Mystic Cenobite (3.5e Class)

Mystic Cenobite
Spiritualist martial artists whose martial might stems from a nigh-religious focus on the supernatural aspects of the human body, the mystic cenobite may be confused with a cleric or paladin of faith, at least in behavior. However where clerics and paladins turn their eyes to greater beings above, the mystic cenobite turns inward to find a greater being within themselves. Body, soul, they are connected and one in the same.

Making a Mystic Cenobite
Abilities: As a melee class, strength and constitution is always important. Many of the abilities of the mystic cenobite are wisdom based, and disciplines are both wisdom and charisma based. With light to no armor, dexterity is important.

Races: Races which generate many monks also generate mystic cenobites. Indeed, the two classes are virtually indistinguishable until they begin to fight.

Alignment: Non-chaotic.

Starting Gold: 5d4&times;10 gp (125 gp).

'''Moderate.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Mystic Cenobite.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a mystic cenobite you are proficient with all simple weapons, all martial melee weapons (including those that can be used as thrown weapons), the kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken, and siangham, and light armor, but not with shields.

Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge of 3 martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to you are Anima River, Desert Wind, Devoted Spirit, Setting Sun, Shadow Hand, Stone Dragon, and Tiger Claw.

Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it before you can use it. A maneuver usable by mystic cenobites is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you initiate one. You learn additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on Table: The Mystic Cenobite. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered mystic cenobite level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on) you can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one you already know. In effect, you lose the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. You can choose a new maneuver of any level you like, as long as you observe your restriction on the highest-level maneuvers you know; you need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. For example, upon reaching 10th level, you could trade in a single 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level maneuver for a maneuver of 5th level or lower, as long as you meet the prerequisite of the new maneuver. You can swap only a single maneuver at any given level.

Maneuvers Readied: You can ready two of your three maneuvers known at 1st level, and as you advance in level and learn more maneuvers, you are able to ready more, but you must still choose which maneuvers to ready. You ready your maneuvers by meditating for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you decide to meditate again and change them. You need not sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready your maneuvers; any time you spend 5 minutes in meditation, you can change your readied maneuvers.

You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unspent regardless of how many times you might have already used them since you chose them. When you initiate a maneuver, you expend it for the current encounter, so each of your readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless you recover them, as described below).

You can recover all expended maneuvers with a move action, as you draw in ambient energy to power your effort and focus again. Doing this does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one 1st level stance from any discipline open to you. At 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level, you can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and you do not have to ready them. All the stances you know are available to you at all times, and you can change the stance you currently use as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, you cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one you already know.

' (Sp):''' At 1st level you can see the effects of magic upon the world. At will, a mystic cenobite can use detect magic, as the spell.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a mystic cenobite gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A mystic cenobite's attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a mystic cenobite may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a mystic cenobite striking unarmed. A mystic cenobite may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.

Usually a mystic cenobite's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A mystic cenobite's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A mystic cenobite also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown on Table: The Mystic Cenobite. The unarmed damage on Table: The Mystic Cenobite is for Medium mystic cenobites. A Small mystic cenobite deals less damage than the amount given there with her unarmed attacks, while a Large mystic cenobite deals more damage.

AC Bonus: At 2nd level, a mystic cenobite may add her Wisdom bonus to her armor class, so long as she wears light or no armor, is unencumbered, and carries no shield. This bonus to AC applies to even touch attacks, or when you are flat footed. However, you lose this bonus if you are either immobilized or helpless. This ability does not stack with similar Wisdom to AC bonuses such as swordsageToB or monk.

Mystic Talent: At 3rd level and every three levels after, a mystic cenobite gains a mystic talent selected from the list below. These talents are subtle enlightenments achieved through meditation and focus. Unless said otherwise, all mystic talents are extraordinary effects that may be selected only once.

 (Ex): Select a strength or dexterity based skill. You gain your class level as an insight bonus to checks with that skill. You may select this ability multiple times, each time gaining a new skill.

 (Ex): You may select any bonus feat you qualify for from the following list: Acrobatic, Agile, Alertness, Athletic, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Skill Focus, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude, Mobility, Negotiator, Persuasive, Run, Self-Sufficient, Skill Focus, Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Finesse, and Weapon Focus. You may select this ability multiple times, each time gaining a new bonus feat.

 (Su): You will not drop without a fight. If you are killed through hit point damage you may choose to explode as a free action as you perish. You deal 10 points of divine damage per HD to everyone in a 20 ft. radius of your body, with a Reflex save 10 + 1/2 your class level + Wisdom. Of course, you still die, but maybe you took them with you. You must be at least 9th level to take this talent.

 (Ex): You are able to prevent your own magic effects from unbinding. Any dispel attempts made against current magical effects upon you must make two caster level checks and take the worst roll. You must be at least 6th level to take this talent.

 (Ex): Your spiritual energy causes your maneuvers to strike with additional force. You may use one your maneuvers which has a random die effect as an Empowered Maneuver. The damage done by the random die deals an additional +50% effect as if empower spell metamagic applied to it. You may empower a maneuver 1/encounter. You must be at least 6th level to take this talent.

 (Ex): Your knowledge over the magical allows you to disrupt the power of enemy spells. Against any targeted or ray spell made against you, the caster level is -1, and an additional -1 for every two mystic talents you possess.

 (Ex): Your spiritual energy causes your maneuvers to strike to their maximum capacity. You may use one your maneuvers which has a random die effect as an Maximized Maneuver. The damage done by the random die is maximized as if maximize spell metamagic applied to it. You may maximize a maneuver 1/encounter. You must be at least 9th level to take this talent.

 (Sp): Your knowledge over the connection between spiritual enlightenment and magic grants you some use of it. You may select one 1st level spell from any list, and may use it 3/day. You may select this ability up to three times. The second time grants either another 1st level spell 3/day, or a 2nd level spell 2/day. A third time allows you to select a 1st level spell 3/day, a 2nd level spell 2/day, or a 3rd level spell 1/day. Its caster level is equal to your character level.

 (Ex): Your body refuses to die as long as your soul lives on. As a free action whenever you would be lowered below 0 hit points, you may grant yourself up to twice your class level in temporary hit points. These hit points last for 1 minute. If you have not been healed within that minute, you still fall unconscious (or die, if your hit points were low enough). You may use this ability 1/day.

 (Ex): You are able to sense the spirit of the planet itself, giving you unnaturally keen senses. You always know which way is north, always have a general sense of where you are (for example... 3 miles away from Greenwood Forest, just north of Barter Town), and are immune to the effects of the maze spell. At 10 HD, you gain blindsense out to 60 feet.

 (Su): Your aura glows with an awesome power. Or at least enough to shine the way. At will you may shed light anywhere from a candle to a torch, your body covered in ghostly flames. They are not hot, and cannot burn things. You also gain low-light vision, or your existing low-light vision becomes superior low-light vision, allowing you to see four times as far in shadowy illumination. You are immune to blinding effects.

 (Ex): Your spiritual energy feeds your body. You no longer need to eat or sleep. At 10th level, you also become immune to sleep effects and get a +5 sacred bonus on Fortitude saves against poison.

 (Su): You are pulsing with spiritual energy, any efforts to heal you make it gush forth. Whenever you are subject to an effect which would heal you hit point damage, you recover +1 additional hit point per level of the caster. Healing which you produce from spells or maneuvers also grant this benefit to others.

Mystic Body: At 4th level the mystic cenobite understands the gap between the mundane and the magical well enough to bring magic to mundane things which normally could not hold such things. Their unarmed strike is now considered masterwork (gaining a +1 enhancement bonus on attacks) and they may enhance their unarmed strikes as any weapon might, carving tattoos and runes upon their body during the process. Likewise their bodies may be enhanced as masterwork armor and gain magical properties. For the purpose of AC, the body is considered to be armor with a +0 armor bonus, no maximum dex bonus, armor check penalty, or arcane spell failure.

 (Ex): At 5th level, your unflappable mystic energy empowers you even when the body should falter. You become immune to fatigue. If you are afflicted with an affect which would cause you to become exhausted, you are instead fatigued.

 (Ex): At 7th level your magical power strengthens your soul, your body begins to resist that which would cause it harm. You gain resistance to negative energy damage 5. This improves to resistance 10 at 11th level, and resistance 20 at 16th level.

 (Su): At 8th level you draw in more than simply supernatural energy to power your attacks, you also recover from your efforts. Whenever you refresh your maneuvers, you heal 1/2 your initiator level in damage.

 (Su): At 10th level your spiritual essence bleeds out into your attacks. Your weapon and natural attacks are considered to have the same alignment properties as you are for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. For example a lawful good mystic cenobite could bypass DR/law or DR/good.

 (Ex): At 13th level your spiritual presence has become so strong, that you no longer take experience penalties for being revived, and your memory of events which occurs around your body (or your point of death if your body was destroyed) remain intact.

 (Ex): At 14th level your magical powers over your own body allow you limited transmutational ability. You may bypass any material damage reduction with your weapon or unarmed strikes (such as DR/adamantine or DR/silver).

' (Sp):''' At 17th level you realize that concepts such as location is a limit of the body and mere human spacial awareness. At will, you may meditate for 1 minute and duplicate the effects of a shadow walk spell, crossing time, space, and even planar bounds within your calm meditative stance. You travel through the astral plane instead of the plane of shadows for this spell-like ability.

 (Su): At 19th level your spiritual presence grows so strong, you wouldn't die even if they killed you. Whenever you are slain, unless measures are taken to entrap your soul or defile your body (via turning it into an undead), you will respawn upon the astral plane, slowly recollecting your essence in 1d10 days. After such, it's usually only one Astral Meditation away to returning to the world of the living. If the mystic cenobite is turned into an undead or has his soul otherwise prevented to passing on, the undead must be destroyed or the imprisonment broken before he may respawn.

 (Ex): At 20th level, a mystic cenobite becomes a magical creature. Her type changes to outsider, although she may still count as a member of her original race whenever it is advantageous for her. Additionally, the mystic cenobite gains damage reduction 10/chaotic, which allows her to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a nonchaotic weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature that doesn't have similar damage reduction. Unlike other outsiders, the mystic cenobite can still be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.

 (Ex): At 20th level, a mystic cenobite can briefly push herself above and beyond the limits of her body, wrapping herself in golden flames, glowing light the sun, being surrounded by metallic halos, or other flashy effects. For up to 1 round per class level she gains fast healing 10 (which stacks with pre-existing fast healing), regenerates lost limbs in 2d6 rounds, is immune to vorpal, sneak attack, and critical hits, and can make an extra action each round (swift, move, or standard). This extra action does stack with effects such as haste. However, this form is exhausting. For each round you spend in overdrive, you spend 2 rounds fatigued afterward (even if you are normally immune to fatigue). This fatigue cannot be ended prematurely and is a spiritual fatigue. Rounds need not be consecutive, and entering overdrive is a swift action.

Ex-Mystic Cenobites
A mystic cenobite who becomes nonlawful cannot gain new levels as a mystic cenobite but retains all extraordinary mystic cenobite class abilities, and all maneuvers and stances.

Human Mystic Cenobite Starting Package
Weapons: Scimitar.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Feat: Weapon Focus Scimitar.

Bonus Feats: Dodge.

Gear: Chain Shirt.

Gold: 10 g.

Playing a Mystic Cenobite
Religion: Mystic cenobites are very religious people, simply not religious in the sense of a cleric. Their devotion to the spiritual aspects of things gives them a unique outlook, but the fervor of religious zeal is all the same. Some mystic cenobites which look to gods may focus on gods of self improvement, knowledge, and strength.

Other Classes: Mystic cenobites get along well with monks, who are their brothers; paladins and clerics, both devoted to a cause; and any who would walk a lawful path. Bards come off as wasting their lives on silly things, and barbarians as reckless brutes with no sense of control. Magic using classes are of mixed thought, but they do watch and envy the use of magic and seek to bring such control into their own bodies.

Combat: Mystic Cenobites are melee strikers, whose powerful maneuvers let them stand up in any fight. More heavily focused on the supernatural than the typical warblade or crusader, they are capable of many varied feats mortals could only hope to possess with actual spellcasting.

Advancement: Any martial advancing or initiator advancing classes make suitable classes to continue in for a mystic cenobite.

Mystic Cenobites in the World
"KAMEHAMEHA!"

Daily Life: As a faithful student of the sublime way, the mystic cenobite often is working even when they play. They challenge themselves at simple things and spend long hours in deep thought. In this respect they are like monks, or certain clerics.

Notables: Nei Jing, the creator of the anima river discipline, also was known for blending his swordsage knowledge into a new style and a new focus, which became the mystic cenobite.

Organizations: Mystic cenobites are communical monks, and often form religious orders and temples where knowledge is shared, abilities are practiced, and enlightenment is sought.

NPC Reactions: A mystic what? He's just some kind of monk right? Maybe one of 'em monks whose also a sorcerer I think...

Mystic Cenobite Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge Local can research mystic cenobites to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Mystic Cenobites in the Game
Adaptation: Being very focused on having a strong positive energized soul, and negative energy resistance, makes the class unfriendly to undead characters. Perhaps a perverted form of this class, the Corrupt Cenobite, has a theme of negative energy, and gains positive resistance instead.

Sample Encounter: A demonic monster from a distant land is rampaging across the countryside, possessing strange powers unknown to this half of the world. Who can stop this "Majin", terror of the East?

EL 10: