The Ronin
a d20 System Prestige Class

Copyright D. Andrew Ferguson ©2001

Edited by Jamie Revell for The Guild Companion

Ronin Prestige Class

A Ronin is a warrior who was once a Samurai in the service of a warlord. The warlord has since died in a manner that has stripped the ronin of their honour. The ronin is unable to work in the service of another lord and often becomes an adventurer.

Hit Dice: 1d10

Base Attack Bonus: +4

Intimidate: 4 ranks

Jump: 4 ranks

Ride: 4 ranks

Spot: 4 ranks

Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Weapon Focus: bastard sword.

The ronin's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Spot (Wis).

Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Ronin are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armour, and with shields.

Without Honour: With the death of the samurai's lord, his honour also died. Regardless of their alignment, ronin no longer feel compelled to follow the martial code they once did, and many change to a chaotic alignment.

Intimidating: The Ronin gains a +2 bonus to Intimidation skill checks.

Great Cleave: The Ronin gains the abilities of this feat.

One Hit One Kill: While using this ability the Ronin must use the full attack option but exchange their regular attacks for one attack at the specified bonus to hit that causes double damage. If a critical strike is rolled the attack causes triple damage. Because of the extreme focus required for this, the bonus is also subtracted from the Ronin's AC until the beginning of their next round. The bonus to hit counts as a magical bonus for determining damage against creatures with magic resistance. This attack must be called before the Ronin attacks and is lost if the attack misses. The attacks from all bonuses are separate so a 5^th level Ronin will be able to use a +2 bonus once per day and a +1 bonus twice per day.

Extra Attack: The Ronin receives one additional attack of opportunity.

Greater Defence: The Ronin has become adept at foreseeing the attacks of their opponent and may add their wisdom modifier to AC as long as they are not wearing armour or using shields.

High Initiative: The Ronin gains a +2 bonus to initiative.

Appendix A

This article: "The Ronin, an OGL 3.x Prestige Class", Copyright © 2001 by D. Andrew Ferguson, is an OGL 3.x article.

This article is covered by the Open Gaming License. The title "The Ronin, an OGL 3.x Prestige Class" is Product Identity, all other material in this article is Open Gaming Content. Portions of this work are derived from the System Reference Document, Copyright © 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, and are used with permission.

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Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Rules Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

"The Ronin, an OGL 3.x Prestige Class", Copyright © 2001 by D. Andrew Ferguson, first published by The Guild Companion (http://www.guildcompanion.com)

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