Warlord (Bushi)

Path of War: Expanded

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Path of War

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Dynamos on the field of combat, warlords walk the line of victory and ruin through their determination to achieve glory. Where some may talk tactics, the warlord dives in. Where some may fight in strategic units, the warlord shines alone as an inspirational beacon on the field of combat; to be a warlord is to be a lord of war.

Bushi are honorable and noble warriors who specialize in Iaijutsu, the art of the draw cut. With a single swing of his katana, a bushi can cleave through armor, bones and organs as easily as straw. Bushi follow the code of bushido and exemplify the virtues of righteousness, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor and loyalty.

Adventures: Warlords adventure for many reasons, but one reason that will always be prominent is the desire to test their skill against the world’s most dangerous opponents, to show their strength to themselves and to the world. Others may do this for profit, others for fun, others for revenge, but it is always certain that a warlord seeks the glory and honor only a battle well-fought can bring.

Characteristics: Brash arrogance and an irrepressible nature are hallmarks of the warlord. A devil-may-care warrior, many warlords are as fearless as they are fierce, and they both love life and live their lives to the fullest. Hedonists in some extreme cases, the warlord is drawn to combat as a moth to the flame.

Alignment: Any. Warlords can come from any and all ethical backgrounds, though they do tend more towards a chaotic alignment. Lawfully aligned warlords are rarer, and tend to compose their impulses through strict discipline.

Religion: While not overly religious, some warlords follow gods of war and battle with temperaments similar to their own.

Background: Warlords come from families with strong warrior traditions, from barbaric tribes and from academies that produce the strongest warriors. One thing that sets them apart is their reckless nature and the inspirational presence they possess.

Races: Humans and half-elves are prominent warlord races due to both possessing an impetuous nature. Half-orcs become very fearsome warlords in their own right, and dwarves are known for their ferocity when defending their homes.

Other Classes: Warlords get on well with fighters, rangers, and barbarians as their martial nature makes them amicable, but paladins and warders tend to chafe under their recklessness. Wizards and especially bards and sorcerers get on quite well with them, and clerics find them to be tolerable.

Role: Striker. As a very aggressive class, the warlord seeks to bring martial power to the field in the form of overwhelming force and ferocity. Additionally, warlords make excellent leaders, as they provide some passive benefits from their class features as well as active benefits from discipline choices and their gambits.

Abilities: Strength and Charisma are incredibly important to a warlord, as without Strength the warlord is weaker in combat and without Charisma many of his abilities will not function, as Charisma is the warlord’s primary initiation attribute. Constitution is important for vital hit points. Intelligence and Dexterity take up the bottom of importance, for both skill points and defense (or ranged combat).

Class Features

Hit Die

d10

Skill Ranks per Level

4 + Int

Class Skills

Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (engineering), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (martial), Perception, Perform, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Survival, Swim

Starting Wealth

???

Weapon Proficiencies

Simple, Martial

Armor Proficiencies

Light, Medium

Shield Proficiencies

Shields

Quick Draw (Ex)

At 1st level, a bushi gains Quick Draw as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. In addition, the bushi may sheathe his weapon without provoking attacks of opportunity.

iaido (Ex)

In addition to his normal maneuver recovery, a bushi can recover his maneuvers by sheathing his blade and taking a brief moment of quiet contemplation. When he sheathes a weapon (normally a move action), he recovers one maneuver. He cannot recover more than one maneuver per round this way, no matter how many weapons he sheathes or how many times he sheathes an individual weapon per round, nor can he use a maneuver in the same round it is recovered in this way. A bushi cannot use this ability to recover a maneuver in the same round in which it was initiated.

iaido training (Ex)

At 1st level, a bushi gains Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana) and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (wakizashi) as bonus feats, even if he does not meet their prerequisites.

maneuvers

A warlord begins his career with knowledge of six martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to him are Golden Lion, Primal Fury, Scarlet Throne, Solar Wind, and Thrashing Dragon, and the choice of either Piercing Thunder or Tempest Gale. The warlord may also exchange access to one of his martial disciplines for the Unquiet Grave discipline, and must choose one of his martial disciplines to exchange for the Mithral Current discipline. He gains the associated skill of each of his disciplines as a class skill.

Once he knows a maneuver, he must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by warlords is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. His maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and he do not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one. He learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on Table 1-3: The Warlord. The warlord must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered warlord level after that, he can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, the warlord loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he knows. The warlord need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. The warlord can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A warlord’s initiation modifier is Charisma.

Maneuvers Readied: A warlord can ready four of his six starting maneuvers, but as he advances in level and learns more maneuvers, he must choose which maneuvers to ready. He readies his maneuvers by going through weapon drills for 10 minutes. The maneuvers he chooses remain readied until he decides to repeat this again and change them. Warlords do not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready their maneuvers; any time he spends 10 minutes in practice, he can change his readied maneuvers. He may not ready any individual maneuver more than once. He begins an encounter with all readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he may have already used them since he chose them. When the warlord initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter, so each of his readied maneuver can be used once per encounter (until they are recovered, see below).

For a warlord bushi to recover expended maneuvers, he must perform a gambit action in which he gambles on his performance in battle (see Warlord’s Gambit below).

Stances Known: Warlords begin play with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to warlords. At the indicated levels (see class table), the warlord selects an additional new stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and he does not have to ready them. All the stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, the warlord cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.

warlord’s gambit (Ex)

At his core, the warlord is a warrior who relies on both skill and daring; without this he is but any other combatant. By setting himself to danger, does his true skill shine, or so the motto of the warlord goes. At 1st level, a warlord selects two gambits as methods by which the warlord can recover expended maneuvers.

Each gambit possesses three aspects—a risk, a rake, and a reward.

Each gambit’s risk describes an action that the warlord must undertake in order to attempt to recover an expended maneuver. The warlord begins a gambit as a swift action, effectively diving recklessly into the act he is attempting. The warlord then performs the action described in the gambit, and if he is successful, he regains maneuvers (see below). If he is not, he suffers the rake of the gambit and only regains a single maneuver of his choosing. While performing a gambit, the warlord may add his Charisma modifier to the d20 check(s) to aid in accomplishing the gambit as a luck bonus. A warlord may attempt the actions of a gambit, but without declaring the attempt a gambit attempt by spending a swift action to do so, the character does not regain any maneuvers nor does he suffer a rake for failure. The character may initiate a maneuver while performing a gambit (if the maneuver helps him accomplish it) but he may not recover the maneuver used to achieve the gambit as part of the reward.

A gambit’s rake is the penalty that the warlord suffers if he attempts his gambit and fails, such as failing a trip attempt or failing to strike an opponent with a charge attack. All gambits possess the same rake: the warlord only regains a single expended maneuver and suffers a –2 penalty on all d20 rolls for one round.

A warlord who succeeds at fulfilling his gambit immediately recovers a number of expended maneuvers equal to his Charisma modifier (minimum 2) and enjoys the unique reward for each gambit. Allies who would receive benefits from a warlord’s successful gambit must be within 60 ft. of the warlord and must be able to see him perform the action.

Finally, gambits may not be initiated outside of combat due to their reliance upon the stresses of battle to bring out the best of the warlord.

bushido (Su)

As a bushi grows in power, he gains access to abilities through the refinement of his spirit and his weapon by adhering to the principles of bushido. A warlord bushi selects a bushido to gain at 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 15th levels.

force of personality (Ex)

At 3rd level, the warlord’s forceful personality and bold, headstrong nature assist him in resisting the influence of others. Where others use personal serenity, awareness of the world around them, or plain old sensibility, the warlord gets by with endless nerve. The warlord may add his Charisma modifier in addition to his Wisdom modifier to determine his Will save bonus. If the character is ever able to add his Charisma modifier to his Will save through use of another ability (for example. the paladin’s divine grace) he may only add his Charisma modifier once to his Will save.

warleader

The warlord excels in the theater of war because he knows how best to work with his allies. At 3rd level, the warlord becomes an ever more capable commander and may share tactics with his allies. First, the warlord gains a teamwork feat as a bonus feat (he must meet the prerequisites for this feat to select it).

As a standard action that the warlord performs, the warlord and allies within 30 feet of him can share teamwork feats that they possess with each other, acting as if they both possessed the teamwork feat that they are sharing. The warlord can only share one teamwork feat at a time, either one of his own (with all allies within 30-ft. of him) or an ally’s (in which case only the warlord receives the ability to use the teamwork feat he does not possess). The warlord and allies retain the use of this feat for 3 + the warlord’s Charisma modifier in rounds. The character may use this ability 1 + Charisma modifier times per day at 3rd level (minimum of 1), and one additional time per day for every four warlord levels the character possesses.

tactical flanker (Ex)

At 4th level, the warlord is exceptionally gifted at working with his allies to bring down opponents and his skills assist any who ally with him. When flanking a target with an allied creature, both the warlord and the ally may use the warlord’s Charisma modifier (min +2) for the bonus they receive on flanking their opponent.

battle prowess (Ex)

The warlord is a skilled combatant, mixing traditional fighting skills with the skill of his martial discipline training. Choose a discipline, and when the warlord is in a martial stance from this chosen discipline, the character gets the listed bonus (+1 at 5th level, +2 at 12th level, +3 at 19th level) as a competence bonus to attack and damage rolls, CMB rolls, and to his CMD. He may select another discipline at 12th level, and third discipline at 19th level.

Mixed Combat (Ex)

At 6th level, a bushi gains Mixed Combat as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. In addition, the bushi is considered to be threatening all adjacent squares even if his weapon is sheathed, and can draw his weapon when making any attack (including attacks of opportunity).

dual boost (Ex)

Knowledgeable in the ways of making the best of any situation through pluck and verve, the warlord is capable of applying multiple martial principles simultaneously. At 6th level, once per day the warlord may initiate two boost type maneuvers as part of the same swift action. He may use this an additional time per day at 12th level, and three times per day at 18th level.

tactical assistance (Ex)

At 8th level, the warlord’s gift for helping his allies in combat improves. The character may use the Aid Another action for any single ally within 30 feet of his position as a move action, and he uses his Charisma modifier for the bonus he grants to his ally’s action (minimum +2).

bonus feat

At 10th level and then every four levels after, the warlord gains a bonus combat feat or teamwork feat of his choosing. The warlord must qualify for the feat before selecting it.

improved warleader

At 13th level, the warlord’s excellence in battle has enabled him to utilize the tactical skills of his allies as well as his own with greater speed. The warlord may now use his warleader class feature as a move action.

master warleader

At 17th level, the warlord’s peerless ability in the theater of war has enabled him to utilize the tactical skills of his allies as well as his own with the greatest of speed. The warlord may now use his warleader class feature as a swift action.

dual stance (Ex)

At 20th level, the warlord’s ability to use his stances improves, allowing him to gain the benefits of two known stances simultaneously. He must still adopt each stance individually, requiring him to expend one swift action for each stance.