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, Insight, Perception
- Suggested Path: Iron Path
- Suggested At-Will Powers:
- Suggested Encounter Power:
- Suggested Daily Power:
Disabling Master[edit]
The Disabling Master will concentrate on powers that will inflict negative conditions on her opponents. Dexterity should be her strongest ability, to be able to land her attacks. Wisdom controls many powers inflicting conditions on enemies. Strength comes third if one wants to take a couple of damaging abilities.
- Suggested Feat: (Human Feat:)
- Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Heal, Insight, Perception
- Suggested Path: Silk Path
- Suggested At-Will Powers:
- Suggested Encounter Power:
- Suggested Daily Power:
Fist Master Class Features[edit]
All Fist Masters share these class features.
Unarmed Mastery: Fist Masters train all their life on fighting without a weapon. As such, they can fight with proficiency even unarmed, and a Fist Master’s unarmed damage is 1d8 versus the 1d4 damage of those that don’t have this ability, and has a +3 proficiency. A Fist Master uses dexterity for his unarmed attacks and damage. While a fist master cannot enhance their unarmed strike, it can gain the benefits of a magical ki focus if they have one
On the other hand, a Fist Master can't use any of his powers if he wields a weapon, equips a shield or wears any armor besides cloth.
Resonant Ki:Once per turn as minor action, you can bring your Ki into resonant harmony with a single enemy you can see, who is considered to be the target of your resonance. Once per round, you deal extra damage to the target of your resonance. The extra damage is based on your level, and you may only apply this extra damage once per round, even if you can make multiple attacks in a round. You may pick which attack does the extra damage. The resonance remains active until the end of the encounter, the target of your resonance is defeated, or you resonate your Ki with a different target. You may resonante your Ki with a single enemy at a time
| Level | Resonant Ki Extra Damage |
|---|---|
| 1st-10th | +1d6 |
| 11th-20th | +2d6 |
| 21st-30th | +3d6 |
Path: When they start their training, Fist Masters are taught, or quickly discover, there are two ways of using one's body to fight. They need to choose one of those two paths. The path they choose grants them some advantages, and some powers work better for one path or the other (see powers descriptions).
Iron Path: When taking the iron path, a Fist Master learns how to put extra power behind each strike. She uses 1d10 for her unarmed damage, and on critical strikes, she pushes the target one square from the force of her blow.
Silk Path: A Fist Master taking the silk path learns how to use the force of his opponent to his advantage, where to strike to cause great pain without much effort. He lands critical hits on 19 and 20 rolls, and gains a +1 to all unarmed attack rolls.
Combat Awareness: Fist Masters have to always be aware of their surroundings in a fight, since they don't wear any armor to deflect any blow. Because of this, they quickly develop an ability to always know where everybody stands in a fight, and where blows land. They add their Wisdom modifier as well to their Armor Class.
Light Step: Because they don't wear any armor and train so hard at moving fast, Fist Masters gain +1 to speed and can shift two squares instead of one when using a move action to shift.
Fist Master Powers[edit]
Fist Masters learn many techniques to use their body to full efficiency in a fight. Some are heavily trained basic strikes, while others reach to the limit of what their body enables them to do. A list of the Fist Master Powers can be found here.
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