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In both cases, if she does not qualify for the feat(s) that she should take, she does not gain the feat until she qualifies for it, at which point she immediately gains it as a bonus feat. If she has all of the feats from the Two-Weapon Fighting list, she does not gain anything from that portion of the feature. If she has each of the feats in the Weapon Focus line, she may take any of them again (provided she qualifies) in any other one-handed melee weapon.
 
In both cases, if she does not qualify for the feat(s) that she should take, she does not gain the feat until she qualifies for it, at which point she immediately gains it as a bonus feat. If she has all of the feats from the Two-Weapon Fighting list, she does not gain anything from that portion of the feature. If she has each of the feats in the Weapon Focus line, she may take any of them again (provided she qualifies) in any other one-handed melee weapon.
 
'''{{Anchor|Parry Ally}}:''' A 4th level dualist has become so skilled with her parries that she can defend others as well as herself. She may parry against any melee attack directed at a target in any square adjacent to her, though she takes a -4 penalty on this roll. If she succeeds, she may Counter-Attack as usual, if her opponent is in range, and if he is not, she may expend an additional attack of opportunity to move up to 10 feet to get in range for her Counter-Attack. This movement does provoke an attack of opportunity, which may be parried and countered as well, but if she takes damage from her opponent's attack of opportunity, she stops in the square where she took the damage and does not get either of the Counter-Attacks.
 
   
 
'''{{Anchor|Coup Lancé}}''' A 4th level dualist learns to always press her advantage. If an adjacent foe is about to become non-adjacent for any reason other than her own movement (e.g., her opponent's move or 5 foot step, teleportation, bull rush, etc), or falls to 0 hit points or fewer, the dualist may, by using two attacks of opportunity, make a single melee attack at her highest attack bonus as an attack of opportunity. She must use Weapon Finesse with this attack roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. The target is treated as flat-footed for this attack. The flat-footed status comes from the dualist's skill in exploiting the opportunity, and their opponent's inability to protect themselves, and so this attack does not break a Knight's code of honor.
 
'''{{Anchor|Coup Lancé}}''' A 4th level dualist learns to always press her advantage. If an adjacent foe is about to become non-adjacent for any reason other than her own movement (e.g., her opponent's move or 5 foot step, teleportation, bull rush, etc), or falls to 0 hit points or fewer, the dualist may, by using two attacks of opportunity, make a single melee attack at her highest attack bonus as an attack of opportunity. She must use Weapon Finesse with this attack roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. The target is treated as flat-footed for this attack. The flat-footed status comes from the dualist's skill in exploiting the opportunity, and their opponent's inability to protect themselves, and so this attack does not break a Knight's code of honor.
  +
 
'''{{Anchor|Parry Ally}}:''' A 4th level dualist has become so skilled with her parries that she can defend others as well as herself. She may parry against any melee attack directed at a target in any square adjacent to her, though she takes a -4 penalty on this roll. If she succeeds, she may Counter-Attack as usual, if her opponent is in range, and if he is not, she may expend an additional attack of opportunity to move up to 10 feet to get in range for her Counter-Attack. This movement does provoke an attack of opportunity, which may be parried and countered as well, but if she takes damage from her opponent's attack of opportunity, she stops in the square where she took the damage and does not get either of the Counter-Attacks.
   
 
'''{{Anchor|Cover Ground}}''' By 5th level, a dualist with at least two attacks of opportunity effectively threatens all squares that she can reach with half her move speed (including squares outside of this range so long as she could strike that square from a square within that range). She may expend an attack of opportunity to move up to half her move speed towards any enemy that uses an action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and a second attack of opportunity to actually make the attack. She may not move without making the subsequent attack (and thus may not move at all if she only has a single attack of opportunity remaining). This movement does provoke attacks of opportunity, except from the intended target. She may parry and counter any attacks as normal, but she takes a -6 penalty on parry roll, and if she takes any damage from this movement she stops in the square where she was struck and loses the opportunity to attack.
 
'''{{Anchor|Cover Ground}}''' By 5th level, a dualist with at least two attacks of opportunity effectively threatens all squares that she can reach with half her move speed (including squares outside of this range so long as she could strike that square from a square within that range). She may expend an attack of opportunity to move up to half her move speed towards any enemy that uses an action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and a second attack of opportunity to actually make the attack. She may not move without making the subsequent attack (and thus may not move at all if she only has a single attack of opportunity remaining). This movement does provoke attacks of opportunity, except from the intended target. She may parry and counter any attacks as normal, but she takes a -6 penalty on parry roll, and if she takes any damage from this movement she stops in the square where she was struck and loses the opportunity to attack.

Revision as of 06:25, 10 September 2009

Created By
DragoonWraith (talk)
Date Created: 09/09/09
Status: Comments Requested
Editing: Please feel free to edit constructively!
Balance: Rogue

Summary: The dualist is a duelist with dual weapons. She is a melee fighter who relies on exceptionally quick reflexes above all else; as she parries and dodges, she waits for the opportune moment to strike - and then presses her advantage relentlessly.

Length: 5 levels; minimum level: 5.

Dualist


Dualist

You don't need strength as much as speed. We're fragile creatures. It takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin.

The dualist is a dual-wielding duelist. She is a melee fighter who relies on exceptionally quick reflexes above all else; as she parries and dodges, she waits for the opportune moment to strike - and then presses her advantage relentlessly.

A dualist is a master of reactive combat. She uses the opportunities that her opponents offer to the fullest extent possible, and can even take advantage of opportunities that others would miss. For the dualist, the number of attacks of opportunity per round determines how often she can use a number of features, which may or may not actually involve attacking.

Rogues can make excellent dualists, as they are already trained in the art of taking advantage of unsuspecting opponents, but may find the idea of standing tall in front of the enemy unnerving. Fighters, and other martial classes, that specialize in dexterity rather than strength may also be able to put the dualist's skills to great use.

Becoming a Dualist

Entry Requirements
Feats: Combat Reflexes, either Two-Weapon Fighting or Weapon Finesse
Special: Either Base Attack Bonus +3 and Tumble 8 ranks, Bluff 2 ranks, Sense Motive 2 ranks
Or: Base Attack Bonus +5 and Tumble 2 ranks, Bluff 2 ranks, Sense Motive 2 ranks
Table: Dualist

Hit Die: d8

Level Base
Attack Bonus
Saving Throws Special
Fort Ref Will
1st +1 +0 +2 +0 Dualism, Parry, Opportunistic Strike +3
2nd +2 +0 +3 +0 Counter-Attack, Greater Feint, En Garde (x1)
3rd +3 +1 +3 +1 Double Jeopardy, Dual Weapon Specialization, Opportunistic Strike +6
4th +4 +1 +4 +1 Coup Lancé, Parry Ally, En Garde (x2)
5th +5 +1 +4 +1 Cover Ground, Disorienting Parry, Opportunistic Strike +9

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level)
Skill::Balance (Dex), Skill::Bluff (Cha), Skill::Escape Artist (Dex), Skill::Jump (Str), Skill::Listen (Wis), Skill::Perform (Cha), Skill::Profession (Int), Skill::Sense Motive (Wis), Skill::Spot (Wis), and Skill::Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Dualist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Dualists gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Dualism: The dualist gains the first feat from the following list that she does not already have: Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Defense.

If she does not qualify for the feat in the list that she should take, the dualist does not gain that feat until she does qualify (that is, as soon as she meets the qualifications for it, she immediately gains it as a bonus feat). A dualist who already has each feat in the list does not gain any benefit from this portion of the class feature.

In addition to these bonus feats, the Weapon Focus line of feats gain an alternate set of requirements by which a dualist might qualify for them, and gains extra bonuses for dualists. When obtained by meeting the alternate requirements, only one-handed melee weapons may be chosen, and only one-handed melee weapons gain the extra benefits.

Feat Original Requirements Alternate Requirements Extra Features
Weapon Focus Proficiency with selected weapon, Base Attack Bonus +1 No change Chosen weapon is treated as Light for the purposes of Two-Weapon Fighting and Weapon Finesse.
Weapon Specialization Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Fighter level 4th Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Dualist level 1st Gain a +2 bonus to critical confirmation rolls with chosen weapon. Stacks with Power Critical.
Greater Weapon Focus Weapon Specialization with selected weapon, Fighter level 8th Weapon Specialization with selected weapon, Dualist level 3rd Critical threat range of chosen weapon increases by one. Stacks with Improved Critical or Keen (applied before multipliers).
Greater Weapon Specialization Greater Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Fighter level 12th Greater Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Dualist level 5th, 12 HD Chosen weapon's critical hit multiplier advances by one: x2 becomes x3, x3 becomes x4, and x4 becomes x5.

The dualist may take these feats as normal, so long as she qualifies for at least one of the sets of requirements. Regardless of how they are gained, the dualist gains the extra benefits so long as the chosen weapon is a one-handed melee weapon.

Parry: A dualist is a master of the art of parrying. By expending an Attack of Opportunity when she is attacked in melee, she may make an opposed attack roll against her assailant. The dualist adds half her Sense Motive bonus to this roll. She must use Weapon Finesse for this roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. In the result of a tie, the dualist wins. If she succeeds, she deflects that attack, avoiding its damage. She may use this ability as often as she likes, provided she still has Attacks of Opportunity to use for it.

Opportunistic Strike: Whenever a dualist makes an Attack of Opportunity with a weapon in which she has Weapon Focus, she gets a +3 bonus to her damage roll. As a flat numerical bonus, this damage is multiplied by critical hits. If her target would be denied his Dexterity bonus to AC (regardless of whether or not he actually has said bonus), this damage is increased to +4.

This bonus increases by another +3 damage every two levels after 1st (to a maximum of +9 at level 5). Every +3 Opportunistic Strike damage is equivalent to +1d6 worth of precision damage for the purpose of pre-requisites and the activation of certain feats (such as Ambush feats). When using Opportunistic Strike against a target who would be denied his Dexterity bonus to AC (even if he has no such bonus), every +3 damage is increased to +4; this extra damage does not count for the pre-requisites of anything.

Counter-Attack: Anyone who is parried by a 2nd level dualist provokes an Attack of Opportunity from her, allowing her to use a second attack of opportunity to deliver a single melee strike at her highest attack bonus. She must use Weapon Finesse for this attack; if she is not using a weapon that she can Finesse, she may not use this ability. She also may not use the same weapon to parry and then counter, so in order to counter she must have one weapon to Finesse for the parry, and a second weapon to Finesse for the counter-attack. A counter-attack is considered an attack of opportunity; any appropriate bonuses, including Opportunistic Strike, apply to this attack.

Greater Feint: At 2nd level, a dualist may feint more quickly. Feint actions take one lesser action than they would otherwise, according to the table:

Originally Now
Standard Move
Move Swift
Swift Free, 1/round

En Garde: As a move-equivalent action, a 2nd level dualist may prepare for her opponent's action. She adds a number equal to the number of attacks she would get in a full-round action to the maximum number of attacks of opportunity she can make during the next round.

At dualist level 4, as a move action (or as a standard action if she would prefer), the dualist gains twice as many attacks of opportunity as she would have had attacks in a full-round action.

Alternatively, as a swift action, she may gain as many attacks of opportunity as she would have had attacks in a full-round action (that is, half what she would have got for using a move action).

For example, a Fighter 5/Dualist 5 with a base attack bonus of +10/+5 and Improved Two Weapon Fighting gets four attacks during a full-round attack: one regular attack, a bonus attack from Two Weapon Fighting, an iterative attack, and a bonus attack from Improved Two Weapon Fighting. She may use En Garde as a move action to gain eight attacks of opportunity, or make four attacks as a full-round action, and then as a swift action may use En Garde but only gain four attacks of opportunity.

Double Jeopardy: Any time a 3rd level dualist successfully hits an enemy for damage with an Attack of Opportunity, she may immediately take another attack of opportunity at a -5 penalty to the attack roll. She must make this attack with Weapon Finesse, and it cannot be with the same weapon that made the first attack of opportunity (but may be with a weapon used to Parry, if the Counter-Attack successfully hits and deals damage). If she has no weapon that qualifies for Weapon Finesse available, she may not use this feature.

If the dualist uses this feature while she is moving (for example, doubling a counter-attack in response to attacks of opportunity that she draws from opponents as she moves past), she deducts 10 feet from her move speed for that action (this is before any modifiers, so if running at double one's move speed, a total of 20 feet would be deducted). If this reduction would cause her to have moved further than her reduced move speed, she stops in the square where the attack was made.

The dualist feature Cover Ground generates attacks that are treated as attacks of opportunity but are not eligible for Double Jeopardy. All other attacks treated as attacks of opportunity, unless otherwise noted, are eligible for Double Jeopardy. This includes the attack of opportunity generated by Double Jeopardy itself - the dualist may continue to make attacks with an ever-decreasing attack bonus (that is, five less each time) until she either fails to deal damage with the attack, or runs out of attacks of opportunity to use.

Dual Weapon Specialization: At 3rd level, a dualist learns to excel in the art of her dual weapons. She gains the next feat in both Two-Weapon Fighting and Weapon Focus, that is, she takes the first feat from each of the following lists that she does not already have:

  • Two-Weapon Fighting Feat List
    • Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
    • Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
    • Two-Weapon Defense
  • Weapon Focus Feat List
    • Weapon Focus (one-handed melee weapon only)
    • Weapon Specialization (one-handed melee weapon only)
    • Greater Weapon Focus (one-handed melee weapon only)
    • Greater Weapon Specialization (one-handed melee weapon only)

In both cases, if she does not qualify for the feat(s) that she should take, she does not gain the feat until she qualifies for it, at which point she immediately gains it as a bonus feat. If she has all of the feats from the Two-Weapon Fighting list, she does not gain anything from that portion of the feature. If she has each of the feats in the Weapon Focus line, she may take any of them again (provided she qualifies) in any other one-handed melee weapon.

Coup Lancé A 4th level dualist learns to always press her advantage. If an adjacent foe is about to become non-adjacent for any reason other than her own movement (e.g., her opponent's move or 5 foot step, teleportation, bull rush, etc), or falls to 0 hit points or fewer, the dualist may, by using two attacks of opportunity, make a single melee attack at her highest attack bonus as an attack of opportunity. She must use Weapon Finesse with this attack roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. The target is treated as flat-footed for this attack. The flat-footed status comes from the dualist's skill in exploiting the opportunity, and their opponent's inability to protect themselves, and so this attack does not break a Knight's code of honor.

Parry Ally: A 4th level dualist has become so skilled with her parries that she can defend others as well as herself. She may parry against any melee attack directed at a target in any square adjacent to her, though she takes a -4 penalty on this roll. If she succeeds, she may Counter-Attack as usual, if her opponent is in range, and if he is not, she may expend an additional attack of opportunity to move up to 10 feet to get in range for her Counter-Attack. This movement does provoke an attack of opportunity, which may be parried and countered as well, but if she takes damage from her opponent's attack of opportunity, she stops in the square where she took the damage and does not get either of the Counter-Attacks.

Cover Ground By 5th level, a dualist with at least two attacks of opportunity effectively threatens all squares that she can reach with half her move speed (including squares outside of this range so long as she could strike that square from a square within that range). She may expend an attack of opportunity to move up to half her move speed towards any enemy that uses an action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and a second attack of opportunity to actually make the attack. She may not move without making the subsequent attack (and thus may not move at all if she only has a single attack of opportunity remaining). This movement does provoke attacks of opportunity, except from the intended target. She may parry and counter any attacks as normal, but she takes a -6 penalty on parry roll, and if she takes any damage from this movement she stops in the square where she was struck and loses the opportunity to attack.

In addition, the Parry Ally ability is changed to allow the dualist to move up to half her move speed towards any target that is melee attacking any ally of hers that is also within range, and make a parry attempt (and gain the subsequent counter-attack if successful). This move plus parry action costs the same two attacks of opportunities that the move plus attack action of the usual Cover Ground ability, while the subsequent Counter-Attack and possible Double Jeopardy require another attack of opportunity each.

Disorienting Parry: After her 5th level, a dualist has mastered the art of opening up her opponent for a devastating attack. After a successful parry, her opponent is treated as flat-footed for her counter-attack, if she uses one, and for her follow-up attacks, if she uses Double Jeopardy. Because she created this opening herself by her own skill, and the flat-footed status is not a result of attacking her opponent unawares, this attack does not violate a Knight's code of honor (unless it would for some reason other than the flat-footed status inflicted by this feature).

Picture Credits

The Dualist artwork is adapted from "Duelling Armor" by Ben McSweeney. Used with permission. All credit goes to him for the image.


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