[Class] Crusader

[Throndir]

Source: Tome of Battle pg 9

CLASS FEATURES
First and foremost, a crusader is a competent com-
batant. She fights as skillfully as a fighter, paladin,
or ranger does, relying on heavy armor
and a good selection of weapons to
gain the edge over her opponents.
To this basic fighting prowess,
she adds several abilities derived
from her absolute faith and devotion
to her chosen ideal. When fighting for
her cause, a crusader becomes an unstop-
pable force on the battlefield. Terrible injuries
might send less dedicated warriors running from
the fight, but a crusader trans-
forms such setbacks into
martial fury that enables
her to fight on long after
other warriors would have
been overwhelmed.
A crusader masters a small number
of martial maneuvers as she gains levels. Derived
from her extraordinary self-discipline,
these maneuvers include catechisms of
faith, spiritual devotions, and the abil-
ity to strike spectacular blows in
the service of her patron or cause.
Armed with the power of her faith,
she can shatter boulders, shrug off enemy
attacks, or rally an army with a single act
of bravery.
Weapon and Armor Profi ciency: As a crusader, you
are profi cient with simple weapons, martial weapons,
light, medium, and heavy armor, and all shields.
Maneuvers: You begin your career with knowledge
of five martial maneuvers. The disciplines available
to you are Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and
White Raven.
Once you know a maneuver, you must ready it
before you can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below).
A maneuver usable by crusaders is considered an extraordi-
nary 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 1?1. You must meet a maneuver?s prerequisite to
learn it. See Table 3?1, page 39, to determine the highest-level
maneuvers you can learn.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered
crusader 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 restric-
tion 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
all five maneuvers you know at 1st
level, but as you advance in level and
learn more maneuvers, you must
choose which maneuvers to ready.
You ready maneuvers by praying
for 5 minutes. The maneuvers you
choose remain readied until you
decide to pray again and change
them. You need not sleep or rest for
any long period of time in order to
ready your maneuvers; any time you
spend 5 minutes in prayer, you can
change your readied maneuvers.
  You begin an encounter with all
your readied maneuvers unexpend-
ed, regardless of how many times you
might have already used them since you
chose them. When you initiate a maneu-
ver, 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).
  Crusaders are unique among mar-
tial adepts, relying on flashes of divine
inspiration to use their martial maneu-
vers. As such, you do not control access to
your readied maneuvers. Before you take
your first action in an encounter, two
of your readied maneuvers (randomly
determined) are granted to you. The rest
of your readied maneuvers are withheld,
currently inaccessible. At the end of each
turn, one previously withheld maneuver
(again, randomly determined) is granted to you,
and thus becomes accessible for your next turn
and subsequent turns. You can freely choose to initiate any
maneuver that is currently granted when your turn begins,
but you cannot initiate a withheld maneuver. If you choose
not to employ a maneuver in a given round, your currently
granted maneuvers remain available, and a previously with-
held maneuver is granted, as described above. In other words,
it doesn?t matter if you use your maneuvers or not?at the
end of each of your turns, one withheld maneuver from your
Illus. by K. Andrasofszky
Daresa,
crusader of Pelor
10
Disciples of the Sword
selection of readied maneuvers is granted to you.  Over the
course of a few rounds, all your maneuvers will eventually
be granted.
If, at the end of your turn, you cannot be granted a maneu-
ver because you have no withheld maneuvers remaining,
you recover all expended maneuvers, and a new pair of
readied maneuvers is granted to you. Randomly determine
which of your maneuvers are granted and which are with-
held. At the end of your next turn, a withheld maneuver is
granted to you, and the whole process of divine inspiration
begins again.
You begin an encounter with an additional granted maneu-
ver at 10th level (bringing your total to three), and again at
20th level (bringing your total to four).
Stances Known: You begin play with knowledge of one
1st-level stance from the Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, or
White Raven discipline. At 2nd, 8th, and 14th level, you can
choose an additional stance. 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.
Steely Resolve (Ex): Your supreme dedication and intense
focus allow you to temporarily set aside the pain and hinder-
ing effects of injuries. When an opponent strikes you, the
injury does not immediately affect you.
You have a delayed damage pool that allows you to forestall
the effects of many injuries. This pool begins at 0 with each
encounter. When you are attacked, any hit point damage the
blow deals is added to your delayed damage pool. At the end
of your next turn, you take damage equal to the total stored in
your delayed damage pool, which then resets to 0. Any healing
you receive can either increase your current hit point total as
normal or reduce the total damage in your delayed damage
pool. When you receive healing, you choose whether it affects
your damage pool, your hit points, or both (you can split the
amount of healing as you wish). Most crusaders opt to keep
as much damage in their delayed damage pool as possible to
maximize the benefi t of their furious counterstrike ability
(see below).
Special effects tied to an attack, such as energy drain, stun,
and so forth, still affect you as normal, and their effects are
not delayed by this ability. For example, if you are bitten
by a venomous spider, you must still attempt a Fortitude
save against the poison immediately, even though the bite
damage shifts into your delayed damage pool. By the same
token, any other special attack that imposes a condition,
such as a medusa?s petrifying gaze, takes immediate effect
on you.
At 1st level, your delayed damage pool can hold up to 5
points of damage. Any damage beyond that comes off your
hit points as normal. The maximum damage your pool holds
increases by 5 at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level.
Furious Counterstrike (Ex): You can channel the pain
of your injuries into a boiling rage that lets you lash out at
your enemies with renewed vigor and power. Each attack
that strikes you only pushes you onward to greater glory.
During your turn, you gain a bonus on attack rolls and
damage rolls equal to the current value of your delayed
damage pool (see steely resolve, above) divided by 5, and
rounding down (minimum +1). You can only gain a maxi-
mum bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls of +6 from
furious counterstrike. Use the table below to quickly
determine the attack bonus and damage bonus from furi-
ous counterstrike, based on the amount of damage in your

Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special Known Readied Known
1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Furious counterstrike, steely resolve 5 5 5 (2) 1
2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Indomitable soul 5 5 (2) 2
3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Zealous surge 6 5 (2) 2
4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Steely resolve 10 6 5 (2) 2
5th +5 +4 +1 +1 ? 7 5 (2) 2
6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Smite 1/day 7 5 (2) 2
7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 ? 8 5 (2) 2
8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Steely resolve 15 8 5 (2) 3
9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 ? 9 5 (2) 3
10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Die Hard 9 6 (3) 3
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 ? 10 6 (3) 3
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Steely resolve 20 10 6 (3) 3
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 Mettle 11 6 (3) 3
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 ? 11 6 (3) 4
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 ? 12 6 (3) 4
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Steely resolve 25 12 6 (3) 4
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 ? 13 6 (3) 4
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Smite 2/day 13 6 (3) 4
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 ? 14 6 (3) 4
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Steely resolve 30 14 7 (4) 4

Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ?4 at 1st level): Balance, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Jump,
Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), Martial Lore*, Ride.
*New skill described on page 28.
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Disciples of the Sword
delayed damage pool. This ability?s benefits last until the
end of your turn.

Delayed Damage Furious Counterstrike
Pool Points Bonus
1?9 +1
10?14 +2
15?19 +3
20?24 +4
25?29 +5
30+ +6

Indomitable Soul (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you draw
upon the power of your unwavering faith to steel yourself
against the enemies you face. Your personality, energy, and
dedication to your faith make it possible for you to shrug off
attacks that target your willpower.
You add your Charisma bonus (if any) as a bonus on Will
saves. This bonus does not stack with that from a paladin?s
divine grace ability.
Zealous Surge (Ex): Your boundless energy and dedica-
tion to your cause allow you to throw off the effect of a special
attack, spell, or other attack that would otherwise hinder or
harm you. Once per day, from 3rd level on, you can opt to
reroll a single saving throw. You must abide by the result of
the new, second saving throw, even if it is lower than the fi rst.
This ability does not require an action. You simply decide to
use it after seeing the result of your saving throw roll but
before the DM tells you if it fails or succeeds.
Smite (Ex): Driven by the courage of your convictions and
the ironclad strength of your beliefs, you can strike back at
those who dare stand against your cause. Starting at 6th level,
once per day, you can concentrate all your anger, hatred, and
determination into a single attack. On the next melee attack
you make, you gain a bonus on your attack roll equal to your
Charisma bonus (if any) and a bonus on damage equal to your
crusader level.
At 18th level, you gain an additional use of smite per day.
Die Hard (Ex): At 10th level, you gain Die Hard as a
bonus feat.
Mettle (Ex): You can resist magical attacks with greater
effectiveness than other warriors. Beginning at 13th level,
by drawing on your boundless energy and dedication to
your cause, you can shrug off effects that would hinder even
the toughest warrior. If you succeed on a Fortitude or Will
save against an attack that would normally produce a lesser
effect on a successful save (such as a spell with a saving throw
entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), you instead negate
the effect. You do not gain the benefi t of mettle when you
are unconscious or sleeping.