Ronin

A ronin is a lordless swordsman, sometimes called a knight-errant or a sword-for-hire. Although most ronin seek to find a new master, others choose this path for personal reasons.

Ronin’s Code

At 1st level, a ronin adopts a set of personal edicts that he must abide by, as if he belonged to the ronin samurai order. If he violates these edicts, he loses all of his panache points and cannot regain panache for 24 hours.

If the ronin has levels in a class that grants an order, he must belong to the ronin samurai order and cannot change his order. If he belonged to an order before acquiring this ability, he must immediately abandon his previous order and become a ronin.

Favored Weapon (Ex)

At 1st level, the ronin gains the benefits of the Weapon Finesse feat with a single one-handed melee weapon of her choice. Treat the chosen weapon as a one-handed piercing melee weapon for all feats and abilities that require such a weapon (such as a swashbuckler’s or duelist‘s precise strike). This ability counts as having the Weapon Finesse feat for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites. If she has a feat or ability that allows her to use her Dexterity modifier instead of her Strength on damage rolls with her favored weapon, she doesn’t add 1-1/2 times her Dexterity modifier to her damage roll while wielding it in two hands.

At 5th level, the ronin gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using her chosen weapon. When a ronin wields her favored weapon, she gains the benefits of the Improved Critical feat with that weapon. Every 4 levels thereafter, the bonus on attack and damage rolls increases by 1.

This ability replaces swashbuckler’s finesse and swashbuckler weapon training.

Deeds

The ronin gains the following deeds, each of which replaces an existing deed.

Derring-Do (Ex) At 3rd level, while the ronin has at least 1 panache point, she can draw a weapon as a free action and she is treated as having the Quick Draw feat for the purpose of determining if she can draw a weapon with the swashbuckler’s initiative deed. Additionally, if the ronin draws a weapon on the first turn of combat and attacks a foe within her reach, she can spend 1 panache point as a swift action to make a feint attempt against the target of her attack. This deed replaces kip-up.

Precise Strike (Ex) At 3rd level, as long as the ronin has at least 1 point in her panache pool, she can use her precise strike deed with her favored weapon while wielding it in two hands, while wielding it in two hands, but her swashbuckler is reduced by half when determining the damage dealt by this deed while doing so. This deed alters precise strike.

Resolve (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, the ronin gains the samurai resolve class feature. She can use resolve once per day at 2nd level, plus one additional time per day for every four swashbuckler levels beyond 2nd. Instead of regaining uses of resolve by defeating the target of a challenge, the ronin can spend 2 panache points as a free action in order to regain one use of resolve, up to her maximum number of uses per day. If the ronin gains resolve from another class, the daily uses of this ability stack and the ronin may regain uses of resolve as detailed by both classes.

This ability replaces charmed life.

Order Abilities

Beginning at 4th level, the ronin may select the self-reliant ronin order ability in place of a bonus feat. At 8th level, she may select the without master order ability in place of a bonus feat if she has previously selected the self-reliant ronin order ability. At 16th level, she may select the chosen destiny ronin order ability in place of a bonus feat if she has previously selected both the self-reliant and without master order abilities.

This ability alters the swashbuckler’s bonus feats.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Kitsune Compendium © 2014, Everyman Gaming, LLC; Authors: Alexander Augunas.

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