[3.5] Martial Vestiges (P.E.A.C.H)

[Jatmaj]

Oram, Iron-hearted
Vestige Level: 3
Binding DC: 14

Legend:
To master the sublime way, one needs determination and persistence. In these virtues, few exceeded Oram the Iron-hearted. Through diligent training he learned to shrug off exhaustion and resist pain and hardship, as many skilled warriors do. In time, however, he became dissatisfied and strove for greater feats of both resilience and martial prowess, learning to ignore wounds that would slay a lesser adept.

He took to testing his blade against himself, striking a mighty blow only to shrug off the injury with sheer force of will, his strength ever improving, until at last he became careless and died of such an injury. But this was not the end of Oram’s story: even as he had defied lesser ailments, he refused to let death take him, and so became a vestige.

Manifestation:
Oram appears at first as a corpse - often of a hobgoblin, sometimes of a troll or human - lying upon his sigil. After a moment, the corpse stands, wounds fading as it returns to an appearance of life before Oram addresses the binder.

Sign:
You do not bleed while hosting Oram.

Influence:
Oram grants you the ability to withstand injury, but in return, you take little care for your own protection while hosting him. You cannot fight defensively while Oram is bound.

Granted Abilities:

Bloodless:

You automatically becomes stable if your hit points drop below 0, your normal rate of healing is doubled, and hit point damage that involves bleeding is negated. (This ability functions equivalently to a Periapt of Wound Closure).

Tireless:

You are immune to exhaustion and fatigue.

Iron-Hearted:

You know the maneuvers Steely Strike and Iron Heart Surge. Add your full Binder level to your initiator level for these maneuvers, rather than half. Once you use one, you recover it after 5 rounds.

[Jatmaj]

____, of the Sword

Vestige Level: 8th
Binding DC: 35

Legend:
There was once a girl who studied the sword. She learned, in time, each martial discipline; in the Diamond Mind school she was a prodigy. When she set off for adventure as a youth, she was nearly a master of it; by the time she returned to the Temple of Nine Swords as an elder, her skill was unmatched.
Having returned to the Temple, she pondered long what she had learned of battle, and at last she saw a single, simple, transcendent truth at the heart of each school: the will and the choice to cut. On that day, ____ of the Sword cut away her name and her mortality, becoming a vestige.

Manifestation:

Sign:
Your eyes are transformed to orbs of steel. (This is a physical change, not just an illusion, but you are able to see normally nonetheless.)

Influence:
____ demands that you neither speak nor write your own name while she is bound.

Granted Abilities:
Perfect Blade: Any sword you hold gains an enhancement bonus equal to 1/3 your effective binder level and gains the Keen special ability, so long as it remains in your hand.

Perfect Strike: Add your full Binder level to your initiator level, rather than half. When you bind ____ of the Sword, pick one martial strike of no higher than 8th level, from any School. You know that strike. (You don’t need to meet the prerequisites.) Once you use it, you recover it after 5 rounds.

Additionally, each time you initiate that strike, you may take 10 on one attack roll made as part of it.

Nameless: You gain spell resistance equal to your effective binder level + 15. You cannot be targeted by Utterances or other Truenaming effects.

Sever: Your melee attacks bypass all damage reduction and regeneration. If you kill a creature with a melee weapon, the death is difficult to reverse: any subsequent attempt to restore it to life or raise it as undead fails, unless the creature making the attempt succeeds at a caster level check with DC 10 + your EBL.

[Jatmaj]

Kelra, the Vanished Soldier

Vestige Level: 3
Binding DC: 17

Legend:
There was, long ago, a war; perhaps the first great war between nations in which martial adepts played a major part. Kelra was a soldier, and, in time, a general, determined to lead her side to victory. But as the conflict dragged on, and her martial skill proved insufficient, she turned to darker techniques, altering her fundamental self to be a better fighter and trading away portions of her humanity to otherworldly forces in exchange for greater skill. When, at last, the war was won, in large part due to her efforts, she set down her spear and vanished without a trace. She had become so much a creature of violence that she could not exist in peacetime.

Special Requirement:
A piercing weapon must be thrust into the ground in the center of Kelra’s seal. It is is not used up in the summoning process, nor does it move from where you placed it.

Manifestation:
A red haze fills the fills the circle, and when it fades, a woman in ancient bronze armor carrying a tattered banner stands there. Her gaze is fixed on the weapon placed within the seal, and although she may speak to a Binder, she has never been recorded to look at one, or turn her attention away from the weapon for any reason.

Sign:
Your hands are stained reddish-brown, as coated in rust.

Influence:
Kelra’s foremost trait was her determination to win. She does not require that you seek out conflict, but if you do enter into a battle while hosting her, she will not permit you to retreat nor surrender. Even outside of battle, so long as you are directly opposing another creature, it is not in Kelra’s nature to accept any outcome less than victory.

Granted Abilities:

Skill, Hard-earned:
You know the maneuvers Crusader’s Strike and Leading the Attack. If your effective Binder level is at least 7, you also know White Raven Strike and Defensive Rebuke. Add your full Binder level to your initiator level for these maneuvers, rather than half. Once you use one, you recover it after 5 rounds.

War, Hard-fought:
You and all other creatures within 5 feet of you gain a +1 morale bonus to Will saves, Fortitude saves, and weapon damage rolls.

Peace, Hard-won:
You may create an effect identical to a Sanctuary spell cast on yourself, which lasts for 3 rounds, with a Save DC of 10 + 1/2 your effective binder level + your Cha modifier. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

[Jatmaj]

Reserved

[Garryl]

Cool stuff. I always look forward to ToB- and binding-related homebrew.

Is it intended that Kelra's War, Hard-Fought ability buffs your enemies who are adjacent to you?

___'s Perfect Strike should probably clarify that you can take 10 an one attack roll with the maneuver each time you initiate it. Otherwise, the implication is unclear, and it could be interpreted that you can only take 10 once each time you bind the vestige, or worse, once in the existence of the character.

[Jatmaj]

Is it intended that Kelra's War, Hard-Fought ability buffs your enemies who are adjacent to you?

Yep. She's steeped in violence, and that's not always a good thing for those who associate with her.

___'s Perfect Strike should probably clarify that you can take 10 an one attack roll with the maneuver each time you initiate it. Otherwise, the implication is unclear, and it could be interpreted that you can only take 10 once each time you bind the vestige, or worse, once in the existence of the character.

I've edited the wording, hopefully it makes more sense now.

Edit: I've also edited the wording on Sever for clarity, and standardized on using four underscores in ____'s name.

[Jatmaj]

Teeth of Dahlver-Nar:

Oram: You gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Constitution.
Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Price 16,000 gp.
Kelra: You know the Leading the Charge stance. Your martial adept level for this stance is equal to your 1/2 your level.
Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Price 9,000 gp.
___: You gain proficiency with rapier, scimitar, short sword, longsword, and bastard sword.
Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Price 5,400 gp.