Hyudra
2012-08-03, 10:04 AM
Tactician
http://i50.tinypic.com/157em2b.jpg
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. - Sun Tzu
Information: War has existed since the first races made the first civilizations. Military strategy has existed since the first warrior decided a suicidal charge at enemy ranks would not be in his best interests.
Tacticians are those who study the art and science of war, who use instinct, learning and leadership in varying amounts to dictate the terms of battle and skew things in their favor. They are fairly competent fighters, capable of comfortably wearing most armor and crossing swords with all but the most skilled opponents, but their real talent lies in the ability to both seize and make opportunities and to harangue their allies into an efficient, devastating fighting force.
Play a Tactician if...:
You want to support allies
You want an intelligent, cunning, versatile character that also requires your wits and strategy as a player.
You want a character that fits well into a leadership or an advisory role in the group dynamic.
You want to shout, "You've activated my trap!" and laugh maniacally at the gaming table.
You enjoy strategic metagaming, in the sense that you're anticipating the DM's/opponent's choices, they know you're anticipating such, and you know they know this, and so on.
You want something a little different in terms of gameplay style and approach, with dynamic play options.
You want a more Warlock-like approach to class design, but you don't want the magic.
Adventures & Background: Tacticians take any number of paths to adventuring life, but these paths always have two things in common; their path involves violence at some point, and their path involves strategy.
For some Tacticians, their path began with violence. Perhaps they were born to an area torn by constant war, conscripted to a military organization after enemy forces sacked their village. Or perhaps the war was a smaller one, and they were born to a village that suffered attacks each and every night by gnolls, forcing the villagers to recoup in the daylight, shore up their defences and organize ranks, using every means at their disposal to fend off their physically superior, merciless opponents. Strategy was the end result, a necessity that shaped the bloody beginnings of what would become a career in planning and counter-planning against the enemy.
For others, the path was one that promised violence at the end. The Tactician might have been the third son of a noble house, knowing from the day they were old enough to talk that their elder sibling would inherit the house, the second child would join a religion and that he or she would join the military. Or their study could have been driven by the knowledge of an eventual conflict against an enemy warlord or general that they sought to defeat.
Characteristics: Tacticians have two primary tools at their disposal; they can lay plans to react to enemy movements and actions, potentially interfering with their foes, and they can use ploys and tricks to inspire or protect allies, to disrupt the enemy and shift the battlefield. Tacticians can wear armor, use shields and wield most weapons, and the relatively short range of most of their abilities encourages being a frontline combatant or at the very least, hanging around the rear of the battle lines and assisting allies with a ranged weapon.
Alignment: Tacticians tend towards law, as the study of strategy and martial discipline encourages such. Those who are chaotic tend to rely on instinct and impulse over long term plans. Neither is worse or better than the other. On the good-evil axis, Tacticians range the full gamut.
Religion: Tacticians tend to worship St. Cuthbert, Bahamut or Hextor, if they worship a god at all. Their worship tends to be mild, a few words of prayer before a pivotal moment.
Races: Humans and dwarves tend to be tacticians, as humans tend to need such to stand toe to toe with foes who tend to have their individual strengths. Military tactics are a cornerstone in dwarven militaries; Some of the greatest tacticians in history were dwarves. It is the rare elf or gnome who becomes a dedicated tactician, as the chaotic races are hard to organize, but many will dabble in military tactics to assist their primary focus (which tends to be magic), and those elves and gnomes who do focus on the role of a Tactician tend to be exemplary.
Other Classes: Tacticians tend to form the backbone of a group, as they get along well with martial combatants (such as Fighters, Warblades or Barbarians), they share much in common with learned Wizards (a focus in Intellect) and vivacious Sorcerers (a focus in Charisma). If there is any friction, it with divine classes, as Tacticians can rarely devote much dedicated attention to religion and find the strictures and restrictions of a given god or morality to be a limitation in a crucial situation.
Role: The Tactician can be a leader, offering a variety of benefits to nearby allies, or he can focus on being the monkey wrench in the enemy's war machine, making himself into a force that disrupts their ability to fight effectively. He can fight alongside allies, and is effective at flanking to assist them, but is not as effective in martial combat as a barbarian or swordsage.
Class:
HD: d8
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Class Feature|Ploys
1|
¾|Max|Max|Max|Lay Plans, Simple Ploy|
1|
2| | | | |Tactical Disposition|
2|
3| | | | |Long Term Plans|
3|
4| | | | |Path of the Strategist|
4|
5| | | | |Maneuver the Battlefield|
5|
6| | | | |Brilliant Plans, Clever Ploy|
6[/table]
Skill Points: (6 + Int modifier) per level, x4 at first level.
Class Skills: The Tactician’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering, Geography, History, Local, Nobility and Royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Oratory) (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).
Proficiencies: The Tactician is proficient with simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor and shields (but not tower shields).
Class Features:
Lay Plans: As a swift action, the Tactician may select a target enemy within 15’ and designate a broad action (attack, cast a spell/use a spell like ability, the use of a specific monster ability) or general movement (including a charge, ascending via. a climb or jump, moving away from the tactician, moving left, moving right).
If that enemy performs the specified action in their following turn, or moves more than 10’ in the specified direction, the Tactician may react with his choice of a 5’ step or an attack of opportunity against the subject that is carried out after the action’s completion. If the 5’ step would move the Tactician out of range of the target’s attack or out of the area of a spell that affects a specific location, he may elect to make a contested initiative check with the target to determine if he slips away unscathed (to clarify: this does not apply if the spell or attack also covers the area he would move into). Failing this initiative check renders the attack or spell a complete success (the attack hits and the Tactician fails any saves). He may choose to forego the contested initiative check and rely on AC or saving throws as normal.
Failure to correctly predict the enemy’s action prohibits the use of Lay Plans for 1d4 rounds. Use of Lay Plan is generally covert, and enemies will not become aware of what the Tactician is doing unless they have prior knowledge of the Tactician or until Lay Plan has triggered once and they summarily pass a sense motive check (opposed by his Bluff check).
Simple Ploy:The Tactician retains an arsenal of shouts, strategies, and battlefield tricks. Use of a Ploy is a move action and lasts until the end of his next turn, unless otherwise noted:
“None Shall Pass!” - The Tactician increases his threatened area and effective melee reach for attacks of opportunity by 5’.
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“Move!” - Allies within 15’ add +5’ to their base movement speed and ignore the next attack of opportunity that would be directed at them. This effect lasts until they attack, cast a spell or take another offensive action (including any actions that would end an Invisibility spell)
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“Watch Yourself!” - All allies within 15’ gain soft cover (+4 AC against ranged attacks) and the Evasion class feature if they don’t already have it. Allies that already possess Evasion gain +2 to Reflex saves instead.
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“Make Haste!” - Grants allies within 15' +5’ movement for every other ally within the shout's radius (counting himself). This bonus cannot exceed half a given ally’s movement speed (base - armor adjustment) and ends if they attack or use an offensive ability.
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“There’s Nothing to Fear!” - Grants allies DR equal to the Tactician’s class level or his HD, whichever is less. When the effect ends, allies may make an additional saving throw to remove an ongoing, deleterious effect on them, provided it allowed a saving throw in the first place, has a duration of less than 1 hour and that they haven't attempted to remove it with There's Nothing to Fear already.
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“Victory is Ours!” - Allies within 15’ automatically hit with their attacks if their attack roll is equal or less than the Tactician’s class level or his Charisma modifier (whichever is lower). As such, a Tactician with 5 levels in the class and a +4 Charisma modifier would grant an automatic hit on a roll of 4 or less. For the duration of this shout, affected allies do not automatically miss on a one.
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“Go for the Eyes!” - Allies within 15’ increase their critical threat range by one point (ie. from 18-20 to 17-20) and count their next critical threat as a confirmed critical hit.
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“Never give up!” - Allies within 15’ are granted +1 to saves. Further, so long as there was another ally within 15’ of the Tactician that had more than half of their hitpoints as of the time of the shout’s activation, one affected ally that was brought below 0 hitpoints before this effect ended rises again with 1 hitpoint when the shout's effects end.
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“You Stand Alone!” - Affects one enemy within 15’ that has no standing allies within 15’ of them. That enemy is shaken until they have an ally within 15’ of them once more (or until one minute passes) and if they fail their Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s ECL + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) they are effectively fatigued for one round. These effects do not stack with further uses of You Stand Alone to stack condition effects for the frightened/panicked or exhausted conditions, but You Stand Alone does stack with other sources of fear and other tiring effects.
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Bellowing Shout - Shout Augment. The Tactician doubles the range of his next shout. He may use Bellowing Shout with a shout as a full-round action or allow it to apply to a shout made in the following round. He must know one shout to learn Bellowing Shout.
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Final Words - Shout Augment. The Tactician may perform one shout as an immediate action in response to an enemy resolving an attack or his own failure to make a saving throw. He may do so even if the incoming attack or failed saving throw would incapacitate him. Doing so renders him unable to use Ploys for 1d4 rounds and shouts for 1 hour after that. He must know one shout to learn Final Words.
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Press the Advantage - For the next round, the Tactician may reroll damage for his melee or ranged attacks and use either result. If the attack hits, he gains 1d4 + his Charisma modifier in healing, provided he has more hitpoints than his target.
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Staggering Strikes - Each attack the Tactician performs before the start of his next turn interrupts his foe’s movement and/or actions (any ongoing action with a round’s casting time or more, as well as actions in progress that triggered an attack of opportunity or his Lay Plan class feature), end the target’s stances (if any), reduce the number of attacks of opportunity they can perform in the next round by one and reduce their movement speeds by 5’ for their next turn. If a stance was removed or if the foe's movement or action was interrupted, the foe cannot 5’ step on their next turn either.
Tactical Disposition - Starting at level two, the Tactician compares his Intelligence and Charisma attributes. The Tactician may use the higher of the two attributes for the purposes of determining stat based rolls, skill bonuses, skill points per level, saving throws, spell or SLA effects and bonus spells, instead of the inferior attribute. If the effectively raised attribute was Intelligence, the Tactician may retroactively adjust his total skill points to reflect the higher value. The choice of the superior/inferior attribute is made once.
Long Term Plans - The Tactician’s Lay Plans ability, as of third level, persists until the opponent performs the specified action (rather than being limited to the next round). The Tactician must announce an abandonment of his plan (a free action) and wait 1d4 rounds if he wishes to use Lay Plans again.
Path of the Strategist - At fourth level, the Tactician may pick one:
When initiative is rolled to determine turn order, the Tactician may choose to grant every ally a 5’ step to position for the coming battle. Doing so denies the Tactician the ability to perform any immediate or swift actions until the end of his first turn in combat unless his initiative allows him to act before any of his opponents, in which case this repositioning is a free action.
His shouts increase by 5’ in range.
BAB gained from Tactician levels is adjusted to a full progression, applied both retroactively and for levels taken from here on out.
Maneuver the Battlefield - Starting at fifth level, the Tactician may 5’ step into an enemy’s space and force the enemy into the space the Tactician just vacated, provided the enemy is not larger than him (effectively swapping positions). Further, both he and any allies starting their turn adjacent to him ignore the first 5’ of difficult terrain they encounter in each round of movement.
Brilliant Plan - Starting at sixth level, the Tactician’s Lay Plan ability offers one additional option when triggered: He may use a ploy he knows as an immediate action.
Clever Ploy: At sixth level, the Tactician may begin picking ploys from the following list:
“Fear Me!” - All foes within 15’ must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s ECL + Tactician’s Charisma Modifier) or be shaken. This condition persists until they spend at least one full round more than 60’ away from him. Fear Me does not stack with itself to generate the frightened or panicked conditions, but may stack with other cases of fear. If the Tactician brings an opponent below 0 hp in the subsequent round, the effect triggers again (this does stack with prior instances of Fear Me).
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“Coward!” - A target foe within 15’ has his movement speed halved when moving away from the Tactician and must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician's ECL + Tactician's Charisma modifier) or deal reduced damage on their next attack. Should they fail the save, the next time they deal damage with a spell, attack, racial ability, item or class feature, they have their damage reduced by 1d4 + 1d4 per two levels the Tactician has in the class. This ends after one round. If a foe is moving away from the Tactician when the Tactician uses Coward (which may occur if the Tactician delays his action or uses Brilliant Plan anticipating the enemy's movement), the shout's range is effectively doubled, their movement speed is not halved, and they are instead subjected to a ranged trip attack. This trip attempt uses the Tactician’s Charisma modifier instead of his Strength modifier and does not provoke attacks of opportunity or retaliatory trip attempts.
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“Charge!” - Each ally within 15’ ignores the first 5’ of difficult terrain they enter in the next round (this stacks to 10’ with Maneuver the Battlefield, if Maneuver the Battlefield’s condition is met) and may either full attack on a charge or deliver an additional attack with a -5 to hit, whichever they prefer.
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“For Great Justice!” - Allies within 15’ gain 1d6 additional hitpoints, +1d6 hitpoints for every three levels the Tactician has in the class, but only if they are healed for 2 or more health while the shout is in effect. Enemies within 15’ take 1d6 additional damage the next time they take damage. For Great Justice’s effect ends for a given individual after it has triggered.
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“To the Limit!” - Grants allies within 15’ 1d6 temporary hitpoints, +1 hitpoint for every level the Tactician has in the class and +1 hitpoint for every foe within 15’. These hitpoints last for one round.
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“Walk it Off!” - A target ally within 15’ may either make an additional saving throw against all ongoing effects on them that allow a Fortitude saving throw, or make an additional saving throw against one ongoing effect that allowed a Reflex or Will saving throw. This shout has no effect on effects with a duration of 24 hours or more, or against effects that individuals have already tried to use Walk it Off on.
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“Stand Your Ground!” - Allies within 15’ gain a bonus to AC equal to the Tactician’s Charisma modifier and +1 to saving throws for every 5 levels the Tactician has in the class. This bonus does not end after 1 round, but lasts until they move 5’ or more (5’ steps do not count).
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“On Your Knees!” - A target opponent within 15’ must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s class level + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) or fall prone. The saving throw suffers a bonus or penalty as follows:
{table=head]Variable|Bonus/Penalty
Tactician has used this against foe in last hour| +4
Target has more health than Tactician| +2
Target not suffering from fear effect (and not immune to fear)| +2
Target has less health than Tactician| -2
Target shaken| -2
Target frightened| -4
Target awed| -4
Target panicked| -6[/table]
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Echoing Cry - The next shout the Tactician performs resolves as normal, but when the shout’s effects have ended and resolved, the shout is renewed for one more round. The second time this shout ends, it recurs one final time. He may use Echoing Cry with a shout as a full-round action or allow it to apply to a shout made in the following round.
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Inspiring Words - For one minute, each Shout the Tactician uses will also grant allies one reroll, to use as they see fit. These rerolls must be used within one round.
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Awe - A target foe within 15' must make a saving throw (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s class level + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) or be dazzled until they have gone one full round without seeing or being seen by the Tactician. If the subject is prone, Awe does not allow a saving throw against the dazzled condition and instead forces the enemy to save or suffer one round of the Awestruck condition, which applies the same effects as the Nauseated condition (but applies to enemies immune to the Nauseated condition).
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Deterring Strike - The Tactician augments his next attack to knock his enemy off balance and deter them from carrying out an action. He may designate an action (attack, cast a spell, use of a specific monster ability, etc) as he strikes. The struck opponent must pass their choice of a contested strength roll or a Reflex saving throw (DC 10 + ½ Tactician's ECL + Tactician's Charisma modifier) or be unable to carry out the specified action on their ensuing turn.
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Calculated Risk - One designated opponent deals 50% additional damage the first time they inflict damage to the Tactician with an attack, spell or ability in a given round, and the effective DCs of saving throws against spells and abilities they use against the Tactician is increased by 2. This lasts for 3 rounds or until the target and the Tactician are more than 30’ apart. For as long as the effects persist, the target has a 20% chance to harm themselves or target themselves with each attack, spell or ability they employ against the Tactician or his allies.
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Deft Feint - As a swift action, the Tactician may force an adjacent opponent to squander all of their attacks of opportunity, losing their allotment until their next turn. If that opponent has no attacks of opportunity to lose, they instead provoke one attack of opportunity from a designated, adjacent ally of the Tactician (but not the Tactician himself).
Comments:
A more dynamic variant on the Marshal.
Only 6 levels posted. I can add the remaining 14 with little difficulty if there's interest. Just tell me there's interest.
Recommend use of Lay Plans with a notecard that you can scribble the terms on, turning it over and revealing it when the circumstances are met.
Changelog
Will add notes here as I make changes to the class above, so players/readers can track adjustments & comments.
http://i50.tinypic.com/157em2b.jpg
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. - Sun Tzu
Information: War has existed since the first races made the first civilizations. Military strategy has existed since the first warrior decided a suicidal charge at enemy ranks would not be in his best interests.
Tacticians are those who study the art and science of war, who use instinct, learning and leadership in varying amounts to dictate the terms of battle and skew things in their favor. They are fairly competent fighters, capable of comfortably wearing most armor and crossing swords with all but the most skilled opponents, but their real talent lies in the ability to both seize and make opportunities and to harangue their allies into an efficient, devastating fighting force.
Play a Tactician if...:
You want to support allies
You want an intelligent, cunning, versatile character that also requires your wits and strategy as a player.
You want a character that fits well into a leadership or an advisory role in the group dynamic.
You want to shout, "You've activated my trap!" and laugh maniacally at the gaming table.
You enjoy strategic metagaming, in the sense that you're anticipating the DM's/opponent's choices, they know you're anticipating such, and you know they know this, and so on.
You want something a little different in terms of gameplay style and approach, with dynamic play options.
You want a more Warlock-like approach to class design, but you don't want the magic.
Adventures & Background: Tacticians take any number of paths to adventuring life, but these paths always have two things in common; their path involves violence at some point, and their path involves strategy.
For some Tacticians, their path began with violence. Perhaps they were born to an area torn by constant war, conscripted to a military organization after enemy forces sacked their village. Or perhaps the war was a smaller one, and they were born to a village that suffered attacks each and every night by gnolls, forcing the villagers to recoup in the daylight, shore up their defences and organize ranks, using every means at their disposal to fend off their physically superior, merciless opponents. Strategy was the end result, a necessity that shaped the bloody beginnings of what would become a career in planning and counter-planning against the enemy.
For others, the path was one that promised violence at the end. The Tactician might have been the third son of a noble house, knowing from the day they were old enough to talk that their elder sibling would inherit the house, the second child would join a religion and that he or she would join the military. Or their study could have been driven by the knowledge of an eventual conflict against an enemy warlord or general that they sought to defeat.
Characteristics: Tacticians have two primary tools at their disposal; they can lay plans to react to enemy movements and actions, potentially interfering with their foes, and they can use ploys and tricks to inspire or protect allies, to disrupt the enemy and shift the battlefield. Tacticians can wear armor, use shields and wield most weapons, and the relatively short range of most of their abilities encourages being a frontline combatant or at the very least, hanging around the rear of the battle lines and assisting allies with a ranged weapon.
Alignment: Tacticians tend towards law, as the study of strategy and martial discipline encourages such. Those who are chaotic tend to rely on instinct and impulse over long term plans. Neither is worse or better than the other. On the good-evil axis, Tacticians range the full gamut.
Religion: Tacticians tend to worship St. Cuthbert, Bahamut or Hextor, if they worship a god at all. Their worship tends to be mild, a few words of prayer before a pivotal moment.
Races: Humans and dwarves tend to be tacticians, as humans tend to need such to stand toe to toe with foes who tend to have their individual strengths. Military tactics are a cornerstone in dwarven militaries; Some of the greatest tacticians in history were dwarves. It is the rare elf or gnome who becomes a dedicated tactician, as the chaotic races are hard to organize, but many will dabble in military tactics to assist their primary focus (which tends to be magic), and those elves and gnomes who do focus on the role of a Tactician tend to be exemplary.
Other Classes: Tacticians tend to form the backbone of a group, as they get along well with martial combatants (such as Fighters, Warblades or Barbarians), they share much in common with learned Wizards (a focus in Intellect) and vivacious Sorcerers (a focus in Charisma). If there is any friction, it with divine classes, as Tacticians can rarely devote much dedicated attention to religion and find the strictures and restrictions of a given god or morality to be a limitation in a crucial situation.
Role: The Tactician can be a leader, offering a variety of benefits to nearby allies, or he can focus on being the monkey wrench in the enemy's war machine, making himself into a force that disrupts their ability to fight effectively. He can fight alongside allies, and is effective at flanking to assist them, but is not as effective in martial combat as a barbarian or swordsage.
Class:
HD: d8
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Class Feature|Ploys
1|
¾|Max|Max|Max|Lay Plans, Simple Ploy|
1|
2| | | | |Tactical Disposition|
2|
3| | | | |Long Term Plans|
3|
4| | | | |Path of the Strategist|
4|
5| | | | |Maneuver the Battlefield|
5|
6| | | | |Brilliant Plans, Clever Ploy|
6[/table]
Skill Points: (6 + Int modifier) per level, x4 at first level.
Class Skills: The Tactician’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering, Geography, History, Local, Nobility and Royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Oratory) (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).
Proficiencies: The Tactician is proficient with simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor and shields (but not tower shields).
Class Features:
Lay Plans: As a swift action, the Tactician may select a target enemy within 15’ and designate a broad action (attack, cast a spell/use a spell like ability, the use of a specific monster ability) or general movement (including a charge, ascending via. a climb or jump, moving away from the tactician, moving left, moving right).
If that enemy performs the specified action in their following turn, or moves more than 10’ in the specified direction, the Tactician may react with his choice of a 5’ step or an attack of opportunity against the subject that is carried out after the action’s completion. If the 5’ step would move the Tactician out of range of the target’s attack or out of the area of a spell that affects a specific location, he may elect to make a contested initiative check with the target to determine if he slips away unscathed (to clarify: this does not apply if the spell or attack also covers the area he would move into). Failing this initiative check renders the attack or spell a complete success (the attack hits and the Tactician fails any saves). He may choose to forego the contested initiative check and rely on AC or saving throws as normal.
Failure to correctly predict the enemy’s action prohibits the use of Lay Plans for 1d4 rounds. Use of Lay Plan is generally covert, and enemies will not become aware of what the Tactician is doing unless they have prior knowledge of the Tactician or until Lay Plan has triggered once and they summarily pass a sense motive check (opposed by his Bluff check).
Simple Ploy:The Tactician retains an arsenal of shouts, strategies, and battlefield tricks. Use of a Ploy is a move action and lasts until the end of his next turn, unless otherwise noted:
“None Shall Pass!” - The Tactician increases his threatened area and effective melee reach for attacks of opportunity by 5’.
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“Move!” - Allies within 15’ add +5’ to their base movement speed and ignore the next attack of opportunity that would be directed at them. This effect lasts until they attack, cast a spell or take another offensive action (including any actions that would end an Invisibility spell)
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“Watch Yourself!” - All allies within 15’ gain soft cover (+4 AC against ranged attacks) and the Evasion class feature if they don’t already have it. Allies that already possess Evasion gain +2 to Reflex saves instead.
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“Make Haste!” - Grants allies within 15' +5’ movement for every other ally within the shout's radius (counting himself). This bonus cannot exceed half a given ally’s movement speed (base - armor adjustment) and ends if they attack or use an offensive ability.
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“There’s Nothing to Fear!” - Grants allies DR equal to the Tactician’s class level or his HD, whichever is less. When the effect ends, allies may make an additional saving throw to remove an ongoing, deleterious effect on them, provided it allowed a saving throw in the first place, has a duration of less than 1 hour and that they haven't attempted to remove it with There's Nothing to Fear already.
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“Victory is Ours!” - Allies within 15’ automatically hit with their attacks if their attack roll is equal or less than the Tactician’s class level or his Charisma modifier (whichever is lower). As such, a Tactician with 5 levels in the class and a +4 Charisma modifier would grant an automatic hit on a roll of 4 or less. For the duration of this shout, affected allies do not automatically miss on a one.
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“Go for the Eyes!” - Allies within 15’ increase their critical threat range by one point (ie. from 18-20 to 17-20) and count their next critical threat as a confirmed critical hit.
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“Never give up!” - Allies within 15’ are granted +1 to saves. Further, so long as there was another ally within 15’ of the Tactician that had more than half of their hitpoints as of the time of the shout’s activation, one affected ally that was brought below 0 hitpoints before this effect ended rises again with 1 hitpoint when the shout's effects end.
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“You Stand Alone!” - Affects one enemy within 15’ that has no standing allies within 15’ of them. That enemy is shaken until they have an ally within 15’ of them once more (or until one minute passes) and if they fail their Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s ECL + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) they are effectively fatigued for one round. These effects do not stack with further uses of You Stand Alone to stack condition effects for the frightened/panicked or exhausted conditions, but You Stand Alone does stack with other sources of fear and other tiring effects.
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Bellowing Shout - Shout Augment. The Tactician doubles the range of his next shout. He may use Bellowing Shout with a shout as a full-round action or allow it to apply to a shout made in the following round. He must know one shout to learn Bellowing Shout.
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Final Words - Shout Augment. The Tactician may perform one shout as an immediate action in response to an enemy resolving an attack or his own failure to make a saving throw. He may do so even if the incoming attack or failed saving throw would incapacitate him. Doing so renders him unable to use Ploys for 1d4 rounds and shouts for 1 hour after that. He must know one shout to learn Final Words.
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Press the Advantage - For the next round, the Tactician may reroll damage for his melee or ranged attacks and use either result. If the attack hits, he gains 1d4 + his Charisma modifier in healing, provided he has more hitpoints than his target.
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Staggering Strikes - Each attack the Tactician performs before the start of his next turn interrupts his foe’s movement and/or actions (any ongoing action with a round’s casting time or more, as well as actions in progress that triggered an attack of opportunity or his Lay Plan class feature), end the target’s stances (if any), reduce the number of attacks of opportunity they can perform in the next round by one and reduce their movement speeds by 5’ for their next turn. If a stance was removed or if the foe's movement or action was interrupted, the foe cannot 5’ step on their next turn either.
Tactical Disposition - Starting at level two, the Tactician compares his Intelligence and Charisma attributes. The Tactician may use the higher of the two attributes for the purposes of determining stat based rolls, skill bonuses, skill points per level, saving throws, spell or SLA effects and bonus spells, instead of the inferior attribute. If the effectively raised attribute was Intelligence, the Tactician may retroactively adjust his total skill points to reflect the higher value. The choice of the superior/inferior attribute is made once.
Long Term Plans - The Tactician’s Lay Plans ability, as of third level, persists until the opponent performs the specified action (rather than being limited to the next round). The Tactician must announce an abandonment of his plan (a free action) and wait 1d4 rounds if he wishes to use Lay Plans again.
Path of the Strategist - At fourth level, the Tactician may pick one:
When initiative is rolled to determine turn order, the Tactician may choose to grant every ally a 5’ step to position for the coming battle. Doing so denies the Tactician the ability to perform any immediate or swift actions until the end of his first turn in combat unless his initiative allows him to act before any of his opponents, in which case this repositioning is a free action.
His shouts increase by 5’ in range.
BAB gained from Tactician levels is adjusted to a full progression, applied both retroactively and for levels taken from here on out.
Maneuver the Battlefield - Starting at fifth level, the Tactician may 5’ step into an enemy’s space and force the enemy into the space the Tactician just vacated, provided the enemy is not larger than him (effectively swapping positions). Further, both he and any allies starting their turn adjacent to him ignore the first 5’ of difficult terrain they encounter in each round of movement.
Brilliant Plan - Starting at sixth level, the Tactician’s Lay Plan ability offers one additional option when triggered: He may use a ploy he knows as an immediate action.
Clever Ploy: At sixth level, the Tactician may begin picking ploys from the following list:
“Fear Me!” - All foes within 15’ must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s ECL + Tactician’s Charisma Modifier) or be shaken. This condition persists until they spend at least one full round more than 60’ away from him. Fear Me does not stack with itself to generate the frightened or panicked conditions, but may stack with other cases of fear. If the Tactician brings an opponent below 0 hp in the subsequent round, the effect triggers again (this does stack with prior instances of Fear Me).
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“Coward!” - A target foe within 15’ has his movement speed halved when moving away from the Tactician and must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician's ECL + Tactician's Charisma modifier) or deal reduced damage on their next attack. Should they fail the save, the next time they deal damage with a spell, attack, racial ability, item or class feature, they have their damage reduced by 1d4 + 1d4 per two levels the Tactician has in the class. This ends after one round. If a foe is moving away from the Tactician when the Tactician uses Coward (which may occur if the Tactician delays his action or uses Brilliant Plan anticipating the enemy's movement), the shout's range is effectively doubled, their movement speed is not halved, and they are instead subjected to a ranged trip attack. This trip attempt uses the Tactician’s Charisma modifier instead of his Strength modifier and does not provoke attacks of opportunity or retaliatory trip attempts.
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“Charge!” - Each ally within 15’ ignores the first 5’ of difficult terrain they enter in the next round (this stacks to 10’ with Maneuver the Battlefield, if Maneuver the Battlefield’s condition is met) and may either full attack on a charge or deliver an additional attack with a -5 to hit, whichever they prefer.
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“For Great Justice!” - Allies within 15’ gain 1d6 additional hitpoints, +1d6 hitpoints for every three levels the Tactician has in the class, but only if they are healed for 2 or more health while the shout is in effect. Enemies within 15’ take 1d6 additional damage the next time they take damage. For Great Justice’s effect ends for a given individual after it has triggered.
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“To the Limit!” - Grants allies within 15’ 1d6 temporary hitpoints, +1 hitpoint for every level the Tactician has in the class and +1 hitpoint for every foe within 15’. These hitpoints last for one round.
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“Walk it Off!” - A target ally within 15’ may either make an additional saving throw against all ongoing effects on them that allow a Fortitude saving throw, or make an additional saving throw against one ongoing effect that allowed a Reflex or Will saving throw. This shout has no effect on effects with a duration of 24 hours or more, or against effects that individuals have already tried to use Walk it Off on.
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“Stand Your Ground!” - Allies within 15’ gain a bonus to AC equal to the Tactician’s Charisma modifier and +1 to saving throws for every 5 levels the Tactician has in the class. This bonus does not end after 1 round, but lasts until they move 5’ or more (5’ steps do not count).
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“On Your Knees!” - A target opponent within 15’ must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s class level + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) or fall prone. The saving throw suffers a bonus or penalty as follows:
{table=head]Variable|Bonus/Penalty
Tactician has used this against foe in last hour| +4
Target has more health than Tactician| +2
Target not suffering from fear effect (and not immune to fear)| +2
Target has less health than Tactician| -2
Target shaken| -2
Target frightened| -4
Target awed| -4
Target panicked| -6[/table]
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Echoing Cry - The next shout the Tactician performs resolves as normal, but when the shout’s effects have ended and resolved, the shout is renewed for one more round. The second time this shout ends, it recurs one final time. He may use Echoing Cry with a shout as a full-round action or allow it to apply to a shout made in the following round.
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Inspiring Words - For one minute, each Shout the Tactician uses will also grant allies one reroll, to use as they see fit. These rerolls must be used within one round.
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Awe - A target foe within 15' must make a saving throw (DC 10 + ½ Tactician’s class level + Tactician’s Charisma modifier) or be dazzled until they have gone one full round without seeing or being seen by the Tactician. If the subject is prone, Awe does not allow a saving throw against the dazzled condition and instead forces the enemy to save or suffer one round of the Awestruck condition, which applies the same effects as the Nauseated condition (but applies to enemies immune to the Nauseated condition).
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Deterring Strike - The Tactician augments his next attack to knock his enemy off balance and deter them from carrying out an action. He may designate an action (attack, cast a spell, use of a specific monster ability, etc) as he strikes. The struck opponent must pass their choice of a contested strength roll or a Reflex saving throw (DC 10 + ½ Tactician's ECL + Tactician's Charisma modifier) or be unable to carry out the specified action on their ensuing turn.
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Calculated Risk - One designated opponent deals 50% additional damage the first time they inflict damage to the Tactician with an attack, spell or ability in a given round, and the effective DCs of saving throws against spells and abilities they use against the Tactician is increased by 2. This lasts for 3 rounds or until the target and the Tactician are more than 30’ apart. For as long as the effects persist, the target has a 20% chance to harm themselves or target themselves with each attack, spell or ability they employ against the Tactician or his allies.
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Deft Feint - As a swift action, the Tactician may force an adjacent opponent to squander all of their attacks of opportunity, losing their allotment until their next turn. If that opponent has no attacks of opportunity to lose, they instead provoke one attack of opportunity from a designated, adjacent ally of the Tactician (but not the Tactician himself).
Comments:
A more dynamic variant on the Marshal.
Only 6 levels posted. I can add the remaining 14 with little difficulty if there's interest. Just tell me there's interest.
Recommend use of Lay Plans with a notecard that you can scribble the terms on, turning it over and revealing it when the circumstances are met.
Changelog
Will add notes here as I make changes to the class above, so players/readers can track adjustments & comments.