PrC Contest XIV: Power is a Gish best served Bold!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Proclaimer of Victory

Before one can survive to tell the tale, one must first tell the tale.

Any bard can recite the story of a famous battle after the fact; it's what they do for a living, after all. It takes a particular type of talent, however, to recite the story of a battle while the battle is in progress. Some truenamers with a more martial bent have developed the ability to do just that, speaking to the universe as if reading from a script in order to effect the results of a battle which they wish to occur. They approach reality as bards do a performance: All the battlefield is a stage, and its inhabitants merely players, they say, as they speak confidence into their allies and declare fear in their opponents. Where other tacticians must meticulously plan their strategems to account for all possible enemy responses, these skilled figures need only proclaim themselves victorious and the universe will rewrite its script in agreement.

Becoming a Proclaimer of Victory
While proclaimers of victory lean heavily on their truenaming skills, they do still need some amount of leadership capability. Thus, truenamers wishing to walk this path will need to take a short detour into martial training or at least be granted such capabilities.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Truenaming: Ability to speak 2nd level utterances
Auras: Ability to project a draconic or major aura
Skills: Truespeak 6 ranks, Diplomacy 6 ranks
Feats: One [Recitation] feat

Class Skills
The proclaimer of victory's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Listen, Martial Lore, Perform (any one), Spot, Truespeak, Tumble.
Skills Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier

Hit Dice: d8

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Utterances
1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+2

|Articulation of Interpersonal Truespeech|+1 truenamer level
2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+3

|Commanding Utterance|+1 truenamer level
3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+3

|

+3

|Syllable of Tactical Excellence|+1 truenamer level
4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+4

|Warding of Perpetual Recitation|+1 truenamer level
5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+4

|

+4

|Sharp Blade, Sharper Tongue|+1 truenamer level
6th|

+4

|

+2

|

+5

|

+5

|Speak unto the Legions|+1 truenamer level
7th|

+5

|

+2

|

+5

|

+5

|Refutation of Unfavorable Terrain|+1 truenamer level
8th|

+6

|

+2

|

+6

|

+6

|Declaration of Advantageous Enhancement|+1 truenamer level
9th|

+6

|

+3

|

+6

|

+6

|Pronouncement of the Dramatic Imperative|+1 truenamer level
10th|

+7

|

+3

|

+7

|

+7

|Proclamation of Inevitable Mounting Triumph|+1 truenamer level[/table]

Weapon Proficiencies
Proclaimers of victory are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and all shields except tower shields.

Articulation of Interpersonal Truespeech (Ex)
A proclaimer of victory realizes that the actions of persons affect the outcome of battle more than any enchanted weapons or favorable terrain, and that combining your tactical influence with truespeech results in a power greater than the sum of its parts. You gain three benefits due to this realization. First, any auras you possess that depend on your Charisma modifier now depend on your Intelligence modifier. Second, you treat your Truespeak ranks as levels in an aura-granting class to determine the bonus granted by your auras and the number of auras you know. Third, you add your aura bonus to Truespeak checks when pronouncing a creature's personal truename.

In addition, you now focus on the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind to the exclusion of other Lexicons. Any time you would learn a new utterance from the Lexicon of the Crafted Tool, you instead learn two utterances from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind of any level you may normally choose from; any time you would learn a new utterance from the Lexicon of the Perfected Map, you instead learn three Evolving Mind utterances. If you already know utterances from these two lexicons, you immediately trade them in for Evolving Mind utterances.

Commanding Utterance (Ex)
Your commanding presence constantly carries a whisper of truespeech, giving your aura some of the qualities of an utterance. If you know the personal truename of a creature, the bonuses that creature gains from your auras are doubled. In addition, you may choose to reverse your auras as you would an utterance: instead of granting a bonus to your allies, they instead inflict an equal and opposite penalty on enemies in the area (numerical bonuses become numerical penalties, fast healing becomes damage per round, energy resistance becomes energy vulnerability, and so forth), though enemies receive a Will save each round to negate the penalties for that round. If you know an enemy's personal truename, the penalties inflicted on them by a reversed aura are doubled as well.

Syllable of Tactical Excellence (Su)
Battles can be won or lost on the actions of a single soldier in a single instant. Taking this to heart, you learn how to use single syllables of the True Speech representing basic tactical concepts to affect friends and enemies in a faster, albeit more limited, fashion than traditional utterances, learning to slightly expand and contract the flow of time to give your allies more time in which to act and your enemies less. As an immediate action, you may make a Truespeak check as if using an utterance on your target to perform one of the following effects (all Syllables allow a Will save to negate their effects):

• Rally: A targeted creature may take an immediate move action to move up to his speed however desired, so long as he ends up closer to you than he began. The reversed form of this syllable, Disperse, causes any number of creatures of your choice adjacent to you to immediately move their speed away from you (though they may move to avoid attacks of opportunity or other hazards as normal).
• Advance: A targeted creature may immediately make a single melee attack against any legal target; if no enemy is within reach, he may optionally take a 5-foot step before making the attack, if such would put him within reach of an enemy. The reversed form of this syllable, Retreat, causes a single creature to immediately take the withdraw action.
• Fire: A targeted creature may immediately make a ranged attack against any legal target. The reversed form of this syllable, Cease, causes a single creature's ranged attack to automatically miss, using up ammunition, spell slots, etc. as normal.
• Persevere: A targeted creature is immediately freed from one of the following conditions: blinded, confused, cowering, dazzled, deafened, entangled, fascinated, nauseated, shaken, or sickened. The reversed form of this syllable, Capitulate, causes a single creature to be subjected to one of the above conditions for a number of rounds equal to your Int modifier (who may make a Will save each round to end the effect).

Like an utterance, this ability is subject to the Law of Resistance; the entire ability is subject as one, so using Fire and then Retreat, for instance, would increase the DC by +4.

Warding of Perpetual Recitation (Su)
You are able to weave a thread of truespeech through every word you speak, maintaining a constant litany of self-enhancing words that take the form of glowing runes floating around you. As a full-round action, choose a single beneficial utterance (normal or reversed) or recitation you know and make a Truespeak check as if uttering the chosen utterance or recitation on yourself. If you succeed, the utterance or recitation affects you as normal; however, instead of lasting for its normal duration, it last as long as you are conscious and not prevented from speaking or until you take another full-round action to remove it. If you choose an utterance or recitation with instantaneous duration, its effects repeat every 1d4 rounds at the start of your turn.

The constant chanting and floating runes resulting from use of this ability impose a -5 circumstance penalty on Hide and Move Silently checks and reduce the Spellcraft DC to identify the effect by 2; however, the DC to dispel the utterance increases by 4. You may not use this utterance or recitation again while this ability is active.

Sharp Blade, Sharper Tongue (Su)
Creatures with extraordinary health or resilience to particular attack forms can be an impediment to victory; when faced with such an obstacle, you simply inform the universe that you will not abide such an annoyance. As a swift action, you may make a Truespeak check as if using an utterance to strip a targeted creature of its DR, SR, or energy resistance for a single round (improved forms of these defenses, such as fire immunity, immunity to metal weapons, or a golem's spell immunity, are affected as well). Alternately, you make make a Truespeak check to add a number of d6 of sonic damage to your and your allies' weapon damage rolls for a round equal to the bonus granted by your aura (DC = 10 + 2 × [number of allies affected + aura bonus]); in the same way that they receive double your aura bonus normally, allies whose personal truenames you know add double the number of d6s to their damage rolls.

Speak unto the Legions (Ex)
You often command large numbers of allies, so you learn to meet and exceed the normal truenamer's capacity to affect multiple creatures with a single utterance. From this point forward, you gain the Speak Unto the Masses truenamer class features, with the following modification: if all of the creatures affected are allies, you may affect different races/kinds of creatures with the same utterance and the DC increase due to the number of creatures affected is halved. In addition, as a swift action you can make a Truespeak check (DC 20, subject to the Law of Resistance) to extend the range of your aura(s) to hearing range, rather than their normal radius, for 1 round.

Refutation of Unfavorable Terrain (Su)
While you might forsake training in terrain-affecting utterances in favor of those affecting creatures, you do not deny their usefulness. As a full-round action, you may use any utterance from the Lexicon of the Perfected Map with an area of effect, and you may increase its radius by increasing the DC by 1 per 5 feet increase in radius. Only one Perfected Map utterance may be in effect at one time, and while one is, your aura affects all allies (or enemies) in the area of the utterance rather than radiating from you.

Declaration of Advantageous Enhancement
Sometimes possessing an undead-bane weapon or fire-resistant armor can make combat much easier; should you lack such appropriate enchantments on your possessions, you can politely ask reality to oblige you. As a move action, you can make a Truespeak check to add a single weapon or armor enchantment to your and your allies' weapons and armor or shields whose “plus” value does not exceed the bonus granted by your aura (DC = 20 + number of allies affected + highest weapon/armor “plus” value in the group after factoring in the enchantment) or a single weapon or armor enchantment whose flat cost does not exceed your aura bonus squared times 1000gp (DC = 10 + number of allies affected + enchantment price/1000). The enchantment lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Intelligence modifier, and only one such enhancement may be added at one time; this ability is subject to the Law of Resistance.

Pronouncement of the Dramatic Imperative (Ex)
A good commander choreographs his battles like a dance, making sure every creature plays its part without leaving any elements to happenstance; while you might find waltzing across the battlefield to be in bad taste, you can still use truespeech to remove the vagaries of chance from combat. Any time you make an attack roll, critical confirmation roll, damage roll, saving throw, or skill check, you may roll a Truespeak check in place of that roll. This check is treated as a skill check in every way, with the exception that a natural 20 on a check replacing an attack roll is still a critical threat. This use of the True Speech is subject to the Law of Resistance, so each time in a day this ability is used, subtract a cumulative -2 from the check result.

Proclamation of Inevitable Mounting Triumph (Su)
The pinnacle of the proclaimer of victory's art is the ability to win a battle with a single utterance. Once per day, choose one utterance whose reversed form inflicts damage or a numerical penalty and make a Truespeak check against the creature who would require the highest DC of all the creatures within hearing. If the check is unsuccessful, this ability is not used up for the day. If it is successful, all allies within hearing are subject to the normal form of the utterance, and all enemies are subject to the reversed form. For 1 round per every 10 points by which you beat the DC, the utterance's effects are compounded—bonuses and penalties stack with themselves twice, thrice, or more and damage is dealt again each round at the start of your turn—and then the utterance continues its noninstantaneous effects for another 5 rounds. For instance, if the chosen utterance is mystic rampart and the DC is beaten by 20, the utterance intensifies for 3 rounds (with allies having DR 15/— and a +15 bonus to saves by the third round and enemies taking a -15 penalty to AC and saves) and then stays steady for 5 rounds more.

Playing a Proclaimer of Victory
The proclaimer of victory is less of a traditional buff-yourself-up-and-wade-into-combat gish and more of a buff-your-allies-up-and-wade-into-combat gish, so keep that in mind when playing one.
Combat: The proclaimer of victory blows a vanilla truenamer out of the water when it comes to combat...but then, who doesn't? You can rely on your offensive utterances as usual, but your martial prowess is greatly enhanced relative to a standard truenamer and you have several abilities to overcome your enemies protections and move creatures around the battlefield, so you benefit more from mixing it up in combat than from supporting from afar.

Proclaimers of Victory in the World
Yeah, Joram can get a bit annoying with that whole “I just have to speak some gibberish and I win fights” deal he constantly talks about, but ever since he said six syllables and took out a few dozen hobgoblins, I don't make fun of him anymore.

There isn't any obvious indicator to distinguish proclaimers of victory from regular truenamers—both shout a bunch of gobbledygook to attack foes and buff allies. That said, their focus on tactics and coordination and their expertise with command makes proclaimers of victory more popular in an army or mercenary band, so people tend to have positive opinions about them even if they don't realize what exactly they are.
Daily Life: Proclaimers of victory are not as sociable and leader-like as marshals and dragon shamans and not as intensely studious as truenamers, so they don't tend toward extremes of personality, spending time with friends and associates where they can and researching truenames in their spare time.
Organizations: No organization exist explicitly for proclaimers of victory, but many of their number are drawn to at least make friends among the Order of the Word (ToM 218), finding their melding of combat prowess and truenaming skill to be complementary with their own. They are also quite welcome in armies, militias, mercenary companies, and similar groups of highly-skilled combatants in need of magical aid and coordination.

NPC Reaction
Aside from their enhanced capability for buffing allies, nothing dramatically separates a proclaimer of victory from a normal truenamer in the eyes of most NPCs.

Proclaimers of Victory in the Game
In general, this class takes the truenamer, focuses it on Evolving Mind utterances, adds in a splash of auras, and then ramps the power level up. As a player, you might want to play this to try out a truenamer with many more options; as a DM, you shouldn't have any balance issues with this class if you have any full casters in the party.
Adaptation: There really isn't any adaptation necessary beyond fitting truenaming into a world.