Sleeping Goddess [Discipline]

[The Demented One]

Sleeping Goddess Discipline



Every warrior has many weapons at his disposal. Few venture far without a trusty sword or axe, and the wise will keep a crossbow or a quiver full of arrows at their side. A concealed knife is a boon to any man at arms, and every soldier has his fists as a last resort. But there are some warriors who recognize that the greatest weapon any man can wield is the mind. Over ages, such men have learned to hone their mind alongside their body, and to fight with both at once. This school of combat, the Sleeping Goddess discipline, is not combat as many would think of it–rather than using physical force to overwhelm an opponent, the Sleeping Goddess discipline revolves around striking at the mind, not the body. A Sleeping Goddess adept strikes his deathblow not at the heart of his foe, but at the ideals and principles he devotes himself to, undermining his conceptual basis of reality. The Sleeping Goddess discipline’s associated skill is Autohypnosis, as a strong control over one’s own mind and body is essential to the school. The associated weapons of the Sleeping Goddess discipline are the bastard sword, quarterstaff, short sword, shortspear, and unarmed strike. In addition, any weapon created by a Sleeping Goddess maneuver is treated as a discipline weapon.

Because the Sleeping Goddess discipline was never taught widely at the Temple of the Nine Swords or any similar center of training, most martial adepts do not know any maneuvers from it, or even know it exists. Only Swordsages or other martial adepts who possess a power point pool can learn maneuvers from the Sleeping Goddess discipline (Non-Swordsage adepts of the Sleeping Goddess discipline substitute their highest mental ability score for their Wisdom score when determining maneuver DCs). There are two ways to master the discipline. The first is to have been trained in it. If you choose to make a martial adept that has already been trained in the Sleeping Goddess discipline, you simply replace one discipline that adept could normally learn with maneuvers from with the Sleeping Goddess discipline. He loses the associated skill of the replaced discipline as a class skill, but gains Autohypnosis as a class skill.

The other way is to seek out a master of the Sleeping Goddess discipline–a martial adept capable of using at least 5th-level maneuvers from the discipline–and training under him. You must train for a month under the master, and spend 1,000 xp at the end of your training. You gain the ability to learn maneuvers from the Sleeping Goddess discipline, and add Autohypnosis to your martial adept class’s list of class skills. In addition, you may exchange your maneuvers known for maneuvers of the Sleeping Goddess discipline. You may exchange one maneuver of each level, and the new maneuvers you learn must be of the same level as the exchanged maneuvers, unlike normal.

Sleeping Goddess Maneuvers and Power Points
The Sleeping Goddess discipline unlocks the power of the mind, allowing its adepts to tap into their psionic talent. You gain a reserve of power points equal to twice the number of Sleeping Goddess maneuvers, including stances, that you know. If you already have a power point pool, you add those points to it. If you do not have one already, then you gain a pool, and can take psionic feats, metapsionic feats, and psionic item creation feats. However, you do not gain the ability to manifest psionic powers, nor do you gain bonus power points unless you have levels in a manifester class.

Augmenting Maneuvers
Some Sleeping Goddess maneuvers can be augmented by spending power points, just like psionic powers. When spending power points to augment a maneuver, you cannot spend an amount greater than your manifester level or your initiator level, whichever is higher. This is a specific exemption to the rule that you can never spend more power points than your manifester level.

[The Demented One]

1st level
Battle Mantra: Stance–Regain one power point with each successful attack.
Harmony-Shattering Strife: Strike–Attack deals +1d6 damage on failed Will save.
Ego-Wounding Strike: Strike–Attack causes victim to believe it is crippled and take a -2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks.

2nd level
Adamant Will: Counter–Gain deflection bonus to AC equal to your Wisdom modifier against one attack.
Call the Heart’s Blade: Boost–Create a weapon of emotions.
Mind Revealed in Battle: Strike–Attack deals +2d6 damage and allows you to read surface thoughts.

3rd level
Inexorable Embrace of Sleep: Strike–Attack puts victim into a trance.
Dreams of Future Strife: Boost–Add your Wisdom modifier to an initiative check.
Thoughts Flow Like Blood: Stance–Foes who damage you suffer empathic pain.

4th level
Becoming the Perfect Warrior: Boost–Gain bonus feats and temporary hp.
Quicksilver Puppetry: Strike–Attack deals +4d6 damage and implants false sensory input into victim’s mind.
Soul-Crushing Mien: Counter–Gain a +5 bonus on Will saves against a mind-affecting-ability and stun its user with psychic backlash.

5th level
Call the Mind’s Blade: Boost–Create a weapon of dreams.
Quicksilver Dream Metamorphosis: Stance–Become a being of dreamstuff.
Reshape the Sculpted Mind: Strike–Attack deals 1d4 damage to a mental ability score, inflicts a mental disorder.

6th level
Ascend the Quicksilver Stairway: Boost–Gain temporary power points equal to your initiator level and psionic focus.
Dreaming Nomad Strike: Strike–Teleport and attack multiple enemies.
Self Beyond the Self: Strike–Attack an enemy, gain control of their body for one round.

7th level
Death of the Self: Counter–Make an Autohypnosis check to negate an attack or spell.
Psyche-Maiming Strike: Strike–Attack psychically cripples its victims.
Shatter the Ordered Mind: Boost–Attacks deal mental ability damage.

8th level
Call the Soul’s Blade: Boost–Create a weapon of ideals.
Reality-Defying Metamorphosis: Stance–Become a being of manifest thought.

9th level
Battle in Dreams: Create a psychic battlefield and draw all enemies into it.

[The Demented One]

1st level

Spoiler

Show

Battle Mantra
Sleeping Goddess (Stance)
Level: Swordsage 1
Initiation Action: Swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance

In battle the mind awakens, every aspect of it tested to its utmost by the dangers of combat. In this enhanced state of awareness, every second matters, every blow is crucial. Sleeping Goddess adepts can use this enhanced focus to empower their mind. Whenever you make a successful melee attack, you regain one power point. In addition, while in this stance, you can expend five power points to make a Concentration check to gain psionic focus as a swift action. Battle mantra is a supernatural ability.

Harmony-Shattering Strife
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 1
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Save: Will negates

A Sleeping Goddess adept strikes at both body and mind at once, telepathically assaulting his foes with harmful psychic static even as he attacks them in melee. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. In addition, the foe you attack must make a Will save, DC 11 + your Wisdom modifier, or take 1d6 damage, even if the melee attack does not hit. For every power point you expend when you initiate this maneuver, the damage dealt increases by one. Harmony-shattering strife is a supernatural ability.

Ego-Wounding Strike
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 1
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: 3 rounds
Save: Will negates

This maneuver takes advantage of the pain of an attack to hinder your foes, telepathically amplifying the pain they feel. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack hits, then the foe must make a Will save, DC 11 + your Wisdom modifier, or be overwhelmed with agonizing pain, taking a -2 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks for 3 rounds. Ego-wounding strike is a supernatural ability.

2nd level

Spoiler

Show

Adamant Will
Sleeping Goddess (Counter)
Level: Swordsage 2
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

When armor is pierced and shields are broken, the will remains as a final bastion. With this maneuver, a Sleeping Goddess adept bends the world to his will to defend himself against an attack. Whenever an enemy makes an attack against you, before he makes the attack roll, you may initiate this maneuver. You gain a deflection bonus to AC against that one attack equal to your Wisdom modifier, to a maximum of +5. Adamant will is a supernatural ability.

Call the Heart’s Blade
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 2
Initiation Action: Move action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Encounter

Calling upon your every mental reserve, you briefly fill your mind with a single emotion. With a surge of psionic power, you then channel this emotion into a weapon, a heart’s blade. The heart’s blade appears in your hands, and can take the form of any melee weapon you are proficient with. It is treated as a magic weapon, and has a +1 enhancement bonus. If the heart’s blade leaves your grip or is broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points), then it dissipates and reforms in your hands at the end of the round. In addition, a heart’s blade has additional special properties based on the emotion it is formed from.

Fear: A heart’s blade of fear seems to writhe and shift in your hands, its blade moving like a serpent. A heart’s blade of fear does not receive any enhancement bonus on attack rolls, but it gains a +2 enhancement bonus on damage rolls. Whenever you make an Intimidate check while wielding a heart’s blade of fear, you may expend two power points to gain a +10 enhancement bonus on the check.

Joy: A heart’s blade of joy is wreathed in a flickering aura that flares brilliantly whenever the weapon draws blood. You may apply a heart’s blade of joy’s enhancement bonus to any roll you make with the weapon–an attack roll to confirm a critical hit, a Bluff check to feint with the weapon, a touch attack to trip a foe with the weapon, or any other. In addition, whenever you are affected by a fear effect or an effect that would cause unnatural sadness, such as the crushing despair spell, while you are wielding the heart’s blade of joy, you may spend two power points as an immediate action to automatically succeed on any Will saves allowed by that effect.

Love: A heart’s blade of love is formed from shimmering prismatic light. It does not cut or maim its victims, but rather passes into them as if they were incorporeal, dealing only nonlethal damage. In addition, whenever you damage a foe with a heart’s blade of love, you may expend two power points. If you do, that foe must make a Will save, DC 12 + your Wisdom modifier, or be charmed for 5 rounds.

Sorrow: A heart’s blade of sorrow is made of solid shadows, an amorphous darkness that flows into the wounds it leaves. Any attack made with a heart’s blade of sorrow ignores morale bonuses to AC, and any attack made against you while you wield the weapon loses the benefits of any morale bonuses on its attack or damage rolls. In addition, whenever you damage a foe with a heart’s blade of sorrow, you may expend two power points. If you do, that foe must make a Will save, DC 12 + your Wisdom modifier, or take a -1 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks for the rest of the encounter. This penalty is not cumulative.

Wrath: A heart’s blade of wrath seems unnaturally sharp-edged or barbed, and it flickers with red light when it strikes a foe. You gain a +4 enhancement bonus on all attack rolls made to confirm a critical hit rolled with a heart’s blade of wrath. In addition, whenever you make an attack with a heart’s blade of wrath, you may expend two power points as a swift action. If you do, the weapon’s critical threat range is doubled for that one attack.

If you have the mind blade class feature, then you may use this maneuver to grant your mind blade the properties of a heart’s blade (but it does not gain an enhancement bonus, nor can you change it’s shape). If you initiate this maneuver while it is still in effect, you cannot create an additional heart’s blade, but you can change the emotion your blade is formed from. Call the heart’s blade is a supernatural ability.

Mind Revealed in Battle
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 2
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Save: Will negates

As a foe desperately attempts to dodge or parry your attacks, or writhes in pain from a well-laid blow, its mind is helpless to resist a telepathic intrustion. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, it deals +2d6 damage and the foe must make a Will save, DC 12 + your Wisdom modifier. If it fails, then you may read that creature’s surface thoughts. Mind revealed in battle is a supernatural ability.

3rd level

Spoiler

Show

Inexorable Embrace of Sleep
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 3
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: 3 rounds
Save: Will negates

With a devastating psychic strike, you can render a foe’s higher mind catatonic, reducing him to the state of a sleepwalker. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, the foe must make a Will save, DC 13 + your Wisdom modifier. If it fails, it is put into a trance. It can still act normally, but it cannot use spells, powers, maneuvers, or similar abilities; it cannot use any Dexterity, Intelligence, or Charisma-based skills; and it cannot use any of its feats that must be actively used. Inexorable embrace of sleep is a supernatural ability.

Dreams of Future Strife
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 3
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous or encounter (see text)

With your mind’s eye you gaze into the future, readying yourself for battles yet unfought. If you have this maneuver readied when you roll for initiative, it is automatically initiated. You add your Wisdom modifier to your initiative roll. If you expend five power points when you initiate this maneuver, you also gain the uncanny dodge ability for the duration of the encounter. If you expend eleven power points, you instead gain the improved uncanny dodge ability. Dreams of future strife is a supernatural ability.

Thoughts Flow Like Blood
Sleeping Goddess (Stance) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 3
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance

To strike an adept of the Sleeping Goddess is to invite their counterattack, as they return the pain inflicted upon them to its master. Whenever an enemy damages you with one or more melee attacks in a round while you are in this stance, they must make a Will save, DC 13 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail the save, they take 1d6 damage and are telepathically wounded, suffering a -2 penalty on attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks for one round. This penalty is not cumulative. Thoughts flow like blood is a supernatural ability.

4th level

Spoiler

Show

Becoming the Perfect Warrior
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 4
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Encounter

Through meditation and mantras, a Sleeping Goddess adept can reach into his subconscious and awaken the archetype of the warrior within him. When you initiate this maneuver, you may choose up to two feats to gain as bonus feats. You must meet all prerequisites for the feats you choose, and they must be either Fighter bonus feats or psionic feats. In addition, you gain temporary hit points equal to your initiator level that last for the duration of the encounter. For every five power points you expend when you manifest this maneuver, you may gain an additional bonus feat, to a maximum of five total, and the amount of temporary hp you gain increases by 5. If you initiate this maneuver while it is still in effect, you do not gain any additional bonus feats or temporary hp, but you can change which feats you have selected. Becoming the perfect warrior is a supernatural ability.

Quicksilver Puppetry
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 4
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: 3 rounds
Save: Will negates

The mind is all to easy to beguile when it is under stress. The quicksilver puppetry takes advantage of this by implanting a false sensation into your opponent’s mind at the exact moment you strike him. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, it deals +4d6 damage and the foe must make a Will save, DC 14 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail, then you implant false images or sensation into their mind, altering their perception of a single stimulus as with the false sensory input power. You cannot switch between senses to feed false stimuli with this maneuver. Quicksilver puppetry is a supernatural ability.

Soul-Crushing Mien
Sleeping Goddess (Counter) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 4
Prerequisites: One Sleeping Goddess maneuver
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

A warrior who has cultivated an attitude of stoic resolution can defy mental attacks, turning them back on their masters. Whenever you make a Will save against a mind-affecting ability, you may initiate this maneuver. If you do, then you gain a +5 resistance bonus on the saving throw. In addition, if you succeed on your save, then the character who used the ability is stunned for 1 round, without a save. Soul-crushing mien is a supernatural ability.

5th level

Spoiler

Show

Call the Mind’s Blade
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 5
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Move action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Encounter

A Sleeping Goddess adept can wield their very dreams as a weapon. This maneuver fashions dreamstuff into a potent magical weapon, a mind’s blade. The mind’s blade appears in your hands, and can take the form of any melee weapon you are proficient with. It is treated as a magic weapon, and has enhancement bonus and special abilities of your choice that total to one-quarter your initiator level, maximum +5. You may choose to have the mind's blade's attacks overcome damage reduction as cold iron or silver, but each material you choose counts as a +1 special ability. If the mind’s blade leaves your grip or is broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points), then it dissipates and reforms in your hands at the end of the round. In addition, while attacking with the mind’s blade, you add your Wisdom modifier to all damage rolls, and may add it in place of your Strength or Dexterity score on an attack roll. You may choose to have the mind's blade's attacks overcome damage reduction as cold iron or silver, but each material you choose counts as a +1 bonus.

If you have the mind blade class feature, then you may use this maneuver to add your initiator level to your effective Soulknife level for determining the enhancement bonus and special qualities of your mind blade, as well as allowing you to add your Wisdom modifier to attack and damage rolls, as above. If you initiate this maneuver while it is still in effect, you cannot create an additional [i]mind’s blade[i], but you can change the enhancement bonus and special qualities of it. Call the mind’s blade is a supernatural ability.

Quicksilver Dream Metamorphosis
Sleeping Goddess (Stance)
Level: Swordsage 5
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance

To a master of the Sleeping Goddess, the line between reality and dreams is easily blurred with a supreme act of will. Such is the secret of the quicksilver dream metamorphosis, which allows those adepts who know of it to become beings of dream made flesh. While in this stance you become blurry and indistinct as your flesh transforms to dreamstuff, granting you a 20% miss chance. You may add your Wisdom modifier to all Strength and Dexterity checks, as well as to all Strength and Dexterity-based skill checks. Quicksilver dream metamorphosis is a supernatural ability.

Reshape the Sculpted Mind
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 5
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: See text
Save: Will negates

The mortal mind is known for its extraordinary resilience, capable of coping with and adapting to almost any trauma it can be faced with. But for those intimately acquainted with the true nature of the mind, it soon becomes apparent that if one were to strike at the mind in just the right fashion, the careful order it maintains could be undone, the mind reshaped to the adept’s liking. Such is the power of reshape the sculpted mind. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, the foe must make a Will save, DC 15 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail, they take 1d4 points of ability damage to your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. In addition, they suffer additional effects based on which ability you damage:

Intelligence: For every point of Intelligence damage the creature takes, it loses knowledge of one language. You choose which language it loses, starting with bonus languages and only moving on to its automatic languages if all of those has been lost. The foe cannot speak, understand, read, or write the forgotten language. If a foe loses knowledge of all the languages it knows, it becomes aphasiac, completely incapable of understanding any language, nor even of communicating by telepathy. Each point of ability damage is healed restores knowledge of one language to the victim, starting with any automatic languages lost and then progressing to bonus languages.

Wisdom: The foe loses its grasp of reality, and is confused for a single round.

Charisma: The foe’s self-confidence is shaken, causing it to be frightened for a number of rounds equal to the amount of ability damage dealt.

For every six power points you expend when initiating this maneuver, the ability damage increases by one. Reshape the sculpted mind is a supernatural ability.

6th level

Spoiler

Show

Ascend the Quicksilver Stairway
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 6
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Encounter

With hours of meditation, an ascetic can focus his mind and strengthen its power. But within the timeless space of his dreams, a Sleeping Goddess adept can perform such meditations in a matter of seconds. When you initiate this maneuver, you gain a number of temporary power points equal to your initiator level that last for the duration of the encounter. In addition, you automatically gain psionic focus without having to make a Concentration check.

Dreaming Nomad Strike
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Teleport]
Level: Swordsage 6
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

In a dream, space and distance are irrelevant, concepts that hold no meaning to a mind freed from the restraints of dull reality. By assuming such a dream-like state, a Sleeping Goddess adept can make use of the dreaming nomad strike to move across the battlefield in a whirlwind of steel without ever taking a step. Upon initiating this maneuver, you may teleport into any square that is adjacent to an enemy and within 50 ft. of you. You may then make a single melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against that opponent. If the attack is successful, you may repeat the process, teleporting adjacent to another enemy and attacking them, and so on. The maximum number of enemies you can attack with the dreaming nomad strike is equal to your Wisdom modifier, minimum two, and you can never make two attacks against the same enemy. If you miss on an attack roll, then the maneuver is ended.

Self Beyond The Self
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 6
Prerequisites: Two Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: One round
Save: Will negates

Just as spiders and serpents have their venoms, so to does an adept of the Sleeping Goddess discipline. His poison, however, is born of his self, a psychic toxin that corrupts the persona of its victims, subverting it with the essence of the adept. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, the foe must make a Will save, DC 16 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail, then you dominate that foe, gaining control of their next round of actions. While you control them, you may have them initiate any maneuver you have readied as if they were you, for their flesh is but an extension of your own. Doing so still causes the maneuver to be expended normally. Self beyond the self is a supernatural ability.

7th level

Spoiler

Show

Death of the Self
Sleeping Goddess (Counter)
Level: Swordsage 7
Prerequisites: Three Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

A Sleeping Goddess adept’s ultimate defense is to forget himself, forsaking his name, identity, and very existence for the briefest of moments. Such an act of self-renunciation, coupled with psionic power, convinces the world that the adept does not even exist, allowing him to ignore the most powerful of attacks. Whenever you are attacked or targeted by a spell or ability that allows a saving throw, you may initiate this maneuver.

If you use death of the self in response to an attack, you make an Autohypnosis check with DC equal to the attack roll. If you succeed, then that attack does no damage to you nor any other harmful effects.

If you initiate this maneuver in response to a spell or ability, then you make an Autohypnosis check in place of that saving throw. In addition, if the ability allows half or partial effect on a successful save, then a successful save instead negates the ability entirely.

Death of the self is a supernatural ability.

Psyche-Maiming Strike
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 7
Prerequisites: Three Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Standard action
Range: Melee attack
Target: One creature
Duration: See text
Save: Will negates

Sleeping Goddess adepts disdain maneuvers that maim and scar a foe’s body, favoring those that attack the foe’s body through his mind. The psyche-maiming strike allows adepts to disable their foe’s by inflicting phantom, but all too real, wounds upon them. As part of this maneuver, you make a single melee attack against an opponent. If the attack is successful, the foe must make a Will save, DC 17 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail, they take 1d8 points of ability damage to your choice of Strength, Wisdom, or Dexterity. In addition, they suffer additional effects based on which ability you damage:

Strength: The foe is momentarily overwhelmed by a sensation of weakness, causing them to drop any weapons or items they are carrying, and to fall prone.

Dexterity: The foe feels his arms and legs begin to numb, causing him to take a -10 ft. penalty to all forms of movement for the duration of the encounter.

Constitution: The foe feels as if his organs are melting away inside of his body, causing him to be nauseated for three rounds. For the rest of the encounter, they are sickened.

For every eight power points you expend when initiating this maneuver, the ability damage increases by one. Psyche-maiming strike is a supernatural ability.

Shatter the Ordered Mind
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 7
Prerequisites: Three Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Immediate action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: One round

With a superior knowledge of the mind, a Sleeping Goddess adept can scythe away their foes’ minds, reducing them to nothing under a barrage of physical and mental attacks. For one round, whenever you damage an enemy with a melee attack, they must make a Will save, DC 17 + your Wisdom modifier. If they fail, they take one point of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage. Shatter the ordered mind is a supernatural ability.

8th level

Spoiler

Show

Call the Soul’s Blade
Sleeping Goddess (Boost)
Level: Swordsage 8
Prerequisites: Three Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Move action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Encounter

The greatest weapon of the mind a Sleeping Goddess adept can ever wield is that of his own personal ideology made material, a blade that is the sum of all that gives the adept’s life meaning, all that he holds right and just. The soul’s blade appears in your hands, and can take the form of any melee weapon, even one you are not normally proficient. You are always proficient with the soul’s blade. It is treated as a magic weapon, and has a +5 enhancement bonus. It has special abilities that total to one-quarter your initiator level, maximum +5. You may choose to have the mind's blade's attacks overcome damage reduction as adamantine, cold iron or silver, but each material you choose counts as a +1 special ability. If the soul’s blade leaves your grip or is broken (it has hardness 20 and 50 hit points), then it dissipates and reforms in your hands at the end of the round. The soul’s blade appears larger than a normal weapon of its type, and is treated as being one size larger than normal when determining its base damage, though this does not make it any harder to wield. You add your Wisdom modifier in addition to your Strength or Dexterity modifier on any attack or damage rolls made with the soul’s blade.

If you have the mind blade class feature, then you may use this maneuver to add your initiator level to your effective Soulknife level for determining the enhancement bonus and special qualities of your mind blade, as well as allowing you to add your Wisdom modifier to attack and damage rolls, as above, and increasing the mind blade’s base damage. If you initiate this maneuver while it is still in effect, you cannot create an additional [i]soul’s blade[i], but you can change the special abilities of your soul’s blade. Call the soul’s blade is a supernatural ability.

Reality-Defying Metamorphosis
Sleeping Goddess (Stance)
Level: Swordsage 8
Prerequisites: Three Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Stance

Through super-human force of will and meditative prowess, a Sleeping Goddess adept can ascend to a higher state of being, his mind and body becoming one. While in the reality-defying metamorphosis stance, you seem to become a transcendent, divine being, an illusion that you project into the minds of all who can see you, save those under the effects of true seeing or similar. You naturally project other illusions into the minds of those who see you based on your emotions–when you attack, it might seem that your blade is engulfed in silvery fire; when you are struck, blood might seem to rain from the sky. You gain an enhancement bonus to Strength equal to your Charisma bonus, an enhancement bonus to Dexterity equal to your Intelligence bonus, and an enhancement bonus to Constitution equal to your Wisdom bonus. In addition, opponents who are immune to mind-affecting abilities lose this immunity against any maneuver of the Sleeping Goddess discipline you use against them, although they do gain a +5 resistance bonus on Will saves if they had immunity. Reality-defying metamorphosis is a supernatural ability.

9th level

Spoiler

Show

Battle in Dreams
Sleeping Goddess (Strike) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Swordsage 9
Prerequisites: Five Sleeping Goddess maneuvers
Initiation Action: Full-round action
Range: 300 ft.
Target: Up to five target creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
Save: Will negates

At the pinnacle of the Sleeping Goddess discipline, its masters do not do battle in the physical world at all. Instead, they draw their foes into their dreams and attack the very underlying concepts of their being, subverting or maiming the essence of their minds. When you use this maneuver, you create a demiplane of dreaming, and transport yourself along with up to five enemies into it. Each enemy may attempt a Will save, DC 19 + your Wisdom modifier, to avoid being drawn into the dream. Within the dream, you and your foes lose your physical form, taking on metaphorical or symbolic shapes. For example, you and your foes might all become warring city-states, or you might turn your foes into a mountain range and yourself into a river winding between them. You may then make one of the three following attacks. Your foes are not allowed any saves against these attacks.

Dream-Shaping: A dream-shaping attack creates a weapon or attack from dreamstuff to destroy the psychic forms of your foes. If you and your foes were transformed into warring city-states, a dream-shaping attack might create an army to attack them; if you were all in the forms of drifting clouds, a dream-shaping could call up a wind to blow them away. Make an Intelligence check and consult the table to below to see the effect your enemies suffer.

{table=head]Int Check|Effect
10 or less|5d6 damage
11-15|10d6 damage
16-20|10d6 damage, dazed for 1 round
21-25|15d6 damage, dazed for 1 round
26-30|20d6 damage, dazed for 1 round
31+|20d6 damage, dazed for 1 round
[/table]

Essence Assumption: An essence assumption attack allows you to draw the psychic form of your foes into yourself, allowing you to become at harmony with their essence and draining away their strength. If you were a river among a mountain range of your foes, an essence assumption attack would erode them, drawing their runoff into your waters; if you were a shepherd and your foes snakes, an essence assumption attack would cause them to bite you and you to absorb their venom into your body. Make a Wisdom check and consult the table below to see the effects your enemies suffer.

{table=head]Wis Check|Effect
10 or less|1d4 point of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
11-15|1d6 points of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
16-20|1d8 points of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
21-25|1d8 points of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. You gain a +2 enhancement bonus to any ability score of your choice for the encounter.
26-30|1d10 points of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. You gain a +4 enhancement bonus to any ability score of your choice for the encounter.
31+|1d10 points of ability burn to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. You gain a +6 enhancement bonus to any two ability scores of your choice for the encounter.
[/table]

Persona Subversion: A persona subversion attack transforms the mental essence of your foes, bending them to your will. If you were a craftsman and your foes the very earth, a persona subversion attack might draw up the soil and fire it into clay vessels, If you and your foes were all great libraries and centers of learning, a persona subversion attack might distribute subversive texts throughout them.

{table=head]Cha Check|Effect
10 or less|Shaken for the duration of the encounter.
11-15|Frightened for 1d6 rounds, then shaken for the duration of the encounter.
16-20|Panicked for 1d6 rounds, then shaken for the duration of the encounter.
21-25|Confused for 1d6 rounds.
26-30|Dominated for 1 round.
31+|Dominated for 1d4 rounds.
[/table]

Once you have completed your chosen attack, you and all your foes return back from the dream. As the dream exists in timelessness, no time passes between you using this maneuver and returning. Battle in dreams is a supernatural ability.

[thegurullamen]

Omg, new Demented One discipline. Will continue to read now.

[afroakuma]

A lot of work went into this, and it crosses between psionics and ToB. Darn shame I've never read that book.

Oh well; The Demented One's extensive library of homebrew gives me something to aspire to. Never get there, though.

[KKL]

This. Is. AWESOME.

[DracoDei]

With the speed of the higher level "Call the X's Blade" and mutable abilities, you basically give them a "Bane(Whoever you are fighting)" ability at the higher levels (12+ ?). That seems a bit wrong...

OTOH you might want to throw the ability to declare one material that it emulates on their too for the 8th level one (Alchemical Silver or Cold Iron basically, since hardness 20 basically means it is already as good as adamintine...right?).

[The Demented One]

With the speed of the higher level "Call the X's Blade" and mutable abilities, you basically give them a "Bane(Whoever you are fighting)" ability at the higher levels (12+ ?). That seems a bit wrong...

Artificers can do this for the whole party even at low levels. I'm not sure if it's all that bad. Worst comes to worst, I'd change them by restricting their choices to a select list of special abilities.

OTOH you might want to throw the ability to declare one material that it emulates on their too for the 8th level one (Alchemical Silver or Cold Iron basically, since hardness 20 basically means it is already as good as adamintine...right?).

Good idea.

[dyslexicfaser]

Pretty neat.

I particularly like how many of the strikes mirror psionic abilities re-tooled for a more martial character.

[Turalisj]

Cool stuff...

But...um... Is your avatar supposed to have Kamina's glasses?

[JoshuaZ]

There's a problem with Battle Mantra.

I can use it out of combat on a friend with a decent healing rate to replenish indefinite quantities of power points between battles. (Assuming one attack every round, I can replenish 10 pp a minute which is a very high rate). A character with mainly levels in psion and 1 or 2 levels in swordsage, or a psychic warrior with a handful of swordsage levels would be highly broken.

I'd suggest one of the following two changes:

1) Instead of gaining a single power point, you gain 2 power points but they are temporary lasting one hour or whenever you leave the stance, whichever comes first.

2) You cannot gain daily from this more power points than your manifester level or initiator level, whichever is higher.

[Primal Fury]

Demented One, just how much of Exalted to you plan on converting to d20?

[The Demented One]

Demented One, just how much of Exalted to you plan on converting to d20?

Hey, it's not a conversion; it just happens to be inspired by Kaleidoscopic Borders and Quicksilver Hand. But to really answer your question, here's a quick list of things I wouldn't want to straight-up convert:

• Anything to do with the Fair Folk...I just don't believe d20 mechanics would suit the fluff of the Wyld or shaping combat well enough to justify doing so.
• Sidereal martial arts.
• Primordials (unless I've been drinking).

That's about it.

[BRC]

As soon as I saw "Battle Mantra", I started thinking of people with this Discipline going "Fear is the mind killer..."