| Essential Cut (Strike) | |
| Level: | 8 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | 1 round/level |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates |
Your attack slices off a small piece of the target's soul, which can now be attacked at your leisure.
Make an attack against the target and spend some essentia. If the attack hits, the target must make a Will save or leave an afterimage of itself in its space. Any attack or ability directed at this afterimage has a 15% chance of affecting the target per point of essentia you spent on Afterimage Slice.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Rush) [Force] | |
| Level: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 move action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | 1 round |
| Saving Throw: | None |
As you walk, many faint afterimages of yourself appear and follow you, over and over again.
Move your speed and spend some essentia. Any space you occupied during this movement is filled with afterimages for 1 round, becoming difficult terrain. Anyone who enters a space filled with afterimages for the first time that turn takes 1d6 points of force damage per point of essentia invested in Afterimage Walk.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 8 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Stance |
| Saving Throw: | Fortitude negates |
Every time one of your attacks strikes true, spikes sprout from the weapon and mutilate the target's flesh.
Whenever you hit a creature with an attack, that creature must make a Fortitude save or take 1 point of Constitution damage. If a creature is hit multiple times in the same round, they only make one Fortitude save for all of the attacks, taking either several points of Constitution damage or none.
This stance is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) [Force] | |
| Level: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Stance |
| Saving Throw: | None |
Ghostly blue armor forms around you without interfering with your actions.
While in this stance, you benefit from a +8 armor bonus to AC, and an enhancement bonus to AC equal to the amount of essentia invested in Armor Incarnation.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Boost) | |
| Level: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | 30 ft./point of essentia spent |
| Target: | One willing creature |
| Duration: | This turn |
| Saving Throw: | None (Willing) |
With a metaphysical push, you shove yourself into a willing friend's body and take control.
For the rest of the turn, you act using the target's body, moving with their movement speed, attacking with their weapons, and using their Strength and Dexterity scores. Any of your soulmelds that aren't bound to chakras benefit the target during the time, as does your Stance.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Force] | |
| Level: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Saving Throw: | None |
Your blade quickly flashes blue and strikes the target's very soul.
Make an attack and spend some essentia. The attack deals bonus force damage equal to seven times the amount of essentia spent in this way.
If any essentia was spent the attack effectively gains the ghost touch and brilliant energy properties.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Boost) [Mind-Affecting, Evil] | |
| Level: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | 30 ft. |
| Target: | One creature |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates |
You shape necrocarnum around yourself to mimic the appearance of one of the target's dead friends. They find it very difficult to react.
If the target fails their Will save, they are denied their Dexterity bonus to AC against your next attack, and get a -2 penalty to AC against it.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Evil] | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Melee touch |
| Target: | One living creature |
| Duration: | 1 round/level or until saved (D) |
| Saving Throw: | Fortitude negates |
You infuse your target with massive quantities of necrocarnum, and they writhe in pain as it destroys their system.
Make a melee touch attack against the target and spend some amount of essentia. At the beginning of each of the touched creature's turns, that creature makes a Fortitude save. If they succeed, they are cured of this effect and will not have to make more saves. If they fail, they take 5d6 points of Vile damage per point of essentia you spent.
Death Infusion has no effect on creatures that are not harmed by negative energy.
Unlike with other Essential Cut maneuvers, essentia you spend on Death Infusion does not return to your pool until the effect ends.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) | |
| Level: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Melee attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | 1 round/level |
| Saving Throw: | Fortitude negates |
With a precise touch, you bend one of the target's chakra pathways out of whack.
Make a normal melee attack against the target. If it hits, in addition to doing damage, you may choose a magic item slot unless the target succeeds on a Fortitude save. Any bound soulmelds and magic items occupying the chosen magic item slot fail to function for the duration.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | Swift Action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | Self |
Maite was suddenly overwhelmed with energy, she never felt so alive.
Upon entering this stance, the initiator gain gain three bonus points of essentia. This essentia is never lost from essentia damage and is automatically univested if the initiator drop out of this stance. This bonus essentia stack with any other source of bonus essentia.
| Essential Cut (Strike) | |
| Level: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Medium (100 ft. +10 ft./level) |
| Effect: | Three bolts/point of essentia |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You hold out your hand, and mundane-looking bolts shoot out of it, impaling enemies. Then the bolts disappear.
Spend some amount of essentia to create three times that many bolts. Make normal ranged attacks with those bolts. The bolts do 1d10 points of damage, and have a critical multiplier of x3.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | Swift Action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | Self |
By absorbing excess essentia you can take on the qualities of a being made purely of incarnum.
When you enter this stance you may invest essentia into it. You gain a +2 bonus on Hide, Move Silently and a +10 bonus to your land speed for each point of essentia invested in this stance. Unlike most stance if you perform any activities which would break the invisibility spell cause you to immediately drop out of it.
If you invest two points, you gain the Partial Incorporeality creature ability.
If you invest three points, you gain a fly speed equal to your land speed with perfect maneuverability.
If you invest four points, you gain the full Incorporeal Subtype while you stay in the stance.
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| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | Swift Action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | Self |
"Binding power recurring, recurring power to bind, the serpent eat it tail."
When you enter this stance, choose one chakra you have bound. The soulmeld or veil bound in this chakra count as if it had an additional point of essentia/essence invested into it, even beyond your normal maximum capacity.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Class Ability Components → Martial Disciplines → Essential Cut
| Iron Heart, Organic Repast, Essential Cut (Strike, Boost) [X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Three Iron Heart, Organic Repast, or Essential Cut maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 full-round action |
| Range: | Melee attack |
| Target: | As full attack (see text) |
| Duration: | Instantaneous and 1 round; see text |
As part of this maneuver, make a full attack and expend another maneuver. Instead of the normal number of attacks you would get for your full attack via your base attack bonus, you get one attack per level of the expended maneuver. (For example, expending a level 1 maneuver would entitle you to only one attack; expending a level 5 maneuver would entitle you to 5 attacks; expending a level 7 maneuver would entitle you to 7 attacks... you should get the idea.) These attacks are all made at your highest attack bonus. You still get additional attacks from sources other than your base attack bonus (such as haste) as normal. All options that would be available to you during a full attack (namely, switching targets or using special combat options like tripping and disarming) are available to you during this maneuver.
In addition, you receive 1 extra attack of opportunity for this round for every level of the expended maneuver (a level 1 maneuver grants 1 extra attack of opportunity, a level 3 maneuver grants 3 extra attacks of opportunity, and so on and so forth).
If you are xenotheric, you may take a point of bio-energy drain to make two attacks and gain two attacks of opportunity per level of the maneuver expended to fuel martial blitz.
If you have at least one level in the Carnage Zealot class and know at least two other Essential Cut maneuvers, you may invest essentia into this maneuver. You make one additional attack and gain one additional attack of opportunity for each point of essentia invested into this maneuver (or two if you took a point of bio-energy drain). After martial blitz is resolved, the invested essentia is returned to your essentia pool. (If you're a Carnage Zealot and don't have an essentia pool, something is very, very wrong with your character. Seriously, how the hell did you do that?!?)
As a final note, when you initiate this maneuver, both martial blitz and one other maneuver you have readied (and granted, if a crusader) are expended. The benefit of martial blitz is entirely dependent on the level of the maneuver expended alongside it. Martial blitz cannot be initiated if it is your only available maneuver, even if you have essentia available to invest in it. You may only expend one other maneuver when you initiate martial blitz. The second maneuver is not itself considered to have been initiated, so none of its usual effects apply. You cannot expend a stance, so you cannot use a stance alongside martial blitz. You can use martial blitz while already in a stance; you just can't enter a stance as part of the same action you use to initiate martial blitz. See synostodweomer[1] and arcane aura for more information.
| Essential Cut, Organic Repast (Strike) [X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut or Organic Repast Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Melee attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | 1 round/level or until saved |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates |
You disrupt the continuity of the target's soul in their legs/wings/whatever, and they find that they can't move.
Make a normal melee attack. If it hits, the target becomes immobilized for 1 round/level. The target may make a Will save at the beginning of each of its turns to end the immobilization early.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 full-round action |
| Range: | Melee touch |
| Target: | One corpse |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates |
With a touch, you metaphysically reach out for the disappearing bits of incarnum that make up your dead friend's soul. If you can grab them all, perhaps you can bring your friend back to life.
You have a small chance at reviving the touched target, depending on how long they've been dead. You can't use Return Soul twice on the same target in between deaths of that target. If, during the first round that the target is alive, they decide that they'd rather be dead, they may make a Will save to die again. A revived creature is restored to 0 hit points and 1 point of Constitution, but is not cured of anything else afflicting it.
| Dead for no longer than... |
Chance of success |
|---|---|
| 1 minute | 64% |
| 1 hour | 56% |
| 1 day | 48% |
| 1 month | 40% |
| 1 year | 32% |
| 1 decade | 24% |
| 1 century | 16% |
| 1 millenium | 8% |
| unlimited | 0% |
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Force] | |
| Level: | 9 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | 1 round |
| Saving Throw: | Will partial |
Your blade quickly flashes blue and strikes the target's very soul, cutting it up.
Make an attack and spend some essentia. The attack deals bonus force damage equal to ten times the amount of essentia spent in this way.
If any essentia was spent the attack effectively gains the ghost touch and brilliant energy properties, and if the attack hits, the target must make a Will save or become confused for 1 round.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Force] | |
| Level: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | 10 200' increments, -2 to hit per increment |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You knock an arrow of blue energy in your nonexistent bow, draw, and fire it straight into the heart of your enemy.
Make a ranged attack roll against the target, with a +1 bonus to hit per point of essentia you invested in Soul Arrow. This attack has a threat range of (20-amount of essentia invested) to 20, a critical multiplier of x3, and deals 1d6 points of force damage per initiator level. The damage increases by 1 per die for every step away from you on either the moral or ethical axis the target is. For example, an Initiator level 14 Lawful Good character shooting a Neutral Evil character would deal 14d6+42 damage.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Counter) | |
| Level: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 immediate action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Saving Throw: | None |
Looks like your heart doesn't need to be eaten by any alligators today.
You can initiate Soul Feather to either negate all damage from falling, or to double the height of a jump you make.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Stance |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You focus on disrupting the souls of others with a touch, and now your punches are more practical.
When you make an unarmed attack that would deal damage if it hit, it deals 1d6 points of damage for every point of essentia you have invested in Soul Fingers, whether or not it hits. If it hits, it still does its normal effect.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Boost) [Force] | |
| Level: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | 2 rounds |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You hold up your hand, and a disc of soft blue energy pops up to defend you from attacks.
Spend some essentia as you initiate Soul Shield. You get a +3 Deflection bonus to AC for 2 rounds. The Deflection bonus increases by 1 for every point of essentia you spent in this way.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Force] | |
| Level: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Saving Throw: | None |
Your blade quickly flashes blue and strikes the target's very soul.
Make an attack and spend some essentia. The attack deals bonus force damage equal to four times the amount of essentia spent in this way.
If any essentia was spent the attack effectively gains the ghost touch property.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Tiger Claw, Essential Cut (Strike) [X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 8 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Tiger Claw Maneuvers, Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 full-round action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You let out a massive growl before hitting your enemy with more sharp parts than they knew you had.
As part of initiating this maneuver, you make a charge attack. Instead of making a single attack at the end of the charge, you can make a full attack, and gain natural attacks for this purpose: two primary claw attacks that deal 1d8 +half Strength modifier damage, and one secondary bite attack that deals 1d12 + Strength modifier damage.
The bonus to your attack roll for making a charge attack applies to all your attack rolls.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut, Eloquent Speech (Boost) [Mind-Affecting, X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers, Two Eloquent Speech Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | 2 rounds |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You follow the thin threads binding all beings together in order to chat with people while they're busy.
For the next 2 rounds, you can communicate telepathically at any distance without needing to share a language. You can only communicate with creatures you have seen in person before.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Strike) | |
| Level: | 9 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1-round action |
| Range: | Melee touch |
| Target: | One non-mindless creature |
| Duration: | See text |
| Saving Throw: | Will; see text |
You tap the target on the chest with your fingertips and pull back slowly as a faint blue image of the target is pulled writhing out of their body, and their body slumps lifelessly to the floor.
After you finish initiating Souleater Grasp (note that it's a 1-round action, not a full-round action), make a melee touch attack against the target. If it hits, you and the target now begin a battle of wills, making opposed Will saves at the beginning of each of your turns. Until this battle of wills is over, neither of you can take actions. This battle of wills ends when either side wins two consecutive opposed Will saves. If the target wins, you are knocked prone and staggered for 1 round. If you win, the target dies and you gain 2 temporary points of essentia for the next minute.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut, Domestic Tarrasque (Strike) [X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver, One Domestic Tarrasque Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Centered on you |
| Area: | All objects within 10 ft./point of essentia |
| Duration: | 1 round/3 levels (D) |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates (object) |
You release a pulse of incarnum, infusing everything in the area with it. Objects infused in this way hop, vibrate, and shatter.
Spend some amount of essentia. All objects within the area become infused with this essentia. Each round, every object in the area takes 1 point of damage per initiator level.
In addition, each time a creature enters a square occupied by infused terrain objects, that creature must make a Balance check (DC 20 + initiator level) or fall prone. You are the only creature exempt from this effect, as the objects calm down slightly in your immediate presence.
Unlike most other Essential Cut maneuvers, essentia spent on Soulquake isn't regained until the effect ends.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Counter) | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Two Essential Cut Maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 immediate action |
| Range: | Melee |
| Target: | One creature who hit you in melee |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Saving Throw: | Reflex partial |
As your enemy slices you with their sword, spikes pop out of your chest and stab them in the arm.
Immediately after an opponent hits you with a melee attack, you may spend some essentia and initiate Soulspike Revenge to deal 1d4 points of slashing and piercing damage per initiator level to your attacker. If the attacker fails their Reflex save, they also take 1 point of Strength damage and Dexterity damage per point of essentia you spent on Soulspike Revenge.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Counter) | |
| Level: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Initiation Action: | 1 immediate action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You call upon your martial training to strengthen your soulmelds against an attack.
Reinvest your essentia. If Sudden Reinvestment is initiated in response to an action by another character, reinvest your essentia before that action occurs.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Essential Cut (Stance) | |
| Level: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Stance |
| Saving Throw: | None |
You remove your soul from your body, as though dead.
When you enter this stance, you die, and cannot take actions other than to leave this stance. While dead, you can still observe your surroundings from your body. Your body does not decay, starve, suffocate, dehydrate, or allow the continuation of diseases or poisons afflicting you while you are dead.
It is possible for necromancy spells and similar things to animate your corpse: if this damages your corpse somehow (by having all your flesh slough off your bones, for example) ending this stance will no longer be sufficient to make you stop being dead. If it doesn't damage your corpse, however (in the case of zombification, for example), then when you return to your body the effect will simply be dispelled.
Effects that bring you back to life end this stance. If the effect brings you back to life in a different body, you will end the stance in that new body. You do not suffer level loss if brought back from Suppress Soul.
When you return to your body, any damage your body has taken while dead is deducted from your hit point total, which may kill you.
This maneuver is supernatural.
| Iron Heart, Organic Repast, Essential Cut (Boost) [X-Discipline] | |
| Level: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | Three Iron Heart, Organic Repast, or Essential Cut maneuvers |
| Initiation Action: | 1 swift action |
| Range: | Personal |
| Target: | You |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
As you initiate this maneuver, you expend another maneuver as part of the same swift action. You heal yourself for 1d6 damage per level of the expended maneuver.
If you are xenotheric, you may pay a single bio-energy charge to heal yourself for 2d6 damage per level of the expended maneuver.
If you have at least one level in the Carnage Zealot class and know at least two other Essential Cut maneuvers, you may invest essentia into this maneuver. If you do, you add 1d6 damage healed per point of invested essentia (or 2d6 damage healed per point of invested essentia if you also paid a bio-energy charge). Once the effects of synostokiai are resolved, the invested essentia is returned to your essentia pool. (If you're a Carnage Zealot and don't have an essentia pool, something is very, very wrong with your character. Seriously, how the hell did you do that?!?)
As a final note, when you initiate this maneuver, both synostokiai and one other maneuver you have readied (and granted, if a crusader) are expended. The benefit of synostokiai is entirely dependent on the level of the maneuver expended alongside it. Synostokiai cannot be initiated if it is your only available maneuver, even if you have essentia available to invest in it. You may only expend one other maneuver when you initiate synostokiai. The second maneuver is not itself considered to have been initiated, so none of its usual effects apply. You cannot expend a stance, so you cannot use a stance alongside synostokiai. You can use synostokiai while already in a stance; you just can't enter a stance as part of the same swift action you use to initiate synostokiai. See synostodweomer[1] and arcane aura for more information.
| Essential Cut (Strike) [Evil] | |
| Level: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite: | One Essential Cut Maneuver |
| Initiation Action: | 1 standard action |
| Range: | Melee attack |
| Target: | One creature |
| Saving Throw: | Will negates |
Your target becomes older and more wrinkly as you become younger.
Make a normal melee attack against the target. If it hits, the target must make a Will save or be aged 30 years. If the target is aged, your age decreases by 1 year.
You can't initiate Youth Absorption if you are less than 1 year older than the minimum age for an adult of your race.
This maneuver is supernatural.
