Mercenary (3.5e Alternate Class Feature)

Mercenary

3e Summary::Become better at dealing with business situations and the like in exchange for battle diversity.

Class: Fighter

Level: 1

Replaces: Bonus feats at 2nd level and every two levels after are replaced with the following abilities/feats at the specified level(s) below. Changes are also made in the Fighter's Alignment, Class Skills, Skill Points at 1st/Every level, and the ability to become an Ex-Fighter. His base attack bonus and base saves, and the rate at which they increase, does not change, nor do his weapon and armor proficiencies and hit die.

Benefit: 1st Level: Deal-making (Lesser), Self-Sufficient 2nd Level: Imposing Presence 1/day 4th Level: Local Lore 7th Level: Deal-making 8th level: Imposing Presence 2/day 11th level: Quick Draw 13th Level: Deal-making (Greater) 14th Level: Imposing Presence 3/day 16th Level: Improved Attack 19th Level: Improved Deal-making 20th Level: Imposing Presence 4/day, Improved Imposing Presence

Deal-making: The Fighter is better suited to making deals in his favor. He gains a +2 competence bonus in Diplomacy checks made while trying to propose conditions for a deal. This bonus improves to +4 at 7th level, +8 at 13th level, and +16 at 19th level. This ability's benefit is halved when the fighter is bargaining with something that does not belong to him unless the person(s) who it belongs to complies with the decision.

Self-Sufficient: At 1st level, the fighter gains Self-Sufficient as a bonus feat.

Imposing Presence (Ex): The fighter can use this ability once per day at 2nd level to give himself an aura that instills cause fear as the spell on any non-friendly creature nearby for 1d3 (plus 1 for every three levels past 2nd) rounds. The caster level is treated as if the fighter were a sorcerer of half his level. This aura also grants him a +4 competence bonus to Intimdate checks against the affected creature(s). This bonus increases to +8 at 20th level and the effect changes to that of fear, and the caster level becomes equivalent to the fighter's level. At 8th level, and every six levels thereafter, the fighter can use this ability an extra one time per day.

Local Lore: At 4th level, the fighter gains a bonus to all Knowledge [Local] checks equivalent to as if he was a Bard of three levels lower using Bardic Knowledge (he does not get the +2 bonus to having 5+ ranks in Knowledge [History]).

Quick Draw: At 11th level, the Fighter gains Quick Draw as a bonus feat.

Improved Attack: At 16th level, the fighter gains one of the three following feats as a bonus feat (your choice): Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Trip.

Alignment: The fighter, as a mercenary, must be of any Lawful alignment. A mercenary that doesn't abide by the word of his deals can't technically be considered a mercenary. However, if a deal is broken by the other person/creature, they are free to do so themself.

Class Skills: The fighter's class skills change to the following: Appraise (INT), Climb (STR), Craft (INT), Diplomacy (CHA), Gather Information (CHA), Intimidate (CHA), Jump (STR), Knowledge [Geography] (INT), Knowledge [Local] (INT), Ride (DEX), Survival (WIS), and Swim (STR).

Skills at 1st Level: (4 + INT modifier) x 4

Skills at Each Additional Level: 4 + INT modifier.

Ex-Fighters: A Fighter that uses this alternate class feature and becomes un-lawful can no longer gain more levels as a Fighter. He loses the ability to use his Imposing Presence (Improved or not), but retains all other class features.

The rest of a fighter's class features remain as is.

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