Dualist (3.5e Prestige Class)

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.

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

“

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	Parry, Bonus Style Feat, Dualism, Opportunistic Strike +3
2nd	+2	+0	+3	+0	Counter-Attack, Bonus Weapon Feat, En Garde (x1)
3rd	+3	+1	+3	+1	Double Jeopardy, Bonus Style Feat, 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.

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, and the dualist wins on a tie. 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.

A dualist may also make a Feint check as a free action during her Parry maneuver. If successful, the target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC for her Counter-Attack and any follow-up attacks made using Double Jeopardy (see below). If she does not make a counter-attack, this Feint does nothing.

Bonus Style Feat: At 1st and 3rd levels, the dualist gains a feat from the following list as a bonus feat: Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Rend, Double Hit.

She may select a feat for which she does not qualify, but she does not gain this feat. Instead, she will gain it immediately as a bonus feat as soon as she does qualify for it.

Dualism: A dualist is training to become a true master of her chosen weapons. As such, 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.

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.

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: The act of being parried by a 2nd level dualist provokes an attack of opportunity from her. However, the dualist may not use the weapon she parried with for the counter-attack, so the dualist may only make this second attack of opportunity if she has another weapon to use.

Bonus Weapon Feat: At 2nd level, the dualist gains a feat from the following list as a bonus feat: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization. For the last four, she must select a one-handed melee weapon for the feat.

She may select a feat for which she does not qualify, but she does not gain this feat. Instead, she will gain it immediately as a bonus feat as soon as she does qualify for it.

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).

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 may not make the attack of opportunity with the same weapon that triggered the attack of opportunity (though she may use a weapon that she parried with if her counter-attack successfully deals damage). A dualist may alternate weapons in this way, taking an additional -5 penalty on each attack, until she either fails to deal damage or runs out of attacks of opportunity for the round.

If the target of her attacks is required to make a Concentration check (or similar) against the damage the Dualist dealt (e.g., to prevent spell failure), he only needs to make a single check, using the single highest amount of damage in the sequence for determining the DC of the check, rather than a whole series of checks.

If the dualist has the Double Hit feat, she may make the same alternating attacks of opportunity, taking an additional -5 penalty to the attack roll each time, but only needs expend an attack of opportunity for the first of each pair of attacks. For example, if she takes an attack of opportunity at +14 attack bonus, she may attack with the opposite weapon at a +9 bonus without expending another attack of opportunity. To attack again with the first weapon at a +4 attack bonus, she must then expend another attack of opportunity. In addition, as long as one of the two strikes deal damage, she may continue, even if the other misses.

Coup Lancé: A 4th level dualist learns to always press her advantage. If the distance between the dualist and any foe within her threatened area is about to increase for any reason other than the dualist's own actions (e.g. her opponent's move action or 5 foot step, teleportation, etc.), the dualist may, by using two attacks of opportunity, make a single melee attack at her highest attack bonus as an attack of opportunity. The dualist may also make a Feint check as a free action during this attack, and if successful the target is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC for the attack and for any follow-up attacks made using Double Jeopardy. Coup Lancé may be used only once per attempted movement.

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 within her threatened area, though she takes a -4 penalty on this roll. If she succeeds, she may counter-attack only if the attacker is within her reach.

Cover Ground: By 5th level, a dualist learns to artfully control the battlefield. Any time an opponent within half her move speed uses an action that would provoke an attack of opportunity from the dualist, she may move into position such that she may make the attack of opportunity. She must expend an attack of opportunity for every 10 feet that she moves, however, and she may not move at all if she does not have enough attacks of opportunity to get into position and make the attack of opportunity. Parrying for an ally counts as a use of an attack of opportunity for the purposes of using this feature. As a special case, movement only provokes attacks of opportunity from her if she either does not have to move (i.e. the normal usage), or she uses the Coup Lancé ability (that is, expends two attacks of opportunity and only once per attempted movement).

Effects that affect the dualist's "threatened area" affect all squares within a radius equal to 10' times the number of attacks of opportunity she has remaining, but no larger than half her move speed.

References

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