Brawling Talents
If a brawling talent would give you a bonus feat, you gain that feat even if you do not meet the prerequisites. Additionally, if you already had the specified feat as a bonus feat, you may instead select any other feat you would have qualified for at the level you gained the specified bonus feat. If a brawling talent requires a saving throw it is calculated at 10 + half the black belt’s level + the black belt’s strength modifier.
Combat Talents
| Acrobatic Charge (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent may make an Acrobatics check to move through a threatened area or an opponent’s square as part of a charge. He may also change direction once during a charge. |
| Active Defense (Ex) | None | Whenever the black belt fights defensively or uses the total defense actions, he may spend 1 point of adrenaline as a free action. If he does so, rather than gaining a bonus to his AC, all damage that would be dealt to the black belt is treated as if it had rolled minimum damage. This ability only applies against single-target effects, area-based effects deal damage normally. If, for some reason, the damage of a single-target effect would automatically be treated as if it had rolled maximum damage, the damage is instead rolled normally. |
| Aquatic Technick (Ex) | Black Belt 8 | The black belt uses one-handed and light weapons, natural weapons, and unarmed strikes in aquatic environments as though under the effect of freedom of movement, including when making melee attacks against targets in the water while the black belt is on land. The benefits of this ability do not apply to ranged weapons (including thrown). |
| Body Purification (Ex) | Black Belt 6 | A black belt with this talent that has been poisoned (as the affliction, not the condition) can spend an adrenaline point as a standard action to cause his body to accelerate the effects, reducing the amount of frequency “ticks” it has equal to his Constitution modifier. He must still make a separate Fortitude saving throw against each “tick” as if the frequency had elapsed normally, potentially meaning he cures the poison preventing further harm as per normal, but if he fails the saving throw of these accelerated “ticks”, any variable effects of the poison are minimized (For example, an effect that would deal 1d3 points of Strength damage only does 1). |
| Brutal Power Attack (Ex) | STR 15, Black Belt 4 | When using the power attack combat maneuver, in addition to the normal effects, you may choose to take an additional penalty to all melee attack rolls and add the same number to all melee damage rolls. The total penalty taken may not exceed your base attack bonus. This bonus damage is otherwise considered to be extra damage granted by that maneuver, but is not increased by 50% for using a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon in two hands. |
| Celerity (Ex) | None | A black belt reacts immediately to danger. Whenever a black belt rolls for initiative, he can roll twice and take either result. At 10th level, he can roll for initiative three times and take any one of the results. |
| Contortionist (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent has trained his flexibility beyond normal limits, allowing him to twist and deform his own body without harm. This grants him a bonus on Escape Artist checks equal to half his black belt level as well as DR 10/- against Constriction attacks, which stacks with the damage reduction black belt normally grants at 6th level. Additionally, the black belt does not take penalties on his attack rolls or to his AC for squeezing through a narrow space that is at least half as wide as his normal space, though each move into or through a narrow space still counts as if it were 2 squares. |
| Excessive Vandalism (Ex) | None | When dealing damage to unattended objects, the black belt gains a bonus to the roll equal to his black belt level. By spending a point from his adrenaline pool as a free action as part of the damage roll, he deals double damage to the object as if he had scored a critical hit (even though objects are normally immune to critical hits). |
| Heavy Handed (Ex) | Black Belt 6, Iron Fist | A black belt with this talent can, as a free action, enter a stance that increases his unarmed strike damage at the cost of accuracy. The black belt takes a -2 penalty on attack rolls, but deals damage with his unarmed strikes as though he were one size category larger. The benefits of this ability do not stack with the heavy weapons racial ability. |
| Iron Fist (Ex) | Str 15, Black Belt 4 | When making unarmed strikes (Or using weapons that can be used with unarmed strikes, such as handwraps or knuckle claws), the black belt increases the bonus to damage from Strength to 1.5x Strength rather than 1x as if his unarmed strikes were a two-handed weapon. His unarmed strikes are still treated as light weapons for all other purposes, however. |
| Instinctive Awareness (Ex) | None | A black belt intuitively senses impending threats. He can always act in the surprise round, even if unaware of attackers. |
| Intense Grip (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent can cause incredible amounts of damage to things, just by crushing them in his hand. Though it still requires the same action to do so, a black belt with this talent does not need to make attack rolls to damage objects he is physically gripping, dealing damage to the object as if he had struck it with an unarmed strike. Damaging an object in this way ignores hardness. Helpless creatures can also be dealt damage in the same way, allowing him to ignore any damage reduction the creature possesses. |
| King Of Iron Fist (Ex) | STR 17, Black Belt 6; Iron Fist brawling talent or Boxing or Muay Thai Style feat | The benefits of his Iron Fist talent or his Boxing or Muay Thai Style feats apply when performing a Martial Flurry. If the black belt qualified for this talent via the boxing style or mauy thai style feat, this talent only applies while that style feat is active. |
| Ledge Walker (Ex) | None | This ability allows a black belt to move along narrow, uneven, or slippery surfaces (such as ice) at full speed using the Acrobatics skill without penalty. In addition, a black belt with this talent is not flat-footed when using Acrobatics to move along such surfaces, and retains his Dexterity bonus to AC. |
| Light Walker (Ex) | Ledge Walker talent, Black Belt 10 | The black belt can move at full speed through difficult terrain and can take 5-foot steps into difficult terrain. |
| Living Bunker (Ex) | None | If the black belt is providing soft cover to an ally, that ally gains the normal +2 bonus on reflex saves cover normally grants. Additionally, whenever an ally you are providing soft cover to makes a reflex save against an area of effect spell or ability that deals hit point damage, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed, they reduce the damage they take by 1 point per black belt level the black belt possesses. |
| Maximum Torque (Ex) | Black Belt 6, Con 15 | By pushing his body to the limit, the black belt can achieve an incredible boost to his speed. By spending two points of adrenaline as a full-round action, the black belt gains the following benefits: A +2 bonus on melee attack rolls, melee damage rolls, a +10ft enhancement bonus to all movement speeds (to a maximum of twice his normal speed for that movement type) and can make an additional attack at his highest base attack bonus as part of making a full attack. A black belt cannot replace this extra attack with a strike ability. A character cannot benefit from both Maximum Torque and Rage (Or similar abilities, such as Wired Reflexes) simultaneously. However, maximum torque puts extreme stress upon his body. At the end of his next turn he takes 1 point of nonlethal damage which ignores his delayed damage pool or any other effect that would reduce the amount of damage he would take. At the end of each subsequent turn, maximum torque deals twice as much damage as he took on the previous turn. A black belt can end maximum torque as a swift action, after which he must wait at least an hour before using maximum torque again. |
| Mediguard (Ex) | Black Belt 6, Prizefighter's Resolve | If the black belt has half or fewer of his normal hit point total remaining, or if he has taken nonlethal damage equal to half his current hit points or more, he may use the total defense action and spend 1 adrenaline point to clear his delayed damage pool or heal an amount of non-lethal damage equal to his total delayed damage pool, whichever would be greater. |
| Nothing Can Stop Me (Ex) | None | Once per round, while the black belt is moving, he can make one attack as a free action against an unattended object in the way of his path, such as a door or table. If his attack deals enough damage to destroy the object, he can continue to move. If he doesn’t destroy the object, his move ends. This attack is made as part of his move action and doesn’t count against his attacks this round. If his attack inadvertently targets a creature (such as a mimic), it automatically misses and his move ends (although he can still attack the creature as normal at the end of his movement). |
| Oath Of Enma (Ex) | Steel Body, Pledge Of Demon | Against some enemies, the only goal is to break them. A fight where everything is on the line, without any thought as to what stands to be gained or lost. Where the only thing driving you forth, is pride. Whenever the black belt activates Pledge of Demon, he may choose to spend an additional adrenaline to activate Oath of Enma. If he does, the black belt’s delayed damage pool is retained for the duration of the Pledge of Demon ability. However, while Oath of Enma is active, the damage in the delayed damage pool cannot be reduced in any way and when Pledge of Demon’s duration elapses, all damage in his delayed damage pool is taken as lethal damage, ignoring any other abilities he has that would convert this to nonlethal damage, such as Steel or Adamantine Body. |
| Peerless Maneuver (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent can roll two dice while making an Acrobatics check to move through threatened squares without provoking attacks of opportunity, and take the better result. |
| Pledge Of Demon (Ex) | Stone Body | The one who gets beaten down isn’t defeated. The one who can’t tough it out to the end, they’re the one that’s defeated. And on the field of battle, there are no KOs. As long as the black belt is alive, they’ll keep coming back for more. By spending an adrenaline point as a swift action, the black belt’s delayed damage pool can hold a limitless amount of damage for a number of rounds equal to the black belt’s Constitution modifier. Effects that require the black belt to have a full damage pool trigger when they normally would as if this ability were not active. |
| Provoke (Ex) | None | As a swift action, the black belt chooses a single enemy within 30ft and uses taunts, body language or insults to goad an enemy into attacking him. The first time the target makes an offensive action (Generally speaking, effects that would cause damage or inflict a negative status effect) within the next minute, that action must target the black belt or be centred on the black belt. Mindless creatures (But not creatures who are immune to mind affecting effects) and creatures immune to the Berserk status effect are immune to provoke. |
| Provoke-All (Ex) | Black Belt 12, Provoke | When you use provoke, you may have it affect all enemies within 60 feet rather than just one. |
| Reckless Combatant (Ex) | None | A black belt with this ability strikes without concern for his own well-being. The black belt can spend 1 point of adrenaline as a swift action to give his unarmed strikes the vicious weapon special ability for 1 round per black belt level. |
| Restraint Removal (Ex) | Black Belt 10, Con 19 | Most people only use about 30% of their body’s full potential, the rest is restrained automatically by the brain to avoid the body tearing itself apart. By spending 4 adrenaline points as a full-round action, the black belt can use the remaining 70%, though at significant risk. The benefits provided by maximum torque double and he can make a second extra attack at his highest base attack bonus -5. However, the damage dealt by maximum torque is lethal damage. At 16th level, he can instead spend 6 adrenaline points to triple the benefits provided by maximum torque and gain two additional attacks, one at his highest base attack bonus -5 and one at his highest base attack bonus -10. Like maximum torque, these attacks cannot be replaced with strike ability. |
| Second Wind (Ex) | Con 15, Resolve Pool | The black belt gains combat vigor as a bonus feat. In addition to the normal use, the black belt may spend adrenaline points in place of vigor points to activate combat vigor. However, if he does so, he only heals nonlethal damage, rather than lethal, but does not become fatigued. |
| Speed of Combat (Ex) | None | The black belt’s base speed increases by 10 feet. At 10th level, it increases by an additional 10 feet. |
| Steelguard (Ex) | Black Belt 10, Active Defence | While the black belt is using the total defence action, he may as an immediate action spend 3 adrenaline points to gain one Guard (Completely negating the next instance of damage he takes). At the beginning of his next turn, the Black Belt loses this Guard unless he continues to use the total defence action. |
| Surging Recovery (Ex) | Black Belt 6, Second Wind | As a standard action on his turn, the black belt may spend an adrenaline point to select one spell, effect, or other condition currently affecting him and with a duration of 1 or more rounds. That effect ends immediately. (Click here for details.) |
| Weapon Training (Ex) | None | The black belt gains the weapon training class feature of a warrior, treating half his black belt level as his warrior level to determine its effects. However, he may only select the Monk or Close weapon groups. |
Athletic Talents
| Adamantite Lungs (Ex) | Iron Lungs talent, Hold Breath talent, Black Belt 12, Con 19 | As long as he has at least 1 point of adrenaline, a black belt can hold his breath for 1 minute per point of Constitution (plus 1 minute per black belt level, as per Iron Lungs. 1 minute is 10 rounds). This effect supersedes the Hold Breath talent's effect. When the black belt begins to suffocate, he does not immediately die on his third turn. Instead, he takes 1 point of damage and takes an additional point of damage every other turn (Effectively meaning it takes a number of rounds equal to twice his Constitution score for him to suffocate to death). Additionally, a black belt uses up so little oxygen that he is effectively immune to slow suffocation. He would die of hunger or thirst before he died from a lack of air. |
| Air Step (Ex) | Fantastic Leap talent, Double Jump talent, Black Belt 12 | During the adrenaline effect of his Fantastic Leap talent, the black belt does not fall at the end of his turn. Instead, he only falls at the end of a turn he does not make at least one acrobatics check to jump each round. The black belt can reactivate his Fantastic Leap talent on the turn after it wears off without falling, provided he then continues jumping. |
| Double Jump (Ex) | Fantastic Leap talent, Black Belt 6 | During the adrenaline effect of his Fantastic Leap talent, the black belt may use his Standard Action make a second Acrobatics check to jump (similar to using his Standard Action to move twice in one round) even if he is in mid-air, meaning there is technically nothing for him to jump from. |
| Deep Dive (Ex) | Black Belt 6 | A black belt with this talent can dive up to 300ft deep without taking damage. At his 9th black belt level and every three levels thereafter, he can dive an additional 100ft. Beyond that point, he must make Fortitude saves to avoid damage once every 5 minutes, taking 1d6 points of damage, +1d6 per 100ft below that point (similar to how a character without this talent takes 1d6 points of damage at 100ft and below). If he is in very cold water and also has the Extremophile talent, he can survive a single hour before taking nonlethal damage from hypothermia. Additionally, the bonus on saving throws his Toughness feat grants also applies to the Fortitude save made to resist pressure damage. |
| Endurance Runner (Ex) | Run feat, Indefatigable talent, Black Belt 8 | A black belt with this talent can spend 1 point of adrenaline as a swift action while wearing light or no armor to double the benefits of his run feat. This ability lasts 1 minute. If he also has the Water Runner talent, he may activate both talents as part of the same action Additionally, when travelling overland and wearing light or no armor, the black belt can hustle with no more effort than walking and can run at 5x his normal speed (20ft is 11 MPH, 30ft is 17 MPH, 40ft is 23 MPH and 50ft is 28 MPH; the first half of this ability does not last long enough to have an effect when moving overland) following the normal rules for hustling. |
| Extended Adrenaline (Ex) | Black Belt 10 | Whenever the black belt spends adrenaline to activate an athletic talent that normally lasts a single minute, it instead lasts a number of minutes equal to his Constitution modifier (Minimum 2). |
| Extremophile (Ex) | Toughness feat | A black belt with this talent is immune to the effects of both cold (between 40° F and 0° F) and hot (between 90° F and 110° F) weather for a number of hours equal to his class level + his Constitution modifier. In conditions of severe cold (between 0° F and -20° F) or severe hot (between 110° F and 140° F) weather, he only suffers from the lesser effects of cold or hot weather for a number of hours equal to his Constitution modifier. After this time he only needs to make the check once every 30 minutes for severe cold or heat exposure, which does not stack with similar effects (Such as a cold weather outfit). Lastly in conditions of severe cold (below -20° F) or severe hot (above 140° F) weather, he only suffers from the lesser effects of extreme cold or hot weather for a single hour. After this time, he only takes lethal damage and needs to make the save against non-lethal damage once every 10 minutes rather than every minute. A black belt must spend at least 6 hours in a comfortable environment and not be suffering from nonlethal damage due to exposure to reset these durations. Additionally, a black belt is always considered acclimated to high altitudes and does not need to make the saving throw against altitude sickness for a number of days equal to his black belt level. After that time, he only needs to make the saving throw once per day rather than once every 6 hours. He must spend at least 24 hours below an altitude of 15,000 feet and not be suffering from ability score damage due to altitude sickness to reset the duration. |
| Extreme Grip (Ex) | Intense Grip | A black belt with this talent gains a climb speed equal to half his base land speed, which increases to his full base speed when climbing a rope. A black belt can spend a point from his adrenaline pool as a swift action to gain a +20 enhancement bonus to climb checks. During this time, a black belt can climb a perfectly smooth, flat, vertical (but not inverted) surface as though it had a climb DC of 50. This ability lasts for 1 minute. He can reactivate this talent at the start of the next turn after it wears off (the turn after moving ten times) without falling. |
| Extreme Metabolism (Ex) | Toughness | A black belt with this talent has trained his body to withstand a lack of food water or sleep, allowing him to survive a number of days without food equal to 3 + half his black belt level and a number of days without water or sleep (See conditions) equal to 1 + his Constitution modifier. After this time, he only needs to make the Fortitude save to avoid nonlethal damage from a lack of food or to avoid fatigue/exhaustion from a lack of sleep once every two days (rather than every day) and from a lack of water every three hours (rather than every hour). A black belt needs only 2 hours of sleep each night (including to replenish his adrenaline pool), despite the fact he can survive a few days without needing to. Additionally, a black belt can also stimulate his body’s natural healing by consuming far more food than is required. A black belt can consume a pound of food over the course of an hour to recover twice his character level (not just his black belt level) in hit points, similar to getting a full 24 hour’s bedrest. In a single 24 hour period, a black belt can only benefit from a number of these meals equal to his Constitution modifier. |
| Fantastic Leap (Ex) | None | When making Acrobatics checks to jump, a black belt with this talent is always considered to have a running start and adds his black belt level to the check result. A black belt may add his Strength modifier in addition to his Dexterity modifier when making Acrobatics checks for this purpose. He treats his base speed as double what it really is to determine the distance he can jump. Additionally, the black belt may spend an adrenaline point as a swift action to reduce the DC multiplier for high jumping by 1 (Meaning his high jump is equal to a third of his acrobatics result, not a quarter). When the black belt jumps during this time, he does not fall until the end of his turn, allowing him to attack or perform other actions in midair. At 5th and 10th level, the DC multiplier is reduced by an additional 1. This ability lasts for 1 minute. |
| Perfect Balance (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent can spend 1 adrenaline point as a swift action to achieve perfect balance. While this is active, the black belt treats any Acrobatics attempt made to balance as if he had rolled a 20. This ability lasts for 1 minute. |
| Hold Breath (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent doubles the amount of time he can hold his breath. |
| Iron Lungs (Ex) | Black Belt 6, Con 15, Hold Breath talent | A black belt with this talent adds his black belt level to his Constitution score to determine the length of time he can hold his breath. When he begins to suffocate, the black belt does not immediately die on his third turn. Instead, on his third round after being dropped to -1 he takes 2 points of damage. On his fourth round he takes 3 points of damage, on his fifth 4 points of damage and so forth until he dies. Additionally, a black belt in a sealed room quadruples the amount of time it takes for him to run out of air (For example a Medium black belt can breathe easily for 24 hours in a sealed chamber measuring 10 feet on a side, rather than only 6. Sharing the space with another Medium creature without this talent cuts the black belt’s time down to 12 hours without affecting the other creature’s 6 hours of air) and only takes nonlethal damage every hour rather than every 15 minutes. |
| Indefatigable (Ex) | Black Belt 6 | As long as the black belt has at least 1 point of adrenaline, he ignores the penalties for being fatigued (but not the greater penalties for being exhausted). This does not make him immune to fatigue, however and he is still considered to have the condition for other purposes. This ability does not allow the black belt to ignore the penalties for fatigue gained from a lack of sleep, however. |
| Inexhaustible (Ex) | Black Belt 10, Indefatigable talent | As long as the black belt has at least 4 points of adrenaline, he ignores the penalties for being exhausted. This does not make him immune to exhaustion, however and he is still considered to have the condition for other purposes. This ability does not allow the black belt to ignore the penalties for exhaustion gained from a lack of sleep, however. |
| Like a Fish (Ex) | Strong Stroke talent, Indefatigable talent, Black Belt 6 | A black belt with this talent gains a swim speed equal to his base land speed and never has to make swim checks to avoid nonlethal damage due to fatigue. If the black belt also has the endurance runner talent, the benefits of that talent also apply while swimming. By spending an adrenaline point as a swift action, the black treats whatever he is swimming in (provided it has a similar consistency as water) as calm, non-flowing water for most purposes, the only exception to this is how much flowing water moves him which is instead halved. This ability lasts for 1 minute. |
| Maximum Grip (Ex) | Intense Grip talent, Extreme Grip talent, Black Belt 6 | The black belt gains a climb speed equal to his base speed. |
| Perfect Fall (Ex) | None | As long as there is a wall or another surface within arm’s reach, the black belt never takes falling damage. Even if no surface is available, he takes only half damage from falling and lands on his feet. |
| Strong Stroke (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent rolls twice when making Swim checks and takes the better result. If he already rolls twice while making a Swim check because of another ability or effect, he gains a +2 insight bonus on both of those rolls instead. If the black belt is under the effect of a spell or ability that forces him to roll two dice and take the worse result, he only needs to roll 1d20 while making Swim checks. |
| Strongest There Is (Ex) | Black Belt 8 | A black belt with this talent may spend a point from his adrenaline pool as a free action when making a Strength check (But not when making Strength based checks, such as skill checks or attack rolls) to gain a bonus to the check equal to half his black belt level. If he is making an opposed Strength check, the bonus is equal to his full black belt level instead. Additionally, a black belt adds his black belt level to his Strength score to determine his carrying capacity. |
| Water Runner (Ex) | None | A black belt with this talent can spend 1 point of adrenaline as a swift action to run along the surface of the water. While doing so, he must move his full speed on each of his turns or else he sinks into the water and must start swimming. This ability lasts for 1 minute. He can reactivate this talent at the start of the next turn after it wears off (the turn after moving ten times) without sinking. |
