Adaptive Warrior

Most masters of melee combat hone a particular fighting style over their career, learning the intricacies of a particular set of tactics to use against their opponents. But there are a select few who have learned to study the tactics, maneuvers, and style of those around them, adjusting their combat style based upon the circumstances.

Psychic warriors and soulknives tend to be the most commonly found adaptive warriors, for their focus on combat is a natural lead in to that of the adaptive warrior.

The nature of prestige classes and how they interact with the soulknife is limited in many respects. Most soulknives do not have any manifesting ability and there are definitely prestige classes that could benefit soulknives more specifically than they currently do. This section details how some prestige classes can be used by soulknives. A soulknife who qualifies for and enters these versions of the listed prestige classes cannot use the original rules for the classes.
**Adaptive Warrior**
The adaptive warrior is a great class that showcases how psionic potential can be used in combat situations to allow for a soulknife to truly excel by reading an enemy and changing tactics to suit them. Depending on how the single class soulknife meets the prerequisites for this class, use the following modifications.
* **Manifesting:** In place of manifesting, the adaptive warrior soulknife may choose one of the following paths based on how they qualified for the class.
* **Non-Manifesting Soulknife:** Advance the mind blade by one level at each level of the prestige class for the purposes of determining the mind blade enhancement class feature, and levels in this prestige class count as soulknife levels to determine the effects and prerequisites for blade skills. If this option is chosen, then the adaptive warrior class will not advance manifesting for any other class for this character - the class is locked into supporting his mind blade. This option allows for the soulknife to take advantage of a host of new class features that aid him in ways comparable to blade skills, but also doesn’t reduce him in power so drastically as a result.
* **Gifted Blade:** Advance the soulknife’s mind blade by one level for the purposes of the mind blade enhancement class feature as well as their gifted blade manifesting on the eight levels that increase manifesting. This does not increase his abilities with blade skills. This keeps the character roughly on pace with his abilities as normal without drastically reducing his power set. If this option is chosen, then the adaptive warrior class will not advance manifesting for any other class for this character - the class is locked into supporting his mind blade and gifted blade powers.
* **War Soul Soulknife:** Advance the soulknife’s mind blade by one level for the purposes of the mind blade enhancement class feature as well as their martial initiating on the eight levels that increase manifesting. This does not increase his abilities with blade skills. This option shores up the martial options of the class with maneuvers and stances to best fit the nature of this class as a more combat focused option. If this option is chosen, then the adaptive warrior class will not advance manifesting at all for this character - the class is locked into supporting his mind blade and his martial maneuver progression.

**Role:** Adaptive warriors are most often found in the front lines of a battle, adjusting their fighting style to match the particular enemy of the moment.

**Alignment:** Adaptive warriors can be of any alignment.

**HD:** d10

### **Requirements**

To qualify to become an adaptive warrior, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

* **Base Attack Bonus:** +5.
* **Skills:** Autohypnosis 5 ranks, Sense Motive 5 ranks.
* **Feats:** Combat Expertise, Improved Feint
* **Psionics:** Must have a power point reserve of at least 1 power point.

**Class Skills:** The adaptive warrior’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis).

**Skill Ranks per Level:** 2 + Int modifier.

### **Class Features**

All of the following are class features of the adaptive warrior.

### **Weapon and Armor Proficiency**

An adaptive warrior is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and all armor and shields (except tower shields).

### **Powers Known**

At each level indicated, an adaptive warrior gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of adaptive warrior to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, and then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly.

If a character had more than one manifesting class before he became an adaptive warrior, he must decide to which class he adds the new level of adaptive warrior for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.

If the character did not belong to a manifesting class before taking this prestige class, he does not gain manifesting levels.

### **Examine Technique (Su)**

As long as an adaptive warrior maintains psionic focus, he is able to examine and remember the techniques of any creature within line of sight once per round as a move action. An adaptive warrior may examine up to his class level in enemies as long as all enemies are within line of sight. An adaptive warrior may choose to use this ability on allies in order to gain the benefits of his other class abilities. Once an adaptive warrior expends his psionic focus, he loses access to any techniques he examines until he uses this ability again.

At 6th level, an adaptive warrior can use this ability as a swift action.

### **Counter Fighting Style (Su)**

As long as the adaptive warrior has examined an enemy for at least one round using Examine Technique, he gains a competence bonus on attack and damage rolls made against that opponent equal to half his class level (minimum +1). This bonus lasts for one minute after using Examine Fighting stile, or until the adaptive warrior uses his Examine Technique ability on another target or has expended his psionic focus.

At 4th level, an adaptive warrior may expend his psionic focus when attacking an enemy he has examined to automatically threaten a critical hit. He must still make a successful attack roll against that enemy, and still gains the competence bonus to attack and damage rolls on that attack. Subsequent attacks do not gain the competence bonus from this ability again until the adaptive warrior once again uses the Examine Technique ability.

### **Mimic Skill (Su)**

As long as an adaptive warrior of 2nd level or higher maintains psionic focus, he may mimic any skill that uses Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution as its ability score modifier that he has seen used within the past minute by a creature targeted by Examine Technique. The adaptive warrior must have seen the skill being used by someone trained in the skill. The adaptive warrior is treated as having a number of skill ranks in the skill equal to his class level.

### **Mimic Proficiency (Su)**

As long as an adaptive warrior of 3rd level or higher maintains psionic focus, he may wield any weapon as if he had proficiency with that weapon as long as he has used Examine Technique on someone with proficiency and wielding the weapon within the past minute.

### **Block Attack (Su)**

As long as an adaptive warrior of 5th level maintains psionic focus, he may, as an immediate action, attempt to block any attack, but not touch attack, made by an opponent he has used his Examine Technique ability on within the past minute. To successfully block the attack, the adaptive warrior makes an attack roll against the enemy’s attack roll, adding his class level to the roll. If the adaptive warrior’s attack roll is equal to or greater than the enemy’s attack, the attack is blocked and the adaptive warrior takes no damage and suffers no effects from the attack.

This ability may not be used against opponents two or more size categories larger than the adaptive warrior.

### **Accelerated Combat (Su)**

An adaptive warrior of 6th level or higher may, by expending psionic focus, rapidly speed up any fighting style he has witnessed within the past minute. Once every ten minutes, when the adaptive warrior attacks an opponent that he has used Examine Technique on within the past minute, he may make two additional attacks at his highest attack bonus as part of a full attack action. In addition, he gains a +2 circumstance bonus to his Armor Class until the beginning of his next turn.

### **Extended Memory (Su)**

Once an adaptive warrior reaches 7th level, the length of time he can choose to remember a particular fighting style, skill, proficiency, or feat is increased to one hour. In addition, the adaptive warrior may as a swift action attempt to recall a single fighting style, skill, proficiency, or feat even after expending psionic focus by making a successful Autohypnosis roll (DC 15 + the number of rounds since witnessing the style, skill, proficiency, or feat). The adaptive warrior must currently have psionic focus to use this ability.

### **Extended Examination (Su)**

An adaptive warrior of 8th level or higher is able to examine creatures for longer periods of time to pick up more subtle aspects of a creature’s fighting style or abilities. By examining a creature using Examine Technique as a full-round action, an adaptive warrior’s competence bonus against that enemy for the following round increases to his class level when using his Counter Fighting Style and Block Attack abilities.

### **Mimic Feat (Su)**

As long as an adaptive warrior of 9th level or higher maintains psionic focus, he may mimic any Combat, Critical, or Psionic feat that he has seen used within the past minute by a creature targeted by Examine Technique. The feat must actually be a feat that is used as part of an action, such as Deep Impact, and not a passive ability, such as Psionic Body. The adaptive warrior must meet any prerequisites the feat may have to mimic it.

### **Combine Fighting Styles (Su)**

Upon achieving 10th level, an adaptive warrior is able to combine the different fighting styles he has examined in the past hour, creating an unpredictable, yet highly effective technique that baffles his opponents. As long as the adaptive warrior maintains psionic focus, has used his Examine Technique ability on at least two creatures in the past hour, and has not expended his psionic focus since using his Examine Technique, he can, as a swift action, treat his opponents as flat-footed when making attacks against them until the start of his next turn. This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to 4 + the adaptive warrior’s Intelligence modifier.