By Chris Bennet t a nd Jade R ipley
OF
Lead Designers: Chris Bennett
Additional Design: Jade Ripley, Sabrina Bennett, Anthony S. Altovilla, Andreas Rönnqvist, Luke Williams Editing: Forrest Heck
Interior Design: Erik Nowak Interior Layout: Levi Jones, Jeremy Smith
Interior Artwork: Eric Lofgren, Joe Shawcross, J.D. Dianderas, Gordon Napier,
Shaman Stockart, Toby Gregory, Jesse-lee Lang, Joe Shawcross, Matt Morrow, Peter Temesi, Storn Cook Publisher: Jeremy Smith
Special thanks to the legions of fans who helped playtest the material in this book and offered new and innovative ideas to include.
Based on the original roleplaying game rules designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and inspired by the third edition of the game designed by Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter
Adkison.
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names
(characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this
declaration.)
Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without
written permission.
Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Paizo Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.
Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license.
Path of War is published by Dreamscarred Press under the Open Game License version 1.0a Copyright 2000
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Some artwork copyright Ben Hossi, used with permission. Some artwork copyright Shaman Stockart, used with permission. Some artwork © 2013 Eric Lofgren, used with permission. All rights reserved.
© 2016 Dreamscarred Press
Path of War
Expanded
Path of War Expanded
Contents
FOREWORD 3
INTRODUCTION 4
FORBIDDEN ARTS
4
BOOKS NEEDED
4
USING THIS BOOK
4
CHAPTER 1: CLASSES
5
HARBINGER 5
MYSTIC 9
ZEALOT 15
CHAPTER 2:
ARCHETYPES 21
HARBINGER 21
MYSTIC 24
STALKER 28
WARDER 30
WARLORD 32
ZEALOT 33
AEGIS 35
BARBARIAN 35
BARD 36
DREAD 38
FIGHTER 39
MARKSMAN 42
MONK 43
PALADIN 44
RANGER 47
ROGUE 49
CLASS TEMPLATES
51
WHAT IS A CLASS TEMPLATE?
51
BUSHI 51
HUSSAR 52
PRIVATEER 56
WARPATH FOLLOWER
57
CHAPTER 3:
PRESTIGE CLASSES
60
ANIMUS ADEPT
60
BASIC GLYPHS
61
ADVANCED GLYPHS
62
MASTER GLYPHS
62
LANDSKNECHT 62
PHOENIX CHAMPION
64
CHAPTER 4:
FEATS AND TRAITS
67
TRAITS 67
FEATS 67
STYLE FEATS
76
CHAPTER 5:
SYSTEMS AND USE EXPANDED 82
FAVORED CLASS BONUSES
82
DISCIPLINE EXCHANGES AND YOU 84
MANEUVERS AND MOUNTED COMBAT 85
OLD DOGS AND NEW TRICKS
85
PREVIOUSLY RELEASED PRESTIGE CLASSES 88
CHAPTER 6:
MANEUVERS AND STANCES
EXPANDED 89
DISCIPLINE DESCRIPTIONS
89
MANEUVERS AND STANCES
92
MANEUVER DESCRIPTIONS
102
CHAPTER 7: MARTIAL
TRADITIONS 163
ACOLYTES OF THE ARROW
164
THE CAGEBREAKER BROTHERHOOD 165
CIRQUE DE LA FUMÉE
166
CRASHING TEMPEST ACADEMY
167
DESCENDANTS OF THE GOLDEN
COUNCIL 168
THE LENS MAKER SOCIETY
168
LORDS OF THE WHEEL
169
LOYAL ORDER OF THE BRANDED
WAERLOCH 171
ORDRE DES REPAS EXOTIQUES
171
THE QUILLS
172
REVERENTS OF THE LANCE
174
SERVANTS OF THE SECRET HYMN
175
STAINED GLASS CHAMPIONS
177
THE SULTANATE OF BEGGARS
178
Path of War Expanded
Foreword
Welcome to Path of War: Expanded! This is our second outing in the field of martial maneuvers and the disciples that use them, and we’re so very glad you can join us on this endeavor. It’s been a crazy time organizing all of this with the writers on this team and with the playtesting audience but it’s been a fantastic time too. It’s been a great pleasure working with all of you over this time, and a great amount of this could not have been accomplished without the assistance of those of you who are reading this book right now. It’s with our sincerest thanks that we bring this to you and hope that within these pages you find a wealth of options for all of your martial needs in your Pathfinder games.
I’d also like to thank of course my fellow writers on this team who I’ve come to look at as brothers-in-arms over this time. Jade has been the whip-wielding taskmaster that has kept all of us in line and been an awesome friend and colleague. Anthony, to whom we owe a ton of thanks to on his first of hopefully many outings into Dreamscarred Press’ lineup. The majority of the archetypes, feats, and the class templates are owed to your great work (on top of everything else!), thank you! And Luke, whose contributions to both crunch and grammar as well as mechanical work helped make this a well-oiled machine, well done and thanks! And big thank yous to the loved ones in our lives that put up with us being writers, we don’t deserve it but we appreciate you!
We have much more to come in the future of course, on both the Path of War line and other lines within Dreamscarred Press. The Path of War will continue onward and we look ever forward to traveling it with you. Thank you!
–Chris “ErrantX” Bennett Line Developer – Path of War
Dreamscarred Press
When I was first invited to write for Path of War:
Expanded, I received an email from Jade that I would like
to paraphrase (as I have since lost the original email): “I hate everything you submitted, fix it so we can publish it.” That was my introduction to writing for Dreamscarred Press, and I’ve loved every insane, frustrating, wild moment of it. I’ve made some amazing friends from the time spent on this project and I’ve learned so much about the game that I never knew was out there. This experience has been life changing for me and I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to bring my writing to all of you readers. Thank you all for putting up with me and I hope you enjoy using this material as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
–Anthony S. Altovilla
Freelance Writer and Fan of Dreamscarred Press This book’s been a weird little dance for me. It’s the book I thought would be done last year, with half the pages and a totally different set of focuses. It’s the book I thought would be done before I did any other projects, and it’s been one helluva ride. Since I started this project with harbinger’s original beta, I’ve had the chance to publish several books, moved across the country, and been hired on as a formal part of Dreamscarred Press, and that’s not even getting into the team drama.
And y’know, I wouldn’t have it another way.
Here’s hoping you enjoy reading the first addition to the Path of War gameline as much as we enjoyed writing it.
–Jade Ripley
Path of War Expanded
Introduction
Welcome to Path of War: Expanded, the second book in the Path of War series by Dreamscarred Press. The original Path of War introduced the initiating system to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and brought you three base classes and eleven new disciplines, alongside prestige classes, archetypes and new martial traditions to help populate your world with the most epic martial artists to ever roll a twenty-sided die. Path of War:
Expanded continues this with even more base classes,
disciplines and archetypes, along with new feats and yet more martial traditions with which to expand your game even further.
Path of War: Expanded is the result of over two years of
hard work and playtesting. The book has gone through some of the most extensive and rigorous playtesting by both fans and developers, leading to a product full of unique ideas and new twists on old concepts.
Forbidden Arts, Secret Techniques
We did something a little different with Path of
War: Expanded. The original Path of War had a strong
emphasis on extraordinary abilities and classes; even the stalker, the most blatantly supernatural of the classes, had strong themes of ki rather than overt magical might. The disciplines, too, strongly emphasized extraordinary abilities, with only a few—Black Seraph, Silver Crane, Steel Serpent, and Veiled Moon—being supernatural in nature.
In Path of War: Expanded, the emphasis is in the other direction; all three of the introduced classes blend magical or psionic potential with swordplay and use martial skill as an enhancement or mnemonic for their supernatural prowess. The disciplines presented herein also continue that theme, focusing on schools of combat that blend sorcery and swordsmanship and show how warriors in a magical world (like those that many campaigns take place in!) may have created and refined the art of combat. The extraordinary abilities haven’t been neglected, mind! You’ll find plenty of feats, archetypes, and even an entire discipline (Tempest Gale) devoted to nonmagical combat, but here we had the chance to spread our wings and explore the trope of the magical warrior in a way not previously expressed in the system. Here’s hoping you enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Books Needed
As this book expands upon the maneuver system introduced in Path of War, that book is required for use with Path of War: Expanded. In addition, there are many new options for some of the psionic classes found in
Ultimate Psionics. These books are needed to make the
most of Path of War: Expanded, as well as the Pathfinder
RPG Core Rulebook.
Using This Book
This book is divided into seven chapters. The overview of each chapter is given below.
Chapter 1 (Classes): In this chapter are three base classes, the harbinger, the mystic, and the zealot. These new base classes are based upon the maneuver system from Path of War.
Chapter 2 (Archetypes): In this chapter are over twenty new archetypes for Path of War classes, psionic classes from Ultimate Psionics, as well as new options for classes from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. In addition, new class templates are provided which offer archetypes that can be used for multiple classes, such as the privateer, which can be used with either the stalker or the warlord classes from Path of War.
Chapter 3 (Prestige Classes): Within the pages of the prestige classes chapter, you will find are three new prestige classes: the animus adept, the landsknecht, and the phoenix champion.
Chapter 4 (Feats and Traits): New feats and traits are presented in the fourth chapter. These new options are designed to support martial combat and maneuver use, as well as new style feats to go with each of the disciplines in Path of War and Path of War: Expanded. Whether playing a stalker, warder,or warlord from Path
of War, or one of the new options from this book, new
character options can be found.
Chapter 5 (Systems and Use Expanded): This chapter covers expanded rules and clarifications for using Path of War and Path of War: Expanded material, new abilities and material for Path of War classes, and additional benefits for archetypes from Path of War.
Chapter 6 (Maneuvers and Stances): This chapter introduces several new disciplines for the maneuver system. These include Cursed Razor, Elemental Flux, Eternal Guardian, Mithral Current, Piercing Thunder, Riven Hourglass, Shattered Mirror, Sleeping Goddess, and Tempest Gale. These disciplines expanded upon the original disciplines presented in Path of War, such as Black Seraph and Golden Lion.
Chapter 7 (Martial Traditions): The final chapter includes various organizations that characters can join to gain both benefits and responsibilities. Each tradition is tied to a martial discipline, and the tradition serves well as potential allies, enemies, and campaign hooks.
Path of War Expanded
Chapter 1: Classes
A character’s class can tell you a lot about that character. It provides the majority of abilities that a character utilizes as well as insight into how they interact with the world and view the problems they encounter. Initiating classes focus primarily on their physical ability scores, like Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, however each one requires mental fortitude as well in the form of their Initiation Modifier. As such, these classes require a balance of both body and mind, for to neglect one is to fail the other.
Martial disciples are more than mere combatants though, their dedication to the martial arts brings with it a unique philosophy and insight into the world. Through their training as disciples of the path of war, they unlock abilities that can befuddle enemies, empower allies, and make friends in the unlikeliest of circumstances.
Each of the martial disciple classes is equivalent in power to the core classes found in the Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game and the classes found in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Player’s Guide. Game
Masters (also called GMs) are encouraged to allow players to choose freely from these classes and the other additional rules and options in this book, but each GM must make a personal decision about what is and isn’t allowed in his campaign, and the relative prevalence of such character classes in his or her world. Each new class presents interesting character themes and special abilities as detailed below. The three new base classes, in the order they are presented in this chapter, are as follows.
Harbinger: The harbinger is a mobile combatant that specializes in inflicting curses and manipulating their foes on the battlefield through use of maneuvers. They are specialists in channeling negative emotions as well as focusing on a singular discipline above and beyond the norm of other initiators.
Mystic: The mystic is a warrior filled with barely controlled arcane power. Through the use of unique glyphs and powerful animus, they channel this potent arcane energy to aid their allies both on and off the battlefield.
Zealot: The zealot is a leader and motivator on the battlefield. By binding their allies into a single collective, they can share the might of conviction and zeal to lead their allies to victory and ensure that they do not fall against even the toughest of foes.
Harbinger
Like rumors of war or plague-ridden winds, harbingers move through battlefields and leave only ruin and sorrow in their wake. empowered from within by a deep connection to sorrow, grief, and wrath, harbingers channel their negative emotions into a supernatural fighting style that is strange and terrifying to behold. Some accept the darker urges within themselves but leash them, making their wrath serve as a hound might— and others embrace the violence within, becoming killers without restraint or pity.
Adventures: Harbingers adventure for many and sundry reasons, ranging from simple greed to revenge to genuine altruism. Many harbingers learn their trade from a mentor or master who sometimes imparts a mission or task to them, or initiates them into an organization that retains the harbinger as its agent. Harbingers aren’t any less likely to take to the adventuring life out of friendship than anyone else and may be found in the company of mercenaries they’ve grown to love, or at least no longer feel like they can live without.
Path of War Expanded
Characteristics: Regardless of their alignment, religion, culture of origin, or beliefs, all harbingers have one thing in common: violence. For some anger and sorrow are tools they use to do their jobs, an acknowledgement that all sapients have both good and evil within. For others violence marks and defines their lives, with angry scars and psychological wounds. Some crumble before the anger within, becoming little more than puppets for their hate, and others refuse to give in and display a level of self-control that can only be called saintlike. However, all harbingers live their lives coming to—or failing to come to—terms with the darkness within.
Alignment: Any. Though harbingers are marked by their darker urges they are not utterly defined by them, and many brave and noble souls succeed in staring into the abyss until the abyss averts its gaze. It is true that many Harbingers skew towards evil and/or chaos, but nothing stops a harbinger from turning their power to altruistic ends.
Religion: Harbingers tend to be on one side or the other of the line between piety and indifference when it comes to religion. Many harbingers that have been scarred by violence or evil shy away from faith, unable to believe that higher powers truly influence their lives. Others embrace gods of violence, vengeance, tyranny or destruction out of a feeling of common sympathy
or even obligation. Good-aligned harbingers tend to worship gods of justice or retribution, taking on the role of those who dispense justice to the wicked, or to gravitate towards gods they seek to emulate—gods of peace, love, or beauty that remind the harbingers of the things they choose to defend.
Background: At some point in their lives, all harbingers encountered the violence within. Some come from cursed or tainted backgrounds, dragged towards power by fiendish blood or maledictions laid down upon their ancestors. Others have inherent but untapped magical potential that erupts in a moment of wrath or panic, and many harbingers have started on their path with blood dripping from their fingers and a look of shocked panic on their face. Harbingers tend to be from places marked or scarred by strife, and the majority emerge from lands wracked by civil war, military conflict, massive social change, crushing poverty or endemic crime, though this may be because the circumstances that awaken their power are so much more common in such places.
It is possible to deliberately train an harbinger, though magical potential must be present. Such master-student relationships are less common than ‘wild’ harbingers but can often end up with an harbinger that understands her own power much better. Some teachers use cruel and sadistic training methods to force their student to confront the anger inside of them, while others ask that their pupils meditate on the nature of evil and its role
Table 1-1: The Harbinger
Level
Base Attack
Bonus SaveFort SaveRef Save SpecialWill
Maneuvers Known Readied Stances 1st +0 +2 +0 +2 Accursed will (attack rolls), dark claim, ill
tidings, maneuvers 5 3 1 2nd +1 +3 +0 +3 Dark focus (1 discipline) 6 4 2
3rd +2 +3 +1 +3 Grim news 1/encounter 7 4 2
4th +3 +4 +1 +4 Massacre 1/encounter 7 4 2
5th +3 +4 +1 +4 Elusive shadow 8 5 3
6th +4 +5 +2 +5 Dark focus (bonus feat) 8 5 3
7th +5 +5 +2 +5 Sorcerous deception 9 5 3
8th +6/+1 +6 +2 +6 Ill intentions 9 6 3
9th +6/+1 +6 +3 +6 Grim news (movement mode) 2/encounter 10 6 4
10th +7/+2 +7 +3 +7 Accursed will (damage), dark focus (2
disciplines), massacre 2/encounter 10 6 4 11th +8/+3 +7 +3 +7 Black omen 11 7 5
12th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Bleak prophecy 11 7 5
13th +9/+4 +8 +4 +8 Dark murmur 12 7 5
14th +10/+5 +9 +4 +9 Dark focus (adaptation) 12 8 5
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +5 +9 Grim news (movement mode) 3/encounter 13 8 6
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Massacre 3/encounter 13 8 6
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +10 Rumors of war 14 9 6
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +11 Voices in the dark 14 9 7
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +11 Whispers of atrocity 15 9 7
Path of War Expanded
in the multiverse. Both approaches are effective, and produce very different students.
Races: Any race capable of feeling anger, sorrow, or grief can potentially become an harbinger. That said, some are certainly more common than others. Savage humanoids such as orcs and gnolls produce a large number of harbingers; their day-to-day lives are marked with violence and maliciousness. Humans and part-humans (but especially tieflings) also make up a large part of harbinger membership, both because of the significant role negative emotions play in their lives and the endemic poverty and crime rates found in their cities. In contrast, races with gentle day-to-day lives such as elves or dwarves produce harbingers more rarely, and even then usually as part of a master-student relationship.
Other Classes: Harbingers can often have difficulty around divinely empowered classes such as clerics and paladins, most often because of the ultimate source of their power. Paladins in particular tend to disapprove of harbingers utilizing evil urges, even for good ends, and the conflicts between the two can run long and deep.
Role: Control. Harbingers command the battlefield with a combination of superior mobility and debilitating strikes, determining when and how they want to engage and targeting weak enemies while shutting stronger ones out of the battle. Their spread of supernatural maneuvers gives harbingers access to magical and unusual abilities that can shift the tide of battle in their favor.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Abilities: Intelligence is pivotal to harbingers; it controls the save DCs of their maneuvers and boosts their accuracy and damage. Constitution helps a harbinger survive the rigors of battle, while Dexterity and Wisdom shore up her defenses.
Starting Age: Intuitive.
Starting Wealth: 4d6 × 10 gp (average 140 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.
Hit Die: d8.
CLASS SKILLS
The harbinger’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Fly (Dex), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (martial) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
All of the following are class features of the harbinger. Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A harbinger is proficient with all simple weapons, martial melee weapons, light armor, and shields (except tower shields).
Maneuvers: A harbinger begins her career with knowledge of five martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to her are Cursed Razor, Riven Hourglass, Scarlet Throne, Shattered Mirror, and Veiled Moon.
Once the harbinger knows a maneuver, she must ready it before she can use it (see Maneuvers Readied,
an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in it or its discipline’s description. A harbinger’s maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and she does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she initiates one.
The harbinger learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as indicated on Table 1-1: Harbinger. A harbinger must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. See the Systems and Use chapter in Path of War for more details on how maneuvers are used.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered initiator level thereafter (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), the harbinger can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one she already knows. In effect, she loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. She can choose a new maneuver of any level she likes, as long as she observes the restriction on the highest-level maneuvers she knows; the harbinger need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. She can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A harbinger’s initiation modifier is Intelligence.
Maneuvers Readied: A harbinger can ready three of her five maneuvers known at 1st level, and as she advances in level and learns more maneuvers, she is able to ready more, but must still choose which maneuvers to ready. A harbinger must always ready her maximum number of maneuvers readied. She readies her maneuvers by meditating over the nature of malevolence, honing her killer instinct, dwelling upon grief and sorrow, or otherwise communing with her negative side for ten minutes. The maneuvers she chooses remain readied until she decides to meditate again and change them. The harbinger does not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready her maneuvers; any time she spends ten minutes in communion with her darker urges, she can change her readied maneuvers.
A harbinger begins an encounter with all her readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times she might have already used them since she chose them. When she initiates a maneuver, she expends it for the current encounter, so each of her readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless she recovers them, as described below).
In order for the harbinger to recover maneuvers, she must tap into her sorcerous malice by activating her dark claim class feature; the harbinger recovers a single expended maneuver whenever she Claims a creature, and she recovers a number of expended maneuvers equal to her harbinger initiation modifier (minimum 2) whenever a creature she has Claimed is reduced to 0 or less hit points. Alternately, the harbinger may concentrate on her inner negativity and recover a single maneuver as a standard action.
Stances Known: A harbinger begins her career with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to harbingers. At 2nd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 15th, and 18th levels, she can select an additional stance to learn. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and the harbinger does not have to ready them. All the stances she knows are available to her at all times, and she can change the stance she is currently maintaining as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise
Path of War Expanded
Unlike with maneuvers, a harbinger cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one she already knows.
Dark Claim (Su): Starting at 1st level, a harbinger gains the ability to reach out with her sorcerous malice, marking foes as her own. As a swift action, the harbinger may Claim an opponent that she can see (including with special senses such as blindsense or tremorsense) within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 harbinger levels) for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 her class level (minimum 1 round). A harbinger can have a maximum number of creatures Claimed equal to her harbinger initiation modifier (minimum 1), and may not Claim a creature she has already Claimed until or unless the Claim expires. Claimed creatures using the Withdraw action to leave a square threatened by the harbinger provoke attacks of opportunity from her.
In addition, the harbinger automatically knows the position of creatures she has Claimed. Any opponent the harbinger cannot see still has total concealment (50% miss chance) against her, and the harbinger still suffers the normal miss chance when attacking creatures that have concealment. The harbinger is still denied her Dexterity bonus to her AC against attacks from Claimed creatures she cannot see.
Accursed Will (Ex): A harbinger is not an entirely physical being; the darkness within her supplements her body, impelling her to acts of stunning violence. Starting at 1st level, the harbinger gains an insight bonus on attack rolls equal to 1/2 her harbinger initiation modifier (minimum +1). At 10th level, she gains an insight bonus on damage rolls equal to her harbinger initiation modifier.
Ill Tidings (Ex): Like unwanted news, the harbinger travels swiftly. At 1st level, a harbinger gains a +10-foot competence bonus to her movement speeds. At 10th level, this bonus increases by +10 feet. Apply this bonus before modifying the harbinger’s movement speeds because of any load carried or armor worn.
Dark Focus (Ex): Though all Harbingers tap into violence and sorrow, they inevitably specialize in a method of combat that calls to them deep within themselves. At 2nd level, a harbinger selects one discipline she has access to from her harbinger levels to be her dark focus. She gains a +1 insight to attack and damage rolls when initiating strikes and counters from her dark focus discipline. The bonus to attack and damage rolls increases by +1 at 5th level and every four levels thereafter. In addition, she gains a +1 insight bonus to the save DCs of maneuvers from her dark focus discipline.
At 6th level, the harbinger gains either Advanced Study or Discipline Focus in her dark focus discipline as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. In the case of Advanced Study, both maneuvers selected must be from her dark focus discipline.
At 10th level, the harbinger selects a second discipline as her dark focus in addition to her original dark focus discipline. She does not gain an additional bonus feat, although the other bonuses from her dark focus class feature apply to the second discipline as well.
At 14th level, the harbinger’s dedication bears violent fruit. She may expend a readied maneuver to spontaneously initiate any maneuver she knows from her dark focus disciplines that is one or more levels lower than the expended maneuver, regardless of
whether or not she has the dark focus maneuver readied. The initiation action of the spontaneously initiated maneuver is unchanged.
At 20th level, the harbinger treats all maneuvers from her dark focus disciplines as being readied at the beginning of each encounter, in addition to her normal pool of readied maneuvers.
Grim News (Su): Like a ghost or a rumor, the harbinger moves with supernatural acumen. Starting at 3rd level, a harbinger can move up to her speed as a swift action once per encounter. She can use this ability twice per encounter at 9th level, and three times per encounter at 15th level.
At 9th level and again at 15th level, the harbinger selects one of the following abilities. One made, her choice is permanent and cannot be changed.
• Dark Wings: The harbinger gains a fly speed equal
to her base land speed, with good maneuverability. This flight is supernatural in nature; though the harbinger may develop wings or another form of evident propulsion, she flies through supernatural acumen alone.
• Omenwalk: The harbinger gains the ability to
teleport up to her speed as a move action. The harbinger does not need line of effect or line of sight to her destination, although she still provokes attacks of opportunity for leaving a threatened square when using this ability.
• Spider’s Boon: The harbinger gains a climb speed
equal to her base land speed. In addition, she develops a sticky grip that aids her in battle, granting her a +4 racial bonus on grapple checks and to her CMD.
• Water Dweller: The harbinger gains a swim speed
equal to her base land speed. In addition, the harbinger no longer needs to breathe and becomes immune to inhaled poisons.
Massacre (Ex): The scent of blood in the air and the gentle throb of fading life force impels the Harbinger to further heights of violence. Starting at 4th level, a harbinger can initiate one of her readied strikes against an adjacent creature as an immediate action when she reduces an opponent to 0 or fewer hit points. She can only initiate strikes with an initiation action of one standard action with this ability. The harbinger can use this ability once per encounter at 4th level, twice per encounter at 10th level, and three times per encounter at 16th level.
Elusive Shadow (Ex): The harbinger’s unnatural alacrity protects her from harm as she shies away from whirling blades and streaking spells alike. Starting at 5th level, a harbinger gains a +2 dodge bonus to her AC and Reflex saves during any round in which she has moved at least 10 feet (including by teleportation effects such as omenwalk).
Sorcerous Deception (Sp): Having become adept at concealing the malice within, the harbinger develops the ability to allay the suspicions of those who investigate her with magic. At 7th level, a harbinger can use magic aura as a spell-like ability at will, with a caster level equal to her harbinger level. She may only target items and objects she is attending, carrying, wearing, or wielding.
Path of War Expanded
Ill Intentions (Su): Those cornered by the harbinger and her allies feel the weight of her malice pressing down against them. Starting at 8th level, whenever a harbinger and one or more of her allies flank a creature, that creature suffers a –2 penalty on saving throws and skill checks.
Black Omen (Su): Like misfortune, the harbinger does not seem to move so much as simply arrive. Starting at 11th level, a harbinger may move up to half her speed as an immediate action once per encounter.
Bleak Prophecy (Su): Those claimed by the harbinger are filled with dreadful visions of their own demise. Starting at 12th level, creatures Claimed by a harbinger become shaken while the Claim persists.
Dark Murmur (Su): Those claimed by the harbinger find her as hard to catch as rumor itself. Starting at 13th level, the harbinger’s movement no longer provokes attacks of opportunity from creatures she has Claimed.
Rumors of War (Ex): The harbinger sweeps through her enemies, spreading pain and woe wherever she steps. Starting at 17th level, a harbinger may move up to her speed and initiate a single strike at any point in the movement as a full-round action.
Voices in the Dark (Ex): Like a dark voice on the edge of hearing, the harbinger persecutes her enemies. Starting at 18th level, a harbinger can initiate a strike whenever she would normally be able to make an attack of opportunity (she still expends the attack of opportunity). She can only initiate strikes with an initiation action of one standard action with this ability.
Whispers of Atrocity (Su): There is no resisting the harbinger’s malice. Starting at 19th level, maneuvers initiated by a harbinger ignore all
immunities possessed by their targets.
Mystic
Born with an untamed magical power buried deep within his soul, the mystic is a warrior who, much like a sorcerer, is filled with untapped energies. This power however, is too primal and unstable, and is difficult to be formed effectively into a spell. By following a martial medium to tame this energy, the mystic is able to shape his wild power into martial maneuvers and this allows him to discover the deeper mysteries of his own inborn power.
Adventures: Most mystics adventure to stretch the limits of their powers, learning to master the mysteries within their souls. Some do it to express their power in ways that suit their ethics, for good or for ill, and others travel to find others like themselves, to study and train with and hope to eventually learn more about why they are the way they are.
Characteristics: Mystics tend to be a very introspective lot, wielding a power so foreign to most with an intuitive sense of understanding. Many mystics follow ascetic lifestyles, hoping that the order and abstaining of life’s vices will help them control their power. Others embrace their wild energies and move with the moment, pausing to reflect at the end of the day as to what drives their motivations.
Path of War Expanded
Alignment: Any. Mystics do not follow any ethical or moral path, and choose their own destiny. Some cling to lawful alignments to master their powers, and others embrace chaotic alignments to freely express their talents.
Religion: Mystics who follow religion often find their faith with gods of battle, nature, magic, or freedom.
Background: Mystics universally have one thing in common, and that’s a magical creature or magic-using being in their near family history. This power is an inherited consequence of such relation, and while it is not widely understood why it has chosen to manifest in such a way, the mystic’s wild power is usually an expression of this relation’s own power. Mystics are born, and must train to master their energies.
Races: Any member of any race could be a mystic, provided they had the ancestry and proper training available. Most commonly they are of the human, elven, and gnome races. Among monster races, kobolds and their draconic bloodlines are among the first and foremost experts in the realm of mysticism, and many fey or elemental blooded creatures as well.
Other Classes: Mystics tend to chafe with sorcerers around, as they see each other as failed expressions of the other. Otherwise, mystics find the most in common with rangers and monks for either their freedom or their discipline. Wizards find them interesting and enjoy
studying their powers, and martially inclined characters find them to be steady and useful allies.
Role: A mystic will often find themselves in the role of both striker and party supporter. The glyphs they manifest will aid themselves and their allies, as their animus builds power and strength. Not as hardy as other warriors, however, mystics will find themselves needing the protection of their more robust allies from time to time.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Abilities: Wisdom is the primary attribute for the mystic, and this determines factors of their class features, maneuver saving throws, and their animus. As martial characters, a good Strength or Dexterity will help their ability to fight and a good Constitution score helps with their otherwise modest hit points.
Starting Age: Intuitive.
Starting Wealth: 4d6 × 10 gp (average 140 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.
Hit Die: d8.
CLASS SKILLS
The mystic’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha),
Table 1-2: The Mystic
Level
Base Attack
Bonus SaveFort SaveRef Save SpecialWill
Maneuvers Known Readied Stances 1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Animus, blade meditation, elemental
attunement 7 5 (2) 1
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Bonus feat, arcane defense +1 8 5 (2) 2
3rd +2 +1 +1 +3 Elemental glyph (I) 9 6 (3) 2
4th +3 +1 +1 +4 Mystic artifice 10 6 (3) 2
5th +3 +1 +1 +4 Withstand spell 11 6 (3) 3
6th +4 +2 +2 +5 Instant enlightenment 1/day, arcane defense
+2 12 7 (4) 3
7th +5 +2 +2 +5 Bonus feat 13 7 (4) 3
8th +6/+1 +2 +2 +6 Elemental glyph (II) 14 7 (4) 3
9th +6/+1 +3 +3 +6 Quell magic 15 8 (5) 4
10th +7/+2 +3 +3 +7 Instant enlightenment 2/day 15 8 (5) 4
11th +8/+3 +3 +3 +7 Arcane defense +3 16 8 (5) 5
12th +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 Bonus feat 16 9 (6) 5
13th +9/+4 +4 +4 +8 Elemental glyph (III) 17 9 (6) 5
14th +10/+5 +4 +4 +9 Instant enlightenment 3/day 17 9 (6) 5
15th +11/+6/+1 +5 +5 +9 Font of animus 18 10 (7) 6
16th +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 Arcane defense +4 18 10 (7) 6
17th +12/+7/+2 +5 +5 +10 Bonus feat 19 10 (7) 6
18th +13/+8/+3 +6 +6 +11 Instant enlightenment 4/day 19 11 (8) 7
19th +14/+9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Elemental glyph (IV) 20 11 (8) 7
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Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magical Device (Cha).
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
All of the following are class features of the mystic. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A mystic is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, katanas and wakizashis, and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).
Maneuvers: A mystic begins her career with knowledge of seven martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to her are Elemental Flux, Mithral Current, Riven Hourglass, Shattered Mirror, Solar Wind, and Veiled Moon.
Once the mystic knows a maneuver, she must ready it before she can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by mystics is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in it or its discipline’s description. A mystic’s maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and she does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she initiates one.
The mystic learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as indicated on Table 1-2: Mystic. A mystic must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. See the Systems and Use chapter in Path of War for more details on how maneuvers are used.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered initiator level thereafter (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), the mystic can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one she already knows. In effect, she loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. She can choose a new maneuver of any level she likes, as long as she observes the restriction on the highest-level maneuvers she knows; the mystic need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. She can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A mystic’s initiation modifier is Wisdom.
Maneuvers Readied: A mystic can ready five of her seven maneuvers known at 1st level, and as she advances in level and learns more maneuvers, she is able to ready more, but must still choose which maneuvers to ready. A mystic must always ready her maximum number of
maneuvers readied. She readies her maneuvers by meditating for ten minutes. The maneuvers she chooses remain readied until she decides to meditate again and change them. The mystic does not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready her maneuvers; any time she spends ten minutes in meditation, she can change her readied maneuvers.
A mystic begins an encounter with all her readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times she might have already used them since she chose them. When she initiates a maneuver, she expends it for the current encounter, so each of her readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless she recovers them, as described below).
Mystics are unique among martial disciples in that they rely on surging, primal arcane forces within their being
do not have full control over their readied maneuvers; when a mystic readies her maneuvers, she selects two of her readied maneuvers to be immediately granted to her for use at any time (when these two maneuvers are used outside of combat, they recover on their own in the following round), with the rest of her initially randomized maneuvers waiting to be granted in combat. The remainder of her readied maneuvers are withheld and currently inaccessible until combat begins. If she is able to act in a surprise round when combat begins, she is granted her maneuvers then as normal, but if she is caught unaware, she must wait until her initiative before her maneuvers are granted (beyond the initial two). At the end of each of her combat turns, one previously withheld maneuver (randomly determined) is granted to her, and thus becomes accessible for her next turn and subsequent turns. She can freely choose to initiate any maneuver that is currently granted when her turn begins, but she cannot initiate a withheld maneuver. If the mystic chooses not to employ a maneuver in a given round, her currently granted maneuvers remain available, and a previously withheld maneuver is granted, as described above. In other words, it doesn’t matter if she uses her maneuvers or not—at the end of each of her turns, one withheld maneuver from her selection of readied maneuvers is granted to her. Over the course of a few rounds, all the mystic’s maneuvers will eventually be granted.
A mystic can change the two readied maneuvers she has chosen to be immediately granted for use at any time by spending one minute meditating.
If, at the end of the mystic’s turn, she cannot be granted a maneuver because she has no withheld maneuvers remaining, she recovers all expended maneuvers, and a new group of readied maneuvers is granted to her, replacing her previously granted maneuvers if any remain unspent. She selects two of her choice (and gains the remainder of granted maneuvers as randomized selections, see below). At the end of her next turn, a
KEEPING TRACK OF IT ALL
To help with maneuvers and randomization, we at Dreamscarred Press suggest you write the maneuvers down on 3x5 note cards found at any office supply or big box store, then shuffle them together for easy randomization of maneuvers. Simply lay down your two chosen granted maneuvers, shuffle the rest, flip the rest of your granted maneuvers where applicable, and the rest are flipped into granted status on a one per round basis until all are granted to you. The following round, reset the process and start from step one! For online play, there are many different apps or websites that can assist with this randomization process for the same effect.
To maintain an easy way to calculate an animus pool, keep a spare d12 or d20 handy to designate as your animus die, or a small cup with beads that you can add
GRANTED MANEUVERS AND ALTERNATE RECOVERY METHODS
If a mystic uses the Lightning Recovery or Victorious Recovery feat (or a similar method) to recover a maneuver, it is immediately added to her currently granted maneuvers.
Path of War Expanded
withheld maneuver is granted to the mystic, and the process of surging power begins again.
At 3rd level and again at 6th, 9th, 12th, 18th, and 20th levels, the number of maneuvers granted to the mystic at the beginning of an encounter and when she recovers her maneuvers increases by one. Unlike the mystic’s initial granted maneuvers, these additional maneuvers are randomly determined (for example, at the beginning of an encounter, a 6th level mystic would choose two maneuvers to have access to, then randomly be granted two more).
Stances Known: A mystic begins her career with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to mystics. At 2nd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 15th, and 18th levels, she can select an additional stance to learn. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and the mystic does not have to ready them. All the stances she knows are available to her at all times, and she can change the stance she is currently maintaining as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise
stated in the stance or discipline description.
Unlike with maneuvers, a mystic cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one she already knows. Animus (Su): A mystic’s martial prowess is in part fueled by a reservoir of roiling, turbulent energy within her soul, and the passion and danger of combat causes this arcane energy to overflow outwards. This power, called animus, waxes and wanes with a mystic’s use of her maneuvers in battle. Outside combat, a mystic has no animus to spend, but her inner power can still be used for more subtle arcane arts. Her levels in mystic count as arcane spellcaster levels for the purposes of qualifying for prerequisites (such as those of item creation feats or the Arcane Strike feat), and if a mystic ever develops arcane spellcasting from another class, she may add her mystic level to her levels in that class to determine her overall caster level for the purposes of item creation feats.
When a mystic enters combat, she gains an animus pool equal to 1 + her mystic initiation modifier (minimum 1) at the start of her first turn, and adds one point of animus to her animus pool at the start of each of her turns thereafter. Her animus pool persists for one minute after the last enemy combatant is defeated or the encounter otherwise ends. At the end of any round in which the mystic initiates a maneuver (a strike, boost, or counter), she adds an additional point of animus to her pool. Certain abilities, such as some class features, maneuvers, and feats, require the mystic to expend points of animus to use.
The primal power of animus can be used in several ways—the foremost of which is the augmentation of maneuvers. A mystic can spend points of animus to augment her maneuvers in the following ways, depending on her class level. If the mystic has the ability to augment her maneuvers in other ways, such as from another class feature or the maneuver itself, this cannot be combined with the augments granted by her animus class feature; she must choose which augmentation type to use when initiating the maneuver.
Starting at 1st level, a mystic can spend a single point of animus to augment a maneuver as part of that maneuver’s initiation action to apply one of the following effects to it (if applicable):
• Enhance Maneuver: For each point of animus spent,
the mystic adds a cumulative +2 insight bonus to all d20 rolls made (including attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, and skill checks) when initiating that maneuver (maximum of three animus may be spent on this augmentation); if the maneuver allows the user to make multiple attacks, then this bonus only applies to the first attack.
• Increase DC: For each point of animus spent, the
save DC of that maneuver increases by 1.
When the mystic reaches 4th level, she can spend up to two points of animus on maneuver augmentations, rather than one, and she gains access to the following additional augmentations:
• Anima Burn: The mystic adds 1/2 her class level
to damage rolls made during that maneuver. This augment costs two points of animus, and can only be applied once to a given maneuver.
• Increase Potency: For each point of animus spent,
the mystic may ignore 10 points of energy resistance or 5 points of damage reduction.
When the mystic reaches 9th level, she may now spend up to three points of animus on maneuver augmentations, and gains access to the following additional augmentation:
• Animus Rush: The mystic make move up to her base
movement speed as part of the initiation action for the maneuver before initiating the strike. This is a teleportation effect and the mystic must clearly see her destination. This augmentation costs three points of animus.
• Increase Range: The mystic may target a creature
within 30 feet with a strike that normally uses a melee attack. Resolve the strike normally, as if the targeted creature was within the mystic’s melee reach. This augmentation costs two points of animus.
At 13th level, a mystic can spend up to four points of animus on maneuver augmentation, and at 19th level, she can spend up to five points of animus per augmentation.
Elemental Attunement (Su): A mystic contains incredible elemental power within her body, surging energies that constantly flow through her blood and muscle. Bringing these energies to bear is as easy as breathing for a mystic, shifting the flow of power with the subtle movements of her martial stances. When a mystic readies her maneuvers, she may select one of the following elements (and associated energy type) to be her active element: air (electricity), earth (acid), fire (fire), and water (cold).
After readying maneuvers, a mystic can change her active element by taking a standard action to focus inwards, or by expending one point of animus as a free action while assuming a new stance. Whenever she initiates a maneuver that deals damage, she may spend one point of animus as part of its initiation action to change all damage the maneuver deals to her active element’s associated energy type. For example, if a mystic whose active element is currently Air initiated the Cursed Fate Veiled Moon strike, she could spend one point of animus to change her attack’s damage (including the strike’s bonus damage) to from her weapon’s normal damage type to electricity damage.
Path of War Expanded
If the mystic has access to the Elemental Flux discipline, then her active element from this class feature is the same as her active element for Elemental Flux maneuvers. If she is psionic, she can change her active energy type whenever she changes her active element, and vice versa. Her active energy type need not match her active element.
Blade Meditation (Su): When a mystic finds that her martial power is beginning to wane or that few options remain available for use, she can pause in battle, drawing on her inner well of animus to reinvigorate her body and mind. As a full-round action, a mystic can spend one point of animus to grant herself all her remaining withheld maneuvers, then immediately expend them in a raging cadence of arcane power. As there are no remaining maneuvers to be granted, a new set of maneuvers is granted to the mystic at the end of her turn, as normal.
In addition, until the start of her next turn, creatures that target the mystic with melee attacks are engulfed in the explosion of energy, taking 1d6 points of damage of her active element’s associated energy type, plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every two points of animus remaining in the mystic’s animus pool.
Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and every five levels thereafter, a mystic gain a bonus combat or item creation feat. She must meet the prerequisites for these feats as normal.
Arcane Defense (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, the sorcerous power within her body makes her resilient to the supernatural. These energies defend her from magical and psionic powers, granting her a +1 insight bonus to her AC and saving throws against psionic powers, psi-like abilities, spells, and spell-like abilities. This bonus increases by +1 at 6th level, and again at 11th level, 16th level, and 20th level.
Elemental Glyph (Su): Starting at 3rd level, a mystic learns to aid her friends with the arcane power of the elements. Although at first this surging energy was raw and unformed, she has begun to master this ability, and can use it to empower her allies, granting them benefits in combat. As a move action, the mystic can spend one point of animus to apply an elemental glyph to a number of allies equal to her mystic initiation modifier modifier within her sight. The effect of this glyph depends on the element it is associated with, but all glyphs last for a number of rounds equal to 1 + the mystic’s initiation modifier. A mystic is not limited to casting glyphs of her active element (as darkness, illumination, and metal have no elemental type). Allies may only be affected by one of her glyphs at a time, with new glyphs ending the current glyph in effect and replacing it on the affected ally. The benefits of these glyphs are cumulative (for example, an 8th level mystic grants both the 3rd level and 8th level benefits to her allies). Different glyphs from different mystics may apply to the same target. Glyphs are supernatural abilities and not subject to spells or effects like dispel magic but do not function within an
antimagic field or similar effect.
Air: The glyph of air fills the mystic’s allies with energy
and speed.
• At 3rd level, all movement speeds possessed by each ally under the effect of the glyph gain a +10-foot
choose to make one turn of up to 90 degrees while making charge attacks.
• At 8th level, this enhancement bonus to movement speed increases to 30 feet, and they may make Acrobatics checks to jump as if they had a running start.
• At 13th level, allies affected by the glyph of air gain the ability to move up to 30 feet as a swift action. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.
• 19th level, whenever one of the mystic’s allies uses the glyph of air’s swift action movement ability, they can make a single attack with a weapon they are wielding at their highest base attack bonus at any point during this movement.
Darkness: Though darkness often connotates evil, for
the mystic its shroud offers both protection and insight, allowing the mystic’s allies tactical avenues that they would otherwise be unable to access.
• At 3rd level, allies affected by the glyph of darkness gain concealment (20% miss chance).
• At 8th level, affected allies gain darkvision and the effects of a see invisibility spell out to a range of 60 feet.
• At 13th level, affected allies are shrouded in a pitch-black veil, gaining total concealment (50% miss chance).
• At 19th level, affected allies gain the blindsight trait with a range of 30 feet.
Earth: The dour, steadfast nature of earth allows the
mystic’s allies to better stand their ground and weather assaults.
• At 3rd level, this glyph makes allies more difficult to move against their will. Affected allies gain a bonus to their CMD equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier. • At 8th level, affected allies gain DR/adamantine
equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier.
• At 13th level, affected allies gain resistance to all energy types equal to the mystic’s class level. • At 19th level, the first time during the encounter
that an affected ally is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, they are instead reduced to 0 hit points and automatically stabilize. Their hit points cannot be reduced below 0 for the rest of the round. Once this effect triggers on an ally, that ally cannot gain its effect again until the end of the encounter. In addition, affected are allies are immune to bleed damage.
Fire: The unquenchable flames of passion drive the
mystic’s allies to feats of glory.
• At 3rd level, affected allies gain a circumstance bonus to attack rolls equal to 1/4 the mystic’s class level (minimum +1).
• At 8th level, affected allies add 1/2 the mystic’s class level as fire damage to attacks they make.
• At 13th level, affected allies’ attacks ignore a number of points of energy resistance equal to the mystic’s class level.
• At 19th level, whenever an affected ally is targeted by a melee attack, the attacker takes fire damage equal to the mystic’s class level, regardless of whether or not the attack hits.
Path of War Expanded
Illumination: The light of the universe reveals truth
wherever it hides.
• At 3rd level, affected allies’ attacks ignore the miss chance from concealment granted to targets by anything less than total concealment.
• At 8th level, affected allies gain a circumstance bonus to Will saving throws against illusion spells and effects equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier. • At 13th level, affected allies gain the effects of a true
seeing spell out to a range of 30 feet.
• At 19th level, affected allies are protected from any falsehood, gaining the effects of a mind blank spell.
Metal: Sturdy and unyielding like the forged iron
from which it takes its name, the glyph of metal imparts resolute strength to the mystic’s allies.
• At 3rd level, affected allies increase their natural armor bonus to AC equal to ¼ the mystic’s class level (minimum +1).
• At 8th level, affected allies gain a circumstance bonus to Fortitude saves equal to ¼ the mystic’s class level (minimum +1).
• At 13th level, affected allies’ attacks ignore a number of points of damage reduction and hardness equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier.
• At 19th level, affected allies gain damage reduction/– equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier and gain spell resistance equal to 15 + the mystic’s class level.
Water: Fluid and changeable, the glyph of water
grants allies flexibility in both their movement and their thinking.
• At 3rd level, affected allies gain a circumstance bonus to their CMB and to Swim checks equal to the mystic’s Wisdom modifier.
• At 8th level, affected allies ignore difficult terrain when they move.
• At 13th level, affected allies gain the effects of a
freedom of movement spell.
• At 19th level, affected allies gain fast healing of 10 while under the effects of this glyph.
Mystic Artifice (Su): Starting at 4th level, a mystic is able to channel her animus into her craft, substituting primal arcane energies in place of more ordinary spells. When crafting an item, the mystic uses her initiator level as her caster level to determine how potent a creation she can make. If her initiator level does not equal the minimum caster level to make the item, then she cannot create the item. When attempting to create a magical item for which she does not possess a prerequisite spell, the mystic can attempt to replicate the spell through her innate power with a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the level of the spell being replicated). If successful, she can create the item as if she had cast the prerequisite spell. The mystic must possess any material components necessary for casting the spell that she is replicating. If the item being created requires multiple spells, she must make this check for each spell she intends to replicate. If she fails the skill check, she may not try again for that spell while creating that item—the item creation DC increases as normal for the creation of an item without a prerequisite spell in such a case.
Withstand Spell (Su): Starting at 5th level, the mystic’s natural instincts with magic work to protect her, guiding her reactions against offensive spells cast by her enemies and allowing her to siphon off a small
amount of that energy for her own use. If the mystic is targeted by a spell, spell-like ability, or psionic power that normally would have a lesser effect (such as a partial effect) on a successful Fortitude or Reflex saving throw, she may make a Will saving throw instead of the effect’s normal save. If that Will saving throw is successful, she is completely unaffected by the spell or power, taking no damage and suffering no ill-effects. If she fails the saving throw, she suffers the effect as normal, and adds one point of animus to her animus pool.
The mystic must be unencumbered and wearing light or no armor to use this ability. This ability does not protect the mystic from traps, extraordinary or supernatural abilities, or any other effects that require a Fortitude or Reflex save. A helpless mystic does not gain the benefit of withstand spell.
Instant Enlightenment (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a mystic is capable of drawing deep on her training to channel the untapped energies within her, granting her an infinitesimal moment perfect clarity. Once per day as a free action, the mystic may expend one granted maneuver and instantly replace it with another maneuver she knows. This maneuver is added to her currently granted maneuvers and readied for use, replacing the previous maneuver. At 10th level and every four levels thereafter, the mystic can use this ability one additional time per day.
Quell Magic (Su): Starting at 9th level, a mystic can channel her animus to act as a sort of null-magic energy, smothering active magical effects with its flow. In order to use this ability, the mystic must have identified an ongoing spell or power through a Spellcraft check or other method. As a standard action, she can spend a number of points of animus equal to that spell or power’s level to suppress (as if by an antimagic field spell) that spell or power for a number of rounds equal to her Wisdom modifier. Time spent suppressed counts against the suppressed spell or power’s duration. This ability can only be used on effects within 30 feet, although the mystic does not need to identify the effect while it is within that range, and it remains suppressed even if it leaves that range.
Font of Animus (Su): At 15th level, a mystic gains the ability to draw in energy from the world around her, converting it into animus to fuel her own primal power. As a move action, the mystic can add a number of points of animus to her animus pool equal to 1d6 + her Wisdom modifier. Unlike other animus abilities, this may be used outside of combat to generate a small pool of animus that persists for one minute outside of combat. A mystic cannot use this ability multiple times to accumulate animus, additional attempts simply reset the amount of animus from the previous use of this ability. The mystic may use this a number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier + 1 (minimum of 1).
Glyph Mastery (Su): At 20th level, a mystic’s control over her elemental powers are strong enough that she can manifest two elemental glyphs at the same time. As a move action, the mystic may spend two points of animus and manifest an elemental glyph of any two elements, regardless of her active element.
Path of War Expanded
Zealot
A warhawk politician grimly but eloquently calls for the destruction of a hated enemy. A loyal guard lays down his life for his homeland without hesitation. A cultist is driven to greater and greater ecstasies of blood to satisfy the wicked whispers that fill his mind day and night. All believe that if they sacrifice enough for their dreams, even the impossible can be realized. These dreams are enough to shape those around them—and, if realized—the world.
Adventures: Zealots live in pursuit of a passion or cause. Each zealot has a purpose they intimately understand, from protecting their country, to spreading their religion, to hunting down every last one of the assassins who murdered their master.
Characteristics: Zealots typically have intense personalities—despite their commitment to one cause, if one fire cools, another will ignite. This fervency is what draws in their allies and sets them apart: What some might believe on an intellectual level in a vague, apathetic way, the zealot embraces and knows like a lover.
Alignment: Any. Zealots have a strict devotion to an ideal that they follow with reckless abandon. While zealots often allow the ends to justify the means, they also put the needs of something greater than themselves beyond their own needs. These conflicting motivations create zealots of every conceivable stripe. Though zealots do not change alignment more frequently than other classes, a zealot who changes alignments fights for his new ideals with the same intensity as the one he left behind.
Religion: Many zealots are religious, but their personal beliefs often clash with established dogma. Zealots often live at the extremes of a given religion—its most brutal enforcers, its most devout preachers, its first followers, its greatest defenders, and its most despised heretics. This purity of drive leads zealots to frequently found their own religions, philosophies, and cults.
Background: Zealots are found most frequently in times of uncertainty and places of conflict, though whether this is because these situations are ideal for creating zealots, zealots are drawn to these areas, or zealots create these situations is uncertain.
Races: Zealots are most commonly found in humans and other shorter-lived races, because zealots often live short and burn bright. Sadly, there may be just as many dwarven patriots as goblin fanatics, but the dwarves who follow less impassioned lives will typically live much longer ones. Half-breeds like half-orcs, half-giants, and tieflings are common zealots, as they are often born in areas of conflict and are forced into allying with one side of their heritage or another. Dromites and other highly-organized races can produce excellent zealots, as their culture helps instill them with a unique sense of purpose.
Other Classes: Zealots often mesh best with others who will fight for their cause, regardless of their allies’ motivations, a pragmatic stalker who can be counted on to perform a task for a few coins might be a more
moral arguments to the zealot’s methods. Zealots sometimes clash with sorcerers, paladins, and others with strong personalities (a natural consequence of too many leaders and not enough followers), but thoughtful classes like inquisitors, oracles, and rangers can channel the zealot’s ardor against the proper targets. Zealots do not inherently get along well, and there are often zealots on all sides of a conflict.
Role: Leader. A zealot inspires the hearts and minds of those he fights alongside through pure passion, bringing his allies to heights they
never thought possible. With proper feat and maneuver choices, zealots can also become
