Melee Specialist (3.5e Class)

Melee Specialist

“	Some people like to carry around a cart full of weapons for each occasion. I need only one.	”
—Unnamed melee specialist

Playing A Melee Specialist

Adventuring: A Melee Specialist can make his place in any society and civilization, or the outskirts of the wild. Because of their abilities, they are often used as special ops, a vigilante or a mercenary.

Characteristics: A melee specialist is a front line combatant who focuses on the use of only a single type of weapon for his entire career. As a result he gains more insight than even a fighter who chooses to specialize with a weapon.

Alignment: A Melee Specialist can be any alignment.

Religion: A Melee Specialist does not usually follow any deity, but are known to worship those of battle,chaos, and even death; if they choose to worship any at all.

Races: Melee Specialist can be any race.

Making A Melee Specialist

Abilities: A Melee Specialist is more focused on dealing damage and bypassing defenses. A high strength score is required. A good constitution score is also good.

Starting Gold: 4d6 times 10 gp (140 gold).

Table: The Melee Specialist

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Chosen Weapon
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Anti-Armor Strikes +1, Momentum x2
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Shatterpoint 1/day, Versatile Weapon Handling
6th	+6/1	+5	+2	+2
7th	+7/2	+5	+2	+2
8th	+8/3	+6	+2	+2	Bonus Feat
9th	+9/4	+6	+3	+3	Anti-Armor Strikes +2, Improved Weapon Handling
10th	+10/5	+7	+3	+3
11th	+11/6/1	+7	+3	+3	Iron Grip, Shatterpoint 2/day
12th	+12/7/2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
13th	+13/8/3	+8	+4	+4	Greater Weapon Handling
14th	+14/9/4	+9	+4	+4
15th	+15/10/5	+9	+5	+5	Anti-Armor Strikes +3, Bonus Feat, Momentum x3, Sunderguard
16th	+16/11/6/1	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat
17th	+17/12/7/2	+10	+5	+5	Improved Shatterpoint, Shatterpoint 3/day
18th	+18/13/8/3	+11	+6	+6
19th	+19/14/9/4	+11	+6	+6	Perfect Weapon Handling, Steel As Water
20th	+20/15/10/5	+12	+6	+6	Bonus Feat
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) The melee specialists class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Melee Specialist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A melee specialist is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Chosen Weapon (Ex): At 1st level, the melee specialist picks a weapon which he has proficiency (this choice may not be changed thereafter). He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls for that weapon and may treat it as a light weapon when beneficial (this does not allow him to use a two handed weapon for two weapon fighting however or to use it with only 1 hand). This weapon must be appropriately sized for him to be used as a chosen weapon. A melee specialists levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of minimum fighter level required in the case of certain feats (such as weapon specialization) but only for the purpose of his chosen weapon.

Anti-Armor Strikes (Ex): At 3rd level, a melee specialist gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls against opponents with natural armor, an armor bonus, a shield bonus, or any combination thereof to armor class while making an attack with his chosen weapon. This amount increases at 9th level and 15th level.

Momentum (Ex): At 3rd level, while employing only his chosen weapon in combat and while not wearing heavier than medium armor a melee specialist may add twice his strength modifier to damage rolls with his chosen weapon (this overlaps the normal addition of strength modifier). At 15th level the amount of damage from the melee specialist's strength modifier added is increased by 1 multiple (x3 at 15th, x4 at 24th, etc.). A melee specialist cannot use this ability and rage (or any similar ability) and/or power attack at the same time and attacks gained from sources other than base attack bonus (such as haste, cleave, or two-weapon fighting) do not benefit from this ability. This ability does not function while charging.

Shatterpoint (Ex): At 5th level, a melee specialist can enter a focused state, known as shatterpoint, as a free action once per day which allows him to sense and exploit weaknesses in otherwise unassailable targets. If the melee specialist attacks a target, while using his chosen weapon, with damage reduction or hardness he ignores 1 point worth of hardness and damage reduction per melee specialist level (if the target somehow has both it applies to each separately). Shatterpoint lasts for a number of rounds equal to his melee specialist class levels and can only be used once per encounter. A melee specialist cannot use this ability and rage (or any similar ability) and/or power attack at the same time and attacks gained from sources other than base attack bonus (such as haste, cleave, or two-weapon fighting) do not benefit from this ability. This ability does not function while charging. At 11th/17th levels the melee specialist gains an additional use of this ability per day.

Versatile Weapon Handling (Ex): At 5th level, a melee specialist can use his chosen weapon to deal other types of damage than what it normally deals while still retaining it's effectiveness. As a swift action, the melee specialist may choose to deal bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, or some combination of these types of damage with his weapon.

Bonus Feats (Ex): At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter the melee specialist may take a fighter bonus feat.

Improved Weapon Handling (Ex): At 9th level, a melee specialist can make nonlethal attacks and attacks while prone or grappling with his chosen weapon without taking a -4 penalty on the attack roll.

Iron Grip (Ex): At 11th level, a melee specialist becomes difficult to disarm of his chosen weapon. The melee specialist may make 2 rolls and take the higher result when resisting a disarming attempt with his chosen weapon. Furthermore, the opponent gains no benefit from differences in size and the melee specialist gains a bonus on resisting disarming attempts equal to his melee specialist class level.

Greater Weapon Handling (Ex): At 13th level, a melee specialist using his chosen weapon can make a opposed concentration check against an enemy attempting to tumble through an area that would provoke an attack of opportunity by him. If the melee specialist is successful he may take that attack of opportunity as normal. Furthermore, the melee specialist takes no penalties to attack and damage rolls while fighting underwater with his chosen weapon.

Sunderguard (Ex): At 15th level, a melee specialists chosen weapon becomes difficult to sunder or otherwise damage. The melee specialist may make 2 rolls and take the higher result against any sunder attempt or on any save to protect his chosen weapon and these rolls are made with an added bonus equal to his melee specialist class level. The melee specialist's weapon also gains a bonus to armor class against being targeted by attacks that would affect it equal to his melee specialist class level.

Improved Shatterpoint (Su): At 17th level, while in shatterpoint a melee specialist wielding his chosen weapon may make a melee specialist class level check when attacking a creature with a special quality other than damage reduction (regeneration, swarm traits, incorporeal, etc.) that would negatively modify his attack with respect to hitting or dealing damage (the DM may adjudicate this ability to not be effective in rare cases such as the tarrasque). If the result of his check exceeds the targets CR he can attack and deal damage normally to the target. The result of this check lasts only for 1 round and only for the target the check was made for (thus he must make new checks in subsequent rounds or against new targets). This ability does not function while charging.

Perfect Weapon Handling (Ex): At 19th level, a melee specialist gains a mastery of his chosen weapon that most others cannot even understand. Iterative attacks with his chosen weapon are made at -2 increments rather than -5, he rerolls all natural 1's for attack rolls while using his chosen weapon (if the result of a reroll is a 1 he rerolls until he does not recieve a 1), he does not suffer penalties from the effects of fatigue or exhaustion with respect to his weapon attack and damage rolls, any miss chances he would suffer are reduced by 20% (to a minimum of 0%), and improved shatterpoint becomes an extraordinary ability. This ability does not function while charging.

Steel As Water (Ex): At 19th level, a melee specialist wielding his chosen weapon may strike his opponents as though their defenses (or steel) were no more effective at preventing his attacks than a thin layer of water. Once per day, while in shatterpoint, the melee specialist may resolves his attacks with his chosen weapon as touch attacks for one round.

Table: The Epic Melee Specialist

Level	Special
21st	Anti-Armor Strikes +4
22nd	Shatterpoint 4/day
23rd
24th	Bonus Feat, Anti-Armor Strikes +5, Momentum x4
25th	Shatterpoint 5/day
26th
27th	Anti-Armor Strikes +6
28th	Bonus Feat, Shatterpoint 6/day
29th
30th	Anti-Armor Strikes +7, Momentum x5

The epic melee specialist gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic melee specialist feats) every 4 levels after 20th (this is a continuation of the bonus feat progression within the class).

Epic Melee Specialist Bonus Feat List: As fighter list plus Great Strength and Shattered Steel (New epic feat).

Shattered Steel [Epic]

Prerequisites: Steel As Water class feature, Shatterpoint class feature, Character level 24th, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Base Attack Bonus +20.

Benefit: You may sacrifice a use per day of your Shatterpoint ability to use Steel As Water an additional time per day for each use per day of Shatterpoint sacrificed. This sacrifice is made as a free action and lasts until the beginning of the next day.

Normal: You can only use Steel As Water once per day.

Special: You can only sacrifice uses of Shatterpoint that you gain from class levels and not from other sources.

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