PDA

View Full Version : Jack of All Blades: Why Chose ToB Disciplines?



Tavar
2012-09-27, 11:36 PM
Jack of All Blades


"Jack of all blades, master of none,
Certainly better than a master of one."
- Attributed

The Jack of All Blades has asked themselves the question "why specialize in a few disciplines?", and found the answers wanting. They do not seek to master any one discipline, but to master the sublime way as a whole.

Adventures: To test themselves. To prove their detractors wrong. For vengeance, love, or duty. The fact that their path is one tied to violence only makes adventuring a more attractive option.

Characteristics: Jacks of All Blades are a varied lot, though it is undeniable that they are focused on combat, and melee combat most of all.

Alignment: Jacks of All Blades favor no single alignment, though many who know of them associate their skills with the more chaotic side of the spectrum, but this is due to the often more flamboyant and obvious nature of those souls. There are plenty of lawful adepts, who tend to change styles based on logical reasoning, rather than feelings.

Religion: They are more inclined to follow martial deities, but it is generally up to the adept in question to follow a god of their choosing.

Background: Jacks of All Blades are the dreamers and wanders of the martial Adepts. Often times they trained at multiple sites, learning much but never quite fitting in with other students.

Races: Any race known for either short attention spans or a desire to be well rounded have a slightly higher predilection for Jacks of All Blades. Being martially inclines is also a plus.

Other Classes: Jacks of All Blades tend to look down on those who are more focused than themselves, most often in a sort of patronizing way. Interestingly, Masters of the Nine are generally looked down upon with something like pity, as if they are missing some truth that the Jacks know. Factotums, Bards, Non-specialized wizards, and theurges of almost all sorts tend to be given more respect. Masters of one, Wizards who have given up more than 2 schools, or other such specialists tend to be looked upon with some small amount of contempt.

Role: As with most Martial Adepts, Jacks of All Blades focus on combat, generally melee combat. Their wide range of options, however, does allow them to branch out into other areas a tad, as the situation calls for it.

Adaptation: Jacks of All Blades work in essentially any setting that allows Tome of Battle and the like.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Jack of All Blades's have the following game statistics.
Abilities: As a combatant, the physical scores are all important, though the exact priority depends on what you want the Jack to be: an archer needs higher dexterity, while the Two handed fighter needs higher strength. constitution is almost always useful, moreso if you want to be a tank.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d8
Starting Age: As Bard.
Starting Gold: As Fighter.

Class Skills
A Jacks' of All Blades class skills are Balance(Dex), Craft(Int), Concentration(con), Heal, Knowledge [Local, History](Int), Listen(Wis), Martial Lore, Spot(Wis), Tumble(Dex)

Skill Points at First Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier


Level
Bab
Fort
Ref
Will
Class
Maneuver Readied
Stances Readied


10022Jack of All Trades(2), Master of None, Flexible Arsenal: Martial Proficiency31


2+1 +0 +3 +3 Flexible Prowess: Weapon focus 3 1


32 1 3 3 Flexible Feat 4 1


43 1 4 4 Flexible Arsenal:Martial Proficiency, Flexible Prowess:Weapon Specialization 4 1


53 1 4 4 Flexible Training: Enchantments, Quickdraw 5 2


64 2 5 5 Jack of All(3), Flash of Inspiration 1/day 6 2


75 2 5 5 Flexible Arsenal: Exotic proficiency, Flexible Feat 7 2


86/1 2 6 6 Quick Focus 1/Day, Flexible Arsenal: Martial Proficiency 7 2


96/1 3 6 6 Flexible Prowess: Greater Weapon Focus 8 2


107/2 3 7 7 Flash of Inspiration 1/encounter 8 3


118/3 3 7 7 Flexible Feat 9 3


129/4 4 8 8 Jack of All(4) 10 3


139/4 4 8 8 Flexible Prowess: Greater Weapon Specialization 11 3


1410/4 4 9 9 Quick Focus 2/day 11 3


1511/6/1 5 9 9 Flexible Prowess +1 12 3


1612/7/2 5 10 10 Flexible Feat 13 4


1712/7/2 5 10 10 - 13 4


1813/8/3 6 11 11 Quick Focus 3/day 13 4


1914/9/4 6 11 11 Jack of All(5) 14 4


2015/10/5 6 12 12 Flash of Genuis 1/day 15 4




Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Jack of All Blades.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Jacks of All Blades are proficient with all Simple weapons and with light and medium armor, and light and heavy shields.

Jack Of Trades(Ex): Through various sources, Jacks have learned many styles of fighting. They have access to at least all 9 of the disciplines found in Tome of Battle, and can access homebrew ones with permission(See Notes at the Bottom). However, they can only focus on so many different styles at once. At first level, they may focus on two school, at the 6th level in this class 3, at 12th 4, and at 19th 5. In any school currently in focus, a Jack of All Blades is considered to know all maneuvers and stances his initiator level would qualify him for. The discipline skill is temporary added to their class list, with any ranks in the skill doubled, up to (Character level+3), and this new rank can be used to qualify for Flexible Feats. If the skill had max ranks already, the character instead gains an insight bonus to the skill equal to the number of different disciplines they can focus on with this ability.

He may change Focuses by spending 5 minutes meditating, going over weapon forms, or similar exercises to retrieve the knowledge, though this ritual needs to be repeated for multiple disciplines if applicable. This knowledge stays with him until he lets it recede or he changes focus.

In addition, they get a bonus equal to their levels in Jack of All Blades divided by 4 on Martial Lore checks to identify maneuvers due to their extensive experience.

Master of None (Ex):Not all of the common saying is false, as much as Jacks of All Blades would like to deny it. Their far-ranging attention does impede their prowess, to a degree. As such, Jack of All Blades levels count as 3/4 of an initiator level, rounded up, rather than the normal one or 1/2.

Maneuvers and Stances(Ex): Simply having the knowledge isn't enough: a Jack of All Blades must prepare himself for the exertions. A minute of concentration allows him to select which maneuvers he considers readied, up to a maximum shown on the chart above. He is not able to freely pick these without restriction, though, due to his inexpert grasp of the techniques. He may have at most 1 of his highest level maneuvers his initiator level qualifies him for, 2 of the second highest level, and 3 of his third highest, with the rest being unlimited, and there is never a limit to the number of level 1 maneuvers he may ready excepting his normal maximum readied at one time. At level 4 these values increase by 1 (2 of highest, 3 of next highest, 4 of next), and again at level 9. As discussed below, Stances count as maneuvers for these numbers.

The Jack of All Blades has 2 methods of regaining maneuvers in combat. First of all, if he has no maneuvers readied or has just expended his last readied maneuver, then he may spend a swift action, and replenish all of his maneuvers. Alternatively, he may take a Standard Action at any point in time, and replenish a number of his maneuvers at the start of his next turn equal to the highest maneuver level known.

In addition, while most Martial adepts can freely switch between Stances they know, Jacks are not so fortunate, though they make up for this in sheer versatility: they may have a number of stances readied at a time equal to the chart above, all from disciplines currently in focus. He may switch between any of these as normal for a martial adept. Stances are readied or changed along with maneuvers, and count for maneuvers for the purpose of the number of a given level of maneuvers that you can ready.

When Changing focused Disciplines, readied maneuvers do not change, but any maneuver from a school he no longer knows is lost, as the knowledge of it's workings recedes from his mind. He may change his maneuvers readied at any time by spending a minute to reorganize his thoughts.

Flexible Training: During his varied studies, a Jack of All Blades internalizes not just the specific techniques involved, but the weapon play associated with the styles, leading to his flexible arsenal ability. This manifests in the following ways:

Flexible Martial Proficiency(Ex): The Jack of All Blades can chose one martial weapon that is a preferred weapon of any one of the school and be treated as if he is proficient with said weapon. He first gains this ability at Level 1, and gains an additional choice at 4th and 8th Level. These are chosen at the same time as choosing disciplines, and can only be changed if the focus discipline the weapon is tied to is changed. If you chose unarmed Strike, you instead gain the improved Unarmed Strike feat. If one would chose a different simple weapon, you instead gain a total of 2 simple weapons, which do not have to be from the same disciplines.

Flexible Prowess(Ex): The Jack of All Blade's mastery over a weapon extends beyond mere proficiency. At level 2, they gain the bonus feat Weapon Focus for all weapons chosen by the Flexible Martial and Exotic Proficiency abilities.At level 4 they count as having weapon Specialization in these weapons. At Level 9, they count as having Greater Weapon Focus with these weapons as well. At level 13 they count as having Greater Weapon Specialization. At 15th level the bonus to Attack rolls improved by +1. These feats do not count as prerequisites if the prerequisite is at all specified (ie, Weapon Focus (Shortsword) or Weapon Focus(any one melee weapon)). On the other hand, they are available as requirements for the Flexible Feat ability.

Flexible Feat(EX): At 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 16th levels, the Jack of All Blades gain a flexible feat. At the begining of the day, or whenever they use their Quick Focus ability, the Jack of All Blades may change these feats to be whatever they wish, as long as they qualify for them, though in the latter case, they may only change one feat with each use of Quick Focus. These feats may be used to qualify for eachother(ie, combat expertise and Improved Trip), but they may not be used to qualify for feats from other sources, and if they lose prerequisites for the flexible feat then they lose all access to the benefits of the feat. Each level of Jack of All Blades counts as a level of fighter and as having a BaB of +1 for the purpose of qualifying for feats to fill these choices, and only for these feats. These feats may only be selected from the list of Fighter Bonus feats, though any weapon related feat should be considered added to this list if it is not already.

Flexible Enchantments: The largest restriction on the weapons a combatant wields is not the proficiency, but the magical nature of the weapons: a normal sword against a Dragon or Demon is of limited use, and using one in a fight against a highly magical blade can easily end in disaster. At 5th level, the Jack of all Blades begins to find a method past this restriction. By focusing on a weapon they own(in this case, meaning one that either they have legally purchased or one that has been in their possession for over 24 hours), they are able to draw it's enhancements forward, allowing them to apply them to any weapon they are proficient in(including unarmed strikes), with the following restrictions:


The original weapon has it's magic properties surpressed while this effect is active, though it still counts as a magic item for sunder checks and the like.
The Jack of All Blades may only transfer magical properties up to the gp costs show in the chart below, as if he was purchasing the weapon with enhancements. Thus, weapons made from materials such as Cold Iron may have fewer enhanments transfered.
The Enhancements must be legal for the weapon: Vorpal cannot be applied to a Warhammer, and any weapon must first receive the minimum +1 bonus, but the weapon does not need to be masterwork.
Any weapon the Jack of Blades weilds benefits from the transfered enhancements as long as he is proficient with it. If the weapon leaves his hand, it reverts to its normal state.
If the weapon recieving the enhancements has magical properties already, they are overwritten by the new properties.
Spells with a duration less than permanent cannot be transferred: a greater magic weapon spell can only boost one weapon.
While under this effect, the weapon that receives the enhancement bonus and the weapon that gave it count as the same item for purposes of dispel magic's ability to suppress magic items, or Disjunction's ability to destroy them.

Chart, Max Magical Properties transfered in terms of GP.
{table=head]Class Level|Max GP Equivalent transferred
5|3000
6|
7|9000
8|
9|20000
10|
11|38000
12|
13|58,000
14|
15|85,000
16|
17|135,000
18|
19|190,000
20|[/table]

Though many have tried, no one has yet managed this with artifacts and legacy weapons.

Flexible Exotic Proficiency(Ex): At 7th Level, the Jack of All Blades is experienced enough to use even Exotic Weapons. Choosing such a weapon requires him to forgo 2 Marital Proficiency granted by Flexible Training, and it must be a preferred weapon in one of his focused disciplines. Alternatively, you may chose Unarmed strike, in which case you gain the Superior Unarmed Strike feat. If you already have the feat, treat yourself as being one size category larger for the purpose of the feat.

Quick Draw(Ex): At fifth level, the Jack of All Blades gains the Quickdraw feat as a bonus feat.

Flash of Inspiration(Ex): Once per Day at level 6, as a free action Jack of All Blades boosts his initiator level to equal his character level, and may sacrifice any number of readied maneuvers. If he does so, he may select any maneuver with a level equal to the number of readied maneuvers sacrificed that is in his currently focused disciplines and use it, provided he it is legal at the time for him to do so (one could not use this ability to take a standard action attack on someone else's turn, but you could use it to use an immediate action if you had one available). The Jack takes non-lethal damage equal to the level of maneuver used, cannot recover maneuvers for one round, and counts as fatigued until the end of the encounter.

At 10th level this ability is upgraded to be usable once per encounter.

Quick Focus(Ex): As the Jack of All Blades continues his study of the Sublime, he becomes ever more adept changing the way he applies his findings. Once per day at level 8, with additional uses gained at level 14 and 18, he may switch one of the disciplines he has focused as a standard action, and may replace any maneuvers or stances from the changed discipline with the ones from his new area of focus as a move action.

Flash of Genuis(Ex):Once per day at level 20, as a free action a Jack of All Blades may expend 15 readied maneuvers. In doing so, his Initiator level equals his character level for 1 action, and he may use any maneuver he wishes, even ones that are not from Disciplines he has currently focused on. He must be able to chose that discipline as a focus, and he must be able to use the maneuver he chooses, as described in Flash of Inspiration. He counts as fatigued until the end of the encounter, takes non-lethal damage equal to twice the level of maneuver he used, and cannot recover maneuvers for 1 round.


Feats:

All Blades Training
Prerequisites:None
Benefit: This feat reduces the penalty for using non-proficient weapons(including improvised weapons). At level 1, it reduces it to -3. At levels 5, 10, and 15 it is reduced to -2, -1, and finally -0.

This feat also gives a second benefit. At any time, the wielder may decide to forgo the benefit of this feat, and take an additional penalty up to the reduction normally granted by this feat. In this case, he gains a Dodge bonus to AC equal to the attack penalty he received.

This feat counts as Combat Expertise for the purpose of prerequisites. This feat does not grant proficiency with such weapons, and cannot be used to qualify for such feats.

A fighter may select this as a bonus feat.

Master of the Unexpected Maneuver [Tactical]
Prerequisites:3 Flexible disciplines or knowledge of 3 maneuvers or stances of the same level from 3 different Disciplines.
Benefit: This feat gives access to 3 tactical options:

Student of Many Styles: If you use maneuvers from 2 different disciplines over the course of at most 2 rounds, and you are in a stance from a third discipline, you may add the lowest of the stance or either maneuver's level to your AC as a circumstance bonus. If, in the next round, you use a maneuver from a different discipline than the 3 previously used, you may again qualify for it, replacing one of the maneuvers used to calculate the AC bonus with the new one. This may repeat until you use a maneuver from a discipline you have already used, in which case the benefit ceases, and cannot be reactivated for a number of rounds equal to the highest AC bonus granted.
Student of Many Strikes As a full round action, the user of this feat may use up 3 different readied maneuvers, though all three must be applicable to the situation. The User chooses one maneuver to be the initiated one, one to be the overt one, and one to be the covert one. The overt one imposes a penalty equal to one half maneuver's level on the target's AC. The Covert one provides bonus damage equal to its level on the attack, and boosts the user's Initiator level by its level for the purpose of any IL dependent effects for the initiated maneuver, and it can boost the IL past one's HD. All of these effects last only for one attack, and this option can only be used once per target. As a side bonus, the check to identify the maneuver used is raised by the total of the cover and overt maneuvers' levels.
Student of Many StancesOnce per encounter, the user of this feat may maintain 2 stances from different schools at the same time. This effect lasts a number of rounds equal to the number of stances from different schools that the user knows, and afterwards he loses the ability to maintain a stance for twice the level of the highest stance he knows.

A fighter may select this as a bonus feat.




Notes on Jack of All:

The DM has full rights to disallow any homebrew disciplines(or, anything at all). In addition, the DM should consider if they wish any of the styles to be 'Secret methods', or if they fit the campaign(for example, Falling Anvil is normally limited to more comedic games, and Black Rain requires firearms). The Class should ideally not be limited to less than 9 schools. This is a relatively good list of homebrewed schools. (http://age-of-warriors.appspot.com/schools) Balance shouldn't come into play too much, as the limited number of maneuvers the Jack can access at a time should help settle matters. Finally, it should be noted that certain styles have special requirements, such as being possessed by a demon, being certain alignments, or having spell slots or power points. This class does not allow one to ignore requirements, nor does it give expendable resources if the school uses them.

Adaptation: Low Magic/High Wealth Replacement for Flexible Enchantments
The Flexible Enchantments is designed to encourage Jack of All Blades to actually use different weapons, as normally enchanting so many blades is beyond most character's wealth. If the Game is more liberal with loot, or extremely low magic, this ability should likely be replaced with the Following:

Flexible Use (ex): There comes a time when every Jack of All Blades realizes that weapons are not so different from each other, the real difference being how one decides to use them. At 7th level they may preform special combat actions(Trip, Ready against a Charge, and being used in a Grapple) with any weapon they are proficient in, at a -2 penalty. This penalty is lessened to -1 at 11th level, and disappears at 15th level.

On Why I made this class:
Pretty much stated right there in the title: I've always wanted to make a class that really could learn any combination of maneuvers, especially with all the homebrewed ones out there. Still, there have to be some limitation on that, so I gave it a slower progression as well limited high level manuevers readied.

This class was originally created for Base Class Challenge XIII - On a Whim

Hanuman
2012-09-27, 11:56 PM
Om nom nom, I'll be keeping this for later good sir.
I'll make a comment when I get around to reading it, looks nice.

Morph Bark
2012-09-28, 01:37 AM
So basically the "Sorcerer" to the Blade Scholar (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19525490/Blade_Scholar_(new_martial_adept_base_class))'s "Wizard"?

Tavar
2012-09-28, 01:31 PM
Maybe? I think it's more of a mix with Sorcerer and Euridite(though hopefully more balanced than the latter).