Soldier (3.5e Class)

Soldier
The soldier is similar to the fighter in that he is a specialist in close-quarters weapon combat.

Making a Soldier
Soldiers specialize in up close and personal fights, where they can use their superior fighting skills or one of their special abilities to help them gain the upper hand.

Abilities: Strength is the soldier's most important attribute, as it is the basis of his combat style. Constitution is as important as always for a melee class, as he needs the hit points to stay alive on the front lines. Dexterity helps the soldier's initiative and his armor class should he choose to wear a lighter type armor. Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are relatively unimportant to the soldier on the whole.

Races: Any race can become a soldier, though the majority of soldiers tend to be human.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 5d6 &times;10 gp (125 gp).

Starting Age: As fighter.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the soldier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A soldier is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

The soldier gains an additional bonus feat at every odd-numbered level. These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A soldier must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels.

 (Ex): Your martial training gives you great skill in a variety of fighting styles. You qualify for feats that usually require a minimum number of fighter levels (such as weapon specialization) as if you had a fighter level equal to your soldier level -2. These effective fighter levels stack with any actual fighter levels you may have.

 (Ex): A 2nd level soldier is adept at closing his wounds quickly during battle. Once per encounter you can take a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity to heal yourself for 1d8 damage per soldier level. This healing cannot bring you above half your normal maximum hit points.

 (Ex): At 4th level a soldier can egg an opponent on in battle. He selects one intelligent creature within 30ft of him as his target. As a swift action he may force that opponent to make a will saving throw (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Str modifier). If he succeeds, the target must attack the soldier on his next turn if able. If the target is unable to reach the soldier then it gets as close as possible before ending its turn. Using this ability repeatedly on the same creature in a single encounter grants that creature a cumulative +2 on will saves against this ability for each time it is successfully affected.

 (Ex): A 6th level soldier is knowledgeable of the body's weak points. Against any creature not immune to critical hits he may take a standard action to make a single attack. If the attack hits, the creature must make a fortitude saving throw (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Str modifier) or take a penalty to Strength equal to 1d8+the soldier's Strength modifier for one minute. This does not stack with other strength penalties, and this cannot reduce a creature's strength below 1.

 (Ex): An 8th level soldier is adept at punishing mistakes during combat. He automatically threatens a critical hit whenever he successfully hits with an attack of opportunity.

 (Su): 10th level soldiers are able to swing their weapons with such force as to create intense air pressure that moves towards an opponent. As a standard action a soldier can make a normal melee attack roll against any opponent within 30' of himself, dealing his standard weapon damage as force damage if it hits.

 (Su): A 12th level soldier can tear into the very essence of a magic user. The soldier may take a standard action to make a single attack against any creature that has a spellcasting ability. If the attack hits the creature must make a will saving throw (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Sr modifier) or take a penalty to its caster level equal to 1d4+one-half the soldier's Strength modifier for one minute. This does not stack with other penalties to caster level, and a creature that has its caster level reduced lower than what is normally necessary to cast some of its spells is still able to do so (EX: a lv 5 wizard has his caster level reduced to 4, but he is still able to cast 3rd level spells even though he would normally need caster level 5). All other penalties resulting from a lowered caster level still apply (reduced duration, reduced range, reduced damage, etc). This also reduces the DC to resist that creature's spells by an equal amount.

 (Ex): A 14th level soldier is able to slow an opponent's movements. The soldier may take a standard action to make a single attack against any creature. If the attack hits the creature must make a fortitude saving throw (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Str modifier) or be slowed as the spell for one minute.

 (Su): Upon reaching 16th level a soldier's Rend Magic ability becomes more potent. Whenever a creature fails its will saving throw against the soldier's Rend Magic ability, it also loses one spell slot from the highest level of spells it can cast (or one prepared spell at random of the creature's highest level of prepared spells if the caster prepares spells).

 (Su): As a standard action an 18th level soldier can swing his weapon with enough power to create a gust of wind in front of him in a 15ft cone. This deals force damage equal to the soldier's Strength modifier times his soldier level to all creatures caught within the blast. A successful Reflex save halves this damage (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Str modifier)

 (Ex): A 20th level soldier is so efficient at mowing down his foes that he can make a special attack to attempt to outright kill his opponent. As a standard action a soldier can make an attack roll at his highest base attack bonus against any foe within his threatened radius, if the attack would hit then then it forces a fortitude saving throw (DC 10+half soldier level+soldier's Str modifier). If the creature fails its save then it dies. If the creature succeeds on its saving throw then it instead takes damage equal to half of its current hit point total.