Fey Martial Adept creature
Has access to wide swaths of maneuvers. Different variants focus on different disciplines.
Regardless of variant, the fey wears a face-concealing helmet.
Challenges martial adepts to "a wager of skill". The stakes are effectively knowledge of a maneuver. At the conclusion of the duel, raises the visor to reveal what's underneath is only a glowing void, color dependent on the discipline of maneuver wagered (white for White Raven, red for Desert Wind, near-black for Shadow Hand, etc.). If the fey won, the light seems to suck from the martial adept, draining them of their martial skill. If the fey lost, the light seems to flow out from the fey to the martial adept, imbuing them with new skill.
- At the beginning of the duel, the {fey} chooses one of its maneuvers known, of a level no greater than the highest-level maneuver the challenger knows and can wager. The challenger must choose one of their maneuvers known of equal or higher level to that of the maneuver the {fey} chose. These maneuvers are the wagers of the duel. Neither combatant can initiate their wagered maneuvers during the duel.
- The {fey} automatically learns the level of the highest-level maneuver the challenger knows when a duel is accepted.
- Note: The {fey} gets to choose first, allowing it to set the minimum level of the wager, and sometimes locking the challenger out of one of its strongest maneuvers. A {fey} often has maneuvers won at any given time, and can frequently negate the disadvantage of losing a maneuver for the duel by choosing an extra, unreadied maneuver. Fey are, as always, scrupulously fair in their dealings in an intentionally unfair or advantageous way.
- A combatant who has already lost a maneuver cannot wager it again until it is returned.
- A combatant cannot wager the same maneuver in more than one duel at a time.
- The winner gains the ability to ready and initiate the won maneuver, as though they knew it, if their initiator level is high enough to learn and initiate maneuvers of that level (but they do not need to meet any other prerequisites of the maneuver). This does not count as a known maneuver. The loser loses the ability to initiate the maneuver they wagered (although they can still ready it, not that it'll do much).
- This lasts for a period of time of at least 1 day, up to a maximum of 1 year, unless the maneuver is returned earlier. The {fey} and the challenger negotiate the duration of the wager at the beginning of the duel, after selecting wagered maneuvers. If no agreement can be reached, the wager defaults to a duration of 1 month (unless some other condition forces a longer duration).
- The winner can choose to return the wagered maneuver at any time that they ready their maneuvers, ending the maneuver transfer for both parties immediately.
- If either the winner or the loser dies, the wagered maneuver is immediately returned.
- A break enchantment spell cast upon the loser can release the maneuver early if the caster level check succeeds and the loser is willing, but this is considered a breach of social contract of the highest order among {fey} society.
- If the duel is disrupted by a third party, the wagered maneuvers remain unusable for both combatants for 1/4 of the wager's duration, rounded up to the nearest day, as though the duel was ongoing. The two can then, if willing, restart their duel at a later time with the same wagered maneuvers.
- A won maneuver can be wagered against the creature it was won from instead of a maneuver known. If it is, the wager duration must be equal to or greater than remaining time for which the maneuver was won. If the winner is the creature from which the maneuver was originally won from, the maneuver is simply returned (instead of counting as a won maneuver).
- A {fey} can have any number of won maneuvers at once, and can even have the same maneuver won from multiple creatures at a time. Other creatures can have only one maneuver won at a time.
- A {fey} can begin a "wager of skill" once per day. Restarting an interrupted duel that was started earlier in the same day does not count against this limit.
Martial Instinct (Ex): A {fey} gets a +2 insight bonus on Martial Lore checks. When it observes a creature for the first time while that creature is in a martial stance, it can make Martial Lore checks to identify that stance and to identify the disciplines of maneuvers that creature knows as though it saw the creature initiate the stance.
v1 - Disrupting Clash (Ex): Whenever another creature initiates a strike maneuver that the {fey} knows or has won that targets it or includes it in its area of effect, the {fey} can expend a readied, non-withheld strike maneuver as an immediate action. If it does, the maneuver has no effect on the {fey} and any attacks made as part of it automatically miss the {fey}. A {fey} can use this ability to negate each maneuver it knows or has won no more than once per day.
v2 - Disrupting Clash (Ex): Whenever another creature initiates a strike maneuver that targets the {fey} or includes it in its area of effect, the {fey} can expend a readied, non-withheld strike maneuver as an immediate action. If it does and the {fey} successfully identified the maneuver (such as through the Martial Lore skill) and knows or has won that maneuver, the maneuver has no effect on the {fey} and any attacks made as part of it automatically miss the {fey}. A {fey} can use this ability to negate each maneuver it knows or has won no more than once per day.
v1 - Harrying Assault (Ex): Whenever another creature initiates a counter maneuver that the {fey} knows or has won in response to an attack it makes or an action it performs, the {fey} can expend a readied, non-withheld counter maneuver as an immediate action. If it does, the counter has no effect on the {fey} or its attacks and any other effects it causes are not resolved until after fully resolving the {fey}'s attack or action. A {fey} can use this ability to negate each maneuver it knows or has won no more than once per day.
v2 - Harrying Assault (Ex): Whenever another creature initiates a counter maneuver in response to an attack the {fey} makes or an action it performs, the {fey} can expend a readied, non-withheld strike maneuver as an immediate action. If it does and the {fey} successfully identified the maneuver (such as through the Martial Lore skill) and knows or has won that maneuver, the counter has no effect on the {fey} or its attacks and any other effects it causes are not resolved until after fully resolving the {fey}'s attack or action. A {fey} can use this ability to negate each maneuver it knows or has won no more than once per day.
