Honorblade
As an honorblade, you represent the pinnacle of elegance in swordplay, courtesy, grace, and wit. You stand up for what is decent, noble, principled, and chivalrous. You and your fellows are also unmatched fencers, lungers, and leapers, parrying blows and returning effective cuts and thrusts. As quick to riposte with words as with weapons, you are sure of foot navigating contentious courts, perilous politics, and secretive salons. You are protective of your personal reputation and honor, responding to slights from lessers with contempt, and from equals and betters with a challenge for satisfaction.
You respect the ideals of noblity, and if you are not gentleborn, you aspire to high station through your own deeds and merit. You are comfortable in the company of the common folk and the aristocracy, treating both with civility and politesse. Respect for authorty and respect for one's opponents are honorblade characteristics that tend to push most towards lawful and good alignments. One might encounter a chaotic good or a lawful evil honorblade, but almost never a chaotic evil one.
Role: Honorblades are flexible and fast to respond to conflict, so as such, you are quick to support your friends and engage your foes, flowing in and around friends and enemies alike with grace. Ouside combat, your civility and honor may make you the face of your party, interacting with others in such a way as to cultivate mutual respect.
Requirements: The Universal System tends to offer the Honorblade prestige class to characters who have had remarkable experiences ...
- You wage war with intelligence and finesse, seeing expertise with light blades as the highest art.
- You understand the importance of a good reputation, and you take offense at insult and harm to your good name.
- You are calm even in rage, graceful and suave, or at least earnest and enthusiastic, not rude, impolite, or uncivilized. Vanishingly few barbarians become honorblades.
- You are cultured and appreciate the finer aspects of civilized life. Few druids, commoners, or adepts become honorblades.
- You are well-versed in courtly etiquette and the nobility, or have an inborn grasp of those topics.
- You have chosen skills, feats, and traits that focus on cleverness, quickness, and martial skill.
- You think it is beneath your dignity and dishonorable to treat people weaker than you with cruelty or malice.
- You have forged bonds of fellowship with like-minded people who are willing to act as your seconds at need.
- You should be widely respected, with 15 to 20+ Respect Points before the Universal System offers you this prestige class.
Restrictions: As an honorblade, your reputation, courage, and integrity are paramount. Therefore, you hew closely to a code of honor. Common facets in such a code include:
- Be brave in combat, indeed, in all contests and conflicts, social and martial.
- Do not stoop to poison or dishonorable tactics.
- Guard your honor well, and keep your sworn word.
- Pity those who are helpless or beneath you, and do not afflict them without cause.
- Defer to the authorities of your land, be patriotic, and flout not the rules of society.
- Be faithful to your friends and respectful to your enemies. Show quarter and expect it to be shown to you.
Base Attack Bonus: +1.0 / level.
Caster Level: Similar to +0.25 / level, see below.
Will Save: +0.25 / level.
Fort Save: +0.50 / level.
Reflex Save: +0.75 / level.
Hit Die: d10.
Table: Honorblade Advancement Level Base Attack Bonus Caster Level Will Save Refx Save Fort Save Special 1st +0.75 +0.0 +0.25 +0.75 +0.50 Prestige Signature: Duelist 2nd +1.50 +1.0 +0.50 +1.50 +1.00 Respected or Ennobled 3rd +2.25 +1.0 +0.75 +2.25 +1.50 The Gauntlet or Elegant Swordplay 4th +3.00 +1.0 +1.00 +3.00 +2.00 Vault of Heaven or Cavalier 5th +3.75 +1.0 +1.25 +3.75 +2.50 Prestige Tier Choice 6th +4.50 +2.0 +1.50 +4.50 +3.00 Master Signature: All For One And One For All 7th +5.25 +2.0 +1.75 +5.25 +3.50 Noble Carriage or Mild Mannered 8th +6.00 +2.0 +2.00 +6.00 +4.00 Sparring or Riposte 9th +6.75 +2.0 +2.25 +6.75 +4.50 Gentle Explorer or Swashbuckler 10th +7.50 +2.5 +2.50 +7.50 +5.00 Master Tier Choice
Skill Proficiencies
The honorblade's proficient skills (and the ability scores used to boost each skill) are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nobility, History) (Int), Language (Int), Perform (Song, Oratory) (Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tactics (Int)
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
You are proficient with all light blades. You are proficient with all light armor.
Spells and Spell Casting
Prestige classes do not add the usual fractional increase to caster level each time you advance. Instead, at some levels you add a full caster level, and at other levels you add none. The spell level of honorblade spells varies from honorblade to honorblade -- see these rules on prestige class spell aquisition. When you cast spells gained through this prestige class, those spells are inherent in nature. The casting ability score for this prestige class is dexterity, which is used to set honorblade spell DCs, and, if it is your highest casting ability score, to set concentration checks and bonus spells per day.
KNOWN SPELLS LIST: When you add a caster level, the spells you add to your known spells list are pre-selected:
- At level 2, add Lionhearted and Heart-To-Heart Chat.
- At level 6, add Lionhearted Major and Danger Sense.
- At level 10, add 0.5 to your caster level, and if that results in a whole number caster level increase, choose two spells known from your other class(es).
Class Abilities
PRESTIGE TIER
Level 1 Honorblade Prestige Tier Signature Ability: Duelist (Su) Your poise, sharp wit and sharp blade give you an advantage in confrontations with a single opponent. You gain the following options in one-on-one conflicts:
- You sense whenever you are making an opposed check; when making such a check, you may spend two Respect Points to win the check without rolling.
- You sense your foe's armor class whenever you are in melee using a light blade; before you roll, you may spend two Lionheart Points to threaten a critical hit so long as you succeed in the attack (if the attack fails, the points are wasted).
Level 2 Honorblade Prestige Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Respected (Ex): You gain a Respect Point each morning, not to exceed your Respect Point ceiling. (Other characters gain Respect Points only when the game master awards them.)
- Ennobled (Ex): You are recognized by the ruling authority of your dominion and raised to the lowest rank of noble society. You gain a title, such as knight, templar, or centurian, as fits your dominion. You gain a +1 competence bonus on all charisma-based ability and skill checks when you are within your dominion.
Level 3 Honorblade Prestige Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- The Gauntlet (Sp): By removing one of your gloves or gauntlets and throwing it down with a move action, you challenge a foe to combat. The target creature must have an Intelligence of at least 8 and be within 25 feet. It must move towards you each round and engage you exclusively in combat (it can use area attacks that affect others if you are included). The effect lasts until you move out of range, you pick up and put your gauntlet back on, or one of you is unable to continue fighting. The target creature may negate this power if it makes a Will save vs a DC of 9 plus your odd (Column A) Wisdom modifier plus your Honorblade level; if it saves, it is immune to this power for the rest of the day. If you are wearing a magical glove or gauntlet, you lose the magical benefit of the item while it is off, but the saving throw DC to resist The Gauntlet is increased by the value of the item in thousands of gold pieces.
- Elegant Swordplay (Ex): While wearing light or no armor, and using a light blade and no shield, you gain a competence bonus to AC equal to your honorblade levels divided by 2.
Level 4 Honorblade Prestige Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Vault of Heaven (Su): As a move action, you can make a jump skill check and leap up to that distance in feet in a straight line from a standing start. For movement on a grid, round your roll down to the nearest five foot increment. Your vault may exceed your move if your roll is high enough. While making this vault, you may also make Tumble checks in midair with a +4 competence bonus to avoid attacks of opportunity. You ignore difficult terrain or other ground-based hazards over which you vault. At any point during the vault, you can also make a standard action, including an attack. You always land on your feet after a vault, even if you take falling damage by vaulting into open space.
- Cavalier (Su): You are a natural rider. When mounted, add your odd (Column A) Charisma bonus to your Ride check rolls. You can encourage a mount to hustle overland for up to eight hours per day without taking any nonlethal damage.
Level 5 Honorblade Prestige Tier Choice: Select a Honorblade Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Clout or Dash Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.
MASTER TIER
Level 6 Honorblade Master Tier Signature Ability: All For One And One For All (Su) As a standard action requiring a touch, you select up to three allies to be your comrades in fellowship. So long as you are all within ten feet per character level, when one of you takes damage, the hit points are divided equally among you. As always, round down (discard) any fraction or remainder that does not divide evenly. Any of you can end this fellowship as a free action, but for so long as it persists, flanking bonuses and Aid Another bonuses in combat are increased by +2 among all comrades.
Level 7 Honorblade Master Tier Interaction Ability (pick one):
- Noble Carriage (Ex): You have an aura of nobility that affects all creatures with an intelligence of 3 or higher. Your Ennobled competence bonus on all charisma-based ability and skill checks is usable anywhere and rises to +2. Within your dominion, it rises to +4. Within your demense, if you have one, it rises to +6. Requires the Ennobled ability.
- Mild Mannered (Sp): You are kind, calm, and mild, and you inspire trust and friendliness in others. You can cast Heart-To-Heart Chat at will as a spell-like ability, and the target's attitude toward you changes to friendly after the spell takes effect. Also, replace Heart-to-Heart Chat in your spells known list with any 13th level (or less) divination or conjuration (healing) spell of your choice; this new spell is inherent for you and has the same spell level for you that Heart-To-Heart Chat did.
Level 8 Honorblade Master Tier Combat Ability (pick one):
- Sparring (Ex): As a master of your battlecraft, you practice your swordplay at least an hour every day and through most of your downtime. You can choose one or two sparring partners from among your adventuring companions (player characters) to spar with you. As a result, you gain an experience point bonus of +15% when the game master awards experience points. Your sparring partner(s) gain a bonus +10% (if there is one) or +5% each (if there are two). You can change your sparring partner choices each time you gain a level.
- Riposte (Ex): The first melee attack made against you each round provokes an attack of opportunity. You gain your even (Column B) Intelligence modifier as a bonus to make such a riposte attack and to confirm criticals if a riposte threatens one.
Level 9 Honorblade Master Tier Exploration Ability (pick one):
- Gentle Explorer (Ex): You gain five ranks in Survival and five ranks in Knowledge (Nature); if have leftover ranks after maxing out those skills, place the excess into Profession (Guide); you are proficient in all three skills. You know how to find and preserve natural specimens and hunting trophies, as well as how to confine, transport and sustain plants and creatures you discover. You do not get lost in wilderness areas.
- Swashbuckler (Ex): You gain ten ranks in Profession (Sailor); if have leftover ranks after maxing out that skill, place the excess into Craft (Ships) and Use Rope; you are proficient in all three skills. You are also proficient with scimitars and broadswords, which you treat as light blades. You do not get lost at sea.
Level 10 Honorblade Master Tier Choice: Select a honorblade Master or Prestige Tier Interaction, Combat, or Exploration ability that you have not yet chosen, or choose a feat from the Clout or Dash Feat Trees for which you qualify, treating your own tier as if it were one step higher.