Way Of The Fist 1.3 ~Testers Requiered~

[yowave]

[introduction]
This mod introduce a new kit under the monk class.
I always loved the monk class and plaid it in Baldur's gate and Never Winter Nights, but it wasn't the class i always dreamed of.
I always wanted to play as a martial artist, something close to those found in wuxia/xian xia stories (if you are into those kind of stories, please do yourself a favor and read "The Breaker" manhwa).

6 months ago i sat down and created the first version of the mod, and what will eventually become Way Of The Fist kit.
The first version was nice and had lot's of passive abilities that gave it an edge RP wise, but it had the same flaws of any other melee kit in the game, it was somewhat dull and boring.
What made it even more boring, was the fact that i couldn't use any magical items.
So i sat once more and rewrote the old kit in a way that made it much more engaging for me to play with.
Today i am sharing this kit with you, with the hope of making someone smile, and getting some feedback's and maybe some new ideas.

The new version is much more engaging:
1. you can use any ability without any pauses.
2. It introduces a new game mechanic called Ki Pool which fuels your abilities, whenever you use an ability it subtracts number of ki points from that pool.
for example, casting Quivering Palm will subtract 5 ki points.
one need to be cautious though, using an ability which requires 3 ki points while having only 1 ki point will drain the user life force to fuel the ability, 1 ki point equals to 15HP.
3. It introduces new abilities and passives.

[Kit description]

Martial practitioners of the Way of the Fist are the ultimate masters of unarmed martial arts combat.
As their close brethren the monks they also make careful study of a magical energy called Ki.

Ki is an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies.
Students of the Way of the Fist harness this power within themselves to create magical effects, and exceed their bodies physical capabilities.
some of their special attacks can hinder the flow of ki in their opponents, or even outright kill them in one hit.
Using this energy, Way of the Fist practitioners channel uncanny speed and strength into their unarmed strikes.

As they gain experience, their martial training and their mastery of ki gives them more power over their bodies and the bodies of their foes.
Because of their rigorous unarmed and Ki trainings, they don't have the time to get higher than proficient in their weapon of choice, after all their bodies are their greatest weapon.
There's another reason why they shy away from weapons, their internal Ki is enhanced in a way that causes it to negate magic, which means that students of the way of the fist cannot use any and all magical items.

Way of the Fist practitioners can be of any alignment, they are encouraged to find their own way in the world,
and at the age of 16 they no longer allowed to train with their masters, and encouraged to go outside and wander the world,
hopefully to learn about themselves and find an expression to their talent, may it be neutral, lawful or chaotic.

Ki Mastery:
Practitioners of Way of the Fist use Ki to fuel their abilities.
one need to be cautious though, using an ability which requires 3 ki points while having only 1 ki point will drain the user life force to fuel the ability, 1 ki point equals to 15HP.
Starting with 4 Ki points at level 1, they gain another 2 Ki points for every 5 levels of experience.
For every 10 levels of experience they get another 2 points as a bonus.

Ki pool by level:
1-4: 4
5-9: 6
10-14: 10
15-19: 12
20-24: 16
25-29: 18
30-34: 22
35-39: 24
40-44: 28
45-49: 30
50: 34

- Practitioners of Way of the Fist need to go to great lengths to understand the element of magic called Ki, this makes them wiser,
they are also healthier because they know how to use Ki to enhance themselves in many ways. They gain +1 to WIS,CON. Additional bonuses are gained every 5 levels.
- May activate any ability at will with no pause in between
- Starts with 20% base magic resistance. gains 2% magic resist for every level.
- Gains disrupt magic passive ability at first level, Every successful melee hit lowers the chance by 25% to successfully cast spells for 5 rounds.
- Starts with 2 attacks per round. An additional 1/2 attack is gained every 3 levels, up to 5 attacks at level 18.
- Starts with an Armour Class of 7 at 1st level and gains an additional +1 bonus every 2 levels until level 18, then it changes to +1 bonus every 3 levels till level 50.
- Ki Repel: Receives a +2 bonus to saving throws vs Spell and Polymorph.
- Deflect Missiles: +1 bonus to AC vs. missile attacks every 3 levels.
- Moves 2 points faster than other characters. Movement rate further improves by 1 every 5 levels.
- May use Stunning Blow ability at the cost of 1 Ki point.
- Gains 40 thief points at level 1 and another 15 every level of experience.
- Can detect illusions, find traps, move silently and hide in shadows.
- May use Enhance Self ability at the cost of 1 Ki point.

STUNNING BLOW: All successful attacks within the next round force the victim to save vs. Spell or be stunned. This special ability automatically modifies normal attacks; no targeting needs to be done.

ENHENCE SELF: The practitioner uses Ki to enhance his speed and physical power, gains +1 STR,DEX every 5 levels.

- 3rd level: May use Image Distortion ability at the cost of 1 Ki point. The practitioners can blur themselves, by doing so they gain bonus to ac and saving throws.

IMAGE DISTORTION: Expanding their Ki Way of the Fist practitioners can distort their image by causing their outline form to become blurred, shifting and wavering.

- 4th level: May use Searing Fists ability at the cost of 1 Ki point.

SEARING FISTS: The practitioners channels their Ki into their fists, turning their fists into flaming weapons that deal an additional 1d6 (1d12 from level 10, 1d18 from level 15) fire damage per hit for the next 2 rounds. This special ability automatically modifies normal attacks; no weapon-switching needs to be done.

- 5th level: unarmed attacks are treated as a +1 magical weapon and gain a +1 bonus to hit and damage rolls. This enchantment improves by 1 every 5 levels.

Fists Progression:
1. level 1-4: Regular Fists
2. level 5-14: Iron Fists
3. level 15-24: Steel Fists
4. level 25-39: Diamond Fists
5. level 40-50: Adamantine Fists

- Damage dealt by unarmed attacks increases with level as follows:
1. Level 1-2: 1d6
2. Level 3-5: 1d8
3. Level 6-8: 1d10
4. Level 9-14: 1d12
5. Level 15+: 1d20

- 5th level: Purity of Body, The practitioners gains control over their body immune system and are now unaffected by all natural diseases, and cannot be slowed or hasted.
- 6th level: Diamond Body, through enhanced Ki circulation the practitioners enhances all of their resistances, gains 20% resistance to fire,cold,lightning,acid,crushing,piercing,slashing, and missile attacks.
- 7th level: May use Enhanced Regeneration ability at the cost of 3 Ki points.

ENHENCED REGENERATION: Way of the Fist practitioners are able to focus ki-energies in their bodies to heal themselves. Their base regeneration rate will be increased by 6 HP/round.
Their regeneration enhanced by 2 at level 15,20,25.

- 8th level: Flurry of Blows, Gains a -1 bonus to Speed Factor.
- 9th level: Still Mind, through training and meditation the practitioner is no longer affected by mind-affecting attacks, and becomes immune to Charm,Domination, and Fear.
- 10th level: Sixth Sense, gains 10% to score a critical hit, and gains +1 to luck, this bonus improves by 1 at level 20.
- 11th level: Enhanced Purity of Body, the practitioners have firm control over their metabolism and are now immune to poison.
- 11th level: May cast Mirror Clones at the cost of 2 Ki points.

MIRROR CLONES: Through projection of Ki the practitioners can create 5 to 8 clones of themselves, the clones mirror their creator actions.
Because those clones are created from the user Ki it is impossible for opponents to be certain which is the real one.

- 12th level: Flurry of Blows, Gains another -1 bonus to Speed Factor.

- 13th level: May use the Quivering Palm ability at the cost of 5 Ki points.

QUIVERING PALM: The next successful attack forces the opponent to save vs. Death or die. This special ability automatically modifies normal attacks; no targeting needs to be done.
For every 5 levels of experience effected creatures get -1 penalty to their saving throws, to a max of -6 penalty at level 43.

- 15th level: May use Ki Coat ability at the cost of 3 Ki points.

KI COAT: The practitioners surround themselves with invisible ki force which stops part of the damage inflicted on the themselves, and enhances their saving throws.
Gains -3 to all saving throws and enhances resistance to fire,cold,lightning,acid,crushing,piercing,slashing,missile attacks by 15%,
further improves saving throws by -1 and resistances by 5% for every 5 levels of experience.

- 20th level: Perfect Self, Becomes immune to non-magical weapons.
- 20th level: May use Seismic Step at the cost of 6 Ki points.

SEISMIC STEP: The practitioner focus great amount of Ki in his foot and then stomps the ground, releasing the focused Ki in a manner that causes a local earth quake.
All creatures in the area of effect takes 8d10 crushing damage, and fall to the ground for 3 rounds. a successful saving throw vs breath weapon with a -2 penalty halves the damage and negate the effect.
Every 5 levels damage improves by 2d10, and saving throw penalty by -1.

- 24th level: Self Domain, the practitioners gain control over their own existence in the universe, resisting time effects over their body they no longer grows older,
and can't be effected by any time altering magic, gains 100% resistance to time stop.

- Hit Die: d8

Disadvantages:
- May not wear any armour.
- May only use weapons available to the Thief class (except two-handed).
- Can't use ANY Magical item, may it be potions or weapons because of innate Magic Resistance and because of the effect of Ki repel.
- No HLA's.
- Needs to rest between level ups to get the next abilities.

 

 

[Compatibility]
The mod should work with BG2:EE and BG1:EE.

Steam/GOG SOD dlc:
You can install it after merging SOD with BG1:EE installation.

Can find instructions HERE.

Beamdog SOD:
No idea, if someone knows how to install this on Beamdog version please post the instructions.

 

[install order]
The core component should be installed before any mod that tweak the game.
The Magical Items Restriction should be installed AFTER any mod that adds new items to the game!

[Download]
http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/1157-way-of-the-fist/

[README]
You can find the readme inside WayeOfTheFist folder.

 

[Version History]

 

Version 1.3 - 05/12/2016
* Core - fixed remove abilities on level 3 and 4.
On level up gained abilities should be removed untill rest.
* README - Added information about install order.

 

Version 1.2 - 30/11/2016
* Core - BG:EE - Added MFIST8 and MFIST4
* Core - Fists are named instead of setting string references
* Items Restrictions - Checking that item type is not hand to hand
* Fixed allowed weapon proficiency

Version 1.1 - 28/11/2016:
* Fixed some typos in kit description
* Fixed Ki Coat description

Version 1.0 - 27/11/2016:
* First public release

[lynx]

Nice concept. Sounds overpowered. I take it ki regenerates through sleep?

[yowave]

Yep, ki regenerates through sleep.

It might seem overpowered at first, but their biggest disadvantage is that they can't use ANY magical item.

[lynx]

They're better than the wizard slayer in practically every regard.

 

What do adamantine fists do? Damage and enchantment progression stops much earlier.

[yowave]

Wizard slayer can still use magical weapon * 2,ammunition,armor,shield,helmet,drink healing potions, AND dual class to a thief to remove the item restriction.

 

Every 5 levels fists gets +1 enhancement bonus.

Their fists are compared with an element, the stronger the element, the stronger their attack.

Basically instead of seeing Fists +1, you'll see Iron Fists.

[lynx]

Yeah, but for the adamantine level, nothing will be different than the diamond — except for the name. And steel, except for the first level. Or do you continue the enchantment (and to-hit?) bonus upgrades past +5?

 

Potions: good point.

[yowave]

...Or do you continue the enchantment (and to-hit?) bonus upgrades past +5?

 

Exactly so, every 5 levels you get +1 to hit and damage rolls.

So at level 40 you'll have +8 to damage and hit rolls.

[lynx]

Have you tested it in tob? Sounds like he'd have trouble hitting, even with a maxed strength.

 

It would be interesting in pst: near immortal due to max con, iwd2: much harder to hit due to high wis. Now the wisdom is purely cosmetic, right?

[yowave]

I haven't tested it in TOB, that's why i need some feedback

Currently i am playing BG:EE and later on BG2:EE, but it'll take time till i'll get to TOB.

I would have tested it in TOB, but i don't want to spoil myself, haven't even finished BG2:EE yet, the under-dark is the furthest i got.

 

BTW how much THAC0 is needed to hit things in TOB?

At level 22 this kit have around -9 THAC0 when buffed with Enhance Self which raise strength to 25.

 

On BG series the wisdom is purely cosmetic.

 

I am planing to test it on iwd:ee after i finish BG series.

 

By the way, i want to thank you for your interest in this kit, i can't make it better without valuable feedback.

[lynx]

How long does enhance self last? For it to bump you to 25, you'd have to start with a strength of 20, which is really pushing it (maxed half-orc + bg1 tome). I think regeneration and mirror image will be as important, if not more, since you'll get hit all the time.

 

I may try this kit on the next gemrb runthrough (I usually use a sorcerer/monk multiclass), but don't know if it's worth the bother to make it work on normal bg2 first.

[yowave]

Sorry my bad, at level 22 you'll get 23 Strength by using Enhance Self, that is if you start with 18 strength.

Enhance Self costs 3 Ki points and lasts for 10 rounds.

 

It'll be hard to make it work on vanilla BG2, i use some of the new functions that have been introduced in the EE version of the game.

[lynx]

If they were present in iwd or tobex, then it would be fine. Do you know them by heart or have a list somewhere? I just saw you changed two actions to be instants.

[yowave]

Yep, those functions.

It's doable, but i'll have to use different functions.

it also means i'll have to edit all the active spell files to be named SPCLXXX, and then add those to spell.ids, i really don't like that idea for obvious reasons.

But if you are interested, i'll make it happen, this way you'll also be able to install it on vanilla BG.

[lynx]

GemRB has those functions, so I don't know. I thought the originals didn't support kits for monks without some jumping through hoops. If it was just a gui thing (kit listing), maybe tobex fixed it and it would be worth it for others.

[yowave]

Well i haven't plaid the originals so i don't really know, thanks for the info.