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View Full Version : Pathfinder [PF, PoW/ToB, Base] "Come, my students; there is a world to change!" (WIP, PEACH)



Ilorin Lorati
2014-02-05, 03:41 PM
Mentor
"The abilities I show you are not to be taken lightly, young one, nor are they meant to be squandered. Power of this kind is a curse darker than even the depths, and one day I hope you forgive me for showing it to you."
- Eshi of the Deep, Gillman Mentor

For a few weeks now, I've been on a bit of a Tome of Battle / Path of War kick with my own games, finally introducing the PoW classes in my campaign to allow my players to take, and making a few of my own PCs with the rules (Hawkguard is the most amazing, trolly thing in the game and I would recommend you never let a player that knows how to use it take the archetype). One of the things I really noticed with the maneuver subsystem and the classes that use it is that there really was no real class focused on support and that really the only places that the concept existed was in individual disciplines, and even then as more of an undercurrent than a focus. At the same time, I was somewhat disappointed at ErrantX's admission that any psionics support was going to have to wait until the second Path of War book.

This ended up being the result of those two lines of thought clicking into place as a singular concept a few days ago. It's pretty heavily a work in progress, and there are a number of things that I'm still working on:


Tweaking maneuver and stance numbers.
I don't like a fair number of the ability names and will be looking at alternate names for them.
Balance. Lots and lots of balance. I don't know where it is yet, so it'll take a bit of time for me to get this cleaned up.


If you ask ten people to describe a mentor, you'll receive twenty different answers and change, from old wise men and favored school teachers, to best friends that you look up to and that girl in the next town that showed you a new application of an old skill last time she came to shop. The only thread that remains constant is that they all connected with you in a way that goes a step beyond simply teaching you: they made something make sense that didn't before. On the battlefield, the best mentors take on similar, if much more active role: almost as fast as they show you something, you can take it and make it your own.

These mentors have a spark of psychic power aiding them with this task, connecting with their students in ways beyond the ken of mere mortals and imprinting the knowledge of maneuvers almost instinctively into the minds of those they're closest with.

Adventurers: Adventuring mentors typically do so because they and their students have a grand quest that they feel they must embark on, but a large number also begin adventuring to look for students or just because they have a burning need to travel and find their students and their reason for questing on the road.

Characteristics: Mentors span the whole range of personality quirks, but a common thread among them is that a mentor nearly always has a desire to teach or guide, even if they do not realize it themselves.

Alignment: Any Non-Chaotic. All but the most reckless and emotional of initiators can be a mentor to others.

Role: The mentor is a capable front-line combatant on his own, but is at his best supporting his students from the front line, protecting them from dangers even if they themselves do not stand beside him.

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: As Fighter.

Starting Age: As Fighter.

Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Martial) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier.




Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Power Points/Day
Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances Known


1st
+0
+0
+0
+2
Collective, Student’s Strike, Teacher’s Guard Stance
1
6
3
0


2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3
Strike as One (1st)
2
7
4
1


3rd
+2
+1
+1
+3
Application of Knowledge, Telepathy
4
8
4
2


4th
+3
+1
+1
+4
Student’s Strike +1
6
9
5
2


5th
+3
+1
+1
+4
Strike as One (2nd)
8
10
5
2


6th
+4
+2
+2
+5
Imprint Stance
12
11
6
3


7th
+5
+2
+2
+5
Application of Knowledge
16
12
6
3


8th
+6/+1
+2
+2
+6
Strike as One (3rd), Student’s Strike +2
20
13
7
3


9th
+6/+1
+3
+3
+6
Willful Recovery
24
14
7
3


10th
+7/+2
+3
+3
+7
Teacher’s Guard Stance (Permanent)
28
15
8
4


11th
+8/+3
+3
+3
+7
Application of Knowledge, Strike as One (4th)
36
15
8
4


12th
+9/+4
+4
+4
+8
Strike as One (Increased Duration), Student’s Strike +3
44
16
8
4


13th
+9/+4
+4
+4
+8
Imprint Stance (Two Targets)
52
16
8
4


14th
+10/+5
+4
+4
+9
Strike as One (5th)
60
17
9
4


15th
+11/+6/+1
+5
+5
+9
Application of Knowledge, Collective Range (Unlimited)
68
17
9
5


16th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+5
+10
Student’s Strike +4
80
18
9
5


17th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+5
+10
Strike as One (6th)
92
18
9
5


18th
+13/+8/+3
+6
+6
+11
With Age Comes Wisdom
104
19
10
5


19th
+14/+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Application of Knowledge, Collective Range (Planar)
116
19
10
5


20th
+15/+10/+5
+6
+6
+12
Perfect Recollection, Strike as One (7th), Student’s Strike +5
128
20
11
6




Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A mentor is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor.

Power Points/Day: A mentor's ability to manifest some of his abilities is limited by the power points he has available. His base daily allotment of power points is given on Table: The Mentor. In addition, he receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Wisdom score, treating his manifester level for the purposes of bonus power points as equal to his class level. His race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items.

The mentor also treats his class level as his manifester level for the purpose of spending power points when using class features and initiating maneuvers.

Maneuvers: A mentor begins his career with knowledge of six martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to him are Philosopher's Muse, Golden Lion, and any two other disciplines that are on more than one classes discipline list. He gains the associated skills for his chosen disciplines as class skills if he does not already have them. Once he knows a maneuver, he must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by Mentors is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. His maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and he does not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one. He learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on Table: The Mentor. The mentor must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even mentor level thereafter, he can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, the mentor loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he knows; the mentor need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. The mentor can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A mentor’s key initiator attribute is Wisdom.

Maneuvers Readied: A mentor can ready three of his six starting maneuvers, but as he advances in level and learns more maneuvers, he must choose which maneuvers to ready. He readies his maneuvers by going through weapon drills or meditating for 10 minutes. The maneuvers he chooses remain readied until he decides to repeat this again and change them. Mentors do not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready their maneuvers; any time he spends 10 minutes in practice, he can change his readied maneuvers. He may not ready any individual maneuver more than once. He begins an encounter with all readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he may have already used them since he chose them. When the mentor initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter, so each of his readied maneuver can be used once per encounter (until they are recovered, see below). Once a maneuver is readied, he may only use it once until it has been recovered by a Student's Strike or through some other means (see below).

For a mentor to recover maneuver, he must perform one of two types of actions: a student's strike, in which he relies on a member of his collective to assist him (see Student's Strike, below), or he may spend a standard action to recover a single readied maneuver of his choosing.

Stances Known: Mentors begin play with knowledge of no stances ( but see Teacher's Guard Stance, below). At the indicated levels (see class table), the mentor selects an additional new stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and he does not have to ready them. All the stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, the mentor cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.

Collective (Su): A mentor learns to use psionic power to connect willing minds through an internal network that strengthens their psychic bonds. As a standard action, a mentor can join any number of willing targets into his collective (up to his limit, see below). The mentor must have line of sight to each target, each target must have a Wisdom score of at least 1, and all targets must be within Medium range (100 ft. + 10 ft. per class level). The collective can contain up to his key ability modifier or half his mentor level, whichever is higher. The mentor is always considered a member of his own collective, and does not count against this limit.

The mentor can choose to remove a member as a free action on his turn, and any member can voluntarily leave the collective as a free action on their turn. Any member whose Wisdom drops to zero or who moves out of range of the collective is automatically removed. If a member enters a null psionics field, the connection to the collective is suppressed until the member leaves the field. A member who leaves the collective for any reason immediately loses any and all benefits they may have gained from being a member. A mentor is aware of the status of his collective and can, roughly, sense the presence of each member, although beyond telling if such a creature is still a member, this has no mechanical benefit without the assistance of other abilities given by the class.

If the mentor has levels in a class that grants the ability to manifest psionic powers, he may manifest any power with the network descriptor through his collective, regardless of their actual ranges or targets.

If a member of the collective dies, the member is removed from the collective and the mentor must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or lose 1 power point for every hit die of the fallen member and be sickened for an equal number of rounds.

At 15th level, a mentor’s collective range is limitless on the same plane as the mentor.
At 19th level, a mentor’s collective reaches even across to other planes and dimensions.


Student’s Strike (Su): A mentor does not only protect his students, he also conveys knowledge of his art unto them. As a full-round action, the mentor may imprint a single member of his collective other than himself with knowledge of one of his expended maneuvers until the beginning of his next turn; during that time, the maneuver is treated as if it is a bonus readied maneuver on the target’s own list. The target must have an initiator level capable of using this maneuver in order to use it (with some exceptions, see "maneuver-granting abilities and non-initiators" below). A maneuver cannot be granted by Student's Strike more than once per encounter.

The student, however, does not go at this alone. Gaining guidance from the mentor, the target gains a bonus to damage rolls made as a part of this maneuver or while it is active equal to the mentor’s Wisdom modifier. At 4th level, the student gains a +1 competence bonus to any attack rolls made as part of the maneuver. This bonus increases by +1 at 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter.

If the target succeeds at the maneuver, they gain the bonuses from Student’s Strike to the target’s next initiated maneuver or attack within a number of rounds equal to the mentor’s Wisdom modifier, and the mentor recovers a number of maneuvers as well as gaining temporary HP equal to his Wisdom modifier. This temporary HP fades at the beginning of the next encounter.

Sidebar: Maneuver-granting abilities and non-initiators
Initiators are not the only people who can gain the bonuses provided by the mentor. If the target granted a maneuver does not have an initiator level, treat the target as if that maneuver had been granted to them by the Martial Training feat, regardless of the actual level of the maneuver. If the target's effective initiator level is too low to initiate a given maneuver normally, they may not initiate that maneuver.

For maneuver-granting abilities that last for longer than one encounter, treat the maneuver as being readied at the beginning of every encounter as normal.

Teacher’s Guard Stance (Su): Once a mentor has made a connection with his students, he quickly learns to extend his watchful reach even further than his blade or shout could ever hope to. At 1st level, the Mentor gains a special stance of no particular discipline unique to his class. As a swift action, the mention may forego the use of any other martial stance and enter this stance.

While in this stance, any maneuvers or stances that he uses that target one or more allies have have a range greater than personal may affect the members of his collective regardless of the range of the actual maneuver. Maneuvers and stances initiated in concert with this stance are considered supernatural if they aren't already.

At 10th level, Teacher’s Guard Stance becomes a constant effect that no longer requires an action gain or maintain, and no longer requires the mentor to forego the use of other martial stances.

Strike as One (Su): Starting at 2nd level, the mentor can unleash a burst of insight to all of his students. As a swift action, the mentor may grant a member of his collective (other than himself) knowledge of one of his maneuvers known. Choose a single known maneuver of first level; until the end of his next turn, all targets treat that maneuver as a bonus maneuver known, as long as their initiator level is high enough to use that maneuver normally. The maneuver is automatically readied upon gaining it, and may be recovered by the target as normal for as long as they have it. The mentor may grant this maneuver to additional members of his collective by spending a number of power points equal to the level of the maneuver per collective member he wishes to grant it to.

Maneuvers granted this way gain the same attack and damage bonuses granted by Student’s Strike. At 5th level and every 3 levels thereafter, the maximum level of maneuver that the mentor can grant using Strike as One increases by 1.

At 12th level, the maneuver granted lasts for a number of rounds equal to the mentor’s Wisdom modifier.

Application of Knowledge (Su): At 3rd level, the mentor may share his understanding of how to use the knowledge that the members of his collective have. Choose one skill that the mentor has as a class skill: all members of the collective gain a competence bonus to that skill equal to the mentor’s Wisdom modifier (if positive). At 7th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (11th, 15th, 19th), the mentor chooses an additional skill to grant this bonus to. The mentor may change most recent skill he chose whenever he readies maneuvers.

Telepathy (Su): When a mentor reaches 3rd level, all willing members of his collective (including the mentor himself) can communicate with each other telepathically, even if they do not share a common language. Psionic creatures who are willing members in a mentor's collective (including the mentor himself if he has a manifester level) may manifest unknown powers from powers known by another willing psionic creature in the collective as if they were making physical contact.

A mentor may temporarily deactivate, and reactivate, this ability as a swift action.

Imprint Stance (Su): At 6th level, the mentor may project the knowledge of stances over his collective, allowing his allies to gain the effect of them. Whenever the he is in a mentor stance other than Teacher’s Guard Stance the mentor may grant one of his allies in the collective the effects of that stance. This does not count as the ally being in a stance, and the ally may dismiss or recall the effect as a free action at any point it is still being granted to them.

At 13th level, the mentor may expend psionic focus as a free action to grant effect of Imprint Stance to a second member of his collective for one round.

Willful Recovery (Su): Beginning at 9th level, the mentor may recover a single maneuver by expending psionic focus as a move action.

With Age Comes Wisdom (Ex): As the mentor gets older, his mind continues to sharpen and his training prevents him from growing frail and weak. Starting at 18th level, the mentor may ignore the penalty to his physical ability scores caused by middle age, and he reduces the penalties for the old and venerable age categories by 1 for each ability score. In addition, the bonuses to mental ability scores increase to +2 for each ability score in the old and venerable age categories.

If the mentor was already in these age categories, he adjusts his ability scores accordingly. This does not change the maximum age for his race, nor does it prevent him from dying when his time has come.

Perfect Recollection (Su): When a mentor reaches the pinnacle of his skill, the abilities he shows his students become nearly permanent. At 20th level, when the mentor readies maneuvers, he can choose one of his readied maneuvers of up to 7th level. All members of the collective gain that maneuver as a bonus maneuver known and readied until they leave the collective or the mentor chooses a different maneuver.

Change Log
2014/2/5

Added sidebar describing interaction between maneuver-granting abilities and non-initiators.

2014/2/6

Added abilities for levels 13 and 18.
Derp. Corrected placement of level 13 ability. It's where it should be, as an upgrade to "Imprint Stance"
Typo correction and other minor readability changes.

2014/2/8

Added limitation to Student's Strike to prevent certain strikes to be attempted every single turn.
Added minor defensive boon to mentor to offset light armor.

2014/2/9

Closed dead level at 9th with use of psionic focus.
Finished draft of Philosopher's Muse

2014/2/11

Minor redesign of Strike as One to make it usable when gained.

2014/2/24

Bookkeeping and playability adjustments

Ilorin Lorati
2014-02-05, 03:42 PM
Philosopher's Muse
Design Notes

This is my first discipline and, for the most part, the first abilities as all I've done which directly affect the damage someone deals. I'm sure there are numbers off, and I'm willing to bet that they're too low in many cases. Any help would be appreciated.

This discipline takes cues from sages, philosophers, and warrior-poets throughout history, as well as battles both real and legendary that have now iconic heroes and their acts. The concept of a "philosopher" runs far and wide, from Sun Tzu to Plato and from Sherlock Holmes to Confucius. I wanted to touch on all of these, while providing options that could provide anyone that wanted to play a warrior-philosopher type character to go with any of those directions.

Used by more action-oriented weapon teachers and warrior-philosophers the world over, Philosopher's Muse is less a martial discipline and more of a way of thought that combines moments of quiet introspection and study with quick bursts of action to correct issues. The path of a philosopher is a social one that focuses on teaching others new ways of thinking, and even the most offensive of attacks from this discipline have a way of opening the minds of his allies.

Philosopher's Muse's connection to thought and the mind lends itself well to psionic characters, and although the discipline itself does not require a character be psionic to learn it, many of the maneuvers are improved for characters that can maintain or expend a psionic focus. Maneuvers of this discipline are considered extraordinary unless the initiator wishes to use his psionic power with the maneuvers, in which case they are considered supernatural and gain the [Psionic] descriptor. Because the first step to improving the future is learning from the past, the associated skill for Philosopher's Muse is Knowledge (History). The associated weapon groups for Philosopher's Muse are Improvised, Light Blades, and Monk.

This discipline is known by Mentors, and may be learned by Warders and Warlords in place of one of their normal disciplines known.

Sidebar: Improvised Weapon Group
The improvised weapon group includes any weapon that would be covered using Improvised Weapon rules. This includes weapons that are being used in a way contrary to their design, as well as objects that are not designed to be used as weapons at all.

1st

Axiom of the Sap - Stance - Deal non-lethal damage and gain a bonus to damage.
Bane of the Thoughtless - Survey the battlefield and aggravate the distractions of those that already are.
Sprinter's Heart - Boost - Gain a 10 ft. increase to base speed.
Memory of Battles Past - Counter - Allies gain a +2 bonus to AC against weapons used against you.
Stance of Inspiration - Stance - You gain a bonus to skill checks when initiating a maneuver.
Warrior's Tendon Strike - Strike - Make a Knowledge (History) check versus a target's CMD in order to slow their movement.



2nd

Art of Adaptation - Boost - Allies gain a bonus to attack and damage rolls versus targets other than the last one they attacked.
Impromptu Block - Counter - Gain a shield bonus while wielding an improvised weapon.
Open Eyes - Boost - Roll a single Mental ability score-based skill check made as a part of another maneuver twice.
Strike of Shared Fate - Strike - Make an attack that scales in damage and accuracy with successive hits.



3rd

Bane of the Bulwark's Stand - Survey the battlefield, verbally tearing down enemy defenses by accosting them with the weaknesses they have.
Binding Breaker Strike - Strike - Attack with an improvised weapon deals an additional 4d6 points of damage, damages weapon.
In Darkness, Hope - Counter - When feared, gain a reroll using your Knowledge (History) ranks.
Stance of the Great Wheel - Stance - Gain additional attacks of opportunity.



4th

Equipment Failing Strike - Strike - Make a melee attack and attempt to sunder both the weapon and armor of an enemy.
Open Mind - Counter - Use a high save in place of a lower one for a single effect.
Pipe's Leverage - Boost - Increase the hardness and damage of an improvised weapon.
Runner's Heart - Boost - Increase the movement speed of yourself and nearby allies.



5th

Bane of the Aggressor - Guide your allies into position in response to enemies threatening them.
Blade's Theorem Strike - Strike - Aim and angle your weapon to deal the most damage possible.
Forefather's Lesson Learned - Boost - Gain a bonus to skill checks based on your Knowledge (History) ranks.
Memory of Distant Wars - Counter - Gain a scaling bonus to defenses against weapons used against you.



6th

Axiom of the Blade - Strike - Convert non-lethal to hit point damage. Deals bonus damage based on damage converted.
Book Binder's Battle Stance - Stance - Gain massive bonuses for using improvised weapons.
Essense of Hemlock - Boost - Weapon hit causes Dex damage and suffocates victim.
Moment of History Repeating - Counter - Force an enemy to reroll if their roll is less than a Knowledge (History) check, deal damage if they fail.



7th

Art of War - Boost - Allies gain a bonus to attacks and damage against a target they did not damage before this maneuver was initiated.
Bane of Hesitation - Strike - Strike an enemy to prevent them from making actions.
Sage's Bloodied Blade - Counter - Make an attack, gain a damage bonus equal to Knowledge (History) check.



8th

Clarity of the Wondering Mind - Strike - Make all attacks and damage rolls, assign them as you wish.
Stance of the Stoic Sage - Stance - Gain DR and immunity to mind-affecting abilities.
Intertwining Thread Strike - Strike - Make an attack that scales in damage and accuracy with successive hits.



9th

Bane of Tyrannical Applause - Strike - Attack an enemy to grant all allies a bonus to attack and damage rolls.



Maneuver Descriptions1stAxiom of the Sap
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Stance); Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You

Not all battles need be won with an enemy dead on the floor. While you are in this stance, all weapon damage you deal is considered non-lethal. Additionally, you gain bonus damage equal to your initiation modifier or 1/2 your initiator level, whichever is higher.

Bane of the Thoughtless
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse [Fear]; Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 Full-Round Action
Range: 40'
Target: Enemies
Duration: 1d4 round + 1 round / 2 levels
Saving Throw: Will Negates

You survey the battlefield before shouting at all enemies within 40', attempting to startle them into making mistakes. Targets must make a will save (DC 11 + your initiation modifier) or be shaken for the duration. This is a language dependent effect.

While maintaining psionic focus, you may remove the language dependency of this maneuver.

Memory of Battles Past
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: 10'
Target: Allies
Duration: 2 rounds

By recalling wars from recent memory, you can recall defensive counters to weapon types and share them with your allies. When you are attacked by an enemy, you may initiate this counter. Roll a Knowledge (History) check with a DC of 10. If you succeed, all allies within 10' gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC against all attacks made with weapons of a single weapon group that this weapon belongs to.

Sprinter's Heart
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost) Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal; 10'
Target: You; Ally
Duration: 1 Round

When you initiate this boost, you gain a +10' enhancement bonus to your base movement speed until the beginning of your next round.

If you're maintaining psionic focus, you may instead grant this bonus to an ally within 10'.

Stance of Inspiration
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Stance); Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal; 30'
Target: You; Allies

Taking deep breaths, you open your mind to paths you didn't think possible. Whenever you make a skill check as part of a maneuver, you gain a +1 insight bonus to that check, +1 for every 3 initiator levels you possess.

You may expend psionic focus as a swift action while in this stance in order to extend the skill bonus to allies within 30' until the beginning of your next turn.

Warrior's Tendon Strike
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 1st
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: Ranged or Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: 1d4 rounds

Even the greatest of warriors have a weakness, and by recalling relevant details of similar heroes and villains in the past, you can find this one's too. Make a Knowledge (History) check against the target's CMD. If successful, you deal weapon damage as normal and the target cannot take the run action and must make an acrobatics check versus your original roll in order to make more than one move action on any given turn.

By expending psionic focus as a swift action while this maneuver is in effect, the target must make the acrobatics check to move at all on his next turn.
2nd
Art of Adaptation
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 2nd
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: 10'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 round

A wise man once said that in war, when circumstances favor another approach you should change your plans. You see an opening and direct your allies to take it. When attacking an enemy that they have not damaged in the last round, all allies within 10' gain a +2 insight to attack rolls and CMB as well as +2d6 damage to their attacks.

Impromptu Block
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 2nd
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

You may initiate this maneuver whenever you're attacked while wielding an improvised weapon. Gain a shield bonus to AC equal to your initiation modifier for that attack. The improvised weapon takes damage as if it were sundered.

Open Eyes
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 2nd
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round or until used

You open your eyes to the world around you and take extra stock of your movements and thoughts. You may roll a single skill check with the same modifiers made as a part of a maneuver before the beginning of your next turn, taking the higher result.

Strike of Shared Fate
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 2nd
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One Melee Attack
Duration: Instantaneous; Encounter

You and your allies will stand together or fall apart. Make an attack against an enemy within reach. You deal +1d6 damage with this strike. The damage of this strike is increased by +1d6 for each time this strike has been initiated during this encounter, to a maximum number of additional dice equal to your initiation modifier.

You may expend psionic focus when you initiate this strike in order to treat a single other strike maneuver as this maneuver for the purpose of additional dice of damage.
3rd
Bane of Bulwark's Stand
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse; Level: 3rd
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 full-round action
Range: 40'
Target: See Text
Duration: 1 round/level
Save: Fortitude Negates

Every wall of shields has a weakest link. Roll a Knowledge (History) check. For every 5 you roll on this check, a single enemy within 40' must make a fortitude save DC 12 + your initiation modifier or become flat footed and lose their shield bonus to AC until the duration ends. This a language-dependent effect.

By expending psionic focus when you initiate this maneuver, you may remove the language dependency.

Binding Breaker Strike
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse; Level: 3rd
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: one melee attack
Target: One enemy
Duration: Instantaneous

Make an attack with an improvised weapon. You don't take any proficiency penalties from this attack, and deal +4d6 additional damage. Your weapon takes damage equal to this strike's bonus damage.

In Darkness, Hope
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 3rd
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal; 10'
Target: You; Ally
Duration: Instantaneous

"In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself." You may initiate this maneuver in response to failing a save against a fear-based effect. Reroll that save, using your ranks in Knowledge (History) instead of your base will save if it is higher.

You may expend psionic focus as a free action in order to initiate this maneuver on a nearby ally.

Stance of the Great Wheel
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Stance); Level: 3rd
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal; 10'
Target: You; Allies

What goes around, comes around, from the loom to karma. While in this stance, you gain a number of additional attacks of opportunity per round equal to your initiation modifier. This bonus stacks with Combat reflexes, but not any other effect that increases your attacks of opportunity per round. All attacks of opportunity you succeed at deal +1d6 damage.

While maintaining psionic focus, you can transfer any number of these bonus attacks of opportunity to an ally within 10' as a swift action.
4thEquipment Failing Strike
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 4th
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One melee attack
Target: One Enemy
Duration: 1d4 rounds

You study the style of the target's equipment to try and find the point of weakness. Make a melee attack against an enemy. If successful, you open up the enemy long enough to make a sunder attempt against both his weapon and armor, using a Knowledge (History) check in place of your Combat Maneuver check in both circumstances. Neither of these attempts provoke an attack of opportunity. On success, the target treats that piece of equipment as if it was broken for the duration even if it wouldn't normally be.

Open Mind
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 4th
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 immediate action
Range: Personal; 10'
Target: You; Ally

You may use this maneuver in response to a single effect that requires you make a saving throw. You may treat your base saving throw for that effect as having the "Good" progression, and use your Initiation Modifier instead of the saving throw's primary ability score modifier if it is higher.

You may expend psionic focus when initiating this maneuver in order to have it affect a nearby ally.

Pipe's Leverage
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 4th
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: one round

You ignore any non-proficiency penalties from wielding improvised weapons, treat those weapons as keen, and increase their hardness by your Initiation modifier for the duration of this maneuver. In addition, if you deal critical damage the enemy takes an additional +3d6 damage.

Runner's Heart
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 4th
Prerequisite: 1 Philosopher's Muse maneuver
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: 30'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 Round

You inspire nearby allies with the thought of a man that once ran a hundred miles for the sake of his nation. All allies within 30 ft gain a 30 ft. bonus to their base move speed for the duration of this maneuver.

You may expend psionic focus as a part of initiating this maneuver to grant all targets the effect of the Run feat for the duration.
5thBane of the Aggressor
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse; Level: 5th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 full-round action
Range: 30'
Target: Allies

You may use this maneuver the turn after an enemy moves into threat range of an ally or strikes an ally that had not yet struck them. Grant all allies (including yourself) within 30' a free move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Blade's Theorem Strike
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 5th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One melee attack
Target: One Enemy
Duration: Instantaneous

Make one attack against an enemy. If successful, you are treated as having critically hit the target and having dealt the maximum damage possible for your attack, including from any extra dice of damage applied.

Forefather's Lesson Learned
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 5th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: 10'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 round

History is full of mistakes, and with a moment's thought you can pass that knowledge on to allies. Roll a knowledge (History) check. the first time in the next round each ally makes a d20 check and the total is less than your check's total, they may instead use your total. This replaces their natural roll, and the ally may threaten a critical hit this way.

You may expend psionic focus as a part of initiating this maneuver in order to gain a single additional use of this ability that you may assign to any ally's roll in the next turn as a free action.

Memory of Distant Wars
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 5th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 Immediate Action
Range: 30'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 round / 2 levels

When you are attacked by an enemy, you may initiate this counter. Roll a Knowledge (History) check. For every 5 you roll on this check, you and your allies gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against all attacks and a +1 bonus to CMD versus maneuver attempts made with weapons of a single weapon group that this weapon belongs to.

6th
Axiom of the Blade
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 6th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One melee attack
Target: One Enemy
Saving Throw: Fortitude (Half)

You may dislike killing or revel in it, but you cannot argue that weapons are designed to kill what you're attacking, not to simply maim or knock them out. Make an attack against one creature: if successful, all non-lethal damage is converted into lethal damage against the target and the target must make a fortitude saving throw (DC 16 + your initiation modifier) or take damage equal to the amount of damage converted. On a successful save, the target still takes half damage.

If you are maintaining psionic focus, the bonus damage of this strike may be set to your active energy type. If your active damage type is Electricity, Fire, or Sonic, the save for this maneuver is instead Reflex.

Book Binder's Battle Stance
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Stance); Level: 6th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: Self

While in this stance, any improvised weapons you use are treated as being adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. In addition, you are treated as having the Catch off Guard, Throw Anything, and Improvised Weapon Mastery feats, and add your initiation modifier to the attack rolls and damage dealt by improvised weapons.

By expending your psionic focus while in this stance, you can treat improvised weapons as having 1/5 your level in weapon special abilities until the beginning of your next turn.

Essense of Hemlock
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost) [Poison]; Level: 6th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 3 rounds
Saving Throw: Fortitude (Partial)

The next attack you make after you initiate this maneuver makes the target act as if it was poisoned by hemlock. The target must make a Fortitude save (DC 16 + your initiation modifier) or take 1d6 Dex damage and 1d6 Dex damage at the beginning of its turn. In addition, the target suffocates as if they had been subjected to the spell. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/suffocation)

Moment of History Repeating
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 6th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 Immediate Action
Range: 30'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 round

Initiate this maneuver in response to an ally being hit by a melee attack. For the next round, whenever that ally within 30' is hit with a melee attack, roll a Knowledge (History) check. If that check is higher than the attack roll, the enemy must reroll their attack roll and take the lower. If they fail the reroll, the enemy takes damage as if the ally had succeeded on a melee attack.

7th
Art of War
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Boost); Level: 7th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: 10'
Target: Allies
Duration: 1 round

A wise man once said that in war, when circumstances favor another approach you should change your plans. You see an opening and direct your allies to take it. When attacking any enemy that they did not damage in the round before initiating this maneuver, all allies within 10' gain a +4 insight bonus to attack rolls and CMB as well as +4d6 damage to their attacks.

Bane of Hesitation
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 7th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 full round action
Range: Melee Attack
Target: Nearby Enemies
Duration: 1d4+1 rounds
Saving Throw: Will Partial (See Text)

Make a number of attacks with a melee weapon equal to those allowed by your base attack bonus, but treat your BAB for this maneuver as equal to your initiator level for the purpose of determining how many attacks you may make. Depending on how many of these attacks are successful, the effect of this maneuver strengthens. All effects are cumulative:

1 hit: Target cannot make full-round actions for the duration
2 hits: Target is flat footed and cannot make standard actions
3 hits: Dazed and flat footed
4 hits: Paralyzed

You may split your attacks however you wish. Hit targets must make a Will save (DC 17 + your initiation modifier) or be afflicted by the listed effect. A successful will save reduces the effect by 1 effective hit. Hits over 4 have no additional effect.

Sage's Bloodied Blade
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Counter); Level: 7th
Prerequisite: 2 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 Immediate Action
Range: One melee attack
Target: One enemy
Duration: Instantaneous

You may initiate this maneuver in response to a melee attack being attempted against you. Make an attack roll, with a bonus equal to your initiation modifier. If successful, you deal weapon damage plus bonus damage equal to a Knowledge (History) check.


8th
Clarity of the Wondering Mind
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 8th
Prerequisite: 3 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One Melee Attack
Duration: Instantaneous

Make a number of attacks rolls as allowed by a full-attack action and roll the damage for those attacks before resolving whether or not they hit or the effects of any boosts or other abilities. With each attack roll you may pair a single set of damage rolls, arranging them as you wish before resolving the attacks and applying damage, boosts, and other abilities.

Stance of the Stoic Sage
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Stance); Level: 8th
Prerequisite: 3 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 swift action
Range: Personal; One Ally
Target: Self; 10'

You are resistant to any sort of outside influence. While in this stance, you cannot be affected by any new mind-affecting spells or effects. You also gain DR 10/- against the first attack to strike you on any given round.

While you maintain psionic focus, you may instead apply the DR effect to the first attack that strikes an ally within 10' this turn.

Intertwining Thread Strike
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 8th
Prerequisite: 3 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 standard action
Range: One Melee Attack
Duration: Instantaneous; Encounter

Make an attack against an enemy within reach. You deal +10d6 damage with this strike. The damage of this strike is increased by +2d6 for each time this strike has been initiated during this encounter, to a maximum number of additional dice equal to twice your initiation modifier.

You may expend psionic focus when you initiate this strike in order to treat a single other strike maneuver as this maneuver for the purpose of additional dice of damage.
9thBane of Tyrannical Applause
Discipline: Philosopher's Muse (Strike); Level: 9th
Prerequisite: 4 Philosopher's Muse maneuvers
Initiation Action: 1 full round action
Range: Melee Attack
Target: 1 Enemy; Allies
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Fort Negates

Make up to a number of attacks equal to those allowed by a full-attack action. Allies that also attack that target before your next turn gain 5d6 damage as well as +1 circumstance bonus to attack rolls and +1d6 precision damage for every two attacks you hit the target with.

If you expend psionic focus when you initiate this maneuver, you guide the attacks towards critical blood vessels. At the beginning of your next turn the target must make a Fortitude save with a DC of 10 + the number of attacks that struck the target that turn or begin taking bleed damage equal to the precision damage given by this strike. This damage is particularly difficult to heal and can only be stopped by bringing the target back up to full health through magic that cures hit point damage.

Ilorin Lorati
2014-02-05, 03:44 PM
One more because I have no idea how much I'm going to need.

Allnightmask
2014-02-05, 10:37 PM
I'm liking the mechanics and the role. I can't really add much beyond that till I see the discipline and the power list. I'll look forward to it.

Ilorin Lorati
2014-02-09, 03:16 AM
I've finished the draft of the mentor discipline, Philosopher's Muse, and I'm closing off the last dead level now.

I'm never going to make fun of people that make disciplines - not that I did before, but from where I'm sitting, slightly drunk at 3 AM, TDO is basically the most impressive person in the world for what he did back in the day.