Sohei, Variant (3.5e Class)

A Sohei poised and ready for battle.

Sohei

Making a Sohei

Alignment: Any Lawful.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Sohei

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Ki Power, Weapon Focus
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Ki Focus, Bonus Feat
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Strength of Mind
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Aiki Swing, Bonus Feat
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Harmonizing Strike, Bonus Feat
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Mettle
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Bonus Feat
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	'One Strike, Two Cuts'
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Timeless Body
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Aiki Whirlwind, Bonus Feat
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Kiai Sweep, Bonus Feat
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the sohei.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A sohei is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light), but not with shields.

Bonus Feats: At 2nd level and every two sohei levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th) a sohei gets a bonus combat-oriented feat. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A sohei must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums, but is considered a fighter for the purposes of meeting these prerequisites.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A sohei is not limited to the list of sohei bonus feats when choosing these feats.

Weapon Focus: Sohei gain Weapon Focus with a weapon of their choice as a bonus feat. Many sohei choose the naginata, the traditional weapon of the sohei.

Ki Power (Su): A Sohei can channel his ki to manifest special powers of martial prowess and skill. He can use his ki powers a number of times per day equal to one-half his class level (minimum 1) plus his Wisdom bonus (if any). As long as a Sohei’s ki pool isn’t empty (that is, as long as he has at least one daily use remaining), hhe gains a +2 bonus on his Will saves. A Sohei’s ki powers are ki focus, aiki swing, harmonizing strike, aiki whirlwind, and kiai sweep. Each power is described under a separate entry below.

Ki Focus (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a Sohei can spend one daily use of her ki power to focus herself and strike a foe with a flurry of swift attacks. The Sohei can flurry of blows with a full attack action in melee, making one extra attack per round while suffering a -2 penalty on every attack. At 10th level, the Sohei no longer suffers a -2 penalty to her attacks when he makes a flurry of blows attack with Ki Focus.

Strength of Mind (Ex: A sohei of at least 5th level is immune to stunning and sleep spells and effects.

Aiki Swing (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a Sohei can spend one daily use of his ki power to strike at his opponent with a wide-arcing attack as a full-round action. If the attack succeeds, in addition to dealing regular damage, the blow unbalances the target so much that it provokes attacks of opportunity from creatures threatening its square.

Harmonizing Strike (Ex): Starting at 8th level, a Sohei can spend one daily use of his ki power to perform a ki-harmonized strike as a standard action. In addition to dealing normal damage, this attack disrupts the flow of arcane and divine energies. If the Sohei successfully strikes a target under the effects of a spell or spell-like ability, he can attempt to dispel it as though he were making a caster level check, rolling a d20 and adding the amount of damage he rolled in the attack.

Mettle (Ex): The sohei's special training allows him to shrug off magical effects that would otherwise damage or harm him. If a sohei of at least 9th level makes a successful Will or Fortitude saving throw that wouldn ormally reduce the spell's effect, he suffers no effect from the spell at all. Only those spells with a Saving Throw entry of "Will partial," "Fortitude half," or similar entries can be negated through this ability.

'One Strike, Two Cuts' (Su): At 15th level, a sohei gains the ability to strike with uncanny precision and speed. The sohei may become hasted for 1 round per sohei level per day. He may be hasted on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent hasted does not exceed his sohei level.

Timeless Body (Ex): Upon attaining 17th level, a sohei no longer takes penalties to his ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that he has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the sohei still dies of old age when his time is up.

Aiki Whirlwind (Ex): Starting at 18th level, a Sohei can use his Aiki Swing as a part of a full attack action.

Kiai Sweep (Ex): Starting at 20th level, a Sohei can spend two daily uses of his ki power to perform a series of fast and powerful attacks as a full-round action. The Sohei makes a full attack with a -2 penalty to all his attack for the round so that he may target one additional opponent with each of his attack rolls.

Epic Sohei

Table: The Epic Sohei

Hit Die: d8

Level	Special
21st
22nd	Bonus Feat
23rd
24th	Bonus Feat
25th
26th	Bonus Feat
27th
28th	Bonus Feat
29th
30th	Bonus Feat
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: The epic sohei gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic fighter bonus feats) every two levels after 20th.

Epic Fighter Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Combat Archery, Damage Reduction, Devastating Critical, Dire Charge, Distant Shot, Energy Resistance, Epic Endurance, Epic Leadership, Epic Prowess, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Specialization, Exceptional Deflection, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Manyshot, Improved Stunning Fist, Improved Whirlwind Attack, Infinite Deflection, Instant Reload, Legendary Commander, Legendary Rider, Legendary Wrestler, Overwhelming Critical, Penetrate Damage Reduction, Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting, Reflect Arrows, Spellcasting Harrier, Storm of Throws, Superior Initiative, Swarm of Arrows, Two-Weapon Rend, Uncanny Accuracy. In addition to the feats on this list, the fighter may treat any feat designated as a Fighter Bonus Feat, but not listed here, as being on his or her bonus feat list.

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