Level | BAB | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Lexicon of the Evolving Mind | Lexicon of the Crafted Tool | Lexicon of the Perfected Map | Maneuvers Known | Maneuvers Readied | Stances Known | Special |
Level 01 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | 2 | - | - | 4 | 4(2) | 1 | Known Personal Truename, Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5, Divine Revelation +1 |
Level 02 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | 2 | - | - | 4 | 4(2) | 1 | Knowledge Focus, Indomitable Soul |
Level 03 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | 2 | - | - | 5 | 4(2) | 2 | Zealous Surge, Divine Revelation +2 |
Level 04 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | 3 | 1 | - | 5 | 4(2) | 2 | Steely Resolve 10 |
Level 05 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | 3 | 1 | - | 6 | 4(2) | 2 | -- |
Level 06 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | 4 | 1 | - | 6 | 4(2) | 2 | Truename Research, Divine Revelation +3 |
Level 07 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | 5 | 2 | - | 7 | 4(2) | 2 | Knowledge Focus |
Level 08 | +6/+1 | +6 | +2 | +6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4(2) | 2 | Bonus Recitation Feat, Steely Resolve 15 |
Level 09 | +6/+1 | +6 | +3 | +6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4(2) | 2 | Divine Revelation +4 |
Level 10 | +7/+2 | +7 | +3 | +7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5(2) | 2 | Knowledge Focus, Mettle |
Level 11 | +8/+3 | +7 | +3 | +7 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 5(2) | 2 | -- |
Level 12 | +9/+4 | +8 | +4 | +8 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 5(2) | 2 | Steely Resolve 20, Divine Revelation +5 |
Level 13 | +9/+4 | +8 | +4 | +8 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 5(2) | 2 | Speak unto the Masses |
Level 14 | +10/+5 | +9 | +4 | +9 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 5(2) | 3 | Knowledge Focus |
Level 15 | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +5 | +9 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 5(2) | 3 | Bonus recitation feat, Martial Truenamer, Divine Revelation +6 |
Level 16 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 5(2) | 3 | Steely Resolve 25 |
Level 17 | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +10 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 5(2) | 3 | Speak unto the masses |
Level 18 | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +11 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 5(2) | 3 | Divine Revelation +7 |
Level 19 | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +11 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 5(2) | 3 | -- |
Level 20 | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +12 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 6(3) | 4 | Perfect Dialect, Steely Resolve 30 |
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, x4 at 1st level): Balance, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Jump, Perform(Oratory), Knowledge(all skills, taken individually), Martial Lore, Ride, Truespeak, Use Magic Device.
Class FeaturesWeapon and Armor Proficiency: As a Wordknight, you are proficient with simple weapons, martial weapons, light, medium, and heavy armor, and all shields.
Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge of five martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to you are Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and White Raven. Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by Wordknights is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered Wordknight level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. For example, upon reaching 10th level, you could trade in a single 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd- or 4th-level maneuver for a maneuver of 5th level or lower, as long as you meet the prerequisite of the new maneuver. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.
Maneuvers Readied: You can ready all four maneuvers you know at 1st level, but as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you must choose which maneuvers to ready. You ready maneuvers by praying for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to pray again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in prayer, you can change your readied maneuvers. You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless you recover them, as described below). Wordknights are unique among martial adepts, relying on flashes of divine inspiration to use their martial maneuvers. As such, you do not control access to your readied maneuvers. Before you take your first action in an encounter, two of your readied maneuvers (randomly determined) are granted to you. The rest of your readied maneuvers are withheld, currently inaccessible. At the end of each turn, one previously withheld maneuver (again, randomly determined) is granted to you, and thus becomes accessible for your next turn and subsequent turns. You can freely choose to initiate any maneuver that is currently granted when your turn begins, but you cannot initiate a withheld maneuver. If you choose not to employ a maneuver in a given round, your currently granted maneuvers remain available, and a previously withheld maneuver is granted, as described above. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you use your maneuvers or not—at the end of each of your turns, one withheld maneuver from your selection of readied maneuvers is granted to you. Over the course of a few rounds, all your maneuvers will eventually be granted. If, at the end of your turn, you cannot be granted a maneuver because you have no withheld maneuvers remaining, you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of readied maneuvers is granted to you. Randomly determine which of your maneuvers are granted and which are withheld. At the end of your next turn, a withheld maneuver is granted to you, and the whole process of divine inspiration begins again. You begin an encounter with an additional granted maneuver at 10th level, and again at 20th level.
Stances Known:You begin play with knowledge of one 1st-level stance from the Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, or White Raven discipline. At 2nd, 8th, and 14th level, you can choose an additional stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you currently use as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.
Known Personal Truename: You know your own personal truename. You cannot pronounce it automatically; doing so requires a Truespeak check with a DC equal to 15 + (2 × your Hit Dice) + 2. Because it’s your personal truename, you get a +4 bonus on the Truespeak check.
Utterances (Sp): You have the ability to speak utterances, powerful combinations of truenames that can alter the world around you in fundamental ways. Utterances exist in three lexicons: The Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, the Lexicon of the Crafted Tool, and the Lexicon of the Perfected Map. You begin play knowing one utterance from the 1st level of the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, and you gain one utterance from this lexicon at each Wordknight level you attain. When you gain access to higher-level utterances, you can choose an utterance from that level or from a lower level, if you wish. Each utterance represents hundreds of truenames in your repertoire. When you gain the word of bolstering, for example, you say thanthan’ku’ul-hrasechni when you’re delivering it on your elf ranger ally and yanu-shankrini’qalaasha when you’re delivering it on your gnome rogue friend. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against your utterances is 10 + 1/2 your Wordknight level + your Cha modifier. Beginning at 4th level, you also gain access to the 1st-level utterances of the Lexicon of the Crafted Tool, allowing you to alter objects with your truenames. You gain access to higher-level utterances from this lexicon at 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th levels. Beginning at 8th level, you gain access to the 1st-level utterances of the Lexicon of the Perfected Map, allowing you to alter places with your truenames. You gain access to higher-level utterances from this lexicon at 12th, 16th, and 20th levels.
Steely Resolve (Ex): Your supreme dedication and intense focus allow you to temporarily set aside the pain and hindering effects of injuries. When an opponent strikes you, the injury does not immediately affect you. You have a delayed damage pool that allows you to forestall the effects of many injuries. This pool begins at 0 with each encounter. When you are attacked, any hit point damage the blow deals is added to your delayed damage pool. At the end of your next turn, you take damage equal to the total stored in your delayed damage pool, which then resets to 0. Any healing you receive can either increase your current hit point total as normal or reduce the total damage in your delayed damage pool. When you receive healing, you choose whether it affects your damage pool, your hit points, or both (you can split the amount of healing as you wish). Most Wordknights opt to keep as much damage in their delayed damage pool as possible to maximize the benefit of their furious counterstrike ability (see below). Special effects tied to an attack, such as energy drain, stun, and so forth, still affect you as normal, and their effects are not delayed by this ability. For example, if you are bitten by a venomous spider, you must still attempt a Fortitude save against the poison immediately, even though the bite damage shifts into your delayed damage pool. By the same token, any other special attack that imposes a condition, such as a medusa’s petrifying gaze, takes immediate effect on you. At 1st level, your delayed damage pool can hold up to 5 points of damage. Any damage beyond that comes off your hit points as normal. The maximum damage your pool holds increases by 5 at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level.
Furious Counterstrike (Ex): You can channel the pain of your injuries into a boiling rage that lets you lash out at your enemies with renewed vigor and power. Each attack that strikes you only pushes you onward to greater glory. During your turn, you gain a bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls equal to the current value of your delayed damage pool (see steely resolve, above) divided by 5, and rounding down (minimum +1). You can only gain a maximum bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls of +6 from furious counterstrike. Use the table to quickly determine the attack bonus and damage bonus from furious counterstrike, based on the amount of damage in your delayed damage pool. This ability’s benefits last until the end of your turn.
Knowledge Focus (Ex): As a Wordknight, you spend a great deal of time studying the world around you in an effort to learn new truenames. At the levels indicated, you gain a permanent +3 bonus on a Knowledge skill of your choice. Each time you gain this ability, you can apply it to a different Knowledge skill, or to the same Knowledge skill, if you want to focus on a particular area of expertise.
Indomitable Soul (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you draw upon the power of your unwavering faith to steel yourself against the enemies you face. Your personality, energy, and dedication to your faith make it possible for you to shrug off attacks that target your willpower. You add your Charisma bonus (if any) as a bonus on Will saves. This bonus does not stack with that from a paladin’s divine grace ability.
Zealous Surge (Ex): Your boundless energy and dedication to your cause allow you to throw off the effect of a special attack, spell, or other attack that would otherwise hinder or harm you. Once per day, from 3rd level on, you can opt to reroll a single saving throw. You must abide by the result of the new, second saving throw, even if it is lower than the first. This ability does not require an action. You simply decide to use it after seeing the result of your saving throw roll but before the DM tells you if it fails or succeeds.
Truename Research: At 6th level, you gain Truename Research as a bonus feat. Bonus Recitation Feat: By repeating your own personal truename over and over with a particular inflection, you can achieve various healing effects starting at 8th level. Choose one recitation feat from those given later in the chapter. You must still meet the prerequisites for the bonus feat to take it. At 15th level, you gain a second bonus recitation feat.
Mettle (Ex): You can resist magical attacks with greater effectiveness than other warriors. Beginning at 10th level, by drawing on your boundless energy and dedication to your cause, you can shrug off effects that would hinder even the toughest warrior. If you succeed on a Fortitude or Will save against an attack that would normally produce a lesser effect on a successful save (such as a spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), you instead negate the effect. You do not gain the benefit of mettle when you are unconscious or sleeping.
Speak unto the Masses (Su): At 13th level, you have the ability to affect a number of creatures of the same creature type with a single, powerful utterance. You can only affect creatures of the same type (humanoids, giants, or dragons, for example) with a single use of this ability, although you could use it against a different group of a different creature type each round. No two of the creatures you wish to affect with your utterance can be more than 30 feet apart, and the base DC for your Truespeak check is equal to the most powerful (highest CR or most Hit Dice, if you are affecting PCs) creature in the group. For each creature you wish to affect with the utterance beyond the first, the DC of your Truespeak check increases by 2. The Law of Resistance applies to utterances altered with speak unto the masses.
Martial Truenamer (Ex): At 15th level you can make a single strike as a standard action. If this strike succeeds, you may immediately use an utterance you know, with a +10 bonus on the Truespeak check involved to speak it
Perfect Dialect (Ex): At 20th level, you may take 10 on Truespeak checks. This is an exception to the rule that you can never take 10 on Truespeak checks, and does not mean that other classes can learn to take 10 on Truespeak checks through other class features such as Skill Mastery.
It's a somewhat weakened gestalt Truenamer/Crusader for the most part, under the working title "Wordknight". I changed a few abilities somewhat, moved them around, or replaced them. Some of them are taken from various Truenamer fixes. (Mainly that of Kellus.) It still needs a little bit more balancing and reflavoring. Thoughts?
EDIT: Somehow lost Divine Revelation's description somewhere along the way. Here it is.
Divine Revelation (Ex): Your patron deity occasionally grants you insight into the words comprising your foes. At level 1 this is a +1 bonus to Truespeak checks made against foes that do not share your alignment. This bonus increases at level 3 and every 3 levels thereafter. (6, 9, and so on.) In addition, you may treat Truespeak as a charisma based skill.
EDITED: Grammar