Eccentric Officer (Dragonstar)
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| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Command Ability, Self Confidence, Heartening Presence |
| 2 | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Fearlessness, Look Out Sir! |
| 3 | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Inspire Fearlessness |
| 4 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Swagger |
| 5 | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Inspire Competence |
| 6 | +4 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Stiff Upper Lip |
| 7 | +5 | +5 | +2 | +5 | Inspire Awe |
| 8 | +6 | +6 | +2 | +6 | Swagger Stick |
| 9 | +6 | +6 | +3 | +6 | Show the Flag |
| 10 | +7 | +7 | +3 | +7 | Final Heroics |
Officers in the Dragon Empire are not schooled military men, they are nobles. The tasks of an imperial officer are to decide on strategy, guard the honor of the legion, and inspire them men with bravado, swagger, and perhaps a bit of magic. The dreary technical details of logistics, transportation, tactical dispositions and such are left to qualified subordinates. In short, they are not expected to be professionals, but dignified dandies. The very best imperial officers make a virtue of this eccentric dilettantism and become Eccentric Officers
To even become an Eccentric Officer, you must be a noble. A few upstarts manage to get this honor, but in general, nobles are of dragon-blood, either sorcerers or half-dragons.
Most officers in theImperial Legions never bother to become Eccentric Officers. Only a few show the dedication to their men necessary to sacrifice some of their magical power in order to become examples to their subordinates. Most of those are thinbloods - Half Dragons without spell ability. Sad to say, thinbloods are not among the most respected nobles of the Dragon Empire, and Eccentric Officers with illustrious records are often passed over in favor of some thickblood spell caster when command positions are assigned. It is only in the field of battle that the true mettle of the Eccentric Officer shines forth, and it is on the field of battle that they must seek their destiny, possibly after having first replaced a previous commander who could not handle the situation.
An Eccentric Officer need neither be a great warrior or a great magician - though he can be either. Instead, he must be a lucky, fearless, swaggering eccentric with the ability to scare his own troops more than the enemy does. When he speaks, the troops listen, when he commands, they obey, when he show himself, they rally and when he puts himself at personal risk to lead them, they do heroics just to keep him safe. A good Eccentric Officer is at once a caring father, a cruel demon and something of a team mascot.
Requirements
To qualify as an Eccentric Officer, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Imperial Officer. The character must hold an officer rank in an imperial legion, fleet or other imperial corps. This demands nobility, which generally demands draconic ancestry. All sorcerers and half-dragons are automatically nobles, but other characters must achieve something truly noteworthy to achieve noble title.
Skills (ex): Intimidate (4 ranks).
Feats: Etiquette, Leadership
Hit Die Type: d8
Class Skills
The Eccentric Officer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Freefall (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spot (Wis).
Skill points at each level are 2 + Int modifier
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Eccentric Officer prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Eccentric Officer is proficient in light armor and simple weapons.
Command Ability (ex): The Eccentric Officer must command his troops to improve their abilities. Thou he need not be present to command them, he must be in constant communication with their leaders, make a brief speech when assuming command, and generally stay on top of the situation.
An Eccentric Officer can command one unit per class level. One unit is either one starship, one squadron of vehicles (10 or less) or a company of soldiers (about 100). It takes ten standard actions to assume command of a unit, and if the Eccentric Officer's command limit is now exceeded, one of the units currently under your command must be abandoned. A soldier in this sense is any creature part of a unit under the Eccentric Officer's command.
The leadership feat has no application to this for an officer on active duty. Leadership refers to the ability to attract personal followers - people who follow you out of loyalty and friendship rather than duty. This is not really a problem for an Eccentric Officer while he is a chain of command.
Self-Confidence (ex): The Eccentric Officer adds his Charisma modifier as a bonus to all Will saving throws. This does not stack with the paladin's Divine Grace ability.
Heartening Presence (ex): When an Eccentric Officer is actually present, all friendly soldiers in the vicinity are strengthened in their resolve. All friendly soldiers within 100 ft. who are aware of the Eccentric Officer's presence receive a +2 morale bonus to Armor Class.
Fearlessness (ex): The Eccentric Officer has such a confidence in himself and his corps that he becomes immune to all fear effects.
Look Out Sir! (ex): Whenever an Eccentric Officer fails a Reflex saving throw or is hit by a ranged attack, and an NPC or willing PC soldier is present within 5 ft., the Imperial Officer is allowed a Will saving throw against a DC equal to that of the original attack (if it allowed a save of any sort) or 20 + any magical bonus of the weapon (if it did not). If this is successful, the soldier jumps in the way of the attack, taking the full normal effect (saving throws allowed as normal) and saving the Eccentric Officer from harm. The soldier doing the saving will not take damage twice if he was inside the same area effect that could have harmed the Eccentric Officer. .
Inspire Fearlessness (ex): The Eccentric Officer's troops become more or less fearless, either because they fear their officer more than they fear the enemy, or because of genuine respect. Units under the command of an Eccentric Officer receive a +2 morale bonus to Will saving throws against fear.
Swagger (ex): By taking a standard action doing nothing special, an Eccentric Officer can show his confidence in himself and his command. Doing so inspires those around him to new confidence; allowing any soldier within 100 ft. suffering from being Confused, Cowering, Dazed, Dazzled, Deafened, Dying, Entangled, Exhausted, Fatigued, Flat-footed, Frightened, Held, Nauseated, Panicked, Paralyzed, Prone, Shaken, Stunned or Turned to make an immediate roll to recover. Make a saving throw for each such soldier, using the Eccentric Officer's Will save bonus. The DC is 30. A Dying soldier becomes Stabilized (but still unconscious), in all other cases, the status is negated and the soldier becomes Normal.
Inspire Competence (ex): Troops under the command of the Eccentric Officer strive just a little harder, and get a +1 morale bonus of attack rolls, attribute checks and skill checks.
Stiff Upper Lip (su): Senior Imperial officers are not expected to lead from the front. When an Eccentric Officer with this ability actually moves within harm's way, it inspires his troops to great heroics in order to protect him.
If the Eccentric Officer has been damaged in the last round, he may spend a standard action dusting himself off or otherwise showing his attacker's inability to hurt him seriously. This inspires all friendly soldiers within 100 ft. with the benefits of a haste spell for one round, but not the Eccentric Officer himself.
Inspire Awe (ex): At this point, the troops are so much in awe of the Eccentric Officer that they would never consider disobeying him, and this extends to a resistance to all mental dominations. The troops under the officer's command receive a +4 morale bonus to all Will saving throws, not just those against fear. This also makes it harder to Intimidate such troopers. In addition, the DC of Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate skill checks against those under your command have their DC increased by 5.
Swagger Stick (ex): At this point, the Eccentric Officer must select some item to be his swagger stick. This must be a distinctive nonmagical item without any power or special use. Most Eccentric Officers select a riding crop, rod or other sturdy, handheld item, but it can also be a helmet, a cap, a smoking pipe, a cape or some other basically useless item. It is even possible to have some body part or ornament, such as a distinctive beard, long tuft of hair or an old war wound.
As long as the Eccentric Officer uses one hand to hold the swagger stick, he is constantly assumed to be swaggering, and can use the Swagger class ability as a free action each round.
Show The Flag (ex): By his mere presence, the Eccentric Officer can inspire soldiers to truly amazing deeds of bravery.
The effects of the Inspire Fearlessness, Inspire Competence and Inspire Awe abilities are doubled as long as the Eccentric Officer is within 1000 ft., and the soldiers know that he is there.
Final Heroics (ex): Troops under the Eccentric Officer's command won't die quietly. Whenever a soldier within 1.000 ft. and under the Eccentric Officer's command becomes Dying (falls to -1 to -9 hp), that soldier may immediately make one free full attack using whatever weapon he has ready. This attack is made with a bonus of +5 on the attack roll. There is no change to the soldier's status.
Ex-Eccentric Officers
An Eccentric Officer who quits imperial service can no longer advance in the prestige class, but can continue to use all class abilities if he is part of some other form of organization. An Eccentric Officer that strikes out al by him self will lose most abilities, because he has no soldiers to command. But cohorts and followers can still be commanded normally, as well as any characters who voluntarily place themselves under his command.
A palandin who multiclasses as an Eccentric Officer may freely return to the paladin class afterwards.
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