Post/Author/DateTime	Post
aelryinth 08-14-07, 05:51 PM	In the tradition of the Master of Nine and Master of the One... The Master of the Three Level BAB Fort Ref Will Man. Man. Stances Special Save Save Save Known Readied Known 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 2 1 1 One Path, One Soul 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 2 0 0 Adaptable Recovery 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 2 1 1 Three and Four Make One 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 2 0 0 Focus of the Three 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 2 1 1 Master of the Three Pre-reqs: Feats: Adapative Style, Superior Unarmed Strike; Extra Granted Manuver; Martial Study (one of the Four); Extra Readied Manuver Other: Warblade Recovery Method; Crusader Recovery Method; Wis bonus to AC in Light Armor; Discipline Focus class ability (keyed to one of the Four). BAB: +7 Manuvers: 3 Stone Dragon Manuvers Known; 2 Manuvers Known from Tiger Claw, Diamond Mind, and White Raven. HD: d8 Skills: As Master of Nine. Skill Points: 4+ Int per level. Special: The Master of Nine, Master of One, and Master of the Three are mutually exclusive. Flavor Text: Where the Masters of Nine seek to master all styles and draw their strengths from such things, and the Masters of One believe only their style is best, the Masters of the Three look instead to the three learning traditions, and the strengths and synergies between the classes. From the common traditions and power of the Three Paths, the Masters of the Three forge One True Path, leaving behind the petty restrictions the other Masters are still subject to. Mechanics: The Master of the Three combines the recovery mechanics, Initiator levels, and other effects of the martial adept classes seamlessly. They combine the endurance of the Crusader, the speed of the Warblade, and the wisdom of the Swordsage freely, working off the Four Disciplines that are shared by more then one Path (the Four are Diamond Mind, Tiger Claw, Stone Dragon, and White Raven, collectively called the One Soul). Terminology The Three: The three Martial Adept Classes of Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade. Note that no PrC's are included in this term! The Four: The Four Disciplines that are shared among the Three. Exclusive Disciplines are for Masters of the One. (Diamond Mind, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, White Raven) The One Soul: The pooling of all Manuvers Known and Readied of the Four into ONE collection is called the One Soul...literally, the heart of the three Classes learning. Special Abilities: One Path, One Soul: The three Paths are but one to the Master of Three. Upon taking his first level in Master of the Three, the Master gains several benefits. The Wis To AC of the Swordsage, the Int-based abilities of the Warblade and Cha-based abilities of the Crusader levels he has now operate off a single ability score of the Master's Choice (INt, Wis or Cha). All his manuvers Known and Readied from the Four always form a single pool (the One Soul). His other Manuvers retain their original exclusive class affiliations. Example: The Mo3 has White Raven and Tiger Claw manuvers from his Warblade levels; Stone Dragon and White Raven from his Crusader levels; and Diamond Mind and Stone Dragon manuvers from his Swordsage levels. While he might have knowledge of other disciplines, the manuvers from the Four are removed from class affiliations/recovery methods and placed into the One Soul, in essence becoming a fourth 'common bank' of manuvers Known/Readied. Any future manuvers from the Four Learned and Readied are placed into the One Soul instead of into class affiliation. Special Note: Manuvers removed from Crusader affiliation also reduce Crusader Manuvers Readied/Granted on a 1:1 basis, down to a minimum of 0. Extra Granted Manuver insures that at least 1 manuver will always be granted initially, and then 1/rd thereafter. As long as there are any Manuvers Readied in the One Soul, the Crusader Recovery option will not activate. The PC will have to use Adaptive Style to Recover Crusader Manuvers. Changing manuvers Readied between class affiliations (i.e swapping in or out Exclusive Schools vs One Soul, as opposed to within the One Soul) requires use of the Adaptive Style feat. His initiator levels for the Three martial adept classes and his Master of Three levels are always pooled to determine the levels of manuvers he can take from the One Soul, and determining how powerful the effects of those manuvers are. This allows him to take Manuvers in the One School as readily as a single class character. Adaptable Recovery: The Master of the Three combines the recovery methods of all the classes. He may recover his One Soul as a swift Action, as a Warblade. If he expends his last manuver from the One Soul, he automatically recovers the entire One Soul while spending no actions, similar to a Crusader. Anytime he recovers his One Soul manuvers, he may change his manuvers Readied in the One Soul if he so desires. Thus, he can choose to recover at any time; he automatically recovers if all are expended; and he can change Manuvers readied with incredible speed. Recovering his One Soul is considered a recovery seperate from any manuvers associated with his other classes. If he wished to reclaim his Warblade manuvers (which would automatically be Iron Heart only), for example, he would have to do so as a seperate action. Likewise, any other non-shared disciplines would have their own recovery mechanic/action associated with the class he took them as. Three and Four make One: THe Master of Three may swap any two Manuvers he Knows for any two others of the One Soul he is capable of using, as normal. Any time he is allowed to swap manuvers from taking matial adept levels, he may swap manuvers of the One Soul in for any school, even if he is not normally allowed to do so. He may also 'swap up' feats of Martial Study into the One Soul any time he is allowed to swap feats in. Whenever the Master gains a new Stance, he may also choose to forget a Stance not of the Four and replace it with a Stance of the Four. His IL for the new Stance's maximum power = the class he originally took it in + his Mo3 levels (and thus may gain him a slightly higher level Stance). At this level, his Swordsage AC bonus applies when in medium or lighter armor. Focus of the Three: The Master of Three has a bonus to his damage rolls equal to the number of Disciplines in the Four he has strikes Readied in (similar to a Master of 9, but limited to the Four). If he is using a Stance from the Four, he does an additional point of damage (for a total normal maximum of +5). Master of the Three: At this level, his Swordsage bonus to AC applies in heavy armor. Any Martial Study feat the Master of Three now takes must be from the One Soul, but he not only gains a manuver, he is allowed to 'swap up' a previous Manuver into a One Soul Manuver at the same time (including previous Martial Study feats, as above). He gains a +2 bonus on the skill check for the associated skill for any Martial Study feats of the One Soul he has. Whenever the Master gains a level in one of the Martial Adept classes, he is treated as being a level equal to the class level + his Master levels for purposes of special abilities he can choose to gain. (Again, this ability does not stack with other PrC's). Example: a Master of Three 5/Warblade 4/Swordsage 2/Crusader 2 could choose from any Warblade ability available to 9th level or under Warblades, instead of the Warblade 4 class ability of a Bonus Feat. He might choose to instead gain Battle Cunning (normally gained at Warblade/8). He could for his next level of Crusader or Swordsage, if he is entitled to a special ability, choose any ability of level 8 or less they could gain (level3 in SS or Cru +Mo3 level 5). He may not, of course, choose the same class ability twice, unless it is gained at a different level. This ability allows them to master different components of the 3 more quickly then others who spread out their training, but they will still not have the full array of talents available to a single-classed character within their class. If the level of a class has no Special Ability at that level, then he cannot swap it out for another. He adds all his Three + Mo3 levels together for any effects purely dependent on class level (such as for a Crusader Smite). ========================= In play: The Master of the Three quickly focuses his manuvers into his One Soul, giving him a large selection of manuvers that can be recovered with amazing speed and switched around adroitly to deal with any situation. His skill with the various abilities of the classes is higher then his levels in them might indicate, and his lower MAD allow him to focus on his strengths. Lastly, his ability to combine the faith of a crusader in his armor and his assurity of his swordsage skill grants him a higher AC then the other Masters can match. He tends to disdain the schools that are exclusive to one Path, as they are not a part of the One Soul. Because of his incredible recovery methods, the Mo3 is encouraged to use once/encounter manuvers, and simply change his Manuvers Readied in the One Soul to not repeat them if he Recovers. Likewise, his large One Soul pool allows him to take a large number of Boosts and Counters and burn through them quickly, knowing that they will be replaced if he spends them all. NOte: Extra Granted Manuver should always be taken as a devoted Spirit feat, since the One Soul uses no Granted Mechanics, and this assures the Character of at least 1 Crusader feat being initially granted. Feat Expanded One Soul The lore of the Three Paths truly is One! Req: Martial Study and/or Martial Stance x4 (once for each of the Four) You gain the benefits of Martial Study for one selected class specific School. This school is now considered part of the One Soul for all purposes. Any Mo3 references to the 'Four' now become 'the Five', etc. Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time you must choose a new School to add to the One Soul. ==Aelryinth
aelryinth 08-14-07, 10:04 PM	Hey, I am looking for comments, :) ===Aelryinth
ToastedAmphibian 08-15-07, 12:03 AM	I think everyone is still digesting Master of One.....
Neff 08-15-07, 12:19 AM	Use this if you want. :D Level BAB Fort Ref Will Man. Man. Stances Special Save Save Save Known Readied Known 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 2 1 1 One Path, One Soul 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 2 0 1 Adaptable Recovery 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 2 1 1 Three and Four Make One 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 2 0 1 Focus of the Three 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 2 1 1 Master of the Three
aelryinth 08-15-07, 01:23 AM	Thx Neff. needed to quote you to see the proper commands to use. :) ===Aelryinth
aelryinth 08-16-07, 02:06 AM	Bumping for comments from some ToB/melee lovers. Good, bad? ===Aelryinth
Magocrat 08-16-07, 06:23 AM	Well, let's see here. I think I have a lot of critique of this prestige class, but don't take it offensive. Having said that, let's take a look. Some of the references in your prestige class are very vague, to say the least. 'The Four'? With a little bit of thinking, I concluded that you meant the Diamond Mind, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, and White Raven disciplines. You may want to clarify that where it's mentioned, especially as you use 'The Four' and the 'One Soul' interchangeably. Also, why specifically those four disciplines? I can see why Stone Dragon is one of them (every martial adept has access to it), but why Diamond Mind, Tiger Claw, and White Raven? I was thinking that maybe an exclusive discipline of each martial adept (Iron Heart for warblades, Devoted Spirit for crusaders, and Desert Wind, Setting Sun, or Shadow Hand for swordsages) would be more appropriate, but you may have your own reasons for including the disciplines that you did. Furthermore, 'the Three' are also rather vague. I know that you mean 'crusader, swordsage, and warblade', but you should clarify that. The prerequisites are also vague. If you want the prestige class to be available only to crusader/swordsage/warblade characters, you could instead use the following prerequisites: Special: Battle clarity class ability, discipline focus class ability, steely resolve class ability. (And Blade Meditation isn't a class ability; it's a feat.) Adaptable Recovery is incredibly vague. I don't know what's the purpose of this class feature, but you may want to clarify it. Three and Four Make One looks good, although you may want to clarify the first paragraph a bit more. The second paragraph looks good, something that other prestige classes can't do. I like it. Focus of the Three looks good too, nice and clear. It isn't game-breaking, either. Again, Master of the Three is unclear. I'm not sure what's the purpose of this class ability, so you may want to clarify it. Overall, try to clarify what the class features do. Finally, I've added the Master of the Three to the Martial Compendium.
Eldritch_Lord 08-16-07, 09:32 AM	Pre-reqs: Feats: Adapative Style, Superior Unarmed Strike; Extra Granted Manuver; Martial Study (one of the Four) If you have a crusader-only feat, Extra Granted Manuver, should you also have the swordsage-only Extra Readied Maneuver? You could replace Martial Study, because they should already have access to those disciplines, and Martial Study is usually for non-adepts. Of course, that would probably require you to use a (currently non-existant) warblade-only feat, so feel free to ignore this. Other: Warblade Recovery Method; Crusader Recovery Method; Wis bonus to AC in Light Armor; Blade Meditation Class ability. As Magocrat said, Battle Meditation is a feat; plus, you might want to specify that it has to be keyed to one of the Four. BAB: +7 Manuvers: 3 Stone Dragon Manuvers Known; 2 Manuvers Known from Tiger Claw, Diamond Mind, and White Raven. Special: The Master of Nine, Master of One, and Master of the Three are mutually exclusive. Looks good. Flavor Text: <snip>...leaving behind the petty restrictions the other Masters are still subject to. Are you calling my class petty!? ;) Mechanics: The Master of the Three combines the recovery mechanics, Initiator levels, and other effects of the martial adept classes seamlessly. They combine the endurance of the Crusader, the speed of the Warblade, and the wisdom of the Swordsage freely, working off the Four Disciplines that are shared by more then one Path (the Four are Diamond Mind, Tiger Claw, Stone Dragon, and White Raven, collectively called the One Soul). Looks good. One Path, One Soul: The three Paths are but one to the Master of Three. Upon taking his first level in Master of the Three, the Master gains several benefits. The Wis To AC of the Swordsage, the Int-based abilities of the Warblade and Cha-based abilities of the Crusader levels he has now operate off a single ability score of the Master's Choice (INt, Wis or Cha). I really like this one. In another system (I think it's Arcana Evolved), multiclass caster choose one of their key abilities to use for all of them, so I've looked forward to the same thing for casters and/or adepts for a while. All his manuvers Known and Readied from the Four always form a single pool (the One Soul). His other Manuvers retain their original exclusive class affiliations. His initiator levels for the Three martial adept classes and his Master of Three levels are always pooled to determine the levels of manuvers he can take from the One Soul, and determining how powerful the effects of those manuvers are. Looks good. Adaptable Recovery: The Master of the Three combines the recovery methods of all the classes. He may recover his One Soul as a swift Action, as a Warblade. If he expends his last manuver from the One Soul, he automatically recovers the entire One Soul while spending no actions. Anytime he recovers his One Soul manuvers, he may change his manuvers Readied in the One Soul if he so desires. Recovering his One Soul is considered a recovery seperate from any manuvers associated with his other classes. Might I suggest that you partially combine non-One Soul maneuvers in the recovery, ie. if you use the swift action/standard action recovery, you recover the One Soul plus any other warblade maneuvers you know, etc.? Otherwise, the multiple recoveries (One Soul + warblade + crusade + swordsage) will be more of a detriment to any who want to learn non-One Soul maneuvers, and since you haven't specified whether you can learn non-One Soul maneuvers with this class, I assume players would want to. However, if you specify that they can't learn non-One Soul maneuvers, this wouldn't be a problem. Three and Four make One: THe Master of Three may swap any two Manuvers he Knows for any two others of the One Soul he is capable of using, as normal. Any time he is allowed to swap manuvers from taking matial adept levels, he may swap manuvers of the One Soul in for any school, even if he is not normally allowed to do so. He may also 'swap up' feats of Martial Study into the One Soul. Whenever the Master gains a new Stance, he may also choose to forget a Stance not of the Four and replace it with a Stance of the Four. His IL for the new Stance's maximum power = the class he originally took it in + his Mo3 levels. Very nice. I've thought it was a problem that you couldn't swap stances, particularly given the weird stance progression for the adepts. At this level, his Swordsage AC bonus applies when in medium or lighter armor. Looks good. Focus of the Three: The Master of Three has a bonus to his damage rolls equal to the number of Strikes Readied from each of the Four. If he is using a stance from the Four, he does an additional point of damage (for a total normal maximum of +5). Question: Do you mean "equal to the number of Strikes Readied from each of the Four" or "equal to the number of Disciplines from which he has Strikes Readied"? If it is the former, the parenthetical note doesn't make sense, as you could ready more than one strike from each of the Four and then use a stance; if it is the latter, you might want to reword that. Master of the Three: At this level, his Swordsage bonus to AC applies in heavy armor. Looks good. Any Martial Study feat the Master of Three now takes must be from the One Soul, but he not only gains a manuver, he is allowed to 'swap up' a previous manuver into a One Soul manuver at the same time. He gains a +2 bonus on the skill check for the associated skill for any Martial Study feats of the One Soul he has. Just to clarify, he can still swap up Martial Study maneuvers if they aren't from the Four, right? Whenever the Master gains a level in one of the Martial Adept classes, he is treated as being a level equal to the class level + his Master levels for purposes of special abilities he can choose to gain. Example: a Master of Three 5/Warblade 4 could choose from any Warblade available to 9th level or under Warblades, instead of the Warblade 4 class ability of a Bonus Feat. He might choose to instead gain Battle Cunning. If the level of a class has no Special Ability at that level, then he cannot swap it out for another. Remember that he adds all his martial adept levels together for any effects purely dependent on class level (such as for a Crusader Smite). I like this one; it takes the easy multiclassing of adepts to a new level. One note, you might want to put in a Maneuvers and Stances section at the top to say which schools he can pick from: just the Four, because that's the class's focus; all of them, because he's all three kinds of adepts; or something else. Some of the references in your prestige class are very vague, to say the least. 'The Four'? With a little bit of thinking, I concluded that you meant the Diamond Mind, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, and White Raven disciplines. You may want to clarify that where it's mentioned, especially as you use 'The Four' and the 'One Soul' interchangeably. Also, why specifically those four disciplines? I can see why Stone Dragon is one of them (every martial adept has access to it), but why Diamond Mind, Tiger Claw, and White Raven? I was thinking that maybe an exclusive discipline of each martial adept (Iron Heart for warblades, Devoted Spirit for crusaders, and Desert Wind, Setting Sun, or Shadow Hand for swordsages) would be more appropriate, but you may have your own reasons for including the disciplines that you did. I think I can answer this for aelryinth. The Four and the One Soul are explained under "Flavor Text". Also, since the emphasis here is on combining and merging the three adepts, he is using all of the non-exclusive schools. Furthermore, 'the Three' are also rather vague. I know that you mean 'crusader, swordsage, and warblade', but you should clarify that. I agree; it's implied, but probably should be explicitly stated, just in case. The prerequisites are also vague. If you want the prestige class to be available only to crusader/swordsage/warblade characters, you could instead use the following prerequisites: Special: Battle clarity class ability, discipline focus class ability, steely resolve class ability. (And Blade Meditation isn't a class ability; it's a feat.) He has this covered by requiring the warblade's and crusader's recovery methods and the swordsage's Wis to AC ability (although come to think of it, a crusader/warblade/monk could do that, which is why I suggested requiring Extra Readied Maneuver). Adaptable Recovery is incredibly vague. I don't know what's the purpose of this class feature, but you may want to clarify it. Basically, if you use the warblade's recovery method, you recover all of your maneuvers from the Four; if you use the crusader's recovery method, you recover all of your maneuvers from the Four; and if you use the swordsage's recovery method, you recover all of your maneuvers from the Four. You pool all of the maneuvers instead of keeping them separate as normal. Again, Master of the Three is unclear. I'm not sure what's the purpose of this class ability, so you may want to clarify it. Basically, a warblade 3/cruader 3 is a 6th level character, so when he levels up he could choose a 7th level warblade or crusader class ability instead of the 4th level warblade or crusader class ability. Overall, try to clarify what the class features do. Seconded; I knew what the abilities are supposed to do, but the wording is a bit vague. I like this a lot; you really covered the concept well. Just clarify the wording a bit and this should be ready for play.
aelryinth 08-16-07, 01:22 PM	Okay then, adding some edits and clarifications. Added Extra Readied Manuver simply because becoming a Master is supposed to be feat intensive. Note I said two things about sword sages: they have Blade Meditation as a class ability, And Wis bonus to AC in light or no armor (Not just a Wis bonus to AC). Ergo, Monks don't qualify! I wanted to force the taking of class levels in all 3 Adept paths, which is what the Mo3 is all about. Yes, once he has the ability, he can always 'swap up' Martial Study feats that are in, or going into, the One Soul. Remember you can only ever take 3 Martial Study feats (and hence why Expanded One Soul requires taking at least one Martial Stance). The One Soul is extremely powerful! Being able to combine the massive Known/Readied numbers of a Swordsage with accelerated Recovery options should not be overlooked! Basically, the Mo3 should be capable of using a Boost every round of combat, basically forever! Combine this with the later ability to Expand his One Soul to include other Disciplines, and you are in for some serious hurting! ===Aelryinth
Eldritch_Lord 08-16-07, 03:02 PM	Note I said two things about sword sages: they have Blade Meditation as a class ability, And Wis bonus to AC in light or no armor (Not just a Wis bonus to AC). Ergo, Monks don't qualify! I wanted to force the taking of class levels in all 3 Adept paths, which is what the Mo3 is all about. The problem is, however, that Blade Meditation is not a class ability, it is a feat available to anyone with BAB +4, Concentration 1 rank, and any one maneuver. (The Wis to AC was my mistake; I re-read the monk's ability description and found that is applies only when unarmored, not in light or no armor as I had thought. My apologies.) Anyways, if you replaced the Blade Meditation requirement with a requirement for Discipline Focus (which is a swordsage class ability), then you have a swordsage-only requirement.
aelryinth 08-17-07, 10:31 PM	discipline focus is definitely what I was thinking of...the similarity to blade med and weapon focus threw me before I dug up the Tome and actually looked it up. Correcting! ===Aelryinth
Eldritch_Lord 08-18-07, 08:34 PM	You know, I just had an interesting thought. We have Masters of One, Three, and Nine; we should do a whole numerical series! Ideas: Master of Two--combines 2 disciplines with complementary abilities like the Shadow Sun Ninja does Master of Four--improves ability with boosts, strikes, counters, stances while keeping same maneuvers stuff as previous classes Master of Seven--wants to rebuild the Temple of 9 Swords, all disciplines but Shadow Hand and Tiger Claw, Seeker of the Misty Isle-ish fluff. This is probably a really stupid idea, but now I can't get it out of my head, and aelryinth, it's all your fault!
aelryinth 08-19-07, 05:59 PM	You know, I just had an interesting thought. We have Masters of One, Three, and Nine; we should do a whole numerical series! Ideas: Master of Two--combines 2 disciplines with complementary abilities like the Shadow Sun Ninja does Master of Four--improves ability with boosts, strikes, counters, stances while keeping same maneuvers stuff as previous classes Master of Seven--wants to rebuild the Temple of 9 Swords, all disciplines but Shadow Hand and Tiger Claw, Seeker of the Misty Isle-ish fluff. This is probably a really stupid idea, but now I can't get it out of my head, and aelryinth, it's all your fault! Hah, funny. I see Master of Two as an Epic PrC, combining the effects of two disciplines he has the ultimate forms in. Master of Seven...LOL, gotta admit that would be kind of funny. I'm not sure how you'd build a master of the Four...thought you were gonna say Master of the Five and only learns the class0exclusive schools! Heh. ===Aelryinth