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MONASTIC TRADITION: BATTLE ANGEL

A new monastic tradition for the monk class that fits both the world (Dying Earth/9th World Setting) and campaign theme (Oriental Adventures). Could easily be a fighter archetype. This class pairs well with the Sword Maiden feat.

BATTLE ANGEL

Part of a long-forgotten cadre of cyborg warriors you once fought for the honour and pride of your planet against the tyranny of Earth.  But that was more than a million years ago (at least) and you have awaken to a new age with no banner to fight under.

Battle Angel is a unique monk archetype only open to female cyborgs (see below).  Once an elite unit of the Armed Forces of Mars these women were either wiped out, disassembled or otherwise lost over the millennia.  You are one of the few – if not the last – of your kind.

BERSERKER BODY
At 3rd level, your hit dice increases to d12, and you apply this change retroactively (that is you now use a d12 to roll hit points per level at first level you have 12 hit points when you level up you can roll 1d12 for additional hit points or take the average of 7).

Your machine body is also built for combat.  You have damage reduction of 2 which increases to 3 at 6th level, 4 at 11th and 5 at 17th.

SPIDER BOMBS
Also at 3rd level you gain access to mobile bombs which your nanite infused body creates as needed. As a bonus action you can release one of these bombs which will scurry towards a target (speed 30 ft., climb 10 ft.) you designate and detonate for 1d6 fire and bludgeoning damage and a flammable object hit by this attack ignites if it isn’t being worn or carried. The number of spider bombs you can release increases by 1 when you reach 5th level (2 bombs), 11th level (3 bombs), and 17th level (4 bombs). If you use both your Action and Bonus action to release spider bombs you can double the number of bombs released.

INDESTRUCTIBLE
Once per day, from 6th level, when taking a short rest, you may maximise your HD roll recovering maximum hit points per die.  Also, short of you being completely crushed, your human brain being injured beyond recovery or destroyed in such a way as to annihilate your entire body (for example by being dropped into lava or a disintegrate spell) you will always regenerate back to full strength after a long rest (or 8 hours of time has passed).

PANZER KUNST – Krieger
Also at 6th level, you instinctively recall the more advanced techniques of Panzer Kunst and may use a ki point to perform one of the following actions:

  • Anpassungs Widerstand. As a reaction you gain damage resistance for the next 1 minute vs the damage type you just got hit by (including the triggering attack).
  • Ruinöser Ansturm. As part of a move action, you may spend a ki point to slam into an enemy target throwing them back 10 feet in a direction you determine and doing an additional die of damage if you strike them in the same round. You must move at least 10 feet to trigger this ki power.
  • Unaufhaltsame Dynamik. As part of a move action, you can spend a ki point to ignore all difficult terrain and do an additional die of damage if you hit an opponent before the end of your current round.

GHOST IN THE SHELL
At 11th level, you can leverage your machine nature to resist or mitigate the weaknesses of the flesh. You have a boon (+1d4) on all saving throws against the following conditions CharmedExhaustionFrightenedParalyzedPetrifiedPoisoned and are resistant to poison damage.  This increases to +1d6 at 17th level.

PANZER
Also at 11th level, you may spend a ki point to gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage until the end of the current combat encounter.

PANZER KUNST – Altmeister
At 17th level, you have mastered the ancient fighting style known as Panzer Kunst (“tank art”). Your strikes are particularly dangerous against constructs – you have advantage on attack rolls against constructs specifically and can reroll 1 and 2 on your damage dice (though you must accept the second result) and you score critical hits on 19 or 20 against both contructs and other creatures. You are also adept at fighting in zero-gravity and have no penalties to your combat attacks.

You also gain access to the following advanced ki powered techniques costing 2 ki points each:

  • Geschoss Schlag. A supersonic punch that adds electromagnetism to the impact, delivering more force to the strike. Your next attack does double damage and damage type is changed to force.
  • Hertza Haeon. Your strike delivers a high-frequency vibration to the victim, bypassing the victim’s armour, and concentrating kinetic energy that, when used correctly, can be used to destroy or at least disrupt function of the brain or heart. It can be nullified with a vibration of the same wavelength. Your next attack is made against the targets Dexterity and if it hits you do psychic damage instead of your normal damage type. The damage is also increased by 1 damage die.

 


CYBORGS
Cyborgs use the warforged racial traits with the following changes:
  • You may have a machine-like quality to your body but you look and can pass yourself off as a human.
  • You are not totally a machine – some part of you remains human – for example, your brain and you still must eat, drink, breathe and sleep as if you were a human.
Posted in 5e, Dungeons & Dragons, Oriental Adventures

2 Comments

  1. Jonathan Walton

    I’m going to continue our conversation here as I just figured out why I couldn’t find the comment.

    That’s awesome that you named your daughter after her.

    She only had the Berzerker body, for about 9 chapters out of about 30?, then had to face off against it when Destiny Nova gave it to Zapaan. That doesn’t even count the Imaginos body of Last Order, and whatever she’s using on Mars. I’d pull it out just to really get into that cyborg nature.

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