The Crimson Banner Executor
"The stars have but one more battle for you. Do you wish for it to be so soon?" – Athenael Who Bleeds the Edge of Dawn, Crimson Banner Executor
The Crimson Banner are school of martial adepts that take the military precept of "know your enemy" to its ultimate conclusion. The students of the school originally practised astrology, and used it to determine what their opponents will do before their opponents decide to do it.
Their studies into fate and destiny have since advanced beyond mere astrology. The accuracy of their readings have improved a thousandfold in the century since the school was founded, and the students are taught techniques to accelerate their readings so that they can be utilised in the heat of battle. This training, combined with the unorthodox disciplines the school chooses to teach, results in a flowing combat style whose practitioners dodge blows and avoid parries with unerring ease.
However, the powers of the school have come at a price. The school's teachers were only able to achieve their foreknowledge by bargaining with an entity of unknown origin. In exchange for their combat prescience, the school must end the lives of those who have cheated their destiny and avoided their death. For this reason, the school's tutors refined their techniques yet further and trained their most trusted in the new arts. These elite were the first Crimson Banner Executors, and the Crimson Banner Masters use them to execute any who would cheat death.
HD: d8
Requirements
Alignment: Any lawful.
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Skills: Concentration 9 ranks, Escape Artist 4 ranks, Profession (astrologer) 4, Tumble 9
Feats: Adaptive Style
Maneuvers: Must have knowledge of three maneuvers of the Diamond Mind discipline, including one stance.
Special: The character must at some point have used Profession (astrologer) to correctly determine that they would join the Crimson Banner in the future, and then proceeded to join the martial school.
Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Martial Lore, Profession, Sense Motive, Swim, Tumble
Skill points per level: 6 + Intelligence modifier, minimum 1.
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|
| 1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Alacritous Prophecy 1/day, Panoply of Crimson |
| 2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Mercurial Trismegistus Stance |
| 3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Forewarned is Forearmed |
| 4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Alacritous Prophecy 2/day |
| 5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Inevitable Decree of Saturn |
| 6th | +6 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Predictive Forethought |
| 7th | +7 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Alacritous Prophecy 3/day |
| 8th | +8 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Deadly Forethought |
| 9th | +9 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Foresight Without Bounds |
| 10th | +10 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Alacritous Prophecy 4/day, Crimson Dance of Mars |
| Level | Man. Known | Man. Readied | Stances Known |
|---|
| 1st | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3rd | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4th | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5th | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6th | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7th | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8th | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9th | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10th | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Class Features
All the following are class features of the Crimson Banner Executor.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Crimson Executors are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with all light and medium armour.
Maneuvers: At 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th levels, a Crimson Executor gains new maneuvers known from the
Army of One,
Coin’s Edge,
Dancing Leaf, Diamond Mind or Iron Heart disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full Crimson Executor levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, you gain additional maneuvers readied per day.
Stances Known: At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, you learn a new martial stance from the Army of One, Coin’s Edge, Dancing Leaf, Diamond Mind or Iron Heart disciplines. You must meet the stance’s prerequisites to learn it.
Alacritous Prophecy (Ex): 1/day, the Crimson Executor can declare a combat to be preordained. The Executor must make a Profession (astrologer) check (DC 10 + character level). If the Profession check succeeds, then the battle becomes preordained, providing the Executor with a number of benefits. Whilst in a preordained battle, the Crimson Executor may reroll any damage rolls of 1 and can choose to force any opponents damage dice that rolled their highest possible result to be rerolled. Furthermore, once per preordained encounter, they may elect to have one of their own or one of their allies’ d20 rolls to be treated as a non-natural 20, or one of their opponent’s d20 rolls to be treated as a 1. This ability does not allow the Crimson Executor to reroll a given die more than once. The Crimson Executor gains an additional use of this ability per day at 4th level and every three levels thereafter.
Panoply of Crimson (Ex): At first level, the Crimson Executor gains access to the prophetic techniques of the Crimson Banner, refining his astrology until it can be conducted within a heartbeat under a starless sky. If the Crimson Executor possesses the AC Bonus class feature can be utilised whilst wearing medium armour. If the Crimson Executor possesses the battle clarity, battle ardour, battle cunning, battle skill and/or battle mastery class features, then those class features now function off her Wisdom modifier rather than her Intelligence modifier. In addition, her Profession (astrologer) checks now use double her Wisdom modifier, rather than just her Wisdom modifier, and no longer require her to be able to see the stars to function. Furthermore, the Crimson Executor may select one weapon that is favoured by the Army of One, Coin’s Edge, Dancing Leaf, Diamond Mind or Iron Heart disciplines. Henceforth, the Crimson Executor may utilise her Wisdom modifier on attack and damage rolls with that weapon, rather than her Strength modifier.
Mercurial Trismegistus Stance (Su): At 2nd level, the Crimson Executor learns how to apply the wisdom of Mercury-Hermes-Thoth to the battlefield in the form of a martial stance. They may take a swift action to lose the benefits of their current stance to gain the benefits of this one. Whilst in this stance, the Crimson Executor may use the result of a Profession (astrologer) check in place of their AC against one attack per round as an immediate free action. Furthermore, they may exchange their d20 result with that of their opponent’s in an opposed check. This stance is considered to belong to both the Diamond Mind and Coin’s Edge disciplines.
Forewarned is Forearmed (Sp): At 3rd level, the Crimson Executor’s predictions begin to become unnervingly accurate. Once per day per point of Wisdom bonus, the Crimson Executor may make a Profession (astrologer) check to gain the benefits of a divination spell. The result of the check determines the spell duplicated. If the Crimson Executor's check is high enough to use
scrying, he may also cast one of
detect chaos,
detect evil,
detect good,
detect law or
detect magic. If the check is high enough for
greater scrying, then the Crimson Executor may utilise two of these additional spells, and also adds
read magic and
tongues to the list of possible sensor spells.
Inevitable Decree of Saturn (Su): At 5th level, the Crimson Executor gains access to a unique martial strike much like those granted to martial adepts. This strike must be recovered and readied to use, just like any maneuver, and is considered to belong to the Diamond Mind and Coin’s Edge Disciplines.
Initiating this strike is a standard action. As part of this strike, you make a normal melee attack. If your attack hits, your target must make a Will save (DC 10 + class level + Wis modifier) or have their AC count as 10 against the next attack made against them.
Predictive Forethought (Ex): At 6th level, the Crimson Executor’s predictions allow her to know exactly what to expect, allowing her to prepare ahead. The Crimson Executor may now use the Adaptive Style feat to exchange her readied maneuvers in combat as a standard action.
Deadly Forethought (Ex): At 8th level, the Crimson Executor’s foreknowledge of his opponents becomes exceedingly fine, and knows where, when and how they will place themselves in combat. The Crimson Executor may take a move action to make a Profession (astrologer) check to determine the immanent positions of one creature within 60ft, providing the Crimson Executor with an insight bonus on attack and damage rolls against the target creature. The result of the check determines the size of the bonus.
| Check Result | Bonus Granted |
|---|
| 15 or lower | +1 |
| 16-25 | +2 |
| 26-30 | +3 |
| 31-35 | +4 |
| 36 or higher | +5 |
Foresight Without Bounds (Ex): At 9th level, the Crimson Executor’s predictions have reached such refinement that she may use the Adaptive Style feat to exchange her readied maneuvers in combat as a move action.
Crimson Dance of Mars (Ex): At 10th level, the Crimson Executor has discovered a means of channelling the essence of Mars and all that it represents into her fighting style. They may take a swift action to lose the benefits of their current stance to gain the benefits of this one. Whilst in the Crimson Dance of Mars stance, the Crimson Executor can take a 5ft step after every attack she makes in a full attack. In addition, every time she makes a successful attack that deals damage, her target must make a Fort save (DC 10 + class level + Wis modifier) or take 1 point of Con damage and become flat-footed. This stance is considered to belong to the Diamond Mind and Coin’s Edge disciplines.
RSS Feeds: 
Star-guided blade of crimson [3.5 PrC, ToB]
