Moonlight Meditant

Some infected by lycanthropy become monsters, stalking the night to slake their newfound thirst for the hunt. Others resist the affliction and remain as they are, continuing their normal lives with a slightly more beastly bent. Moonlight meditants look inwards, seeking to purge the curse from themselves with precise, destructive psionics. By permanently imbuing themselves with the essence of their mind, they warp their bodies and devour their curse, warding themselves from the transformation and becoming something new entirely.

Transcendent Werewolf (Ex)

A moonlight meditant possesses a unique strain of lycanthropy, having altered his curse and returned himself to an approximation of his original being. A moonlight meditant cannot become a werewolf or lycanthrope, and loses such templates if he possesses them when he takes his first moonlight meditant level (see the “Ex-Werewolves” sidebar for more details). In addition, at 1st level, he gains the shapechanger subtype and a shifting feat he qualifies for as a bonus feat. He can change this bonus feat to another shifting feat he qualifies for whenever he rests for at least 8 hours. This ability replaces the bonus feat gained at 1st level.

Ex-Werewolves

If a werewolf or lycanthrope takes a level of moonlight meditant, they lose their template. At the GM’s option, they may immediately exchange the template for its equivalent in moonlight meditant levels. For example, of a werewolf using the template presented in this book entered the moonlight meditant class and had previously been one level behind the rest of the party as a result of their template, they should be allowed to gain an extra moonlight meditant level to make up for it.

Moonsilver Blade (Su)

A moonlight meditant’s name comes from the unique appearance of his abilities. Part of the transformation a moonlight meditant underwent involved using his power to shield himself from the light of the moon, passively cutting apart moonbeams and weaving them into his body with his psionic power. Rather than a normal mind blade, a moonlight meditant gains the ability to wrap himself in a silvery projection of energy, forming phantom claws, fangs, and musculature to take a form much like a werewolf. Any shifting feats he possesses take on a similar appearance when used, rather than truly transforming him (if a shifting feat would remove part of his body or reduce his size, he seems to compress as he surrounds himself with silvery light). At 1st level, a moonlight meditant’s mind blade takes the form of a primary bite or 2 primary claw attacks, chosen when he forms his mind blade. These attacks deal damage as appropriate for the moonlight meditant’s size, and may shift their location freely, allowing the moonlight meditant to make attacks with any part of his body (though they still count as being on his hands and head for the purposes of using other natural or manufactured weapons). The moonlight meditant may hold or otherwise use objects (such as shields) in his hands while attacking, but may not use a hand to attack with a manufactured weapon in the same round he used that hand to attack with a claw. The moonlight meditant’s mind blades are treated as silver for the purposes of vulnerabilities and overcoming damage reduction, in addition to any other material types they might be. The moonlight meditant may use any of his supernatural moonlight meditant class features that rely on the use of his mind blade in antimagic fields and null-psionics fields, so long as he succeeded on the Will save to maintain his mind blade. The moonlight meditant’s claws and bite do not benefit from amulets of mighty fists and similar effects; their own enhancement bonus and abilities from the enhanced mind blade class feature apply instead.

Starting at 6th level, a moonlight meditant gains both his bite attack and his claw attacks when he forms his mind blade, rather than one or the other. He cannot form any other mind blades.

This ability alters form mind blade, and otherwise functions as the soulknife’s form mind blade class feature.

Savage Pursuit (Ex)

During his turn, a moonlight meditant can move up to 5 feet as a free action without provoking attacks of opportunity before each attack he makes with his mind blade; after this movement he may make his attack against any target within reach from his new position. The moonlight meditant cannot make an attack in this fashion against opponents he cannot reach from his new position. At 4th level, he can move up to 10 feet before each attack with his mind blade, rather than 5 feet; at 8th level, he can move up to 15 feet, and at 16th level, he can move up to 20 feet before each attack. A moonlight meditant may use this ability in the same turn he takes a 5-foot step, and vice-versa.

This ability replaces throw mind blade.

Blade Skills

A moonlight meditant cannot choose the Alter Blade, Discipline Blade Shapes, Empowered Fist, Emulate Melee Weapon, Emulate Ranged Weapon, Mind Daggers, Telekinetic Blade, or Telekinetic Bolt blade skills. Blade skills that change the form of his mind blade instead apply their effects to his mind blade without changing how the weapon functions. For example, a moonlight meditant with the Mindflayer blade skill would still gain the ability to expend his psionic focus for an added effect on an attack, but would not transform his mind blade into a whip.

This ability alters blade skills, but does not cause the moonlight meditant archetype to be incompatible with other archetypes that alter the blade skills class feature.

Enhanced Mind Blade (Su)

Starting at 3rd level, all of a moonlight meditant’s natural attacks (including those from his mind blade) gain an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to his mind blade’s maximum enhancement bonus (so +1 at 3rd level, +2 at 6th level, +3 at 9th level, and so on). In addition, he treats his natural weapons as both magic and silver for the purposes of vulnerabilities and overcoming damage reduction. The moonlight meditant’s bite and claw mind blades gain their normal progression of abilities, and do not need the normal +1 minimum enhancement bonus before gaining weapon special abilities. In effect, they automatically gain their maximum enhancement bonus (as listed above), then can have their normal total bonus spent entirely on special abilities. When a moonlight meditant chooses how he enhances his mind blade, his bite and each of his claws can be given their own combinations of weapon special abilities. These abilities must be able to be applied to the mind blade in question, and this ability otherwise functions as the normal soulknife’s enhanced mind blade class feature, including the list of special abilities the moonlight meditant can draw from and the total bonus of abilities he can assign to his mind blades. Unlike most weapons, a moonlight meditant’s mind blades can have a total bonus greater than +10 (up to a maximum of +14 at 19th level, between their enhancement bonus and abilities), and each of his mind blades gains the full bonus from enhanced mind blade, rather than being reduced like a normal soulknife with multiple mind blades.

This ability alters enhanced mind blade.

Moonsilver Body (Su)

At 3rd level, a moonlight meditant gains damage reduction 1/silver. At 7th level and again at every four moonlight meditant levels thereafter, this damage reduction increases by 1.

This ability replaces psychic strike.

In Wolves’ Clothing (Su)

At 4th level, a moonlight meditant’s mind blade extends beyond the mere projection of weaponry; he can call into being a bestial form as well. While his mind blade is drawn, he surrounds himself with an armorlike “shell” of energy that acts as a buffer against blows and enhances his physical abilities. This shell does not interfere with his existing armor or any items he wields, and he can still act freely. This shell gives him a pool of temporary hit points and a +10-foot bonus to each of his speeds. This pool of temporary hit points has a maximum total equal to twice the moonlight meditant’s class level, and refreshes to its full amount whenever the moonlight meditant rests for at least one minute. He only gains these temporary hit points while his mind blade is drawn, and the pool retains the same total when he dismisses and reshapes his mind blade. As long as the moonlight meditant is wielding his mind blade and has at least one temporary hit point from it, he also gains a deflection bonus to his AC equal to his Constitution bonus (if any). The moonlight meditant does not lose this shell when his pool of temporary hit points runs out; each time the moonlight meditant hits a creature with his mind blade, he regains a number of temporary hit points equal to his Constitution bonus (minimum 1), adding them to the pool up to its normal maximum. In addition, the moonlight meditant has the ability to expand the projection of his mind blade. While he wields his mind blade, he can increase his size by up to one size category as a free action. He can return to his normal size (or later change to a different size) as a free action. At 8th level, he can increase his size by up to two size categories, and at 16th level, he can increase his size by up to three size categories. These size increases do not stack with other effects that would increase the moonlight meditant’s size, and his ability scores do not change when he grows or shrinks. Instead, the moonlight meditant gains a +2 size bonus to his Strength and Dexterity scores while he wields his mind blade, regardless of his size. These bonuses increase to +4 at 8th level and +6 at 16th level. The moonlight meditant does not take size penalties from growing using this ability; for example, a moonlight meditant that grew from Medium to Large size would gain his +1 special size bonus on CMB checks, but would not take the normal –1 penalty to his AC and attack rolls for being Large. If his normal size is smaller than Medium, he retains his normal size bonus to AC and attack rolls. This ability replaces the blade skill gained at 4th, 8th, and 16th levels.

Quick Draw (Su)

At 5th level, a moonlight meditant can manifest his mind blade (or blades) as a free action, including the shell from his in wolves’ clothing class feature. He may still only do this once per round. At 15th level, he may do so even if it isn’t his turn, and may change size with his in wolves’ clothing ability as part of the same action. This ability alters quick draw.

Controlled Composition (Su)

At 12th level, a moonlight meditant gains more control over the shape of his abilities, allowing his form to change fluidly to suit the situations. When he wields his mind blade, he gains a +2 bonus to either his Strength or Dexterity score. This stacks with the bonuses from his in wolves’ clothing class feature, and he can change which ability score this bonus is added to when he assigns his mind blades’ weapon special abilities. In addition, he can alter the composition of his shell and how it interacts with the world, allowing him to lift off the ground, move freely through liquids, and stick to sheer surfaces. He gains a fly speed with good maneuverability, a swim speed, and a climb speed, each equal to his base land speed (plus the bonus from his in wolves’ clothing class feature). He gains the aquatic subtype while he is underwater. The moonlight meditant may also squeeze through areas of at least half his size without penalty.

This ability replaces the blade skill gained at 12th level.