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Is it possible to use a spell-like ability during a rage? The reason I ask is because Sp's require no verbal, somatic, material, or focus components, and are not lost by arcane spell-failure, but it doesn't explicitly state that they do not require concentration, which is the reason spells can't be cast during a rage. I know in 3.5 there was the rune-scarred berserker, a prestige class that got Sp's and could use them while raging, but there doesn't seem to be anything comparable in Pathfinder. It seems like something that can be done during a rage to me, but I'm looking for any official rulings or in put from DM's who have had it come up before in games that they've run.


I made this variant for two reasons.
- First of all, I like the cavalier, but I'm not too keen on a class that relies on a mount because such creatures make low-level dungeons very tedious to go through. You can't stay mounted all the time, and that takes a lot away from the class.
- Secondly, divine casters have their full caster (cleric), medium caster (inquisitor), and lesser caster (paladin). The wizard is the arcane counterpart to the cleric as the full caster (or sorcerer/oracle for spontaneous casters) The bard fills, essentially, the same role as the inquisitor, meaning he has a d8 HD, medium BAB, and medium spell progression, and a good bit of utility, giving him the ability to do casting and combat equally well, and the magus is a prepared caster that gives up some utility to be a better combatant. Arcane casters have no lesser caster equivalent, and with the magus and bard, there's not really a need to make a separate class to fill this role, but I feel that making an archetype to fill such a role is an acceptable alternative.
So here's the Arc-knight, a mount-less, arcane spellcasting cavalier.

Arc-knight
Arc-knights are infantry specialized in arcane spell casting. They are most common amongst races with a strong magic and martial tradition, such as elves, and they are quite numerous in countries where arcane magic is common amongst the aristocracy, such as Nex. They often join the Order of the Staff or the Order of the Tome
- Skills
o An arc-knight gains only 2+ his int mod in skill points, but he adds knowledge (arcane) and spell-craft to his list of class skills.
- Saves
o An arc-knight has good base will save in addition to his good fortitude save.
- Arcane pool
o Replaces mount
 This functions exactly as the magus ability of the same name.
- Spell-casting
o Replaces expert trainer/cavalier’s charge
 Beginning at the 4th level an arc-knight casts arcane spells drawn from the magus spell list. An arc-knight must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time.
 To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the arc-knight must have an intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The DC for a saving throw against a magus’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the magus’s int modifier.
 An arc-knight can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given below.
Spells per day
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1 - - - -
2 - - - -
3 - - - -
4 0 - - -
5 1 - - -
6 1 - - -
7 1 0 - -
8 1 1 - -
9 2 1 - -
10 2 1 0 -
11 2 1 1 -
12 2 2 1 -
13 3 2 1 1
14 3 2 1 1
15 3 2 2 1
16 3 3 2 1
17 4 3 2 2
18 4 3 2 2
19 4 3 3 2
20 4 4 3 2

 In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.
 When the above table indicates that the arc-knight gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, he gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on his int score for that spell level.
 An arc-knight may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the arc-knight decides which spells to prepare.
 Spellbooks: An arc-knight must study his spellbook each day to prepare his spells. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in his spellbook except for read magic, which all arc-knights can prepare from memory. An arc-knight begins play with a spellbook containing three 1st-level magus spells of his choice. The arc-knight also selects a number of additional 1st-level magus spells equal to his intelligence modifier to add to his spellbook. At each new arc-knight level, he gains two new magus spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new arc-knight level) for his spellbook. At any time, an arc-knight can also add spells found in other spellbooks to his own.

 An arc-knight can learn spells from a wizard’s spellbook, just as a wizard can from a magus’s and arc-knight’s spellbook. The spells learned must be on the magus spell list, as normal. An alchemist can learn formulae from a arc-knight’s spellbook, if the spells are also on the alchemist spell list. An arc-knight cannot learn spells from an alchemist.
 Through 3rd level, an arc-knight has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is equal to his arc-knight level – 3.
- Armored Caster
o Replaces expert trainer/cavalier’s charge
 At level 4, when an arc-knight gains arcane spell casting, the arc-knight also learns to minimize arcane spell failure penalties for wearing armor. The penalty for wearing armor and casting is decreased by 20%. This ability stacks with feats such as Arcane Armor Training. As an example, an arc-knight with this ability suffers only a 15% arcane spell-failure chance, and he can use Arcane Armor Training to decrease it to 5% or Arcane Armor Mastery to decrease it to 0%.
- Armored Caster, Greater
o Replaces mighty charge
 At level 11, the arc-knight decreases the arcane spell failure chance by 35% rather than 20%. As with Armored caster, this ability stacks with Arcane Armor Training and Arcane Armor Mastery
- Spell critical
o Replaces supreme charge
 At 20th level, an arc-knight gains the Spell-critical as per the eldritch knight class feature.


The alignment system is unrealistic for three main reasons. First, it assumes that a person's morality and ethics can be boiled down to 2 words, and second, that any character can be put into one of 9 alignments. Lastly, it's an abstract depiction of a person that can be hard to keep track of.

Unfortunately, we can't do anything about the This home brew rules set attempts to "fix" the alignment system by implementing a numerical system to track a person's morality and ethics.

Rather than viewing alignment as 9 boxes that do not allow for overlap, this system uses an X-Y plot to track a person's alignment.

X represents morality where -100 to -34 represent evil, -33 to 33 represent neutrality, and 34-100 represent good.

Y represents ethics where -100 to -34 represent chaotic, -33 to 33 represent neutrality, and 34-100 represent lawful.

At level 1, a character chooses which alignment to start as. This gives him 10 points in the direction of his alignment choice. A paladin then would start with an alignment of 44, 44 (44 good/evil, 44 lawful/chaos).

Neutral character instead start at 0. Chaotic Neutral would be 0,-44 (0 good/evil, and -44 lawful/chaos)

Characters gain or lose points toward their alignment based on their acts.

1. simple acts- Simple acts contribute 2 points to the axis to which they are aligned. Simple acts are everyday little things that one can do. Good simple acts might include donating to charity or helping a neighbor with yard work without expecting reward. Simple evil acts may include battery or theft. A simple lawful action could include reporting a crime you saw that didn't happen to you, while a simple chaotic act may include leaving work early or ignoring the speed limit.

2. minor acts- Minor acts contribute 5 points to the axis to which they are aligned. Minor acts mean that the character goes out of their way to do them. Good minor acts might include doing volunteer work (like at a soup kitchen) or non-compulsory community service. Minor evil acts may include premeditated murder and rape. A minor lawful act might be working as a civil servant on the weekends or paying your taxes, while a minor chaotic act might be open protesting.

3. major acts- Major acts contribute 10 points to the axis to which they are aligned. Major acts are paragon acts of their alignment. A major act for a good character usually means risking your life for someone else with no promise of reward, while an evil major act would include remorseless or sadistic killing. A major lawful action includes putting your life on the line for the community, while a major chaotic action might be swearing a life on the road.

These examples of acts are just suggestions and should be tailored to suit your table.

Also classes that are alignment dependent, such as paladins, anti-paladin, monks, etc. have 10 points of cushion in the appropriate alignment. So a monk can have a Y rating of 23 before they become neutral. This is to take pressure off the player and give him time to correct his play style before having to atone.


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Pirate of the High Seas
Base class: cavalier
- Weapons and armor proficiency: pirates of the high sea are not proficient with medium or heavy armor or shields. Pirates of the High Sea gain exotic weapon proficiency with the harpoon and net.
- Pirate’s code:
o Replaces: order
o At level 1, a Pirate of the High Seas swears an oath to the Pirate’s code. The Pirate’s Code features many “guidelines” that are more flexible than the edicts of a cavalier’s orders, but a pirate can still be stripped of his post and power if he fails to follow the code to the intent, if not to the letter. A pirate who violates the Pirate’s Code ceases to gain abilities that the Code grants him and cannot rejoin his pirate brethren until he has made reparations to the pirate lords by paying a tax of 1000 gold pieces times his current HD.
 Guidelines: the Pirate’s Code dictates that the pirate of the high seas swears an oath of loyalty to himself and his crew. His crew can include the party he joins for the purposes of this feature. A Pirate cannot take any action that endangers his own well-being without there being reasonable profit from which it can be won. This speaks nothing of the conduct a pirate must keep with his crew. So long as he is a part of the crew, he cannot take any unprovoked acts of violence against his fellows, he must agree to split any spoils equally with his allies, and he cannot abandon his allies unless it would put the rest of his crew (NPC or otherwise) in danger.
 Challenge: against the target of his challenge, a Pirate of the High Seas gains a +1 dodge bonus against the subject of his challenge. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 levels the pirate possesses.
 Skills: a pirate of the high seas adds acrobatics and appraise to his list of class skills. When making an acrobatics check, a pirate of the high seas gains a bonus equal to half his level to the check (minimum of 1).
 Order abilities:
• Pirate’s Savvy: at level 2, a pirate can spend a swift action to gain a +2 competence bonus on all attack and damage rolls, to his AC, to all skill checks, or to all his saves. The pirate chooses which to affect when he uses this ability, and can alter which affects he is under by spending another swift action.
• Sneak attack: at level 8, the pirate gains sneak attack as per the rogue. He treats his effective rogue level as his current level- 3 to determine the damage bonus he receives from this ability.
• Thwart authority: at level 15, the damage from a pirate’s challenge ability is doubled against an agent or representative of the law. This includes lawfully aligned creatures, creatures with the lawful subtype, and creatures that represent authority such as soldiers, police, politicians, enemy leaders, etc.
- Ship
o Replaces: mount
o The Pirate of the High Seas starts play with a sailing ship worth 10000 gold pieces. When on board his ship, the pirate suffers no armor check penalties for climb or acrobatics checks, and any additional penalties he would take from rough sea and weather conditions are halved.
o The pirate receives a portion of gold to spend on upgrading his ship at every level after the first. This amount is equal to the level he just attained, times 1000 gold pieces. The pirate need not spend all this gold at once, and he may remove certain upgrades in exchange for the monetary cost of the upgrades. In this way, the pirate has a pool of gold that he can use to upgrade his ship as he sees fit. This gold can only be spent to upgrade his ship.
o The ship grants the pirate of the high seas the Leadership feat, even if they do not meet the prerequisites. It also functions a base of operations for determining the pirate’s leadership score.
- Daring charge
o Replaces: cavalier’s charge, mighty charge, and supreme charge
o Starting at 3rd level, a pirate gains a +4 bonus to attack rolls when making an attack as part of a charge (instead of a normal +2).
o At level 7, the pirate can charge through difficult terrain with no penalty
o At level 11, a pirate doubles damage done by an attack made at the end of a charge when wielding a one handed or light weapon.
o At level 20, a pirate now triples damage done by an attack made at the end of a charge when wielding a one handed or light weapon.
- Dread pirate:
o Replaces: nothing, because I feel that the cavalier doesn’t really have capstone abilities in the way of some other classes.
o At level 20, a Pirate of the High Seas possesses a fearsome reputation. He gains an aura of fear with a radius of 30 ft. Any enemy affected by a fear effect within this aura has the intensity of that fear increase by 1 step (shaken becomes frightened and frightened becomes panicked. Panicked creatures must make a fortitude save (DC=10+ ½ the pirate’s HD+ the pirate’s charisma modifier) or die of fright). In addition, a pirate can take 10 on any intimidate check and gains a bonus to intimidate checks equal to ½ his HD, and can make an intimidate check as a free action once per round after successfully striking an opponent in melee.