Braveheart Bravo [PrC]

[The Demented One]

Braveheart Bravo



“I’m telling you kid, it’s a disgrace, that’s what it is. You see the elf, that skinny little excuse for a sword he has? That, boy, isn’t a warrior, that’s a glorified fop who paid lots of money for fencing lessons that had absolutely nothing to do with killing men with a sword. And the dwarf. You think he could manage to even move with all that armor he has on? Makes no sense, boy. I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you a bet. You give your Uncle Enzo that dagger–no, not the hunting knife, just the little one–and give me ten minutes after this excuse for a pit fight, and I’ll give you a dead elf and a dead dwarf. That’s what being a Braveheart Bravo is about, kid. We aren’t pretty-boy fencers or hulking slabs of metal, we’re gods-damned halflings who’re very good at killing people. Give yourself a few years, kid, and you’ll make your uncle proud.”
–Uncle Enzo Boramar, to a future Braveheart Bravo

d10 HD

Requirements
To qualify to become a Braveheart Bravo, you must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: Halfling
BAB: +6
Feats: Underfoot Combat
Maneuvers: Any two Dancing Leaf or Iron Heart maneuvers.

Class Skills
The Braveheart Bravo’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Maneuvers[br]Known|Maneuvers[br]Readied|Stances[br]Known

1st|

+1

|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|Combat Acrobat, Invincible Bravado|1|0|0

2nd|

+2

|

+0

|

+3

|

+0

|Underfoot Swashbuckler|1|0|0

3rd|

+3

|

+1

|

+3

|

+1

|Acrobatic Stunt|2|1|0

4th|

+4

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

|Heroic Lunge|2|1|0

5th|

+5

|

+1

|

+4

|

+1

|Daunting Prowess|3|1|1

6th|

+6

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

|Savvy Duelist|3|2|1

7th|

+7

|

+2

|

+5

|

+2

|Crouching Parry|4|2|1

8th|

+8

|

+2

|

+6

|

+2

|Keep Them Down|4|2|1

9th|

+9

|

+3

|

+6

|

+3

|Giant-Felling Stance|5|3|1

10th|

+10

|

+3

|

+7

|

+3

|Braveheart Vengeance|5|3|1[/table]

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Braveheart Bravo prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
You gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Maneuvers
At each odd-numbered level, you gain one new maneuver known from the Dancing Leaf or Iron Heart disciplines. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it. You add your full Braveheart Bravo level to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and the highest level of maneuver you can learn. If you have levels in an initiator class that allows you to exchange out maneuvers at certain levels, your Braveheart Bravo levels stack with your levels in that class for determining when you may exchange maneuvers. At 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels, you gain an additional maneuver readied each day.

Stances
At 5th level, you gain a new martial stance known from the Dancing Leaf or Iron Heart disciplines. You must meet a stance’s prerequisites to learn it.

Combat Acrobat (Ex)
A halfling warrior is no heavy-footed grunt–he is a blur on the battlefield, leaping and tumbling from foe to fallen foe. Whenever you make a Jump check, you are treated as having the benefits of both a running start and the Run feat, even if you do not meet its prerequisites. You can move at full speed while making Balance, Climb, and Swim checks without any increase to the DC of the check. In addition, the armor check penalty of any medium or light armor you wear is decreased by half your class level, rounded down, to a minimum of 0.

Invincible Bravado (Ex)
Just because an enemy hits you doesn’t mean you have to let them know it. Whenever you are damaged by a melee attack, you may attempt a Bluff check as an immediate action. If you initiated a counter in response to the attack that hit you, then you make the Bluff check as a free action instead. Your Bluff check is opposed by a Sense Motive check made by the opponent who hit you. They receive a bonus equal to their base attack bonus to the check. If your Bluff check succeeds, then the opponent does not realize they hit you, instead believing their attack missed.

Underfoot Swashbuckler (Ex)
You know how to duck under larger foes, playing their size against them. At 2nd level, as long as you are in a square occupied by or adjacent to an enemy of Medium size or larger, you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC against attacks from all adjacent foes.

Acrobatic Stunt (Ex)
At 3rd level, whenever you move into a square occupied by or adjacent to an enemy while jumping or tumbling, you may make a feint against that foe as a free action. Instead of making a Bluff check, you use the result of your earlier Jump or Tumble check.

Heroic Lunge (Ex)
With a bit of a luck, a springing stride, and a forceful thrust, you can easily cover the distance between you and your foes. At 4th level, whenever you make a melee attack as part of a martial strike, you may use heroic lunge as a move action. If you do, your reach for that attack increases by 5 ft. This does not stack with the increased reach from reach weapons.

Daunting Prowess (Ex)
At 5th level, you are a shadow on the battlefield, a menacing figure stained with the blood of giants. Whenever you confirm a critical hit against an enemy who is Medium or larger, it must make a Will save, DC 10 + 1/2 your initiator level + your Dexterity modifier, or be panicked for 1 round, then shaken for the duration of the encounter. Even if it succeeds, it is still shaken for 1 round.

Savvy Duelist (Ex)
At 6th level, you can deliver vengeful ripostes to larger foes, taking advantage of their longer reach by forcing them to overextend. Whenever a Medium or larger enemy misses you with a melee attack that you responded to by initiating a counter, they provoke an attack of opportunity from you.

Crouching Parry (Ex)
At 7th level, you’ve learned how to duck and defend yourself with your blade, fending off attacks from larger foes. Whenever you initiate a counter, you gain damage reduction equal to your Dexterity modifier until the beginning of your next turn. No form of damage overcomes this damage reduction, but it only applies to melee attacks made by Medium or larger foes. You must be wielding a melee weapon in order to use this ability. If you somehow use two counters in one round, then the damage reduction from this ability does not stack with itself, but it does stack with any other damage reduction/– you may have.

Keep Them Down (Ex)
At 8th level, you know how to leave your foes dead. Not “nearly dead,” not “bleeding and horribly (but not fatally) wounded,” not “still alive enough to croak out their last words,” but dead. Magical healing does not automatically cause a creature that has been reduced to -1 or less hp by one of your attacks to stabilize. In addition, whenever a character tries to heal a creature reduced to -1 or less hp by one of your attacks with a spell, they must make a caster level check, DC 10 + your initiator level + your Dexterity modifier. If they fail, the healing cannot raise the target’s hp above 0.

Giant-Felling Stance (Ex)
At 9th level, you have learned how to strike at your clumsily overmuscled foes, severing tendons and ligaments with every stroke. While you are in a martial stance, you may, as a swift action, forgo its normal benefit to gain the effects of the Giant-Felling Stance. You can also end the Giant-Felling Stance and resume the normal benefit of the stance you were in as a swift action. Whenever you deal damage to an enemy of Medium size or larger with a melee attack while in this stance, they automatically take 2 points of Strength damage. No matter how many times you damage a foe, they only take this Strength damage once per round they are hit.

Braveheart Vengeance (Ex)
At 10th level, you pride yourself as an opportunist, making devastating blows when they’re least expected. Once per round, when an enemy provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you may initiate any martial strike that allows you to make a single melee attack and has an initiation action of a standard action or less and use it to deliver the attack of opportunity. You must still have the maneuver readied and extend it as normal. You cannot use maneuvers of the highest level you are capable of initiating with this ability.

[ErrantX]

Nice work here, Demented One. You've actually made me want to play a halfling warblade/rogue combo here. Dancing Leaf with Iron Heart together, sprinkle in some Tiger Claw for some mobile damaging maneuvers and you've got something pretty workable going.

The class really flows well together, and the class features are very good for the small, exceptionally mobile warrior who gets into the thick of things. I could see it combo'd with Invisible Blade quite nicely, in fact.

The only question I have, outside of the obvious flavor bits, is what merit does Invincible Bravado net you, tough-acting aside? So your opponent thinks he missed. I can see it helping Pearl of Black Doubt, for example, but I can't think of what else.

Nice job though!

-X

[The Demented One]

The only question I have, outside of the obvious flavor bits, is what merit does Invincible Bravado net you, tough-acting aside? So your opponent thinks he missed. I can see it helping Pearl of Black Doubt, for example, but I can't think of what else.

To be honest it's mostly a flavor piece, a neat little lagniappe. Mechanically, it's a good way to screw with power attackers, make them tone down the penalties they take because they think they missed you on a high roll.

[ErrantX]

Huh, didn't think of the Power Attack aspect. Like I said, flavorful and nice :)

-X