Meister (WIP, Base Class)

[Waker]

Long ago in a now empty temple, a school of meldshapers despaired at the unchecked assaults across the planes by outsiders. After much argument, they agreed that the abundance of mortal practitioners who sided with otherworldly being needed to be dealt with. And so they honed their training regime to include more rigorous martial combat and honed their bodies against the magic, all with the focus of becoming living weapons. For a time their efforts led them to many great victories, but eventually a coordinated effort by a number of cabals led to their destruction.
Their cause has been forgotten, but their teachings still persist. Those who imbue their weapons with spiritual energy are called Meisters.

Class Skills: The meister's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana, Religion, The Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Meister
Hit Die: D10
\n\n\tLevel\n\tBase Attack Bonus\n\tFort Save\n\tRef Save\n\tWill Save\n\tSpecial\Soulmelds\n\tEssentia\n\tChakra Binds
\n\n\n\t1st\n\t
+1\n\t
+2\n\t
+0\n\t
+2\n\tSoul of a Warrior\n\t1\n\t1\n\t0
[/TD]\n\n\n\t2nd\n\t
+2\n\t
+3\n\t
+0\n\t
+3\n\t1\n\t1\n\t\0
[/TD]\n\n\n\t3rd\n\t
+3\n\t
+3\n\t
+1\n\t
+3\n\tMettle, Chakra Bind (Crown, Hands)\n\t1\n\t2\n\t\1
[/TD]\n\n\n\t4th\n\t
+4\n\t
+4\n\t
+1\n\t
+4\n\t2\n\t3\n\t\1
[/TD]\n\n\n\t5th\n\t
+5\n\t
+4\n\t
+1\n\t
+4\n\t2\n\t4\n\t\1
[/TD]\n\n\n\t6th\n\t
+6,+1\n\t
+5\n\t
+2\n\t
+5\n\tChakra Bind (Feet, Weapon)2\n\t4\n\t\1
[/TD]\n\n\n\t7th\n\t
+7,+2\n\t
+5\n\t
+2\n\t
+5\n\tSoul Resonance3\n\t5\n\t\2
[/TD]\n\n\n\t8th\n\t
+8,+3\n\t
+6\n\t
+2\n\t
+6\n\tChakra Bind (Shoulders)3\n\t6\n\t\2
[/TD]\n\n\n\t9th\n\t
+9,+4\n\t
+6\n\t
+3\n\t
+6\n\tWeapon Chakra Capacity 13\n\t7\n\t\2
[/TD]\n\n\n\t10th\n\t
+10,+5\n\t
+7\n\t
+3\n\t
+7\n\tMeister's Shield4\n\t7\n\t\2
[/TD]\n\n\n\t11th\n\t
+11,+6,+1\n\t
+7\n\t
+3\n\t
+7\n\tChakra Bind (Arms, Brow)4\n\t8\n\t\3
[/TD]\n\n\n\t12th\n\t
+12,+7,+2\n\t
+8\n\t
+4\n\t
+8\n\t4\n\t9\n\t\3
[/TD]\n\n\n\t13th\n\t
+13,+8,+3\n\t
+8\n\t
+4\n\t
+8\n\t5\n\t10\n\t\3
[/TD]\n\n\n\t14th\n\t
+14,+9,+4\n\t
+9\n\t
+4\n\t
+9\n\tChakra Bind (Throat), True Soul Resonance5\n\t10\n\t\3
[/TD]\n\n\n\t15th\n\t
+15,+10,+5\n\t
+9\n\t
+5\n\t
+9\n\t5\n\t11\n\t\4
[/TD]\n\n\n\t16th\n\t
+16,+11,+6,+1\n\t
+10\n\t
+5\n\t
+10\n\tWeapon Chakra Capacity 26\n\t12\n\t\4
[/TD]\n\n\n\t17th\n\t
+17,+12,+7,+2\n\t
+10\n\t
+5\n\t
+10\n\tChakra Bind (Waist)6\n\t13\n\t\4
[/TD]\n\n\n\t18th\n\t
+18,+13,+8,+3\n\t
+11\n\t
+6\n\t
+11\n\t6\n\t13\n\t\4
[/TD]\n\n\n\t19th\n\t
+19,+14,+9,+4\n\t
+11\n\t
+6\n\t
+11\n\t7\n\t14\n\t\5
[/TD]\n\n\n\t20th\n\t
+20,+15,+10,+5\n\t
+12\n\t
+6\n\t
+12\n\tFoe Hunter7\n\t15\n\t\5\n\n

Class Features
All of the following area class features of the meister.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A meister is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. A meister is proficient with all armor (heavy, medium and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Meldshaping: A meister’s primary ability is shaping incarnum soulmelds, which are drawn from the meister soulmeld list. You know and can shape any soulmeld from this list.
The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an meister soulmeld is 10 + number of points of essentia invested in the soulmeld + your Constitution modifier. Your meldshaper level is equal to your meister level.
An meister can shape only a certain number of soulmelds per day. Your base daily allotment is given on the chart above. The maximum number of soulmelds that you can have shaped simultaneously is equal to your Constitution score minus 10 or the number of soulmelds allowed for your level, whichever is lower. At 1st level, you can shape 1 soulmeld at a time (assuming you have a Constitution score of at least 11). As you advance in level, you can shape an increasing number of soulmelds.
Soul of a Warrior (Su): The meister must always hold themselves in preparation for battle, imbuing any weapon for the struggle ahead. A meister may invest essentia into any manufactured or natural weapon as if it were a soulmeld. Each point invested applies a +1 enhancement bonus to the weapon. If the weapon already has a bonus, this feature does not stack with it. Imbuing a ranged weapon in this manner imparts the quality to it's ammo. This does make an item count as being magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Mettle (Ex): At 3rd level and higher, a meister can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will Half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping meister does not gain the benefit of mettle.
Weapon: The iconic ability that separates meisters from other meldshapers is the bonding of a soul weapon. This process imbues a fragment of the meister's own soul into a weapon of their choice. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. As a meister increases in level, the strength and abilities of their Weapon increase, as detailed on the table Weapon listed below.
The meister's weapon continues to gain in strength even if the meister takes levels in a class other than meister. Half of these non-meister class levels count towards determining the strength of the Weapon.
Soul Detection (Su): With his deeper understanding on incarnum, a meister begins his mastery of detecting the essence of others. At level 5 a meister gains blindsense with a range of 10ft. This ability allows him to detect the presence of other creatures, including ethereal creatures, but otherwise gives him no information about his surroundings. This ability cannot detect the presence of constructs unless they possess the Living Construct subtype. For each point of essential invested in this ability, this range increases by 5ft.
At level 10, his powers of detection sharpen even further. He may make a special Sense Motive check to identify a creature's type and relative strength. The DC is equal to that of the normal Knowledge check required to find information about a creature, except this check only reveals it types, subtypes, alignment and number of HD. If the meister has at least 5 ranks in the relevant Knowledge skill, he gains a +2 bonus on this Sense Motive check. A meister does not be able to see a creature to use this ability, but it must be within the range of his Soul Detection.
Weapon Chakra:At 6th level, you gain access to a chakra unique to meisters, the Weapon Chakra. This chakra is not associated with any location on your body, but instead represents the spirit you have imbued in your weapon. Since the weapon chakra doesn't match a body location, binding a soulmeld to this chakra doesn't restrict your use of magic items that take up a body location. However the meld itself still occupies a body slot and you cannot bind a second meld to it.
While a soulmeld is bound to the weapon chakra, any essentia invested in your Soul of the Warrior class feature applies to both the weapon's enhancement and the bound soulmeld.
At level 9 and again at level 16, the maximum essential capacity for a meld bound to this chakra increases by 1.
Soul Resonance (Su):Extra 1 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if one size category larger. Grant +5 reach. Lasts rounds equal to Con + 3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for 10 minutes.
True Resonance (Su):Extra 2 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if two size categories larger. Grant +10 reach. Lasts rounds equal to Con +3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for 1 hour.
Foe Hunter (Su):Extra 3 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if three size categories larger. Grant +15 reach. Lasts for rounds equal to Con +3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for four hours.
Meister's Shield (Su): At 10th level, a meister gains spell resistance equal to his class level +10.


Meister's Weapon Advancement
\n\n\tMage Scholar Level\n\tHardness\n\tTotal Mental Score Adj.\n\tSpecial
\n\n\n\t1st-2nd\n\t2\n\t0\n\tImproved Mettle, Speak with Meister
\n\n\n\t3rd-4th\n\t4\n\t1\n\t
\n\n\n\t5th-6th\n\t6\n\t2\n\tRemote Viewing, Aligned Strike
\n\n\n\t7th-8th\n\t8\n\t3\n\tSpeak with Others, Spell Resistance
\n\n\n\t9th-10th\n\t10\n\t4\n\t
\n\n\n\t11th-12th\n\t12\n\t5\n\t
\n\n\n\t13th-14th\n\t14\n\t6\n\tSummon Weapon
\n\n\n\t15th-16th\n\t16\n\t7\n\t
\n\n\n\t17th-18th\n\t18\n\t8\n\t
\n\n\n\t19th-20th\n\t20\n\t9\n\t Perfect Weapon\n\n
Weapon Basics: A Weapon has a number of HP equal to half of their meister's. They use the meister's saving throw with a bonus equal to the number of essentia points invested in the Weapon. The Weapon's HD are equal to their meister for the purpose of determining the effects of a special ability.
Weapon Enhancement: A meister may enhance their Weapon as though they have the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. You effective caster level for the purpose of enhancing your Weapon is equal to your meldshaper level. If an enhancement has a spell as a requirement, a meister may instead make a Use Magic Device check (DC20+Spell Level) to emulate each spell normally required to create the item.
Weapon Mental Scores: Once a weapon has been bonded to a meister, it becomes an intelligent item and follows the normal rules for them. Their starting mental attribute are: 12, 12, 10. As the meister advances in power, their Weapon gains a boost to a mental attribute of your choice.
Improved Mettle: This ability works like Mettle, except that while a Weapon is unaffected on successful Fortitude or Will saving throws, they take the lesser effect on a failed save.
Speak with Meister: While being held, a Weapon may communicate with it's meister telepathically.
Aligned Strike: The damage dealt by a Weapon is treated as having the alignment quality of it's meister for the purposes of overcoming DR. If the meister is neutral, this ability has no effect.
Speak with Others: The Weapon can now speak any language that it's meister can.
Spell Resistance: The Weapon has spell resistance equal to it's meister's.
Locate Weapon: As a full-round action, a meister may extend his senses to find his weapon. As long as the Weapon is on the same plane, he can approximate it's distance and direction. Should magical effects hide the location of his Weapon, he may make an opposed caster level check using his meldshaper levels to find it.
Summon Weapon(Su): Once per day as a full-round action, a meister may call his weapon to his hands. As long as the Weapon is on the same plane he may teleport his weapon without regards to distance and obstacles.
Perfect Weapon: The Weapon has transformed into an instrument of perfection. It may ignore any DR other than /- or Epic.

[Waker]

Meister Soulmelds

Crown
Crystal Helm|+2 resistance bonus on Will saves against charm and compulsion
Diadem of Purelight|Create a constant source of light
Enigma Helm|Protection from divinations
Hunter's Circlet|+2 bonus on Heal and Survival checks
Necrocarnum Circlet|Detect Undead within 30ft
Soulspark Familiar|Create soulspark creature
Soulspeaker Circlet|Understand a spoken language
Feet
Cerulean Sandals|Walk on water
Impulse Boots|Uncanny dodge
Thunderstep Boots|Deal 1d4 sonic damage as part of charge attack
Hands
Gloves of the Poisoned Soul|Touch poisons target
Lucky Dice|+1 luck bonus on chosen rolls
Mauling gauntlets|+2 bonus on Strength checks
Necrocarnum Weapon|Chosen weapon bypasses DR as if evil-aligned
Sighting Gloves|+1 bonus on ranged damage rolls
Arms
Armguards of Disruption|1d6 points of damage to undead with melee touch attack
Bluesteel Bracers|+2 bonus on initiative checks
Mauling Gauntlets|+2 bonus on Strength checks
Necrocarnum Touch|+4 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks and on Bluff to feint in combat
Riding Bracers|+4 bonus on Handle Animal and Ride checks
Sailor's Bracers|+4 bonus on Swim, Profession (Sailor) and Use Rope checks
Brow
Fearsome Mask|+2bonus on Intimidate checks
Illusion Veil|+1 bonus on illusion spell DCs
Silvertongue Mask|+2 bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks
Soulspark Familiar|Create a soulspark creature
Truthseeker Goggles|+2 bonus on Gather Information, Search, and Sense Motive Checks
Shoulders
Pauldrons of Health|Immunity to disease and to being sickened or nauseated
Therapeutic Mantle|Enhances the effect of healing spells
Wind Cloak|Damage reduction 2/magic against ranged attacks
Throat
Arcane Focus|+1 bonus on spell damage
Necrocarnum Mantle|Immunity to disease
Silvertongue Mask|+2bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks
Soulspark Familiar|Create a soulspark creature
Soulspeaker Circlet|Understand a spoken language
Waist
Flame Cincture|Resistance to fire 10
Necrocarnum Shroud|+1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when adjacent creature takes damage
Necrocarnum Vesments|Resistance to cold 5
Strongheart Vest|Reduce ability damage by 1 point
Heart
*Necrocarnum Vesments|Resistance to cold 5
Spellward Shirt|Spell Resistance 5
Strongheart Vest|Reduce ability damage by 1 point
Soul
*Necrocarnum Shroud|+1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when adjacent creature takes damage

*Chakra binds for these soulmelds are accessible to meisters with the Open Heart Chakra and Open Soul Chakra epic feats.


Arcane Focus|Gain caster level bonus equal to invested essential
Armguards of Disruption|May make Turn Undead checks as cleric equal to your meldshaper level, 3+Cha/day (minimum of 1). Cannot qualify for Turn/Rebuke feats. If you have levels of a class that grant Turn/Rebuke Undead, your class levels stack with your meldshaper level, but you do not gain additional Turn attempts from this soulmeld.
Bluesteel Bracers|Allies within 30ft gain an insight bonus to hit equal to essentia invested
Cerulean Sandals|Gain the effects Freedom of Movement for a number of minutes per day equal to Con modifier. Meld unshapes when time runs out
Crystal Helm|
Diadem of Purelight|Reveals invisible creatures within light's radius.
Enigma Helm|Gain the effects of Mind Blank
Fearsome Mask|As a standard action you may extend a fear aura with a radius of 30ft. Enemies who fail their save are frightened for 1d6 rounds.
Flame Cincture|Gain immunity to mundane and magical fire
Gloves of the Poisoned Soul|Gain poison immunity
Hunter's Circlet| Gain a Favored Enemy as the Ranger ability. If you already have the Favored Enemy class ability, you may instead increase the bonus against your existing Favored Enemy by +2.
Illusion Veil|Gain a miss chance equal to 5% per point of invested essentia. Creatures not relying on visual means or who have True Seeing are unaffected
Impulse Boots|Gain improved uncanny dodge as a rogue. Can always act in surprise rounds
Lucky Dice|You no longer automatically fail on a 1 when making a saving throw or attack.
Mauling Gauntlets| You gain the benefit of the Improved Sunder feat.
Necrocarnum Circlet|
Necrocarnum Mantle| You are immune to being dazed, stunned or paralyzed.
Necrocarnum Shroud| As a standard action, you may make a touch attack that duplicates the effects of Vampiric Touch. It deals 1d6 damage plus an additional 1d6 per essentia invested.
Necrocarnum Touch| As a standard action, you may fire a 15ft. cone of necrocarnum energy. This attack deals 1d8 damage per essentia invested, but can only affect living targets (Reflex half).
Necrocarnum Vestments|
Necrocarnum Weapon|
Pauldrons of Health|Allies within 30ft are immune to disease as well as being sickened or nauseated
Riding Bracers|
Sailing Bracers|Gain a Swim speed equal to your land speed. You are amphibious, able to breathe both air and water freely
Sighting Gloves|
Silvertongue Mask|Gain an insight bonus to Perform equal to essentia invested. Gain Inspire Courage +1, 1+Charisma modifier/day (minimum of 1). If you already have Bard levels, they stack with your meldshaper levels to determine the strength of Inspire Courage. You do not gain additional uses of Bardic music from this soulmeld
Soulspark Familiar|Gain a greater soulspark familiar
Soulspeaker Circlet|Speak and comprehend all languages. Speak with animals and plants each 1/day
Spellward Shirt|Critical hit triggers targeted dispel using meldshaper level as caster level. You may only remove one spell per critical hit.
Strongheart Vest|Gain the Improved Mettle ability
Therapeutic Mantle|You gain the Sapphire Soul# class ability.
Thunderstep Boots|
Truthseeker Goggles|Gain the effects of True Seeing
Wind Cloak|Gain a fly speed equal to your land speed with average maneuverability. Each point of essentia invested increases this speed by 5ft.

# Refers to a class ability from the Exarch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15157652) class.

[Waker]

Reserved Post Part 2: The Revenging.

[Waker]

Well, as some of you might have noticed I totally broke my promise and still haven't finished my Behemoth class. I do still plan on working on it at some point, but since the class is a bit labor intensive and I've been dealing with a number of real life related issues, I've decided to work on a slightly easier class.
Thus I reveal my Meister class which primarily draws inspiration from the manga/anime Soul Eater, though I tried to leave it open enough that it could be adapted to Bleach as well. The class is meant to be a replacement rather than a fix for the Soulborn class, acting as an incarnum-infused warrior. The class will not be relegated solely to combat however and will have a decent skill selection as well as some enhanced detection abilities.
At some point later on, I do plan on adding two PrCs that build off of this class. The first one will be a dual-progression of the Meister and a caster of some sort. I will explicitly leave the casting requirements open, so as to accommodate arcane and divine casters, plus the Warlock class. This class will allow a player to emulate characters such as Kim Diehl or shinigami who specialize in magic Tessai Tsukabishi. The second class will be a dual-progression of Incarnum and Initiators from ToB to have a more combat oriented character.
I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I will make a class or feat that will allow a Weapon to assume a humanoid form.

[Waker]

What in the world?! Waker is actually updating the Meister? I am incredulous.
Joking aside I'm finally getting back into finishing this class. I input the total melds, essentia and chakra binds, plus I started filling in the spaces for some of the random abilities. Will most likely change the Resonance powers to something else later. And later tonight I will probably start listing all the benefits that the various melds get when bound to the Weapon Chakra. I'll probably get a rough guideline for the Weapon traits table and give you all some idea of what's gonna happen with this class.

[Waker]

Wow, this is a lot of work. Ok, got the rough draft of the Weapon Chakra binds up. Don't worry, a number of them will be changed. Got the rough Weapon advancement table up as well, so now you've got some idea of what in the deuce I'm planning with it.
I still need to flesh out the Soul Resonance abilities so that they are a bit cooler. The class is pretty close to being done-ish.

Say something people. I realize that many of you are simply reading this in a stunned silence, tears streaming down your face, unable to vocalize your joy. However it would be the bee's knees if I could get some feedback, even if it is simply "Waker I love you, kiss my baby."

[Blueiji]

I really love some of the class features you've come up with. Weapon Chakra, Soul Detection, and Meister's Weapon in particular are interesting.


Soul of a Warrior: The meister must always hold themselves in preparation for battle, imbuing any weapon for the struggle ahead. A meister may invest essentia into any manufactured or natural weapon as if it were a soulmeld. Each point invested increases the chance to hit and damage by 1. Imbuing a ranged weapon in this manner imparts the quality to it's ammo. This does not make an item count as being magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. This trait stacks with any enhancement modifier a weapon already possesses.

Is this an untyped bonus? If so, the bolded line of text (emphasis mine), is unnecessary.


Soul Resonance:Extra 1 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if one size category larger. Grant +5 reach. Lasts rounds equal to Con + 3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for 10 minutes.
True Resonance:Extra 2 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if two size categories larger. Grant +10 reach. Lasts rounds equal to Con +3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for 1 hour.
Foe Hunter:Extra 3 essentia invested in Weapon. Weapon deals damage as if three size categories larger. Grant +15 reach. Lasts for rounds equal to Con +3. 1/day. Lose all essentia for four hours.

What do you mean by "extra x essentia invested in weapon"? Is this an increase in the weapon's essentia capacity, or a temporary booth in the effective amount of essentia invested in the weapon?


Meister's Shield: At 10th level, a meister gains spell resistance equal to his meister level +10. In order to affect the meister with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check that equals or exceeds the meister's spell resistance.

You don't need to specify the bolded part.


Weapon Enhancement: A meister may enhance their Weapon as though they have the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. You effective caster level for the purpose of enhancing your Weapon is equal to your meldshaper level. If an enhancement has a spell as a requirement, a meister may instead make a Use Magic Device check (DC20+Spell Level) to emulate each spell normally required to create the item.

This is awesome.


Weapon Mental Scores: Once a weapon has been bonded to a meister, it becomes an intelligent item and follows the normal rules for them. Their starting mental attribute are: 12, 12, 10. As the meister advances in power, their Weapon gains a boost to a mental attribute of your choice.

How much do the ability scores of the weapon increase by (and when), you didn't specify.

EDIT: Also, here's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4651801) a similar base class by the Demented One which you might want to check out. Perhaps you could do something similar to his Bound Strike and Bound Stance abilities when it comes to the Meister's Weapon Chakra ability? Gaining benefits based on the chakra slot being emulated would be nifty.

[Waker]

-The Soul of a Warrior is untyped.
-Soul Resonance increases the essentia capacity by the indicated amount as well as creates and invest the same amount of essentia for free.
-Meister's Shield, wasn't strictly needed but I put it in. I can edit later if need be.
-Weapon Mental Attribute grants a +1 to a stat of your choice every two levels. The table just indicates the overall modified bonus given by the level advancement.

I might check out the class later. Need to be getting to sleep.