The anima bearer specializes on utilizing the anima flare to enhance his allies, often becoming the focal point for an attack on enemy strong points. They are flamboyant warriors, leading the charge to make sure their flare gives his allies the greatest benefit. Over time these leaders have come to learn the intricacies of the anima flare and thus they learn how to augment it and extend it beyond that which any normal halo knight could.
They are a little less dedicated than the halo knights and a little more pragmatic. Most see the avatars as tools to be used and tend to have the same crass outlook when it comes to their friends. They are the spider at the center of the web, they are the strength in their allies hands and the power in their veins and they know this. Therefore they tend to look at allies and friends as chess pieces to be moved into the correct place to do the most damage, to the extent of sacrificing a pawn to ensure victory in the battle at large. Some anima bearers claim that it is this pragmatism and the ability to realize how everyone is but a tool in the hands of another which allows them to exploit and augment the anima flare. By expending their own psychic energy in just the right way, their sacrifice allows them to go beyond what anyone else could achieve with an avatar and the resulting anima flare. This intense focus on themselves and how they relate to others is both their greatest strength and their worst weakness. Once their allies realize that they are expandable, friendships tend to break and allies can become enemies.
Adaptation:
The anima bearer can be styled as a marshal, bard, or other form of leader, changing the flavor from a grim manipulator to a heroic devotee. Another change would be to remove the bonus psionic feats and allow the class to gain a limited manifesting advancement instead of these feats. The third option would be to remove the anima flare requirement and change how the anima flare works with this class - instead of giving different bonuses dependant on the avatar, they give a flat +1 morale bonus to attacks, damage rolls and saves, which increases to +2 at 5th level.
Entry Requirements:
To qualify to become an anima bearer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.
Skills: Concentration 9 ranks, Knowledge (psionics) 6 ranks
Special: Anima Flare (20 feet)
Class Skills:
The anima bearer’s class skills are Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge: Psionics and Psicraft.
Skill Points at Each Level: (2 + INT)
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the anima bearer class.
Anima Flare: At 1st level, the anima bearer increases the range of his anima flare class ability by 10 feet. At 3rd and 5th level, it increases by another 10 feet.
Psionics: For the purpose of power points, levels of anima bearer stack with halo knight levels.
Anima Banner: At 2nd level, the anima bearer’s anima flares last for a number of rounds equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.
Bonus Feat: At 2nd level and 4th level, the anima bearer gains a bonus psionic feat.
Anima Mastery: At 4th level, the anima bearer can manifest his anima flare without expending his psionic focus a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.
Anima Surge: At 5th level, the anima bearer can augment his anima flare. For every 3 power points he spends, the bonus from his anima flare goes up as if his avatar level was one higher.
