Guardian (3.5e Prestige Class)

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A defensive warrior clad in a thick coat of steel, standing in front of allies and protecting them from harm. 5 Martial Maneuvers Full

Guardian

“	By the power of my shield, I will not let a single one of you pass!	”
—Marcus Ittschild, Human Guardian

Fluffityfluff.

Becoming a Guardian

Being a fighter is very straightforward. Anyone can learn to swing a sword around with some manner of proficiency. But there are some people, often those who have seen much loss in their life, who choose to focus wholly on the defense of others. These disciplined warriors devote themselves to learning techniques that focus fully on the protection of themselves and others. They gird their minds and bodies to step between an ally and a descending blade without hesitation, and to turn back the most powerful of blows like onto an impenetrable wall. Guardians are bred from the ranks of those who pursue the martial art of organized warfare, building upon martial maneuvers honed through combat to maximize their defensive power. Many defensively oriented crusaders and warblades choose to take the guardian path, as do people from other classes focusing more on heavy armor and power-based maneuvers, that favor security and an impenetrable guard over overall damage potential.

Guardians favor Constitution and defense over pure Strength and offensive power, though they need both to be effective. Many guardians also focus on Intelligence or Wisdom as they need powerful mental defenses to avoid being manipulated by either guile or spell.

Entry Requirements  

Alignment:	Any.
Skills:	Martial Lore 5 ranks.
Feats:	Armor Proficiency (heavy), Tower Shield Proficiency.
Able to initiate 3rd-level maneuvers.:	<- other power requirements for the prestige class ->.

Table: The Guardian

Hit Die: d12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+2	Defender, Defense Bonus, Defense Pool, Maneuvers
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+3	DR 1/-, Bulwark, Provoke
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+3	Entrenchment 5 ft.
4th	+4	+4	+1	+4	DR 2/-, Phalanx
5th	+5	+4	+1	+4	Renewal
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+5	DR 3/-, Entrenchment 10 ft.
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+5	Ward
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+6	DR 4/-
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+6	Entrenchment 15 ft.
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+7	DR 5/-
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Martial Lore (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the guardian.

Maneuvers: At each level, a guardian gains new martial maneuvers per day and an increase in initiator level (and maneuvers known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in an initiator class to which he belonged before adding the prestige class level. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If he had more than one initiator class before becoming a guardian, he must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining the recovery of maneuvers, initiator level, and maneuvers known.

Defense Bonus: Guardians have a defense bonus that applies to many of their special defensive abilities. This defense bonus is equal the guardian's armor bonus to AC + the guardian's shield bonus to AC + the guardian's Constitution bonus + the guardian's class level.

Defender (Ex): A guardian sacrifices his offense in order to provide a more effective defense to himself or his allies. A 1st-level guardian may enter the Defender stance at will as a move action. The guardian must expend a move action at the start of every turn to maintain the stance. While the Defender stance is active, the guardian may perform a defensive roll out of turn in response to a successful attack roll made against himself or an ally in one of his adjacent squares. The defensive roll is equivalent to an iterative attack gained from BAB, and is made at 1d20 + the guardian's defense bonus - 5.

Like with iterative attacks, a guardian may make a second defensive roll per round at a BAB of +11 (at a -10 penalty instead of -5), and a third defensive roll at BAB +16 (at a -15 penalty). A guardian may always choose to take a readied standard action to also perform a defensive roll without penalty, at the cost of having no attacks during his turn.

When a defensive roll beats the targeted attack roll, the target of the attack takes no damage. Instead, the guardian takes half of the damage the target would have otherwise taken. If used to defend against an attack made against the guardian himself, a successful defensive roll effectively halves the damage dealt.

Defense Pool: A guardian's defense is so strong that he can parry and deflect some attacks that would otherwise wound him. A guardian has a defense pool equal to 5 times his class level. This defense pool acts as temporary hit points that are replenished at the start of each turn. Any damage dealt that exceeds the remainder of the guardian's defense pool is dealt normally to his hit points.

Damage Reduction: At 2nd level, a guardian gains damage reduction. Subtract 1 from the damage the guardian takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At every odd guardian level thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th and 10th), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0. Damage reduction from this class stacks with other sources from damage reduction/- gained from classes like the barbarian, Feats like Damage Reduction and items like Adamantine armor, but not spells or other temporary special abilities that grant damage reduction.

Bulwark (Ex): A 2nd-level guardian roots his feet to the ground and doesn't allow himself to be moved easily. He gains a bonus to any and all opposed checks to avoid being grappled, bullrushed, tripped, trampled, or overrun, as well as to saving throws against any effect meant to move the guardian against his will. The guardian may replace his Strength or Dexterity modifier with his Constitution modifier for the purpose of making these opposed checks.

If the guardian is targeted by a grapple-, bull rush-, trip- or overrun attempt while using his Defender stance, he may expend one of his defensive rolls for the round. In this case, the opponent attempting the move is treated as not having any of the following feats; Improved Grapple, Improved Trip, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun. He still makes the opposed check as normal.

Provoke (Ex): A guardian is fantastic at forcing his opponents' hand, compromising their defenses in the process. As a standard action, a 2nd-level guardian may designate one enemy within 30 feet. This enemy incurs a -6 circumstance penalty to attack rolls and Armor Class, except when attacking or being attacked by the guardian. If the designated enemy attacks another creature while within the guardian's reach, the guardian may make an Attack of Opportunity. This effect lasts until discharged or until the enemy moves further than 30 feet away from the guardian, and may be switched to another enemy as a standard action.

Entrenchment (Ex): Regardless of where the battle is fought, a guardian is hard to get around. Each square within 5 feet of a 3rd-level guardian counts as difficult terrain. The range of this ability increases to 10 feet at 6th level, and to 15 feet at 9th level.

Phalanx (Ex): A guardian must be able to hold the line at any time. At 4th level, he learns to share his shield bonus to Armor Class with all adjacent allies. This shield bonus overlaps (does not stack) with any shield bonuses any allies may already possess.

Renewal (Ex): Whenever a guardian renews his mind, he renews his body as well. Every time a 5th-level guardian recovers one or more maneuvers, he also regains a number of hit points equal to his guardian level. This effect can only happen a maximum of once per round.

Ward (Ex): An experienced guardian can even gird himself and his allies against magic. He gains a ward equal to his defense bonus, that extends to adjacent allies. This ward is not supernatural in nature, and instead represent the guardian's ability to quickly and decisively repel and deflect magical attacks from himself and his closeby allies.

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