Zuan Codex (3.5e Sourcebook)/Slayer

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Slayer

“

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

”

Slayers have many different names across the land; warrior, duelist, knight, etc, but all share a common goal, to defeat their opponent. Each slayer has a different method of reaching this goal. Some are brutal and straight forward, some prefer the intricate art of dueling, while others resort to trickery and creative maneuvers to defeat their opponent. Versatile, well trained, and tough as an ox, These are the traits of the slayer. However a slayer chooses to defeat his opponents, they are always quite skilled at it.

Hit Die: d10

Abilities: Strength, Dexterity and Constitution are all equally important to a slayer, so whatever build you decide upon, each has its own importance. Strength is generally for damage dealing and heavy lifting and should be taken on more brutish slayers. Dexterity is in a way an alternative to strength because of weapon finesse, it is often a more versatile build as it adds a large amount to ones AC and allows for strength to be largely ignored, opening up other stats for improvement. Constitution is fairly obvious, it lets you take damage, tons of it. So if you're building a front line character, such as a bodyguard or a soldier, its very important. The least important stat for a slayer is most likely intelligence as the skill choice and skill points you receive are quite limited. If one desires more intelligence on a character, rogue gets the job done much better than a slayer for the most part.

Races: Slayer is pretty open ended in terms of what races choose it. Races with lower physical stats or with more focus on magical combat, wont find much in the slayer class. Otherwise, you can find slayers in almost any race.

Alignment: Any

Starting Gold: As Fighter.

Starting Age: Moderate.

Table: The Slayer

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Bonus Feat, Cross-Training
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Talent
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Talent
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Talent
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Bonus Feat
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Talent
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Bonus Feat
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Talent
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Bonus Feat
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Talent
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Talent
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Bonus Feat
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Talent
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Talent
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Bonus Feat
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Talent
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A slayer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor and shields (including tower shields).

Cross-Training (Ex): The Slayer's training gives him a more advanced degree of familiarity and skill with melee and ranged weaponry. Slayer class levels qualify for feats that usually require a minimum number of Fighter levels, such as Weapon Specialization. These levels stack with actual Fighter levels, so a Slayer 4, a Fighter 4, and Slayer 2/Fighter 2 would all qualify for Weapon Specialization.

Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a slayer gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The slayer gains an additional bonus feat at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter (5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A slayer must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.

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

Talents (Ex): As a slayer continues to learn the art of combat, he learns a number of talents that aid him and decimate his foes. Starting at 2nd level, a slayer gains one talent. He gains an additional talent for every 2 levels of slayer attained after 2nd level. A slayer cannot select an individual talent more than once.

• Perfect Strike: When making a full attack, a slayer with this talent may choose to forfeit any extra attack iteratives he would otherwise receive in exchange for a bonus to his first attack and damage. This bonus is equal to the base attack bonus of the forfeited iteratives.

• Defender: A slayer knows how to defend himself against harmful spells by bracing himself, rather than dodging. At 3rd level, a slayer wielding a shield has the option of gaining Spell Resistance until the end of the turn equal to his AC, instead of a reflex saving throw, vs. any spell that deals hit point damage.

In addition, at 6th level, shields grant an additional +1 shield bonus to AC. This bonus increases by 1 at 11th, 16th, and 20th level.

• Clever Combat: A slayer knows the best way to take out opponents in almost any situation. This talent grants the slayer a +1 bonus to Bull rush, Disarm, Feint, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder, and Trip attempts. This bonus increases by 1 for every four slayer levels he possesses. Therefore, a 2nd level slayer with this feat would receive a +1 bonus, while a 4th level slayer would receive a +2 bonus and at level 8, a +3 bonus.

In addition, a slayer with this feat can make a feint action as a move action.

• Armor Mastery: Slayers are able to move in their armor so naturally that they reduce skill check penalties by 1 and increase the armor's maximum dexterity bonus by 1, as well as move at full speed while wearing medium armor.

These variables increase by 1 for every four slayer levels he possesses. Therefore a 4th level slayer would reduce armor check penalties by 2 and increase maximum dexterity bonuses by 2.

In addition, at 10th level, a slayer can move at full speed while wearing heavy armor.

• Tough Guy: A slayer with this feat has too much pride to be dissuaded by trivial problems. This talent grants a slayer a +4 bonus against hot and cold environments, as well as a +4 against fear effects. In addition, a slayer with this talent doubles his carrying capacity, including lifting and dragging maximums.

• Relentless: A slayer's constant assault throws his opponents off balance. On any attacks that miss the target, the slayer gains a temporary +2 bonus to hit that target on future attacks. This bonus is removed upon hitting the target with an attack, or after one round of not attempting to attack the target. This bonus stacks with itself, so if a slayer misses his first attack as well as his second attack, he would gain a +4 bonus on his next attack attempt against the target.

• Shake it off: This talent represents the slayer’s ability to shake off effects that would otherwise damper him. If a slayer with this talent is affected by any of the following effects listed below and fails his saving throw, he can attempt it again 1 round later at the same DC. He gets only this one extra chance to succeed on his saving throw.

Removable effects: blinded, confused, dazzled, deafened, exhausted, fascinated, fatigued, nauseated, paralyzed, sickened, and all fear effects (shaken, frightened, panicked, and cowering).

• Practice makes perfect: A slayer practices with almost every weapon and armor he can get his hands on. This talent grants the slayer all proficiencies, including weapons, armor, shields, even exotic weapons and armor.

In addition, any weapon specific feats the slayer has, such as weapon specialization or weapon focus, now apply to all weapons, instead of just the selected weapon.

• Size matters: A slayer knows how to use his size to his advantage when grappling. This talent grants the slayer two features, The first is the option of holding a creature one or more sizes smaller than you with your off hand. you take a -10 penalty on grapple checks against that creature and you cannot deal damage with your grapple checks, but you are not considered grappled yourself. You don't lose your Dexterity bonus to AC, you still threaten an area, and you can use remaining attacks against other opponents. While maintaining this type of hold, you can move normally (possibly carrying your opponent away, provided you can drag the opponent's weight).

The second feature is the option to climb on top of a creature at least two size categories larger than you. First, attempt to move into the creature's space by making a DC 15 Climb check as a free action to clamber onto the creature's back or limbs. While on the creature, ranged weapons don't provoke attacks of opportunity, and you get a +2 to attack rolls with one handed weapons and ranged weapons. The creature you're standing on takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls against you, because it can strike at you only awkwardly. If the creature moves during its action, you move along with it. The creature can try to shake you off by making a grapple check opposed by your Climb check. If the creature succeeds, you wind up in a random adjacent square and take 1d6 nonlethal damage.

• Resilience: A slayer with this talent has become adept at resisting the elements, and gains resistance to all energy types equal to half the slayer's class level rounded down.

• Mettle: A slayer with this talent can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping slayer does not gain the benefit of mettle.

• Dead Shot: This talent grants the fighter the precise shot feat without having to meet the prerequisites, and allows him to make disarm & sunder attempts with ranged attacks.

• Cruel Sting: Whenever you deal damage with a light slashing or piercing weapon, your target must make a concentration check with a DC equal to the damage dealt or he is unable to cast spells for 1 round, including casting defensively.

• Executioner: A slayer with this talent increases his threat range by 1, so if he was wielding a dagger, which normally has a 19-20 threat range, it would increase to 18-20. In addition, a slayer with this talent may also make coup de grace attempts as standard action instead of a full round action.

• Blood Shower: With this talent, a slayer who dealt damage to an opponent in the same round, may demoralize opponents as a swift action, and any targets intimidated are affected for 1d4 rounds instead of the normal 1 round.

• Bladestorm: A slayer with this talent may make a full attack as a standard action. You must be 6th level or higher to take this talent.

• Durable: A slayer with this talent gains Damage Reduction as a barbarian. Subtract 1 from the damage the slayer takes each time he is dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th slayer level, and every three slayer levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0. You must be 7th level or higher to take this talent.

• Fighter Feat: With this talent, a slayer gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to any other feats he would receive. This bonus feat must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A slayer must still meet all prerequisites for this bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. This talent may be taken multiple times, each granting an additional feat.

Ex-Slayers

A slayer who multiclasses, or changes his alignment, retains all class features and proficiencies.

The Epic Slayer

Table: Epic Slayer

Hit Die: d10

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

Bonus Feats: The epic Slayer gains a bonus feat, selected from the list of epic Slayer bonus feats, at every specified level.

Epic Slayer Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Devastating Critical, Dire Charge, Distant Shot, Energy Resistance, Epic Endurance, Epic Leadership, Epic Prowess, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Specialization, Exceptional Deflection, Fast Healing, Improved Combat Reflexes, 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, Two-Weapon Rend, Uncanny Accuracy. In addition to the feats on this list, the Slayer may treat any feat designated as a Fighter Bonus Feat, but not listed here, as being on his bonus feat list.

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