Rose and Thorn Duelist (3e Prestige Class)

Created by the incomparable Aelryinth from Okay-Your Turn.

A Rose and Thorn stylist is equal parts grace and cunning. The style is based around the use of two weapons, the Rose (rapier) and the Thorn (long knife/stilletto/main-gaunche).

History
To be sure, very few people know that the Rose and Thorn style of fencing originated in Haxan. Once developed it was rapidly co-opted by the Halvyr Minstrels, who quickly spread word of it wherever they went by employing it's rather eye-catching tactics.

The roots of the Rose and Thorn come out of classical piercing sword styles many thousands of years old. Within the last five hundred years, the rise of fighting styles based around purely piercing attacks and their popularity in 'civilized' societies prompted the Haxans to go out and study what exactly those fops were doing, come back home and refine it into something usable against things other then strutting courtiers while capturing the rather unnecessary grace and elegance that made it appealing to 'nobles' and the pretentious.

The Halvyr (half-elven) saw this style in it's early stages and adored it, especially their roving music-(and trouble) makers. In seemingly no time at all, the style lost all trace of Haxan origins, which actually made the Haxans breathe a sigh of relief. The greatest masters of the Rose and Thorn are Halvyr...elves tend to avoid the style, even though it's beauty and grace are very appealing, due to ancient racial enmity. Pariah elves embrace it fully, however, and Hynnyl (human/halfling hybrids) enjoy the bounce around and sly cuteness of the style with the energy and zeal of grown up adolescents. Haxans avoid it..it is not taught to humans.

A Rose and Thorn stylist is equal parts grace and cunning. The style is based around the use of two weapons, the Rose (rapier) and the Thorn (long knife/stilletto/main-gaunche). Heavier weapons do not work with the style, and shorter ones do not have the range of attack needed.

The primary weapon of the Rose stylist is generally beautiful, silvered or mithral, flashy, elaborately decorated, with a fanciful full guard hilt done in a flower motif. The best of them are magical, and the guards actually come alive to embrace the grip of their masters in a rustle of thorned metal.

The Thorn is stark counterpart. At the best it is severe and plain, at the worst, brutal and mean, with nasty spike knuckles, serrated edges, sword-breaker quillons, blackened metal with gleaming edges and such like. Unlike the quick, graceful strikes of the Rose, the Thorn tends to be moved sharply, abruptly, even jaggedly, yet precisely. It comes into play anytime close-quarters are required and the Rose is useless.

The stylist does not attack with the Thorn except in close quarters. It's purpose is to supplement the Rose.

The standard Thorn is a 1-4 Dmg, 18-20/x2, +2 to disarm attempts martial weapon (martial long dagger with dueling guard, unbalanced for throwing). The standard Rose is 1-6 18-20/x2, +2 to disarm attempts (rapier with dueling guard).
{Edit: The +2 to Disarms is considered an Equipment bonus}

A Rose stylist will almost never be caught without a masterwork, custom made weapon, usually with too much fine gold inlay, a jewel or two or four inset, and often a whole floral vein section tallying off victories from duels on the guard.

Requirements
BAB: +6
Feats: Expertise (brains), Ambidexterity/TWF (flexibility), Weapon Finesse (precision), Combat Reflexes (opportunity), Quickdraw (readiness)
Skills: 5 ranks Bluff and Perform (style and grace), 7 ranks Tumbling (agility)
Alignment: Non-Lawful. There's way too much fun, flamboyance and vanity associated with this style for dour Lawful types to learn it.
Race: Hynfolk (halflings) sometimes learn this style with small rapiers. However, it's practitioners and teachers are almost all halvyr and hynnyl. Haxans tend to prefer their traditional schools rather then the flowery nonsense of this style, and other humans vastly prefer their national styles, or the classic duelling path, so it is not taught to humans.

Special Note: Dodge is required for higher level class abilities.


HD: d8
BAB: as fighter
Saves: Good reflex
Skill Points: 4+Int/Level
Skills: Bluff, Tumble, Balance, Sense Motive, Jump, Climb, Escape Artist, Craft, Ride, Swim, Perform, Diplomacy, Appraise, Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand, Spot, Listen

1) Rose and Thorn style
2) Weeping Roses
3) The Embrace of Roses
4) Warding Thorns, Weave the Blossoms
5) Beauty of the Roses, Pluck the Rose +1d6
6) Attar of Roses, Grace of the Rose
7) A Fistful of Thorns
8 ) All the World Abloom
9) A Scattering of Petals
10) Roses, Thorns, Blood, Tears; Pluck the Rose +2d6



Rose and Thorn style: Declare a rapier (Rose) and a style of knife/dagger (Thorn). When using these weapons, you only attack with one or the other. You suffer no attack penalty for wielding these two weapons if you attack with only one. Any feats you take that apply to one weapon apply to the other when you shift focus to it instead (Sympathetic Feats).
Example: If you have Weapon Focus (Rapier) and are in a grapple, you shift to your Thorn, and now possess weapon Focus (Thorn) while having no bonus with your Rapier. If you had Improved Critical (rapier) you would now have Improved Critical (Thorn) instead. Once you switch back to attacking with your rapier, the feats revert as well.

You may only attack with a single weapon while using this ability. If you use Two weapon fighting, you may not swap feats. You may, on the other hand, alternate weapons with normal iteratives (such as Throw Thorn, strike with Rose, strike with Rose with your normal +11/+6/+1).

You do not gain the benefits of this ability while wearing anything that would weigh you down enough to inhibit movement (any armor penalties), and certainly can't use your Thorn decently while using any form of a shield.

You do however, lose your Pluck the Rose benefit since you aren't focusing on one weapon at a time if you alternate weapons this way...and of course, can't Ward if attacking with the Thorn (later ability).

Weeping Roses: Charismatic Defense. Add the bonus for your Charisma to your AC when unarmored and Unencumbered. This bonus is lost whenever you lose your Dex bonus. You DO have to see it coming, after all. The maximum value of this bonus is your levels in Rose & Thorn fencing. It does not stack with Canny Defense (Int bonus to AC)...the defensive styles are at odds in precision vs puffery.

Pluck the Rose: Precise Attack variant...gain this dmg when using your Rose or Thorn (specifically..not alternating). Any creature immune to crits is also immune to this extra damage. You may not attack with a second weapon and gain this damage. It is not multiplied on crits. It does not stack with sneak attack damage. You may not do this damage while wearing armor or wielding a shield.

The Embrace of Roses: is full of Thorns. You may Feint as an M-E. If you like, you may substitute a Perform check for a Bluff check for this skill. If you are going to Feint, do it with STYLE, man!

Warding Thorns: Anytime you are struck with a melee attack that would do extra damage beyond the norm (such as a critical hit, precision attack, sneak attack, energy burst, vorpal attack, etc) you may deflect it with your Thorn. Make an attack roll at your highest base chance (including sympathetic feats). If you beat the attacking roll, you take no damage or other harm from the extra effect (but suffer the normal damage of the attack). This uses up an AoO attempt for the round. This bonus is not affected by any actions which change the TH bonus of the Rose, such as Power Attack or Precision Attack, since the Thorn is not entering combat and does not have damage to swap out or be enhanced.

Weave of Blossoms: You gain the Improved Disarm feat. You may use your Thorn to enhance your Disarm attempts. You are treated as having a Two Handed weapon when wielding your Rose and Thorn in tandem for purposes of disarms (including being disarmed). Combined with the natural bonuses for a Rose and Thorn, this results in a +10 total bonus to Disarm attempts (+4 Improved Disarm, +4 Two Handed Weapon equivalent, +2 equipment bonus).

You lose your Warding Thorn bonus if you employ both weapons this way, until the beginning of the next round. In the event of a counter-disarm before your next turn, your opponent may choose which of your weapons to disarm, but you do retain the dual bonus.

Beauty of the Roses: A smile, a sly word, a flash of hipswing...barbed and all too pointed taunts and insults...a rakish smile and sweeping bows at improper moments...you make it hard for an enemy to keep their minds on business.

Specify an enemy. If they fail at a Sense Motive check vs. your Perform (you may take 10 on this, and the opponent may add his BAB to his Check instead of his Sense Motive ranks), you double your Weeping Roses AC bonus against this person for 1 rd/class level. This ability supersedes (does not stack with) your Dodge feat or feats.

If you change your Dodge/Beauty target, you lose the benefits of this feat against the previous target and cannot affect him with Beauty again during this combat. If your foe is unable to see or hear you, this ability cannot be used.

Using your Beauty is a free action, but takes a round of taunting and showing off before it takes effect, and thus takes effect the round after a target for your attentions is declared.


Attar of Roses: Dextrous Attack. You may subtract your skill and magic enhancement bonuses(typically, Spec bonus and enhancement of weapon) from your attacks to increase your TH on a 1:1 basis. The maximum limit on this is lower of these fixed bonuses or your BAB. Rose stylists are excellent at hitting their marks...even if they dont do much harm when they do!

Grace of the Rose: You gain +2 to Initiative. You also gain a +2 to all Cha related checks against members of the opposite sex, within reason for race You are, simply put, a dashing, somewhat pretentious, doubtless overdressed (or is it underdressed?) example of your people...and humble and kind to children too, no doubt!

A Fistful of Thorns: results when you grab roses. (Close-Quarters Fighting) When you are subject to a grapple (after the grapple has started, but before it resolves), you are entitled to a special AoO. You always use your Thorn for this attack ... sympathetic feats apply. Any damage you do is added to your opposed Grapple roll to resist the grapple.

Furthermore, any damage you do with your Thorn while already grappled is added to your next grapple or Escape Artist attempt to get free of the grapple. Note that you cannot attack in a Grapple if you are Pinned.

All the World Abloom: Double all modifiers to AC you gain from taking the defensive fighting or full defense manuvers. Your Thorn also now grants you a continuous +2 Shield bonus to AC. You lose this Shield bonus if you make any kind of attack with your Thorn, including AoO, until your next action. Thorn Wardings are not considered attacks.

A Scattering of Petals: Anytime your opponent is denied his Dex bonus to AC, you may make a free attack on him at your highest BAB with your Rose (exactly as per the Expert Tactician feat). Touche, pussicato!

Roses, Thorns, Blood, Tears: Gain the Improved Critical feat for your Rose and Thorn. If you have this feat already, you gain the Power Critical feat...declare a crit 1/day with either your Rose or Thorn. This declared crit does not activate any other crit dependent effects. This is a largely underpowered ability for weaponry that criticals often...but the sheer fun of being able to declare a damaging strike and deliver thru on it makes it much beloved of the artistic Rose and Thorn stylists.

Roses and kisses, darlings!



Feats of the Rose and Thorns

Fighter Haxan/Halvyr means this may be taken as a Fighter bonus feat by Halvyr or Haxans...it is otherwise a General feat restricted to Halvyr, Haxans, or Rose and Thorn stylists.

The Rose and Thorn practitioners pride themselves on intelligent applications of combat, despite their distracting swordplay (and attire...). They particularly enjoy using their opponent's tactics against them.


The Path of Roses
Req: Dex 13+, Int 13+, Dodge, Expertise
General, Fighter/Halvyr
Whenever you use Expertise, gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to your AC. You may declare Expertise 0 and still gain the bonus. You must be wielding a one handed melee weapon and be unarmored and unencumbered to employ this feat.
This feat may be taken multiple times. Its benefits stack.

Bleed the Bull
General, Fighter Haxan/Halvyr
Requirements: Expertise, Weapon Focus, Spot 5 ranks
Anytime an opponent suffers a voluntary penalty to AC, you gain an additional bonus TH them equal to the amount of the penalty.
Examples, Raging (-2 to AC), Reckless Offensive feat (-4 to AC), Charging (-2 to AC), voluntarily giving up Dex bonus to AC (some OA katas). You take advantage of your foes single minded offense to guide his attacks into opening himself up still further. These bonuses do stack if multiple AC penalties are in operation.


Lost in the Roses
General, Fighter Halvyr/Haxan
Req: Bleed the Bull, BAB 8+, Weapon Finesse, Sense Motive 5 ranks
When an opponent takes any kind of voluntary attack or movement penalty in combat with you, you gain a +3 Competence bonus to AC.
Examples, in addition to above: Power Attack (penalty TH, Expertise (penalty TH), Precision Attack (penalty to damage), defensive fighting (TH penalty), shortening movement (Lightning Style, OA katas, Dwarven Defender in Defensive Stance), Two Weapon Fighting (TH penalty), Flurry of Blows (TH penalty).
You automatically wage your blows to accelerate and so destabilize the flamboyant or take advantage of the lack of mobility of your opponents.


Entwined in the Roses
General, Fighter Haxan/Halvyr
Req: Improved Disarm or Improved Sunder
Benefit: You are an expert at turning parry attempts against their users.
When an attempt is made to parry one of your strikes, you may immediately make an AoO against the attacking weapon to Disarm it and/or Sunder it, as your choice. This special AoO does not provoke an AoO from your opponent, nor may it be parried itself. If you succeed in this attack (Sunder or Disarm the weapon), your parried attack is considered not parried and you may continue your attack normally.
Note you do not need Improved Sunder to Sunder, or Improved Disarm to Disarm, once you have the feat...you only need one of the two to qualify.


How's that for fencing? Very nimble, hard to hit, tactically adept, Perfom based skills dovetail with Bards, anti-Rage feat, anti-fancy power moves feat, and for all the people who hate Parry rules, an Anti-Parry feat.



This is a very feat intensive class to get into (no Humans, mind you!), has a d8 HD, and fewer skill points then a bard. Its a little high on the granted ability side to make up for the large amount of incoming feats, and its designed to hit a foe, but not do a ton of damage to him. Its specifically good at fighting other Duelists, especially those who love to parry and not trust in their own defenses.

Furthermore, the Pluck the Roses damage is more flamboyant opportunity then sneaky precision, and so doesn't stack with Sneak Attack, which means they generally do even less damage then a straight-on Duellist (likely to have Rogue levels, and Sneak Attack, and/or Power