D&D 3E/3.5 3E D&D Aurelia setting & houserules material (now with magic items!)

[Arkhandus]

Well, a whole lot more procrastination, stress, insomnia, and tiredness later, and I still haven't made any significant update in quite a while to this thread's houserules and setting material. At least I've gotten some stuff done on the computer, I just haven't been able to focus on finishing the full details for any single class, race, or monster yet.

For now, I've fixed a few words/sentences here and there in the earlier posts, split up some of the paragraphs to make them more readable, and fixed a small formatting error here and there. Nothing significant yet. :\

I'll probably try updating the feats preview soon, but I dunno.

I've worked a bit on various new monsters and prestige classes, and done some more work on a few standard classes and variants, but they're in varied stages of incompleteness for now. I've gotten a bit of work done on many prestige classes so I'll be updating the class-advancement-table preview in the next day or so, and maybe I'll have the focus to finish the details on Elvenkind or Bards or one of the prestige classes soon after that. Maaayyybe, but I've been pretty low on energy and mental focus lately.


Some basic info on most of the prestige classes I've gotten partially-done in the past month or two:

My version of the Arcane Archer gets some spell improvements and bonus spells, but primarily gets more frequent use of its special magic archery tricks, some more magic tricks with their bows and arrows, some improvements in the effectiveness of their magic archery tricks, and a bit of added sniping prowess. My version of the Assassin is purely mundane in skills but a bit more directly effective with their Death Attacks, more threatening, better at hunting down marks, better at distraction and handling/avoiding traps, and able to sneak around quickly.

My version of the Blade Dancer (OA) is a bit less effective in prolonged fights but has a stronger connection to his swords, able to channel the spirits of his swords more often, for a greater variety of mystical attacks and fighting trances, and he's a bit more skillful in actual swordplay, though a bit slower-moving most of the time. My version of the Duelist is a bit more skilled in swashbucklery and the like, though a bit less tough, and half of their class features are chosen from a list of about a dozen options, making them more flexible (and those selected abilities are more powerful, boosting the class to be on-par with an armored fighter, though reliant on more ability scores).

My version of the Shadowdancer is a bit sneakier and actually worth taking more than just a level or two in, developing much more agility and more combat tricks as they advance, along with tougher Shadow minions. My version of the Spellsword has a better and more potent mixing of combat prowess with arcane spellcasting, with superior Channel Spell capabilities, cheaper use of Spellsword Cache, faster advancement in ASF reduction, and the addition of a Spell Blast ability to make use of spell slots in a pinch for direct offense by converting their energy into a blast or aura on the Spellsword's weapon.

My version of the Weapon Master is more effective in dealing damage with their Weapon of Choice, gains a boost to the resilience of their Weapon of Choice, confirms critical hits more often with it, is better at disarming or resisting disarmament with their Weapon of Choice, is better at using it to block and parry other weapons, and counts their Weapon Master level towards their effective Samurai level for Ancestral Daisho advancement capabilities (only if they were a Samurai beforehand).


The Ambush Master is a PrC focused on surprising foes and making the most of that advantage, so it gets a Sneak Attack damage die at each level (it's a 5-level PrC); they're specialists in finding their marks, setting up traps/hiding spots, and springing ambushes (and at running away once things get tough). The Arcane Bombardier is a master of the Fireball spell, who sacrifices a bit of spellcasting advancement in order to focus more power and skill in the use of Fireballs (another 5-level PrC).

Elemental Warriors develop an affinity for one of the classical elements, learning to channel it for greater weapon damage, elemental resistance, and elemental manipulation (though very limited; it's a 10-level combat PrC with only minor spellcasting prerequisites). An Eldritch Missileer is a master of Magic Missiles, giving up a bit of spellcasting advancement for thorough mastery over the power and flexibility of Magic Missiles, both as single-target barrages and multi-target bombardments (5 levels).

Lao-Tsen Disciples are monkish warriors with a greater focus on channeling ki for combat, developing few other skills and focusing on personal combat prowess; primarily in the form of special fighting techniques that utilize a combination of great skill and focused ki power, oriented in most cases towards harnessing basic elements and energies (10-level PrC, with martial maneuvers and stances from nine custom disciplines, based in concept on the Book of Nine Swords but without borrowing any of the feats, maneuvers, stances, disciplines, classes, or items from that book; each Lao-Tsen discipline is based on a mix of martial arts and an element or energy type, except for the two mundane styles of Serpent's Fang and Stone Crab; the Lao-Tsen Disciple is also limited to only counting its level in the PrC towards initiator level, so their disciplines only go up to 5th-level maneuvers/stances; it's recovery mechanic is similar to that of swordsages in the Bo9S).

The Myrmidon is a seriously dedicated soldier of the highest calibur, who develops his body into a more perfect fighting machine and war-campaigner, mastering various combat techniques, with unshakeable bravery (7-level PrC). Phantasmal Hunters are assassins or bounty hunters who supplement their sneaky, deadly skills with a bit of arcane magic and illusions, to mask their presence or exact form, as well as channeling surges of negative energy to finish off their marks; and they develop a bit of extra power with the Phantasmal Killer spell too (10-level PrC).

A Shadow Thorn is the secret, malevolent, Elven answer to ninjas and assassins from other lands, a ranger or druid who takes up a predatory mantle, to hunt down and destroy the covert forces or vilest leaders among those who oppose Elvenkind and defile Nature; Shadow Thorns have numerous talents and powers for sneaking, assassination, and travel, but are very limited in how many they can employ each day, and cannot handle long fights or numerous opponents (10-level PrC, with some mechanics based on the Ninja of Complete Adventurer and Dragon Magazine).

And there are a few others that are less complete or just not on my computer right now so I won't bother describing them yet.

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Bard

The Bard

Bard. The so-called jack of all trades and master of none. They roam the streets, the seas, the roads and rivers, plying taverns and tournaments, noble halls and market stalls, any place they can make a coin. Bards sell their services as warriors, pirates, musicians, entertainers, spies, couriers, taleweavers, rumormongers, liars, thieves, diplomats, or whatever else suits their fancy. Some are honest and good-natured, others are manipulative and selfish, or somewhere in-between. They might be tribal witches, royal jesters, wild vagabonds, fey revelers, charming nobles, warrior-sages, or traveling entertainers, but rarely have strong focus or discipline.

Bards learn enough combat prowess for self-defense, and some even become great warriors, but only through guile and magic, not true skill. Fencing, archery, exotic weaponry, and marksmanship are common among bards. A bard learns many different skills but usually just dabbles in them, aside from the occasional social skill, which they excel at. Each bard learns to harness the mystical powers of music and language, the power hidden inside words, tones, and harmonies. This allows them to wield a bit of control over the world around them, tinkering with nature magic, divinations, enchantments, illusions, and sonic attacks. Bards learn various rumors and secrets over time, mastering many little tricks.

Races: Bards are most often found among humans, elves, half-elves, aeragi, celestri, halflings, merfolk, and nearly all kinds of fey. Elves and fey have a deep appreciation for music and poetry, while elves also enjoy the arts of swordsmanship and archery, whereas fey love jokes and tricks. Aeragi and celestri often share a similar appreciation for bardic arts and humor, while halflings adore storytelling, jokes, rumors, and trickery.

Gnomes, hengeyokai, korobokuru, firagi, and locathah sometimes become bards, but not nearly so often as others. Gnomes and korobokuru enjoy the humor, storytelling, music, and flashy illusions, but don't often pursue bardic arts. Firagi, hengeyokai, and locathah appreciate the loremastery, storytelling, and magical skills of bards but usually pursue other lifestyles.

Orcs, half-orcs, draegi, gnolls, bugbears, nezumi, vanara, spiritfolk, and hizak-kreen become bards only rarely, but it's not too rare. The nezumi, vanara, and hizak-kreen appreciate the linguistic, magical, and scholarly talents of bards, but their cultures and mindsets do not often lead to bardic pursuits. Spiritfolk just appreciate the life of a wandering bard, interacting with other people only when it suits them, exploring nature, and living in the moment. Others just pursue bardic lore as a witchery tradition, for the sake of arcane power and secrets. Bards are exceedingly rare amongst other races, aside from a few outsiders, such as lillends or janni.

Other Classes: Bards are often accompanied by an entourage, or they accompany an existing group of adventurers, a troupe of entertainers, or a noble lord or lady that favors their performances. However, many bards travel alone or with random acquaintances, parting ways or joining a different group whenever it's convenient. Bards are usually urban folk, but nearly as many prefer the wilderness and the open road, or the open seas. When it comes to adventuring or intrigue, bards often get along well with rangers, fighters, rogues, psychic warriors, and some barbarians. Such individuals complement a bard's much more modest fighting skills, and appreciate the bard's musical talents, social wits, practical magic, and useful knowledge.

Some fighters, rangers, or wizards, as well as most clerics, monks, paladins, samurai, and sohei, are too stodgy for bards to get along with, but a few appreciate the bard's recording and retelling of glorious deeds. In fact, some wizards, monks, psions, shugenja, and clerics get along perfectly with bards on a scholarly or creative level, regardless of any differences in attitude. Most sorcerers, wu jen, and shugenja have an easy time befriending bards and working with them, sharing similar talents or interests. Shamans and druids get along well with the occasional bard who enjoys life in the wilderness, and those same bards tend to get along excellently with any forest fey they encounter.


Game Rule Information
Bards have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a bard can cast, how many spells the bard can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a bard must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell’s level. A bard gets bonus spells based on Charisma. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a bard’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the bard’s Charisma modifier. Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma are important for many of the bard’s class skills and class features, but only Charisma is truly essential for bards. Bards who intend to focus on close combat should have good Strength and Constitution, instead of Dexterity and Intelligence, since a bard's offense and defense are normally very mediocre.
Alignment: Any nonlawful.
Hit Die: d6.


Class Skills
The bard’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alchemy (Int), Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Innuendo (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int, exclusive), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha, exclusive). Additionally, since bards are worldly and dabble in many different fields, they gain two other skills of their choice as bard class skills, which cannot be exclusive skills.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.


Class Features
All of the following are class features of the bard.

[sblock]Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A bard is proficient with all simple weapons, light and medium armors, and shields. Additionally, the bard is proficient with one weapon of their choice from the following list: blade boot, bokken, broadsword, claw bracer, cutlass, fencing foil, greater chakram, hand crossbow, kukri, lesser chakram, light scimitar, longbow, longsword, machede, nagaika, net, rapier, repeating crossbow, saber, sap, scimitar, scourge, shinai, shortbow, short sword, or whip. Armor and shields interfere somewhat with a bard’s ability to cast arcane spells that have somatic components, so many bards wear little or no armor at all.

Spells: A bard casts arcane spells from the Bard Spell List (see below). He casts these spells without needing to prepare them beforehand or keep a spellbook. All bard spells have a verbal component (singing, reciting, or music), which cannot be circumvented through metamagic or other effects. Bards receive bonus spells for high Charisma, and to cast a spell the bard must have a Charisma score at least equal to 10 + the level of the spell. Note that a bard’s bonus spells for high Charisma only applies to the number of spells the bard can cast per day; it does not affect the number of spells the bard actually knows or the number of spells rehearsed. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bard’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the bard’s Charisma modifier.

However, bards are a bit unusual in their learning and casting of spells. A bard's spells always have a musical or poetic form to their verbal components, for one thing. The bard may substitute some music from a wind instrument for part of a verbal spell component (for bard spells only), but must sing or recite at least the opening verse and final verse. Secondly, a bard learns spells through research and practice like a wizard does, except a bit differently. A bard's spell research is merely through learning new music or poetry that is magical in nature (but which produces no magical effect for anyone lacking the proper skills to draw it out). The bard learns one spell for free at each level in this class, plus an additional five spells at 1st-level in this class, rather than learning free spells at the same rate a wizard does.

The bard cannot learn or research spells that are higher in level than what his class level normally allows (so for instance, the spells learned at 1st-level in this class must each be 0-level or 1st-level spells; 0-level arcane spells are called cantrips). Furthermore, a bard is somewhat limited in how many bard spells he or she may know. The spells they learn freely from this class do not count against that limit, but other spells the bard learns must be scribed into a songbook, which is functionally the same as a spellbook (and the costs to learn and inscribe spells is the same as for a wizard). The bard does not need to scribe the spells he or she learns for free from this class; they are spells that he or she has permanently memorized.

Thirdly, bards can attempt to research spells that are not on the Bard Spell List, but doing so is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, to research a new bardic version of such a spell and scribe it into their songbook (if successful, the bard then learns the spell and can both rehearse it and cast it, as with any other bard spell they know). If the spell is unique and new, then the bard uses normal research times and costs as per a wizard researching unique spells.

If the spell comes from another class' spell list, then the bard must spend twice the normal amount of time and gold on that spell's research and inscription. In addition, if the spell comes from another class' spell list, the bard must attempt at a Spellcraft check at the end of the research (but before attempting to scribe the spell into his or her songbook) against a DC of 25 + double the spell's level (DC 26 if 0-level). On a failed check, the research fails and yields no result (the bard can attempt the research again, with a separate expenditure of time and money). These same rules apply to learning and copying a spell from another book or scroll.

Lastly, a bard is limited to casting only those spells that he or she has rehearsed the lyrics for; the bard may cast his or her rehearsed spells freely, limited only by their allotment of spell slots per day. A bard rehearses their spells similarly to a wizard studying his spellbook, and bards need no other preparation time to use their spells. Unlike a wizard studying his book, a bard's rehearsal just involves glancing at his or her songbook occasionally, while vocally rehearsing a spell's lyrics, multiple times until they get the proper intonation worked out and the lyrics temporarily memorized.

The spells a bard has memorized permanently, as free spells learned from this class, do not require a songbook to rehearse with; they just require some thought and practice to rehearse. Rehearsing spells takes an hour to complete, or 5 minutes to rehearse a single spell. The total number of spells a bard can have rehearsed at any given time is limited by his class level, as shown on the Bard Spells Rehearsed & Spells Per Day table, below, which also shows how many spell slots the bard has available each day. Bards may rehearse different spells in place of those they rehearsed earlier the same day, whether it is one at a time or all at once.

The time required for a rehearsal is the same as noted above, and a bard may rehearse any number of times per day (unlike a wizard, the bard does not really prepare his or her spells; they just rehearse what spells they want to have ready at any given time, and can rehearse a different set of spells at any time). Casting a spell does not remove it from the bard's collection of rehearsed spells, so the bard may cast it multiple times if he or she has enough spell slots per day of that level.

Rehearsing itself does not involve casting any spells, and there are no rehearsal slots. Each spell is only rehearsed once at a time, and the bard may rehearse a lower-level spell in place of any higher-level spell, if desired. Metamagic and other such effects are applied at the time of casting, not when rehearsing (and only affect the spell slot used). The bard's spell slots are not recovered each day until he or she has received at least 8 hours of sleep (or equivalent rest for the bard's race; such as 4 hours of trance if the bard is an Elf), and spent an hour in rehearsal with their spell lyrics at some time afterward.[/sblock]

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Bard, continued

The Aurelian Bard, continued (Bardic Music details)

[sblock]Bardic Music: Once per day, plus an additional once per day per level in this class, the bard can use his song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him. Depending on how many ranks he has in the Perform skill, he can inspire courage in his allies, protect those around him from sound-based magic, terrify foes, fascinate a creature, make a magical Suggestion (like the spell) to a fascinated creature, muddle an opponent's senses, help others accomplish tasks with their own skills, confuse enemies, or inspire greatness in allies.

While these abilities fall under the category of Bardic Music, they can include reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some kind of verbal performance. Activating any Bardic Music ability is a standard action, and any spell-like Bardic Music abilities provoke attacks of opportunity when activated.

Whether or not a creature makes its saving throw against any Bardic Music effect, he or she is not made aware of the fact that a bard just attempted to influence them. Neither is the bard aware of who their Bardic Music has or has not affected, except that the Bard is always able to sense whether or not his or her Fascinate, Fascinate Audience, Suggestion, or Mass Suggestion abilities have succeeded (and upon whom). Bardic Music does not make creatures forget what happened, so they will know if they felt compelled earlier by a bard’s Suggestion, for example. All Bardic Music abilities are magical, sonic effects that override the bard’s ability to use verbal magic, even if he or she plays an instrument for the performance.

While performing Bardic Music, the bard can fight but cannot cast spells with verbal components, activate magic items by command word, activate magic items by spell completion, or activate magic items by spell trigger. Just like when casting spells with verbal components, a deaf bard suffers a 20% chance of failing to activate Bardic Music. If he fails, the attempt still counts toward his daily limit. In order to use a particular Bardic Music effect, the bard must have at least a certain number of ranks in the Perform skill, and several effects of middling or higher Perform ranks also require a minimum number of bard levels. A creature cannot be affected by more than three Bardic Music performances at any given time.

Whenever a Bardic Music effect would be contested as a result, the originators of the opposing effects each make an opposed Perform check, and the individual with the highest Perform check wins. Ties result in a re-roll for those who tied. No Bardic Music effect, such as Inspire Courage, can be applied to a creature more than once at a time, so additional uses of that effect result in opposed Perform checks to determine which one overrides the other copies of that effect for that creature. In any of these cases, the originator of an earlier Bardic Music effect may choose to fail the opposed check for that previous use of Bardic Music.


Inspire Courage (Su): A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use music or poetics to inspire courage in his allies, bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must hear the bard perform for a full round. The effect lasts as long as the bard performs and for 5 rounds after the bard has stopped performing (or 5 rounds after the ally can no longer hear the bard’s performance). The bard and affected allies each receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects, and a +1 morale bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls (including unarmed strike, grapple, and natural weapon damage rolls). Inspire Courage is a supernatural, mind-affecting ability.

Countersong (Su): A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to counter magical effects that depend on sound (but not spells that simply have verbal components). On each round of the Countersong, the bard must make a Perform check. Any creature within 30 feet of the bard (including the bard himself) who is affected by a sonic or language-dependant effect (such as a Sound Burst spell or a Suggestion power) may use the bard’s Perform check result, -5, in place of their saving throw if the total Perform result proves to be better. This must be determined immediately after the saving throw is rolled. The bard may keep up the Countersong for only up to 10 rounds with each use of this ability. Countersong is a supernatural ability.

Fascinate (Sp): A bard with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to cause a single creature to become fascinated with him. The creature to be fascinated must be within 90 feet and able to see, hear, and pay attention to the bard. The bard must also see the target creature. The distraction of a nearby battle or other dangers prevents this ability from working.

The bard makes a Perform check when activating this ability, and the target gets a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + one-half the bard’s Perform check result, rounded down) to resist the effect. If the saving throw succeeds, the bard cannot attempt to Fascinate that creature again for 24 hours. If the saving throw fails, the creature sits quietly and listens to the performance for 2 rounds per bard level (or until the performance ends, whichever comes first).

While fascinated, the target’s Spot and Listen checks suffer a -6 penalty. Any potential threat, such as an ally of the bard moving behind the creature, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against a new Perform check. Any obvious threat, such as casting a spell, drawing a weapon, or taking aim with a weapon, automatically breaks the effect. While fascinating (or attempting to Fascinate) a creature, the bard must concentrate as if maintaining a spell. Fascinate is a spell-like, mind-affecting, charm, and Enchantment ability.

Inspire Competence (Su): A bard with 6 or more ranks in Perform can use his music or poetics to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be able to see and hear the bard, and must be within 30 feet of the bard. The bard must also see the creature. Depending on the task that the ally has at hand, the bard may use his bardic music to lift the ally’s spirits, to help the ally focus mentally, or in some other way aid them in performing the task. The ally gets a +3 competence bonus on his skill checks with a particular skill as long as they continue to hear the bard’s performance. The DM may rule that certain uses of this ability are infeasible - chanting to make a rogue move more quietly, for example, is self-defeating. The bard can maintain the effect for up to 2 minutes (which is typically long enough for the ally to take 20). Inspire Competence is a supernatural, mind-affecting ability.

Confusing Cadence (Su): A bard with 6 or more ranks in Perform can try to confuse and distract opponents with his music or poetics. The bard makes a Perform check when using this ability. All creatures within 90 feet of the bard who can hear his performance are affected, except for the bard himself and any allies he can see when beginning the Confusing Cadence. After any subject has heard the Cadence for at least 1 full round, he or she may attempt a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + one-half the bard’s Perform check result, rounded down) to resist it, and on a successful save they are immune to that bard’s Confusing Cadences for 24 hours.

On a failed save, the subject suffers the following effects while he or she continues to hear the performance and remains within 90 feet of the bard. Subjects take a -2 penalty on Concentration skill checks, and there is a 35% chance each round that all subjects will behave as though under a Confusion spell for that round. Multiple Confusing Cadence effects do not stack with one another. The bard can maintain a Confusing Cadence performance for up to 1 round per level in this class. Confusing Cadence is a supernatural, mind-affecting, compulsion, and Enchantment ability.

Suggestion (Sp): A bard with 9 or more ranks in Perform can make a Suggestion (as per the spell) to one creature that he is already fascinating (whether through the Fascinate ability or the Fascinate Audience ability). This requires at least 4 levels in the bard class to utilize. The Suggestion doesn’t count against the bard’s daily limit on Bardic Music performances, though the Fascinate ability still does.

Only one Suggestion attempt may be made per use of Fascinate or Fascinate Audience. The fascinated creature gets a Will saving throw (DC = 13 + the bard’s Charisma modifier) to negate the Suggestion. Any creature who succeeds at its Will save against the Suggestion is no longer fascinated. Using this Suggestion ability does not break the bard's concentration on the Fascinate or Fascinate Audience abilities. Suggestion is a spell-like, mind-affecting, charm, and Enchantment ability (not a compulsion, like the spell).

Dreadful Dirge (Su): A bard with 9 or more ranks in Perform can instill terror and doubt in his foes with intimidating music, song, or speeches. This requires at least 4 levels in the bard class to utilize. The bard makes a Perform check when using this ability. All creatures within 150 feet of the bard who can hear his performance are affected, except for the bard himself and any allies he can see when beginning the Dreadful Dirge.

After any subject has heard the Dirge for at least 1 full round, he or she may attempt a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + one-half the bard’s Perform check result, rounded down) to resist it, and on a successful save they are immune to that bard’s Dreadful Dirges for 24 hours. On a failed save, the subject is shaken while he or she continues to hear the performance and remains within 150 feet of the bard. Any affected creature with half as many hit dice as the bard, or fewer, is frightened instead on a failed save.

Any victim who can no longer hear the Dirge or goes out of range is free of its effects, until they are once again within range and hear it. Dreadful Dirge mixes normally with any other fear effects upon the victims, worsening their fear condition as appropriate (shaken to frightened, frightened to panicked, or panicked to cowering). The bard can maintain a Dreadful Dirge performance for up to 1 round per level in this class. Dreadful Dirge is a supernatural, mind-affecting, fear, and Enchantment ability.

Inspire Valor (Su): A bard with 12 or more ranks in Perform can inspire even greater bravery in his allies than before. This requires at least 7 levels in the bard class to utilize. When using his Bardic Music ability to Inspire Courage, the bard grants double the normal bonuses to saving throws, attacks, and weapon damage rolls. Inspire Valor does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Inspire Courage. The bard may elect not to use Inspire Valor when activating Inspire Courage, if desired.

Grand Countersong (Su): A bard with 12 or more ranks in Perform can produce melodies of such perfect harmony that they can cancel out practically any disharmonies with their perfect song. This requires at least 7 levels in the bard class to utilize. When performing a Countersong, the bard protects creatures within a 90 foot radius with his Countersong, instead of a 30 foot radius. The bard can also re-roll his or her Countersong Perform check each round and take the better of the two results. Grand Countersong does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Countersong. The bard may elect not to use Grand Countersong when activating Countersong, if desired.

Fascinate Audience (Sp): A bard with 12 or more ranks in Perform can fascinate masses of listeners with his performances. This requires at least 7 levels in the bard class to utilize. When fascinating a creature with Bardic Music, the bard may also simultaneously fascinate up to one additional creature per bard level. This has the same limitations as the other Fascinate Bardic Music ability. The bard only makes a single Perform check to determine the saving throw DC for the entire fascinated audience.

However, when any creature fascinated in this way would get a new saving throw (i.e. if the bard takes a threatening action like drawing a weapon), the bard makes a single new Perform check on any given round in which this would happen, and that check applies to all fascinated creatures that would receive a new saving throw in the same round. Fascinate Audience does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Fascinate. The bard may elect not to use Fascinate Audience when activating Fascinate, if desired.

Inspire Greatness (Su): A bard with 15 or more ranks in perform can use his music or poetics to inspire greatness in another creature (not himself), granting extra fighting capability. This requires at least 10 levels in the bard class to utilize. For every two levels the bard attains beyond 12th, he can inspire greatness in one additional creature with each use of this ability. To inspire greatness, the bard must perform and the creature to be affected must hear the bard perform for a full round, as with Inspire Courage.

The creature must also be within 30 feet while hearing the first round of the performance. A creature inspired with greatness gains temporary Hit Dice, attack bonuses, and saving throw bonuses as long as they hear the bard continue to perform and for 5 rounds thereafter. All of these bonuses count as competence bonuses. Specifically, the creature gains +3 Hit Dice (d10s that grant temporary hit points), +2 on attack rolls, +2 on weapon damage rolls (including unarmed strike, grapple, and natural weapon damage rolls), +2 on Fortitude saving throws, and +2 on Reflex saving throws.

Apply the target’s Constitution modifier (and other level-based hit point modifiers), if any, to each bonus Hit Die. These bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining level-based effects (excluding effective caster level, manifester level, or class level), but do not grant any extra feats, skill points, class levels, ability score increases, or other benefits of permanent HD. Inspire Greatness is a supernatural, mind-affecting Enchantment ability.

Inspire Perfection (Su): A bard with 15 or more ranks in Perform can inspire even greater talent in his allies than before. This requires at least 10 levels in the bard class to utilize. When using his Bardic Music ability to Inspire Competence, the bard grants double the normal bonus to the skill checks, and out to a 60-foot range. Inspire Perfection does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Inspire Competence. The bard may elect not to use Inspire Perfection when activating Inspire Competence, if desired.

Mass Suggestion (Sp): A bard with 18 or more ranks in Perform can make a Mass Suggestion (as per the spell) to all creatures he is currently fascinating, through the Bardic Music abilities of Fascinate or Fascinate Audience. This requires at least 13 levels in the bard class to utilize. The saving throw DC against this Mass Suggestion is 16 + the bard’s Charisma modifier, and the bard gives a single suggestion that applies to all creatures he is fascinating.

Only one Mass Suggestion attempt may be made per use of Fascinate or Fascinate Audience, separate from any uses of Suggestion with that ability. This otherwise works exactly like the Suggestion Bardic Music ability, and like that ability, the Mass Suggestion does not count towards a bard’s daily limit on Bardic Music uses. Mass Suggestion does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Suggestion. The bard may elect not to use Mass Suggestion when activating Suggestion, if desired.

Phantasmagoria (Su): A bard with 18 or more ranks in Perform can twist the perceptions of enemies with the right melodies or poetics, causing hallucinations and vertigo. This requires at least 13 levels in the bard class to utilize. The bard makes a Perform check when using this ability. All creatures within 60 feet of the bard who can hear his performance are affected, except for the bard himself and any allies he can see when activating Phantasmagoria. After any subject has heard the Phantasmagoria for at least 1 full round, he or she may attempt a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + one-half the bard’s Perform check result, rounded down) to resist it, and on a successful save they are immune to that bard’s Phantasmagorias for 24 hours.

On a failed save, the subject suffers the following effects while he or she continues to hear the performance and remains within 60 feet of the bard. Subjects suffer a 20% miss chance with attack rolls (this is purely from distortions in the victim's mind and sense of balance, so effects that reduce or overcome miss chances do not work against this particular effect), a -4 penalty to Armor Class from Dexterity (as though from a lower Dexterity score, to a minimum effective score of 0 for that purpose), a -4 penalty on Reflex saves and grapple checks, a -4 penalty on all Strength-based, Dexterity-based, or Wisdom-based skill checks, a -4 penalty on all opposed Strength or Dexterity checks, a further -4 penalty on Balance and Tumble checks, and a 50% reduction in their movement speeds (round the new speed up to the nearest 5-foot increment).

Any victim who can no longer hear the Phantasmagoria or goes out of range is free of its effects, until they are once again within range and hear it. Multiple Phantasmagoria effects do not stack with one another. The bard can maintain Phantasmagoria for up to 1 round per 3 levels in this class. Phantasmagoria is a supernatural, mind-affecting, phantasm, and Illusion ability.

Inspire Heroism (Su): A bard with 21 or more ranks in perform can inspire his allies to even greater deeds of greatness and heroism. This requires at least 16 levels in the bard class to utilize. When Inspiring Greatness in his allies, the bard grants double the normal number of bonus Hit Dice, double the normal competence bonus on attacks and damage, and double the usual competence bonus on Fortitude and Reflex saving throws. The allies to be affected may also be up to 60 feet away while hearing the first round of performance. Inspire Heroism does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Inspire Greatness. The bard may elect not to use Inspire Heroism when activating Inspire Greatness, if desired.[/sblock]

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Bard, final part

The Aurelian Bard, final part

[sblock]Bardic Knowledge: A bard picks up a lot of stray knowledge while wandering the land and learning stories from other bards. A bard may make a special Bardic Knowledge check with a bonus equal to bard level + his positive Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. This check will not reveal the powers of a magic item, but may give a hint as to its general function. The bard may not take 10 or take 20 on this check, since this is essentially random knowledge. The DM will determine the Difficulty Class of the check by referring to the table below.

[B][COLOR=Blue]DC	Type of Knowledge		Example[/COLOR][/B]
10	Common, known by at least	A local mayor's reputation for
	a substantial minority of	drinking; common legends about
	the local population.		a powerful place of mystery.
20	Uncommon but available,		A local priest's shady past;
	known by only a few people	legends about a powerful magic
	in the area.			item.
25	Obscure, known by few,		A knight's family history; legends
	hard to come by.		about a minor magic item or place
					of mystery.
30	Extremely obscure, known by	A mighty wizard's childhood
	very few, possibly forgotten	nickname; the history of a petty
	by most who once knew it,	magic item.
	possibly known only by those
	who don't understand the
	significance of the knowledge.

Battle On The Move (Ex): Bards learn quickly to make good use of movement on the battlefield, shifting positions and running in such a way as to make it harder for enemies to time their attacks properly. The bard also learns to make better use of speed and momentum when attacking. Thus, at 2nd-level onward the bard receives a +1 bonus to attack rolls and Armor Class for 1 round after moving at least 15 feet in a straight line on his or her turn. The rest of the bard's movement need not be in a straight line, unless his or her specific action (such as a charge) requires it.

Battle On The Move increases to a +2 bonus at 16th-level onward. The bonuses from Battle On The Move do not apply until after the bard has moved the aforementioned 15 feet of distance. Movement by way of teleportation, or travel between different planes of existence, does not count. The AC bonus from Battle On The Move is a dodge bonus, and is lost if the bard is immobilized or denied a Dexterity bonus to AC. Battle On The Move is an extraordinary ability.


Ignore Components: The bard learns a particular cadence they can use in their spell songs to supplement their power with fewer components, but the arcane power of the cadence may only be harnessed occasionally as the bard masters the technique of drawing energy through it. The bard may use this ability once per day after achieving 3rd-level, and an additional time each day for every fourth bard level gained beyond that.

They may use it one more time per day for each point of positive Intelligence modifier. Using this ability is a free action, declared immediately before casting a bard spell. This ability allows the bard to forgo that spell's material, focus, and somatic components, if any. If the spell requires a particular focus item to apply its effect to, then that focus component is not forgone.


Telling Blow (Su): Bards can use their wit and their arcane dabbling to turn luck in their favor for some attacks. At 4th-level onward, the bard may attempt to use this talent as a free action when making a normal attack as a standard action, against a single target within 60 feet. This ability cannot be used with a grapple attempt, trip attempt, or disarm attempt, although it can be used with spells that are cast as a standard action against a single target within 60 feet or less, if they involve an attack roll. Activate Telling Blow after rolling the attack, but before its success or failure is determined.

The bard adds his or her Charisma bonus to the attack roll and damage, though the damage bonus only applies if attacking with a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike. Additionally, the bard may re-roll any natural 1 or natural 2 results on damage dice for the attack (for damage dice greater than a d2). Telling Blow is a supernatural ability that is useable once per day. At 6th-level onward, it is useable twice per day, then three times per day at 10th-level, four times per day at 14th, and five times per day at 18th.


Convincing Voice (Su): Bards of 5th-level or higher develop a supernaturally persuasive tone in their voice, which provides them with a +2 bonus on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Intimidate skill checks that involve talking. Convincing Voice improves to a +3 bonus at 8th-level onward.


Acrobatic Attack (Ex): At 9th-level, if the bard attacks by jumping at least 5 feet into his opponent, jumping down at least 5 feet onto his opponent, jumping at least 5 feet towards his opponent and past them (through an adjacent space), swinging at least 5 feet on a rope or branch or similar object into his opponent, or swinging at least 5 feet on a rope or branch or similar object past his opponent (through an adjacent space), the bard gains +2 on attack and damage rolls against that opponent this round. These bonuses apply only to melee attacks, and only to physical damage (not damage from magic touch attacks, for example).

The bard may perform charge attacks in this manner, by jumping or swinging towards the opponent rather than just running on a surface towards them, and swinging or jumping charges may be made in arcs rather than straight lines. For jumping attacks, the bard must succeed at a Jump check to move at least 5 feet, otherwise Acrobatic Attack does not apply to that attempt. For swinging attacks, the bard must make a successful Use Rope check against DC 10, or else he or she cannot benefit from Acrobatic Attack on that attempt. If the Jump check succeeds but would carry the bard further than his opponent, he may choose to limit the jumping distance, to end adjacent with his opponent.

Acrobatic Attack may be combined with the Spring Attack feat, if possessed, to continue moving after the attack (the bard does not need to jump or swing the additional distance). Tumble checks are needed as normal if the bard wants to avoid attacks of opportunity for movement, or if he wants to move through enemy spaces. Acrobatic Attack is an extraordinary ability.


Momentum (Ex): A bard of 12th-level or higher has learned to make good use of the momentum from their attacks, so each hit that connects also improves the chances of the next hit getting through an opponent's defenses. When the bard executes a full-attack action, each successful attack he makes with a melee weapon or ranged weapon provides a +3 bonus on the bard's next attack roll in that full-attack action, if the next attack shares the same target. This bonus carries over normally to threat confirmation rolls. A successful attack, for this purpose, is one that hits the target and also deals damage to that target, after defenses and any damage reduction are factored in. Unarmed strikes and natural weapons count as melee weapons for this purpose, but other attacks do not, such as trip or grapple attempts. Momentum is an extraordinary ability, and only applies when attacking creatures.

Emulate Feat (Su): At 13th-level the bard acquires the supernatural ability to mimic some tricks, combat techniques, and magical manipulations that he or she has observed or studied before. Once per day, as a free action the bard may choose any single feat that he or she does not possess, but otherwise meets the prerequisites for (if any). The bard may ignore any ability score prerequisites for this purpose. The bard effectively gains the chosen feat, but only for 1 minute (10 rounds). The bard cannot activate this ability again while it is still active. Emulate Feat is useable once per day, or twice per day at 17th-level onward, or three times per day at 20th-level onward. The bard cannot use this special ability to meet the prerequisites for feats, prestige classes, or other abilities. He or she cannot emulate any feat that has a restriction against gaining it later than 1st-level, such as Ancestor feats.

Ex-Bards: A bard who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress further in level as a bard, for as long as he remains of lawful alignment, though he retains all of his bardic abilities.[/sblock]

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Bard:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+0	+2	+2	Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge
2	+1		+0	+3	+3	Battle On The Move +1
3	+2		+1	+3	+3	Ignore Components 1/day
4	+3		+1	+4	+4	Telling Blow 1/day
5	+3		+1	+4	+4	Convincing Voice +2
6	+4		+2	+5	+5	Telling Blow 2/day
7	+5		+2	+5	+5	Ignore Components 2/day
8	+6/+1		+2	+6	+6	Convincing Voice +3
9	+6/+1		+3	+6	+6	Acrobatic Attack
10	+7/+2		+3	+7	+7	Telling Blow 3/day
11	+8/+3		+3	+7	+7	Ignore Components 3/day
12	+9/+4		+4	+8	+8	Momentum
13	+9/+4		+4	+8	+8	Emulate Feat 1/day
14	+10/+5		+4	+9	+9	Telling Blow 4/day
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9	Ignore Components 4/day
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Battle On The Move +2
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Emulate Feat 2/day
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11	Telling Blow 5/day
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	Ignore Components 5/day
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12	Emulate Feat 3/day

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]Bard Spells Rehearsed & Spells Per Day:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class		Spells Rehearsed/Spells Per Day
Level		0	1	2	3	4	5	6[/COLOR][/B]
1		4/3	1/0*	-	-	-	-	-
2		5/4	2/1	-	-	-	-	-
3		6/4	2/2	-	-	-	-	-
4		6/4	3/2	1/0*	-	-	-	-
5		6/4	3/3	2/1	-	-	-	-
6		6/4	3/3	2/2	-	-	-	-
7		6/4	3/3	3/2	1/0*	-	-	-
8		6/4	3/3	3/3	2/1	-	-	-
9		6/4	3/3	3/3	2/2	-	-	-
10		6/4	3/3	3/3	3/2	1/0*	-	-
11		6/4	3/3	3/3	3/3	2/1	-	-
12		6/4	3/3	3/3	3/3	2/2	-	-
13		6/4	3/3	3/3	3/3	3/2	1/0*	-
14		6/5	3/3	3/3	3/3	3/3	2/1	-
15		6/5	3/4	3/3	3/3	3/3	2/2	-
16		6/5	4/4	3/4	3/3	3/3	3/2	1/0*
17		6/5	4/4	4/4	3/4	3/3	3/3	2/1
18		6/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/4	3/3	2/2
19		6/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/4	3/3
20		6/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/4
[I]* The “1/0*” means that, at that level, the bard only can only cast
bonus spells of that spell level, assuming that they have a high enough
Charisma score to get bonus spells of that level, and they can rehearse
1 spell of that level if so.[/I]

Bard Spell List:
Level 0 - Cure Minor Wounds, Dancing Lights, Daze, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Easy Math, Fine-Tuning, Flare, Ghost Sound, Halumin’s Verbal Assault*, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Open/Close, Percussion, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Resistance, Taurion’s Fleeting Alacrity*.
Level 1 - Alarm, Ambient Song, Arcane Aura*, Cause Fear, Change Self, Charm Person, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Animals or Plants, Detect Secret Doors, Endure Elements, Erase, Expeditious Retreat, Faerie Fire, Fate Shield*, Feather Fall, Focusing Chant, Grease, Hypnotism, Identify, Joyful Noise, Jump, Karifi's Drums of War*, Low-Light Vision, Lullaby, Mage Armor, Magic Weapon, Message, Painful Impulse*, Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Silent Image, Sleep, Summoning Surge*, Summon Monster I, Unseen Servant, Ventriloquism.
Level 2 - Aeridion’s Accelerated Rapidity*, Animal Trance, Arcane Lock, Aura of Luck*, Battle Charm*, Blindness/Deafness, Blur, Bull’s Strength, Calm Emotions, Cat’s Grace, Crescendo, Cure Moderate Wounds, Darkness, Darkvision, Daylight, Delay Poison, Detect Thoughts, Dissonant Chant, Eagle’s Splendor, Endurance, Enthrall, Fortissimo, Fox’s Cunning, Glitterdust, Harmonize, Hesitation*, Hold Person, Hypnotic Pattern, Invisibility, Knock, Levitate, Locate Object, Loroche’s Spell Enhancer*, Magic Mouth, Major Resistance, Minor Image, Mirror Image, Misdirection, Mystic Fortitude*, Obscure Object, Owl’s Wisdom, Portal Alarm, Protection from Arrows, Pyrotechnics, Remove Paralysis, Repellent Aura*, Resist Elements, Scare, See Invisibility, Shatter, Silence, Soften Earth and Stone, Sonorous Hum, Sound Burst, Stupor*, Suggestion, Summon Instrument, Summon Monster II, Summon Swarm, Taurion’s Arcane Reinforcement*, Tongues, Undetectable Alignment, Ulaa’s Ardent Tempo*, Warp Wood, Whispering Wind.
Level 3 - Alter Self, Analyze Portal, Azala’s Destructive Aria*, Bestow Curse, Blink, Blunt Weapon, Charm Monster, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Confusion, Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Displacement, Emotion, Fear, Friendship*, Gaseous Form, Greater Magic Weapon, Gust of Wind, Haste, Healthful Slumber, Hymn of Praise, Illusory Script, Improved Alarm, Improved Arcane Lock, Infernal Threnody, Invisibility Sphere, Keen Edge, Lesser Geas, Lesser Restoration, Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law, Major Image, Nelna’s Invisible Tent*, Nondetection, Osa’s Jaunty Jig*, Pass Without Trace, Phantom Steed, Protection from Elements, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Scrying, Sculpt Sound, Sepia Snake Sigil, Shadow Cache, Slow, Snare, Stinking Cloud, Summon Monster III, Tree Shape, Wind Wall.
Level 4 - Allegro, Arcane Might*, Break Enchantment, Choir, Cure Critical Wounds, Detect Scrying, Dimension Door, Dismissal, Dominate Person, Ethereal Mount, Follow the Leader, Freedom of Movement, Halumin’s Havok*, Hallucinatory Terrain, Harmonic Chorus, Hold Monster, Improved Invisibility, Improved Portal Alarm, Insect Plague, Legend Lore, Listening Coin, Locate Creature, Loroche’s Bolt-Hole*, Mass Darkvision, Mass Resist Elements, Modify Memory, Neutralize Poison, Rainbow Pattern, Repel Vermin, Sending, Shout, Spectral Weapon, Summon Monster IV, Zone of Silence.
Level 5 - Cacophonic Burst, Contact Other Plane, Control Water, Control Winds, Cure Massive Wounds*, Dream, Ethereal Jaunt, False Vision, Find the Path, Greater Confusion, Greater Dispelling, Greater Haste*, Healing Circle, Improvisation, Michella’s Marvelous Melody*, Mind Fog, Mirage Arcana, Mislead, Nelna’s Splendid Cabin*, Nightmare, Passwall, Persistent Image, Restoration, Song of Discord, Summon Monster V, Tree Stride, Veil, Wail of Doom.
Level 6 - Analyze Dweomer, Banishment, Control Weather, Dream Casting, Eyebite, Fanfare, Find the Path, Geas/Quest, Greater Healing Circle*, Greater Scrying, Great Shout, Insidious Rhythm, Mass Haste, Mass Invisibility, Mass Suggestion, Michella’s Vitalizing Verse*, Nelna’s Unassailable Tower*, Permanent Image, Plane Shift, Programmed Image, Project Image, Protégé, Repulsion, Summon Monster VI, Sympathetic Vibration, True Seeing.

* Custom Aurelian spell.

 

[Arkhandus]

*BUMP* Making updates today. Just wanted to bump the thread up first. Will replace this text with one of the updates when finished.

Edit: Updates done for now, ran into problems and had to split stuff up into multiple posts. Rearranged a lot of stuff. Ranger and its variants are in the upper-middle of the first page. Humans and Mentari-descendant races follow that. Master weapons list preview is now inbetween, feats preview is in the same spot as before, basic houserules were moved to the bottom of page 1, and monk martial arts talents preview is near the middle of the page now. Elven bladesinger prestige class now at top of page 2, fighter and its variants near the lower-middle of page 2, spells preview is near the upper-middle of page 2, and other stuff on page 2 generally left in place.

Added the Bard just a few posts up, here on page 3. Had to put the bardic music stuff in a second post, probably due to the new bardic music abilities in there, and had to put most of the rest of the class in a third post, because of the current limit on text per post.

Ranger has been updated, with a bunch of its abilities slightly tweaked, the spell list completed, a new class feature (Beast Mastery at 15th-level), a handful of new Ranger Talent options, a new Speed Style choice, and a Battle Style choice that I had accidentally left out before, Axe Frenzy. Fixed a lot of abilities that were a bit underpowered, trimmed some wording to make stuff more concise where it was clunky (though with my writing, it's probably still kinda clunky). Clarified a bit on spellcasting.

Only things left to do with the Ranger later are a probable tweak of the Beast Wrestler talent, to go along with my revision of the grappling rules (which will hopefully be finished and posted soon-ish), and maybe a tiny addition to the descriptive text for races and such.

I may get more updates posted later today or over the weekend. The Swashbuckler bard variant may get finished then, the Scout ranger variant might, the Aquari race description might, some spell descriptions might, and maybe a prestige class. Somehow, finishing the last details on Elves and Half-Elves keeps getting delayed on my list of things to do. -_-

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Spellreaver, Variant Bard

Placeholder for the Spellreaver bard variant that I haven't quite finished yet.

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Swashbuckler, Variant Bard

The Swashbuckler, Variant Bard

Swashbucklers are the more combative, martially-trained form of bard in Aurelia, somewhat less common and usually seen among seafarers, highwaymen, or aristocratic families with flamboyant or naval traditions. Most are pirates, privateers, or marines. They are often flashy swordsmen or masters of exotic, tricky weapons, but some are quite accomplished archers, crossbowmen, knifewielders, hatchetmen, or spearmen. Swashbucklers are more violently inclined than most other bards, but some just enjoy the thrill of dueling and humiliating an opponent.

Many noble families train their scions in fencing, archery, and other refined combat styles, and those scions with particular talent in these areas tend to become swashbucklers. However, every swashbuckler has a rebellious streak, impulsive tendencies, a mischevious personality, or a weakness for drunken shenanigans. Their fighting styles are somewhat unpredictable, often unorthodox, and quite effective. Swashbucklers tend to be best at defense, wearing out opponents and biding time until the best opportunities present themselves. They're also very athletic and nimble, but without the magical talents of other bards, albeit still capable at inspiring allies or demoralizing enemies.

Races: Humans, half-elves, merfolk, korobokuru, and hengeyokai are less likely to be swashbucklers than bards, but still count a modest number of swashbucklers amongst them. Elves, fey, aeragi, spiritfolk, hengeyokai, and locathah just prefer the more magical arts of the common bard, but elves, spiritfolk, hengeyokai, and aeragi are occasionally swashbucklers. Celestri, fey, locathah, nezumi, vanara, and hizak-kreen are almost never swashbucklers.

Among gnomes, firagi, orcs, half-orcs, draegi, gnolls, and bugbears, a swashbuckler is actually less rare than any other kind of bard, but still very uncommon. Gnomes who shy away from mystical studies toward martial pursuits are almost as likely to become swashbucklers as they are to become fighters, due to their natural and societal inclination towards mischief, witty banter, and fighting smarter, not harder. Halfling swashbucklers are also fairly uncommon, since halflings are more inclined towards the common bardic tradition, but enjoy the same aspects of this class as gnomes do. Firagi, orcs, and half-orcs who possess more of a clever mindset than other warriors of their kind may become swashbucklers.

Gnoll and bugbear raiders or bandits have been known to occasionally display the skills of a swashbuckler, often leading such forces with their superior tactics and tricks. Hobgoblin swashbucklers are rare, but not unknown. Draegi pirates in the Undersea are swashbucklers in some cases, but tend to be fighters or rogues instead. A rare few kuo-toa swashbucklers exist, and their fighting styles are even more unusual than most. Surprisingly, swashbucklers are merely uncommon amongst githyanki and githrani, even though the gith races have no bardic tradition and a rather serious bent. Swashbucklers are not known to exist among any other races.

Other Classes: Swashbucklers are almost as likely as not to be loners, out to make a name for themselves and some treasure to boot, but they often wind up in an adventuring company, bandit group, or ship's crew eventually. Nonetheless, most swashbucklers get along well with others who don't clash too much with their flamboyant or rapscallion natures. They fight well with other bards, rogues, fighters, psychic warriors, and rangers, but often get in the way, or on the nerves, of barbarians, monks, paladins, samurai, and sohei. Regardless, a swashbuckler can often complement a barbarian's, monk's, or sohei's mobility and tactics very well.

Wizards, shugenja, clerics, wu jen, and psions tend to be overly studious or overly serious as far as swashbucklers are concerned. Still, they can work well together when their cleverness and knowledge are combined. Shamans, sorcerers, and druids are easier for swashbucklers to get along with, though sometimes irritating in the same ways.


Game Rule Information
Swashbucklers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Dexterity is most important to swashbucklers, since they prefer light armors and excel at using agility for both offense and defense. It affects many of their class skills and some of their class features. Charisma is useful for many swashbuckler skills, some of their tricks, and their inspirational abilities, though not as important as it is for other bards. Intelligence is very important for swashbucklers who want to learn more than a handful of skills, and also affects some of their defensive class features. Strength and Constitution are of some importance to all swashbucklers, but reliance on special tricks and agility makes these abilities less vital. Swashbucklers range from witty fencers to clever pirates and rugged bandit-chiefs.
Alignment: Any nonlawful.
Hit Die: d8.


Class Skills
The swashbuckler’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (animal lore) (Int), Knowledge (beast lore) (Int), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (humanoid lore) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (magical beast lore) (Int), Knowledge (monstrous humanoid lore) (Int), Knowledge (nobility & royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (Int), Spot (Wis) Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.


Class Features
All of the following are class features of the swashbuckler.

[sblock]Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A swashbuckler is proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons, light armors, and shields. Additionally, the swashbuckler is proficient with one exotic weapon of their choice, chosen from the following list: blade boot, claw bracer, greater chakram, hand crossbow, harpoon, heavy arc boomerang, lesser chakram, light arc boomerang, nagaika, net, repeating crossbow, serrated kukri, scourge, ward cestus, or whip.

Bardic Knowledge: A swashbuckler picks up a lot of stray knowledge while wandering the land or sea and learning stories from other swashbucklers or bards. A swashbuckler may make a special Bardic Knowledge check with a bonus equal to swashbuckler level + his positive Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. This check will not reveal the powers of a magic item, but may give a hint as to its general function. The swashbuckler may not take 10 or take 20 on this check, since this is essentially random knowledge. The DM will determine the Difficulty Class of the check by referring to the table below.

[B][COLOR=Blue]DC	Type of Knowledge		Example[/COLOR][/B]
10	Common, known by at least	A local mayor's reputation for
	a substantial minority of	drinking; common legends about
	the local population.		a powerful place of mystery.
20	Uncommon but available,		A local priest's shady past;
	known by only a few people	legends about a powerful magic
	in the area.			item.
25	Obscure, known by few,		A knight's family history; legends
	hard to come by.		about a minor magic item or place
					of mystery.
30	Extremely obscure, known by	A mighty wizard's childhood
	very few, possibly forgotten	nickname; the history of a petty
	by most who once knew it,	magic item.
	possibly known only by those
	who don't understand the
	significance of the knowledge.

Cunning Defense (Ex): Swashbucklers have keen instincts and tactical skills, with a knack for feints and distractions. As long as the swashbuckler is wearing light armor or no armor, using a buckler or no shield at all, and carrying no more than a light load, they gain a competence bonus to Armor Class. This AC bonus equals the swashbuckler's Charisma or Intelligence modifier, whichever he chooses each round, to a minimum of +1 AC and a maximum of +1 per swashbuckler level.

In addition, the swashbuckler adds this competence bonus on opposed rolls to resist a disarm attempt. Cunning Defense does not function if the swashbuckler is wielding a weapon of any size category larger than him- or herself, nor does it work if the swashbuckler is wielding two weapons that are the same size category as him- or herself. The benefits are also lost whenever the swashbuckler is immobilized or denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (regardless of whether or not their Dexterity modifier is positive). Cunning Defense is an extraordinary ability.


Bonus Feats: At 2nd-level, the swashbuckler gets a bonus feat. The swashbuckler gains an additional bonus feat at 7th-level and every five levels thereafter. These bonus feats must be drawn from the following list:

Ambidexterity, Athletic, Blind-Fight, Broadened Skills, Combat Reflexes, Dirty Fighting, Dodge** (Combat Agility, Defensive Strike, Karmic Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack), Exotic Weapon Proficiency*, Expertise (Chink in the Armor, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Snatch Weapon, Superior Expertise, Whirlwind Attack), Favored Weapon, Improved Critical*, Improved Initiative (Death Blow), Jack of All Trades, Point Blank Shot (Far Shot, Manyshot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run), Quick Draw (Flick of the Wrist, Knife Gouger), Quicker Than the Eye, Rapid Reload, Skill Focus*, Throw Anything, Two-Weapon Fighting (Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Off-Hand Parry, Superior Two-Weapon Fighting), Weapon Finesse* (Deadly Impaler, Light Fencer), Weapon Focus* (Adept Musketeer, Expert Arbalestier, Focused Archer, Gauntlet Gladiator, Nimble Aggressor, Whiplasher).

Some of the bonus feats available to a swashbuckler cannot be acquired until the swashbuckler has gained one or more prerequisite feats; these feats are listed parenthetically after the prerequisite feat. A swashbuckler can select feats marked with an asterisk (*) more than once, but it must be for a different weapon or skill each time as appropriate. Any feats marked with two asterisks (**) may be selected multiple times, and their effects stack. A swashbuckler must still meet all prerequisites for a feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.


Acrobatics (Ex): The swashbuckler develops incredible athletic prowess with acrobatics, and by 3rd-level in this class, they have perfected some of these techniques. As an extraordinary ability, the swashbuckler gains a +3 competence bonus on all Balance, Jump, and Tumble skill checks. This bonus increases by a further +3 at every fifth level following that, such as 8th-level. Acrobatics only functions when wearing light armor or no armor, and carrying no more than a light load.

Deadly Finesse (Ex): Swashbucklers learn to use their great finesse, speed, and skill in combat at 3rd-level onward for more potent attacks. Once per round, the swashbuckler deals 1d4 extra damage on a successful hit with a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike (not a grapple check), except for weapons larger in size category than the swashbuckler, or weapons used beyond a range of 30 feet. The use of Deadly Finesse must be declared before the attack roll, and only when the swashbuckler performs an attack of opportunity, uses Acrobatic Attack, uses Acrobatic Assault, attacks an immobilized opponent, or attacks an opponent who is denied a Dexterity bonus to AC against him. Deadly Finesse is an extraordinary ability that only functions against targets who are subject to critical hits, so it does not apply against objects. The bonus damage improves to 2d4 at 8th-level, then to 3d4 at 14th-level, and finally to 4d4 at 19th-level. Since these are bonus dice, they are not multiplied on a critical hit.

Defensive Parry: The swashbuckler is quite capable at blocking and deflecting an opponent's attacks by using their own weapon, and by 4th-level he or she is able to utilize some of this practice. Once per round, the swashbuckler may expend one of his or her potential attacks of opportunity for the round, if any remain, to try and parry an enemy's melee attack against them. The enemy's attack must be with a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike, no more than two size categories smaller than the swashbuckler, and no more than one size category larger than the swashbuckler.

To parry the attack, make an attack roll with a melee weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike that you currently wield (for natural weapons or unarmed strikes, you cannot be holding anything in the appropriate limb; unarmed strikes can only parry if you have a free hand, or have an ability like the monk's to make unarmed strikes with any body part). Add your Intelligence modifier, if positive, to your parrying attack roll. If your total attack roll is higher than the opponent's, then that enemy's attack is treated as though it missed you. The parry is not a normal attack, and does not deal damage nor count as an attack of opportunity against that enemy.

You must declare use of this ability after the enemy attacks, but before you learn the attack roll's total or its damage. You cannot parry if you are immobilized or denied a Dexterity bonus to AC against the attacking enemy (regardless of whether or not your Dexterity modifier is positive). You cannot parry a touch attack, grapple check, bull rush, overrun, trip, disarm, or a weaponlike spell or power, nor an attack against an object, nor any attack that delivers a touch spell or power. You can parry weapons or natural weapons created by spells or powers, but only if they use normal melee attack rolls.


Acrobatic Attack (Ex): At 5th-level, if the swashbuckler attacks by jumping at least 5 feet into his opponent, jumping down at least 5 feet onto his opponent, jumping at least 5 feet towards his opponent and past them (through an adjacent space), swinging at least 5 feet on a rope or branch or similar object into his opponent, or swinging at least 5 feet on a rope or branch or similar object past his opponent (through an adjacent space), the swashbuckler gains +2 on attack and damage rolls against that opponent this round. These bonuses apply only to melee attacks, and only to physical damage (not damage from magic touch attacks, for example).

The swashbuckler may perform charge attacks in this manner, by jumping or swinging towards the opponent rather than just running on a surface towards them, and swinging or jumping charges may be made in arcs rather than straight lines. For jumping attacks, the swashbuckler must succeed at a Jump check to move at least 5 feet, otherwise Acrobatic Attack does not apply to that attempt. For swinging attacks, the swashbuckler must make a successful Use Rope check against DC 10, or else he or she cannot benefit from Acrobatic Attack on that attempt. If the Jump check succeeds but would carry the swashbuckler further than his opponent, he may choose to limit the jumping distance, to end adjacent with his opponent.

Acrobatic Attack may be combined with the Spring Attack feat, if possessed, to continue moving after the attack (the swashbuckler does not need to jump or swing the additional distance). Tumble checks are needed as normal if the swashbuckler wants to avoid attacks of opportunity for movement, or if he wants to move through enemy spaces. Acrobatic Attack is an extraordinary ability.


Uncanny Dodge (Ex): The swashbuckler develops extraordinary instincts and reactive ability, allowing them to avoid nasty surprises and certain distractions. At 6nd-level, they retain their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) even when flat-footed or attacked by an invisible foe, but still loses the bonus when immobilized. A swashbuckler of 10th-level or higher develops even keener skill which prevents them from being flanked. At that point, only individuals who possess Sneak Attack and at least four more character levels than the swashbuckler may flank him or her. Uncanny Dodge is an extraordinary ability.

Hasty Feint: The swashbuckler learns to make quicker, if less effective, feints in combat to try and distract foes. Starting at 7th-level, the swashbuckler may use the Bluff skill to feint in combat as a move-equivalent action instead of a standard action, but suffers a -2 penalty on the Bluff check when doing so. Once he or she has reached 13th-level in this class, the penalty no longer applies as the swashbuckler's skill at making hasty distractions improves. Finally, once the swashbuckler achieves 19th-level in this class, he or she has become so good at distracting foes that he or she gains a +2 bonus on all Bluff checks to feint in combat, and also on Bluff checks for creating a diversion to hide.[/sblock]
The remainder of the swashbuckler's details will be in the next post.

 

[Arkhandus]

Aurelian Swashbuckler, continued

The Aurelian Swashbuckler, continued

[sblock]Bardic Music (Su): A swashbuckler learns to produce songs of power after reaching 9th-level in this class, allowing them to bolster themselves and their allies in battle, or to demoralize enemies. Henceforth, once per day per three levels in this class, the swashbuckler can use his song or poetics to produce magical effects on those around him. Depending on how many ranks he has in the Perform skill, he can inspire varying degrees of courage in his allies or cowardice in his enemies, but a swashbuckler is not as versatile with his music as a typical bard.

While these abilities fall under the category of Bardic Music, they can include reciting poetry, chanting, singing lyrical songs, singing melodies, whistling, playing an instrument, or playing an instrument in combination with some kind of verbal performance. Activating any Bardic Music ability is a standard action, and any spell-like Bardic Music abilities provoke attacks of opportunity when activated.

Whether or not a creature makes its saving throw against any Bardic Music effect, he or she is not made aware of the fact that a swashbuckler just attempted to influence them. Neither is the swashbuckler aware of who their Bardic Music has or has not affected. Bardic Music does not make creatures forget what happened. All Bardic Music abilities are magical, sonic effects that override the swashbuckler’s ability to use verbal magic, even if he or she plays an instrument for the performance.

While performing Bardic Music, the swashbuckler can fight but cannot cast spells with verbal components, activate magic items by command word, activate magic items by spell completion, or activate magic items by spell trigger. Just like when casting spells with verbal components, a deaf swashbuckler suffers a 20% chance of failing to activate Bardic Music. If he fails, the attempt still counts toward his daily limit. In order to use a particular Bardic Music effect, the swashbuckler must have at least a certain number of ranks in the Perform skill, and several effects of middling or higher Perform ranks also require a minimum number of swashbuckler levels. A creature cannot be affected by more than three Bardic Music performances at any given time.

Whenever a Bardic Music effect would be contested as a result, the originators of the opposing effects each make an opposed Perform check, and the individual with the highest Perform check wins. Ties result in a re-roll for those who tied. No Bardic Music effect, such as Inspire Courage, can be applied to a creature more than once at a time, so additional uses of that effect result in opposed Perform checks to determine which one overrides the other copies of that effect for that creature. In any of these cases, the originator of an earlier Bardic Music effect may choose to fail the opposed check for that previous use of Bardic Music.


Inspire Courage (Su): A swashbuckler with 3 or more ranks in Perform can use music or poetics to inspire courage in his allies, bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must hear the swashbuckler perform for a full round. The effect lasts as long as the swashbuckler performs and for 5 rounds after the swashbuckler has stopped performing (or 5 rounds after the ally can no longer hear the swashbuckler’s performance). The swashbuckler and affected allies each receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects, and a +1 morale bonus to attack and weapon damage rolls (including unarmed strike, grapple, and natural weapon damage rolls). Inspire Courage is a supernatural, mind-affecting ability.

Dreadful Dirge (Su): A swashbuckler with 9 or more ranks in Perform can instill terror and doubt in his foes with intimidating music, song, or speeches. This requires at least 10 levels in the swashbuckler class to utilize. The swashbuckler makes a Perform check when using this ability. All creatures within 150 feet of the swashbuckler who can hear his performance are affected, except for the swashbuckler himself and any allies he can see when beginning the Dreadful Dirge.

After any subject has heard the Dirge for at least 1 full round, he or she may attempt a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + one-half the swashbuckler’s Perform check result, rounded down) to resist it, and on a successful save they are immune to that swashbuckler’s Dreadful Dirges for 24 hours. On a failed save, the subject is shaken while he or she continues to hear the performance and remains within 150 feet of the swashbuckler. Any affected creature with half as many hit dice as the swashbuckler, or fewer, is frightened instead on a failed save.

Any victim who can no longer hear the Dirge or goes out of range is free of its effects, until they are once again within range and hear it. Dreadful Dirge mixes normally with any other fear effects upon the victims, worsening their fear condition as appropriate (shaken to frightened, frightened to panicked, or panicked to cowering). The swashbuckler can maintain a Dreadful Dirge performance for up to 1 round per level in this class. Dreadful Dirge is a supernatural, mind-affecting, fear, and Enchantment ability.

Inspire Valor (Su): A swashbuckler with 12 or more ranks in Perform can inspire even greater bravery in his allies than before. This requires at least 12 levels in the swashbuckler class to utilize. When using his Bardic Music ability to Inspire Courage, the swashbuckler grants double the normal bonuses to saving throws, attacks, and weapon damage rolls. Inspire Valor does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Inspire Courage. The swashbuckler may elect not to use Inspire Valor when activating Inspire Courage, if desired.

Inspire Greatness (Su): A swashbuckler with 15 or more ranks in perform can use his music or poetics to inspire greatness in another creature (not himself), granting extra fighting capability. This requires at least 14 levels in the swashbuckler class to utilize. For every two levels the swashbuckler attains beyond 14th, he can inspire greatness in one additional creature with each use of this ability. To inspire greatness, the swashbuckler must perform and the creature to be affected must hear the swashbuckler perform for a full round, as with Inspire Courage.

The creature must also be within 30 feet while hearing the first round of the performance. A creature inspired with greatness gains temporary Hit Dice, attack bonuses, and saving throw bonuses as long as they hear the swashbuckler continue to perform and for 5 rounds thereafter. All of these bonuses count as competence bonuses. Specifically, the creature gains +3 Hit Dice (d10s that grant temporary hit points), +2 on attack rolls, +2 on weapon damage rolls (including unarmed strike, grapple, and natural weapon damage rolls), +2 on Fortitude saving throws, and +2 on Reflex saving throws.

Apply the target’s Constitution modifier (and other level-based hit point modifiers), if any, to each bonus Hit Die. These bonus Hit Dice count as regular Hit Dice for determining level-based effects (excluding effective caster level, manifester level, or class level), but do not grant any extra feats, skill points, class levels, ability score increases, or other benefits of permanent HD. Inspire Greatness is a supernatural, mind-affecting Enchantment ability.

Inspire Heroism (Su): A swashbuckler with 21 or more ranks in perform can inspire his allies to even greater deeds of greatness and heroism. This requires at least 18 levels in the swashbuckler class to utilize. When Inspiring Greatness in his allies, the swashbuckler grants double the normal number of bonus Hit Dice, double the normal competence bonus on attacks and damage, and double the usual competence bonus on Fortitude and Reflex saving throws. The allies to be affected may also be up to 60 feet away while hearing the first round of performance. Inspire Heroism does not count as a separate effect, as it is just an improvement to Inspire Greatness. The swashbuckler may elect not to use Inspire Heroism when activating Inspire Greatness, if desired.


Nimble Defense (Ex): Swashbucklers of 11th-level or higher know many effective dodging and tumbling techniques, and now have enough experience to employ such maneuvers whenever necessary. They henceforth receive a dodge bonus to AC equal to their Dexterity modifier, if positive, to a minimum of +1 AC. Nimble Defense only applies when wearing light armor or no armor, using no shield or a buckler shield, and carrying no more than a light load. Dodge bonuses stack with one another, unlike most other types of bonus. This dodge bonus is lost whenever the swashbuckler is immobilized or denied a Dexterity bonus to AC. Also, the dodge bonus from Nimble Defense only applies against a single opponent at any given time. The swashbuckler designates one opposing creature at the start of his turn, as the target his Nimble Defense guards against, and may designate a different creature at the end of his turn. This is an extraordinary ability.

Riposte: A swashbuckler of 12th-level or higher has refined his or her parrying skills to the point that he or she can now attempt an occasional counterattack. Once per round, if the swashbuckler successfully parries an opponent's attack in melee through Defensive Parry, the swashbuckler can make an immediate, normal attack of opportunity against that opponent. However, he or she can only do so if the opponent is within the swashbuckler's own melee reach at the moment, and only if the swashbuckler expended an attack of opportunity for that parry attempt.

This counts as part of the attack of opportunity used in the parry attempt, rather than expending another attack of opportunity. Nonetheless, it uses separate rolls and does not get the extra bonus noted in Defensive Parry. The Riposte does not need to use the same weapon that was parried with, so for instance, the swashbuckler might trip his opponent with a leg sweep, punch them in the face, disarm them, attack the opponent's weapon, or stab the opponent with an off-hand weapon (though as an attack of opportunity, it would not suffer the usual two-weapon fighting penalties to its attack roll). The swashbuckler cannot make a bull rush or grapple attempt as the Riposte attack of opportunity.


Rapid Parry: A swashbuckler of at least 15th-level is highly experienced in techniques of parrying, and is capable of parrying many attacks in a row. The swashbuckler may now attempt multiple parries each round, with the Defensive Parry class feature, but each parry still requires them to expend one of their potential attacks of opportunity for the round. If they do not have any feat or ability granting multiple attacks of opportunity per round, then the second parry attempt each round does not require expending an attack of opportunity.

Skill Mastery: By 15th-level in this class, the swashbuckler has grown very experienced in the use of certain skills, and is so confident in their ability with those skills that stress or distractions are no hindrance. The swashbuckler chooses a number of skills equal to 3 + their Intelligence modifier. Whenever the swashbuckler makes a skill check with any of those skills, he or she may take 10 regardless of distractions, threats, stress, or being rushed. Their familiarity with the skills allow them to be used with confidence and expertise under any circumstances.

Slippery Mind (Ex): A swashbuckler of 16th-level has developed a phenomenally strong sense of self, augmented by a clever and devious mind, which makes it difficult for others to manipulate the swashbuckler through magic or psionics. If a swashbuckler with Slippery Mind fails their initial saving throw against any mind-affecting effect, they may attempt the saving throw again on the next round. They only get this one extra chance to wriggle free of the effect. Slippery Mind is an extraordinary ability.


Acrobatic Assault (Ex): Swashbucklers of 20th-level are masters of graceful fighting, moving about the battlefield and striking wherever they may, swiftly and unpredictably with acrobatic maneuvers. As an extraordinary ability, whenever the swashbuckler uses his or her Acrobatic Attack class feature, he or she may perform a full-attack action as though it were only a standard action or charge action. This is a special full-attack action, and thus cannot be combined with other special full-attacks, such as a monkish flurry of blows or a Whirlwind Attack. The swashbuckler's attacks during this action may be made at any point, or points, during his or her movement after the first 5 feet. If charging in this manner, for instance, the swashbuckler could attack opponents while moving past or over them towards his or her main target, but must attack the main target of his or her charge at least once. The benefits of charging only apply against the main target of the charge, however.

Ex-Swashbucklers: A swashbuckler who becomes lawful in alignment cannot progress in level as a swashbuckler any further, for as long as he remains of lawful alignment, though he retains all of his swashbuckler abilities.[/sblock]

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Swashbuckler:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base			Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack			Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+1			+0	+2	+0	Bardic Knowledge, Cunning Defense
2	+2			+0	+3	+0	Bonus Feat
3	+3			+1	+3	+1	Acrobatics (+3), Deadly Finesse +1d4
4	+4			+1	+4	+1	Defensive Parry
5	+5			+1	+4	+1	Acrobatic Attack
6	+6/+1			+2	+5	+2	Uncanny Dodge (Dex bonus to AC)
7	+7/+2			+2	+5	+2	Bonus Feat, Hasty Feint (-2)
8	+8/+3			+2	+6	+2	Acrobatics (+6), Deadly Finesse +2d4
9	+9/+4			+3	+6	+3	Bardic Music
10	+10/+5			+3	+7	+3	Uncanny Dodge (cannot be flanked)
11	+11/+6/+1		+3	+7	+3	Nimble Defense
12	+12/+7/+2		+4	+8	+4	Bonus Feat, Riposte
13	+13/+8/+3		+4	+8	+4	Acrobatics (+9), Hasty Feint (+0)
14	+14/+9/+4		+4	+9	+4	Deadly Finesse +3d4
15	+15/+10/+5		+5	+9	+5	Rapid Parry, Skill Mastery
16	+16/+11/+6/+1		+5	+10	+5	Slippery Mind
17	+17/+12/+7/+2		+5	+10	+5	Bonus Feat
18	+18/+13/+8/+3		+6	+11	+6	Acrobatics (+12)
19	+19/+14/+9/+4		+6	+11	+6	Deadly Finesse +4d4, Hasty Feint (+2)
20	+20/+15/+10/+5		+6	+12	+6	Acrobatic Assault

 

[Arkhandus]

Realized one little exploit that had slipped my mind earlier, with the Elven Bladesinger. So I switched the levels at which they gain Quicken Song and Toughness/Endure (now 9th level and 5th level respectively, instead of the reverse; more recently I replaced their Toughness bonus feat with Endure, a minor HP bonus). My original considerations of the Quicken Song ability were based on the most likely scenario of a Bladesinger actually continuing to advance as a Bladesinger or as a multiclassed warrior/mage combination of some sort.

It just occured to me that if somebody really wanted to, they could've taken 1 level of Zealot Cleric, 6 levels of Wizard, 5 levels of Elven Bladesinger, and another 8 levels of Wizard, becoming a Zealot 1/Wizard 14/Elven Bladesinger 5, who cast spells as per a Wizard 16, but could Quicken 2 8th-level spells per day and Extend 2 other 8th-level spells per day (if they were a specialist with 34 Int) or 2 other 7th-level spells per day instead.

While it wouldn't be too bad (pure Wizards with Time Stop could do worse, but at the expense of more high-level slots in one round), it could get really bad if they hit epic levels and started Quickening 9th-level spells right at 21st level. And Extending Time Stops right at 21st-level. While being much tougher than a pure Wizard (and more capable of falling back on spells like Tenser's Transformation for fighting golems and such, even though Aurelia will have a different spell in its place that works somewhat differently).


In other news, the swashbuckler was posted the other day, and I may have another race, class, or prestige class done in the next few days. Also thinking of putting up a more significant Feats post or two, in place of the small Feats Preview.

Oh yeah, and regarding the Spellreaver: my third bard variant. The Troubadour will be finished sooner, but I still need to detail its unique Bardic Music options (since it gets more of 'em than the others). While Swashbucklers get access to only a few BM options, and Troubadours get access to more than the standard Bard, Spellreavers have no Bardic Music. They share other bardic traits instead, like Bardic Knowledge (gained a bit later than normal), Telling Blow, and Ignore Components. They get bardic spellcasting but slightly better, as they're the most caster-oriented Aurelian bard variant.

Much less skill-oriented than the others, and less music/speech oriented than the others, but more magic-oriented overall and more battle-focused. Their combat prowess is similar to a standard Bard's, but they get a lot more battle-magic, with an altered spell list (less utility and mind-affecting spells, more buffing, debuffing, and blasting spells, though still not as good as a wizard or cleric in those regards). Spellreavers are basically the battlemage or warrior-mage archetype in Aurelia, though of a somewhat bardic persuasion.

However, many of their magical combat tricks require expending spell slots and/or taking some backlash damage, so they lack the endurance of a fighter/wizard or somebody who goes for the Spellsword, Elven Bladesinger, Arcane Archer, or Eldritch Marksman prestige classes. Instead they just get to do the warrior-mage shtick reasonably well right at the start, and have a decent selection of noncombat skills they can choose to learn.

My other ideas for a third bard variant just didn't quite fit well enough with the way I had already set it up; Bards as the most versatile and balanced version, Swashbucklers as the least magical and most skilled in combat but still good with skills, and Troubadours as the most skill-oriented, performance-oriented, and most nimble in general, also good with bardic knowledge and feats, but sacrificing some spells and some combat ability. I needed a spells-oriented variant that was a bit tougher, and more offensively potent than a swashbuckler (SBs are defensive and accurate, but not so potent), but less nimble and less versatile.

The skald, a.k.a. inspired bard, was turned into a prestige class instead, since I determined that it was just too good and yet too similar to a cleric/bard or druid/bard; the resultant prestige class is a bit more unique and interesting to me, and not so unbalanced. The jester/harlequin/trickster just wasn't necessary, and that archetype can already be filled well by a Bard, Troubadour, Rogue, Prodigy (rogue variant), or multiclass thereof. The wardancer variant bard is also likely to become a prestige class instead, and just wasn't what I was looking for anyway, as it's a spell-less, full-BAB class focused on wardances instead of spells and bardic music. The commander variant just didn't really seem bardic to me, except in the vaguest sense of its role as a 'social type with great inspirational abilities, decent skills, and decent combat ability'. Some of its abilities may just become options for the Myrmidon prestige class or other PrCs.

A Spellreaver preview below. Physical Training boosts Fortitude and Reflex. I'm still considering whether or not to give them a d8 HD with 6 sp/level, or a d10 with 4 sp.

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Spellreaver:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+0	+0	+2	Ignore Components 1/day, Reaver Magic
2	+1		+0	+0	+3	Physical Training +1
3	+2		+1	+1	+3	Bardic Knowledge
4	+3		+1	+1	+4	Ignore Components 2/day
5	+3		+1	+1	+4	Chaos Reaver 1/week, Reaver Magic
6	+4		+2	+2	+5	Telling Blow 1/day
7	+5		+2	+2	+5	Ignore Components 3/day
8	+6/+1		+2	+2	+6
9	+6/+1		+3	+3	+6	Physical Training +2, Reaver Magic
10	+7/+2		+3	+3	+7	Ignore Components 4/day
11	+8/+3		+3	+3	+7
12	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Telling Blow 2/day
13	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Ignore Components 5/day, Reaver Magic
14	+10/+5		+4	+4	+9
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Chaos Reaver 2/week
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Ignore Components 6/day
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Reaver Magic
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Telling Blow 3/day
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Ignore Components 7/day
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Chaos Reaver 3/week

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]Spellreaver Spells Rehearsed & Spells Per Day:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class		Spells Rehearsed/Spells Per Day
Level		0	1	2	3	4	5	6[/COLOR][/B]
1		5/4	2/1	-	-	-	-	-
2		6/5	3/2	-	-	-	-	-
3		7/5	3/3	-	-	-	-	-
4		7/5	4/3	2/1	-	-	-	-
5		7/5	4/4	3/2	-	-	-	-
6		7/5	4/4	3/3	-	-	-	-
7		7/5	4/4	4/3	2/1	-	-	-
8		7/5	4/4	4/4	3/2	-	-	-
9		7/5	4/4	4/4	3/3	-	-	-
10		7/5	4/4	4/4	4/3	2/1	-	-
11		7/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/2	-	-
12		7/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/3	-	-
13		7/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/3	2/1	-
14		7/6	4/4	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/2	-
15		7/6	4/5	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/3	-
16		7/6	5/5	4/5	4/4	4/4	4/3	2/1
17		7/6	5/5	5/5	4/5	4/4	4/4	3/2
18		7/6	5/5	5/5	5/5	4/5	4/4	3/3
19		7/6	5/5	5/5	5/5	5/5	4/5	4/4
20		7/6	5/5	5/5	5/5	5/5	5/5	4/5

And a Skald prestige class preview here. They have to make a Sacrifice of some sort at 1st level, and their Gift/Greater Gift are dependant on the kind of Sacrifice; giving up an eye permanently will get them divinatory Gifts, frex, like Odin of Norse mythology.

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Skald:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special				Spellcasting Ability[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Arcane Edge, Bardic Knowledge,
					Bardic Music, Gift
2	+1	+3	+0	+3	Baleful Insight			+1 level of existing class
3	+2	+3	+1	+3	Eldritch Secret			+1 level of existing class
4	+3	+4	+1	+4	Druidic Boon
5	+3	+4	+1	+4	Inspired Fury			+1 level of existing class
6	+4	+5	+2	+5	Aura of Courage			+1 level of existing class
7	+5	+5	+2	+5	Druidic Boon
8	+6	+6	+2	+6	Divine Insight			+1 level of existing class
9	+6	+6	+3	+6	Bardic Intuition		+1 level of existing class
10	+7	+7	+3	+7	Greater Gift

For now, this is what the Tribal Wardancer prestige class looks like, though it may get a few abilities removed or shifted around by the time I finish detailing and balancing it.

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Tribal Wardancer:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Agile Warrior, Wardance
2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Chant, Evasion
3	+3	+3	+3	+1	Spring Attack, Wardance
4	+4	+4	+4	+1	Fast Movement
5	+5	+4	+4	+1	Limited Skill Mastery, Wardance
6	+6	+5	+5	+2	Whirlwind Attack
7	+7	+5	+5	+2	Greater Spring Attack, Wardance
8	+8	+6	+6	+2	Improved Evasion
9	+9	+6	+6	+3	Greater Whirlwind Attack, Wardance
10	+10	+7	+7	+3	Blended Wardance, Greater Chant

 

[Arkhandus]

More Class Advancement Previews

While I'm at it, I may as well add a few more minor previews.

Prestige classes:

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Order of the Bow Initiate:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+1	+0	+2	+2	Deflect Arrows, Ranged Sneak Attack +1d6
2	+2	+0	+3	+3	Close Combat Shot, Focused Shot
3	+3	+1	+3	+3	Ranged Sneak Attack +2d6
4	+4	+1	+4	+4	Superior Weapon Focus
5	+5	+1	+4	+4	Ranged Sneak Attack +3d6, Ranged Precision
6	+6	+2	+5	+5	Free Attack, Zen Archery
7	+7	+2	+5	+5	Ranged Sneak Attack +4d6, Threatening Shot
8	+8	+2	+6	+6	Banked Shot
9	+9	+3	+6	+6	Ranged Sneak Attack +5d6
10	+10	+3	+7	+7	Superior Weapon Specialization

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Eldritch Marksman:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special				Spellcasting Ability[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Eldritch Projectiles, Marksmanship
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Magic Shot			+1 level of existing class
3	+2	+1	+1	+3	Projectile Infusion (Lesser)
4	+3	+1	+1	+4	Arcane Sniping			+1 level of existing class
5	+3	+1	+1	+4	Eldritch Barrage,
					Projectile Infusion (Lesser)
6	+4	+2	+2	+5	Bonus Feat			+1 level of existing class
7	+5	+2	+2	+5	Projectile Infusion (Lesser)
8	+6	+2	+2	+6	Eldritch Combination		+1 level of existing class
9	+6	+3	+3	+6	Projectile Infusion (Greater)
10	+7	+3	+3	+7	Greater Eldritch Projectiles	+1 level of existing class

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Clairvoyant Assailant:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Offensive Precognition, Psychic Hunter
2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Sneak Attack +1d6
3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Pre-Emptive Evasion
4	+3	+1	+4	+1	Extrasensory Perception
5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Sneak Attack +2d6, Detection Defenses
6	+4	+2	+5	+2	Defensive Prescience
7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Lethal Insight
8	+6	+2	+6	+2	Sneak Attack +3d6
9	+6	+3	+6	+3	Mindbreaker, Trace Teleport
10	+7	+3	+7	+3	Combat Intuition, Shield of Prudence

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]Clairvoyant Assailant Power Points And Powers Known:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Power*	Free**	Powers Known By Power Level
Level	Points	Talents	0	1	2	3	4	5[/COLOR][/B]
1	1	1	2	1	---	---	---	---
2	3	1	3	2	---	---	---	---
3	5	1	3	2	1	---	---	---
4	7	2	3	3	2	---	---	---
5	11	2	3	3	2	1	---	---
6	15	2	3	4	3	2	---	---
7	19	3	3	4	3	2	1	---
8	25	3	3	4	3	3	2	---
9	31	3	3	4	3	3	2	1
10	37	4	3	4	3	3	3	2
[I]* The number in this column is the clairvoyant assailant's total
base number of power points available each day.
** The number in this column is the number of 0-level powers the
clairvoyant assailant can manifest for free each day.[/I]

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Crystal Knight:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special				Manifesting Ability[/COLOR][/B]
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	Crystal Edge, Attune Crystals
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	Embed Crystals, Inner Power	+1 level of existing class
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	Energize Facets, Crystal Armor
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	Greater Crystal Edge		+1 level of existing class
5	+5	+4	+1	+4	Energize Facets, Bonus Feat
6	+6	+5	+2	+5	Greater Crystal Armor		+1 level of existing class
7	+7	+5	+2	+5	Energize Facets, Inner Power
8	+8	+6	+2	+6	Superior Crystal Edge		+1 level of existing class
9	+9	+6	+3	+6	Energize Facets, Bonus Feat
10	+10	+7	+3	+7	Superior Crystal Armor		+1 level of existing class

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Divine Hammer:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Weapon of the Gods +1, Smite 1/day
2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Weapon Blessing I
3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Weapon of the Gods +2, Weapon Bond
4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Weapon Blessing II
5	+5	+4	+1	+1	Weapon of the Gods +3, Smite 2/day
6	+6	+5	+2	+2	Weapon Blessing III
7	+7	+5	+2	+2	Weapon of the Gods +4, Bonus Feat
8	+8	+6	+2	+2	Weapon Blessing IV
9	+9	+6	+3	+3	Weapon of the Gods +5, Smite 3/day
10	+10	+7	+3	+3	Weapon Blessing V, Inviolate Weapon

Base classes:

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Wu Jen:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Bonus Feat, Elemental Mastery, Spell Secret, Taboo
2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Spell Discovery
3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Sudden Action
4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Spell Secret, Taboo
5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Focused Attack
6	+3	+2	+2	+5	Spell Discovery
7	+3	+2	+2	+5	Spell Secret, Taboo
8	+4	+2	+2	+6	Elemental Prowess, Spell Channel
9	+4	+3	+3	+6	Spell Discovery
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Spell Secret, Taboo, Greater Secrets
11	+5	+3	+3	+7	Spell Mastery
12	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Spell Discovery
13	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Spell Secret, Taboo
14	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Sudden Move
15	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Spell Discovery
16	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Spell Secret, Taboo
17	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Spell Discovery
18	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Spell Mastery
19	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Spell Secret, Taboo
20	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Elemental Might, Spell Discovery

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Mindthief (Variant Psychic Warrior):[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will	Power*	Free**
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Points	Talents	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+0	+2	+2	1	2	Two Psionic Combat Modes, Inner Strength, Lifesnatcher
2	+1		+0	+3	+3	2	2	Mind Scan, Traps
3	+2		+1	+3	+3	3	2	Psionic Combat Mode
4	+3		+1	+4	+4	5	2	Memory Stealer
5	+3		+1	+4	+4	7	3	Psionic Combat Mode, Invade Thoughts
6	+4		+2	+5	+5	9	3	Power Filch, Free Mode 1/1
7	+5		+2	+5	+5	12	3	Psionic Combat Mode
8	+6/+1		+2	+6	+6	15	3	Evasion
9	+6/+1		+3	+6	+6	18	4	Psionic Combat Mode
10	+7/+2		+3	+7	+7	22	4	Skill Mastery
11	+8/+3		+3	+7	+7	26	4	Psionic Combat Mode
12	+9/+4		+4	+8	+8	30	4	Psychic Contact
13	+9/+4		+4	+8	+8	35	5	Psionic Combat Mode, Greater Mindtheft
14	+10/+5		+4	+9	+9	40	5	Steal Persona
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9	45	5	Psionic Combat Mode
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	51	5	Drain Will, Free Mode 2/1
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	57	6	Psionic Combat Mode
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11	63	6	Bodystealer
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	71	6	Trigger Mode
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12	79	6	Psychic Intrusion
[I]* The number in this column is the mindthief's total base number of power points available each day.
** The number in this column is the number of 0-level powers the mindthief can manifest for free each day.[/I]

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Shaman:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+0	+0	+2	Animal Companions, Improved Unarmed Strike
2	+1		+0	+0	+3	Spirit Sight
3	+2		+1	+1	+3	Turn or Rebuke the Chosen
4	+3		+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat
5	+3		+1	+1	+4	Spirits' Favor
6	+4		+2	+2	+5	Spontaneous Summons
7	+5		+2	+2	+5	Spiritual Discipline
8	+6/+1		+2	+2	+6	Bonus Feat
9	+6/+1		+3	+3	+6	Domain Manifestation
10	+7/+2		+3	+3	+7	Third Domain
11	+8/+3		+3	+3	+7	Spell Channel
12	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Bonus Feat
13	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Spiritual Discipline
14	+10/+5		+4	+4	+9	Bolstering Spirits
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Divine Energy Attunement
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Bonus Feat
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Spiritual Discipline
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Augmented Domains
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Spirit Paragons
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Bonus Feat, Spiritual Specialty

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Cleric:[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+2	+0	+2	Turn or Rebuke the Chosen
2	+1		+3	+0	+3	Domain Affinity
3	+2		+3	+1	+3	Divine Practicioner
4	+3		+4	+1	+4	Channeling Talent
5	+3		+4	+1	+4	Bonus Feat
6	+4		+5	+2	+5	Domain Affinity
7	+5		+5	+2	+5	Channeling Talent
8	+6/+1		+6	+2	+6	Insightful Skill
9	+6/+1		+6	+3	+6	Favored Theurge
10	+7/+2		+7	+3	+7	Domain Affinity, Spell Channel
11	+8/+3		+7	+3	+7	Channeling Talent
12	+9/+4		+8	+4	+8	Insightful Skill
13	+9/+4		+8	+4	+8	Bonus Feat
14	+10/+5		+9	+4	+9	Domain Affinity
15	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Channeling Talent
16	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Insightful Skill
17	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Divine Energy Attunement
18	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	Domain Affinity
19	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Channeling Talent
20	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Domain Mastery

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Ascendant (Variant Sorcerer):[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base	Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack	Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Rudimentary Ascension
2	+1	+0	+0	+3
3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Sorcerous Display
4	+2	+1	+1	+4
5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Minor Ascension
6	+3	+2	+2	+5
7	+3	+2	+2	+5	Lesser Ascending Traits
8	+4	+2	+2	+6
9	+4	+3	+3	+6	Sorcerous Display
10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Spell Channel
11	+5	+3	+3	+7	Intermediate Ascension
12	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8
13	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Expanded Ascending Traits
14	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9
15	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Sorcerous Display
16	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10
17	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Major Ascension
18	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11
19	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Greater Ascending Traits
20	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	True Ascension

[B][COLOR=Red][U][I]The Primal Sorcerer (Variant Sorcerer):[/I][/U][/COLOR]
[COLOR=Blue]Class	Base		Fort.	Ref.	Will
Level	Attack		Save	Save	Save	Special[/COLOR][/B]
1	+0		+0	+0	+2	Disruptive Aura, Primal Spell
2	+1		+0	+0	+3	Improved Control
3	+2		+1	+1	+3	Primal Advancement
4	+3		+1	+1	+4	Bonus Feat
5	+3		+1	+1	+4	Primal Spell
6	+4		+2	+2	+5	Improved Control
7	+5		+2	+2	+5	Primal Advancement
8	+6/+1		+2	+2	+6	Ability Boost
9	+6/+1		+3	+3	+6	Primal Spell
10	+7/+2		+3	+3	+7	Improved Control
11	+8/+3		+3	+3	+7	Primal Advancement
12	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Bonus Feat
13	+9/+4		+4	+4	+8	Primal Spell
14	+10/+5		+4	+4	+9	Improved Control
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	Primal Advancement
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Ability Boost
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	Primal Spell
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	Improved Control
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Primal Advancement
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Primal Aura, Primal Spell