Gambler [3.5 base]

[Bozwevial]

Gambler



"Look, I'm willing to concede the possibility that I'm insane so long as you concede that I am both alive and, as of ten seconds ago, fabulously wealthy."

Luck, be a lady tonight.

MAKING A GAMBLER
Luck can't get you as far as skill can. It's a good thing you have both.
Abilities: Charisma, baby. Face is everything for you. Intelligence is also good for various skills, and your other physical stats are useful too.
Races: Humans, halflings, and gnomes tend to be the most commonly encountered gamblers, although rumors exist of one illithid who made a killing in Sigil's casinos.
Alignment: Any.
Starting Gold: 5d4x10 (125 gp)
Starting Age: As rogue.

Class Skills
The Gambler's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (local, nobility and royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6+Int) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int

Table: The Gambler				HD: d8
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Base Attack Bonus +0 +1 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 /+1 +6 /+1 +7 /+2 +8 /+3 +9 /+4 +9 /+4 +10 /+5 +11 /+6 /+1 +12 /+7 /+2 +12 /+7 /+2 +13 /+8 /+3 +14 /+9 /+4 +15 /+10 /+5	Fort Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6	Reflex Save +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12	Will Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6	Special Layout 3x3, High Roller, Beginner's Luck Uncanny Dodge Playing the Rush Evasion, Layout 3x4 Lucky Hunch Doubling Down Improved Uncanny Dodge Savvy Scoundrel, Layout 4x4 Jack of Hearts Skill Mastery Improved Evasion All or Nothing, Layout 4x5 Ace of Hearts Letting It Ride Daredevil Intuition Jackpot, Layout 4x6 Endless Roulette Losing Is For Suckers Never Tell Me The Odds Cashing Out	Maneuvers Known 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 24 24 25 25		Stances Known 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Gamblers are proficient with all simple weapons and all martial melee weapons, including thrown weapons. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

Maneuvers: A gambler begins her career with knowledge of nine martial maneuvers, chosen from the Coin’s Edge, Oncoming Storm, Dancing Fox, and God Slash disciplines. The types of maneuvers she may learn are subject to the restrictions of her Layout, detailed below. A maneuver initiated by a gambler is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in its description. A gambler’s maneuvers are not subject to spell resistance, and she does not provoke attacks of opportunity when she uses them.

A gambler learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on the table. At 4th level, and each even-numbered class level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, etcetera), she may also choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one she already knows. In effect, she loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. She can choose a new maneuver of any level she likes, as long as she observes the restriction on the highest-level maneuvers she can learn; she need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. She may not exchange a maneuver if doing so would prevent her from meeting her Layout restrictions (detailed below).

Layout: A gambler need not recover her maneuvers like other martial adepts. They are instead granted to her through circumstance, inspiration, and most of all, luck. At 1st level, the gambler’s Layout looks like this:

	1	2	3
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C

Each row contains maneuvers of a particular type (strikes, boosts, or counters). When she readies her maneuvers, she assigns them to slots in the Layout. She may not place a maneuver in an incompatible row. She also may not place the same maneuver in the Layout twice; each entry must be a separate maneuver. However, subject to these restrictions, she may arrange the maneuvers she knows through the Layout in any fashion she desires, and may change the placement of her maneuvers with five minutes of meditation, card shuffling, die rolling, or some other engrossing activity. If for some reason the gambler is unable to fill her Layout completely (such as by entering a prestige class which provides maneuvers known at a slower rate, or deliberately selecting more maneuvers of a given type than will fit in her Layout), she may leave Layout slots empty.

For the purposes of filling the Layout, maneuvers which have no type or have a type which does not fall under the standard three (strikes, boosts, and counters) may be placed in any slot.

At the start of each encounter, she randomly determines which column of her Layout is available to her. Each of the maneuvers in that column is granted to her either until she initiates and expends it or until the end of her turn. At the end of her turn, she again randomly determines which column’s maneuvers are granted to her.

At 4th, 12th, and 16th level, she gains an additional column in her Layout, increasing its size to 3x4, 4x5, and 4x6, respectively.

At 8th level, she gains an additional Layout row, increasing the size of each column to four maneuvers. Unlike other rows, she may assign maneuvers of any type to the slots in this row.

For reference, the gambler's Layout at each level:

(click to show/hide)

1st level:

	1	2	3
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C

4th level:

	1	2	3	4
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C	Strike D
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C	Boost D
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C	Counter D

8th level:

	1	2	3	4
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C	Strike D
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C	Boost D
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C	Counter D
Any	Misc A	Misc B	Misc C	Misc D

12th level:

	1	2	3	4	5
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C	Strike D	Strike E
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C	Boost D	Boost E
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C	Counter D	Counter E
Any	Misc A	Misc B	Misc C	Misc D	Misc E

16th level:

	1	2	3	4	5	6
Strikes	Strike A	Strike B	Strike C	Strike D	Strike E	Strike F
Boosts	Boost A	Boost B	Boost C	Boost D	Boost E	Boost F
Counters	Counter A	Counter B	Counter C	Counter D	Counter E	Counter F
Any	Misc A	Misc B	Misc C	Misc D	Misc E	Misc F

Stances known: A gambler begins play with knowledge of one 1st-level stance from any discipline open to her. At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, she can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended or granted, nor are they randomly available to her. All the stances she knows are available to her at all times, and she can change the stance she currently uses as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, a gambler cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one she already knows.

High Roller: All gamblers know the fine art of staking your living on a hand of poker or a throw of the dice. The gambler is always treated as having the maximum possible ranks for her Hit Dice in her Profession (gambler) skill.

Beginner's Luck (Ex): Gamblers know which end of a sword to hold. Poking it in the enemy's direction works unreasonably well for them. At 1st level, the gambler may use her Charisma modifier in place of her Strength modifier on melee attack rolls or in place of her Dexterity modifier on ranged attack rolls, up to a maximum of her class level. If she has or later receives another ability which also allows her to do this, she may instead add her Charisma modifier to her damage rolls, up to a maximum of her class level.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Nothing says "stop winning so much" like the other sort of blackjack. At 2nd level, the gambler retains her Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if she is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, she still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If the gambler already has uncanny dodge from a different class, she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Playing the Rush (Ex): Too much cockiness is bad. Except when you really are that good, in which case you get to gloat until you screw up. At 3rd level, the gambler may select three skills each day. She gains a competence bonus of +2 per three class levels to these skills. In addition, she may choose to treat any one skill check made with each of these skills as though she had rolled a 20. However, doing so means she no longer receives a competence bonus to that skill until she rests for eight hours (or receives an equivalent amount of rest) and selects new skills.

Evasion (Ex): Sensing which way the wind is blowing turns out to be a useful survival trait as well as a useful moneymaking trait. At 4th level, the gambler can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the gambler is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless gambler does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Lucky Hunch (Sp): Your gut feelings are almost supernaturally precise about things. At 5th level, the gambler may use augury and cheat (Spell Compendium) twice each per day as spell-like abilities which take a standard action to use and have a caster level equal to her class level.

Doubling Down (Ex): Sometimes there's too much money on the table to cut and run. At 6th level, as an immediate action, the gambler may trigger a state where her force of personality imposes itself upon the world and keeps her alive in the face of unlikely odds. She gains a +4 morale bonus to Charisma and may add her Charisma modifier as a bonus to her saving throws and Armor Class. This state lasts 1+her (improved) Charisma modifier rounds, after which time she is fatigued until the end of the encounter. She may use this ability once per day, plus one additional time per day for every four class levels above 6th (two times at 10th level, three times at 14th level, etcetera).

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): She who plays both sides of the table needs to know when to duck. At 7th level, the gambler may no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking her, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target does gambler levels.  If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, she automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Savvy Scoundrel (Sp): You have an incredible knack for knowing the odds and then promptly ignoring them. At 8th level, the gambler may use divination twice per day as a spell-like ability which takes one minute to use and has a caster level equal to her class level.

Jack of Hearts (Ex): You are just too pretty for God to let you die. At 9th level, the gambler may use her Charisma modifier in place of her Constitution modifier to determine her hit points.

Skill Mastery (Ex): Table chatter and card sharping come as naturally to you as breathing does to normal folks. At 10th level, the gambler may take 10 when making a skill check with any Charisma-based skill even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so.

Improved Evasion (Ex): You know when to run. Hell, you started running half a second earlier. This ability works like the gambler’s evasion, except that while the gambler still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless gambler does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

All or Nothing (Ex): When the chips are down, you don't see danger, you see chips for the taking. At 12th level, the morale bonus to Charisma granted by the gambler's Doubling Down ability improves to +6, and while the ability is active, she gains DR/- equal to half her class level.

Ace of Hearts (Ex): Keep plowing through the rough spots and sooner or later you'll get a better hand. At 13th level, the gambler receives fast healing equal to her Charisma modifier, up to a maximum of her class level divided by three.

Letting it Ride (Ex): The stakes get bigger, and so do your wagers. At 14th level, the gambler may select five skills each day to which Playing the Rush applies.

Daredevil Intuition (Sp): Listening to the voice in your head might be a little odd, but it's worked for you so far. At 15th level, the gambler may use contact other plane twice per day as a spell-like ability which takes a standard action to use and has a caster level equal to her class level. She may only ask one question per use of the ability, but she never needs to make an Intelligence check to avoid an Intelligence and Charisma decrease.

Jackpot (Ex): They'll have to invent a new lucky star just for you. At 16th level, any luck bonuses the gambler benefits from have their numerical value increased by one (for example, a robe of stars would provide her with a +2 luck bonus on all saving throws instead of the usual +1).

Endless Roulette (Su): You can't keep a good--okay, decent--alright alright, maybe-slightly-tarnished-but-otherwise-good--man down. At 17th level, the gambler may spend a swift action to act as though she were affected by freedom of movement until the start of her next turn.

Losing Is For Suckers (Ex): Everything you touch turns to gold. Except for gold. That turns to more gold. At 18th level, the gambler may select up to her Charisma modifier in skills each day to which Playing the Rush applies.

Never Tell Me The Odds (Sp): You've heard of misfortune. Generally, it's something that happens to other people. At 19th level, the gambler may use choose destiny (Races of Destiny) once per day as a spell-like ability which takes a swift action to use and has a caster level equal to her class level.

Cashing Out (Ex): No untimely demise will get in the way of your aims. After all, there's still money that doesn't belong to you. At 20th level, should the gambler ever be killed, she returns to life one week later in the spot where she was slain as per true resurrection.


PLAYING A GAMBLER
"You know what would make this better?"
"If we weren't hanging off the edge of a giant gear, about to be crushed by its teeth?"
"You know what two things would make this better?"
"Blackjack and hookers?"
"Okay, four things now."
 Combat: Gamblers make remarkably good combatants, mostly because they themselves don't really know what they're doing until three seconds after they've jumped onto the other dragon.
 Advancement: Gamblers often pick up a smattering of other talents, although they are almost uniformly drawn to high-risk, high-reward professions.
 Resources: A gambler likes civilization, people with money, talking to people with money, and making those people have less money. They are very likely to know a great many people. Whether those people like them back is another story altogether.

GAMBLERS IN THE WORLD
"How about if I'm Mr. Purple? That sounds good to me. I'll be Mr. Purple."
"We left the vault fifteen minutes ago."
"You have a cool-sounding name, look--"
"WE LEFT THE VAULT FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO"
 Daily Life: Despite the glitzy persona a lot of them like to put off, many gamblers actually never set foot in a casino, instead preferring to make bets directly with their lives by treasure-hunting, smuggling, or monster-hunting. The pay is generally better, but the clothes are worse and you can't get a decent drink.
 Organizations: Gamblers tend to work poorly with other gamblers. You need at least one straight man around.

NPC Reaction
"You know, you're right. Paying to have a trap put on the chandelier rope WAS the best money I ever spent."
 Gamblers don't really have a codified martial tradition. To the rest of the world, they're mostly indistinguishable from every other sap who thought he could make a quick buck, except that now it's the dozenth quick buck this week. Interestingly, the best partnerships between gamblers and their associates tend to come when the gambler is working with her polar opposite.

GAMBLERS IN THE GAME
"Do you always drink whatever witch doctors offer you?"
"Ask me that again when the sun stops talking to me."
 Adaptation: Gamblers are probably going to favor campaigns with at least some opportunity for social skills. Even if you never set foot in a town, however, they're easily flavored as the risk-taking bravo who set out to make his fortune in the world.
 Encounters: NPC gamblers make interesting rivals and interesting allies. The DM is therefore encouraged to make them both at once in the hopes of sparking an escalating competition that will be, if nothing else, memorable.

[Bozwevial]

Gamblers and Prestige Classes

(click to show/hide)

Prestige classes which advance maneuvers readied interact with the gambler's maneuver progression differently. Instead of providing their normal increase in maneuvers readied, they stack with gambler levels for the purposes of determining when the Layout expands.

Gambler ACF: Jeering Rapscallion
What good is a fight if you can’t have a little fun while you’re at it? You live to poke sleeping dragons in the eye, then mockingly bow to their corpses.
Loses: Access to Dancing Fox and God Slash; Doubling Down and All or Nothing do not provide their normal bonuses.
Gains: Access to Endless Play and Dancing Leaf; Doubling Down lets you make a Reflex save, DC equal to the damage dealt by the attack, to take half damage from a melee or ranged attack while it is active (which interacts normally with Evasion and Improved Evasion); All or Nothing grants you spell resistance equal to 15+your class level while Doubling Down is active.

Gambler ACF: Fortune's Plaything
Fate has dealt you bad cards often enough that you’re not really surprised by anything anymore. Though your luck is far from superb, you always seem to come out – maybe not on top, but alive, and isn’t that what counts?
Loses: Access to Coin's Edge and God Slash; Playing the Rush is delayed to 9th level; Letting It Ride is delayed to 18th level; Losing Is For Suckers is not gained.
Gains: Access to Interesting Times and Fool's Grip; at 3rd level and every three class levels thereafter (6th, 9th, 12th, etcetera), you gain a bonus luck feat for which you meet the prerequisites.

Gambler ACF: Anarchic Activist
Entropy itself runs in your veins. You are a champion of chaos, putting your trust in the utter anarchy of Limbo and defying anyone, even the gods, to tear you down.
Loses: Access to Coin's Edge and Oncoming Storm; Playing the Rush, Letting It Ride, and Losing Is For Suckers class features.
Gains: Access to Kaleidoscopic Dream and Malfeasant Heart; Knowledge (the planes) as a class skill; at 3rd level deal your Charisma modifier in extra damage on each attack when attacking a lawful creature; at 14th level gain DR X/lawful and cold iron where X is your class level; at 18th level gain the chaos subtype and immunity to transmutation effects.

Gambler ACF: Burning Blood
You have a roguish, scruffy exterior that hides the blazing heart of a true hero – or a fiercely loyal blackguard. Unpredictable yet reliable, you’ll never back down when your cause is dear to you.
Loses: Access to God Slash and Dancing Fox; Doubling Down and All or Nothing do not provide their normal bonuses.
Gains: Access to Save the Princess and Scarlet Bravura; Jump as a class skill; Doubling Down lets you add your Charisma modifier to damage rolls and critical confirmations, and while it is active you are treated as though all your save progressions were good; All or Nothing grants Mettle (as the crusader ability) and while Doubling Down is active you act as though under the effect of delay death.

Gambler ACF: Flashing Hailstorm
Rather than stay up close and mix it up with your foes, you prefer to keep them off-balance from a distance with a veritable hurricane of shots. Extreme speed is your trademark, and you are at your best when the odds are against you.
Loses: Access to Oncoming Storm and God Slash; Jack of Hearts class ability; Doubling Down does not grant a save bonus; All Or Nothing does not grant DR.
Gains: Access to Flowering Night and Solar Wind; at 9th level you receive a +5’ bonus to your base land speed for every point of your Charisma modifier; when Doubling Down is active and you make a full attack, you may make one additional attack at your highest attack bonus; All Or Nothing improves this to two extra attacks; proficiency with martial ranged weapons.

Feats to come.

[Bozwevial]

Reserved for the reserve gods

Okay, now fire away once I get the stuff up.

[sirpercival]

Oh. My. God.  This is my new favorite class.  Seriously, this is so full of win I can't even.

Love the Mat Cauthon pic; love the Firefly reference; love everything.


Lucky Hunch: twice each, or total?


This is begging to be paired with Shamurai.

[Bozwevial]

Oh. My. God.  This is my new favorite class.  Seriously, this is so full of win I can't even.

Love the Mat Cauthon pic; love the Firefly reference; love everything.

I've had this kicking around in my head for a while now, finally got it down on paper.

Well. You know what I mean.

Lucky Hunch: twice each, or total?

Twice each, clarified.

This is begging to be paired with Shamurai.

Let me just check...yep, Perform is a class skill. Natural entry, flawless victory, prettiest hair.

[sirpercival]

Lol.

Now I don't even know which is more Shamurai-esque, Gambler or Jester.  Doesn't matter, really, either way is just win.

[Amechra]

I literally just shouted "Mat!" for a solid 5 minutes upon seeing the picture.

I also rather like the maneuver recovery system; you know what would be cool, though?

Something crossing this with the Nord's Blade.

Luck+Fate=???

[Bozwevial]

I literally just shouted "Mat!" for a solid 5 minutes upon seeing the picture.

I also rather like the maneuver recovery system; you know what would be cool, though?

Something crossing this with the Nord's Blade.

Luck+Fate=???

I could do a pseudo-gestalt feat for that, definitely.

Any other requests for feats? I'm probably going to do at least one apiece for the four main disciplines, and if I get stir-crazy I'll do the ACF disciplines too.

[Risada]

God Slash

Seeing this discipline being mentioned again makes me wonder what I did right with it...

Ahem.


Awesome class. But what's more awesome is the presentation. THAT is fucking awesome!

[Bozwevial]

God Slash

Seeing this discipline being mentioned again makes me wonder what I did right with it...

Ahem.

It seemed like the punchy, flashy swordplay discipline you'd expect someone like this to use.

Awesome class. But what's more awesome is the presentation. THAT is fucking awesome!

It was a hell of a lot of fun to write. I always enjoy the dialogue snippets more than anything else.

[Nanshork]

What is up with you and your awesomely complicated creations?   

[Bozwevial]

What is up with you and your awesomely complicated creations?   

I thought I made it easier to understand this time.

Unless you're talking about the explosion of class abilities, in which case the answer is that I abhor dead levels.

[sirpercival]

Interestingly enough, only 1 maneuver at 20th level doesn't get readied.

You have to be very careful how you learn your maneuvers; you might want to put in some sort of primer on how to choose them.  For example, at levels 2,3,4 you have to learn a boost, counter, & strike in some order, or you can't fill your layout. (Alternatively, include a statement about the possibility of not being able to fill your layout if you don't learn the right distribution of maneuvers.)

[Bozwevial]

Interestingly enough, only 1 maneuver at 20th level doesn't get readied.

That was intentional, sort of. Originally you'd only learn new maneuvers when your Layout expanded, but that struck me as too choppy. The progression stops being smooth once you fill your Layout completely, which isn't exactly optimal.

You have to be very careful how you learn your maneuvers; you might want to put in some sort of primer on how to choose them.  For example, at levels 2,3,4 you have to learn a boost, counter, & strike in some order, or you can't fill your layout. (Alternatively, include a statement about the possibility of not being able to fill your layout if you don't learn the right distribution of maneuvers.)

If for some reason the gambler is unable to fill her Layout completely (such as by entering a prestige class which provides maneuvers known at a slower rate), she may leave Layout slots empty.

But I can probably either bold that or expand the example to account for choosing, say, nine strikes at first level. (Why would you ever do this.)

[FireInTheSky]

Lol.

Now I don't even know which is more Shamurai-esque, Gambler or Jester.  Doesn't matter, really, either way is just win.

Can I gestalt my H.A. Succubus/Jester/Shamurai with this, please?!?!?   

[Agita]

I sort of get the reasoning, in that it's an instinctual and very much involuntary thing as opposed to this, but not seeing Interesting Times on the class list struck me as odd on a first skim.

[sirpercival]

I sort of get the reasoning, in that it's an instinctual and very much involuntary thing as opposed to this, but not seeing Interesting Times on the class list struck me as odd on a first skim.

It's in an ACF.  I felt the same way, but whatevs.

[Agita]

Speaking of ACFs:

Gambler ACF: Jeering Rapscallion
What good is a fight if you can’t have a little fun while you’re at it? You live to poke sleeping dragons in the eye, then mockingly bow to their corpses.
Loses: Access to Dancing Fox and God Slash; Doubling Down and All or Nothing do not provide their normal bonuses.
Gains: Access to Endless Play and Dancing Leaf; Doubling Down lets you make a Reflex save, DC equal to the damage dealt by the attack, to take half damage from a melee or ranged attack while it is active; All or Nothing grants you spell resistance equal to 15+your class level while Doubling Down is active.

Does this version of Doubling Down interact with Evasion and Improved Evasion?

[Bozwevial]

I sort of get the reasoning, in that it's an instinctual and very much involuntary thing as opposed to this, but not seeing Interesting Times on the class list struck me as odd on a first skim.

I held off on finishing this until I had put Interesting Times up because I wanted it somewhere in the class. On the other hand, it struck me as a very distinct type of luck that not everyone would want, so I put it in an ACF. I'm not entirely opposed to changing that one so that you can have Coin's Edge and Interesting Times at the same time if that would be more thematic.

Speaking of ACFs:

Gambler ACF: Jeering Rapscallion
What good is a fight if you can’t have a little fun while you’re at it? You live to poke sleeping dragons in the eye, then mockingly bow to their corpses.
Loses: Access to Dancing Fox and God Slash; Doubling Down and All or Nothing do not provide their normal bonuses.
Gains: Access to Endless Play and Dancing Leaf; Doubling Down lets you make a Reflex save, DC equal to the damage dealt by the attack, to take half damage from a melee or ranged attack while it is active; All or Nothing grants you spell resistance equal to 15+your class level while Doubling Down is active.

Does this version of Doubling Down interact with Evasion and Improved Evasion?

Yes, clarified. I could always take the Starmantle Cloak route and claim that attacks don't normally provoke Reflex saves, but honestly the DCs on these are going to scale faster than your Reflex save bonus will, so that's more useful.

[phaedrusxy]

Yeah, this is pure awesome. Mat was easily my favorite character out of those novels that I read. I didn't look through the disciplines (although I think I've looked at all of them in the past), but I hope there are things in there to let him use his skills in place of saves, attacks, etc. That would work very well with his ability to boost skill checks. Especially if he can somehow use Profession (Gambler).