T.G. Oskar
2009-08-05, 05:44 AM
Well, this is partly a project I've been working around for a few months, partly something I did to test my homebrewing skills, and partly a test on the meaty parts of homebrewing. This is part of a tentative "first chapter", which offers options for characters who wish to use a bit more of the Tome of Battle materials (like if they weren't overused already...)
The purpose of this class, mostly, is a class that serves as a base for the rest of the base martial adept classes: so to speak, the "precursor" class. Of course, the way it is written and handled may appear either quite weak or quite strong, but since this is mostly opinion of mine, I'm placing my work under consideration.
Please provide assistance, critique, playtesting, overhaul, or even the "wow, I can't believe this could suck! And yet, he excels at sucking!" kind of critique. Just recall that this is not meant to replace or become the be-all, end-all class for martial disciplines; rather, it should be a good NPC class or a way to use ToB material without much hassle. So to speak, a compliment to the already-existing Warblade, Crusader or Swordsage.
UPDATE: Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Outsiders and Eldritch Abominations too!!
So...after a deep thought, I realized; should I retackle this class and make it a tad better? Having gone wild with retoolings, I decided I should do a "retooling" of my own (they tend to work somewhat fine, depending on the kind of system I use) and let all of you people work things out. This will be a tad unorthodox, since I'll edit later the explanations for the changes. However, it should be a bit more effective, and using the ideas provided here. Hopefully it'll tackle most, if not all of them.
--
BLADEMASTER
http://rickandhollie.com/Images/HobgoblinMM.jpg
“The way of the Iron Heart is a way of life. It is not merely taking a sword and doing some fancy moves, any fool can do that. Only the real student knows its secrets. Curious? Here, let me show you what it is to live the way of the Iron Heart.”
— Guruk Steeltalon, hobgoblin blademaster of the Iron Heart
The nine disciplines that comprise the Sublime Way are taught in many forms. Crusaders draw their talent from their faith and conviction, swordsages execute the most impressive maneuvers through intense training, and warblades master their arts through sheer talent. Yet, all of them hold something in common; all sacrifice the focus and dedication. The blademaster seeks to focus all of its training into a single discipline, a method that most martial adepts consider antiquate and obsolete. However, through moving beyond the perception of a discipline as a combat art, and embracing the teachings of the discipline, blademasters eventually discover the meaning behind it. As they progress in their chosen discipline, they become undefeatable with its weapons, master the skill relevant to their chosen path, and eventually shape their fighting style based on the greater understanding of its meaning.
MAKING A BLADEMASTER
With their single-minded focus in a particular discipline, a blademaster excels at a particular fighting style, and on a particular set of functions; yet, no two blademasters are the same. A blademaster of the Shadow Hand, for example, is a nimble combatant who fights from the shade, while a master of the White Raven fights at the forefront and leads his companions through precise orders and tactical knowledge. The focus of the discipline shapes how the blademaster will eventually develop.
Abilities: Because of their discipline focus, blademasters have no particular ability scores they favor; instead, they should seek to work with the abilities that favor their discipline. As a rule of thumb, a blademaster will look for high Strength and Dexterity scores, with the highest score in the ability that favors their attack and damage. As well, a blademaster seeks to have a high score in the ability that governs its representative skill; this is especially true of blademasters of the Diamond Mind and Tiger Claw disciplines. Finally, any good blademaster understands the importance of a high Constitution; high hit points and high Fortitude saves are a plus to everyone. Nearly all disciplines require at least three good scores to be effective, although some are effective enough with two.
Races: Any member of any race is eligible to become a blademaster, although each discipline favors the race that developed the art in the first instance. For example, elves are the reputed masters of the Setting Sun disciple, and dwarves are believed to have developed the arts of the Stone Dragon; it is natural that elven blademasters favor Setting Sun and dwarves favor Stone Dragon as their usual disciplines. Amongst the savage humanoids, hobgoblin blademasters favor Iron Heart above all, and most usually incline towards either Iron Heart or Tiger Claw, seeking raw power and physical prowess than finesse or fancy movements. Races from the deserts and wastelands (such as the races presented on Sandstorm) are well inclined to learn from the Desert Wind discipline, while races with ties to the Plane of Shadow are mostly inclined towards Shadow Hand. Finally, outsiders of good and evil alignments tend to seek specialization at the Devoted Spirit discipline,
Alignment: In concept, individuals of any alignment can become blademasters, although the single-minded focus and the penchant for specializing on a single discipline favors lawful characters better than chaotic characters. A discipline also guides the choice of alignment of a character; while Devoted Spirit blademasters are often of any good or evil alignment, blademasters of the Shadow Hand tend to be closer to the evil side of the axis. However, it is not rare to see a neutral Devoted Spirit blademaster or a lawful good Shadow Hand master.
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp (100 gp)
Starting Age: as monk
Hit Die: d10
Table 1-1: The Blademaster
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Maneuvers Known|Maneuvers Readied|Stances
1st|+1|
+2|
+2|
0|Disciple of the Blade (first discipline)|
-|
-|
-
2nd|+2|
+3|
+3|
0|Discipline Aptitude|
-|
-|
-
3rd|+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Discipline Secret (+1)|
-|
-|
-
4th|+4|
+4|
+4|
+1||
-|
-|
-
5th|+5|
+4|
+4|
+1| |
-|
-|
-
6th|+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+2|Discipline Secret (+2)|
-|
-|
-
7th|+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+2| |
-|
-|
-
8th|+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+2|Discipline Gift|
-|
-|
-
9th|+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+3|Discipline Secret (+3)|
-|
-|
-
10th|+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+3|Disciple of the Blade (second discipline)|
3|
2|
1
11th|+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+3||
4|
2|
1
12th|+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+4|Discipline Secret (+4)|
4|
2|
1
13th|+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+4||
5|
2|
1
14th|+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+4||
5|
2|
1
15th|+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+5|Discipline Secret (+5)|
6|
3|
1
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+5|Discipline Potency|
6|
3|
2
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+5||
7|
3|
2
18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+6|Discipline Secret (+6)|
8|
4|
2
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+6||
8|
4|
2
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+6|Discipline Coupling|
8|
4|
3[/table]
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level; x4 at first level): Bluff, Climb, Craft, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Listen, Martial Lore, Profession, Ride, Search, Spot, Swim.
CLASS FEATURES
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a blademaster, you are proficient with all simple weapons, plus all weapons pertaining to your chosen discipline (see below). As well, you are proficient with light and medium armor, and with all shields (except tower shields).
Maneuvers: Unlike other martial adepts, a blademaster begins play knowing all martial maneuvers of first level of his chosen discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below). At 3rd level, and every two blademaster class levels after that, you gain all maneuvers from the next level pertaining to your chosen discipline (except maneuvers of Devoted Spirit which oppose your alignment). At 10th level, a blademaster may choose disciplines from a single other discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below) as shown on Table 1 above.
Maneuvers Readied: Unlike other martial adepts, you are treated as having readied all maneuvers of your chosen discipline at all moments. Once you are able to choose maneuvers from a second discipline (either by reaching 10th level or through the Martial Study feat), you must ready maneuvers as usual. You may ready two maneuvers from other disciplines aside your primary discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below) beginning at 10th level; maneuvers acquired through the Martial Study feat are considered as if you didn't have any martial maneuvers until 10th level, in which they are treated as maneuvers known. You ready maneuvers by practicing for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to practice again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in practice, you can change your readied maneuvers.
You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used only once per encounter (until you recover them, see below).
You recover all of your expended maneuvers as a free action at any round in which you do not use a strike or boost maneuver, nor use a full round action. A blademaster may make a single melee or ranged attack, move, use counter maneuvers and other actions and still recover expended maneuvers. If you use a full attack action, you recover a single maneuver of your choice instead.
Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of all 1st level stances from your chosen discipline. At higher levels, you are treated as knowing all stances of your chosen discipline at the moment you acquire higher level maneuvers; furthermore, at 10th level, 16th level and 20th level you may learn one stance from your secondary discipline (see Discipline of the Sword, below). Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description.
Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.
Disciple of the Blade: You have trained with one of the masters of the original disciplines, and finally mastered the intricate exercises and movements of the style. You differ from other martial adepts in how focused you are in following your discipline, to the extent of all others. While other martial artists scoff at your single-minded approach to combat, you are confident that your discipline will pay off in the end.
At 1st level, choose one of the nine disciplines of the Sublime Way. You automatically gain proficiency with the discipline’s associated weapons, and you add the discipline’s key skill to your list of class skills.
Desert Wind: scimitar, light pick, falchion; Tumble
Devoted Spirit: falchion, greatclub, maul, longsword; Intimidate
Diamond Mind: rapier, trident, bastard sword; Concentration
Iron Heart: dwarven waraxe, bastard sword, longsword, two-bladed sword; Balance
Setting Sun: nunchaku, unarmed strike*; Sense Motive
Shadow Hand: sai, siangham, spiked chain, unarmed strike*; Hide
Stone Dragon: greataxe, greatsword, heavy mace, unarmed strike*; Balance
Tiger Claw: kama, kukri, greataxe, unarmed strike*; Jump
White Raven: longsword, battleaxe, warhammer, greatsword, halberd; Diplomacy
*You gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.
At 10th level, your mastery of the first discipline eventually leads to training in other disciplines while retaining the singular focus of the first discipline, unaffected. You may choose another discipline to follow, gaining the same benefits as with your first chosen discipline. You may also choose maneuvers and stances of the second discipline.
Discipline Aptitude: At 2nd level, whenever you take a feat such as Weapon Focus (or a spell that requires choosing one weapon), you may instead allow the feat to apply to all weapons of your chosen discipline. This does not extend to weapon style feats, however.
Discipline Secret: At 3rd level, a blademaster learns to apply a secret taught only to serious practitioners of a discipline. Each secret is unique to the chosen discipline of the blademaster, and resembles some of the key concepts of each discipline. Each bonus starts at +1, and increases by 1 per each three class levels of the blademaster.
Desert Wind: dodge bonus to AC when moving
Devoted Spirit: sacred bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against creatures opposing your alignment
Diamond Mind: competence bonus on Concentration checks
Iron Heart: morale bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when flanked
Setting Sun: competence bonus on bull rush, grapple and trip opposed checks.
Shadow Hand: circumstance bonus to damage rolls against creatures caught flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC or flanked equal to twice the bonus.
Stone Dragon: dodge bonus to AC, competence bonus on checks to resist bull rush, grapple and trip.
Tiger Claw: competence bonus to Jump checks
White Raven: morale bonus to an ally's attack rolls, AC or checks when aiding another, morale bonus to your (and ally's) attack rolls when flanking.
At 9th level and again at 15th level, you learn another secret from your discipline, as shown below. A blademaster applies the same bonus to both of the secrets, as usual.
Desert Wind: enhancement bonus to speed equal to five times the bonus (9th), fire damage equal to bonus against creatures attacking you if you move 10 or more feet (15th)
Devoted Spirit: damage reduction X/evil, good, chaos or law (your choice when acquiring this secret) equal to twice the bonus (9th), sacred bonus to saves against spells of creatures opposing your alignment (15th)
Diamond Mind: insight bonus to initiative checks (9th), insight bonus on all saves equal to half the bonus (15th)
Iron Heart: bonus to damage rolls per successful hit until the beginning of your next turn (9th), insight bonus to attack rolls equal to half the bonus per missed attack until the beginning of next turn (15th)
Setting Sun: insight bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls after using a Setting Sun counter or attack of opportunity until the beginning of your next turn (9th), dodge bonus to AC (15th)
Shadow Hand: bleeding damage equal to bonus (9th), ability damage (your choice, when acquiring this secret) equal to half the bonus against creatures caught flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC or flanked (15th)
Stone Dragon: DR/adamantine equal to twice the bonus when in contact with ground (9th), 1d6 points of damage per point of bonus to constructs and objects (15th)
Tiger Claw: bonus to damage rolls after a successful Jump check or unarmed strike equal to twice the bonus (9th), Con damage equal to half the bonus on a successful critical hit or if an opponent fails a save to a Tiger Claw maneuver (15th)
White Raven: morale bonus to damage rolls equal to bonus to yourself and an ally when flanking, or twice the bonus to an ally when using the aid another action (9th), morale bonus to AC to all allies within 30 feet (15th)
Discipline Gift: At 8th level, you gain a special benefit when dealing damage with weapons of your chosen discipline:
Desert Wind: you deal an extra 1d6 points of fire damage and gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC if you move more than 10 feet. Your attacks ignore resistance to fire (but not immunity to fire). Treat this extra bonus as if it were the scout's skirmish ability for all purposes (except for the Swift Hunter feat)
Devoted Spirit: you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage depending on your alignment, and the damage is considered as aligned for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. You must choose which of your alignments apply for purposes of this ability (except Neutral); once chosen, the benefit is permanent and may not be changed. A True Neutral blademaster must choose one alignment.
Diamond Mind: when using the full attack action, you may deal one extra attack at your highest attack bonus. Unlike similar abilities, the extra attack granted stacks with other extra attacks, such as that gained from a haste spell, a feat, or a class ability.
Iron Heart: you gain Cleave as a bonus feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites. If you already have Cleave, you gain Great Cleave instead; if you already have both, you may do a 5-foot step when using the Cleave or Great Cleave feat if you haven’t done so already. You deal an extra 1d6 points of damage to each target of the Cleave (or Great Cleave) feat.
Setting Sun: you deal an extra 2d6 extra points of damage on attacks of opportunity, unarmed damage from a grapple, or attacks which may cause trip attempts (but so as long as the trip attempt succeeds)
Shadow Hand: you deal 1d6 points of damage when striking creatures that are flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC, or flanked by you. Treat this benefit as if the rogue's sneak attack for all purposes.
Stone Dragon: your attacks bypass adamantine damage reduction and hardness. Treat this as if the monk's ki strike (adamantine) feature, except it applies only to Stone Dragon weapons.
Tiger Claw: your unarmed strikes deal slashing or bludgeoning damage. If you succeed on two or more attacks on a full attack action, you rend the opponent, dealing extra damage equal to the result of a Jump check divided by 3.
White Raven: you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and deal 2 extra points of damage per each ally within 30 feet. Only allies with an effective character level equal to your character level -2 or greater count for purposes of this ability.
Discipline Potency: At 16th level, any maneuver you execute from your primary discipline that allows a saving throw gains a bonus to the save DC equal to the discipline secret bonus.
Discipline Coupling: At 20th level, you have mastered your chosen discipline to the point you can blend your discipline into others. You can blend them at a moment's notice even when it may seem almost impossible.
You may initiate a second stance while gaining the benefits of the first one, but only if the first stance is a stance of your discipline. As well, you may activate a boost of your primary discipline as a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity if you used a counter on the last round, or a counter as a free action outside your turn that does not provoke attacks of opportunity if you activated a boost of your primary discipline in the current round. Treat maneuvers and stances learned through other means (such as with the Martial Study or Martial Stance feat) as if they were your secondary discipline for purposes of this ability.
--
I could add the flavor text it has, but perhaps by request. I don't intend this class to be overpowered, and I can deal if the end result is overpowered. The idea is of a character who dabbles in a single style, which ends in less skill points, and less maneuvers. As well, it may seem as a bad choice to litter it with the Weapon Focus tree, but it's meant to be specializing in the discipline with such desire that the character becomes a master of his or her own discipline at the expense of the others. The secondary discipline was added so that the character could have some variety after all.
The purpose of this class, mostly, is a class that serves as a base for the rest of the base martial adept classes: so to speak, the "precursor" class. Of course, the way it is written and handled may appear either quite weak or quite strong, but since this is mostly opinion of mine, I'm placing my work under consideration.
Please provide assistance, critique, playtesting, overhaul, or even the "wow, I can't believe this could suck! And yet, he excels at sucking!" kind of critique. Just recall that this is not meant to replace or become the be-all, end-all class for martial disciplines; rather, it should be a good NPC class or a way to use ToB material without much hassle. So to speak, a compliment to the already-existing Warblade, Crusader or Swordsage.
UPDATE: Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! Outsiders and Eldritch Abominations too!!
So...after a deep thought, I realized; should I retackle this class and make it a tad better? Having gone wild with retoolings, I decided I should do a "retooling" of my own (they tend to work somewhat fine, depending on the kind of system I use) and let all of you people work things out. This will be a tad unorthodox, since I'll edit later the explanations for the changes. However, it should be a bit more effective, and using the ideas provided here. Hopefully it'll tackle most, if not all of them.
--
BLADEMASTER
http://rickandhollie.com/Images/HobgoblinMM.jpg
“The way of the Iron Heart is a way of life. It is not merely taking a sword and doing some fancy moves, any fool can do that. Only the real student knows its secrets. Curious? Here, let me show you what it is to live the way of the Iron Heart.”
— Guruk Steeltalon, hobgoblin blademaster of the Iron Heart
The nine disciplines that comprise the Sublime Way are taught in many forms. Crusaders draw their talent from their faith and conviction, swordsages execute the most impressive maneuvers through intense training, and warblades master their arts through sheer talent. Yet, all of them hold something in common; all sacrifice the focus and dedication. The blademaster seeks to focus all of its training into a single discipline, a method that most martial adepts consider antiquate and obsolete. However, through moving beyond the perception of a discipline as a combat art, and embracing the teachings of the discipline, blademasters eventually discover the meaning behind it. As they progress in their chosen discipline, they become undefeatable with its weapons, master the skill relevant to their chosen path, and eventually shape their fighting style based on the greater understanding of its meaning.
MAKING A BLADEMASTER
With their single-minded focus in a particular discipline, a blademaster excels at a particular fighting style, and on a particular set of functions; yet, no two blademasters are the same. A blademaster of the Shadow Hand, for example, is a nimble combatant who fights from the shade, while a master of the White Raven fights at the forefront and leads his companions through precise orders and tactical knowledge. The focus of the discipline shapes how the blademaster will eventually develop.
Abilities: Because of their discipline focus, blademasters have no particular ability scores they favor; instead, they should seek to work with the abilities that favor their discipline. As a rule of thumb, a blademaster will look for high Strength and Dexterity scores, with the highest score in the ability that favors their attack and damage. As well, a blademaster seeks to have a high score in the ability that governs its representative skill; this is especially true of blademasters of the Diamond Mind and Tiger Claw disciplines. Finally, any good blademaster understands the importance of a high Constitution; high hit points and high Fortitude saves are a plus to everyone. Nearly all disciplines require at least three good scores to be effective, although some are effective enough with two.
Races: Any member of any race is eligible to become a blademaster, although each discipline favors the race that developed the art in the first instance. For example, elves are the reputed masters of the Setting Sun disciple, and dwarves are believed to have developed the arts of the Stone Dragon; it is natural that elven blademasters favor Setting Sun and dwarves favor Stone Dragon as their usual disciplines. Amongst the savage humanoids, hobgoblin blademasters favor Iron Heart above all, and most usually incline towards either Iron Heart or Tiger Claw, seeking raw power and physical prowess than finesse or fancy movements. Races from the deserts and wastelands (such as the races presented on Sandstorm) are well inclined to learn from the Desert Wind discipline, while races with ties to the Plane of Shadow are mostly inclined towards Shadow Hand. Finally, outsiders of good and evil alignments tend to seek specialization at the Devoted Spirit discipline,
Alignment: In concept, individuals of any alignment can become blademasters, although the single-minded focus and the penchant for specializing on a single discipline favors lawful characters better than chaotic characters. A discipline also guides the choice of alignment of a character; while Devoted Spirit blademasters are often of any good or evil alignment, blademasters of the Shadow Hand tend to be closer to the evil side of the axis. However, it is not rare to see a neutral Devoted Spirit blademaster or a lawful good Shadow Hand master.
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp (100 gp)
Starting Age: as monk
Hit Die: d10
Table 1-1: The Blademaster
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Maneuvers Known|Maneuvers Readied|Stances
1st|+1|
+2|
+2|
0|Disciple of the Blade (first discipline)|
-|
-|
-
2nd|+2|
+3|
+3|
0|Discipline Aptitude|
-|
-|
-
3rd|+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Discipline Secret (+1)|
-|
-|
-
4th|+4|
+4|
+4|
+1||
-|
-|
-
5th|+5|
+4|
+4|
+1| |
-|
-|
-
6th|+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+2|Discipline Secret (+2)|
-|
-|
-
7th|+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+2| |
-|
-|
-
8th|+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+2|Discipline Gift|
-|
-|
-
9th|+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+3|Discipline Secret (+3)|
-|
-|
-
10th|+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+3|Disciple of the Blade (second discipline)|
3|
2|
1
11th|+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+3||
4|
2|
1
12th|+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+4|Discipline Secret (+4)|
4|
2|
1
13th|+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+4||
5|
2|
1
14th|+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+4||
5|
2|
1
15th|+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+5|Discipline Secret (+5)|
6|
3|
1
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+5|Discipline Potency|
6|
3|
2
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+5||
7|
3|
2
18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+6|Discipline Secret (+6)|
8|
4|
2
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+6||
8|
4|
2
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+6|Discipline Coupling|
8|
4|
3[/table]
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level; x4 at first level): Bluff, Climb, Craft, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Listen, Martial Lore, Profession, Ride, Search, Spot, Swim.
CLASS FEATURES
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a blademaster, you are proficient with all simple weapons, plus all weapons pertaining to your chosen discipline (see below). As well, you are proficient with light and medium armor, and with all shields (except tower shields).
Maneuvers: Unlike other martial adepts, a blademaster begins play knowing all martial maneuvers of first level of his chosen discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below). At 3rd level, and every two blademaster class levels after that, you gain all maneuvers from the next level pertaining to your chosen discipline (except maneuvers of Devoted Spirit which oppose your alignment). At 10th level, a blademaster may choose disciplines from a single other discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below) as shown on Table 1 above.
Maneuvers Readied: Unlike other martial adepts, you are treated as having readied all maneuvers of your chosen discipline at all moments. Once you are able to choose maneuvers from a second discipline (either by reaching 10th level or through the Martial Study feat), you must ready maneuvers as usual. You may ready two maneuvers from other disciplines aside your primary discipline (see Disciple of the Sword, below) beginning at 10th level; maneuvers acquired through the Martial Study feat are considered as if you didn't have any martial maneuvers until 10th level, in which they are treated as maneuvers known. You ready maneuvers by practicing for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to practice again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in practice, you can change your readied maneuvers.
You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used only once per encounter (until you recover them, see below).
You recover all of your expended maneuvers as a free action at any round in which you do not use a strike or boost maneuver, nor use a full round action. A blademaster may make a single melee or ranged attack, move, use counter maneuvers and other actions and still recover expended maneuvers. If you use a full attack action, you recover a single maneuver of your choice instead.
Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of all 1st level stances from your chosen discipline. At higher levels, you are treated as knowing all stances of your chosen discipline at the moment you acquire higher level maneuvers; furthermore, at 10th level, 16th level and 20th level you may learn one stance from your secondary discipline (see Discipline of the Sword, below). Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you are currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description.
Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.
Disciple of the Blade: You have trained with one of the masters of the original disciplines, and finally mastered the intricate exercises and movements of the style. You differ from other martial adepts in how focused you are in following your discipline, to the extent of all others. While other martial artists scoff at your single-minded approach to combat, you are confident that your discipline will pay off in the end.
At 1st level, choose one of the nine disciplines of the Sublime Way. You automatically gain proficiency with the discipline’s associated weapons, and you add the discipline’s key skill to your list of class skills.
Desert Wind: scimitar, light pick, falchion; Tumble
Devoted Spirit: falchion, greatclub, maul, longsword; Intimidate
Diamond Mind: rapier, trident, bastard sword; Concentration
Iron Heart: dwarven waraxe, bastard sword, longsword, two-bladed sword; Balance
Setting Sun: nunchaku, unarmed strike*; Sense Motive
Shadow Hand: sai, siangham, spiked chain, unarmed strike*; Hide
Stone Dragon: greataxe, greatsword, heavy mace, unarmed strike*; Balance
Tiger Claw: kama, kukri, greataxe, unarmed strike*; Jump
White Raven: longsword, battleaxe, warhammer, greatsword, halberd; Diplomacy
*You gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.
At 10th level, your mastery of the first discipline eventually leads to training in other disciplines while retaining the singular focus of the first discipline, unaffected. You may choose another discipline to follow, gaining the same benefits as with your first chosen discipline. You may also choose maneuvers and stances of the second discipline.
Discipline Aptitude: At 2nd level, whenever you take a feat such as Weapon Focus (or a spell that requires choosing one weapon), you may instead allow the feat to apply to all weapons of your chosen discipline. This does not extend to weapon style feats, however.
Discipline Secret: At 3rd level, a blademaster learns to apply a secret taught only to serious practitioners of a discipline. Each secret is unique to the chosen discipline of the blademaster, and resembles some of the key concepts of each discipline. Each bonus starts at +1, and increases by 1 per each three class levels of the blademaster.
Desert Wind: dodge bonus to AC when moving
Devoted Spirit: sacred bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against creatures opposing your alignment
Diamond Mind: competence bonus on Concentration checks
Iron Heart: morale bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when flanked
Setting Sun: competence bonus on bull rush, grapple and trip opposed checks.
Shadow Hand: circumstance bonus to damage rolls against creatures caught flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC or flanked equal to twice the bonus.
Stone Dragon: dodge bonus to AC, competence bonus on checks to resist bull rush, grapple and trip.
Tiger Claw: competence bonus to Jump checks
White Raven: morale bonus to an ally's attack rolls, AC or checks when aiding another, morale bonus to your (and ally's) attack rolls when flanking.
At 9th level and again at 15th level, you learn another secret from your discipline, as shown below. A blademaster applies the same bonus to both of the secrets, as usual.
Desert Wind: enhancement bonus to speed equal to five times the bonus (9th), fire damage equal to bonus against creatures attacking you if you move 10 or more feet (15th)
Devoted Spirit: damage reduction X/evil, good, chaos or law (your choice when acquiring this secret) equal to twice the bonus (9th), sacred bonus to saves against spells of creatures opposing your alignment (15th)
Diamond Mind: insight bonus to initiative checks (9th), insight bonus on all saves equal to half the bonus (15th)
Iron Heart: bonus to damage rolls per successful hit until the beginning of your next turn (9th), insight bonus to attack rolls equal to half the bonus per missed attack until the beginning of next turn (15th)
Setting Sun: insight bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls after using a Setting Sun counter or attack of opportunity until the beginning of your next turn (9th), dodge bonus to AC (15th)
Shadow Hand: bleeding damage equal to bonus (9th), ability damage (your choice, when acquiring this secret) equal to half the bonus against creatures caught flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC or flanked (15th)
Stone Dragon: DR/adamantine equal to twice the bonus when in contact with ground (9th), 1d6 points of damage per point of bonus to constructs and objects (15th)
Tiger Claw: bonus to damage rolls after a successful Jump check or unarmed strike equal to twice the bonus (9th), Con damage equal to half the bonus on a successful critical hit or if an opponent fails a save to a Tiger Claw maneuver (15th)
White Raven: morale bonus to damage rolls equal to bonus to yourself and an ally when flanking, or twice the bonus to an ally when using the aid another action (9th), morale bonus to AC to all allies within 30 feet (15th)
Discipline Gift: At 8th level, you gain a special benefit when dealing damage with weapons of your chosen discipline:
Desert Wind: you deal an extra 1d6 points of fire damage and gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC if you move more than 10 feet. Your attacks ignore resistance to fire (but not immunity to fire). Treat this extra bonus as if it were the scout's skirmish ability for all purposes (except for the Swift Hunter feat)
Devoted Spirit: you deal an extra 1d6 points of damage depending on your alignment, and the damage is considered as aligned for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. You must choose which of your alignments apply for purposes of this ability (except Neutral); once chosen, the benefit is permanent and may not be changed. A True Neutral blademaster must choose one alignment.
Diamond Mind: when using the full attack action, you may deal one extra attack at your highest attack bonus. Unlike similar abilities, the extra attack granted stacks with other extra attacks, such as that gained from a haste spell, a feat, or a class ability.
Iron Heart: you gain Cleave as a bonus feat, even if you don’t meet the prerequisites. If you already have Cleave, you gain Great Cleave instead; if you already have both, you may do a 5-foot step when using the Cleave or Great Cleave feat if you haven’t done so already. You deal an extra 1d6 points of damage to each target of the Cleave (or Great Cleave) feat.
Setting Sun: you deal an extra 2d6 extra points of damage on attacks of opportunity, unarmed damage from a grapple, or attacks which may cause trip attempts (but so as long as the trip attempt succeeds)
Shadow Hand: you deal 1d6 points of damage when striking creatures that are flat-footed, denied their Dexterity bonus to AC, or flanked by you. Treat this benefit as if the rogue's sneak attack for all purposes.
Stone Dragon: your attacks bypass adamantine damage reduction and hardness. Treat this as if the monk's ki strike (adamantine) feature, except it applies only to Stone Dragon weapons.
Tiger Claw: your unarmed strikes deal slashing or bludgeoning damage. If you succeed on two or more attacks on a full attack action, you rend the opponent, dealing extra damage equal to the result of a Jump check divided by 3.
White Raven: you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and deal 2 extra points of damage per each ally within 30 feet. Only allies with an effective character level equal to your character level -2 or greater count for purposes of this ability.
Discipline Potency: At 16th level, any maneuver you execute from your primary discipline that allows a saving throw gains a bonus to the save DC equal to the discipline secret bonus.
Discipline Coupling: At 20th level, you have mastered your chosen discipline to the point you can blend your discipline into others. You can blend them at a moment's notice even when it may seem almost impossible.
You may initiate a second stance while gaining the benefits of the first one, but only if the first stance is a stance of your discipline. As well, you may activate a boost of your primary discipline as a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity if you used a counter on the last round, or a counter as a free action outside your turn that does not provoke attacks of opportunity if you activated a boost of your primary discipline in the current round. Treat maneuvers and stances learned through other means (such as with the Martial Study or Martial Stance feat) as if they were your secondary discipline for purposes of this ability.
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I could add the flavor text it has, but perhaps by request. I don't intend this class to be overpowered, and I can deal if the end result is overpowered. The idea is of a character who dabbles in a single style, which ends in less skill points, and less maneuvers. As well, it may seem as a bad choice to litter it with the Weapon Focus tree, but it's meant to be specializing in the discipline with such desire that the character becomes a master of his or her own discipline at the expense of the others. The secondary discipline was added so that the character could have some variety after all.