Halo Knight

Some warriors have learned how to become more, using their psionic abilities to connect to the subconscious ideals all mortal creatures carry within. Drawing upon this connection, they transform their mundane weapons into idealized weapons, mythic and legendary weaponry drawn as much from collective imagination and ideals as from the Material Plane. The halo knight uses these connections to become the quintessential weapon master, a whirlwind of destruction on the battlefield, and an inspiration to his allies, a strong leader with a conviction beyond the norm. He is a dedicated philosopher who finds the strength and skills he needs not only within himself, but within everyone. Drawing upon the subconscious connection between all creatures, he forms a metaphysical avatar from the collected psionic energy distilled into an ideal. This avatar allows him to perform feats of battle beyond what a normal warrior would be capable, as long as he retains his connection to the subconscious.

But not only is he a great warrior, he is also a leader who empowers his allies by shattering this connection and dispersing the energy contained within as an anima fare - a physical manifestation of the avatar within. It is a burst of psionic energy which can empower his friends, inspire them to greater feats, or make them resistant to damage. Together with his idealized weapon, this makes him a force to be reckoned with as he quickly shifts his avatars to accommodate the needs of the current situation and releases his bound energy in anima fares, which in turn help his allies.

Halo knights can be gallant defenders of the weak, warriors who take blow after blow to protect those they love, as well as dark warriors who ride down the innocent, rape the weak, and slaughter those who dare to defy them. Powerful halo knights often deviate towards extremes of alignment and ideals as they consciously channel avatars which comprise the very ideals of mortals. Thus a noble warrior who often channels the reaver avatar can become callous and unfeeling, finally losing his grip on his noble ideals, becoming consumed by these new ideals. But it is just as probable to see a decisive dark knight who suddenly turns from his old ways after having channeled the Untouchable avatar for a long time, finally becoming humble and loving after having rediscovered those parts of his own soul.

To those who don’t understand the halo knight, they might seem shifting or insane, as the avatars they channel slightly change their behavior and outlook on the world. In part, they become the very materialization of the ideals they channel and in combat, a halo knight might see the need to change his avatars often, therefore the changing behavior. Overall, halo knights are visible on the battlefield, as their anima fares, sometimes called anima banners, explode in visual light shows, each one often corresponding to the avatars being used as well as the personalization of the halo knight who utilizes them. This alone has had many label the halo knights as some form of holy warriors, paladins, or even clerics, the visual effect of a fare is often enough
to persuade a commoner of this faulty belief, a fact that some halo knights use to their advantage.

MAKING A HALO KNIGHT

The halo knight is a weapon master and support character rolled into one. He is often a charismatic leader, sharing his confidence with others in his team or squad, assigning each person targets or duties to fulfill. His charismatic demeanor also means that he often becomes the diplomatic face of the group, taking care of shaky negotiations or intimidating lesser opponents into stepping aside. His ability to tailor his avatars to the challenges he meets also makes him a viable warrior in almost any situation, even when forced to reevaluate the situation and change avatars, he can still help his friends
out by use of the anima fare.

Halo knights are highly visible warriors and their ability to infuse a personal weapon with intense psionic power or even manifest their idealized weapon in the form of a mind blade means that regardless of the situations that the halo knights finds themselves in, they can often have a trusty weapon by their side, formed by their desires and needs, not by whatever chance decides to throw in their way in the form of treasures taken from slain enemies. Regardless of whether a halo knight is good or evil, his abilities enhance those around him, or himself, depending on what becomes most useful in the current situation. Thus he can act as a front-line battle tank for one fight and a second rank part-time healer in another.

Abilities:

As a warrior first and foremost, the singular most important abilities are those which are combat related: Strength, Dexterity, and especially Constitution, since the Concentration skill is based off Constitution, and the ability to attain and expend his psionic focus is of the utmost importance for a good halo knight. But a halo knight needs something to fuel his avatars, anima fares, and other abilities, and that comes from his Charisma, which also needs to be taken into account when creating a character.

Races:

Halo knights can be found among all the races, but it is the races who take war and the martial arts to a higher degree that often become halo knights - half-orcs, dwarves, maenads and elves, all finding their niche to fill as warriors. One of the more proficient races to sport a number of halo knights are the hobgoblins, whom often refer to the avatars as aspects of their inner gods and thus give each avatar a personal name.

Alignments:

The halo knights span the entire spectrum of alignments, except that there are extremely few who are simply neutral. Warriors extraordinaire, they often come from a background which imprints at least something of the alignment on them. From lawful evil reaver knights to chaotic good rebel lords who gather dissidents against an oppressive regime, the halo knight is found amongst them all.

GAME RULE INFORMATION:

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills

Autohypnosis (Wis), Concentration (Con), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int) and Sense Motive (Wis). Skill Points per level: (4 + INT). Skill Points at 1st level: (4 + INT) x 4

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the halo knight.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A halo knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armor (light, medium and heavy), and shields (except tower shields).

Psionics: The halo knight receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Charisma score. His race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items. He cannot spend more power points on his class abilities than his class level in a single use.

Primary Avatar (Su): When the halo knight attains his first psionic focus for the day, he assumes his primary avatar for free and retains the benefits from it as long as he is psionically focused. Each avatar gives the halo knight a mechanical
benefit, but also come with a certain roleplaying flavor which should be observed. He must choose his primary avatar from the following list:

Idealized Weapon: At 2nd level, the halo knight gains the ability to establish a link with one of his weapons, transforming it into a conduit for an idealized weapon, the perfect weapon of myth. He focuses part of his life energy into the weapon, making it more effective in his hands and his hands alone. The idealized weapon becomes a normal weapon of its type in the hands of any other person, having none of its abilities or enhancements.

At any time, the halo knight can meditate to awaken the abilities in his idealized weapon. This requires a sacrifice of XP equal to the amount shown on Table 2: Idealized Weapon. The halo knight must meet the required minimum level and must meditate 8 hours a day for a number of days in a row equal to the XP sacrificed divided by 100. A halo knight can only ever have one idealized weapon, although it can be a double weapon (in which case he must pay once for each side) or a pair of natural attacks (in which case he must pay once for each natural weapon, up to a maximum of two). For example, if a monk takes two levels of halo knight, he can choose his unarmed strike as his idealized weapon, paying for it once (since it is just one natural weapon), while a lycanthropic halo knight could choose to imbue either his bite (one natural weapon) or both his claws (a pair of natural weapons), but not all three.

The XP values shown on Table 2 are the total value of the sacrifice required to bring a single weapon to the listed weapon bonus. If the halo knight already has a +3 longsword, he can raise it to a +4 longsword by sacrificing 600 XP and spending 6 days meditating. He can add any form of special ability available to his weapon type, as long as his effective manifester level is great enough, even though he doesn’t have access to the right spells or powers. The manifester level of his idealized weapon is equal to his class level + 10.

If his idealized weapon is destroyed, he can reestablish the link with a new weapon of the exact same type (for example, if the halo knight used a large heavy mace, the new weapon has to be a large heavy mace, although it can be made from a different material) by meditating for a week and spending 50 xp per class level. If he wishes to utilize a different weapon he must pay the XP costs anew.

Anima Flare (Ex): Once a halo knight has reached 3rd level, he can expend his psionic focus while having assumed an avatar to expel the avatar(s) from himself and for a brief moment allow every ally within his anima flare range to benefit from his bonuses instead (the allies gain all the benefits of all the avatars the halo knight has assumed). This bonus lasts for 1 round and affects every ally in range, except for the halo knight himself. For every power point he spends when causing an anima flare, he causes it to echo and last for one round longer before its effects dissipate, although he can regain his avatar after this even while his allies still benefit from his previous anima flare.

When using the anima flare, there is a physical resonance, a huge halo of light forms around the halo knight (giving normal illumination for 1 round) and stretching out to the range limits of the Flare. The color and form of the halo is different between every halo knight, at times mimicking the image of the kind of avatars they are expelling, at other times forming giant banners of color and light. At 3rd level the anima flare range is 10 feet and it increases by 10 feet every 3 levels. At 17th level, the halo knight masters his anima flare and gains the same benefits from the anima flare as his allies do.

Bonus Feats: At 4th level and every seven levels after that (11th,18th, etc), the halo knight gets a bonus feat. These bonus feats must be drawn from the following list: Avatar Purge, Favored Avatar, Ghost Attack, Psicrystal Weapon, Psionic Body, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Talent, Speed of Thought, Soulbound Weapon, Up the Walls, Weapon Focus, Wild Talent (Devotion). The halo knight must still meet all prerequisites for the bonus feat. These bonus feats are in addition to the feats that a character of any class gains every three levels.

Secondary Avatar (Su): At 7th level, the halo knight gains a secondary avatar which follows the same rules as the primary. He may choose from the secondary avatars list as well as the primary avatars list, but he must choose a different aspect for the day than he has chosen for his primary avatar. He retains these bonuses for as long as he retains his
psionic focus. For example: The halo knight has his primary avatar (The Weapon Master) (3), giving him +3 insight bonus to attack rolls and chooses The Reaver as his second avatar (1) and gets +1 insight bonus to damage rolls. He could not choose The Weapon master again.

A halo knight chooses his secondary avatar the first time he gains psionic focus for the day and assumes it for free. If he loses psionic focus, he loses all avatars, and must pay for each of them when re-assuming psionic focus if he wishes to gain their benefits. The halo knight also gains access to more avatars, although these can only be chosen for the secondary avatar ability, not the primary, from the following list:

Suppress Display (Ex): At 8th level, the halo knight has learned how to suppress the display of his anima flare by drawing the light into himself at the cost of some of his psionic power. When using an anima flare, the halo knight can pay 2 power points per level of the highest avatar to suppress the visual display.

Avatar Surge (Su): At 9th level, the halo knight can make a Concentration check (DC 20) once per day to focus a surge of power from his avatar into his body as a free action, if he fails this check the daily use is spent. When using this Surge, the halo knight emits the same kind of light display as when he uses his anima flare ability, this display cannot be suppressed. He gains +6 to either Strength or Dexterity for 1 round. For every power point he spends when surging his avatar, it lasts for one round longer before dissipating. Every 5th level after this, he can use this ability an additional time (2/day at 14th level, 3/day at 19th level, etc). The effects of the surges do not stack.

Share Avatar: At 11th level, the halo knight can share one of his avatars with an ally for a short time. By making a Concentration check (DC 30) he can channel one of his avatars to a friend within his anima flare range as a move action. Both gain the benefits of the particular avatar, as if they had the class ability, for 1 round. For every power point he spends when sharing his avatar, it lasts for one round longer before dissipating for the ally. If the ally is killed while holding the assumed avatar, the halo knight loses access to that particular avatar for the day and cannot re-assume it until the next day. At 16th level, the halo knight can share his avatar as a swift action instead of a move action.

Tertiary Avatar (Su): At 17th level, the halo knight gains a tertiary avatar, which follows the same rules as the primary. He may choose from the tertiary avatars, secondary avatars, or primary avatars list, but he must choose a different aspect for the day than he has selected for his primary or secondary avatars. He chooses his tertiary avatar the first time he gains psionic focus for the day and assumes it for free and he retains these bonuses for as long as he retains his psionic focus. The halo knight also gains access to an additional avatar option, although this can only be chosen for the tertiary avatar ability, not the primary or secondary.

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