Mystic (Knight-Chandler)

Path of War: Expanded

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Born with an untamed magical power buried deep within his soul, the mystic is a warrior who, much like a sorcerer, is filled with untapped energies. This power however, is too primal and unstable, and is difficult to be formed effectively into a spell. By following a martial medium to tame this energy, the mystic is able to shape his wild power into martial maneuvers and this allows him to discover the deeper mysteries of his own inborn power.

Like all mystics, those who become knight-chandlers are warriors who utilize discipline and enlightenment to shape powerful and unstable magical energies within them. What sets these warriors apart from other mystics, however, is the fierce hope that burns within their souls. Knight-chandlers are marked by indomitable hope, intense loyalty, deep compassion, and a concern for others that shapes their worldview and actions. They transform the arcane energies within themselves into something that illuminates the world with their unrelenting passion and hope. The light they wield shelters those they call friends and family—and burns those that would threaten the ones they love.

Adventures: Most mystics adventure to stretch the limits of their powers, learning to master the mysteries within their souls. Some do it to express their power in ways that suit their ethics, for good or for ill, and others travel to find others like themselves, to study and train with and hope to eventually learn more about why they are the way they are.

Characteristics: Mystics tend to be a very introspective lot, wielding a power so foreign to most with an intuitive sense of understanding. Many mystics follow ascetic lifestyles, hoping that the order and abstaining of life’s vices will help them control their power. Others embrace their wild energies and move with the moment, pausing to reflect at the end of the day as to what drives their motivations.

Alignment: Any non-evil. Knight-chandlers are defined by their concern for others, passionate friendship, and unquenchable hope.

Religion: Mystics who follow religion often find their faith with gods of battle, nature, magic, or freedom.

Background: Mystics universally have one thing in common, and that’s a magical creature or magic-using being in their near family history. This power is an inherited consequence of such relation, and while it is not widely understood why it has chosen to manifest in such a way, the mystic’s wild power is usually an expression of this relation’s own power. Mystics are born, and must train to master their energies.

Races: Any member of any race could be a mystic, provided they had the ancestry and proper training available. Most commonly they are of the human, elven, and gnome races. Among monster races, kobolds and their draconic bloodlines are among the first and foremost experts in the realm of mysticism, and many fey or elemental blooded creatures as well.

Other Classes: Mystics tend to chafe with sorcerers around, as they see each other as failed expressions of the other. Otherwise, mystics find the most in common with rangers and monks for either their freedom or their discipline. Wizards find them interesting and enjoy studying their powers, and martially inclined characters find them to be steady and useful allies.

Role: A mystic will often find themselves in the role of both striker and party supporter. The glyphs they manifest will aid themselves and their allies, as their animus builds power and strength. Not as hardy as other warriors, however, mystics will find themselves needing the protection of their more robust allies from time to time.

Keeping Track of it All

To help with maneuvers and randomization, the authors of the Mystic suggest you write the maneuvers down on 3x5 note cards found at any office supply or big box store, then shuffle them together for easy randomization of maneuvers. Simply lay down your two chosen granted maneuvers, shuffle the rest, flip the rest of your granted maneuvers where applicable, and the rest are flipped into granted status on a one per round basis until all are granted to you. The following round, reset the process and start from step one! For online play, there are many different apps or websites that can assist with this randomization process for the same effect.

To maintain an easy way to calculate an animus pool, keep a spare d12 or d20 handy to designate as your animus die, or a small cup with beads that you can add or subtract from.

Class Features

Hit Die

d8

Skill Ranks per Level

4 + Int

Class Skills

Acrobatics, Autohypnosis, Craft, Intimidate, Knowledge, Perception, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Stealth, Use Magical Device

Starting Wealth

4d6 × 10 gp (average 140 gp)

Weapon Proficiencies

Simple, Martial, katana, wakizashi

Armor Proficiencies

Light

Shield Proficiencies

Shields

blade meditation (Su)

When a mystic finds that her martial power is beginning to wane or that few options remain available for use, she can pause in battle, drawing on her inner well of animus to reinvigorate her body and mind. As a full-round action, a mystic can spend one point of animus to grant herself all her remaining withheld maneuvers, then immediately expend them in a raging cadence of arcane power. As there are no remaining maneuvers to be granted, a new set of maneuvers is granted to the mystic at the end of her turn, as normal.

In addition, until the start of her next turn, creatures that target the mystic with melee attacks are engulfed in the explosion of energy, taking 1d6 points of damage of her active element’s associated energy type, plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every two points of animus remaining in the mystic’s animus pool.

elemental attunement (Su)

A mystic contains incredible elemental power within her body, surging energies that constantly flow through her blood and muscle. Bringing these energies to bear is as easy as breathing for a mystic, shifting the flow of power with the subtle movements of her martial stances. When a mystic readies her maneuvers, she may select one of the following elements (and associated energy type) to be her active element: air (electricity), earth (acid), fire (fire), and water (cold).

After readying maneuvers, a mystic can change her active element by taking a standard action to focus inwards, or by expending one point of animus as a free action while assuming a new stance. Whenever she initiates a maneuver that deals damage, she may spend one point of animus as part of its initiation action to change all damage the maneuver deals to her active element’s associated energy type. For example, if a mystic whose active element is currently Air initiated the Cursed Fate Veiled Moon strike, she could spend one point of animus to change her attack’s damage (including the strike’s bonus damage) to from her weapon’s normal damage type to electricity damage.

If the mystic has access to the Elemental Flux discipline, then her active element from this class feature is the same as her active element for Elemental Flux maneuvers. If she is psionic, she can change her active energy type whenever she changes her active element, and vice versa. Her active energy type need not match her active element.

ex-knight-chandlers

A knight-chandler who becomes of evil alignment finds themselves deprived of the hopeful, valorous worldview that shapes their unique power. Such characters may not advance further as knight-chandlers until such a time as they cease being of evil alignment, though they do not lose access to their class features. Even an evil knight-chandler remembers her former loyalty and compassion, and by focusing on these memories, she can still summon a candle and use her candle magic.

illumination (Su)

A knight-chandler tempers her inner animus into an energy called illumination, fueling her candle and its effects. Outside combat, a knight-chandler has one point of illumination in her illumination pool; she may not gain additional points of illumination outside of combat. When a knight-chandler enters combat, she adds one point of illumination to her illumination pool at the start of her first turn, and one more point of illumination to her illumination pool at the start of each turn thereafter. In addition, a knight-chandler gains one point of illumination whenever she initiates a boost, and she can focus her power as a swift action to add two points of illumination to her pool. A knight-chandler’s illumination pool persists for one minute after the last enemy combatant is defeated or the encounter otherwise ends, after which it drops back down to one point.

In addition, the knight-chandler gains Tap Animus as a bonus feat, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. Her levels in knight-chandler count as arcane spellcaster levels for the purposes of qualifying for prerequisites (such as those of item creation feats or the Arcane Strike feat), and if a knight-chandler ever develops arcane spellcasting from another class, she may add her knight-chandler level to her levels in that class to determine her overall caster level for the purposes of item creation feats.

A knight-chandler’s inner illumination manifests in both her candle and a powerful enhancement of her body and soul:

• Starting at 1st level, a knight-chandler can empower her attacks with a brilliant luminescence. Whenever the knight-chandler hits a creature with an attack, she can choose to have her target become outlined as if by a faerie fire spell, with a caster level equal to the knight-chandler’s initiator level. Successive uses of this ability against the same creature do not stack; instead, they extend the duration.
• Starting at 4th level, a knight-chandler deals additional damage equal to her initiator level on any attack she makes as part of a strike against an opponent that threatens one of her allies other than herself.
• Starting at 9th level, when a knight-chandler hits a creature outlined by her illumination with an attack, she can choose to snuff out the light affecting that creature to heal herself for a number of hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt by her attack. Activating this ability is a free action that can be taken even if it isn’t the knight-chandler’s turn, although it can only be used once per round. The knight-chandler cannot heal more damage than her target’s maximum hit points with this ability.
• Starting at 17th level, the knight-chandler can perceive the surroundings of her candle as if she herself were there. She can treat the candle’s space as her own for the purposes of determining line of sight, making Perception checks, or the range of any special senses she possesses (such as blindsense). In addition, once per encounter, the knight-chandler can teleport to her candle as a standard action. The knight-chandler does not require line of effect to use this ability, although if her candle’s space is occupied by another creature, she is shunted to the nearest unoccupied space. This is a teleportation effect.

maneuvers

A mystic begins her career with knowledge of seven martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to her are Elemental Flux, Mithral Current, Riven Hourglass, Shattered Mirror, Solar Wind, and Veiled Moon.

Once the mystic knows a maneuver, she must ready it before she can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by mystics is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in it or its discipline’s description. A mystic’s maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and she does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she initiates one.

The mystic learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as indicated on Table: Mystic. A mystic must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. See the Systems and Use chapter in Path of War for more details on how maneuvers are used.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered initiator level thereafter (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), the mystic can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one she already knows. In effect, she loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. She can choose a new maneuver of any level she likes, as long as she observes the restriction on the highest-level maneuvers she knows; the mystic need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. She can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A mystic’s initiation modifier is Wisdom.

Maneuvers Readied: A mystic can ready five of her seven maneuvers known at 1st level, and as she advances in level and learns more maneuvers, she is able to ready more, but must still choose which maneuvers to ready. A mystic must always ready her maximum number of maneuvers readied. She readies her maneuvers by meditating for ten minutes. The maneuvers she chooses remain readied until she decides to meditate again and change them. The mystic does not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready her maneuvers; any time she spends ten minutes in meditation, she can change her readied maneuvers.

A mystic begins an encounter with all her readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times she might have already used them since she chose them. When she initiates a maneuver, she expends it for the current encounter, so each of her readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless she recovers them, as described below).

Mystics are unique among martial disciples in that they rely on surging, primal arcane forces within their being to fuel their martial maneuvers. Because of this, they do not have full control over their readied maneuvers; when a mystic readies her maneuvers, she selects two of her readied maneuvers to be immediately granted to her for use at any time (when these two maneuvers are used outside of combat, they recover on their own in the following round), with the rest of her initially randomized maneuvers waiting to be granted in combat. The remainder of her readied maneuvers are withheld and currently inaccessible until combat begins. If she is able to act in a surprise round when combat begins, she is granted her maneuvers then as normal, but if she is caught unaware, she must wait until her initiative before her maneuvers are granted (beyond the initial two). At the end of each of her combat turns, one previously withheld maneuver (randomly determined) is granted to her, and thus becomes accessible for her next turn and subsequent turns. She can freely choose to initiate any maneuver that is currently granted when her turn begins, but she cannot initiate a withheld maneuver. If the mystic chooses not to employ a maneuver in a given round, her currently granted maneuvers remain available, and a previously withheld maneuver is granted, as described above. In other words, it doesn’t matter if she uses her maneuvers or not—at the end of each of her turns, one withheld maneuver from her selection of readied maneuvers is granted to her. Over the course of a few rounds, all the mystic’s maneuvers will eventually be granted.

A mystic can change the two readied maneuvers she has chosen to be immediately granted for use at any time by spending one minute meditating.

If, at the end of the mystic’s turn, she cannot be granted a maneuver because she has no withheld maneuvers remaining, she recovers all expended maneuvers, and a new group of readied maneuvers is granted to her, replacing her previously granted maneuvers if any remain unspent. She selects two of her choice (and gains the remainder of granted maneuvers as randomized selections, see below). At the end of her next turn, a withheld maneuver is granted to the mystic, and the process of surging power begins again.

At 3rd level and again at 6th, 9th, 12th, 18th, and 20th levels, the number of maneuvers granted to the mystic at the beginning of an encounter and when she recovers her maneuvers increases by one. Unlike the mystic’s initial granted maneuvers, these additional maneuvers are randomly determined (for example, at the beginning of an encounter, a 6th level mystic would choose two maneuvers to have access to, then randomly be granted two more).

If a mystic uses the Lightning Recovery or Victorious Recovery feat (or a similar method) to recover a maneuver, it is immediately added to her currently granted maneuvers.

Stances Known: A mystic begins her career with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to mystics. At 2nd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 15th, and 18th levels, she can select an additional stance to learn. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and the mystic does not have to ready them. All the stances she knows are available to her at all times, and she can change the stance she is currently maintaining as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance or discipline description.

Unlike with maneuvers, a mystic cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one she already knows.

soul candle (Su)

At 1st level, a knight-chandler creates a flickering ball of energy formed from a combination of arcane power and her own soulstuff, known as her candle. The knight-chandler’s candle is a fist-sized mote of light that normally hovers in the knight-chandler’s space, and has the following properties:

• The candle is not a creature or an object and is not subject to attacks of any kind.
• The candle sheds bright illumination out to a distance of 5 feet per point of illumination the knight-chandler has in her illumination pool (see below), and shadowy illumination for an equal distance beyond that.
• Once per round as a free action, the knight-chandler can will her candle to move up to her speed. The candle’s movement is not inhibited in any way by difficult terrain or environmental conditions, although it cannot move through solid objects. The candle remains within one mile of its creator at all times; the knight-chandler may not move the candle beyond that radius, and if she attempts to move further than one mile from her candle, it floats along gently at the limit of its range. If the knight- chandler moves outside this range faster than the candle can follow (for example, by teleportation), the candle appears one round later in a random space precisely one mile from the knight-chandler.
• If the candle is in the knight-chandler’s space, she can instruct it to move with her; it moves when she does, remaining in her space until directed elsewhere. In addition, the knight-chandler may include her candle in teleportation effects that affect her. If she does so, it arrives in the same space she does.
• As a swift action, the knight-chandler may summon her candle to her space from wherever it is.
• Allies within 15 feet of the candle gain resistance to the knight-chandler’s active element’s associated energy type equal to the number of points in the knight-chandler’s illumination pool, up to a maximum of the knight-chandler’s class level plus her knight-chandler initiation modifier.

Unlike other supernatural abilities, a knight-chandler’s candle is not completely suppressed when it or the knight-chandler is within an antimagic field or similar effect. If the knight-chandler or her candle enters the area of such an effect, the candle immediately dims, shedding shadowy illumination with a radius of 5 feet, rather than its normal light. It loses all other abilities (including those gained through other class features) except for the knight-chandler’s ability to direct it to move once per round as a free action. The candle regains its full power once both it and the knight-chandler remove themselves from the area of effect suppressing the ability.

arcane defense (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, the sorcerous power within her body makes her resilient to the supernatural. These energies defend her from magical and psionic powers, granting her a +1 insight bonus to her AC and saving throws against psionic powers, psi-like abilities, spells, and spell-like abilities. This bonus increases by +1 at 6th level, and again at 11th level, 16th level, and 20th level.

bonus feat

At 2nd level and every five levels thereafter, a mystic gain a bonus combat or item creation feat. She must meet the prerequisites for these feats as normal.

candle magic (Su)

The bright energy that the knight- chandler’s candle releases is more than mere light; it is her raw power, infused with her loyalty and devotion. As her illumination builds, the knight-chandler can shape this energy into various effects.

At 3rd level, the knight-chandler can project a votive effect from her candle. At 8th level, she can also project a lantern effect from her candle. Finally, at 15th level, the knight-chandler can also project a bonfire effect from her candle.

The knight-chandler may change which effects her candle projects as a swift action, though she can never project more than one effect of the same type at a time. All allies within 15 feet of the knight-chandler’s candle gain the benefits of the projected effect.

Votive Effects:

• Affected allies gain a morale bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting abilities equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination, up to a maximum bonus equal to her knight-chandler initiation modifier.
• Affected allies add energy damage of the knight-chandler’s active element’s associated energy type equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination to their melee and ranged attacks, up to a maximum amount equal to her class level.
• Affected allies gain the ability to a take 5-foot step as a swift action, even if they’ve already moved or taken a 5-foot step during their turn.
• Affected allies gain the ability to tap into the candle’s energy as a swift action, gaining temporary hit points equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination, up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to her class level. These temporary hit points do not stack with themselves, and last for up to 1 minute.

Lantern Effects:

• Affected allies gain the ability to teleport to an unoccupied space adjacent to the knight-chandler as a move action. If there is no such space available, the ally does not spend their move action and does not teleport, instead getting a sense of being impeded. The knight-chandler cannot benefit from this effect when it is projected from her own candle.
• Affected allies gain immunity to death effects, and gain a bonus on saving throws against psi-like abilities, psionic powers, spell-like abilities, spells, and supernatural abilities of undead creatures equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination, to a maximum bonus equal to the knight-chandler’s initiation modifier.
• Affected allies gain a bonus on caster level checks, manifester level checks, and skill checks equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination, up to a maximum bonus equal to her knight-chandler initiation modifier.
• Affected allies gain a deflection bonus to their AC equal to the knight-chandler’s illumination, to a maximum bonus equal to her knight-chandler initiation modifier.

Bonfire Effects:

• Affected allies gain fast healing equal to the knight- chandler’s illumination, to a maximum amount equal to her class level.
• Whenever an affected ally recovers one or more maneuvers, that ally heals up to 2 points of ability damage to a single ability score of their choice. If an ally does not have maneuvers or does not wish to recover maneuvers, they can activate this ability as a standard action.
• Affected allies gain the ability to move up to twice their speed as a swift action without provoking attacks of opportunity.
• If an affected ally would be reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, that ally can trigger the candle’s power as an immediate action. If they do, that ally is immediately restored to 1/2 their maximum hit point total, and all of the following adverse conditions affecting that ally (if any) immediately end: ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, poisoned, sickened, and stunned. The damage that would have reduced the ally to 0 or fewer hit points is negated. Triggering the candle’s power in this fashion is draining to the knight-chandler; doing so reduces the knight-chandler’s illumination pool to one point (even if her minimum is normally higher) and renders her incapable of projecting bonfire effects for the remainder of the encounter.

mystic artifice (Su)

Starting at 4th level, a mystic is able to channel her animus into her craft, substituting primal arcane energies in place of more ordinary spells. When crafting an item, the mystic uses her initiator level as her caster level to determine how potent a creation she can make. If her initiator level does not equal the minimum caster level to make the item, then she cannot create the item. When attempting to create a magical item for which she does not possess a prerequisite spell, the mystic can attempt to replicate the spell through her innate power with a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the level of the spell being replicated). If successful, she can create the item as if she had cast the prerequisite spell. The mystic must possess any material components necessary for casting the spell that she is replicating. If the item being created requires multiple spells, she must make this check for each spell she intends to replicate. If she fails the skill check, she may not try again for that spell while creating that item—the item creation DC increases as normal for the creation of an item without a prerequisite spell in such a case.

withstand spell (Su)

Starting at 5th level, the mystic’s natural instincts with magic work to protect her, guiding her reactions against offensive spells cast by her enemies and allowing her to siphon off a small amount of that energy for her own use. If the mystic is targeted by a spell, spell-like ability, or psionic power that normally would have a lesser effect (such as a partial effect) on a successful Fortitude or Reflex saving throw, she may make a Will saving throw instead of the effect’s normal save. If that Will saving throw is successful, she is completely unaffected by the spell or power, taking no damage and suffering no ill-effects. If she fails the saving throw, she suffers the effect as normal, and adds one point of animus to her animus pool.

The mystic must be unencumbered and wearing light or no armor to use this ability. This ability does not protect the mystic from traps, extraordinary or supernatural abilities, or any other effects that require a Fortitude or Reflex save. A helpless mystic does not gain the benefit of withstand spell.

instant enlightenment (Ex)

Starting at 6th level, a mystic is capable of drawing deep on her training to channel the untapped energies within her, granting her an infinitesimal moment perfect clarity. Once per day as a free action, the mystic may expend one granted maneuver and instantly replace it with another maneuver she knows. This maneuver is added to her currently granted maneuvers and readied for use, replacing the previous maneuver. At 10th level and every four levels thereafter, the mystic can use this ability one additional time per day.

share the light (Su)

Starting at 9th level, the knight-chandler can share the fierce light that wells up from deep within her soul, bestowing it upon her allies. As a swift action, she can select an ally within 15 feet. That ally chooses a single boost or counter that the knight-chandler has readied and unexpended. Until the beginning of the knight-chandler’s next turn, that ally can initiate that maneuver as if they had readied it normally, using the knight-chandler’s initiator level or their own, whichever is higher. If the ally chooses to initiate the maneuver, the knight-chandler expends that boost or counter (even if it isn’t currently granted to her; if it wasn’t granted to her, treat it as though it had been granted, then expended).

font of animus (Su)

At 15th level, a mystic gains the ability to draw in energy from the world around her, converting it into animus to fuel her own primal power. As a move action, the mystic can add a number of points of animus to her animus pool equal to 1d6 + her Wisdom modifier. Unlike other animus abilities, this may be used outside of combat to generate a small pool of animus that persists for one minute outside of combat. A mystic cannot use this ability multiple times to accumulate animus, additional attempts simply reset the amount of animus from the previous use of this ability. The mystic may use this a number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier + 1 (minimum of 1).

eternal candle (Su)

At 20th level, the knight-chandler transcends to something more than mortal, her fierce soul transforms her body with its overflowing light. Her type changes to Outsider, and she gains the Native and Good subtypes. In addition, she ceases aging, and her minimum illumination becomes equal to her knight-chandler initiation modifier; increasing as normal during combat and resetting to her new minimum after spending one minute outside combat. Finally, the knight-chandler gains the ability to initiate two boosts with the same swift action, expending each as normal.