Awakened Blade

Some wielders of psychic power seek to extend and
stretch the depths of their psionic power to assist their
abilities in many different ways. Some small select
few, those who are quite gifted in the clairsentient
arts, find that they are able to distil certain psionic
powers into a fighting style of extreme potency. The
style is a deadly mix of precognition abilities coupled
with martial techniques that when utilized together,
allows for its user to react to danger faster and defend
himself while simultaneously mapping out his foe’s
defenses for maximum effect. Awakened blades,
as they are called, learn to use their precognitive
mastery as both offense and defense in pursuit of
greater psionic knowledge and personal glory or
power.

**Hit Die:** d10

### **Requirements**

To qualify to become an awakened blade, a character must meet all of the following criteria.

* **Skills:** Acrobatics 5 ranks, Autohypnosis 4 ranks, Knowledge (Martial) 3 ranks, Knowledge (Psionics) 3 ranks
* **Feats:** Psionic Body, Psionic Meditation
* **Psionics:** Ability to manifest *defensive precognition* and *offensive precognition*.
* **Maneuvers:** Ability to initiate 2nd level maneuvers, including at least one stance.

**Class Skills:** The awakened blade’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Stealth (Dex).

**Skill Points per Level:** 4 + Int modifier.

### **CLASS FEATURES**

All of the following are class features of the
awakened blade.

### **Weapons and Armor proficiency**

The awakened
blade gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

### **Maneuvers**

An awakened blade adds either Riven Hourglass or Sleeping Goddess to his list of available disciplines. If he does not have that discipline’s associated skill as a class skill, he gains it as a class skill.

At every even-number level, an
awakened blade gains new maneuvers known from
any discipline he has access to (either from
a martial disciple class or from the Martial Training
feat). He must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites
to learn it. The character adds his full awakened
blade levels to his initiator level to determine his
total initiator level and his highest-level maneuvers
known.

At 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels, he gains additional
maneuvers readied per day.

### **Stances Known**

At 4th level and again at 6th level and 10th level, an awakened blade learns a new
stance from any of the disciplines available to him as an
awakened blade. He must meet the stance’s
prerequisites to learn it.

### **Powers Known**

At every level but 1st and 6th, an
awakened blade 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 awakened blade 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 awakened blade, he must decide
to which class he adds the new level of awakened
blade for the purpose of determining power points
per day, powers known, and manifester level.

### **Situational Awareness (Su)**

At 1st level, awakened
blades open their minds to the myriad of potential
futures that could lead to his victory in battle and
to his continued defense. Similar in effect to the
*danger sense* psionic power, the character adds half
his class level (rounded down, minimum of +1) to his
initiative rolls as an insight bonus. He may also add
this bonus to his AC as a dodge bonus or Reflex saves
to avoid traps and their attacks. This bonus stacks
with bonuses gained from the trap sense class feature.
At 3rd level, the character gains the benefits of the
uncanny dodge ability. At 9th level, the character
gains the improved uncanny dodge ability.

### **Deep Focus**

The character gains the Deep Focus
psionic feat as a bonus feat at 1st level.

### **Path of the Warrior**

The awakened blade’s trip
along the Path of War is one of constant devotion,
and for those with a focused aptitude in the field of
war with the psionic arts, their discipline is rewarded.
If the character possesses levels in psychic warrior,
then he adds his class level to his psychic warrior
level for the purposes of determining the trance
and maneuver abilities of his path abilities. If the
character possessed levels in the soulknife base class,
then the awakened blade counts all levels in this class
as +1 to existing manifester level with regards to a
soulknife’s mind blade enhancement bonus.

### **Stance of the Inner Eye**

At 2nd level, the
awakened blade’s precognitive abilities blend with
his martial prowess to unlock an inner eye within his
mind, all-seeing and hyper-aware of the dangers that
surround him and ways to combat them. This inner
sense allows the awakened blade to react to danger
quickly, guide his attacks around the defenses of his
enemies, and to land fierce blows as his mind traces
out the myriad scenarios that could play out between
himself and his foes. To enter this stance, as a swift
action the awakened blade abandons a martial
stance he is currently using. While in this stance,
the character gains a +1 insight bonus for every
three initiator levels he possesses (minimum +1) to
his AC, attack and damage rolls, CMB checks, and
to all saving throws. If caught in a situation where
the character would be denied his Dexterity bonus,
these bonuses do not apply. The character inflicts an
additional 1d6 points of damage while in this stance
at 2nd level, and this damage bonus improves to 2d6
points of damage at 7th level. This bonus damage is
precision based, and creatures not subject to critical
hits are immune to this additional damage.

### **Bonus Psionic Feat**

The awakened blade gains a
bonus combat feat or psionic feat of his choice at 4th
level. He gains an additional bonus combat feat or
psionic feat of his choice at 8th level. The character
must meet all prerequisites for this feat to select it.

### **Precognitive Defenses (Su)**

At 5th level, the
mind’s eye within the awakened blade’s defensive
senses is capable of reacting to multiple dangerous
scenarios at the same time. The character may expend
his psionic focus as a free action to initiate a readied
counter, even if he has already used his immediate
or swift action this round. This specifically allows for
the use of a free action on another creature’s turn.

### **Hypercognitive Focus (Ex)**

At 6th level, an
awakened blade’s mind is able to anticipate his
needs and subconsciously works to further his
effectiveness. Whenever the character recovers one
or more maneuvers, he may regain psionic focus
as a free action as part of his maneuver recovery.
He may only do this one time in a given round.
Alternately, the character may expend his psionic
focus when manifesting a psionic power and recover
an expended maneuver.

### **Clairsentient Counter (Su)**

By anticipating the
attack before the attacker ever considers making
it, the awakened blade using this martial technique
may act faster than his opponent can even think.
To use this ability, the character expends a readied
maneuver and his psionic focus as an immediate
action; the clairsentient counter is used in response
to attack against him of any sort (be it a melee or
ranged attack, spell, power, or other spell-like or
supernatural effect) and grants the character a
standard or move action that he must use as part of
this counter. This movement occurs before the attack
is resolved but after the attack is made.

### **Pretercognitive Mind**

At 10th level, the awakened
blade’s reactive capabilities are so intense that his
subconscious mind must manage them for him as
they otherwise would never give him a moment’s
rest. While psionically focused, the character is
considered to have the benefits of the Stance of the
Inner Eye without needing to initiate the stance. He
may continue to gain these benefits while he adopts
any other martial stance that he knows and gain the
benefits of both stances.