The elven warrior-poet is the symbol of elfkind. He impersonates the dual nature of elves, both the natural knack in warring and the love for beauty and knowledge. They deal death and ecstasy with the same frightening beauty.

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.

To qualify to become an elven warrior-poet, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Race: Elf

Alignment: Any non-lawful.

Perform: 8 ranks

Base Attack Bonus: +6

Feats: Combat Casting, Weapon Focus (Longsword), Quick Draw.

The warrior-poet’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), and Ride (Dex). See Chapter 4: Skills in the Player’s Handbook for skill descriptions.

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

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).

Smite Law: The warrior poet has the power of disarming a lawful creature’s beliefs by exposing it to the chaotic beauty of his poetry. Doing so, he opens a breech in the creature’s defense, which he can use to damage it physically. In game terms, once per day the warrior-poet can make one attack with a bonus equal to his charisma mod to the attack and another equal to his class level to the damage, only affecting a lawful creature. If the creature isn’t lawful, the attack functions normally and the ability is not wasted for that day.

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.

Figment of Language: A master of language himself, a warrior-poet can understand any spoken language after he hears it for 2d6 minutes. After that time, he makes an intelligence check (DC 15). Success means he can understand and speak the language from that time on. If he knows that alphabet the language is written in, he can write it too.

Unendliche Melodie: Another Wagner opera concept, meaning "endless melody". The warrior-poet, at this level, is so talented and his art is so perfect, he can convince the deities governing death to spare him from his fate. Every time he dies, he must make a perform check (DC 25). Success means he is resurrected as per a True Resurrection spell by a 20th level caster after 2d4 days playing for the gods. He can’t be resurrected before this period is over, though.

Same as the bard’s, but only 0 to 3rd level spells.