Rose Knight
A psionic prestige class with a heavy paladin-esque flavor, drawing on the millenia old image of the rose as a representation of love, honor, and truth.
This class is compatible with the version 3.5 Psionics rules
For millennia, the rose has been a symbol of love, honor, truth, justice, and fairness. As a member of the Order of the Rose, the Rose Knight is sworn to uphold all that the rose stands for. All that they do, they do in the name of their god, Heironeous. Rose Knights view their abilities as a gift from their god, to be used in his service. Through meditation, physical, and mental trials, they are brought closer to the god they serve.
While a Rose Knight is very tolerant of other religious beliefs and gods, they do not tolerate ill-sayers about Heironeous, and will demand that such people take back their words and apologize. Many a foolish ill-sayer has fallen in a duel that resulted from someone refusing to take back their words.
Rose Knights hold a particular place in their hearts for the races that condone slavery, especially the Illithids. Anyone who inhibits another's free will through any form of slavery may quickly find themselves on the wrong end of a Rose Knight's blade.
Rose Knights prefer to wear little or no armor, relying, instead, on their inertial armor, and array of psionic powers to defend themselves during combat. All Rose Knights have a rose tattooed somewhere on their body, usually in plain sight. They also generally wear a red sash that goes diagonally across their chest, wrapping themselves twice. The outermost wrapping of the sash is used to indicate rank within the order, described later. Only the High Rose wears the rose tattoo on his forehead.
Rose Knights admire honor in all people. Those foes they must vanquish, if they fought fairly and honorably, are given a special service; a single rose petal is placed beneath the tongue of the deceased foe, so that the vanquished foe's deity may know that they died with honor.
There are many ranks amongst the Order of the Rose. As the Rose Knight accomplishes various missions and as vacant positions open, a Rose Knight may be promoted to a new rank within the order. There are a total of 6 ranks. The outermost layer of the character's red sash is knotted once for each rank below him, counting his current rank.
Those Knights that comprise the first rank are called 'Seedlings'. These are those characters freshly initiated into the order and have not yet attained any amount of responsibility. Higher ranking Rose Knights 'sun and water' (i.e. teach) the lower ranking officers so that they may grow and become one with Heironeous. There are few differences between ranks. Ranks among Rose Knights are more of a chain of command. Each rank is responsible for those ranks below their own. Rank as a Rose Knight does not always have a correspondence to a character's level as a Rose Knight, but it often has.
| Rank | Number of knots in sash |
|---|
| Seedling | 1 |
| Gardener | 2 |
| Bud | 3 |
| Bloomer | 4 |
| Blossomer | 5 |
| High Rose | 6 |
Hit Die: d8
Requirements
To qualify to become a(n) Rose Knight, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +4
Ability to use the Inertial Armor power
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 8+ ranks
Patron-Deity: Heironeous
Alignment: any good alignment
Special: any psionic class levels, Psionic Weapon. Must have destroyed one significant enemy in the name of Heironeous, either individually, or in a group of no more than five.
Class Skills
The Rose Knight's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Same as Psionic Warrior, plus: Knowledege (religion), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (nobility and royalty), Perform (rose dance). See Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Table
| Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1 | +1 | +1 | +0 | +1 | Blade of Heironeous, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 2 | +2 | +1 | +0 | +2 | Hand of God, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 3 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +2 | Wrath of God +1d6,
Barrier of Thorns 1x/day, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 4 | +4 | +2 | +1 | +3 | Expand Inertial Armor, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 5 | +5 | +3 | +1 | +4 | Regrowth, Up The Walls, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 6 | +6 | +3 | +2 | +4 | Wrath of God +2D6,
Barrier of Thorns 2x/day, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 7 | +7 | +4 | +2 | +5 | Rose Dance, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 8 | +8 | +4 | +2 | +5 | Bloom of the New Day, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 9 | +9 | +5 | +3 | +6 | Wrath of God +3D6,
Barrier of Thorns 3x/day, +1 Existing Psionic class |
| 10 | +10 | +5 | +3 | +7 | Body of the Rose, Improved Inertial Armor, +1 Existing Psionic class |
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Rose Knight
Rose Armor: Upon gaining this class, a character loses the ability to use the Inertial Armor power. Instead, Inertial Armor becomes a class ability called Rose Armor that is in effect whenever you are psionically focused, and only while you are focused. Rose Armor has a faint red glow. This glow is bright enough to illuminate an area of 5 feet around the character. The glow causes a -2 penalty to hide checks, but can be dismissed at will. Aside from what is noted here, Rose Armor functions exactly like the Inertial Armor power.
+1 Existing Psionic Class Level: Psionic powers and points are gained each level as though gaining an additional level of your pre-existing psionic class. Powers are chosen from the Psionic Warrior list. Only power points/day and known powers are gained through this. No other class abilities, base attack bonuses or saves are gained.
Blade of Heironeous: Characters gain a +1 divine guidance (treat as an insight bonus) modifier to all attack rolls and +2 to all damage rolls.
Hand of God: Charaters gain a divine guidance (treat as an insight bonus) bonus to their armor class equal to 1/2 their Rose Knight level, rounded down. Characters do not lose this bonus if they are flat-footed, but they do lose this bonus if they lose their Dex bonus for any other reason.
Wrath of God: Beginning at 3rd level, and every third level afterwards (ie. 3, 6, 9) the Rose Knight may charge his weapon with psionic energy as a move action. This psionic energy does +1d6 additional psionic damage at 3rd level, increases to +2d6 at 6th level, and +3d6 at 9th level. If the character already has the Psychic Strike class ability (Soul Knife), this damage stacks, but you gain no bonus from Wrath of God at 3rd level, and gain only +1d6 at 6th, and +2d6 at 9th level. Seperate actions are required to charge this ability, and the Psychic Strike ability. They can not both be done in the same action. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to the character's Rose Knight level.
Barrier of Thorns: Beginning at 3rd level, and every third level afterwards (ie. 3, 6, 9), the Rose Knight can grow a psionic barrier of thorns around himself. This barrier appears as a whirlwind of thorns swirling around the character roughly 2 feet away from the character's body. These thorns do damage to any foe who successfully strikes the Rose Knight with a melee or touch attack (but not a ranged touch). The amount of damage is equal to 1d(level of Rose Knight) rounded down. For example, the thorns deal 1d3 damage at 3rd Level, 1d6 damage at 6th level, 1d8 at 8th level, and 1d10 at 10th level. The damage is automatic, and can not be avoided, though a successful Reflex save (DC = 10 + Rose Knight Level + Cha Mod) will half the damage taken. Damage taken by these means is represented as severe lacerations on whatever limbs the foe used to attack with. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to the character's Rose Knight level. A foe must attack the Rose Knight to take this damage. Another character will not take damage by simply standing within the field of the Barrier of Thorns. If a character is standing in such a position, they will feel nothing more than a slight breeze whipping past them. The thorns are only tangible for a character that attacks the Rose Knight, and only at the time of the attack.
Expand Rose Armor: As a standard action, at the cost of 2 power points/foot, a Rose Knight can expand his Rose Armor up to 2x his Rose Knight level in feet. All allies within this area gain an AC bonus of +4 as though they had Inertial Armor. If the Rose Knight has Improved Rose Armor, allies within the area of this effect gain the AC bonus from that ability as well. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to the number of feet the armor was expanded, and pulls in on itself at a rate of 1 foot per round. The Rose Knight can maintain the size of the shield at the cost of 2 points per round as a free action with a successful Concentration check DC 20 + number of rounds maintained. If the character fails this roll, they can use a full round action to maintian this shield at the normal cost. If the Rose Knight chooses not to use a full round action to maintain the shield on a failed Concentration roll, the size loss of the expanded inertial armor is irrevocable, and can only be regained by dropping the expansion (which is a free action) and starting the effect over, at the full cost. If the Rose Knight expands his psionic focus while maintaining this ability, the expanded rose armor dissipates immediately.
This ability may only be used while the character is psionically focused.
Regrowth: Just as a rose will continue growing regardless of how many times a blossom is snipped from its stem, so too does a Rose Knight. Beginning at 5th level, the Rose Knight regains hit points at twice the normal rate. At level 10, this increases to three times the normal rate. The Rose Knight can only regain hit points like this as long as he maintains at least 5 power points at all times throughout the day. If the character drops below 5 power points at any time during the day, his healing rate is returned to normal for that day. The power point reserve requirement increases to 10 at 10th level. Lost limbs can be regrown with this power over time. 3 days complete rest per limb is required to regrow lost limbs. 1 week per limb is required if the character is doing anything more than minimal activity.
Up the Walls: Just as roses will climb up anything they are near, so can the character. The character gains the Up the Walls feat.
Dance of the Rose:Once per day, for a number of rounds equal to 3 + his Cha modifier, the Rose Knight can enter into the Rose Dance. Similar to Intimidating Rage, the Rose Dance appears to be very disciplined, very precise, and almost as if the Rose Knight were going through choreographed routines. All onlookers that can clearly see the Rose Knight (within 30 feet) must make a Will save, the DC equaling 15 + 1/2 Rose Knight level + Cha modifier, or be fascinated. While fascinated, a subject will watch in awe until attacked, at which point they may make a Reflex saving throw DC 15 to avoid being caught flat-footed. A subject fascinated by the Rose Knight gains a -1 penalty to all rolls as their mind and eyes keep wanting to wander back to watch the dance. This effect lasts until the dance ends. While in the Rose Dance, a Rose Knight can concentrate on any one opponent, that opponent must succeed at the same Will save as previously mentioned or he is awed, and is stunned until harmed. After overcoming this awe, the character suffers a -2 penalty to all rolls until the dance ends.
Bloom of the New Day: Once per week, when a character is dropped to 0 or fewer hit points, Heironeous himself intervenes. The character gains temporary hit points equal to his Con modifier times his current Rose Knight level plus his current power points [(CON x level) + power points]. The total number of hitpoints temporarily restored in this manner can not exceed the character's maximum hit points. Upon being raised, the character has 0 power points remaining. The duration of this effect is equal to the character's Con modifier + 3 in rounds. After this effect ends, all temporarily gained hit points are converted to subdual damage, and the character falls to the ground unconscious, in stable condition, with 0 normal hit points remaining, having completely exhausted his very psionic essence. Only half of the Rose Knight's hit points may be restored by any spell, other magical effect, power, or uses of the Heal skill. Fully half of the Rose Knight's hit points must be restored over the normal course of time by resting.
Body of the Rose: At 10th level, the Rose Knight's character type changes to Outsider. The Rose Knight's skin changes to a metallic red, with stripes of light red giving the character the effect of wearing scale mail made of rose petals. Their Inertial Armor also begins to glow brightly enough to affect their Hide checks, and a light otherworldly breeze surrounds the character that can be felt up to 10ft. away. Hide checks now gain a -4 penalty, and Move Silently checks gain a +/- 4 to move silently depending on the situation (the breeze ruffling leaves in a forest would help, but ruffling papers on a desk won't). They gain Darkvision 60ft., can cast Light at will, and gain Damage Reduction, acid, cold, and electrical resistance as per the celestial template in the Monster Manual. Their Wis and Cha also increase by 1.
Improved Inertial Armor: The Rose Knight gains the Improved Inertial Armor feat
Ex-Members
A Rose Knight must have a constant heart. If a character advances in any non-psionic class, they lose all special abilities of this class and can never again gain levels as a Rose Knight. They are also cast out from society; to a Rose Knight, such people no longer exist.
If for any reason a character's alignment changes from good to neutral or evil, they can not gain any levels in this class until their alignment returns to good, and they lose all abilities of this class until their alignment returns to good.
If a character does something severely unhonorable, they lose all special abilites of this class, and can not take any more levels of this class until they have atoned for their sins.
Once a character has taken all 10 levels of Rose Knight, they are free to continue on taking other classes, though the alignment and honorable restrictions mentioned above still apply.
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