THE SILENT BLADE"..."-Naja Matar, a Silent Blade.
The Silent Blades are an elite order of mercenaries and assassins known for two things: their ability to kill with barely a thought - often literally - and their ability to keep a secret. Nobody knows where they receive their training, for this, too, is a secret they are forsworn to keep. Their vow of silence compels them to never speak, and though they can still communicate via hand signs, their refusal to use their voice continually reminds them of the truths they must conceal. Some are malicious, but most are neutral: living weapons to be used by those who can afford their services.
BECOMING A SILENT BLADE A thinker of sufficient dexterity and skill may find a letter addressed to her asking to meet in a secluded space. There, a black-robed figure will be waiting, an extremely dangerous member of the Silent Blades (CR 15). Knowing that she would not have come unless she agreed to join their order, they will test her in a duel. She is not expected to win, but merely to show that she has promise, at which point the Silent Blade calls off the fight. If she fails to impress the Silent Blade, they kill her on the spot. It is a mystery where the Silent Blade and the thinker go after this test, though it is thought to be a hidden training ground of some sort. Upon returning to civilization, the thinker is bound by the order's oath, and will not speak of the Blades' location, or indeed anything at all.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTSAlignment: Any nongood
Skills: Hide 8 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks
Thought Magic: Able to express the 1st-level idea
HushFeats: Thought on the Run
Special: Must receive a letter from the Silent Blades
Class SkillsThe Silent Blade's class skills are Balance, Bluff, Concentration, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft, Spot, Swim, Tumble, and Use Magic Device.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + int
Table: The Silent Blade HD: d6
Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save |
Special |
Thought Magic |
1 | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Vow of Silence, Unreadable, Sneak Attack +1d6 | — |
2 | +1 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Silence Aura, Mobile Attacker | +1 level of existing thinker class |
3 | +2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Disappear (move action) | +1 level of existing thinker class |
4 | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Slash Resolve, Sneak Attack +2d6 | +1 level of existing thinker class |
5 | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Weak Point | +1 level of existing thinker class |
6 | +4 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Killer Intent | +1 level of existing thinker class |
7 | +5 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Disappear (swift action), Sneak Attack +3d6 | +1 level of existing thinker class |
8 | +6 | +2 | +6 | +6 | No Escape | +1 level of existing thinker class |
9 | +6 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Undetectable | +1 level of existing thinker class |
10 | +7 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Eternal Silence, Sneak Attack +4d6 | +1 level of existing thinker class |
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Silent Blade is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with the bolas and hand crossbow. She is proficient with light armor but not with shields.
Thought Magic: At each level except 1st, the Silent Blade progresses her ideas known, hand size, thinker level, and deck composition, as if she had gained a level in a thinker class that she belonged to prior to gaining the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained.
Vow of Silence (Ex): The Silent Blade makes a vow to never utter another word. She may not use her voice in any way, including to use the verbal components of spells, if she knows any. She may still communicate through other means, such as hand signals, sign language, and telepathy, if she knows or is able to use such methods. However, her vow is deeper than this. A client may ask her to promise to keep a secret. If she does so (by nodding her head once of her own free will), she may not convey the content of that secret in any way, or this will also constitute a breach of her vow of silence.
Any violation of her vow causes her to lose her class abilities in Silent Blade. This is the least of her worries, however, since if the order of the Silent Blades learns of her betrayal, they will hunt her down and kill her without mercy. If the secret is extracted some other way, such as with a compulsion, the Silent Blades may be persuaded to spare her and accept her back into their order, but only upon the completion of a deadly test of some sort to prove her loyalty.
Unreadable (Ex): The secrets a Silent Blade protects cannot be easily plucked from her mind. She is immune to mind-reading effects such as the spell
Detect Thoughts, and any Sense Motive check made to discern her intentions takes a -5 penalty.
Sneak Attack (Ex): At 1st level, and every 3 levels afterward, the Silent Blade gains +1d6 sneak attack, as the Rogue ability of the same name. If the Silent Blade gains sneak attack or silent strike from another source, the bonuses to damage stack.
Silence Aura (Su): Starting at level 2, the Silent Blade emanates
Silence, as the spell, out to a range of 10 feet away from her, active continuously. She may dismiss or activate the aura as a free action at will. She may also reduce the radius to as little as 0 feet, meaning that she is completely silent, but none of the space adjacent to her is. Changing the radius of the aura is also a free action usable at will.
Mobile Attacker (Ex): The 2nd-level Silent Blade is a swift and deadly combatant, using both thought magic and weapon attacks while constantly on the move. She may use the additional swift-action movement granted by her Thought on the Run feat in cases where she spends a standard action attacking with a weapon and a move action expressing an idea. This is in addition to the case when the feat is normally usable: when she spends both move actions or 1 full-round action expressing ideas.
Disappear (Sp): At level 3, the Silent Blade adds the 2nd-level idea
Out of Sight, Out of Mind to her list of ideas known if it isn't already (if she cannot yet express 2nd-level ideas, she does not gain this class feature immediately. Instead, once she learns her first 2nd-level idea, she adds
Out of Sight, Out of Mind to her list of ideas known at that point). She may express this idea as a move action instead of a full-round action if she wishes.
At level 7, she may express it as a swift, move, or full-round action.
Slash Resolve (Ex): The 4th-level Silent Blade chips away at her mark's ability to resist her ideas with every strike. Each time a creature takes weapon damage from the Silent Blade, they gain a -1 penalty to saves against her ideas and the spell-like features of this class. This penalty is cumulative up to 1/2 the Silent Blade's class level, and lasts 1 minute.
Weak Point (Sp): At 5th level, the Silent Blade adds the following to her ideas known as a 2nd-level idea:
Weak Point [Versatile]
- Expressing Time: 1 free action
- IP Cost: 1
- Range: Close
- Target: One creature
- Duration: 1 round
- Spell Resistance: No
If the target creature has an immunity to sneak attacks and critical hits, your weapon attacks ignore that immunity for 1 round (no save).
Killer Intent (Sp): The 6th-level Silent Blade has reached an elite stage of her craft, and begins to imbue her blade with deadly thought magic effects. Whenever she executes a sneak attack, she may reduce her bonus damage dice by 3d6 and instead inflict
Death Urge, as the 4th-level idea, on the target of her attack. The Will save DC is 14 + her primary expressing modifier.
No Escape (Sp): At 8th level, whenever the Silent Blade executes a sneak attack, she may reduce her bonus dice by 3d6 and instead inflict
Dimensional Anchor, as the spell (no save). She may not imbue her weapon with more than one spell-like effect from this class, even if she has enough sneak attack dice to trade for both.
Undetectable (Ex): At 9th level, the Silent Blade becomes immune to all divination effects.
Eternal Silence (Sp): The 10th-level Silent Blade can imbue her weapon with an effect that silences her victim forever. Whenever she executes a sneak attack, she may reduce her bonus damage dice by 3d6 and instead inflict a
Silence effect localized to her target (identical to her own silence aura when she reduces the radius to 0 feet) with no save, for 1 minute. In addition, the target is affected by
Countdown, as the 4th-level idea, except that the counter starts at 1. One round later at the start of the Silent Blade's turn, the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 18 + expressing modifier) or die.
Both the
Silence and
Countdown effects are treated as a single effect for the purpose of determining whether the Silent Blade may imbue her weapon with them (she may not imbue her weapon with more than one spell-like effect from this class, even if she has enough sneak attack dice to trade for both).
PLAYING A SILENT BLADESilent Blade characters cannot speak, but this does not mean there are no opportunities for roleplaying. Aside from hand signals and telepathy, which might allow your character to literally communicate with her allies, you can have your character make purposeful glances and gestures, enhancing the feeling of having a character around who does not speak. When doing this, be sure to be specific about what the gestures mean. That is, instead of saying, "Naja gestures to the orc chief, then looks back at the party," say something like "Naja gestures to the orc chief and gives the party a look of distrust, doubting the chief's assurances."