Paragon

Paragons are skillful individuals who attempt in every situation to prevent the loss of life and the inconveniencing of others, monstrous or otherwise. If pushed too far, their personal vows do not prevent them from killing; their vows however do force them to use deadly force as a last resort, to the point of necessitating putting themselves at risk of bodily harm beforehand. Paragons are peacekeepers, storytellers, and strive towards cultural unity by spreading the legends of the world.

Hit Die, Proficiencies, Alignment, Skills, and Progression

 * Hit Die: d8
 * Armor Proficiencies: Fur, Leather, and Studded Leather
 * Weapon Proficiencies: Baton, Cudgel, Hammer, Sap, Club, Scepter, Greatclub, Quarterstaff, Whip, Stone, Bolo, and Net
 * Alignment: All non-Chaotic, non-Evil alignments
 * Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int
 * In-Class Skills: Acrobatics, Climb, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Heal, Intimidate, Perception, Perform (oratory + one other), Sense Motive, Survival, Swim (Str 2, Dex 2, Wis 4, Cha 4)

Oath of the Paragon
You have made a sacred vow to leave things as they were (Lawful Neutral or True Neutral), or better than you found them (Lawful Good or Neutral Good). Furthermore, you have vowed to do as little harm to the world as is safely possible. By these vows, you abide by the following rules against any perceivably-intelligent creature: Following these vows, you are granted hte ability to use your Paragon's Parables and Legends. If ever you break your vows, you must spend 24 hours without access to these Parables and Legends.
 * Use Diplomacy before engagements to try and prevent things from coming to blows.
 * Failing Diplomacy, you would then use Intimidate to try and get the opposing forces to think twice.
 * Failing Diplomacy and Intimidate, you must wait for you or your allies to be attacked before retaliating (although strategic position and readying actions is acceptable), and only those you have observed attacking may be retaliated against.
 * Unless you have been hit for an amount of lethal damage equal to or greater than your current number of hit die by your opponent, you must use nonlethal damage.
 * Bring as many fights as possible to a yield, whether lethal force was used against you and your allies or not.

Improved Unarmed Strike
As the feat:


 * You are considered "armed" when not using a weapon (i.e. an armed opponent does not get an Attack of Opportunity against you when you attack).


 * Your Unarmed Strike does lethal or nonlethal damage, as you desire.

New In-Class Skill
At level 2, you may choose one more skill to permanently be considered an in-class skill.

Stone Hands
The Paragon's unarmed attacks (hands) now deal the indicated damage, and may deal lethal damage instead of nonlethal. You may choose before making the attack to deal nonlethal damage instead without the normal attack penalty. The damage die indicated by Stone Hands presumes a Medium-sized Paragon; if the Paragon is not Medium-sized, the assigned damage die should be adjusted accordingly.

At level 3, Stone Hands makes the unarmed attack 1d4. At level 9, it becomes 1d6. At level 15, it becomes 1d8.

Old Hand of Rigors +x
The Paragon gains +x Stamina.

Karma Shield
As a Good-aligned Paragon who abides by the Oath of the Paragon, you gain +1 Flat-Footed AC, +1 AC vs. traps, +1 Reflex save vs. traps, +1 Fort save vs. poisons, and +1 to Will saves vs. mind-affecting abilities. The Karma Shield is a permanent effect, and emits a specific aura that Paladins can detect on sight.

Parable
You may choose each Parable only once. Take Soul To Heart is granted auto-matically at level 1; new Parables are available at levels 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16 and 18.

Paragons gain their worldly wisdom by seeking stories throughout their lives. These short stories find their ways across cultures and languages, bridging the gap between cultures while sharing new concepts.

Before being able to acquire a Parable, the Paragon must first find an individual from which they may learn the Parable's wisdom. As such, the Paragon must speak to as many individuals as they can to learn their stories and unlock their secrets.

Take Soul To Heart

 * Wherever skills gain a bonus from Charisma (except for Intimidate and Use Magic Device), they may instead take a bonus of one-half your Paragon level (up to +6) if this value is higher. This Parable is granted at level 1 automatically.

Lightest Touch

 * Activated. Twice per day, if your unarmed attack meets an opponent’s Touch AC but does not count to hit them, you may turn your attack into a grapple attempt automatically as if you had Improved Grapple. Only works in light or no armor.

Smallest Gesture

 * Activated. Once per encounter, you may use a full-round action to roll a Bluff check vs. all observing opponents’ Sense Motive checks. If successful, either a.) you gain +2 to hit until the end of the encounter against all opponents who observed you, or b.) you and all of your allies gain +2 to hit until the end of your next turn against all opponents who observed you.

Wax and Wane

 * You gain your Wisdom modifier as an additional bonus to AC. This bonus works the same as a Dexterity bonus to AC for the purposes of determining Flat-Footed and Touch AC. Only works without armor.

Motion to Master

 * Activated. Once per round, you may use an attack of opportunity to roll your attack against an opponent up to 1 size category larger who is making a melee attack within range of your melee reach, regardless of if they have provoked an attack of opportunity in doing so. If you hit, you force their attack to miss. This does not work against a charge.

Concept to Fact

 * You automatically disbelieve all applicable illusions.

Swords to Plowshares

 * Activated. Must be True Neutral. Using a standard action, make one unarmed attack at your highest attack bonus. If it hits, the target takes normal attack damage and makes a Fort save DC 10 + ½ Paragon level + Wisdom modifier. If they fail, they lose 1d3 + Str stamina (but not mana). You automatically lose 1 stamina but do not make a Stamina Exhaustion roll for this attack.

Journey of the Skylark

 * You gain the Endurance feat, and +10’ to your base land movement speed. Only works in light or no armor.

Fall of the Last Straw

 * Activated. Once per day, you may immediately place yourself at the start of the Initiative count of an encounter.

Crash of the Avalanche

 * Activated; costs 2 Stamina. Must be Neutral Good or True Neutral. On any successful unarmed attack that uses your highest attack bonus, you may use Crash of the Avalanche to inflict an automatic critical hit with that attack. This ability does not work in conjunction with Turn of the Tide.

Turn of the Tide

 * Activated. Must be Lawful Neutral or True Neutral. Until the start of your next turn, your AC is now 10 regardless of enchantments or abilities (unless your current AC is less than 10, at which point it would remain unchanged). Every attack you make in this time will hit until the end of your turn as long as you do not roll a critical failure, and every Stamina Exhaustion roll for this turn's attacks automatically count as rolls of 1.


 * You may not inflict a critical hit while Turn of the Tide is active, and you may make only one attack per attack provided by BAB. This ability does not negate Miss Chance, and also does not work in conjunction with Crash of the Avalanche. Only works in light or no armor.

The Hands of the Unknown

 * Activated; costs 2 Stamina. Does not work in conjunction with Crash of the Avalanche or Turn of the Tide.


 * The Paragon may make a full attack after declaring they have activated The Hands of the Unknown in order to make a well-trained series of attacks.


 * The Paragon's Base Attack Bonus becomes equal to their Paragon level. They make a series of attacks using any combination of unarmed and armed attacks they are proficient with as if they had the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. At level 8, they are treated as if they had Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, and at level 15 they are treated as if they had Greater Two-Weapon Fighting.


 * The Paragon does not need to make Stamina Exhaustion rolls in conjunction with their attacks as they normally would.


 * The following table shows their effective Base Attack Bonuses as the character progresses:

Insect In The Field

 * Activated. During an encounter, you may take a full-round action to make a Perception check vs. DC 18 + 2 per opponent. If you succeed, you may move through the entire encounter without provoking any attacks of opportunity (unless a given opponent was not present when Insect In The Field was activated). Only works in light or no armor.

Student of the Old Ways

 * Must be Lawful Good. You gain mana equal to the higher of your Wisdom or Charisma modifier + the number of Legends you know. If you become a Paladin, Student of the Old Ways stacks with the Paladin's Mana.

Karma

 * Activated. Must be Lawfully aligned. Once per day, you may use one of these two options:


 * 1) Before rolling, gain a +4 bonus to your Fortitude or Will save; or
 * 2) After rolling but before confirming its result, reroll a Fortitude or Will saving throw.

Sand and Stone

 * Any time you deal more than 6 + Target's ECL damage in a single attack with a bludgeoning weapon or unarmed attack, your target also loses 1 stamina.

The Paradox of Predator and Pray

 * Gain +10' base land movement speed. This Parable may be taken more than once, each time after the first adding an additional +5' base land movement speed.

Legend
Wisdom-based spell-like abilities. You may choose each Legend only once.

Paragons have learned the lessons of legends passed down over the ages; the wisdom of these legends grants them access to special abilities no other has access to.

Paragons at level 5 may only choose Legends with an Effective Spell Level of 4 or less. At level 10, this restriction changes to 5 or less. At levels 15 and 20, there is no such restriction.

Ætherguild

 * Lv6 [abj] Standard, Personal, VS, lasts 3 + Cha rounds(D), 4 mana


 * You gain universal Spell Resistance 6 + Cha + ½ Paragon level.

The Brooder

 * Lv5 [ench (mind-affecting)] Full-round, Personal, VS, lasts 2 + Cha rounds, 0 mana


 * After the full-round of preparation, you gain +5 to your Intimidation checks for the duration of The Brooder. Anyone during this time who perceives you must beat your Intimidation check with either a Sense Motive check or their own Intimidation check. Failing that, they will act as if under the effects of a Fear spell for 1 + Cha rounds.


 * Anyone who succeeds in beating this check is immune from the effects of The Brooder by any Paragon. Your allies must pass this save as well.

Carrion Crow

 * Lv5 [??? (mind-affecting)] Full-round, Personal, VSF(see desc.), Concentrate, 4 mana


 * May only be acquired by a True Neutral Paragon.


 * Touching the focus of the body of an opponent you have killed prior to using Carrion Crow, you gain over the course of your full-round action an amount of stamina equal to the dead creature's hit die. This stamina is temporary and lasts until used or for ½ Paragon level minutes. You also gain a bonus to Intimidate equal to ½ the dead creature's hit die.


 * Until the end of this encounter or until you break Concentration (whichever comes first), every opponent who attempts to attack you must first succeed against your Intimidation roll with a Sense Motive or Intimidate roll of their own. If they fail to do so, they lose their attack.

Face of the Mountain

 * Lv6 [trans] Full-round, Personal, V, lasts 10 rounds(D), see desc.


 * You gain DR n/- for the duration of Face of the Mountain, where n is equal to your Wisdom modifier. Each time you are hit, you lose 1d3 stamina or mana (dispersed at your discretion). May be dismissed as a Swift action.

The Fell Mind

 * Lv4 [universal] Swift, Personal, FortNeg, lasts until expended(D), 3 mana


 * All of your attacks until your next successful hit have a -1 attack penalty.


 * When next you hit with an unarmed or bludgeoning melee attack, your opponent must pass a Fortitude save with the higher of either your Strength or Wisdom modifier as a bonus to the DC. If they fail, they are Confused for 1d3 rounds. This ability stacks with Turn of the Tide by making a critical failure occur on rolls of 1 or 2 for the duration of The Fell Mind, instead of only rolls of 1.

The Firebrand

 * Lv4 [ench (fire)] Swift, Personal, V, lasts Cha rounds, 1d4 mana


 * All of your melee attacks deal an extra amount of Fire damage equal to your attacks' damage die. For instance, if you are attacking with an unarmed attack that deals 1d4+5 damage, you will deal an additional 1d4 Fire damage; or if you are attacking with a longsword that deals 1d8+4 damage, you will deal an additional 1d8 Fire damage.


 * You also resist the first 20 magical fire-based damage from any one source for the duration of this ability.

The Taker

 * Lv4 [ench] Swift, Personal, lasts until discharged, 1 mana


 * You will not react from pain the next time you are hit.


 * The next time you are hit with a melee attack, you will perform a free action in response depending on the kind of attack it is.


 * If you are hit with a melee weapon, you will perform an automatic Disarm attack as if you had the Improved Disarm feat, with an additional bonus to your Disarm equal to the amount of damage you took from the attack.


 * If you are hit with an unarmed attack, you will perform an automatic Grapple as if you had the Improved Grapple feat, with an additional bonus to your Grapple check equal to the amount of damage you took from the attack.

Vicious

 * Lv4 [universal] Swift, Personal, V, lasts until dismissed, 1 mana per round


 * May be dismissed as a Swift action at any time before your Move action.


 * Vicious grants the Paragon increased unarmed damage at the cost of 1 mana per round. At Paragon level 8 and below, all unarmed attacks deal 1d6 lethal damage; at levels 9-14, this increases to 1d8; at level 15 and above, this increases to 1d10.


 * These damages are listed under the assumption that the Paragon is a Medium-sized creature. If the Paragon is a different-sized creature, the damage die listed should be adjusted accordingly.