Noble Commander (Diplomat Archetype)

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===Class Features===
A Noble Commander begins their career with knowledge of three martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to them are Golden Lion, and two of their choice from the following disciplines: Black Seraph, Iron Tortoise, Mythral Current, Piercing Thunder, Scarlet Throne, Silver Crane, Tempest Gale, Thrashing Dragon, and Vermilion Blade.
Once the Noble Commander knows a maneuver, they must ready it before they can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by Noble Commanders is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in it or its discipline's description. A Noble Commander's maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and they do not provoke attacks of opportunity when initiate one.
The Noble Commander learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as indicated on Table: Archetype Maneuver Progression. The maximum level of maneuvers gained through Noble Commander levels is limited by those listed in that table as well, although this restriction does not apply to maneuvers known through other methods, such as prestige classes or the Advanced Study feat. A Noble Commander must meet a maneuver's prerequisites to learn it.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered imitator level thereafter, the Noble Commander can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one they already know. In effect, they lose the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. They can choose to learn a new maneuver of any level they like, as long they observe the restriction on the highest-level maneuver they know. The Noble Commander need not replace the old maneuver with maneuver of the same level. They can only swap a single maneuver at any given level. A Noble Commander's initiation modifier is Charisma, and each Noble Commander level is counted as a full initiator level.
A Noble Commander can ready all three of their maneuvers at 1st level, and as they advance in level and learn more maneuvers, they are able to ready more, but still must choose which maneuvers to ready. A Noble Commander must always ready their maximum number of maneuvers readied. They ready maneuvers by practicing weapon drills and running over battle plans and callouts with their allies for ten minutes. The maneuvers they choose remain readied until they decide to practice again and change them. The Noble Commander does not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time in order to ready their maneuvers; any time they spend ten minutes practicing, they can change their readied maneuvers.
A Noble Commander begins an encounter with all their readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times they might have already used them since they chose them. When they initiate a maneuver, they expend it for the rest of the current encounter, so each of their readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless they recover them, as described below).
For a Noble Commander to recover expended maneuvers, they must perform one of two types of actions: a gambit action in which they gamble on their performance in battle, or that of their allies (see Commander's Gambit below), or they may spend a standard action to recover a single maneuver of their choosing.
A Noble Commander begins their career with knowledge of one stance from any discipline available to Noble Commanders. At 4th, 7th, 11th, and 13th levels, they can select an additional stance to learn. The maximum level of stances gained through Noble Commander level is limited by those listed in Table: Archetype Maneuver Progression. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and the Noble Commander does not have to ready them. All the stances they know are available to them at all times, and they can change the stance they are currently maintaining as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance or discipline description.
Unlike with maneuvers, a Noble Commander cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one they already know.
This ability replaces a single rhetoric known at 1st, 4th, 7th, 11th, and 13th levels.
Like the Warlord, a Noble Commander relies on both skill and daring to set themselves apart from the typical combatant. But where a Warlord focuses the breadth of their training chiefly on martial prowess, the Noble Commander often relies on their allies to carry out their cunning plans and daring maneuvers. The Noble Commander gains Warlord's Gambit as the class feature with an effective Warlord level equal to their Noble Commander level, except for the following changes:
A Noble Commander does not gain a luck bonus to d20 rolls made while performing a gambit, instead, when they take a swift or immediate action to begin a gambit, they may designate a single ally as their second for that gambit. The ally in question gains a luck bonus equal to (1/2 the Noble Commander's initiation modifier) to any d20 rolls made as part of the gambit for 1 round. The action of beginning a gambit can be combined with that of any rhetoric the Noble Commander knows, although if it affects one or more allies, the designated second must be one of them.
If the Noble Commander or their second succeeds at the gambit's risk, the Noble Commander recovers a number of expended maneuvers equal to (Their initiation modifier [minimum 2]) and gain the reward listed in the gambit's description. They may choose to pass the reward onto their second for the gambit if they performed the gambit. If the Noble Commander or their second fails the gambit (including if 1 round passes and the second takes no action to fulfill the gambit), the Noble Commander suffers the gambit's rake, recovering only a single expended maneuver and taking a -2 penalty to all d20 rolls for 1 round.
Category:Works in Progress
Category:Classes
Category:Combat Classes
Category:Skill Classes
Category:Archetypes