Cheesy74
2013-12-04, 11:01 AM
Phase Dancer
[picture tba]
"It's a rush. Nothing rivals the feeling of falling forever in an instant that you get when you teleport. What could I do but use it to kill people?" - Iandwyll, phase dancer mercenary
Phase dancers are spellswords - usually duskblades - who tether themselves to the astral plane rather than to the material. Focusing their connection through their weapon, they practice both their teleportation skills to be able to blink around a battlefield with impunity and their throwing skills, using their magically-attuned weapon as a massive thrown projectile against their foes.
BECOMING A PHASE DANCER
All arcane spellcasters have the potential to be phase dancers, but it must be awakened first by a jaunt to the astral plane itself. A keen interest in teleportation magic tempered by the knowledge of how to manipulate the astral plane and a bit of martial talent leads to the development of the advanced techniques used in a phase dance.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Feat: Quick Draw
Skill: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks
Special: Must be able to cast at least one arcane spell of the Teleportation subschool of 2nd level or higher
Special: Must have been the target of a spell of the Teleportation subschool of 4th level or higher.
Class Skills
The phase dancer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (int), and Tumble (Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + Int
Hit Dice: d6
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
Spellcasting
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2
Attune, Recall
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3
Imbue Blade
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd
+2
+1
+3
+3
Spellsword's Advance
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Recall (unlimited), Phasing
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Phase Dance
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
6th
+4
+2
+5
+5
Wayward Form
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
7th
+5
+2
+5
+5
Jaunt
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
8th
+6/+1
+2
+6
+6
Imbue Blade (full round)
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
9th
+6/+1
+3
+6
+6
Portal Blade
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
10th
+7/+2
+3
+7
+7
Along the Borders
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
Weapon/Armor Proficiencies: A phase dancer gains proficiency with all one-handed and light martial melee weapons. They gain no additional armor proficiencies.
Spellcasting: At each level except for first, a phase dancer gains new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she belonged to more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a phase dancer, she must choose to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.
Attune: At first level, the phase dancer selects a one-handed or light melee weapon in her possession with which she is proficient to become her attuned weapon. This weapon glows with green runes any time it is held by the phase dancer, and is considered to have the throwing enhancement when used by her. Additionally, the phase dancer may use the higher of her Strength and Dexterity bonuses for both attack rolls and damage rolls with the attuned weapon. The phase dancer may attune another weapon by spending an hour of uninterrupted meditation on it, but this removes the attunement on her prior weapon.
Recall (Su): Any time the phase dancer's attuned weapon is within 30 feet of her, she may teleport it to her hand as a free action. This action does not provoke attacks of opportunity, but if the weapon is held by anyone other than the caster, they may make a reflex save (as if against a spell of a level equal to half the phase dancer's highest arcane caster level) to negate the recall. She may only recall her weapon once per round until 4th level, when she may do it as many times as she likes.
Imbue Blade (Su): Beginning at second level, the phase dancer may use a standard action to cast any touch spell she knows into her attuned weapon, delivering it with a ranged attack. The spell must have a casting time of a standard action or less. If the attack lands, it deals its normal damage before resolving the spell as if it were cast upon the target.
At 8th level, the phase dancer may imbue her attuned weapon with a touch spell she knows as part of a full attack action, affecting each enemy struck in the round with that spell. The touch spell still must be castable in a standard action or less.
Spellsword's Advance (Su): Beginning at third level, when a phase dancer hits an opponent with a ranged attack using her attuned weapon, she may teleport up to 20 feet to the nearest unoccupied square within her reach of the opponent and make a melee attack against the struck target as a free action by expending a 1st-level or higher spell slot. If she attempts to do this when there are no available unoccupied squares, the teleportation fails.
Phasing (Su): At fourth level, when a phase dancer uses a Teleportation spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability (e.g. Spellsword's Advance) on herself, she remains briefly phased out of reality, pulling the momentum of the teleportation with her. This does not require an additional action. The next attack she makes with her attuned weapon that round is resolved as a touch attack, and she cannot provoke attacks of opportunity until the end of her turn. If she does not make an attack before the end of the round, she phases back into reality and loses this benefit.
Phase Dance (Su): Beginning at fifth level, by expending a 3rd-level or higher spell slot as a free action, a phase dancer can blink out of reality rapidly enough to teleport at blinding rates. For the duration of the round, she may use Spellsword's Advance on all successful ranged attacks with her attuned weapon without expending additional spell slots.
Wayward Form (Su): Beginning at sixth level, whenever a phase dancer receives the benefits of phasing, in addition to its normal benefits, she is also granted concealment until the start of her next turn. This ability is automatic and requires no action. This concealment results from the phase dancer being partially in the astral plane rather than any form of illusion, and thus cannot be negated by True Seeing, Pierce Magical Concealment, or similar effects, but is ignored by any attack that affects ethereal creatures normally.
Jaunt (Su): At seventh level, a phase dancer can no longer be teleported against her will by any effect with a caster level lower than her highest arcane caster level + 4. Additionally, whenever she uses a teleportation effect, she may teleport to the location where she used the effect as an immediate action at any point in the next ten minutes. This ability can be used only once per teleportation effect, and is lost if another teleportation effect is used before jaunt. Jaunt counts as a teleportation effect and thus triggers phasing, but does not trigger itself.
Portal Blade (Su): At ninth level, when a phase dancer throws her attuned weapon, it does not fly toward its target, but instead simply appears at its destination. A phase dancer's range with her attuned weapon becomes 5' x caster level, she may ignore any cover less than total cover, and she no longer requires line of effect to her targets, though she must maintain line of sight to them.
Along the Borders (Su): Any time a phase dancer casts a Conjuration (Teleportation) spell that lets her teleport some distance measured in feet, she may instead absorb the magic into herself, allowing her to make a number of separate teleportations up to half her highest arcane caster level. Her first teleportation can be taken as part of casting the spell, but each subsequent teleportation requires either the same amount of time to activate as the original spell or a move action, whichever is longer, and the total distance traveled by the teleportations cannot exceed the original teleport distance. Any remaining distance not consumed within one minute of casting the initial spell is lost. Every teleportation made through Along the Borders triggers Phasing and Jaunt. Teleportations made through Along the Borders must travel at least 5 feet.
PLAYING A PHASE DANCER
Phase Dancers are mobile spellcasters and combatants, capable of being everywhere at once on a battlefield, and are almost impossible to pin down. Their personality can range from brash and overconfident to cowardly, but they are usually fairly self-reliant, as their abilities are almost universally self-taught.
Combat: Phase dancers are ranged combatants, but due to the short effective range on their thrown weapon do best in the fray, jumping between opponents with Spellsword's Advance. Imbue Blade combined with the free touch attack from Phasing can seriously hurt even a well-defended opponent, and a Phase Dance combined with a full-round Imbue Blade can deal amounts of damage exceeding an evoker. However, their low hit die and the armor restrictions of arcane spellcasting means they are vulnerable in direct combat and should use their teleportation abilities to stay out of harm's way.
Advancement: Phase dancers usually start as duskblades or another gish class, though the powers can also benefit a martially-minded wizard or sorcerer. They lead perfectly into either continuing levels in duskblade or, better yet, Abjurant Champion.
Resources: Typically phase dancers have personal connections from former mage's guilds or other schools, as they often begin their training in schools before branching off to independent study. Beyond this, their self-reliance shines through, as it is exceedingly rare for a phase dancer to be any more well-connected than his peers.
PHASE DANCERS IN THE WORLD
"Yes, we're all very impressed with her, but wizards' duels are about magic, not blades and parlor tricks. She will be disciplined once her opponent heals." - Archmage Lla'dianal on a recent duel at his academy
Daily Life: Phase dancers are self-motivated, but likely even more studious than wizards. They spend much of their downtime practicing with their weapon and studying planar cosmology, though they are always on the lookout for opportunities to show off their abilities.
Notables: The high bodyguard of the Elvenking, Ladron Seonamar, is one of the most famous and skilled phase dancers in the realm, and has built a reputation from slaying assassins from afar before their hand reaches their blade. Best known on the black market, the dwarven mercenary Kadrell Silverblood is one of the only non-elf phase dancers, and wears so much armor that he and his attuned weapon - a massive bastard sword he wields with magical assistance - have been referred to as a highly-mobile siege weapon.
Organizations: The elven Academy Sindar'ael, which trained Ladron Seonamar, is considered the birthplace of phase dancing, and is the only organization in the realm that actively teaches the discipline. Beyond this, no formal organizations of phase dancers are known to exist.
NPC Reaction
Phase dancers are, by and large, viewed with respect for forwarding the fusion of swordplay and magic, especially in elven communities, though the self-taught nature of their abilities brings some disdain from more traditional wizards. All but the most learned in magic have difficulty distinguishing them from duskblades, and thus phase dancers are commonly treated no differently than any other magic user.
PHASE DANCERS IN THE GAME
Phase dancers are designed to fill the role of a skirmishing damage-dealer in combat and an adaptable spellcaster outside of battle, though their out-of-combat utility will depend on the class by which they entered. Their many interrupt abilities can lead to them "going nova" with their spell slots and may make them seem more powerful than they are if given fewer than the standard 3 encounters a day.
Adaptation: The phase dancer is presented as a self-taught class with elven origins, but can easily be presented with more rigorous teachings in its backstory, as a more schooling-based prestige class. The class can also be made psionic simply by switching a few keywords in the entry requirements and body, giving it a psionic casting progression in place of an arcane one, and replacing spell slot costs with equivalent power point costs (though Spellsword's Advance should likely cost 2 power points rather than 1).
Encounters: Phase Dancers can make an excellent miniboss, as they can deal incredible burst damage versus groups of foes, but should be part of a group of some kind, as focus-fired phase dancers will be defeated extremely quickly.
[picture tba]
"It's a rush. Nothing rivals the feeling of falling forever in an instant that you get when you teleport. What could I do but use it to kill people?" - Iandwyll, phase dancer mercenary
Phase dancers are spellswords - usually duskblades - who tether themselves to the astral plane rather than to the material. Focusing their connection through their weapon, they practice both their teleportation skills to be able to blink around a battlefield with impunity and their throwing skills, using their magically-attuned weapon as a massive thrown projectile against their foes.
BECOMING A PHASE DANCER
All arcane spellcasters have the potential to be phase dancers, but it must be awakened first by a jaunt to the astral plane itself. A keen interest in teleportation magic tempered by the knowledge of how to manipulate the astral plane and a bit of martial talent leads to the development of the advanced techniques used in a phase dance.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Base Attack Bonus: +3
Feat: Quick Draw
Skill: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 5 ranks
Special: Must be able to cast at least one arcane spell of the Teleportation subschool of 2nd level or higher
Special: Must have been the target of a spell of the Teleportation subschool of 4th level or higher.
Class Skills
The phase dancer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (int), and Tumble (Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + Int
Hit Dice: d6
Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
Spellcasting
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2
Attune, Recall
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3
Imbue Blade
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd
+2
+1
+3
+3
Spellsword's Advance
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Recall (unlimited), Phasing
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Phase Dance
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
6th
+4
+2
+5
+5
Wayward Form
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
7th
+5
+2
+5
+5
Jaunt
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
8th
+6/+1
+2
+6
+6
Imbue Blade (full round)
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
9th
+6/+1
+3
+6
+6
Portal Blade
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
10th
+7/+2
+3
+7
+7
Along the Borders
+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
Weapon/Armor Proficiencies: A phase dancer gains proficiency with all one-handed and light martial melee weapons. They gain no additional armor proficiencies.
Spellcasting: At each level except for first, a phase dancer gains new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which she belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she belonged to more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a phase dancer, she must choose to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.
Attune: At first level, the phase dancer selects a one-handed or light melee weapon in her possession with which she is proficient to become her attuned weapon. This weapon glows with green runes any time it is held by the phase dancer, and is considered to have the throwing enhancement when used by her. Additionally, the phase dancer may use the higher of her Strength and Dexterity bonuses for both attack rolls and damage rolls with the attuned weapon. The phase dancer may attune another weapon by spending an hour of uninterrupted meditation on it, but this removes the attunement on her prior weapon.
Recall (Su): Any time the phase dancer's attuned weapon is within 30 feet of her, she may teleport it to her hand as a free action. This action does not provoke attacks of opportunity, but if the weapon is held by anyone other than the caster, they may make a reflex save (as if against a spell of a level equal to half the phase dancer's highest arcane caster level) to negate the recall. She may only recall her weapon once per round until 4th level, when she may do it as many times as she likes.
Imbue Blade (Su): Beginning at second level, the phase dancer may use a standard action to cast any touch spell she knows into her attuned weapon, delivering it with a ranged attack. The spell must have a casting time of a standard action or less. If the attack lands, it deals its normal damage before resolving the spell as if it were cast upon the target.
At 8th level, the phase dancer may imbue her attuned weapon with a touch spell she knows as part of a full attack action, affecting each enemy struck in the round with that spell. The touch spell still must be castable in a standard action or less.
Spellsword's Advance (Su): Beginning at third level, when a phase dancer hits an opponent with a ranged attack using her attuned weapon, she may teleport up to 20 feet to the nearest unoccupied square within her reach of the opponent and make a melee attack against the struck target as a free action by expending a 1st-level or higher spell slot. If she attempts to do this when there are no available unoccupied squares, the teleportation fails.
Phasing (Su): At fourth level, when a phase dancer uses a Teleportation spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability (e.g. Spellsword's Advance) on herself, she remains briefly phased out of reality, pulling the momentum of the teleportation with her. This does not require an additional action. The next attack she makes with her attuned weapon that round is resolved as a touch attack, and she cannot provoke attacks of opportunity until the end of her turn. If she does not make an attack before the end of the round, she phases back into reality and loses this benefit.
Phase Dance (Su): Beginning at fifth level, by expending a 3rd-level or higher spell slot as a free action, a phase dancer can blink out of reality rapidly enough to teleport at blinding rates. For the duration of the round, she may use Spellsword's Advance on all successful ranged attacks with her attuned weapon without expending additional spell slots.
Wayward Form (Su): Beginning at sixth level, whenever a phase dancer receives the benefits of phasing, in addition to its normal benefits, she is also granted concealment until the start of her next turn. This ability is automatic and requires no action. This concealment results from the phase dancer being partially in the astral plane rather than any form of illusion, and thus cannot be negated by True Seeing, Pierce Magical Concealment, or similar effects, but is ignored by any attack that affects ethereal creatures normally.
Jaunt (Su): At seventh level, a phase dancer can no longer be teleported against her will by any effect with a caster level lower than her highest arcane caster level + 4. Additionally, whenever she uses a teleportation effect, she may teleport to the location where she used the effect as an immediate action at any point in the next ten minutes. This ability can be used only once per teleportation effect, and is lost if another teleportation effect is used before jaunt. Jaunt counts as a teleportation effect and thus triggers phasing, but does not trigger itself.
Portal Blade (Su): At ninth level, when a phase dancer throws her attuned weapon, it does not fly toward its target, but instead simply appears at its destination. A phase dancer's range with her attuned weapon becomes 5' x caster level, she may ignore any cover less than total cover, and she no longer requires line of effect to her targets, though she must maintain line of sight to them.
Along the Borders (Su): Any time a phase dancer casts a Conjuration (Teleportation) spell that lets her teleport some distance measured in feet, she may instead absorb the magic into herself, allowing her to make a number of separate teleportations up to half her highest arcane caster level. Her first teleportation can be taken as part of casting the spell, but each subsequent teleportation requires either the same amount of time to activate as the original spell or a move action, whichever is longer, and the total distance traveled by the teleportations cannot exceed the original teleport distance. Any remaining distance not consumed within one minute of casting the initial spell is lost. Every teleportation made through Along the Borders triggers Phasing and Jaunt. Teleportations made through Along the Borders must travel at least 5 feet.
PLAYING A PHASE DANCER
Phase Dancers are mobile spellcasters and combatants, capable of being everywhere at once on a battlefield, and are almost impossible to pin down. Their personality can range from brash and overconfident to cowardly, but they are usually fairly self-reliant, as their abilities are almost universally self-taught.
Combat: Phase dancers are ranged combatants, but due to the short effective range on their thrown weapon do best in the fray, jumping between opponents with Spellsword's Advance. Imbue Blade combined with the free touch attack from Phasing can seriously hurt even a well-defended opponent, and a Phase Dance combined with a full-round Imbue Blade can deal amounts of damage exceeding an evoker. However, their low hit die and the armor restrictions of arcane spellcasting means they are vulnerable in direct combat and should use their teleportation abilities to stay out of harm's way.
Advancement: Phase dancers usually start as duskblades or another gish class, though the powers can also benefit a martially-minded wizard or sorcerer. They lead perfectly into either continuing levels in duskblade or, better yet, Abjurant Champion.
Resources: Typically phase dancers have personal connections from former mage's guilds or other schools, as they often begin their training in schools before branching off to independent study. Beyond this, their self-reliance shines through, as it is exceedingly rare for a phase dancer to be any more well-connected than his peers.
PHASE DANCERS IN THE WORLD
"Yes, we're all very impressed with her, but wizards' duels are about magic, not blades and parlor tricks. She will be disciplined once her opponent heals." - Archmage Lla'dianal on a recent duel at his academy
Daily Life: Phase dancers are self-motivated, but likely even more studious than wizards. They spend much of their downtime practicing with their weapon and studying planar cosmology, though they are always on the lookout for opportunities to show off their abilities.
Notables: The high bodyguard of the Elvenking, Ladron Seonamar, is one of the most famous and skilled phase dancers in the realm, and has built a reputation from slaying assassins from afar before their hand reaches their blade. Best known on the black market, the dwarven mercenary Kadrell Silverblood is one of the only non-elf phase dancers, and wears so much armor that he and his attuned weapon - a massive bastard sword he wields with magical assistance - have been referred to as a highly-mobile siege weapon.
Organizations: The elven Academy Sindar'ael, which trained Ladron Seonamar, is considered the birthplace of phase dancing, and is the only organization in the realm that actively teaches the discipline. Beyond this, no formal organizations of phase dancers are known to exist.
NPC Reaction
Phase dancers are, by and large, viewed with respect for forwarding the fusion of swordplay and magic, especially in elven communities, though the self-taught nature of their abilities brings some disdain from more traditional wizards. All but the most learned in magic have difficulty distinguishing them from duskblades, and thus phase dancers are commonly treated no differently than any other magic user.
PHASE DANCERS IN THE GAME
Phase dancers are designed to fill the role of a skirmishing damage-dealer in combat and an adaptable spellcaster outside of battle, though their out-of-combat utility will depend on the class by which they entered. Their many interrupt abilities can lead to them "going nova" with their spell slots and may make them seem more powerful than they are if given fewer than the standard 3 encounters a day.
Adaptation: The phase dancer is presented as a self-taught class with elven origins, but can easily be presented with more rigorous teachings in its backstory, as a more schooling-based prestige class. The class can also be made psionic simply by switching a few keywords in the entry requirements and body, giving it a psionic casting progression in place of an arcane one, and replacing spell slot costs with equivalent power point costs (though Spellsword's Advance should likely cost 2 power points rather than 1).
Encounters: Phase Dancers can make an excellent miniboss, as they can deal incredible burst damage versus groups of foes, but should be part of a group of some kind, as focus-fired phase dancers will be defeated extremely quickly.