Balanced & Simplified Arcane Duelist Fix

[Biscuit]

D&D 3.5 - Arcane Duelist
(WotC Web Article: Ways of the Sword)


The Duelist is a well-known figure in many taverns, streets, and roadways. Exchanging bulk for speed, the Duelist's sword flashes as its wielder mocks their heavier, slower opponents. However, not all possess the skill of the Duelist. Some, like the Arcane Duelist, attempt to achieve through arcane power and deception what the Duelist achieves through skill alone.

The Arcane Duelist is a tricky, evasive opponent who relies on their foe's perceptions of their abilities as much as their actual abilities. Through magic, the Arcane Duelist can appear to be as dangerous as a Duelist, but in general they do not do as much damage to their opponents. Arcane Duelist prefers to win by cowing their opponent into defeating himself. Thus, Dexterity and Charisma are the Arcane Duelist's most valuable ability scores.

Rogues, Bards, and Sorcerers all make excellent Arcane Duelists, since each class hides its own surprises in addition to this class's abilities. Some martial fighters become Arcane Duelists if they prefer not to kill opponents unless absolutely necessary. Paladin Arcane Duelists are unheard-of because of the trickery involved, and barbarians don't usually have the subtlety for the class. Humans and elves become Arcane Duelists more often than dwarves or half-orcs, but halfling and gnome Arcane Duelists are not uncommon.


Requirements

Base Attack Bonus: +5

Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Proficiency (any one-handed melee weapon)

Skills: Perform 5 Ranks, Tumble 5 Ranks

Spellcasting: Able to Cast 1st-Level Arcane Spells


Hit die d8

Skill Points: 4 + Int

The Arcane Duelist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Perform (Cha), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex).

Level	BAB	Fort	Reflex	Will	Class Features	Spells Per Day
1	+0	+0	+2	+2	Chosen Weapon, Duelist's Shield	--
2	+1	+0	+3	+3	Apparent Defense, Enchant Chosen Weapon (+1)	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
3	+1	+1	+3	+3	Dexterous attack	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
4	+2	+1	+4	+4	Enchant Chosen Weapon (+2)	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
5	+2	+1	+4	+4	Blurred Motion	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
6	+3	+2	+5	+5	Enchant Chosen Weapon (+3)	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
7	+3	+2	+5	+5	False Keenness	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
8	+4	+2	+6	+6	Enchant Chosen Weapon (+4)	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
9	+4	+3	+6	+6	Mirror Image	+1 Level of Existing Spellcasting Class
10	+5	+3	+7	+7	Enchant Chosen Weapon (+5), Flurry of Swords	--

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Arcane Duelists gain no new weapon or armor proficiencies.


Spells: A Arcane Duelist continues training in magic as they gain levels. At each level except for levels 1 and 10, the Arcane Duelist gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if they had also gained a level in an spellcasting class you belonged to before they added the prestige class. They do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If the character has levels in more than one spellcasting class before becoming a Arcane Duelist, they must decide to which class they add each level of Arcane Duelist for the purposes of determining spells per day.

Chosen Weapon (Ex): Since much of the Arcane Duelist's apparent ability is tied to magic, the Arcane Duelist can imbue a specific melee weapon with powers to make themselves appear more skilled than they truly are. The Arcane Duelist must choose a specific one-handed melee weapon to be their Chosen Weapon. If that melee weapon is lost, or they decide to chance their Chosen Weapon, they can choose another, but it takes seven days for a Chosen Weapon to bond to the Arcane Duelist so that they can use it with other powers of this class.

Temporary but consistent weapons such as produced by a Psychic Warrior with the Soulbound Weapon alternate class feature or a Soulknife with a Mind Blade can designate such weapons as their Chosen Weapon. Other temporary bust consistently identical weapons as made by magical means, such as with a Gauntlet of Infinite Blades or with Gloves of Endless Javelins can also be designated as a Chosen Weapon. Spells that create temporary weapons, however, cannot be designated as a Chosen Weapon.

When wielding their Chosen Weapon, an Arcane Duelist gains a +2 bonus on checks made to Disarm and Feint with it, as well as a +2 bonus on opposed checks to resist being Disarmed and to Sense Motive checks to avoid becoming Feinted.

Duelist's Shield (Su): If you do not already know it, you gain the Shield spell as a bonus 1st level spell known. In addition, when an Arcane Duelist casts the Shield spell, its duration is 10 minutes per caster level instead of the normal 1 minute per caster level.

Enchant Chosen Weapon (Su): The Arcane Duelist's chosen melee weapon acts as if it has an enhancement bonus, even if it does not. If it does have an enhancement bonus, the Arcane Duelist adds this bonus to the weapon as an effective bonus. This can bring a weapon's effective enhancement bonus above +5. Normally, no weapon can have more than a +10 total effective bonus, but this class-granted effective bonus can increase the weapon's total effective bonus above +10. However, this class-granted bonus works only for the Arcane Duelist when wielding their chosen melee weapon. The enhancement bonus is +1 at 2nd level, and rises to +2 at 4th level, +3 at 6th level, +4 at 8th level, and +5 at 10th level.

Dexterous Attack (Ex): Because the Arcane Duelist values successful hits over actual damage dealt, they can subtract damage from their Chosen Weapon's potential damage and add the same amount to their attack bonus. However, the weapon must do a minimum 1 point of damage. For example, the Arcane Duelist who wields a rapier as their chosen weapon can subtract up to 5 points from the damage, since the rapier has a damage potential of 6 points, and add that to their attack bonus. If they were wielding a +3 rapier, they could subtract up to 8 points from damage, since the weapon has a damage potential of 9 points, and add that to their attack bonus. The Arcane Duelist declares this power before rolling their attack, and the amount subtracted cannot exceed their base attack bonus.

Apparent Defense (Ex): Due to trickery and their sheer force of personality, the Arcane Duelist adds their Charisma bonus to their Armor Class, in addition to their Dexterity bonus. Conditions that cause the Arcane Duelist to lose their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class also cause the Arcane Duelist to lose this bonus. This bonus to Armor Class is lost if the Arcane Duelist wears amor that is heavier than Light Armor.

Blurred Motion (Su): The Arcane Duelist that is dealt damage by a physical attack while wielding their Chosen Weapon activates a Miss Chance effect on themselves at the beginning of their next round equal to 10% times 1/2 their Arcane Duelist level that lasts for 1 round per their overall Caster Level. This effect cannot overlap with itself or other effects that grant Miss Chance, but each time the Arcane Duelist is dealt damage from an opponent in while already benefitting from this effect, the duration is refreshed as if it were just obtained. An Arcane Duelist can choose not to let this take effect if desired.

False Keenness (Su): The Arcane Duelist can magically alter the properties of their Chosen Weapon by adding a Keen effect to it by sacrificing some of its damage potential. With a standard action, an Arcane Duelist can choose to reduce their Chosen Weapon's damage as if it were a size catagory smaller (i.e. from Medium to Small) in order to double its Critical Range as if it had a Keen effect. The ability does stack with the increased threat range granted by the Improved Critical feat and with the actual Keen magic weapon ability - keeping in mind the standard rules that two doublings equate to a tripling, three doublings equate to quadrupaling, etc. Thus, a medium Arcane Duelist wielding a Rapier as their Chosen Weapon would have its base damage reduced from 1d6 to 1d4 and the critical range would increase from 18-20/x2 to 15-20/x2, whereas an Arcane Duelist wielding a longsword as their Chosen Weapon would see a reduction in damage from 1d8 to 1d6 and an increase in critical range from 19-20/2 to 17-20/x2.

Mirror Image (Su): The Arcane Duelist that deals Critical damage to an opponent with their Chosen Weapon activates a Mirror Image effect on themselves as if cast with their overall Caster Level at the beginning of their next round, but the duration is reduced to 1 round per Caster Level. This effect cannot overlap with itself or another Mirror Image spell or effect, but each time the Arcane Duelist is deals Critical damage to an opponent with their Chosen Weapon while already benefitting from this effect, the duration is refreshed on their next round as if it were just obtained. An Arcane Duelist can choose not to let this take effect if desired.

Flurry of Swords (Su): The pinnacle of the Arcane Duelist's power is to create a flurry of sword attacks against a single target that incorperates their Mirror Image effect. When making a Full Attack Action with their Chosen Weapon while under a Mirror Image spell or effect, the Arcane Duelist can choose to allow each Mirror image to also attack the same opponent as the Arcane Duelist themselves using the same bonuses and damage as the Arcane Duelist has with their Chosen Weapon.

Any hits landed by the images do nonlethal damage to the target, and their attacks have no chance to cause Critical damage. Damage done during a Flurry of Swords by Mirror Images is subject to Spell Resistance, but the roll to overcome it has a +5 bonus to overcome it. Once the Flurry of Swords attack has resolved, the Mirror Image spell or effect involved in the attack ends immediately as if the duration has lapsed.

Spoiler: Changelog and Author Notes

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• Reduced entry requirement from BAB +6 to BAB +5 to allow normal entry into the prestige class at levels 6-7, but allows them to still enter at level 11 as a full caster with poor BAB if desired.
• Upgraded the Chosen Weapon mechancs to include bonuses to and against Feinting and Disarming to give something for the lost caster progression levels, and expanded and clarified what can and cannot be designated as a Chosen Weapon.
• Shifted the initial Enchant Weapon +1 from lvl 1 to lvl 2 and added a +5 progression at level 10 for better consistancy.
• Added caster progression to levels 2-9, as they already get poor BAB and likely only had a single level of arcane spellcasting anyway for entry.
• Removed cap of +10 effective Magic Weapon bonus in regards to Enchant Weapon class-ability in order to partially make up for poor BAB.
• Renamed Blur to Blurred Motion, made it scale off level, and made both it and the Mirror Image ability triggered by damage received and critical damage dealt. This changes them from limited SLAs to automatic class mechanics that with which to base the class's fighting style around. If your entire reason for being is to fight in melee but you have terrible BAB, then you need tactical advantages with which to justify the playstyle.
• Regonfigured False Keenness because the previous mechanic was clunky and difficult to keep straight. Still gives up damage for a higher critical threat range, but does so in a simple and static manner.
• Reconfigured the Flurry of Swords ability because it was a poor bastardization of a Monk's Flurry of Blows that injected a bastardized Mirror Image effect (which another class feature already handles better). Now it incorperates (and then ends) any existing Mirror Image effect.
• Generally simplified and/or clarified vague language.
• This has shifted the class from using a handful of pitifly low level SLAs per day to poorly play pretend at being a melee fighter to an actually viable caster progression class that benefits from using class-bonus enhanced tactics in melee combat at the expense of 2 levels of caster progression. Losing 2 Caster Levels combined with the non-optimised class entry feat requirements is more than enough sacrifice to justify giving a caster the ability to actually participate in melee combat without looking like a toddler flailing a stick.