War Scholar

The war scholar is an artist, with the battlefield as his medium. Born-strategist, a war scholar’s wisdom allows him to manage his troops with an efficiency that can reverse the most uneven odds. Following series of simple, yet wise principles about preparation, human management, enemy intelligence misdirection, spying and terrain preparation; a war scholar is a master in the art of war.

Class Skills: A war scholar adds Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (planes), and Linguistics to their list of class skills.

Skill Ranks per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A war scholar is proficient with all simple and martial weapons. A war scholar is proficient with light armor, and retains his AC bonus and fast movement class abilities even while wearing light armors. He is not proficient with any shields. A war scholar wearing medium or heavy armor loses his AC bonus and fast movement abilities.

Wisdom of War (Ex)

At 1st level, the war scholar gains a +1 insight bonus to all attack and combat maneuver rolls. At 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), this bonus increases by 1, to a maximum of +5 at 17th level. In addition, they treat their level as their base attack bonus for meeting the prerequisites for feats. At 2nd level, the war scholar may add his Wisdom modifier in addition to his Dexterity modifier on initiative checks.

This ability replaces flurry of blows.

Monster Lore (Ex)

A war scholar adds her Wisdom modifier in addition to her Intelligence modifier to all Knowledge checks made to identify the abilities and weaknesses of creatures, and can make such checks untrained. This replaces the stunning fist class ability.

Battle Focus (Ex)

At 1st level, a war scholar may spend a move action to focus himself for war. By doing so, he may add his Wisdom modifier, up to his war scholar level, to all damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Rapid Planning (Ex)

At 2nd level, a war scholar learns how to rapidly come up with a battle plan. By spending 5 consecutive rounds studying an area, he can grant his allies a bonus from the list below. Each round of studying requires a standard action. During the first round, the war scholar designates a 60-foot radius burst centered on a grid intersection within line of sight as the Advantageous Battleground. This area is considered an advantageous battleground for 1 minute per monk level. At 8th level, it only requires 3 consecutive rounds for the war scholar to come up with a battle plan. At 15th level, it only requires a standard action to come up with a battle plan.

By spending 10 uninterrupted minutes studying the area, the war scholar can make the area considered an advantageous battleground for 10 minutes per monk level.

At 2nd level, a war scholar may grant one of the following benefits to all allies within the advantageous battleground.

At 5th level and every 6 levels thereafter (11th and 17th), the war scholar may grant one additional tactic to allies in the advantageous battleground. If a tactic grants a “planning bonus”, the bonus is a +1 insight bonus at 1st level. At 5th level and every 6 levels thereafter (11th and 17th), the planning bonus increases by +1. Allies in the advantageous battleground must be able to hear and understand the war scholar to gain the benefits.

At 2nd level, a war scholar may choose from the following benefits:

  • Allies may apply the planning bonus to their AC against attacks of opportunities and to their CMD.
  • Allies Base Speed increases by 10 feet when making a charge.
  • Allies standing up from prone do not provoke attacks of opportunities.
  • Allies take half the normal penalty for dealing non-lethal damage with a lethal weapon.
  • Allies may apply the planning bonus on skill checks or attack rolls made when using the aid another action, and if successful, the assisted ally increases the aid another bonus by an amount equal to the planning bonus.
  • Allies may apply the planning bonus as a bonus to concentration checks
  • Allies may apply the planning bonus to all weapon damage rolls.

At 9th level, the war scholar may also choose from these benefits:

  • Allies may move through 5 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain. This feat allows you to take a 5-foot step into difficult terrain. This stacks with feats like Nimble Moves and Acrobatic Steps
  • Allies may apply the planning bonus to attack rolls.
  • Allies may make one additional attack of opportunity per round (if able to), and may apply the planning bonus to all attacks of opportunity they make.

This ability replaces the unarmed strike ability and the increased unarmed damage.

Solo Tactics (Ex)

At 3rd level, all of the war scholar’s allies are treated as if they possessed the same teamwork feats as the war scholar for the purpose of determining whether the war scholar receives a bonus from her teamwork feats. His allies do not receive any bonuses from these feats unless they actually possess the feats themselves. The allies’ positioning and actions must still meet the prerequisites listed in the teamwork feat for the war scholar to receive the listed bonus.

Teamwork Feat

At 3rd level, and every three levels thereafter, the war scholar gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement.

These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as teamwork feats. The war scholar must meet the prerequisites of the selected bonus feat.

This ability replaces the bonus feats class feature.

Ki Pool (Su)

This is like the monk’s normal ki pool in all ways except as detailed below. When the war scholar has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he does not treat his unarmed strikes as magical, lawful, or adamantine. Instead, as long as the war scholar has 1 point in his ki pool, one weapon he is using is treated as having the cunning magical weapon enhancement. The war scholar cannot spend a ki point to gain an extra attack while using flurry of blows.

Instead, the war scholar can spend a ki point as a swift action to instantly come up with a battle plan. Treat this as if he used the Rapid Planning ability for the number of rounds required by his level. Instead of the normal duration, this lasts for a number of rounds equal to one fourth the war scholar’s class level. This modifies the ki pool class feature.

Abundant Step (Su)

The war scholar gains the abundant step ability at 7th level instead of 12th level.

The war scholar also gains Dimensional Agility as a bonus feat.

This ability replaces the maneuver training and purity of body abilities.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Secrets of Tactical Archetypes © 2012 Steven D. Russell; Authors: Will McCardell and Benjamin Rombeaut

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