The Wardancer, a Dark Elf Fighter/Mage Kit |
Description: 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.
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.
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 are not feared throughout the matriarchal dark elf society, rather
they are noted and respected for their excellent fighting ability.
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.
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: 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).
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.
Special benefits:
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.
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.
Special hindrances: 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.
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.