Chessmaster (Class)

Chessmasters are a breed of strategists who see life as a game to be won. They are not the armored general leading from the front for the sake of great nations but egotistic tricksters whose greatest glory is a fierce personal victory over another mind as keen as theirs. They always abide by the rules of whatever game they are playing but often exploit loopholes and poor wording to find new avenues that allow them to win whatever the game is. Chessmasters are most often employed in adventuring parties as the brains of the group - coordinating their allies in battle and overcoming whatever non-combat challenges they may face.

A chessmaster is not a strictly mundane character however. There is some impetus behind their supernatural level of perception and coordination that sets them apart from their more mundane peers. This might be a touch of devil’s blood in their lineage, a freak genetic mutation that pushes them to the next level of evolution, a born genius that outclasses all his peers by decades, a fateful pact with an outsider for the skill to win their games, a powerful psychic potential, or something else equally as powerful. Whatever the reason it allows them to see myriad possibilities unfold in real time in front of them- a thousand divergent paths containing infinite possibilities that they can use to aid their allies and wreck their opponents. Life’s a game right? Play to win.

**Role:** Chessmasters are support characters with a secondary focus on overcoming skill challenges. They are designed to be run by veteran players who understand the rules of Pathfinder on a higher level so they can expertly advise their allies in combat as this plays into their main mechanic. Their primary offensive abilities, known as gambits, expend attacks of opportunity and hamper the enemy. Their primary attribute is Intelligence as this is what the majority of their class features rely on. It may behoove a chessmaster to put points into their Dexterity for the additional attacks of opportunity they provide as well as the boost to their AC given their general lack of armor.

**Alignment:** Any

For a chessmaster the good/evil axis has little to do with their day to day life and most are of neutral alignment on that axis anyway. Chessmasters are more often judged on the lawful or chaotic aspect of their personality. Chaotic chessmasters will strike to bend and break rules as often as they can and will sometimes straight out cheat to win. Lawful chessmasters tend to try to adhere more strictly to the rules of a challenge and often prefer to outthink their opponents.

**Hit Dice:** d8

**Starting Wealth:** 5d6 × 10 gp (average 175 gp.). In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

**Class Skills:** The chessmaster’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha).

**Skill Ranks per Level:** 8 + Int Modifier

### **Weapon and Armor Proficiency**

The chessmaster is proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor. He is not proficient with any other weapons, armor, or any shields.

### **Edge (Ex)**

At 1st level, a chessmaster gains a pool of edge points. Edge points represent the control over a situation he has. At the beginning of each battle he begins with 0 and can hold up to a maximum of 4 + his chessmaster level at any one point. Any points he gains over this maximum are wasted. Edge points can be expended to perform gambits or give his allies benefits for following his orders during their turn. Edge points vanish at the end of combat and can only be gained in tense situations like combat or during particularly intense skill checks.

### **Chess Master (Ex)**

At 1st level, the chessmaster can offer keen and perceptive advice to an ally on what action they should take on their turn. At the start of an ally’s (excluding the chessmaster’s) turn, the chessmaster suggests a course of action to his ally.

Examples:

* “Move there so you can flank with Bill the Barbarian” (Move action)
* “Don’t you have that potion of cure light wounds?” (Standard action)
* “I’d advise attacking that snake. It only has a few HP left and if you kill that- we won’t have to worry about Bill the Barbarian taking damage from it next turn.” (Standard)
* “A single attack? No, you are a two-weapon fighter- it’d be best if you just full-round attacked that thing.” (Full round)

If his ally follows this suggestion the chessmaster gains 2 edge points. As a free action that can only be made after an ally accepts their advice, they can spend 1 edge point to assign that ally a bonus that lasts until the end of that ally’s turn (this edge point may be one he just received). The possible bonuses are:

* The ally gains a +4 insight bonus to their AC against attacks of opportunity. Creatures that make attacks of opportunity against this ally provoke attacks of opportunity for making such an action. These attacks of opportunity resolve after the initial attack of opportunity does. This attack of opportunity does not stack with other abilities that provoke attacks of opportunity such as the barbarian’s come get me rage power.
* The ally gains an insight bonus on attack rolls equal to 1 + 1/4th the chessmaster’s level against 1 creature of the chessmaster’s choosing
* The ally bypasses 1/2 the chessmaster’s level (minimum 1) in DR and twice the chessmaster’s level of a single type of resistance (chosen each this this is used) against a single creature of the chessmaster’s choosing.
* The ally gains a +10 foot bonus to their move speed if they make a charge, double move, or withdrawal action.

### **Gambits (Ex)**

A chessmaster is a specialist in making genius tactical moves known as “gambits”. Gambits represent their ability to set up and execute booby-trap and shepherd enemies into unfavorable situations. Each gambit has a trigger, a set condition in which the gambit may occur, this is described in each gambit’s entry. A chessmaster may execute one gambit per round. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter they may execute one additional gambit per turn. Gambits are a free action that they may take even if it is not their turn and cost edge to execute, and consume even if they are unsuccessful.

When triggered, a chessmaster must make a gambit check to effect unwilling creatures, rolling 1d20 and adding his chessmaster level + his Intelligence modifier against a DC of 10 + the triggering creature’s HD + the higher of creatures Wisdom or Intelligence modifier. Gambits always trigger after the action that triggered them has resolved (unless otherwise noted). Unless otherwise noted the same action cannot trigger multiple gambits, even from different chessmasters.

Gambits require roleplaying however and fail if not described to the GM’s satisfaction. A chessmaster must adequately explain how the advice they gave their allies (or enemies) prior to using a gambit lead up to the gambit occurring. A chessmaster should strive to make a new explanation for each use of a gambit, though some repetition is allowed (after all, there are only so many ways to describe setting someone up).

Examples:

* Set-Up: By moving Bill the Barbarian into flanking position, it distracted the wolf for just a second so I could score a telling blow.”
* Hinder: “What Bill the Barbarian didn’t know was that when I told him to run over there, I wasn’t trying to get him into place. I wanted him to run across those nuts on the ground from the tree above. His feet turned them into sharp little caltrops and I led the wolf right over them!”
* Backfire: “I noticed that when the elf casts a spell she makes rather large gestures with her arms. I placed Bill the Barbarian in front of her not only to put the pressure on her- but to trap her in the corner where she couldn’t make quite as large motions with her arms.”
* Doom: “The minotaur winced at fire earlier in the fight. I had Bill brandish his flaming greataxe at him not only in hopes of hitting him, but hopefully to cause him to have a lapse of his senses at a critical juncture.”

Some gambits have upgraded forms and have an expanded effect if the chessmaster pays more edge. This must be decided upon before making the gambit check. If a particular gambit has more than one upgrade available, multiple upgrades may be applied to it (unless specifically noted in its entry) so long as the chessmaster meets the listed prerequisites.

At 1st level the chessmaster gains the set-up gambit and 2 other gambits that he meets the prerequisites for. At 2nd level and every even level thereafter, a chessmaster gains one additional gambit.

(Chessmaster Gambits can be found here)

### **Plot (Ex)**

At 2nd level, a chessmaster can take a moment to plot and plan - granting him 2 + 1 per 4 levels edge points as a standard action. As part of this same standard action he may make a Knowledge check to attempt to identify one creature that he can see. If he succeeds, he gains 2 extra edge points. He may not identify a creature more than once in the same 24 hour period.

If he is at least 4th level, he may attempt to identify all creatures within his field of vision as part of this standard action- making independent Knowledge check for each. For every creature he successfully identifies, he gains 2 edge points.

### **Pragmatic Strategist (Ex)**

At 2nd level, the chessmaster gains a number of extra attacks of opportunity per round equal to his Intelligence modifier.

### **Talent**

At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter a chessmaster gains a chessmaster talent.

### **Coordination (Ex)**

At 4th level, all allies that can see and hear the chessmaster gain 1 bonus attack of opportunity per round. This stacks with other sources that give additional attacks of opportunity (such as Combat Reflexes or a high Dexterity modifier). The number of bonus attacks of opportunity this grants improves by 1 at 9th level and every 5 levels thereafter, to a maximum of +4 attacks of opportunity per round at 19th level. These extra attacks of opportunity are not granted to the chessmaster himself, only his allies.

### **Plans within Plans (Ex)**

At 5th level, the chessmaster can grant his allies a small pool of edge points to use gambits. He grants these points by involving his allies in a planning session once per day that takes at least 10 minutes. His allies gain a pool with a maximum of 2 edge points + 2 per 5 levels of the chessmaster (4 at 5th, 6 at 10th, 8 at 15th, and 10 at 20th) and they can only be used when they are within 30 feet of the chessmaster. These points cannot be refreshed in any way other than another planning meeting 24 hours after the previous one. An ally may use any gambit known by the chessmaster using their own full character level as their effective chessmaster level. This has no effect on creatures with an edge pool.

### **Mind Games (Ex)**

At 6th level the chessmaster can give advice to his enemy in the same fashion as he gives advice to his allies. Though this is good advice, it does tend to set the enemy up. At the start of an enemy’s turn, the chessmaster can spend 1 edge point to suggest a course of action to an enemy who can comprehend him. This typically is either a swift action, a standard action, a move action, or even a full round action.

If his enemy follows this suggestion, he is playing into the chessmaster’s hand and the chessmaster gains 3 edge points. If the enemy refuses his advice, this represents the creature having to change their plans last second or feeling manipulated, never sure if what they are doing is really a trap. This allows the chessmaster to expend 1 edge point as a free action, upon the enemy refusing, to impose a -1 penalty for every 5 levels of chessmaster on all d20 rolls until the end of that creature’s next turn.

### **Contingency (Sp)**

At 8th level, once per day a chessmaster can prepare one spell from the wizard/sorcerer list with a spell level equal to 1/4th their chessmaster level (minimum 1st level spell) as if it had been prepared via a contingency spell. This spell uses his chessmaster level as his caster level and remains in effect for their 24 hours or until he regains use of this class feature. While he does not need the reagents for this spell, he does need to take the casting time to prepare it. Preparing a spell in this fashion lowers the chessmaster’s maximum edge pool by the level of the spell. Once the spell is expended, or he elects to dismiss the effect as a swift action, his maximum returns to normal. At 12th level and every 4 levels thereafter a chessmaster may prepare 1 additional spell per day in this fashion. He need not prepare all of his contingency spells at the same time and may elect to do so throughout the day. A chessmaster needs at least 6 hours of rest to be able to prepare his contingency spells.

### **Checkmate (Ex)**

At 20th level, the chessmaster gains the following gambit:

#### Like an Open Book

* Prerequisite: Chessmaster 20 COST: 6 edge
* Trigger: A creature’s turn ends.
* Effect: The chessmaster immediately learns the next course of action the creature will take on its next turn. The designated creature must describe their entire next turn to the chessmaster if this gambit is successful. The creature takes these actions unless the conditions on the battlefield change in such a way that would make the actions immediately and obviously harmful, or if an effect dictates that creature’s next action for it (such as a *dominate monster* spell or the chessmaster’s epic mind games talent).
	+ The World’s a Stage (+4 edge): The chessmaster may allow a creature to immediately ready an action when he activates this gambit, even if that creature has already taken all of its actions for the round.

## A Player’s Guide to the Chessmaster

A chessmaster needs edge to make use of his gambits and while giving your allies advice is a great source of edge that doesn’t take any actions on your part don’t underestimate the usefulness of your plot class feature. The massive amounts of edge you gain from it are well worth the standard action. When selecting gambits be sure to consider your other party members capabilities - make an effort to try to figure out how you would use a gambit with a party member.

Gambits that are useful for most chessmasters include: Doom, Exploit, Weak Point Strike, Evasive Tactic, False Opportunity and Leading Blow. Likewise useful talents include: Canny Defender, Extra Gambits, Favorite Gambit, Favorite Upgrade, Instant Assessment, Tactical Versatility and Two Moves Ahead.