Ability Paths

SHIELD MASTER (Ut)
Description: There are many ways of defending oneself from danger. While some focus on improving with a chosen armor, there are those who seek to master the simple art of using a shield.
Path
1. Any ability of the Shield subcategory
2. Shield Bash
3. Toughen Shield
4. Enchantment
5. Improved Shield Bash

Completion Bonus
Your shield’s bonuses are improved by +4.

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SKULK (Ad/Mg/St/Wr)
Description: He'll steal your magic and your gold before slipping away into the night, never to be seen again. This is, of course, assuming that you saw him in the first place.

Path
1. Must have completed the Hex ability path
2. Must have completed the Thief ability path
3. Etherealness
4. Invisibility
5. Must have attained 5th level or higher

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls for Borrow Power and Pick Pocket.

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SNIPER (St/Ut)
Description: A sniper is a tactical warrior, preferring a stealthy strike from afar over a close combat encounter. A sniper’s first task is to learn how to effectively hide himself. His second is to sharpen his senses to avoid falling victim to the same kind of trap he sets. After he has mastered stealth, he puts these skills to use by learning to attack from hiding. Eventually, he becomes so adept that he can disappear into his surroundings until the moment he strikes.

Path
1. Silence
2. Stealth
3. Awareness
4. Any ability of the Ranged subcategory
5. Invisibility

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all offensive rolls taken while under the effects of Invisibility, Silence, or Stealth or while attacking a target from a distance greater than your base speed.

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SPELL SWORD (Mg/Wr)
Description: The spellsword learns to master martial weapons and arcane power as one. He begins with the mastery of a weapon and a spell. He then learns to channel the two into an effective whole, honing each separately yet both together. Finally, he learns to automatically fight with the weapon and spell of his choice as one, even adding additional spells into the weapon for extra effect.

Path
1. Any Physical Attack of the Damage-Dealing subcategory
2. Any Magical Attack of the Damage-Dealing subcategory
3. Enhance Magic
4. Enhance Weapon
5. Contingency (selected Magical Attack automatically triggers whenever selected Physical Attack is used.)

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all offensive rolls made with the Physical Attack and Magical Attack selected for this path.

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SWORD MASTER (Wr)
Description: There are those who can fight with swords, and those who become one with them. The sword master is of the latter variety. Not only can he wield his mighty weapon in battle, but in time, it becomes an extension of his arms. It’s an art that he relentlessly perfects.

Path
1. Dagger, Great Sword, Long Sword, Short Sword, or Zanbato (character’s choice)
2. Speed Demon
3. Dervish Dance
4. Any Fighting Style for the Physical Attack selected
5. Enhance Weapon

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Attack rolls with the Physical Attack selected for this path.

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TEMPORAL MAGE (Ad/Tp/Ut)
Description: The Chronomancer learned the basics of affecting his personal time stream. As he progressed, he learned the practical side of those abilities and sought to master time even further.
Path
1. Must have completed the Chronomancer ability path
2. Speed Demon
3. Dexterous
4. Temporal Sacrament
5. Must have achieved 3rd level or higher

Completion Bonus
Temporal Sacrament grants an additional extra action under the same conditions.

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THIEF (St/Wr)
Description: Raised on the mean streets, the thief knows that you have to take what you need to survive, and this attitude carries over into all facets of life. She isn't burdened by trivial moral codes, and knows that the job comes first, but often has a soft spot. She's a person too, after all.

Path
1. Silence
2. Stealth
3. Pick Pocket
4. Set Trap
5. Trap Finder

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Attack rolls made by surprise, whether it be under the effects of Invisibility, Silence, Stealth, or a trap the enemy didn't expect.

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VENEFICUS (Ad/Mg)
Description: The Veneficus is a learned wizard. He knows he is deadly with his magic. He has mastered the chaos of the magic and honed his skill with it to a great degree. It is wise to not upset him lest he loosen his fury upon you.

Path
1. Must have completed the Blast Mage ability path
2. Undivided Will
3. Charged Attack (Magical Attack selected for Blast Mage)
4. Any Utility Power requiring the Magical Attack selected for Blast Mage
5. Improved Careless Caster or Improved Undivided Will

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Magic rolls with and Resistance checks against the Magical Attack selected for Blast Mage.

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WALL-MAKER (Ad/Sp)
Description: A bodyguard protects your body. A warder will supplement his will for yours. Sometimes there are those who have so mastered the defense of others that they become a living wall.
Path
1. Must have completed the Bodyguard ability path
2. Must have completed the Warder ability path
3. Superior Bodyguard
4. Superior Warder
5. Divided Focus

Completion Bonus
You may name two wards at the start of combat.

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WARDER (Sp)
Description: You are trained in how to protect others. You started with basic defense and worked your way to defending your ward against magical attacks as well. This rigorous training has made you stronger as a protector.
Path
1. Bodyguard
2. Expert Bodyguard
3. Strong Will
4. Warder
5. Expert Warder

Completion Bonus
You treat your Defense and Resistance as being four points higher on all defensive rolls made for a ward. These points do not grant ability slots.

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WARRIOR-PRIEST (Sp/Wr)
Description: You focus on mastering the physical body. As both a healer and a warrior, you learn to harness the body’s innate power for greatness.
Path
1. Any Physical Attack of the Unarmed subcategory
2. Heal Hit Points Alpha
3. Sixth Sense
4. Heal Attribute
5. Fighting Style for the selected Physical Attack

Completion Bonus
Any bonus granted by the completion of the Fighter and Healer ability paths is doubled.

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WEAPON SMITH (Wr)
Description: Dwarves are not the only ones who believe that the best weapons are made from the finest materials. How does one get the finest materials? Learn to make and remake your own weapons.
Path
1. Any Physical Attack of the Weapon-Based subcategory
2. Metal Weapon (Any)
3. Shifting Weapon
4. Metal Weapon (Any Other)
5. Razor's Edge (for Selected Weapon-Based ability)

Completion Bonus
You can apply two metals to your weapon at the same time.

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WILLBENDER (Mg)
Description: The puppetmaster is a dabbler compared to the willbender, a child playing an adult game.

Path
1. Must have completed the Puppetmaster ability path
2. Contest of Wills
3. Turn Coat
4. Program
5. Must have attained 5th level or higher

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls concerning abilities of the Mind-Affecting subcategory.

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ZERO (Ut)
Description: Some look at overwhelming odds and shrink back in fear. Not you. You see it as merely an opportunity for greatness.
Path
1. Precognition
2. Underdog Resistance
3. Underdog Defense
4. Power of the Underdog
5. Strength of the Underdog

Completion Bonus
Whenever you may roll two dice using one of the selected abilities, you may roll a third d20. You keep the best two results.

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RANGER (Ut)
Description: There are those that prefer to attack from afar. They come from all kinds of backgrounds, but mage or warrior, they are better the farther away from their target they are.

Path
1. Any ability of the Ranged subcategory
2. Strong Attack or Careless Caster
3. Double Shot
4. Enhance Weapon or Enhance Magic
5. Deadly Focus (selected Ranged ability)

Completion Bonus
You gain +2 to your offensive roll with the selected ability per five feet you are from your target. This bonus does not affect your range with the selected ability.

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FIREARM SPECIALIST (Wr)
Description: Almost every weapon has user that embodied what it means to be one with a weapon. Firearms are no different. A Firearm Specialist first learns how to handle her weapon. Then she learns how to care for it. This allows her to improve with her weapon until she is a deadly force with her chosen weapon.

Path
1. Handgun or Rifle
2. Repair Item
3. Deadly Focus
4. Rapid Reload
5. Gunslinger

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls concerning the Physical Attack chosen for this ability path.

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EXORCIST (Sp)
Description: The sanctuary of one's own mind and soul is sacred to everyone, but to a few, this feeling translates to protective measures. An exorcist starts out protecting and freeing the soul and mind of a person. From that point, they continue to grow and improve in skill, eventually becoming experts in freeing people from the mental arts of others.

Path
1. Seal Soul
2. Exorcise Spirit
3. Enhance Healing
4. Deprogrammer
5. Contingency (Must involve Exorcise Spirit)

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls against abilities of the Mind-Affecting subcategory.

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HERALD (Ad/Mg/Sp)
Description: Bards understand the power of sound and use it for their own purposes. A Herald takes this a few steps further, improving on the skills that they had already mastered. They become the song-bearers that sing of the glory of battles and songs of greatness, both on and off the battlefield. Is it any wonder that they are held to such high standards and given such honors that a mere bard would never know?

Path
1. Must have completed the Bard ability path
2. Improved Silence
3. Battle Song
4. Suggestion
5. Multitasker

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls concerning abilities of the Sound-Based subcategory.

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LIGHT MAGE (Mg)
Description: The power of light fills you, making you strong. You first learned how to bend it to change what people could see. Then you learned how to empower your magical attack with it, making you a powerful foe of the Darkness.

Path
1. Invisibility
2. Glamour
3. Any Magical Attack
4. Positive Alignment (Selected Magical Attack)
5. Enhance Magic

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all abilities of the Light subcategory.

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SHADE MASTER (Su/Ut)
Description: In the shadows, you find power. Carefully, tactically, you surround yourself with that power. In the shadows, you hide. None will beat you. You are but a shade, a thing of darkness. ...And the Darkness is you....

Path
1. Animate Pawn (Shade)
2. Armor of Darkness
3. Shield of Darkness
4. Strength of Darkness
5. Power of Darkness

Completion Bonus
Your pawns benefit from the Darkness series as you do.

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STALKER (St)
Description: You have learned how to sneak around like a professional. First it was just muffling your footsteps before you learned how to make people over look you. Then you learned to disappear completely. As a final touch, you practiced your skill in sneaking around until you knew you could do so in your sleep. What you do now is up to you, but one thing is for sure: they probably won’t notice you coming.

Path
1. Silence
2. Stealth
3. Invisibility
4. Improved Silence
5. Improved Stealth

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls concerning Silence and Stealth.

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AUGMENTER (Sp)
Description: “I can make you stronger, faster, more powerful. I can make you better than you were before this moment. All it takes is a touch of my hand. Won’t you take my hand?”

Path
1. Augment Defense
2. Augment Resistance
3. Augment Swiftness
4. Augment Attack
5. Augment Magic

Completion Bonus
Whenever you use the above abilities on a target, you grant a bonus to Endurance equal to the highest bonus given by you to that target. This bonus lasts as long as your Augment abilities normally do and is only gained once per target.

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ARCANE DISCIPLE (Mg)
Description: There are mages who favor a single spell to the exclusion of all others. Then there are mages who fall in love with magic in general, who live for the Art. They don’t specialize in one attack and become a one trick pony. They can attack you from multiple angles as need be.

Path
1. Any Magical Attack
2. Any Other Magical Attack
3. Any Other Magical Attack
4. Any Other Magical Attack
5. Blast Struggle

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Magic rolls.

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ARTIFICER (Ut)
Description: Since the earliest times, when using a sharp rock to make a stick pointed was still new, civilization has depended upon those who saw, not what was, but what could be. The drive to create and explore goes bone deep for these tinkers. They strive to change the world through their inventions, both wonderful and wicked. This dedication allows them to more easily identify objects that they find.

Path
1. Tinker
2. Repair Item
3. Expert Tinker
4. Tinker's Power
5. Tinker’s Sense

Completion Bonus
You may spend a single action a turn to use Tinker’s Sense rather than having to sacrifice all actions in a cycle.

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MENDER (Ad/Sp)
Description: The bonds of friendship and service run deep within these skilled healers. They are the learned friend who lifts up their comrades in the darkness of pain and disfigurement. A mender’s body is constantly coursing with healing energy, so much so that they cannot help but heal quicker.

Path
1. Must have completed the Healer ability path
2. Must have completed the Medic ability path
3. Restoration
4. Fast Healer
5. Heal Hit Points Gamma

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 with abilities of the Magical Healing subcategory.

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RESISTER (Ut)
Description: You specialize in nothing, but in that diversity you have found a unique strength.

Path
1. Poison Resistance
2. Resistant
3. Mental Barrier
4. Instant Death Protection
5. Strong Will

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Resistance rolls.

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WALL BREAKER (Wr)
Description: For as long as there have been warriors, there has been those who protect the ones who could not defend themselves. And for as long as those have existed, there have been those who make it their skill to go through the bodyguards. They are usually cold and ruthless, but this does not make them immediately evil. After all, even the bad guys employ people to defend them, or inspire people to do so.

Path
1. Bodyguard
2. Any Physical Attack
3. Any ability of the Armor subcategory
4. Battering Attack
5. Bodyguard’s Bane

Completion Bonus
The damage done by Bodyguard’s Bane is not negated by the Bodyguard ability path’s completion bonus.

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WEAPON MASTER (Wr)
Description: The true weapon master does not specialize in one weapon, but studies many. If there is one thing that he does well, it is fight.

Path
1. Any Physical Attack
2. Any Other Physical Attack
3. Any Other Physical Attack
4. Any Other Physical Attack
5. Parry Attack

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all Attack rolls.

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ARTIST (Sp)
Description: Artists are skilled craftsmen who have mastered the skill of putting form to the ethereal power that is magic. She has learned the beauty of this form of magic. Her gentle hand with a brush or pen is mighty indeed. She creates art that she then uses to fight her battles.

Path
1. Scribe
2. Lasting Ink
3. Collector
4. Scribe’s Knowledge
5. Scribe’s Study (Any)

Completion Bonus
You may spend a single action a turn to use Scribe’s Knowledge rather than having to sacrifice all actions in a cycle.

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CRAFTER (Sp)
Description: The crafter knows the art of creation. They make knickknacks. Then they learn the more delicate art of making suos. The wonder of being ability to make edible consumables comes next. They grow in power and learn to maximize their storage of creation items.

Path
1. Tinker
2. Scribe
3. Brewer
4. Powerful Soul
5. Collector, Hoarder, or Kitchen Stocker

Completion Bonus
You are considered to have Collector, Hoarder, and Kitchen Stocker one additional time.

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POTION MAKER (Sp)
Description: The adventuring life is not for everyone. For example, the potion maker is more at home in a lab or kitchen, creating things to be drunk or eaten. His power is usually understated when compared to a sword wielder, but in the end, he proves his worth.

Path
1. Brewer
2. Gourmet
3. Powerful Soul
4. Kitchen Stocker
5. Rationing

Completion Bonus
You may spend a single action a turn to use Gourmet rather than having to sacrifice all actions in a cycle.

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TRAP ARTIST (Ad/Wr/Ut)
Description: There are trap smiths, who have learned the basics. Then there are those who take the craft to another level. They don’t make mere traps. They make works of art that can kill you.

Path
1. Must have completed the Trap Smith ability path
2. Trapper’s Knack
3. Improved Set Trap
4. Trap Sense
5. Improved Trap Sense

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 in anything concerning traps.

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TRAP SMITH (Wr/Ut)
Description: A trap smith is good at setting, finding, and disabling traps. As he refines his technique, he learns new tricks to surprise an enemy, perhaps even an ally.

Path
1. Set Trap
2. Trap Finder
3. Improved Set Trap
4. Create Trap
5. Disguise Trap

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 in anything concerning traps.

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ABJURER (Ut)
Description: The world is a dangerous place where the elements mix in a deadly dance. It’s a miracle that people survive day to day life, let alone the possibility of a magical mishap. This is a reality that the abjurer, who focuses on protection magic, knows all too well. Accordingly, she learns to magically shield herself from the four most basic elements, thereby improving her ability to shrug off the ill effects of the rest. When she has mastered her art, few mages will be able to do her harm.

Path
1. Energy Resistance (Earth)
2. Energy Resistance (Water)
3. Energy Resistance (Wind)
4. Energy Resistance (Fire)
5. Enhance Resistance

Completion Bonus
You gain +4 on all rolls against abilities of the Elementally-Aligned subcategory.

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