Order of the Undying Emperor

Samurai belonging to the Order of the Undying Emperor are fiercely loyal to the Emperor. Frequently serving in the Imperial court, these samurai are well trained in matters of etiquette and diplomacy.

Edicts: A samurai who belongs to the Order of the Undying Emperor must maintain complete loyalty to the Emperor above all others, treating every word of the Emperor as absolute law. Such a samurai would sooner die than bring shame or dishonor to the Emperor or the Imperial court.

Challenge: When an order of the undying emperor issues a challenge, he receives a dodge bonus to his AC equal to 1/2 his class level (minimum 1) against attacks made by the target of his challenge.

Skills: An order of the undying emperor samurai adds Knowledge (nobility) (Int) to his list of class skills. Furthermore, he may add 1/2 his class level (minimum 1) to all Diplomacy checks.

Order Abilities: A samurai who belongs to the order of the undying emperor gains the following abilities as he increases in level.

Well-Educated (Ex)

At 2nd level, and at each level thereafter, a samurai belonging to the order of the undying emperor gains a +1 class bonus to a skill of his choice. The chosen skill does not have to be a class skill, but the samurai must possess ranks in the skill. The same skill may be chosen more than once as the samurai gains levels, but no one skill can receive greater than a +5 cumulative bonus through the use of this ability.

Master of Intrigue (Ex)

By 8th level, an order of the undying emperor samurai has extensive experience in the cut and thrust of political intrigue and court gossip. He receives a +4 bonus to all Sense Motive checks. Furthermore, in combat, as a free action, he may make a Sense Motive check, targeting one opponent each round, where the DC is the opponent’s Combat Maneuver Defense + the opponent’s Bluff modifier. Success grants the samurai a +4 dodge bonus to AC for one round against all attacks made by that opponent.

Dark Soul (Ex)

At 15th level, an order of the undying emperor samurai becomes privy to some of the darker secrets of the undying emperor’s court and learns to partially resist the effects of negative energy. The samurai gains a +4 class bonus to all saves made to resist the effects of a negative energy attack, including the special attacks of undead which utilize negative energy. Once per day, the samurai can choose to completely ignore the effects of a single such attack, though he does not ignore the physical damage that might accompany the effect (for instance, the samurai could choose to ignore the ability drain caused by an undead creature’s slam attack, but the samurai would still suffer any damage inflicted by the slam attack).

Section 15: Copyright Notice
The Way of the Samurai copyright 2012, Steven D. Russell and Michael Tumey, all rights reserved; Author Jonathan McAnulty
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