Blade Dancer (3.5 PRC; Sublime Redux)

[Stycotl]

Blade Dancer (Sublime Redux)



Original PrC found in Oriental Adventures

To blade dancers, the sword is more than a weapon–it is an ally, a friend, a spirit companion. Viewing combat as art, a deadly dance, blade dancers are prone to singing in battle. Blade dancers tap powerful magical energy through a combination of martial prowess and magical study, gaining phenomenal acrobatic ability and the ability to enchant their blades in combat.

Most blade dancers are multiclass characters, swordsages, clerics, psychic warriors, or others. Rangers, rogues, and scouts can also meet the steep skill requirements.

NPC blade dancers often dedicate themselves to hunting evil spirits and undead. They tend to be eccentric loners, prone to late-night bouts of singing, dancing, and tumbling (usually enhanced with strong drink).

Hit Dice: d8

Requirements
To become a blade dancer, a character must meet the following criteria.
Weapon Proficiency: Any sword
Skills: Balance 12 ranks, Jump 12 ranks, Tumble 12 ranks
Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Special: Must be able to cast spells and initiate martial maneuvers. Within those abilities, must be able to either cast 2nd level spells, or initiate 2nd level martial maneuvers from the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, or Tiger Claw disciplines

{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special|Spellcasting
1st|+1|+0|+2|+0|Acrobatics +10, Leap of the Clouds, Fast Movement +10 feet|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
2nd|+2|+0|+3|+0|Enchanted Blade|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
3rd|+3|+1|+3|+1|Crown Strider|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
4th|+4|+1|+4|+1|Fast Movement +20 feet|--
5th|+5|+1|+4|+1|Acrobatics +20|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
6th|+6|+2|+5|+2|Step of the Wind Rider|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
7th|+7|+2|+5|+2|Fast Movement +30 feet|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
8th|+8|+2|+6|+2|Acrobatic Attack|--
9th|+9|+3|+6|+3|Cyclonic Rhythm|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
10th|+10|+3|+7|+3|Acrobatics +30, Fast Movement +40 feet|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
[/table]

{table="head"]Level|Man. Known|Man. Readied|Stances Known
1st|-|-|-
2nd|1|-|-
3rd|-|-|1
4th|-|1|-
5th|1|-|-
6th|-|-|-
7th|1|-|-
8th|-|1|-
9th|-|-|1
10th|1|-|-
[/table]

Class Skills
The blade dancer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2+Int modifier

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Blade dancers gain no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Martial Maneuvers: A blade dancer gains new maneuvers known at 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 10th level. He can choose maneuvers from the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, or Tiger Claw disciplines, though he must meet the maneuver's prerequisites. He adds his full blade dancer levels to his initiator level in order to determine total initiator level and maximum maneuver level known. At 4th and 8th level, the blade dancer gains another maneuver readied per day.

Stances Known: The blade dancer learns a new stance at 3rd and 9th level from the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, or Tiger Claw disciplines. He must meet the prerequisites to learn it.

Spellcasting: At every level except for 4th and 8th, the blade dancer gains new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in the "spellcasting" class in which he has levels and which he used to qualify for this prestige class. He does not gain any other benefits that a character of that class would gain. If he has more than one spellcasting class before becoming a blade dancer, he must decide which class he will add each level increase for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known if applicable.

Acrobatics (Su): The blade dancer can now choose to take 10 on any Balance, Jump, or Tumble check, even when circumstances would normally prevent him from doing so. He also gains a +10 competence bonus to these checks. At 5th level, this bonus increases to +20, and at 10th level, it increases to +30. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

Leap of the Clouds (Ex): The blade dancer always counts as if he has taken a running start when making Jump checks, and if he has actually taken a running start, his Jump check is treated as 5 higher than it really is. At 6th level, a Jump check with an actual running start is treated as 10 points higher than it really is.

Fast Movement (Ex): The blade dancer moves faster than normal. At 1st level, he gains a +10-foot bonus to his base movement rate. At 4th level, this becomes a +20-foot bonus; at 7th level, a +30-foot bonus; and at 10th level, a +40-foot bonus to his base movement rate. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

Enchanted Blade (Su): The blade dancer is able to imbue any sword that he wields with magical energy. This is treated just as a normal martial maneuver that must be readied and expended normally. It is considered a 5th level boost that belongs to no discipline. For one round, his sword is treated as a magical weapon with an enhancement bonus and special weapon abilities worth a total enhancement bonus of +4 or less. The enhancement bonus must always be at least +1, and can never be higher than +5. The total worth of the special weapon abilities can never be higher than +5. If the blade dancer enchants an already magical sword in this manner, he takes the better of the enhancement bonuses; they do not stack. But any special weapon abilities that are granted through this ability work with any special abilities that the magical weapon already has. The blade dancer does not have to choose what kind of enchantments he will give his sword until he initiates the maneuver, and they can be different every time he does so.

At 6th level, the total enhancement bonus of the weapon can be up to +6, and at 10th level, it can be up to +8.

Crown Strider (Su): The blade dancer has an exceptional sense of balance, and can move at full speed across a precarious surface without taking the normal -5 penalty to do so, and can charge across such surfaces with one fewer check than normal. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

Step of the Wind Rider (Su): The blade dancer gains the effect of the Shadow Hand stance, balance on the sky, except that it belongs to no discipline, and is treated as a 7th level stance. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

Acrobatic Attack (Ex): The blade dancer gains the ability to strike with great power when moving at great speeds. In any round that he moves at least 10 feet and makes either a Jump or a Tumble check, he can compare the check to the armor class of any foe that he attacks in melee. Against any foe that he attacks that has an armor class of less than his Jump or Tumble check, he gains a competence bonus to melee attacks equal to one half of his blade dancer levels, and a bonus to melee damage equal to his initiator level. If he makes both a Jump and Tumble check in the same round, he gains these bonuses only against foes whose armor class is lower than both checks. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

Cyclonic Rhythm (Su): The blade dancer can move so quickly and deftly that his foes cannot keep up, gaining a +4 dodge bonus to AC when executing the fight defensively standard or full-round action, instead of the +3 bonus gained by having 5 or more ranks in the Tumble skill; when executing the total defense action, he gains a +8 dodge bonus instead of a +6 bonus. Further, as an immediate act, the blade dancer can attempt a Tumble check against a melee or ranged attack that targeted him. If he beats the attack roll by 15 or more, it does not hit him. He can do this a number of times per day equal to his Dexterity modifier. This ability works only so long as he is not wearing heavier than light armor or carrying more than light encumbrance.

[Stycotl]

no thoughts on balance? it is way more powerful than the original, because the original is very weak, and usually (as far as i have seen) only good for lancer builds.

so i threw in 7/10 casting and some martial maneuvers, then tweaked some of the abilities.

[Godskook]

First thought comparsion to the JPM:

Same BAB, reflex(instead of fort), 1 less maneuver, 1 more stance, 1 less ready slot, 1 additional lost caster level.

Hmm...you can probably bump the caster level back up to 8/10 depending on the class abilities, but I haven't really delved there yet and if you do, you should probably add 2nd level spells as a requirement.

[Stycotl]

that's not a bad call. i might just do something along those lines, though i wanted to keep it loose enough that a character could choose to be caster 6/initiator 1, or initiator 6/caster 1. thanks for the input.

[Godskook]

that's not a bad call. i might just do something along those lines, though i wanted to keep it loose enough that a character could choose to be caster 6/initiator 1, or initiator 6/caster 1. thanks for the input.

There's no way to make entry at L7 though. Earliest entry is L9, and that's only if you don't use swordsage for the entry(A swordsage wouldn't have the BAB at L9). You might want to eliminate the BAB prerequisite, as the 'martial' requirement can be met through maneuvers known instead, and the skill requirements probably should be lowered a little. Especially with 3 additional feats as requirement, versus JPM.

Also, what does Leap of the Clouds mean by "Not limited by your height"?

[Stycotl]

There's no way to make entry at L7 though. Earliest entry is L9, and that's only if you don't use swordsage for the entry(A swordsage wouldn't have the BAB at L9). You might want to eliminate the BAB prerequisite, as the 'martial' requirement can be met through maneuvers known instead, and the skill requirements probably should be lowered a little. Especially with 3 additional feats as requirement, versus JPM.

ah, thanks for catching that.

Also, what does Leap of the Clouds mean by "Not limited by your height"?

jump distances are restricted by creature size. this ability kicks that. i changed the wording so that it didn't say "according to your height." hopefully this is more clear.

[Godskook]

jump distances are restricted by creature size. this ability kicks that. i changed the wording so that it didn't say "according to your height." hopefully this is more clear.

Where does it say that? The only thing I could find remotely close was vertical reach being determined by size(i.e., the amount you can jump for free, before a jump check is needed), but nothing else...so I'm still confused as to what this ability does.

[poignant123]

The limitation is 3e only. They removed the limit in 3.5.

[Stycotl]

hmm. interesting. i will have to come up with a new ability there.

[Zaraithe]

This may be stepping on toes, but I think an appropriate substitution could be the ability that allows characters to make jump checks without having to have a running start, perhaps?

Also, what about giving the PrC access to Shadow Hand Maneuvers? I think the 'shadow jaunt/stride/blink' line could emphasize the class' mobility fairly well, and fit better than 'Setting Sun', which comes across as a weaponless discipline focusing on throws and such. Just an idea.