The Warrior-Poet
The warrior-poets are usually bards, rangers, fighters or wizards. The class requires a high base attack bonus, though, so a multiclass fighter/spellcaster will get the most benefits from this prestige class.
Warrior-poets wander alone, seeking inspiration and improving their skill. Their nature requires chaos to create, therefore a warrior-poet must never be lawful.
Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become an warrior-poet, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Race: any
Alignment: Any non-lawful.
Perform: 8 ranks
Base Attack Bonus: +6
Feats: Combat Casting, Quick Draw.
Class Level Base Attack BonusFort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Spells per Day1st2nd3rd
1st +1 +0 +2 +2 Poem of Paralyzing Beauty 0 - -
2nd +2 +0 +3 +3 Epic 1 - -
3rd +3 +1 +3 +3 Track 1 0 -
4th +4 +1 +4 +4 Leitmotiv 1 1 -
5th +5 +1 +4 +4 Epic (+2) 1 1 0
6th +6 +2 +5 +5 Nature sense 1 1 1
7th +7 +2 +5 +5 Poem of Deafening Beauty 2 1 1
8th +8 +2 +6 +6 Epic (+3) 2 1 1
9th +9 +3 +6 +6 Poem of Unearthly Beauty 2 2 1
10th +10 +3 +7 +7 Nature's wings 2 2 2
Class Skills
The warrior-poet’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Move silently(Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), willderness lore(Wis). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the elven warrior-poet prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A warrior-poet is proficient with all simple weapons and with the longsword. He’s also proficient with light and medium armor.
Spells: An elven warrior-poet has to choose in the bard spell list the spells he wants to memorize each day. Memorizing spells takes one hour (total, not each).
Poem of…: Once per day per warrior-poet class level, he can recite a poem so beautiful that it can actually harm the listeners. All poems take 1d4 rounds to recite, and the warrior-poet can fight normally while reciting. Otherwise, it’s a spell-like ability in what refers to concentration rolls and opportunity attacks. Deaf creatures are immune, but otherwise all intelligent (int>2) creatures within a 60 feet range of the warrior-poet are affected, unless they have been out of range some time during the reciting of the poem.
The poem of paralyzing beauty requires a Will save (DC perform skill ranks + class level + charisma mod), failure meaning the creatures are paralyzed for a number of turns equal to the amount by which they failed the save roll. The poem of deafening beauty requires a Ref save (DC perform skill ranks + class level + charisma mod), failure causing all creatures listening to the poem to be permanently deafened. The poem of unearthly beauty, the most powerful creation of the warrior-poet, makes the creatures affected roll Will saves twice (DC 10 + half of perform skill ranks + charisma mod). Failure in the first slays the creature, failure in the second shifts the creature’s alignment two steps towards chaotic good!
However, the warrior-poet himself and his friends are also affected, albeit less strongly: the DC for their saves is one half (round down) of the enemy’s.
Epic: The warrior-poet has the ability to excel in adventuring by visualizing the epic he will write about himself when he succeeds. Once per day, he can start narrating aloud his actions, and that will give him strength to overwhelm difficulties and get the best of his abilities. This effect lasts for (class level) turns, or until he stops narrating, whichever happens first. In the meanwhile, he gets a morale bonus for all his skills, attacks, damages, and armor class equal to his epic ability level (+1 at 2nd, +2 at 5rd, +3 at 8th).
Leitmotiv: Leitmotiv is a concept invented by the musician Richard Wagner, meaning “guiding theme”. It is a cue to a situation or feeling, a way to explain without words what was going on in the opera. The warrior-poets developed similar concepts on their own, and use them to improve their spellcasting abilities.
When memorizing spells, an elven warrior-poet with the leitmotiv ability can set one spell in a slot one spell level higher. He will be able to cast that spell simply reciting one verse, thus eliminating material and gesture components. He can do that as a free action requiring verbal component, so he can do so while attacking but not while casting another spell or using another of the verbal powers of the prestige class.
He can use this ability with any other class’s spells, as long as they are selected beforehand (like wizard or cleric spells; doesn’t work with sorcerers or bards) and respecting the maximum of only one such spell per day.
Warrior-Poet Spell List
Same as the bard’s, but only 0 to 3rd level spells.
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