STORMBLADE
"They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind."While most dragonmark-bearers who seek to improve their abilities do so for commercial reasons (as represented by the Dragonmark Heir
ECS prestige class), there are many ways in which such power can be wielded. Stormblades are those who use the powers of the Mark of Storm to enhance their martial abilities.
BECOMING A STORMBLADE Taking a level in swordsage allows a character to meet the Desert Wind requirements for the lowest investment, though swordsage's average BAB delays such a character from meeting the BAB prerequisite. A warblade or crusader can meet the prerequisites at level 6 via the Martial Study and Martial Stance feats, or level 5 if he has access to additional feats from some source (such as flaws).
ENTRY REQUIREMENTSBase Attack Bonus: +5
Martial Maneuvers: Must know one Desert Wind strike and one Desert Wind stance
Feats: Least Dragonmark (Mark of Storm)
Class Skills (4+Int): Balance, Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Jump, Martial Lore, Profession, Sense Motive, Survival, Tumble, Use Rope
Hit Dice: d8
Level | Base
Attack Bonus | Fort
Save | Ref
Save | Will
Save |
Special | Maneuvers
Known | Maneuvers
Readied | Stances
Known |
| 1st | +0 | +0 | +2 | +2 | Heir's mark, Storm wind, Wind sword | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | +1 | +0 | +3 | +3 | Lesser Dragonmark, Rushing winds | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3rd | +2 | +1 | +3 | +3 | Extended blade +5ft | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Flight, Rushing winds (2 squares) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5th | +3 | +1 | +4 | +4 | Greater Dragonmark | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6th | +4 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Rushing winds (3 squares), Scattering winds | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 7th | +5 | +2 | +5 | +5 | Thunderstroke | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8th | +6 | +2 | +6 | +6 | Extended blade +10ft, Rushing winds (4 squares) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9th | +6 | +3 | +6 | +6 | Storm parry | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 10th | +7 | +3 | +7 | +7 | Hurricane strike, Rushing winds (5 squares) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A stormblade is proficient with his wind sword and with light armor, but not with shields.
Maneuvers: At each odd-numbered level, you gain a new manuever known from the Desert Wind, Iron Heart or Setting Sun discipline. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full stormblade levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At 3rd level, 6th level and 9th level, you gain an additional maneuver readied per day.
Stances Known: At 5th level, you learn a new martial stance from the Desert Wind, Iron Heart or Setting Sun disciplines. You must meet a stance's prerequisite to learn it.
Heir's Mark: Levels in stormblade count as levels in the dragonmark heir prestige class when determining the caster level for the spell-like abilities of your dragonmark.
Storm Wind: Replace all references to fire and fire damage in a stormblade's Desert Wind maneuvers (and Desert-Wind-related feats) with references to electricity and electricity damage.
Wind Sword (Su): A stormblade can manifest up to two blades out of condensed winds as a swift action. A wind sword functions as an adamantine bastard sword with a +1 enhancement bonus per three character levels, except that it deals slashing, piercing and bludgeoning damage, is considered an associated weapon for every martial discipline, and may be treated as a light weapon whenever convenient. A wind sword cannot be disarmed or sundered, but vanishes as soon as it leaves the stormblade's hand.
Bonus Feats: A stormblade receives Lesser Dragonmark as a bonus feat at 2nd level, and Greater Dragonmark as a bonus feat at 5th level.
Rushing Winds (Su): At 2nd level, after a stormblade makes an attack with his Wind Sword every creature within an attacked square must make a Reflex save (DC = 10 + half his character level + his Cha modifier) or take 1d6 damage and be knocked prone. At every even level thereafter, he may choose to affect one additional square extending from the attacked area; these squares may be arranged in any shape as long as they remain contiguous. A creature subjected to Rushing Winds (whether or not they succeed on their saving throw) cannot be affected by another Rushing Winds from the same stormblade for the rest of the round.
Extended Blade: At 3rd level and again at 8th level, the reach of a stormblade's Wind Sword increases by +5ft on his turn only. He can still use the wind sword to attack adjacent squares.
Flight (Su): At 4th level a stormblade gains a fly speed equal to his land speed with good maneuverability. He may expend a use of a dragonmark power as a swift action to increase his speed by +30ft and his maneuverability to perfect; these benefits last for 1 round.
Scattering Winds (Su): At 6th level, any creature knocked prone by Rushing Winds is also pushed 10ft in a direction of the stormblade's choice, as if they had been bull rushed. He need not push every target in the same direction.
Thunderstroke (Su): At 7th level, whenever a stormblade delivers a martial strike through his wind sword, he may expend a use of a dragonmark power to inflict bonus electricity damage based on the grade of the power, and force struck targets to make a Fortitude save or become dazed for 1 round.
| Grade | Bonus damage | Save DC |
| Least | +2d8 | 13 + Cha |
| Lesser | +4d8 | 15 + Cha |
| Greater | +6d8 | 17 + Cha |
Storm Parry (Su): At 9th level a stormblade may expend one of his readied counters as an immediate action to create a
wind wall effect for 1 round. He may recover the expended maneuver as normal.
Hurricane Strike (Ex): At 10th level a stormblade may expend a use of a greater dragonmark power while initiating a melee strike, in order to initiate that strike once against every creature within reach of his wind sword. Regardless of this strike's effects, the same creature cannot be affected by the strike multiple times. This ability may not be combined with Thunderstroke.
PLAYING A STORMBLADE Brief description on how to play the class you are designing.
Combat: Here's a section where you will describe common combat methods for your class. Remember to include information on how your class will use his powers in combat.
Advancement: This is a section on different options and paths that the class can go down when they advance in power.
Resources: What resources might a member of this PrC be able to draw on..
STORMBLADES IN THE WORLD "A quote of somebody else talking about your class!"-name of quote originator
A brief description of how your class is persevered in the world and how he interacts with the world.
Daily Life: Some general information about the typical day in the life of your class.
Notables: Make up some cool information about notable figures in the history of your class. It's best to give a little information from one of the good alignment and evil alignment (unless it's a good or evil only class).
Organizations: While all those who bear the Mark of Storm have some connection to House Lyrandar, stormblades' martial training offers little to any of the markets in which that house operates. As such, most stormblades serve either as low-ranking guards within the house or as free agents.
NPC Reaction This is an in detail description of how NPC's would perceive your class and the immediate generalization that people would give of your class.
STORMBLADES IN THE GAME This is a good place to provide a quick note on how your class will effect game play statistically.
Adaptation: Where dragonmarks are not an established part of the setting, the powers of the Mark of Storm might be drawn from elemental ancestry or magical experimentation.
Encounters: This is a place to describe what sort of encounters PC's will have with NPC versions of your class.
