The Wardancer, a Dark Elf Fighter/Mage Kit |
Description:
The Wardancer is the counterpart to the Bladesingers of the light elves.
Due to the dark elf affinity for using weapons of equal size, wardancers often
fight with matched blades, brilliantly displaying the truly deadly warcraft
of the dark elves.
As dark elves are highly resistant to magic, a Wardancer tend to specialize in spells that enhance his own fighting ability rather than spells for striking down opponents.
Requirements:
Wardancers must possess a Dexterity of 15 or higher, a Constitution of 13 or
better, and must have a Strength of 9 or better. They must be dark elves (drow).
Role:
Wardancers often act as advance scouts for a dark elf strike force, eliminating
key opponents before the true battle is joined. They often act alone or in
very small groups, as they need space to use their truly amazing matched-weapon
fighting styles. Wardancers are fearsome opponents in skirmishes, and are
sometimes used as assassins.
Wardancers are not feared throughout the matriarchal dark elf society, rather they are noted and respected for their excellent fighting ability.
Secondary skills:
Required: Either Armorer or Weaponsmith.
Weapon proficiencies:
Required: Wardancers must specialize in their chosen weapon, if allowed, and must
always specialize in the two-weapon style from the Complete' Fighter's Handbook.
Even if the campaign allows the weapon groups from the Complete Fighter's Handbook,
a Wardancer may never choose a weapon group to be proficient in, but must always choose
weapons one and one.
Nonweapon proficiencies:
Required: | Dancing |
Bonus: | Ambidexterity, Blind-fighting |
Recommended: | Direction Sense, Endurance, Etiquette, Running, Spellcraft, Survival (Underdark), Tightrope Walking |
Equipment:
Wardancers are dark elves, and as such often possess adamantite
versions of their weapons of choice (adamantite is a special Underdark metal of
exceptional hardness, not registering as magical on detect magic and
related spells, but nevertheless granting magical bonuses in combat). Further,
they are often armored in adamantite drow chain mail, and carry the ubiquitous
dark elf hand crossbow.
A Wardancer seldom (if ever) carry bludgeoning weapons, axes, or polearms (the Wardancer that has chosen sticks, maces, or axes as his special weapon is rare indeed).
Special benefits:
A Wardancer is able to cast spells and still receive his Dexterity modification to his Armor Class. Furthermore, a Wardancer
may also cast spells with somatic components even while holding two weapons, but does receive a +2 initiative penalty to his casting
time while he is doing so.
A Wardancer should also be allowed to 'specialize' in his chosen weapon, even though the campaign not normally allows this, granting the Wardancer +1 to hit and +1 to damage (or the normal specialization effects, if the campaign does allow specialization for others than single-classed fighters).
A Wardancer does not receive any penalties while fighting with two weapons, due to his specialization in two-weapon style and ambidexterity proficiency. If these proficiencies are not allowed in the campaign, the Wardancer should receive an ability similar to the two-weapon ability of the Ranger, but the Wardancer can still wear elven chain mail and use this ability.
Special hindrances:
Trouble have a tendency to seek out the Wardancer, due to his somewhat special
position in drow society as a weaponsmaster. If a young drow fighter is out to
make a name for himself, he often challenges a Wardancer to combat.
When a team of drow soldiers have attacked opposing drow forces, it is the Wardancer that is targeted for retaliation, and not the 'common' soldier. If a platoon of drow soldiers fail to perform to expectations, it is the Wardancer that is picked out for punishment. (This hindrance should be played similar to that possessed by the swashbuckler.)
A Wardancer is also fairly often picked out as a dangerous opposing force when he reveals himself, and thus is fairly often the target of spells and effects which would normally be distributed randomly among the available targets. (This hindrance should not be activated when there is no way the opposing force could know that a particular character is a Wardancer.)
In effect, the Wardancer has double the normal chance of receiving a random attack, if and when the DM rolls to see who is hit by a particular attack.