Sword Leader

The Warsword of Impiltur is the martial branch of the nation's defense forces. Its ranks contain common citizens and minor criminals who serve temporarily, but its heart consists of professional soldiers. The most promising among them are trained to lead the rabble, drawing loyalty and courage to the fore. These are the Sword Leaders, although the term is no longer unmistakably linked to the army.

Most are fighters, rangers or paladins, but a few bards, priests, and rogues have been known to act as Sword Leader. Sorcerers and Wizards tend to join the Warwands instead, while barbarians are too undisciplined, and druids and monks too "different" to enter this career.

Properties

• Hit Die: d10.
• AB Progression: High.
• Primary Save: Fortitude and Will.
• Skill Points: 3 + Int Modifier.
• Class Skills: Diplomacy, Knowledge, Parry, Ride, Sense Motive.

Requirements

• Alignment: Non-Evil and Non-Chaotic.
• Base Attack Bonus: +4.
• Feats: Great Shield Proficiency.
• Skills: Ride 8, Sense Motive 4.

Progression

Available

Lvl	BAB	Saves			Feats	HP range	Inspire Courage
		Fort	Ref	Will			Usage	Mind Saving Throw Bonus
1	+1	+2	+0	+2	Rallying Cry, Heroic Shield	10±CON Modifier	-	-
2	+2	+3	+0	+3	Inspire Courage I	20±CON Modifier	2x	+2
3	+3	+3	+1	+3	Instill Fear	30±CON Modifier	2x	+2

Not Accessible

Lvl	BAB	Saves			Feats	HP range	Inspire Courage
		Fort	Ref	Will			Usage	Mind Saving Throw Bonus
4	+4	+4	+1	+4	Inspire Courage II, Oath of Wrath	40±CON Modifier	4x	+4
5	+5	+4	+1	+5	Final Stand	50±CON Modifier	4x	+4

Feats

• Rallying Cry - Three times per day, the Sword Leader can activate an effect which removes Fear and increases the speed of nearby allies by 20% for 3 rounds.
• Heroic Shield - Once per round, the Sword Leader may aid an ally, giving them a bonus to their armour class for one round in exchange for an AC penalty of your own based on their shield type. This counts as the Sword Leader's Special Move if activated.
• Inspire Courage - 2x/day, the Sword Leader grants allies +1 AB and damage and +2 saves vs Mind Affecting Spells for 10 rounds. This increases to 4x/day and a +4 saving throw bonus at level 4.
• Instill Fear - Once/day for 5 turns, the Sword Leader can activate a Fear aura (DC = 10 + CHA + Class Level). Enemies who fail their saving throw are frightened for CHA + d4 rounds. Those who pass their will save become immune to the ability for the rest of the day.
• Oath of Wrath - Once/day, the Sword Leader can activate an effect which grants him a +2 bonus to attack, damage, saving throws and skills against a single opponent. This effect lasts for 2 rounds per class level.
• Final Stand - Once/day, the Sword Leader grants 2 + 2x CHA allies 4d10 temporary hitpoints, +3 AC, +2 to saving throws and a 25% movement speed penalty for 3 turns. The effect ends early for individual allies if they lose all bonus HP.

Class Route to Prestige

This assumes the character has only a single class to meet the requirements and is non-human before taking the prestige class (PrC). Human characters will have greater flexibility in regards to feat progression due to the extra feat granted at character creation by their racial bonus, Quick to Master. Some class routes to prestige may also favour multi-classing in order to more effectively meet pre-requisites or to better synergise the character's skill set to suit the PrC, however caution is advised as most PrCs have strict skill requirements and the wrong combination of classes (due to cross-classing of skills) may result in further delaying and reducing the levels of a prestige class obtainable or render it entirely unobtainable for the character.

Base Class	Minimum Base Class Level	Maximum Prestige Class Level	Ride	Sense Motive	Shield Proficiency	Great Shield Proficiency
Barbarian	5th Level	3rd Level	5th Level	5th Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level	1st or 3rd Level
Fighter	5th Level	3rd Level	5th Level	5th Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level
Ranger	5th Level	3rd Level	5th Level	5th Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level	1st or 3rd Level
Paladin	5th Level	3rd Level	5th Level	1st Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level	Automatically granted at 1st Level

Notes

All prestige classes require a PC to met the real (unmodified) rank of a skill, refer to Skills for clarification, in order to progress into the prestige class.