Order of the Kensai

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Purists might consider Sword Saints to be Ronin due to the fact that they don't pledge themselves to a lord but a Sword Saint normally wouldn't consider themselves Ronin, seeing themselves as pledging to something higher than a lord. Sword Saints seek perfection in their martial ability with a blade and physical prowess and believe the best way to accomplish perfection is to travel the world finding worthy foes to challenge.

Sword Saints are not required to take this Samurai order, but they are the only ones who are eligible to do so.

**Edicts**: The Samurai must travel with the intention of improving his martial skill. He must be honorable in combat, accept challenges to duel one on one, and respect opponents whom he determines worthy of fighting.

**Challenge**: Whenever an Order of the Kensai Samurai declares a challenge, he receives a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls made against the target of his challenge and a +1 morale bonus to one type saving throw of the Samurai's choice made against abilities originating from his target for the duration of his challenge, the Samurai choses which saving throw receives this bonus when declaring his challenge. These bonuses increase by +1 for every four levels the Samurai possesses. In addition, these bonuses increase depending on how powerful a foe the Samurai is facing. For every hit die the enemy has more than the Samurai, these bonuses increase by +1. An Order of the Kensai Samurai's challenge requires even more concentration than the standard Samurai's however so if he attacks anyone other than the target of his challenge while it is still active, he loses the extra bonuses to his challenge granted from this Samurai Order (he retains the bonuses granted by the Samurai base class feature) against his foe.

**Skills**: An Order of the Kensai Samurai adds Knowledge (local) and Survival to his list of class skills.

**Order Abilities**: An Order of the Kensai Samurai gains the following abilities as he increases in level.
**Daisho Expertise**
At 2nd level, the Order of the Kensai Samurai has become so familiar with the weight and balance of his weapon that he is able to apply force at precisely the right moment when he swings to deal the most damage possible with either his katana or wakizashi. The Order of the Kensai Samurai gains the Daisho Expertise combat feat as a bonus feat.

**Without Master (Ex)**
At 8th level, the Order of the Kensai Samurai’s fierce independence allows him to overcome staggering odds. He can summon up this willpower as an immediate action, and can use it in one of three ways. He can use his willpower whenever an attack would reduce him to fewer than 0 hit points but wouldn’t kill him, to instead be at 1 hit point and conscious. He can use his willpower after making an attack roll to confirm a critical hit in order to reroll the confirmation roll. Finally, he can use his willpower to take 10 on a skill check during combat, even if the situation or the skill would not normally allow him to take 10. An Order of the Kensai Samurai can use this ability once during a combat.

**Strike True (Ex)**
At 15th level, the Order of the Kensai Samurai can use his years of training and focus to make the perfect strike. When he uses this ability, the Samurai makes an attack as normal. If the attack hits, it is a critical threat. The Samurai must roll to confirm the critical as normal. The attack deals the maximum amount of damage, although additional dice from weapon qualities, sneak attack, and additional dice from a critical hit are rolled normally. The damage from this attack ignores any damage reduction the target might have and also causes the target to become blinded, deafened, sickened, or staggered for 1d4 rounds (the Samurai’s choice). Making this attack is a standard action. The samurai can use this ability once per day. A Sword Saint Samurai with this ability may use it as part of his Iaijutsu Strike ability although the extra damage dice are rolled normally as well.