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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore

1965 Posts

Posted - 03 Sep 2014 :  05:30:46  Show Profile Send Fellfire a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
If I were trying to build a 3.5 Sumo archetype, would Monk be your most obvious choice? I've divined a few half-ass attempts here and there throughout the aether, but nothing that moves my mojo. Suggestions? Links? I also know we have a few martial artistical scribes here, information is spotty, but once, it seems that Sumo had a place on the battlefield. What kinds of weapons and armor would these militant wrestlers equip themselves with? I suppose no-daichi and tetsubo would be my first picks. Is there a historical precedent? I also know that yokozuna were awarded bows and arrows for winning a competition. Any thoughts would be most welcome, let your imagination run wild.

Misanthorpe

Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.

"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises

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Dalor Darden
Great Reader

USA
4211 Posts

Posted - 03 Sep 2014 :  10:55:19  Show Profile Send Dalor Darden a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Personally, I would build a Fighter instead of a Monk (with a level or so of Barbarian thrown in for the "charge" bonus of the rage in wrestling). Place your feats in a "wrestling" tree with such as:

1st level: Power Attack and Improved Bull Rush (Improved Initiative if Human, or more rapidly gain later feats)
2nd level: Improved Unarmed Strike
3rd level: Improved Grapple
4th level: Endurance
6th level: Agile and Improved Overrun
After this, begin sprinkling in feats like: Dodge, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Sunder (nothing like crushing a foes weapon with your bare hands!), Die Hard, Combat Expertise (if you have the Intelligence...which allows Improved Trip and Improved Disarm), and whatever weapon skills you want like Cleave and etc.

Place your skill points into Intimidate primarily, with maybe a few in Perform.

If you really want the best option, go for a Dwarven Sumo; the racial +4 modifier against bull rushing and tripping are obvious! Lets not forget their bonus to AC vs. big'uns.

As for adventuring, I would arm them with weapons that could be used with the feats they have already. A big two-handed weapon to use with Power Attack...or a tower shield they can use to charge foes with. Having a big chain would be really cool, give them reach and allow for some interesting options depending on the feats you used.

All sorts of options.

I'm not too "crunchy" but I've actually made a Fighter character before that focused on using his hands instead of weapons...but he wasn't a Monk by any stretch; just a wild drunken brawler.

The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me!
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6353 Posts

Posted - 03 Sep 2014 :  11:13:29  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Im so glad im designing my own rules. Having to mix a level of this and a level of that to get the flavour of character you want is really tiring.

Class options are the way forward. You can have a fighter that likes swords, is an invincible tank, or is a regular sumo wrestler. Or you could have a monk that is a regular sumo wrestler.

Then take a few feats for generic abilities you think you might want and you are a wrestling machine with only levels in one class.

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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore

1965 Posts

Posted - 03 Sep 2014 :  17:17:16  Show Profile Send Fellfire a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think the one-hundred palm booty slap is a must. Can't beat Flurry of Blows, though I have seen some things lately in PF that leads me to believe this is no longer a monk-only ability.

Misanthorpe

Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.

"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises

Green Dragonscale Dice Bag by Crystalsidyll - check it out

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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7969 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2014 :  01:01:35  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
An old issue of Dragon presented a sumo class which seemed pretty good at the time. Modelled along similar lines to the AD&D1E monk class, describing a number of unique class-based abilities. Definitely not D&D3.5E, but perhaps a good source to check out.

[/Ayrik]
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2014 :  02:48:36  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think that was an NPC class article, though, from #157. Still, with a little tinkering, you should be able to make it work.

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Roseweave
Learned Scribe

Ireland
212 Posts

Posted - 04 Sep 2014 :  13:48:00  Show Profile  Visit Roseweave's Homepage Send Roseweave a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A Warforged Sumo Monk would be awesome.
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