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When merely attacking will not suffice, it is usually because there needs to be an element of magic there; a skeleton may shrug off a warrior’s sword blows, but will succumb to fire or holy light in an instant. However, one does not usually have the time to study the blade and be an expert with spells without sacrificing some of one aspect to supplement the other. The mystic knight shuns such conflict in favor of making their weapon work the magic for them, freezing, scorching, or shocking their hapless foes and cleaving them in twain in one ferocious swing.

Parent Classes: Knight and Red Mage.

Role: Like both of the classes it draws from, the mystic knight’s primary function is combat. Rather than rely solely on combat prowess like the knight or having a spell in one hand and a sword in the other like a red mage, mystic knights make powerful strokes imbued with elemental magic to strike at an enemy’s weaknesses, and the most experienced of them can bring these vulnerabilities to bear, or even just carve them into their opponents outright, all while defending themselves and their allies from like assaults.

Alignment: Mystic Knights can be of any alignment

Hit Die: d10

Starting Wealth: 5d6 x 10 gil (average 175 gil). In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gil or less.

Class Skills

The mystic knight’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (martial) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: Mystic Knight

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

A mystic knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all armor, and with all shields (but not tower shields).

Limit Break

At 1st level, a mystic knight gains the ability to use limit breaks. At the start of each day the mystic knight chooses Arcane*, Battle, or Stoic as his limit break mode. When a mystic knight uses a limit break, they may use a limit break from their chosen mode or the following limit break, unique to them:

Elemental Buster (Su): This limit break lets the mystic knight pour all the magical energy she can into her blows, making her strikes so fierce that nothing can soften their impact. For 2 rounds per stack consumed as a swift action, while the mystic knight is aligned to an element, her attacks treat the target as though it's interaction to that element were reduced by one step (Absorb > Immune > Strong > Normal > Weak), matching her current element.

Mental Focus

At 1st level, the Mystic Knight selects Wisdom or Charisma, to determine what ability score his saving throw DCs and class features will use. Once made, the choice cannot be changed.

Elemental Attunement (Su)

A mystic knight carries within her body, soul, and mind the roiling power of the elements, and it is little more of a matter than taking a deep breath for her to bring these elements to the fore. As a standard action, the mystic knight can align herself with one of the following elements: fire, ice, wind, earth, lightning, water, holy, dark, or poison. All attacks she makes, whether with weapons, natural attacks, or unarmed strikes, is considered to be that of its normal type (such as a longsword dealing slashing damage), and that of the attuned element as physElemental damage, e.g. attuning to lightning makes your longsword’s attacks deal slashing/physLightning damage. When using a swordplay technique or mysticism that inflicts elemental damage matching her current element, the mystic knight increases any DCs of the abilities involved by 2.

Elemental Grasp (Su)

At 1st level, the mystic knight has a capacity for employing the elements by making contact with her opponents and forcing the energy through their body. The mystic knight makes a melee touch attack as a standard action; if successful, she inflicts 1d6 damage of her primary attuned element. Depending on what element she uses, other effects can also befall the enemy:

Fire: The burns carry heat that clings to the enemy, inflicting half of the damage dealt by the touch again 1 round later.
Ice: The chill leaves the enemy’s limbs stiff and awkward, inducing a -2 penalty to melee attack rolls and thrown ranged attack rolls for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.
Wind: The swirling energy throws off the enemy’s balance, inflicting a -2 penalty to their Armor Class for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.
Earth: The residual earth energy leaves the enemy’s movements sluggish, reducing their speed by 5 feet for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.
Lightning: The sparks dance over every conductive surface they can, inflicting half of the damage dealt by the touch again the next time the enemy takes an action, so long as they are wet, holding or wearing metallic objects, or made of a metallic substance.
Water: The mist left behind impairs the target’s depth perception, inflicting a -2 penalty on ranged attacks for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.
Dark: The vampiric nature of the energy feeds some of the enemy’s life force to you, healing you 1 hit point of damage + 1 hit point for every 3 points of dark damage inflicted.
Holy: The bedazzling light is distracting, inflicting a -2 penalty on the enemy’s skill checks involving a mental ability score (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.
Poison: The toxicity of the element begets weakness, inflicting a -2 penalty on the enemy’s skill checks involving a physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) for a number of rounds equal to the mystic knight’s Focus modifier.

At 3rd level and every three levels thereafter, the damage inflicted by the touch attack increases by 1d6, up to a total of 7d6 at 18th level.

Lingering Elements (Su)

Even so early on in their career, a mystic knight’s control over the elements is more potent than that of her peers. At 1st level, when landing a successful attack, she inflicts +1 point of damage matching her current element. Further attacks increase this bonus damage by 1 for each successful attack, up to a maximum equal to her Focus modifier, but the bonus damage is reset to 1 at the beginning of her next turn.

Pseudomagic

Though not an outright caster of spells, at 1st level, a mystic knight can still tap into a reserve of raw, unrefined magic and use it in its rough form for general purposes. She gains a pool of magic points, as listed on the table, and gains bonus MP based on her Focus modifier, using her class level as an effective caster level for such purposes. Additionally, her mystic knight levels count as caster levels when meeting prerequisites for feats, and if she ever gains a caster level from another class, her mystic knight levels stack with the caster level of the other class for the purposes of qualifying for and making use of item creation feats.

When the mystic knight reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points while in combat, they regain a number of MP points equal to their Focus modifier + 1/4 their mystic knight level. Destroying an unattended object, reducing a helpless or unaware creature to 0 or fewer hit points, or reducing a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the mystic knight’s character level to 0 or fewer hit points doesn’t restore any magic points.

Reversal (Su)

A mystic knight of 2nd level has learned to recognize not only the power of the elements within themselves, but also that of her enemies. When targeted by an attack, spell, or other ability that would deal elemental damage to her, she can spend 2 MP and make an attack roll as an immediate action. If the damage stems from an attack, then the DC is that of the attack roll made; if the ability is a spell, then the DC is 10 + ½ the caster level of the spell + the casting modifier; if it is any other ability, then the DC is 15 + ½ the HD of the aggressor. If the mystic knight’s attack roll is successful, she negates the attack, spell, or other ability in its entirety, and inflicts 1d4 damage of her current element per mystic knight level upon the aggressor, as well as provoking a Will save (DC 10 + ½ mystic knight level + Focus modifier) to avoid being staggered for 1d4 rounds. At 5th level, the target is instead dazed for 1d4 rounds on a failed save, and at 10th level is stunned for 1d4 rounds instead. If the target is immune to stun effects, they are dazed instead, and if they are immune to daze effects, they are staggered instead.

Swordplay (Su)

At 2nd level, a mystic knight can better harness her elemental energy, and utilize it in special techniques. Despite the name of the ability, the mystic knight can use swordplay techniques with any weapon with which she is proficient. While many swordplay techniques are associated with an element, the element of a swordplay technique need not match that of the mystic knight’s active element. Usage of them is a standard action, and many can be augmented through the expenditure of MP as part of the action to use them. The mystic knight gains another swordplay technique at every even class level, up to ten at 20th.

A list of swordplay techniques can be found here: Swordplay Techniques

Armor Training (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, a mystic knight learns to use armor to its greatest defensive potential. Whenever she is wearing armor, she increases the armor bonus by 1 and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by her armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, 15th and 19th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum of a +5 increase to her armor bonus and a +5 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed. In addition, a mystic knight can also move at her normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a mystic knight can move at her normal speed while wearing heavy armor.

The benefits of this ability stack with Armor Focus. The benefits of this ability do not stack with agility training, leather body or armoured flexibility.

Mysticism (Su)

Atop her martial prowess, a mystic knight also possesses more overtly magical abilities. While these may not be spells per se, they are still clearly supernatural, and may even replicate some of the effects of particular spells. At 3rd level, the mystic knight gains access to one mysticism of her choice, so long as she observes the requirements thereof. She gains another at 6th level, and every three levels afterward. All mysticisms cost MP to use; the amount needed is listed in the mysticism’s entry.

A list of mysticisms can be found here: Mysticisms

Sentinel (Su)

Just as a mystic knight employs the power of the elements to strengthen her attacks, so too does she use them to bolster her defenses. At 3rd level, when attuned to an element, she gains resistance equal to twice her mystic knight level to her current element, and resistance equal to her mystic knight level to the element her current element is strong against. For example, a level 10 mystic knight attuned to water would have water resistance 20, and fire resistance 10; these resistances also apply to physical elemental damage. When attuning to poison, as it has no element it is innately strong against, the mystic knight chooses one of three elements to be considered “strong” against for the purposes of this ability (earth, water, or wind). You can only choose one at a time; you must reattune yourself to poison as a standard action if you wish to change what element your poison attunement is considered to be strong against. By spending 2 MP, the mystic knight can gain damage reduction/magic and cold iron or magic and silver (choosing one or the other) equal to her Focus modifier for a like number of rounds.

Elemental Empowerment (Su)

At 5th level, by spending 1 MP, the mystic knight can make all of her attacks inflict +1d6 damage matching her current element for a number of rounds equal to her Focus modifier. At 10th level, this increases to +2d6, and +3d6 at 15th level. Changing her current element while this ability is active also changes the elemental damage dealt by this ability to match.

Assault (Su)

At 7th level, a mystic knight can rain both blade and fire upon their enemies at blinding speeds. By spending 3 MP as a swift action, the mystic knight grants herself the Haste status for 1 round. As well, all of her attacks until the beginning of her next turn inflict +1d6 damage of her current element, stacking with other sources of elemental damage.

Improved Sentinel (Su)

At 8th level, the mystic knight’s defenses become truly impressive. Her elemental resistance to her current element increases to thrice her level, and her resistance to the element her current element is strong against increases to one and a half times her level. As well, when making saving throws against effects that inflict elemental damage, she is considered to have the evasion and stalwart class features (succeeding on a saving throw against an effect that still has a partial effect on a successful save negates the effect entirely instead). Spending MP to gain damage reduction now offers DR/adamant as an option.

Elemental Efficiency (Su)

At 9th level, a mystic knight can let her raw, elemental energies partially fuel her abilities instead of having to expend mana. When using a swordplay technique that utilizes an element matching her current element, she can reduce the cost of the ability by 1 MP, to a minimum cost of 1 MP. Also, once per minute, she can reattune herself to another element as a swift action.

Elemental Dualism (Su)

At 11th level, a mystic knight has gained such understanding over the intricacies of the elements she wields that she can channel two at once. She can attune to a primary element and a secondary element; her primary element functions as normal. As a standard action, she can also assign a different element as her secondary element. This makes all damage she inflicts through her mystic knight class features of her primary element also count as her secondary element, whichever is most advantageous. As a swift action, she can lose this benefit, and gain resistance to her secondary element equal to that of the resistance granted by the sentinel ability for the element that her current primary element is strong against for 1 round. For example, a level 12 mystic knight can assign her primary element to water and her secondary element to lightning. By spending her swift action, she can lose the dual-element benefit to her attacks and instead have water resistance 36 and fire and lightning resistance 18.

Improved Assault (Su)

At 12th level, a mystic knight can shred her opponents with great ease. When using the assault ability, she can instead spend 6 MP to be granted the Haste status for 1 round, except that the bonus to attack rolls, Armor Class, and Reflex saves increases to +2, and she can replace the extra attack granted by the Haste status with a use of one of her swordplay techniques, although she cannot expend MP to augment the swordplay technique.

Greater Sentinel (Su)

At 13th level, a mystic knight’s defenses become nigh impenetrable. By spending 4 MP as a swift action, she can make her elemental resistance to her current primary element increase to quadruple her level, and her resistance to the element she is strong against and that granted by her secondary element increase to double her level. As well, while this ability is in effect, the damage reduction she gains from expending MP is doubled. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to half of her Focus modifier (rounded down, minimum 1).

Elemental Saturation (Su)

At 15th level, the mystic knight can channel such elemental power into her blows that it leaves magical scars, creating chinks in her opponent’s armor. By spending 5 MP as a swift action, she can make the next number of attacks she makes, equal to her Focus modifier, inflict the Imperil status, matching her primary element. The target is permitted a Will save (DC 10 + ½ class level + Focus mod) to negate the Imperil status, requiring a saving throw for each attack. The Imperil effect stacks, up to inflicting vulnerability upon the target.

Greater Assault (Su)

At 17th level, a mystic knight has reached their peak in delivering furious elemental devastation. She can instead spend 9 MP to grant herself the Haste status for 1 round, increasing the bonus to attack rolls, Armor Class, and Reflex saves to +3. On top of this, she gains two extra attacks on a full attack instead of one, or can either replace them both with a single swordplay technique that can be augmented; if they both remain normal attacks, she can also move up to 30 feet before making the full attack.

Supreme Sentinel (Su)

At 18th level, the mystic knight is nearly invincible. When spending 4 MP to increase her elemental resistance, as per the greater sentinel ability, she instead becomes immune to damage from her primary element, and her resistance to the element her primary element is strong against and her secondary element becomes triple her class level. The damage reduction granted when spending the MP to gain it is improved to DR/epic.

Elemental Devastation (Su)

At 19th level, the mystic knight is able to unleash Hell upon her foes, leaving naught but destruction in her wake. Any target she damages with elemental damage inflicts the elemental damage upon all enemies adjacent to the target; this extra damage can apply to a creature multiple times, if they happen to be close enough to another target of an ability that would affect the other enemies targeted by the ability. This elemental damage does not include that of her weapon’s damage, if the mystic knight is making an attack with a weapon while attuned to an element.

Elemental Mastery (Su)

At 20th level, the mystic knight is unrivaled in her control of the elemental energy inside her. By spending 8 MP, she can make any additional dice of elemental damage she inflicts be considered to have rolled their maximum for a number of rounds equal to her Focus modifier. A number of times per day equal to 3 + her Focus modifier, she can make her elemental damage treat an enemy as though they were affected by one application of Imperil if they have absorption, immunity, or resistance to her primary and secondary elements for 1 minute. This effect stacks with the Elemental Buster limit break.

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