Ronin of the Blade (3.5e Class)

Ronin of the Blade

Masterful fighters, Ronin of the Blade are artisans with sword, combining power, and grace to carve a masterpiece on the battlefield. They live for the thrill of battle, and often see their worst enemy as a valued friend, each trying their hardest to best the other, and ending up strengthening together.

Making a Ronin of the Blade.

A Ronin of the Blade is a Samurai with no master, whose worst enemy is their greatest friend. One of their best assets is their Zanshin, a state of mind in which they react instinctively to danger.

Ronin of the Blade make excellent front line fighters, granting spellcasters, or healers cover, and simultaneously benefit from them.

Abilities: Strength is paramount to a Ronin of the Blade, being a martial class, but Dexterity is also good due to their lack of armor, intelligence for sharp senses, and a higher AC bonus.

Races: Any.

Alignment: A Ronin of the Blade may be of any alignment, though their vicious attitude in battle often lead to a chaotic alignment. A few Ronin have a personal code they adhere to.

Starting Gold: 1d8x10 gp + Katana.

Starting Age: As Rogue

Table: The Ronin

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	AC Bonus	Unarmored Speed Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+1	+3	+3	Katana, Live by the Sword	+0	+0 ft.
2nd	+2	+1	+4	+4	Uncanny Dodge, Quick Draw	+0	+0 ft.
3rd	+3	+1	+4	+4	Ki Strike, Wise Life	+0	+0 ft.
4th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Fast Movement	+0	+10 ft.
5th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Sword As Shield	+1	+10 ft.
6th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+6	Improved Uncanny Dodge, Ki Strike	+1	+10 ft.
7th	+7/+2	+4	+6	+6	—	+1	+10 ft.
8th	+8/+3	+4	+7	+7	Katana Specialization	+1	+20 ft.
9th	+9/+4	+5	+7	+7	Ki Strike	+1	+20 ft.
10th	+10/+5	+5	+8	+8	—	+2	+20 ft.
11th	+11/+6/+1	+6	+8	+8	Wholeness of Body	+2	+20 ft.
12th	+12/+7/+2	+6	+9	+9	Ki Strike	+2	+30 ft.
13th	+13/+8/+3	+7	+9	+9	Greater Katana Focus	+2	+30 ft.
14th	+14/+9/+4	+7	+10	+10	—	+2	+30 ft.
15th	+15/+10/+5	+8	+10	+10	Ki Strike	+3	+30 ft.
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+8	+11	+11	Greater Katana Specialization	+3	+40 ft.
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+9	+11	+11	—	+3	+40 ft.
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+9	+12	+12	Ki Strike	+3	+40 ft.
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+10	+12	+12	Fighting Spirit	+3	+40 ft.
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+10	+13	+13	—	+4	+40 ft.
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance(Dex), Climb(Str), Concentration(Con), Craft(weaponsmithing)(Int), Diplomacy(Cha), Gather Info(Cha), Jump(Str), Listen(Wis), Move Silently, Perform(weapons drill)(cha), Search(Int), Sense Motive(Wis), Spot(Wis), Tumble(Dex)

Class Features

<-fluff about class features->. All of the following are class features of the Ronin. See Balanced Samurai. Ronin of the Blade posess all non bushido only features, as they no longer follow this code.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Ronin of the Blade are proficient with their Katana Bastard Sword, all simple and martial weapons, but not armour or shields.

When wearing any armor but light armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a Ronin of the Blade loses their AC bonus, as well as their fast movement abilities.

AC Bonus (Ex): When wearing light armor and unencumbered, the Ronin adds her Intelligence bonus (if any) to her AC.

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the Ronin is flat-footed. The Ronin loses this bonus when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armour, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Katana: At 1st level, a Ronin of the Blade gains his Katana. This katana is a materwrk bastard sword. The ronin gains wepon focus for his katana as a bonus feat.

If a Ronin of the Blade uses any weapon, other than their Katana, martial/simple weapons, natural weapons, or unarmed strike, they lose all their class abilities until they draw their sword. If a Ronin loses their sword or its broken they keep their class abilities, except those specifically for their sword.

Ronin of the Blade Katana: A masterwork bastard sword.(1d10 Damage 19/20 critical x2) for medium sized creatures This weapon has ghost touch making it able to hit ethereal creature's without the 50% miss chance

Live by the Sword(Su): At 1st level, a Ronin's Katana is magically attuned to them, if another person gets their sword and tries to use it on its owner, the sword simply passes through the Ronin. If a Ronin is separated from his Katana he can summon it to his hand. Summoning his Katana takes one round.

Uncanny Dodge(Ex): At 2nd level, a Ronin can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.

If a Ronin already has uncanny dodge from a different class she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.

Quick Draw: At 2nd level, a Ronin can use Quick Draw.

Fast Movement A Ronin gains an enhanced bonus to speed as show on the Ronin table. This bonus stacks with a monks for determing your Fast movement bonus

Ki Strike(Su): At 3rd level, a Ronin gains the ability to channel his fighting spirit into his Katana, he gains an additional 1d6 damage/3 character levels when striking with his katana. This damage can be spread between two or more weapons however it decreases a dice size for every target beyond the first (2weapons is equal to 1d4, 3 wepons is 1d3 and it cannot be spread between anymore than three weapons.

Wise Life: At 3rd level and every three levels after e.g. 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 The Ronin is able to add one point from her intelligence modifier if any to attack and damage. This increases to 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 every three levels

Sword As Shield(Ex): At 5th level, a Ronin has become proficient at defending with a sword as well as attacking. He gains a +1 deflection bonus to AC. This bonus increase +1 every 5rd level, to a max of +4. (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th). This Bonus stacks with any bonuses gained from levels in Monk if any for determining your bonus to ac.

This bonus to AC applies even against touch attacks or when the Ronin is flat-footed. The Ronin loses this bonus when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, when he carries a medium or heavy load, or when the Ronin does not have his sword drawn while both hands are occupied. If the Ronin's sword is not drawn, but has at least one hand unoccupied, he automatically uses Quick Draw and retains the bonus to AC

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 6th level, a Ronin can no longer be flanked.

This defense denies another Ronin the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more Ronin levels than the target does.

If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum Ronin level required to flank the character.

Katana Focus:At 8th level, a Ronin gets Weapon Focus as a bonus feat.

Katana Specialization:At 8th level, a Ronin gets Weapon Specialization as a bonus feat.

Wholeness of Body At 11th level or higher, a Ronin can heal her own wounds. She can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice her current Ronin level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

Greater Katana Focus:At 13th level, a Ronin gets Greater Weapon Focus

Greater Katana Specialization:At 14th level, a Ronin gets Greater Weapon Specialization.

Fighting Spirit(Ex): At 19th level a Ronin's fighting spirit fills him with strength. He gains 10 DR/Alignment

Epic Ronin

Table: The Epic Ronin

Hit Die: d10

Level	AC Bonus	Unarmored Speed Bonus	Special
21st	+7	+50
22nd	+7	+50	Bonus Feat
23rd	+7	+50
24th	+8	+50	Bonus Feat
25th	+8	+60
26th	+8	+60	Bonus Feat
27th	+9	+60
28th	+9	+60	Bonus Feat
29th	+9	+70
30th	+10	+70	Bonus Feat
7 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: The epic Ronin gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Fighter bonus feats) every two levels after 20th.

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