Armoured Pokemaniac (3.5e Class)

Author: SisterAcacia (talk) Date Created: 22/10/2012 Status: Completed Editing: Clarification

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The Knight (Races of War, not PHBII), but for Pokemon d20 |Length=10 |Minimum Level=1 |Base Attack Bonus Progression=Good |Fortitude Save Progression=Poor |Reflex Save Progression=Poor |Will Save Progression=Good |Class Ability=Other |Class Ability Progression=Other }}

Armoured Pokemaniac

“

Nice try, Team Rocket, but let me show you the true power of dragons! Dragonite, go!

”

These are basically Knights - the dudes who wander around in armour with swords and lances. Many do just that. However they are also controllers of pokemon, forging bonds with the beasts they ride into battle.

Playing an Armoured Pokemaniac

The Armoured Pokemaniac plays out similarly to the Knight - they are some of the most defensive, and extend their defences to allies. Furthermore, they have offensive actions that strongly incentivise enemies to attack them rather than the less protected. Don't expect to often use the offensive ability, though by teaming up with their steed they can still put the hurt on. The main use, however, is through protecting allies in a meaningful way.

Iconic Armoured Pokemaniac: In examples, we will always use Claire, the iconic Human Armoured Pokemaniac.

Making an Armoured Pokemaniac

Alignment: Many knights are Lawful, but not all of them are. The same goes for the Armoured Pokemaniac. You have to maintain your code of conduct, but plenty of Chaotic creatures can do that too.

Races: most Armoured Pokemaniacs come from urban civilisations with fairly well-regulated societies that value nobility, rule of law and the importance of adhering to one's word.

Starting Gold: 6d6 x 10 gp (210 gold).

Starting Age: As Fighter.

Table: The Knight

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+0	+0	+2	Designate Opponent, Control Pokemon, Train Pokemon, Code of Conduct
2nd	+2	+0	+0	+3	Damage Reduction
3rd	+3	+1	+1	+3	Pokemon Resistance, Pokedex, Heal Pokemon
4th	+4	+1	+1	+4	Immunity to Fear, Knightly Spirit
5th	+5	+1	+1	+4	Battle Comrade
6th	+6/+1	+2	+2	+5	Defend Others, Increased Awareness
7th	+7/+2	+2	+2	+5	Bastion of Defense, Draw Fire
8th	+8/+3	+2	+2	+6	Mettle, Spell Shield
9th	+9/+4	+3	+3	+6	Sacrifice
10th	+10/+5	+3	+3	+7	Knightly Order
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography, History, and Nobility) (Int), Listen (Wis) Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Armoured Pokemaniac.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Armoured Pokemaniacs are proficient with all simple weapons and martial weapons. Armoured Pokemaniacs are proficient with light, medium, and heavy armor, shields and great shields.

Designate Opponent (Ex): As a swift action, an armoured pokemaniac may mark an opponent as their primary foe. This foe must be within medium range and be able to hear the pokemaniac's challenge. If the target creature inflicts any damage on the pokemaniac before her next turn, the attempt fails. Otherwise, any attacks the armoured pokemaniac uses against the opponent during her next turn inflict an extra d6 of damage for each armoured pokemaniac level she possesses. This effect ends at the end of the pokemaniac's next turn, or when she has struck her opponent a number of times equal to the number of attacks normally allotted to her by her Base Attack Bonus.

• Example: Claire is a 6^th level armoured pokemaniac presently benefiting from a haste spell, granting her an extra attack during a full attack action. On her turn she designates an ettin as her primary opponent, and the ettin declines to attack her during the ensuing turn. When Claire's next turn comes up, she uses a full attack and attacks 3 times. The first two hits inflict an extra 6d6 of damage, and then she designates the ettin as her opponent again. It won't soon ignore her again!

Control Pokemon: An Armoured Pokemaniac can have a single "Controlled" Pokemon. A Controlled Pokémon behaves like a summoned monster when released from its Pokéball, and is essentially under the control of the Pokemaniac. She cannot control a Pokémon whose Challenge Rating is equal to or greater than her Caster Level. See the rubric for increasing challenge rating based on extra hit dice or class levels in the Monster Manual to determine if the Pokémon is Controllable. An uncontrolled Pokémon will act as it sees fit, possibly going on a rampage, running away, or simply sleeping until it is returned to its Pokéball. A Controlled Pokémon cannot use any Summoning ability to summon uncontrolled Pokémon.

More than one Controlled Pokémon can be out of their balls at any one time, but only the first one released behaves like a summoned monster – any subsequent released Pokémon will act normally, usually standing around and watching events transpire, or sleeping (extreme events can cause them to take direct action at DM’s option).

Once someone has reached the limit of the number of Pokémon which can be Controlled, they cannot Control any more until one or more of the Controlled Pokémon are released from Control or killed. Releasing a Pokémon from Control takes about 10 minutes. Control can be reasserted, but only if she has the ability to Control that many Pokémon.

Losing Pokémon: An Armoured Pokemaniac can, at any time, release their Pokémon into the wild. This is a process that takes about 10 minutes during which the Pokemaniac says her goodbyes to the Pokémon. The Pokémon is then free to do whatever it wishes. Its current intelligence, alignment, and abilities do not change from what they were prior to this release. The Pokémon’s Pokéball is destroyed in the process, and is no longer attuned to that Pokémon. Pokémon who were treated especially well or poorly by their Pokemaniac will not forget that treatment and may, at the DM’s discretion, act accordingly either immediately or at some time in the future.

Death and Pokémon: Sometimes Pokémon die. This causes a great loss to the Armoured Pokemaniac, both emotionally and spiritually. A Pokemaniac whose Controlled Pokémon dies immediately suffers from Crushing Despair (no save) for one week, or until the Pokemon is brought back from death, whichever happens first.

Train Pokémon (Ex): A Pokemaniac can Train or Evolve their Pokémon with their Handle Animal skill. As an extraordinary ability, a Pokemaniac need not choose specific animals as Trainable and can use Handle Animal on any Pokémon. Training a Pokémon takes 8 hours and has a DC of 15 + Pokémon's new CR. The effects available from Training Pokémon are based on the number of Ranks in Handle Animal the Pokemaniac has:

• 3 ranks – Learn Trick: This is just like teaching to an animal companion (see DMG page 46). Note that some Pokémon are intelligent enough so that they are able to perform “tricks” without being specifically taught – and all Pokémon are able to learn at least 4 tricks even if their intelligence would not normally be high enough.

• 6 ranks – Grow Pokémon: This causes the Pokémon to advance 1 Hit Die, if it would not cause the Pokémon to exceed its advancement limit. This may cause the creature to grow in size category, see the monster description. This may also cause the Pokémon to become uncontrolled, if this raises its CR to past the maximum CR the Pokemaniac can control. You select what skills, if any, a Pokémon gains for its level, and if this advancement would cause a Pokémon to gain a feat you may select the feat.

• 9 ranks – Evolve Pokémon: This causes the Pokémon to evolve to a more advanced form. The Pokémon gains a template of your choice. Note that this may cause the Pokémon to become uncontrolled if this raises the CR to past the maximum CR the Pokemaniac can control. The Pokémon remains a Pokémon even if its type changes to a type which is not normally a Pokémon. You select what skills, if any, a Pokémon gains with its template, and if this would cause a Pokémon to gain one or more feats, you may select the feat(s). At the DM’s option, a Pokémon may be evolved into a similar but more powerful form that is normally represented by a separate entry. For example, a DM might allow a Pokemaniac to evolve her Red Slaad into a Green Slaad, or a Fiendish Horse into a Nightmare.

• 12 ranks – Inspire Pokémon: You may be an especially kind or cruel master to your Pokémon, giving it a permanent +2 Sacred or Profane bonus to any statistic. You may only give this bonus once to each Pokémon, and you cannot give different bonuses (Sacred or Profane) to different Pokémon.

A Pokemaniac can advance their Pokémon without altering their appearance, with more difficulty. The Pokémon gains all the abilities of the new form, but it does not change in size or show any obvious effects of the transformation. The DC for a "silent" transformation is 20 + the Pokémon’s new CR.

Code of Conduct: An armoured pokemaniac must fight with honor even when her opponents do not. Indeed, an armoured pokemaniac - like a knight - subscribes to honor to a degree far more than that which is strictly considered necessary by other honorable characters. Actions which even hint at the appearance of impropriety are anathema to the armoured pokemaniac:

• A knight must not accept undue assistance from allies even in combat. An armoured pokemaniac must refuse bonuses from aid another actions.
• A knight, and therefore an armoured pokemaniac, must refrain from the use poisons of any kind, even normally acceptable poisons such as blade toxins.
• A knight, and therefore an armoured pokemaniac, may not voluntarily change shape, whether she is impersonating a specific creature or not.
• A knight may not sell magic items, so neither may an armoured pokemaniac.

A pokemaniac who fails to abide by her code of conduct loses the ability to use any of her class features which require actions until she atones (see Fighting with Honor for more about codes of honor in D&D).

Damage Reduction (Ex): An armoured pokemaniac trains to suffer the unbearable with chivalry and grace. At 2^nd level, she gains damage reduction of X/-, where X is half her class level, rounded down.

Pokemon Resistance (Ex): At third level, the Armoured Pokemaniac gains the same resistances as her primary Pokemon based on type - so if she had a Rhydon, she would find Rock, Flying, Poison, Fire, Electric and Normal attacks to be Not Very Effective.

Pokedex (Ex): A third-level Armoured Pokemaniac character can identify any Pokémon with a Knowledge (Arcana) or Survival check, regardless of the creature type of the Pokémon. A Pokemaniac could, for example, call upon knowledge of a Beholder with the Survival skill as if she had an equal facility with Knowledge (Dungeoneering).

Heal Pokemon (Su): Starting at 3rd level, a Pokemaniac may attempt to accelerate the healing of a Pokémon in its Pokéball. By spending a full-round action, she can attempt a Heal Check (DC 15) to either convert all regular damage suffered by the Pokémon into nonlethal damage, or to confer the benefits of 1 day of rest to the Pokémon (2 Hit Points per hit die, 1 day worth of repaired Ability damage, the recovery of any limited uses/day abilities, and the healing of all nonlethal damage). This ability may be used on each Pokémon a number of times per day equal to 3 plus her Wisdom Bonus (if positive).

Immunity to Fear (Ex): At 4^th level, an armoured pokemaniac becomes immune to [Fear] effects.

Knightly Spirit (Ex): As a move-equivalent action, a 4^th level armoured pokemaniac may restore any amount of attribute damage or drain that she has suffered.

Battle Comrade: at level five, the pokemon can deal Designated Opponent damage in place of the Pokemaniac (still using up her uses of the damage), and any time a Designated enemy damages it, they are treated as not damaging her that round, even if they do.

Defend Others (Ex): A 6^th level armoured pokemaniac may use her own body to defend others. Any ally adjacent to the pokemaniac gains evasion, though she does not.

Increased Awareness (Ex): At 6th level and above, a Pokemaniac's Pokémon become more intelligent and aware. After the Pokemaniac has owned her Pokémon for at least 1 week, its intelligence changes to her ranks in Handle Animal if that is more than its normal intelligence.

In addition, a Pokemaniac can make her Pokémon gradually see things her way – a Pokémon’s alignment shifts one degree towards the Pokemaniac's each week if she can succeed in an Animal Empathy check at a DC of (10 + the Pokémon’s CR). The DM decides whether it moves Law/Chaos or Good/Evil first depending upon circumstances. So if a Lawful Good Pokémaster captured an Imp (a Lawful Evil Pokémon), the Imp could become Lawful Neutral after one week, and could be Lawful Good after 2 weeks. Pokémon subtypes are unaffected, so an Evil Pokémon such as an Erinyes would stay subtype [Evil] even if it subsequently became of Good alignment.

Bastion of Defense (Ex): A 7^th level armoured pokemaniac can defend others with great facility. All adjacent allies except the pokemaniac gain a +2 dodge bonus to their Armor Class and Reflex saves.

Draw Fire (Ex): A 7^th level armoured pokemaniac can exploit the weaknesses of unintelligent opponents. With a swift action, she may pique the interest of any mindless opponent within medium range. That creature must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ her Hit Dice + her Constitution modifier) or spend all of its actions moving towards or attacking the armoured pokemaniac. This effect ends after a number of rounds equal to the pokemaniac's class level.

Mettle (Ex): An 8^th level pokemaniac who succeeds at a Fortitude Partial or Will Partial save takes no effect as if she had immunity.

• For example, if Claire was hit with an inflict wounds spell and made her saving throw, she would take no damage instead of the partial effect in the spell description (half damage in this case).

Spell Shield (Ex): An 8^th level armoured pokemaniac gains spell resistance of 5 + her character level. This spell resistance is increased by her shield bonus to AC if she has one.

Sacrifice (Ex): As an immediate action, a 9^th level armoured pokemaniac may make herself the target of an attack or targeted effect that targets any creature within her reach.

Knightly Order: What is a powerful knight without a descriptive adjective? Upon reaching 10^th level, an armoured pokemaniac must join or found a special order. From this point on, she may ignore one of the prerequisites for joining a Knightly Order prestige class. In addition, becoming a member of an order has special meaning for a 10^th level pokemaniac, and she gains an ability related to the order she joins. Some sample orders are listed below:

• Dragon Knight Dedicated to the Platinum Dragon, the Dragon Knights serve love and justice in equal measure as dishes to those who need them. A Dragon Knight gains a +5 bonus to Sense Motive and any armor she wears has its enhancement bonus increased to +5 (it also gains a platinum sheen in the process, and as a side effect a Dragon Knight is never dirty for more than a few seconds).
• Great Knight Clad in opulent armor, the Great Knight cares only for her own power. The Great Knight gains a +4 bonus on Disarm or Sunder tests, and gains a +4 Profane bonus to her Strength.
• Officer Jenny Johto, Sinnoh, Kanto etc. need champions able to unswervingly support its interests, and the Officer Jenny is one of the best. She may impose a zone of truth at will as a Supernatural ability, and all of her attacks are Lawfully aligned. Also, she continuously benefits from magic circle against chaos.
• Rocket Knight Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light! Wandering around, stealing people's pokemon, Team Rocket are generic villains, but they're awesome. The Rocket Knight gains a second Pokemon, though its level is 2 less than her primary one. Additionally, one of her pokemon is granted Magic Armour or Barding, giving it any Moderate quality she likes.
• V-Knight A contender for the Elite 4, V-Knights patrol Victory Road and seek to improve their bonds of friendship. The V-Knight can control an additional 2 Pokemon, but they must both be 4 levels lower than her primary Pokemon.
• Pokeranger Out to help maintain a sustainable environment, Pokerangers try to generally do good. The Pokeranger can cast Goodberry at will, and treats the Armour Bonus of non-metal armour as 4 points better than normal.
• Iron Knight Handing out badges to anyone able to beat them, Iron Knights are actual Steel Gym Leaders. The Iron Knight gains the benefits of the Ferrous Badge - even when she doesn't have one on her - and can craft them as well with just an hour of work. She also gains a second Pokemon (it must have Steel Pokemon Traits) that has a maximum level 4 lower than her primary one.

Armoured Pokemaniacs typically choose Steel, Rock or Dragon Pokemon.

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