Warrior (Essentials)

The sword has to be more than a simple weapon; it has to be an answer to life's questions.
-- Miyamoto Musashi

Overview

Playstyle: The warrior is meant to be a rebuilding of the Fighter class, for those who want to enjoy the flexibility of traditional D&D fighting, without the reliance as much on either feat building or dice. This is heavily inspired by the Fighter and Paladin archetypes in the D&D 4E Essentials line, along with the Bladesinger from the Neverwinter Campaign Setting.

Ability Scores: You need Constitution for hit points to survive attacks, and either Strength or Dexterity (if not both!) to wield your weapons effectively.

Warriors gain a +2 class bonus to Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity, as long as it isn’t the same ability you increase with your +2 racial bonus.

Races: All races have waged war in one way or another... and where there are wars, there are warriors to wage them for their commanders and warlords.

Backgrounds: Here are some backgrounds to get you started with your warrior: Knight, slayer, mercenary, folk hero, bouncer, gladiator, soldier, trooper, archer, sniper.

Icons: The Emperor, the Crusader, and the Orc Lord all welcome warriors, but any icon that needs to get a job done in a straightforward manner, will have a use for these combatants.

Warrior Level Progression

At levels 5 and 8, warriors gain an additional talent that allow them to further expand their capabilities.

Gear

At 1st level, warriors start with the weapon(s) and armor that they were able to take with them. Usually warriors start with 25 gp at hand. The more daring warriors tend to start with 1d6 x 10 gp instead.

Warrior Armor and AC

Type    Base AC Atk Penalty
None      10            –
Light      13           –
Heavy    15           –
Shield    +1            –

Weapons

Warriors use all sorts of weapons and styles, though some may prefer a certain type of weapon or fighting style. Some stances favor sticking to certain combinations (like shield and melee weapon, or bows/crossbows, or dual wielding). A few warriors might opt to not take any weapons at all, relying on the power of their fists to speak for them.

Armor

Warriors ideally use full plate or similar heavy armor to protect them, but those who might be more than confident in their sheer durability can opt out of armor altogether, thanks to the talents that can make it really difficult for enemies to take them down.

Warrior Melee Weapons

One-Handed Two-Handed

Small 1d4 dagger 1d6 club

Light or Simple 1d6 shortsword 1d8 spear

Heavy or Martial 1d8 longsword 1d10 greatsword

Warrior Ranged Weapons

Thrown Crossbow Bow

Small 1d4 dagger 1d4 hand crossbow   –

Light or Simple      1d6 javelin  1d6 light crossbow   1d6 shortbow

Heavy Martial – 1d8 heavy crossbow 1d8 longbow

Warrior Level Progression

Warrior Level	Total Hit Points	Total # Feats	# of Class Talents	# of Stances	Level-up Ability Bonuses	Damage bonus from Ability Score
Level 1 Multiclass	(Avg. of both classes) x 3	As 1st level PC	3 (at least one must be from each class)	2		Ability modifier
Level 1	(8 + CON mod) x 3	1 adventurer	3	2		Ability modifier
Level 2	(8 + CON mod) x 4	2 adventurer	3	2		Ability modifier
Level 3	(8 + CON mod) x 5	3 adventurer	3	2		Ability modifier
Level 4	(8 + CON mod) x 6	4 adventurer	3	2	+1 to 3 abilities	Ability modifier
Level 5	(8 + CON mod) x 8	4 adventurer 1 champion	4	3		2 x ability modifier
Level 6	(8 + CON mod) x 10	4 adventurer 2 champion	4	3		2 x ability modifier
Level 7	(8 + CON mod) x 12	4 adventurer 3 champion	4	3	+1 to 3 abilities	2 x ability modifier
Level 8	(8 + CON mod) x 16	4 adventurer 3 champion 1 epic	5	4		3 x ability modifier
Level 9	(8 + CON mod) x 20	4 adventurer 3 champion 2 epic	5	4		3 x ability modifier
Level 10	(8 + CON mod) x 24	4 adventurer 3 champion 3 epic	5	4	+1 to 3 abilities	3 x ability modifier

Warrior 1st Level Stats

Initiative, AC, PD, MD, Hit Points, Recovery Dice, Feats, and some Talents are level dependent.

Ability Bonus	+2 Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity (different from racial bonus)
Initiative	Dex mod + level
Armor Class (heavy armor)	15 + level + middle mod of Con/Dex/Wis
Armor Class (heavy armor with shield)	16 + level + middle mod of Con/Dex/Wis
Physical Defense	11 + level + middle mod of Str/Con/Dex
Mental Defense	10 + level + middle mod of Int/Wis/Cha
Hit Points	(8 + Con mod) x Level modifier (see level progression chart)
Recoveries	(probably) 9
Recovery Dice	(1d10 x Level) + Con mod
Backgrounds	8 points, max 5 in any one background
Icon Relationships	3 points
Adventurer-Tier Talents	3 (see level progression chart)
Adventurer-Tier Feat	1 per level

Warrior Basic Attacks

At-will melee attack

Attack: Strength or Dexterity + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage
Miss: Damage equal to your level

At-will ranged attack

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage
Miss: Damage equal to your level

Warrior Class Features

Warriors have two class features: Power Strike and Extra Tough.

Extra Tough

You start with nine recoveries instead of the usual eight.

Adventurer Feat: Increase your total recoveries by 1.

Power Strike

Once per battle, you can add a WEAPON die to the damage of an attack that hit.

Adventurer Feat: You can now use this an additional time per battle.

Champion Feat: You add an extra WEAPON die to the attack.

Epic Feat: You can now use this an additional time per battle.

Warrior Class Talents

Choose three of the following class talents at level 1. At levels 5 and 8, you can choose one more class talent.

Path of the Defender

Special: You cannot take this if you took the Path of the Slayer
Enemies engaged with you have a -4 penalty to their attack rolls if they do not include anyone who has this talent in their attack; this penalty is not cumulative with anyone who has this talent. Once per round, if an enemy engaged with you attacks an ally who does not have this talent, you can make an opportunity attack.

Adventurer Feat: Add your Strength modifier to miss damage with opportunity attacks. At 5th level, this increases to twice your Strength modifier. At 8th level, this increases to three times your Strength modifier.

Champion Feat: The first time you fail a saving throw in a battle, you can reroll the save and take either result. 

Epic Feat: You can spend an additional recovery when rallying.

<<start sidebar>>
The intent of this talent is to force the enemy to attack you instead of your less beefy allies. Thus, the GM can and probably should rule that any talent or feature that functions similarly to this, like the Paladin's Challenge or the Swordmage's Mark with Sigil, will not overlap with this. This also means that this doesn't give an enemy -12 to attacks just because three warriors ganged up on that single opponent.
<<end sidebar>>

Path of the Slayer

Special: You cannot take this if you took the Path of the Defender

While you are staggered, you gain a bonus to damage rolls with warrior basic attacks equal to your Dexterity modifier. At 5th level, your bonus damage is equal to twice your Dexterity modifier instead. At 8th level, your bonus damage is equal to three times your Dexterity modifier instead.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, you can cause each enemy engaged with you to pop free as a quick action.

Champion Feat: Once you used the adventurer feat ability, you can move to engage an enemy as a free action.

Epic Feat: You have resistance 16+ against melee attacks while you are staggered.

Cathedral's Charger

Special: You cannot take this if you took Shadow's Herald
Your Power Strike also does radiant damage, and the target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Adventurer Feat: Choose one daily or recharge spell of your level or lower from the cleric class. You can cast this spell as if you were a cleric. 

Champion Feat: You can cast the Cleric spell Heal once per battle.

Epic Feat: One battle per day, you can rally to inspire your companions from the brink of defeat (instead of the normal rallying to inspire you to continue to fight on your own). Each time you succeed in rallying, each ally nearby gains hit points equal to half the amount you regained.

Shadow's Herald

Special: You cannot take this if you took Cathedral's Charger
Your Power Strike also does cold and necrotic damage, and deals ongoing cold and necrotic damage equal to the escalation die's current value.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, you can spend a recovery as a free action, but regain no hit points. Instead, roll the recovery dice and gain temporary hit points equal to the result.

Epic Feat:  The first time you fail your death save in a battle, you can choose to become an avatar of the dark gods themselves. If you do, you regain all your hit points, gain resist 12+ against all attacks, all your attacks do half damage on a miss, and you can place yourself in a nearby location you can see as a move action. These benefits last until the end of battle. There is a price to this however: each of your failed death saves carry over until your next level up, or until the GM tells you that you have appeased the dark gods.

<<start sidebar>>
This means that if you used this three times before you reached the next level or appeased the dark gods, they will immediately claim your soul the next time you fail your death save.
<<end sidebar>>

Warrior's Endurance

Your recovery dice are d12s instead of d10s.

Adventurer Feat: The first recovery you spend in a fight is free.

Champion Feat: The first time you fail any save at the end of your turn during battle, you can reroll the save and take either result.

Epic Feat: The first time your hit points are reduced to zero during battle, you can roll a save. If you succeed, you can spend a free recovery as a free action.

Knight's Protection

Twice per battle while you're wielding a shield, when an ally next to you is hit by a natural even attack against AC, you can choose to lose hit points equal to half of that damage, and have your ally take only half of the damage instead. The damage you lose can come from temporary hit points, but isn't affected by damage resistance and other tricks to avoid the damage.

Adventurer Feat: The protection also applies to attacks against PD. 

Champion Feat: You can use it a third time per battle. 

Epic Feat: The ally can be nearby instead of engaged with you.

Eldritch Blade

While wielding swords, you can use Intelligence in place of Strength for melee warrior attack rolls and damage. Additionally, you have the Eldritch Blade background at its full possible bonus of +5, without having to spend your normal background points on it.

Adventurer Feat: Choose one daily or recharge spell of your level or lower from the wizard class. You can cast this spell as if you were a wizard.

Champion Feat: You can now choose an at-will instead.

Epic Feat: You gain an additional wizard spell of your choice that is your level or lower; a total of two from this talent.

<<start sidebar>>
The background can be changed as desired, as it represents your training at using magic alongside your fighting skills. Bladesinger, swordmage, and eldritch knight are example alternatives.
<<end sidebar>>

Weapon Master

Choose one weapon that you own. This is now your signature weapon. While wielding this weapon, your attacks that hit deal extra damage equal to your level. For one battle per day, your attacks with this weapon deal half damage on a miss. If you are unable to use this weapon for any reason, at the end of a daily heal-up (once per level or when the GM allows it), you can change your signature weapon.

Adventurer Feat: You can make the target of your Power Strike pop free from one creature they are engaged with, and they are hampered until the end of your next turn.

Champion Feat: Once per battle while wielding a melee weapon, when you are hit by an attack that targets AC, you can take half damage from that attack instead as a free action.

Epic Feat:  Once per day, you can reroll a recharge roll for a magic weapon power.

Dirty Fighting

Once per battle when you perform a dicey stunt and you don't like the result, you can reroll it and choose either result.

Adventurer Feat: Once per day, you can reroll your relationship dice with a villainous or ambiguous icon.

Champion Feat: On a natural 16+, the target of your Power Strike is also confused until the end of your next turn.

Epic Feat: You gain an additional icon relationship point with an ambiguous or villainous icon.

Fist of the Overworld

Special: You cannot take this if you took Underworld's Grasp
Your unarmed attacks no longer suffer the -2 penalty to hit, and your weapon damage dice for unarmed attacks is d6 per level instead, and are always considered fighting with two weapons while not wielding any weapon or shield in either hand.

Adventurer Feat: You gain +1 to AC while not wielding any weapon or shield in either hand. At 5th level, you gain +2 AC instead. At 8th level, you gain +3 AC instead.

Champion Feat: You deal ongoing damage equal to your Strength modifier to enemies you grab. At 8th level, your ongoing damage equals twice your Strength modifier. Additionally, you can choose to deal fire and radiant damage with your unarmed attacks.

Epic Feat: Once per battle, max out all of your unarmed attack's damage dice when you hit with an attack.

<<start sidebar>>
The epic feat will also max out Power Strike.
<<end sidebar>>

Combat Maneuver

As per Commander talent: Choose a fighter maneuver of your level or lower. You can use it like a fighter. You can also switch it for a different maneuver each time you level up.

Adventurer Feat: You gain the adventurer feat for the maneuver you chose, if any.

Champion Feat: Choose a second fighter maneuver of your level or lower to use.

Epic Feat: You gain the adventurer and champion tier feats, if any, for both your fighter maneuvers.

Underworld's Grasp

Special: You cannot take this if you took Fist of the Overworld
The first time you are staggered in a fight, you gain temporary hit points equal to 10 + your level.

Adventurer Feat: Choose one daily or recharge spell of your level or lower from the necromancer class. You can cast this spell as if you were a necromancer. You can change your chosen spell each time you take a full heal-up.

Champion Feat: You no longer need to eat or sleep, and you can now choose from necromancer at-will spells.

Epic Feat: You no longer age, don't need to breath, and the first time you are reduced to zero hit points in a fight, roll a normal save (11+). On a success, you are at 1 hit point instead, and can spend a recovery as a free action.

Throwing Specialist

Your attacks with small thrown weapons now deal d6 damage per level. Your attacks with light thrown weapons now deal d8 damage per level. In addition, after you make a warrior ranged basic attack with a thrown weapon, you can draw another thrown weapon as a free action instead of a quick action.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, when you miss with a warrior ranged basic attack using a thrown weapon, you can make another warrior ranged basic attack as a quick action.

Champion Feat: On a natural 16+ with a ranged basic attack using a thrown weapon, you can reroll the attack against a different enemy that is nearby the target as a free action. That attack does not get to reroll against a different enemy on a natural 16+.

Epic Feat: Once per day, you can take a standard action to make a ranged basic attack against each nearby enemy using a single thrown weapon.

<<start sidebar>>
The Champion Feat essentially lets you bounce your thrown weapon against one enemy if you roll well enough (and only one enemy), while the Epic Feat lets you bounce your thrown weapon against every nearby enemy. and it can stack with the champion feat (for maximum pinball effect), if your GM allows it.
<<end sidebar>>

Stances

You can only have one stance active at any given time, and entering/switching stances is usually a quick action to do so. They stay active until you fall unconscious, until you choose a different stance, or if you choose not to use any stance as a free action. Basic attacks from other classes (if you multiclass) do not benefit from stances unless your GM allows them to.

You start with two stances at level 1, and gain an additional stance at level 5 and level 8 (see Warrior chart).

Adventurer Feat: You can enter/switch stances as a free action once per round during your turn. 

Champion Feat: You gain an additional stance. 

Epic Feat: For one battle a day, you can have two stances active.

Duelist's Dance

Until the stance ends, your warrior basic melee attacks deal extra damage against enemies that are not engaged by any of your allies equal to your Dexterity modifier. At 5th level, you deal extra damage equal to twice your Dexterity modifier. At 8th level, you deal extra damage equal to three times your Dexterity modifier.

Adventurer Feat: You gain a bonus to disengage attempts equal to your Dexterity modifier while in this stance.

Champion Feat: You can disengage as a quick action while in this stance.

Epic Feat: Whenever an enemy makes a natural odd attack against you while in this stance, you can make an opportunity attack against them. If this attack hits, it deals half damage instead.

Defensive Formation

Until the stance ends, you have a +1 to AC while wielding a shield. If you are next to an ally who is also in this stance, you each gain a +1 to AC (maximum +2).

Adventurer Feat: The bonus also applies to PD. 

Champion Feat: For one battle a day, you have a bonus to AC equal to half of the escalation die's value (rounded down), while wielding a shield in this stance.

Epic Feat: While wielding a shield in this stance, you gain a +1 bonus to warrior basic attack rolls.

Shadow Port Hustle

Until the stance ends, each time you hit an enemy with a warrior basic attack, you can attempt to disengage or move to a nearby position as a free action.

Adventurer Feat: You deal extra damage to the target you hit equal to the number of allies engaged with it.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, you can pop free instead of disengage.

Epic Feat: When the Escalation Die reaches 4+, on a natural 16+ you can remove yourself from play as a move action. At the start of your next turn, return anywhere nearby that you could have moved to normally during your turn.

Relentless Charge

Until the stance ends, you gain a +2 to melee basic attack rolls against enemies you were not engaged with at the start of your turn.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, you can make each enemy engaged with you pop free as a free action.

Epic Feat: Each time you roll a natural 16+ hit with a melee attack while in this stance, you can spend a quick action to move towards an enemy you were not engaged with at the start of your turn. If you succeed in engaging with them, you can make a basic melee attack against them as a free action.

Whirling Dervish

Until this stance ends, each time you hit with a melee attack while wielding two melee weapons, one enemy engaged with you (other than the enemy you hit) takes damage equal to your level.

Champion Feat: Each time you roll a natural even hit while wielding two melee weapons in this stance, you can spend a quick action to make a basic attack. If the attack hits, it deals half its normal damage.

Epic Feat: For one battle per day, you can deal the damage to 1d3+1 enemies engaged with you other than the enemy you hit) instead of just one.

<<start sidebar>>
The champion feat's quick action attack can be a basic ranged attack, if you're wielding something like a dagger as your melee weapon.
<<end sidebar>>

Strike the Anvil

Until this stance ends, each time you hit with a warrior basic attack, you may choose to cause that enemy to pop free from you or one ally they are engaged with as a free action.

Champion Feat: If the attack roll is a natural 16+, the target is also dazed until the end of your next turn.

Battle Rage

Until the stance ends, you deal extra damage with your warrior basic attacks equal to your level (regardless if the attacks hit or miss).

Champion Feat: For one battle a day, add your level to the damage again (so you deal twice your level in extra damage when you hit, and three times your level in damage when you miss).

Epic Feat: Each time you roll a natural even hit while in this stance, you gain temporary hit points equal to your level.

Steady Hand

Until the stance ends, whenever you miss with a warrior basic attack, your next warrior basic attack against the target before the end of your next turn gains a +2 attack bonus.

Champion Feat: Once per battle, you can increase the bonus to +4 as a quick action.

<<start sidebar>>
The stance isn't intended to grant a round-long bonus for a single miss.
<<end sidebar>>

Sniper's Mark

Until the stance ends, your warrior basic ranged attacks deal extra damage against enemies that are not engaged by any of your allies equal to your Dexterity modifier. At 5th level, you deal extra damage equal to twice your Dexterity modifier. At 8th level, you deal extra damage equal to three times your Dexterity modifier.

Champion Feat: On a natural 16+ ranged attack, the target is also stuck until the end of your next turn.

Epic Feat: Once per day, you can cause the target to be stunned as a free action, instead of stuck.

Slippery Foot

Until the stance ends, once per round after an enemy makes a melee attack against you, you can attempt to disengage as a free action.

Adventurer Feat: When the escalation die is 3+, you can pop free instead.

Champion Feat: Whenever you roll a natural 16+ hit with your basic warrior attacks while in this stance, you take half damage from opportunity attacks until the start of your next turn.

Credits

Credits to Martin Killman, Tim Baker, and Dick McGee for providing their insight on the class!

13th Age SRD, and my VirtuaCon 2013 Experience

First off, I do apologize if I haven't been posting as of late, life has been rather unkind as of recent months. But nevertheless, last October 24, Pelgrane Press finally released the 13th Age SRD (see the original files here). Even though there are various alternative sites that I could use to view these, because I use a tablet -- which isn't always connected to the Internet -- for my games, until I learn how to code my own Android app, I've decided to transfer the entire SRD to one of my OneNote notebooks for personal perusing (for those who are interested, you can view the notebook here).

Additionally, last October 19 I ran 13th Age with a couple of players who were unfamiliar with the system in Virtuacon 2013, and the adventure was... well, pretty funny. We had the following characters at the table

• Olaf Brightmane, he Dark Elf Barbarian who was raised by Dire Wolves
• Ganzo, the Human Barbarian who had a very sensitive nose for unwashed bodies
• Inore, the Halfling Paladin who stole the Dwarf King's shield
• Mazadar the Blue, the Human Wizard who abhors the color red
• Talia Zakkaru, the Tiefling Cleric who struggles to fight off the influence of the Diabolist (magically sealing off the corruption in her in an effort to do so)

[ At first I was thinking of preparing all these stats, maps, and other stuff... but then I remembered that 1) that's not how I run the game, and 2) I shouldn't really stress over a game. So I decided to just prepare what I felt was necessary (a table, a bunch of figures to represent where the characters are positioned, a few stats especially for the big bad, and a random name generator for kicks :) ]

Mazadar was an avid follower of the Archmage (so much that the reason why he went for Blue was because that was what the Archmage often wore), and so when he stumbled upon the Archmage's diary from a previous age, he learned that there was this tower in the Dire Woods where the Archmage did a bunch of his earlier experiments. He later learned that there was a wizard who was poring through all the Archmage's old notes, something that he was certainly interested in himself.

Talia was originally a cult leader and enforcer of the Diabolist, but now she's a cleric and enforcer of the Priestess (who never really approved of the "enforcer" bit, but never brought up the matter with her or her immediate superiors). She arrived in the Dire Woods with Ganzo and Olaf with word about a wizard who was trying to raise demons.

The four adventurers gathered in the tavern at the edge of Dire Wood, where they saw a celebration taking place. It was here they met up with Inore the Paladin, who was supposed to investigate the same rumors as Talia but apparently got caught up with the carousing. The bartender and various other locales had mentioned that they were celebrating because their local wizard, Soldert "the Mad", had disappeared and they were finally getting the rest (from being guinea pigs) that they deserved. They decided to see what had happened with old Soldert, and proceeded to venture to his tower deep within the Dire Wood.

After having a good talk with an imp (who recognized Talia) that was running away from Soldert's tower, and an unexpected skirmish with the undead as a result of the imp's recklessness in running away (it accidentally disturbed the rites that were keeping the nearby dead at bay), they eventually reached the tower.

(It was at this point that Mazadar's player had to retire for the night, as it was 2AM at his timezone, so I ruled that his character was too exhausted from the last fight and had to go back to town to recover his spells.)

They found a secret passage that got them past most of the tower's defenses and landed them a sweet pile of loot, and guided by Olaf's sensitive nose, found themselves exiting the wardrobe where they caught Soldert by surprise. In the following skirmish, Ganzo proceeded to head butt the wizard to oblivion, while Inore saw that Soldert was holding a young woman captive and proceeded to unbind her. Sadly, Olaf was doing poorly with his weapon attacks, and kept missing round after round. As they were about to kill the wizard, he decided to complete the unstable spell by touching his pendant with his ring. This caused him to mutate into a vampire, hastening his movements and allowing him to pummel them multiple times. Still missing, Olaf's player asked me, "attacking doesn't seem to work, so what can I do?" I said, "well, he's next to the cauldron, maybe you could tip it over and then smash him with it?" Lo and behold, he started rolling very well from then on, eventually becoming the guy responsible for crushing the pseudo-vampire to oblivion (with the help of Ganzo, Inore, and Talia).

Talia was the star of the show for the most part, as it was she who was the most leader-ish of the group (and both she and Mazadar were doing most of the NPC interactions :D ).

Sooooo there. That's all for now ^_^

Monsterize Me! Beholder (all editions of D&D)

I've been getting a few requests over at Pelgrane Press' forums regarding the conversion of monsters from other systems to 13th Age.  While I've already given my guidelines in the thread, I think it's appropriate that I  dedicate a portion of my blog to converting monsters as well, using information found in Pelgrane Press' archives and, from time to time, my own creative twist to them. 

The monster featured today is the Beholder.  Actually I've already posted this in the Google+ community site as part of a community project last July on converting iconic monsters, and there's at least one alternative by +David Eglinton that's available for other DMs to use, but for the sake of keeping everything in one place, I'll post this here.

GM NOTE: Because of how this monster is designed, this creature plus its eyestalks is an average fight for four level 6 PCs.

Oculus
An anomaly created from one of the Archmage's efforts to create an all-seeing ward, the oculi are floating mass of eyeballs, with a giant eyeball and a large set of teeth for its central body.  It's known to fire a kaleidoscope of rays that spell death to those affected by them; an awesome sight to behold, thus they have eventually earned the nickname "Beholder".
Level 7 Large (Double-Strength) Caster (Aberrant)
Initiative +10
Gaping Maw, one engaged enemy: +12 vs AC, 28 damage. On a natural 20, make one eyestalk attack as a free action. Levitation: the dread oculus floats a few inches off the ground, and can fly to a nearby location as a move action, falling back to its normal levitation height at the end of its movement.
Central Eye: When an enemy targets the dread oculus with a spell, the dread oculus can roll a save; success means the spell has no effect on the oculus. If the level of the spell is lower than the dread oculus' level, it’s a normal save (11+). Against an equal or higher-level spell, the save is a hard save (16+). If the dread oculus is staggered, the save target increases by +5 (normal becomes hard, hard becomes 21+: impossible unless the dread oculus has a save bonus from some other source).
Self-Preservation: Once per round as a reaction to an attack while staggered, the dread oculus can redirect the damage it takes to its eyestalks instead.
Eye Rays: As a standard action, cause one eyestalk (chosen at random) to attack a nearby enemy.  On a natural even with that eyestalk's attack, make a second eyestalk (chosen at random) attack as a free action.  On a 6+ with the second eyestalk's attack while the dread oculus is staggered, make a third and fourth eyestalk (both chosen at random) attack as a free action.  You cannot use the same stalk for each attack, and if the oculus has less than four eyestalks, all subsequent attacks after the last stalk that hasn't attacked will automatically fail to trigger.
Nastier Specials
Eye for Carnage: After the last eye rays attack has been resolved, make a number of eyestalks equal to the escalation die attack as a free action.
Eye for an Eye: When reduced to 0 HP the dread oculus can cause all remaining eyestalks to become unstuck as a free action.  Once per day the dread oculus can also cause one eyestalk to become unstuck as a standard action while staggered.  The surviving eyestalks all retain the memory of the last creature that the dread oculus faced. GM Note: While this does nothing for the current session, after 1d4+1 sessions (or whenever you feel is appropriate), the eyestalks that survive that long would grow back to full-fledged dread oculi, and would take vengeance on the creatures whose memory they hold on to with utmost hatred.
AC 21
PD 18	HP 216
MD 22

---

Oculus Eyestalk
Typically oculi have a total of 10 eyestalks, each one having a bit of sentience, although all are under the will of the main eye of the oculus. Each stalk has its own effect and in the face of multiple enemies the eyestalks will collectively try to attack as many as possible.
Level 7 Large (Double-Strength) Caster (Aberrant)
Initiative +10, or immediately before or after the oculus
Eye Ray Blast (close-quarters), one nearby enemy: +12 to hit, target defense and other effects depends on which of the stalks attack.
	Searing: vs. PD, 18 positive energy damage
	Withering: vs. PD, ongoing 18 negative damage and weakened (save ends both)
	Sleep: vs. MD, if the target is staggered, they are unconscious (hard save ends), effect also ends when target takes 10+ damage.  Otherwise they are hampered, weakened and take a -4 penalty to disengage checks (save ends all).
	Telekinesis: vs. PD, target pops free if engaged, and they are forcibly moved to a nearby location
	Hold: vs. PD, target is stuck (save ends)
	Confusion: vs. MD, the target is confused until the end of their next turn
	Fear: vs. MD, 18 psychic damage, and the target is afraid (under fear condition) until they move far away from the dread oculus
	Petrify: vs. PD, the target must start making last gasp saves as they turn to stone
	Death: vs. PD, 18 negative energy damage, and the target must start making last gasp saves as they fight for their life
	Disintegrate: vs. PD, 36 damage and 56 ongoing damage.
Unique Eye Blasts: For each eyestalk killed, disable one random type of eye ray blast
Attached: Oculus eyestalks are stuck to the dread oculus, until unstuck. Once unstuck, they gain the oculus' levitation ability.
AC 19
PD 19	HP 27 (mook)
MD 23
Mook: Kill one eyestalk mook for every 27 damage

Eldritch Knight Options

Class Options allow you to add particular classes into 13th Age without the need of extensive reinventing of the wheel, so to speak. Instead of having to make an entirely new class, re-flavoring and adding of a few talents and powers here and there would allow you to faithfully render the class you want, with less effort.

That's what usually happens; However, because the Eldritch Knight — written by yours truly — is technically an amalgamation as well as a conversion of D&D "gish" classes, I'm going to make an exception to the goal, and simply provide additional options that would allow you to still faithfully render the character you want, but not necessarily with a particular D&D class in mind.

New Talents

Sigil Mastery

You gain one sigil of your level or lower.  In addition, you can use sigils against nearby targets instead of engaged targets.

(Adventurer Feat): You gain an additional sigil of your level or lower.
(Champion Feat): You can now use sigils against far away enemies, but at -2 to hit
(Epic Feat): Increase your crit range against enemies imbued with your sigils by 2 (usually 18+).

Weapon Finesse

You can use Dexterity for melee attacks with one-handed weapons in place of Strength.  In addition, whenever you roll a natural even on an attack during your turn, you gain a bonus to disengage checks equal to the current escalation die until the start of your next turn.

(Champion Feat): One battle per day, you can also add the bonus to disengage checks on a natural odd attack roll during your turn.
(Epic Feat): Once per round, when an enemy attempts to intercept you, describe how you'll be dodging, parrying, feinting, or using a magical incantation to get past that enemy, then roll a normal save.  Succeeding the save prevents that enemy from intercepting you.

New Feats

Sigils

These are feats that anyone who has at least one sigil known can take.

(Adventurer Feat): After each daily heal-up, choose up to two sigils that you know.  Until your next daily heal-up, they become close quarters spells.
(Champion Feat): All sigils that you know are now close quarter spells.
(Epic Feat): Whenever you crit with a sigil spell, you can release it as a quick action instead of a standard action.

Arcane Archery

(Adventurer Feat): Whenever you roll a natural odd with a ranged weapon attack, you can cast a sigil at a nearby target instead of an engaged target.
(Champion Feat): Whenever you roll a natural odd weapon attack, casting spells before the end of your next turn does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Burning Sigil

(Adventurer Feat): Weapons or ammunition that you use this sigil on will inflict ongoing fire damage equal to your Intelligence modifier each time you hit with it.
(Champion Feat): When you use this sigil on an object then release it, the resulting explosion can affect 1d3+1 nearby enemies.  Instead of making the attack roll to imbue the sigil, you now make the attack roll to hit with the released spell.

<<begin sidebar>>
GMs, feel free to have this blow a hole in a wall if players use this in such a manner. You lose the at-will ability to inflict ongoing fire damage, but you can instead damage multiple foes with the released spell.
<<end sidebar>>

(Epic Feat): Critting with this sigil doubles the ongoing damage.

Shocking Sigil

(Adventurer Feat): Imbuing this sigil on a weapon or ammunition will force targets they hit to make a normal save.  Failing to make the save causes them to be weakened until the start of your next turn.
(Champion Feat): Creatures damaged by this sigil when released also become weakened (save ends)

Warding Sigil

(Adventurer Feat): While you are not staggered, increase the AC bonus from this sigil by 1.
(Champion Feat): The AC bonus also applies to PD.
(Epic Feat): The AC bonus also applies to MD.

Dueling Sigil

(Adventurer Feat): Once per round while you have not released this sigil, when the escalation die is even and the target rolls a natural odd on his attack roll, you can make an attack against the target as a free action, dealing half damage on a hit.
(Champion Feat): When you release the sigil, the target also takes 10 damage at the end of his turn whenever he does not end his turn engaged with you.

Vampire's Sigil

(Champion Feat): The target gains additional hit points equal to your level for both the imbued and released effects of the sigil.
(Epic Feat): The target gains temporary hit points equal to three times your Intelligence modifier for both the imbued and released effects of the sigil.

Chaos Sigil

(Champion Feat): When you crit with the imbuing of this sigil, you can repeat the attack against a nearby enemy. [ This can potentially imbue both opponents with the same sigil. ]
(Epic Feat): All save ends effects of this sigil are now hard save ends.

Death Sigil

(Epic Feat): When the target of this sigil dies, the sigil can no longer be saved against, and lasts until it is removed. Until it's removed, it does not count to your normal limit of active sigils, and at the end of each daily heal-up you can choose to give up a recovery to gain one use of Death Sigil.

<<begin sidebar>>
This way, as long as your character is alive and able to maintain the sigils, you can keep the dead from coming back.  Eldritch Knights who have this sigil are of particular interest to the Lich King himself, and may attract unwanted attention from him, as this could potentially keep him from using his phylactery to full effect, and prevent him from amassing his necessary armies.  In a future installment of this class I plan on including a sigil that the Lich King might have created himself as a counter to, or a perversion of, this sigil.
<<end sidebar>>

Life Sigil

(Epic Feat): You can now use this sigil's release ability as if it were a Raise Dead Cleric spell.

13th Age and the Icons [plus other elements that might be in the article] are trademarks of Fire Opal Media. This article published by agreement with Pelgrane Press Ltd.

Artifacts of the 13th Age (Tales of the 13th Age Report)

So far I've run & played a total of two sessions for Tales of the 13th Age, and each one was pretty cool in their own right, and funny enough both were tied in to magic items.

I'll have to be honest about these sessions:

• out of all the players I invited during the first session, only one actually arrived.  Rather than turn this lone trooper away — who, by the way, was actually so sleepy at the time that I had him indulge in a cup of coffee just so we can play — we agreed that A) I temporarily increase the level of the characters involved, and B) include my own DMPC, so that I could run the game originally designed for a minimum of three PCs with two PCs instead.  To avoid boredom on his part, I also had him roll for the DMPC and her animal companion, with me only intervening when it made sense for both him and myself
• because the aforementioned lone trooper was so swamped with work the following week, that in spite of his insistence that he'll be able to make it on time he never got to show up at all, even though I had two new players that should've started with the second part of the tale as planned, I ended up re-running the first session (which had surprisingly different results) with the lone trooper's PC as the NPC of the day
• I consider these adjustments as drastic (only for games that have 1-2 players) and would immediately avoid the use of DMPCs if a better solution is presented
• hopefully next week I can have at least 3 players on board

Alright, on with the game reports! :)

The first game involved Fariq Al-Quadim, half-human prince of the Brass City and his guide, Janneris Tamerikos.  In a series of pre-Tales games that happened weeks before Tales of the 13th Age [ToT13A] was even announced, they had acquired a staff that was stolen from the Golden Order, which (tying it to ToT13A) was revealed to be used for a ritual that would help bring down the Lich King's power.  Once the ritual was complete, it opened a portal to Roachdale, a cockroach-infested ruins where Jont Urner, a half-orc living dungeon delver who knew about the Necropolis, was last seen; apparently the staff was linked to him in some way.

After dealing with the cockroaches and the demons with arrows and lightning, we stumbled upon a Helm of the Undaunted Hero, and eventually found ourselves gunning down the Vrock while Jont Urner — who was alive in this game — watched helplessly in one of the cages.  After a long and arduous fight, where Janneris' steed shielded Fariq and Janneris from the worst of the Vrock's attacks (targets were assigned randomly, dice gods chose horse), they were finally acquired the map from Jont Urner, who explained that the staff was missing some dragon teeth, which was needed for the party to actually understand and use the map.

- - - - -

Second game involved Fariq again (this time in passive mode, since the player was missing at the time and there were only two players as mentioned earlier), as well as Darren Soulsteel the Loup Garou (a werewolf that didn't need moonlight to transform) and a bard whose name escapes me at the moment (will edit this later to add his name), who was once saved by the Prince of Shadow from being captured by slavers.  The premise of the adventure was drastically different: the bard is a frequent performer at The Fighting Pawn, where one of his clients, a noble who has connections with the Court of Stars, hired him to help with an endeavor linked with Darren: according to Darren's player, there are a number of dangerous artifacts that, when gathered together by the wrong hands, could spell disaster for the world, and it was up to the Mystic's Guild (whose members include the first Elf Queen and the Great Gold Wyrm) to make sure that these artifacts are kept safe.  With this in mind, I explained that the current Elf Queen has learned that one of the artifacts — a crown — had found its way to one of the Lich King's barons who decided to use it for his own personal endeavors against the Lich King.  So it fell upon the PCs to retrieve said artifact, but first they had to figure out how to navigate through the Necropolis.

First stop: Roachdale, a rustic town that was almost devastated during the Great War that inevitably broke out during the 12th Age (caused by the plague that wiped out crops and caused rampant starvation throughout all of the Dragon Empire and beyond).  After a bit of a chit-chat with residences, they eventually got into Jont Urner's room in the tavern (with permission from the innkeeper), where they eventually found sketches and notes pointing at a ruins northwest of Roachdale, as well as a rusted, yet finely crafted ancient elven dagger, which they took.

As they headed to the ruins, they stumbled upon a river-moat of insects... which later turned out to be carnivorous insects as their horses were slowly consumed by the swarm (I wonder how they'll get out of the ruins later on...).  Once they got past that, they found the demon guards who were eventually confused by Darren's sudden declaration (and attempt at intimidation) that he was their new boss.  In the midst of the chaos, Darren threw his chakram at one of them, initiating combat, where Fariq gathered power and used Lightning Fork on the mob, and the bard started firing his arrows.  Darren used his claws, spiked shield and L-shaped sword to hack and slash through the demons until the only one who hesitated to attacked them (a sorry-looking dretch) was left.  There they got a clue as to who the "Big Boss" really was (the demon had on him a feather that he claims was from the Big Boss), took a silver key from him, and knocked him unconscious.

When they entered the maze, the bard was the one responsible for finding a secret passageway in what looked like a dead end, which led them through a shortcut that had a chest in it (which was just where the silver key fit).  In it they got a Chain Armor of Iron Will that was forged by human hands but was endowed with pixie dust to make it light (making it light armor instead of heavy armor); there was even some leftover pixie dust that Darren picked up for use in the future (which caused the pouch to float a lot).  Darren was responsible for helping the group bypass a set of lightning-shooting motes, by throwing stuff that would make the fragile rocks break.

At the center of the living dungeon, Jont Urner lay dead, and eventually a Vrock crashed through the walls and proceeded to attack the party.  Darren's first instinct was to pull out all seven of his throwing knives and fling them all at once at the Vrock, but he failed to pull off this very difficult stunt properly.  Rather than say "he failed to hit", I had a few throwing knives hit (improvised damage halved) and the rest hit the walls which, unfortunately for the group, caused a bunch of undead to wriggle free from the walls that imprisoned them (yes, the entire complex had imprisoned undead for walls [because of his rolls]).Before the Vrock could get at them however, the bard attempted to use the environment against the Vrock, shooting his arrows at the chain links that kept the cages above the ground.

That lucky 19 caused the cages to crash down onto the Vrock, knocking it on the head and stunning it!

The Vrock was soon mincemeat to blade, claw, lightning and arrows, and while the ghouls were busy feasting on what was once an obstacle and is now a newfound meal, the party tried to get at Jont Urner, and once he was brought out of the cage he was skinned by the bard for the map.

- - - - -

Hopefully this coming session I can run adventures 2 and 3 back-to-back (to catch up with the regular ToT13A schedule) and hopefully I get a proper number of players as well as PCs, because as you can see it's much more interesting to play with more than one player at the table.

The players in both sessions are D&D veterans but only Fariq's player has been properly acquainted with 13th Age prior to ToT13A, so it was a new experience for the second group, who enjoyed everything that the system offered to them.  They've been asking me over at Facebook when the next game would be, and I do plan on running ToT13A with my regular D&D group, fully booking my weekend with mostly 13th Age in mind :)

13 Dynasties of the Orient (AD&D, D&D 3.5E, D&D 4E, Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition)

After painstakingly researching on Oriental Adventures, I present this barebones adaptation of the campaign setting to 13th Age.  While I may need to ask for help in providing greater depth, those who are already familiar with Kara-Tur and Rokugan would likely get to use this for their home games with very little to no issue, while those who simply want the oriental flavor for their 13th Age campaigns have their options too.

http://www.mindmeister.com/311641480/13-dynasties-of-the-orient



Create your own mind maps at MindMeister

Mindweaver (AD&D, 2E, 3E, 4E)

Just like a warrior, you hone your skills to perfection.  But your skills can only be found in that rare group of individuals who have dedicated their lives to the seemingly-impossible: to bend reality with merely thought.

Overview

Playstyle: The mindweaver aims to be a very simple class that allows you to do fantastic magical effects without having to rely on the complexities of spell management.  However, the gameplay involved with mindweavers might be a little more complicated than that of your typical simple class because like the Rogue, they need to keep track of a feature called serenity, plus the more dangerous abilities may require them to use up recoveries or even take damage if they don’t have recoveries left.

Ability Scores: You need Constitution for hit points to survive attacks, and either Wisdom or Charisma for most abilities that don’t involve your basic attacks. 

Mindweavers gain a +2 class bonus to Wisdom or Charisma, as long as it isn’t the same ability you increase with your +2 racial bonus.

Races: All races that have a very strong personality usually have a greater chance to produce a mindweaver, so Humans, Dark Elves, High Elves, Half-Elves, Holy Ones and Dragonspawn easily fit the bill.  However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find Dwarves or Wood Elves that have a natural aptitude for mindweaving, it simply means they tend to favor a different path.

Backgrounds: Here are some backgrounds to get you started with your mindweavers: Mentalist, soothsayer, mystic, stage magician, con artist, apprentice mindweaver, mage college dropout, tribal shaman, and (for those with Dream Form) crash test dummy. 

Icons: The Archmage is always interested in anything that could be experimented on, and the mind is such a wonderful area to explore.  That being said, mind-readers often make exceptional spy-hunters, and are hunted down by both allies and enemies of the Dragon Empire precisely because of their psionic abilities.

Serenity

Unlike some campaign settings where the mental disciplines called "psionics" are treated as daily spells or abilities that are empowered by points, mindweavers must maintain a trance-like state before they can perform most of their abilities.  Thus, it’s easy to call out when a mindweaver is trying to do anything from reading minds to creating earthquakes.  This state is often cited as a state of serenity.

For mindweavers, entering a state of serenity takes a quick action to do so;  Their pupils disappear, and often begin to levitate, plus there’s a natural tendency for all nearby creatures to notice that they're entering this state (which is why practitioners of the art tend to do it alone and in an isolated area).

If you take a standard action to enter serenity (instead of a quick action), attacks against you before the start of your next turn take a -4 to the attack roll, as your moment in serenity places you in such harmony with the world that you're able to perceive even the smallest of changes and move your body accordingly.

Just like the Rogue’s momentum however, once a mindweaver is hit by an attack, they easily break their concentration; training can help mitigate this, but only up to a certain degree.  Additionally, a mindweaver can easily snap out of serenity as a free action during their turn, which is often a necessity for the mindweaver who lacks training in initiating mental conversations.

Adventurer Feat: Once per round whenever you are hit, you can roll a d20 and add your Charisma modifier. On a 16+ you retain your serenity state. 

Champion Feat: Once per scene, you can attempt to mask your attempt to enter serenity in the presence of others.  Make a Charisma or Wisdom + level vs. MD attack against the nearby non-ally with the highest MD as a free action immediately before entering serenity.  If you succeed, no one is the wiser, and if you fail by 4 or less you can still choose to not enter serenity. Fail by 5 or more, or if you roll a natural 1 though… well, people usually don’t like it when someone is trying to mess with their minds, intentional or otherwise. 

Epic Feat: For one battle a day, you can choose to retain your serenity state even when hit by an attack, so long as you remain conscious after the attack.

Mindweaver Level Progression

At levels 5 and 8, mindweavers gain additional talents that allow them to further expand their capabilities.

Gear

At 1^st level, mindweavers start with the simplest of equipment as appropriate for their background, as well as a holy symbol or some other implement. Usually mindweavers start with 25 gp at hand.  The fortune-seeking mindweavers tend to start with 1d6 x 10 gp instead.

Mindweaver Armor and AC
Type                    Base AC              Atk Penalty
None                     10                           –
Light                     10                           –
Heavy                   11                           -2
Shield                   +1                           -1

Weapons

Mindweavers have little use for weapons, though sometimes having a dagger or a staff is a necessary tidbit for survival in the world.  Also, they utilize magic implements such as wands and staffs, which serve as their focus (and in the case of magical implements, their friend) to hone their skill.

Mindweaver Melee Weapons
                                   One-Handed                            Two-Handed
Small                           1d4 dagger                               1d6 club
Light or Simple            1d6 (-2 atk) shortsword             1d8 (-2 atk) spear
Heavy or Martial          1d8 (-5 atk) longsword               1d10 (-5 atk) greatsword

Mindweaver Ranged Weapons
                               Thrown                        Crossbow                               Bow
Small                       1d4 dagger                    1d4 hand crossbow                 –
Light or Simple        1d6 (-2 atk) javelin        1d6 (-1 atk) light crossbow     1d6 (-2 atk) shortbow
Heavy Martial          –                                    1d8 (-4 atk) heavy crossbow   1d8 (-5 atk) longbow

Mindweaver Level Progression

Mindweaver Level	Total Hit Points	Total # Feats	# of Class Talents	Level-up Ability Bonuses	Damage bonus from Ability Score
Level 1	(6 + CON mod) x 3	1 adventurer	3		Ability modifier
Level 2	(6 + CON mod) x 4	2 adventurer	3		Ability modifier
Level 3	(6 + CON mod) x 5	3 adventurer	3		Ability modifier
Level 4	(6 + CON mod) x 6	4 adventurer	3	+1 to 3 abilities	Ability modifier
Level 5	(6 + CON mod) x 8	4 adventurer 1 champion	4		2 x ability modifier
Level 6	(6 + CON mod) x 10	4 adventurer 2 champion	4		2 x ability modifier
Level 7	(6 + CON mod) x 12	4 adventurer 3 champion	4	+1 to 3 abilities	2 x ability modifier
Level 8	(6 + CON mod) x 16	4 adventurer 3 champion 1 epic	5		3 x ability modifier
Level 9	(6 + CON mod) x 20	4 adventurer 3 champion 2 epic	5		3 x ability modifier
Level 10	(6 + CON mod) x 24	4 adventurer 3 champion 3 epic	5	+1 to 3 abilities	3 x ability modifier

Mindweaver 1^st Level Stats

Initiative, AC, PD, MD, Hit Points, Recovery Dice, Feats, and some Talents are level dependent.

Ability Bonus	+2 Wisdom or Charisma (different from racial bonus)
Initiative	Dex mod + level
Armor Class (light armor)	10 + level + middle mod of Con/Dex/Wis
Physical Defense	10 + level + middle mod of Str/Con/Dex
Mental Defense	12 + level + middle mod of Int/Wis/Cha
Hit Points	(6 + Con mod) x Level modifier (see level progression chart)
Recoveries	(probably) 8
Recovery Dice	(1d6 x Level) + Con mod
Backgrounds	8 points, max 5 in any one background
Icon Relationships	3 points
Adventurer-Tier Talents	3 (see level progression chart)
Adventurer-Tier Feat	1 per level

Mindweaver Basic Attacks

At-will melee attack

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage
Miss: –

At-will ranged attack

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC
Hit: WEAPON + Dexterity damage
Miss: –

Mindweaver Class Features

Mindweavers have one class feature: Mind Over Matter.

Mind Over Matter

You can use your mindweaver talents for rituals, in place of spells.  In addition, you gain the following at-will ranged implement-based attack:

Psi Blast

Attack: Wisdom or Charisma + Level vs. PD of one nearby creature
Hit: 1d4 per level + Wisdom or Charisma damage
Miss: Damage equal to level

Special: While in serenity, your psi blast does 1d6 damage per level instead of 1d4.

Adventurer Feat: Your psi blast’s damage increases by one die size (1d4 to 1d6, 1d6 to 1d8). 

Champion Feat: Once per battle you can target 1d3 nearby enemies with psi blast. 

Champion Feat: Once per day you can give up all your actions for a number of rounds equal to 1d3+1 in order to pull off a ritual using one of your talents during combat.  

Epic Feat: When you take a standard action to enter serenity, your next psi blast before the end of your next turn deals double damage.

<<Begin sidebar>>
While you’re free to use psi blast as part of a ritual, just make sure you know what you’re doing because this can easily result in you not being able to defend yourself until the end of a daily heal-up, unless you took up talents that allow you to attack through means other than psi blast, such as Dream Form or Psychokinesis.
<<End sidebar>>

Mindweaver Class Talents

Choose three of the following class talents at level 1.  At levels 5 and 8, you can choose one more class talent.

Astral Creation

While in serenity, you can make a Charisma check as a standard action to create one non-magical object; doing this as a quick action is possible, but it raises the DC by 5.  The larger, the more intricate, or the less familiar the object, the harder it is to duplicate, with crafting war machines and galleons often requiring DC 35 or higher to pull off during combat.  Failing the check still gets you something, but it won’t always work to your expectations.

Objects created this way tend to lack a real physical object’s durability or mass, so they’re typically used for conjuring more practical items such as locks, chests, and the occasional boat.

These objects normally last for 5 minutes or until the end of battle, so you might need to make a Constitution check as a standard action (hard DC, actual number dependent on the object) to maintain the object’s existence in reality every 5 minutes after that.

You want an easier time using this? Use it outside of combat.  You want to make multiple complex items, or more durable items? Go use it as a ritual.

Dream Form

While in serenity, you can shape into existence an avatar that acts on your behalf as a quick action.  This avatar starts the scene engaged with you, and must be mentally ordered to take actions using either a standard action (for actions that normally take a standard action) or a quick action (for actions that don’t).  Using your basic stats (but not your talents), when the avatar gets hit, you take psychic damage equal to the damage that the avatar would normally take.  Taking damage this way will only take you out of serenity when you are staggered by the attack (you can re-summon the avatar while staggered).  You can interact with the world through your avatar, using it as your eyes, ears, and mouth.

The avatar disappears when you get out of serenity, or when you can no longer see it from your own body’s point of view.

Adventurer Feat: You are able to grant your avatar more warrior-like capabilities.  Attacks that target its AC target its MD instead (and vice versa), and when making a psi blast attack through your avatar, it is treated as a close-quarters attack that is one die higher in damage (1d8 without psi blast's adventurer feat, 1d10 with psi blast's adventurer feat). 

 Adventurer Feat: Once per battle as a quick action, you can spend one recovery, but instead of regaining hit points, your dream avatar gains a +2 to all defenses until it disappears.

Champion Feat: For five minutes (or one battle) a day, you can allow the avatar to exist in the real world even if you’re out of serenity or can no longer see it from your body’s own point of view.  While this is in effect, your avatar can use your Wisdom for Dexterity checks, your Charisma for Strength checks, and your Intelligence for Constitution checks.

Epic Feat: Whenever you roll a natural even for one of your avatar’s attacks, your avatar gains damage resist 12+ until the start of your next turn.

Enthrall

Special: Unlike most talents, Enthrall takes up two talent slots.

This functions similar to the Ranger’s Animal Companion talent, except this talent has a few extra feats that make these creatures function more like thralls that want to protect their master, as opposed to companions that you’d want to keep safe and alive.  Other than that, all the rules of Animal Companions – including the additional 2 recoveries, and available companions – also apply here.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle when the thrall is engaged with you, you can redirect towards them an attack that’s meant for you. 

Champion Feat: You gain a +2 to AC while the thrall is engaged with you. 

Epic Feat: One battle per day, when the thrall is reduced to 0 HP but is not yet dead, it does not fall unconscious, and can still function as normal, but only while you’re in serenity (it still must make death saving throws at the end of its turn, and can be killed with enough damage).  Creatures who see it still moving at this point will notice how its eyes have no pupils and how its movements are akin to a puppet’s (as if someone is making this seemingly-dead creature move).

<<Begin sidebar>>
At the discretion of the GM, you might be allowed to gain control of a small mook mob that’s one level lower than you, instead of a single monster.  If he does allow you to do this, you gain 3 mooks at level 1, with one additional mook every 3 levels after that (topping off with 6 mooks at level 10).  Replacing enthralled mooks may require you to give the GM and the group an elaborate story explaining how you enthralled each mook that comes under your sway, especially if this is done during a short rest.  The GM will likely disallow you from giving the mooks bonus abilities – they’re already a bonus on their own – but if he’s up to the challenge, please consider taking bonus abilities that require minimum tracking.  For everyone’s sanity.
<<End sidebar>>

Mind Over Body

Increase your number of recoveries by one.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle when hit by an attack while in serenity, you can spend a free action to reduce the damage you take by half, and the attacker takes damage equal to the reduced damage, as a free action.

Champion Feat: Further increase your number of recoveries by one. 

Epic Feat: Once per battle plus a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier, you can regain hit points equal to thrice your Charisma modifier immediately after getting hit by an attack that doesn’t deal acid or fire damage.

Psychic Defense

Once per round when a creature makes a natural even attack against you vs. MD while you’re in serenity, you can immediately counter-attack using your psi blast as a close quarters attack as a free action.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle, you can use psi blast as a close-quarters attack, and on a hit the target pops free and is stuck until the end of its next turn. 

Champion Feat: Once per battle when the triggering attack is 5 or less, you can turn it into a natural 1, and describe to the GM how the attack produced this psychic backlash that severely hampers the attacker. For guidelines on how to resolve this, look at the Tiefling's racial power.

Epic Feat: You gain a +1 to MD, and at the start of one battle per day you can choose to lose one recovery as a free action to raise this bonus to +3.  This bonus will revert to +1 at the end of that battle.

Psychokinesis

You can make skill checks as a standard action while in serenity in order to levitate objects and attack with them (GMs, use the environment table and improv table to determine the appropriate categories, DCs and damage for these skill checks). If you use this this to harm multiple creatures and/or objects (by crashing one on to another), use the group damage dice in the improv table. To make creatures actually fly, as opposed to just levitating, you'll need to use this as a ritual instead.

Champion Feat: When failing to meet the DC, you can still deal damage equal to your level to your intended target.

Speak Your Mind

You are able to bypass the need to verbally communicate, allowing you to speak directly into the mind of whoever you want to communicate with.  For you to mentally hear their replies, you must be in serenity.  However, delving their mind for secrets requires a ritual that could initiate mind-based combat.

For GMs: If the mind-based combat isn't worth rolling initiative for (maybe it's not a well-guarded secret, or it's something that the players are bound to learn easily anyway), then resolve this the same way you would resolve any other ritual or skill check or trap: set the DC, grant the information sought if he passes, make something happen as a result of failing to meet the DC (a.k.a. failing forward). If this is a powerful entity, or this is a secret that you don't want the players to learn easily, then you may want to prepare a random combat or puzzle encounter beforehand. But in the spirit of failing forward, please minimize screwing around with the player (this goes double for the player: if you intend to initiate mind combat for the sake of screwing around with the system, the GM is free to provide negative feedback for your annoying behavior).

<<Begin sidebar>>
Mind-based combat at the baseline works exactly like regular combat, except it all happens in the minds of all who are participating in the ritual.  The GM is free to set specific goals needed to acquire the secrets you need -- perhaps the secrets are in treasure chests that your group must take away while the creature's mind defends itself by summoning armies upon armies, or perhaps the creature has different personalities that you must convince, help or defeat in order to acquire the needed secrets -- but when it comes to combat, it's pretty standard. However, there is one little detail that has to be mentioned: because this is the realm of imagination we're talking about, improvisation is immediately expanded to almost unlimited potential, challenged primarily by the type of psyche you're exploring in (environment-based DCs based on the creature's tier), allowing even fighters to lob fireballs or cause rogues to strangle enemies with their shadows;  It's all just in everyone's minds, after all.

In the unusual case where something happens to the bodies of the participants while the ritual is taking place, the ritual can be ended immediately, although there's a possibility that you'll get an incomplete set of secrets, which means that you'll either have to repeat the ritual (but with complications galore, since the creature's mind is much better prepared by the psychic assault), or find another way to gather what you need.
<<End sidebar>>

Adventurer Feat: While in serenity, your psi blast targets MD instead of PD. 

Champion Feat: Whenever you crit with psi blast, you can choose to deal normal damage instead of double damage.  If you do, the target is confused (hard save ends), and you gain information from the GM based on what the target knows. On a natural 1, you can choose to become confused (easy save ends) instead of the normal effects of shooting into melee. If you do, the target could gleam a bit of information about your character (the GM might have the creature change its tactics based on the information that they got from you). 

Epic Feat: The first time between daily heal-ups that you roll a natural 20 on your psi blast while in serenity, you can dictate the first action of the target's next turn.  But the first time between daily heal-ups that you roll a natural 1 on your psi blast while in serenity, the GM can dictate the first action of your PC's your next turn.  Against a mook mob, for each mook that’s reduced to 0 HP, you can order them to take one set of actions during their next turn before they collapse from the strain.

<<Begin sidebar>>
Unlike the confused condition, the effect of this epic feat can be ANY action, ranging from dropping gear to randomly moving around, and the type of action that can be done is limited only by the creature's ability of doing it (and yes this means you can coerce a creature into launching a daily spell harmlessly into the air... but this works both ways, as seen in the feat).  If you're unlucky enough to roll 1s more than 20s, you might want to avoid taking this feat.
<<End sidebar>>

Third Eye

While in serenity, you can choose a nearby area and see and hear things as if you were there.

Adventurer Feat: You can extend this talent’s ability to one nearby or far away area.  You can also use your other senses, such as taste and touch, although you can expect interesting effects when you try to taste something poisonous while scrying. 

Champion Feat: Once per day you can make a Wisdom + level vs. MD attack against all nearby invisible creatures, regardless if you’re aware of them or not (GM rolls for the attack).  On a success, they lose their invisibility and cannot become invisible for the remainder of the scene.  If not, well at least you know they’re somewhere nearby. 

Epic Feat: For ten minutes between heal-ups, you can view and listen into the life of one creature you have touched within a year.  This isn’t infallible however, as wards that deter scrying will also prevent this from working.

Twist Time

Whenever you crit with your psi blast while in serenity, you can force the target to make a normal save.  If they fail, you can teleport them to a nearby area as a quick action, as long as the area is unoccupied and can accommodate the target normally.

Adventurer Feat: Once per battle while in serenity, gain a +4 to your attack roll while in serenity.

Champion Feat: While in serenity, you can choose to take two move actions this turn, but at the end of your second move action become stuck until the end of your next turn. 

Epic Feat: Whenever the escalation die is even, crit with your psi blast and you’re in serenity, you can choose to turn your quick action into a standard action, instead of teleporting the enemy.

Unmake

Special: Unlike most talents, Unmake takes up two talent slots.
Whenever hit a staggered creature with psi blast while in serenity, that creature also takes ongoing damage equal to your Charisma modifier.  Increase this ongoing damage to twice your Charisma modifier at level 5, and to thrice your Charisma modifier at level 8.

All creatures that fail their fourth last gasp save (from the epic feat) or are reduced to 0 HP by the ongoing damage inflicted by this talent and its feats are turned into either puddles of goo or piles of ash (your discretion).

Adventurer Feat: On a natural even miss with psi blast against a staggered enemy while in serenity, the target takes ongoing damage equal to twice your Wisdom modifier. 

Champion Feat: All ongoing damage granted by this talent are now (hard save ends). 

Epic Feat: Whenever you crit with your psi blast while in serenity, you can choose to normal damage with your attack instead. If you do, the target would start making last gasp saves at the end of their turn.

<<Begin sidebar>>
As long as the GM is alright with it, feel free to change the type of ongoing damage this talent adds to fire, as you agitate the creature’s (or object’s) molecules until it bursts into flame.
<<End sidebar>> 

Credits

Thanks to +Bri Anderson, +Graham Poole, +Kyle Watt and +andrew ferris for their contributions to the class write-up.