Dualist (3.5e Prestige Class)
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- "You don't need strength as much as speed. We're fragile creatures. It takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin."
The dualist is a duelist with dual weapons. She is a melee fighter who relies on exceptionally quick reflexes above all else; as she parries and dodges, she waits for the opportune moment to strike - and then presses her advantage relentlessly.
A dualist is a master of reactive combat. She uses the opportunities that her opponents offer to the fullest extent possible, and can even take advantage of opportunities that others would miss. For the dualist, the number of attacks of opportunity per round determines how often she can use a number of features, which may or may not actually involve attacking.
Rogues can make excellent dualists, as they are already trained in the art of taking advantage of unsuspecting opponents, but may find the idea of standing tall in front of the enemy unnerving. Fighters, and other martial classes, that specialize in dexterity rather than strength may also be able to put the dualist's skills to great use.
Requirements
- Feats: Combat Reflexes, either Two Weapon Fighting or Weapon Finesse
- Either:
- Base Attack Bonus: +3
- Skill Ranks: Tumble 8, Bluff 2, Sense Motive 2
- Or:
- Base Attack Bonus: +5
- Skill Ranks: Tumble 2, Bluff 2, Sense Motive 2
Hit Die
d8
Skills
Class Skills
The dualist's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points per Level
4 + her Int modifier
Class Features
| Level | Base Attack Bonus |
Fortitude Save |
Reflex Save |
Willpower Save |
Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | Dualism, Parry, Opportunistic Strike +3 |
| 2 | +2 | +0 | +3 | +0 | Counter-Attack, Greater Feint, En Garde (x1) |
| 3 | +3 | +1 | +3 | +1 | Double Jeopardy, Dual Weapon Specialization, Opportunistic Strike +6 |
| 4 | +4 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Parry Ally, Coup Lancé, En Garde (x2) |
| 5 | +5 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Cover Ground, Disorienting Parry, Opportunistic Strike +9 |
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
The dualist does not gain proficiency in any weapons or armor.
Dualism
The dualist gains the first feat from the following list that she does not already have:
- Weapon Finesse
- Two-Weapon Fighting
- Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
- Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
- Two-Weapon Defense
If she does not qualify for the feat in the list that she should take, the dualist does not gain that feat until she does qualify (that is, as soon as she meets the qualifications for it, she immediately gains it as a bonus feat). A dualist who already has each feat in the list does not gain any benefit from this portion of the class feature.
In addition to these bonus feats, the dualist also may treat any one-handed weapon in which she has Weapon Focus as a light weapon for the purposes of dual-wielding penalties and for Weapon Finesse. Also, the requirements for the Weapon Focus line of feats change as follows:
| Feat | Original Requirement | New Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon Focus | Proficiency with selected weapon, Base Attack Bonus +1 | No change |
| Weapon Specialization | Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Fighter level 4th | Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Dualist level 1st |
| Greater Weapon Focus | Weapon Specialization with selected weapon, Fighter level 8th | Weapon Specialization with selected weapon, Dualist level 3rd |
| Greater Weapon Specialization | Greater Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Fighter level 12th | Greater Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Dualist level 5th, 12 HD |
Opportunistic Strike
Whenever a dualist makes an attack of opportunity with a weapon in which she has a Weapon Focus, she gets a +3 bonus to her damage roll. As a flat numerical bonus, this damage is multiplied by critical hits.
This bonus increases by another +3 damage every two levels after 1st (to a maximum of +9 at level 5). Every +3 Opportunistic Strike damage is equivalent to +1d6 worth of precision damage for the purpose of pre-requisites and the activation of certain feats (such as Ambush feats).
Parry
A dualist is a master of the art of parrying. By expending an attack of opportunity use when she is attacked in melee, she may make an opposed attack roll against her assailant. The dualist adds half her Sense Motive bonus to this roll. She must use Weapon Finesse for this roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. In the result of a tie, the dualist wins. If she succeeds, she deflects that attack, avoiding its damage, but has one fewer attack of opportunity that she might use at subsequent opportunities. She may use this ability as often as she likes, provided she still has attacks of opportunity to use for it.
Counter-Attack
Anyone who is parried by a 2nd level dualist provokes an attack of opportunity from her, allowing her to use a second attack of opportunity to deliver a single melee strike at her highest attack bonus. She must use Weapon Finesse for this attack; if she is not using a weapon that she can Finesse, she may not use this ability. She also may not use the same weapon to parry and then counter, so in order to counter she must have one weapon to Finesse for the parry, and a second weapon to Finesse for the counter-attack. A counter-attack is considered an attack of opportunity; any appropriate bonuses, including Opportunistic Strike, apply to this attack.
Greater Feint
At 2nd level, a dualist may feint more quickly. Feint actions take one lesser action than they would otherwise, according to the table:
| Originally | Now |
|---|---|
| Standard | Move |
| Move | Swift |
| Swift | Free, 1/round |
En Garde
As a move action (or as a standard action if she would prefer), a 2nd level dualist may prepare for her opponent's action. She adds a number equal to the number of attacks she would get in a full-round action to the maximum number of attacks of opportunity she can make during the next round.
At dualist level 4, as a move action (or as a standard action if she would prefer), the dualist gains twice as many attacks of opportunity as she would have had attacks in a full-round action.
Alternatively, as a swift action, she may gain as many attacks of opportunity as she would have had attacks in a full-round action (that is, half what she would have got for using a move action).
For example, a Fighter 5/Dualist 5 with a base attack bonus of +10/+5 and Improved Two Weapon Fighting gets four attacks during a full-round attack: one regular attack, a bonus attack from Two Weapon Fighting, an iterative attack, and a bonus attack from Improved Two Weapon Fighting. She may use En Garde as a move action to gain eight attacks of opportunity, or make four attacks as a full-round action, and then as a swift action may use En Garde but only gain four attacks of opportunity.
Double Jeopardy
Any time a 3rd level dualist successfully hits an enemy for damage with an attack of opportunity, she may immediately take another attack of opportunity at a -5 penalty to the attack roll. She must make this attack with Weapon Finesse, and it cannot be with the same weapon that made the first attack of opportunity (but may be with a weapon used to Parry, if the Counter-Attack successfully hits and deals damage). If she has no weapon that qualifies for Weapon Finesse available, she may not use this feature.
If the dualist uses this feature while she is moving (for example, doubling a counter-attack in response to attacks of opportunity that she draws from opponents as she moves past), she deducts 10 feet from her move speed for that action (this is before any modifiers, so if running at double one's move speed, a total of 20 feet would be deducted). If this reduction would cause her to have moved further than her reduced move speed, she stops in the square where the attack was made.
The dualist feature Cover Ground generates attacks that are treated as attacks of opportunity but are not eligible for Double Jeopardy. All other attacks treated as attacks of opportunity, unless otherwise noted, are eligible for Double Jeopardy. This includes the attack of opportunity generated by Double Jeopardy itself - the dualist may continue to make attacks with an ever-decreasing attack bonus (that is, five less each time) until she either fails to deal damage with the attack, or runs out of attacks of opportunity to use.
Dual Weapon Specialization
At 3rd level, a dualist learns to excel in the art of her dual weapons. She gains Improved Two Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat. If she already has this feat, she may gain Greater Two Weapon Fighting, but only once she meets the requirements for it. If she does not meet the requirements of Greater Two Weapon Fighting when she gains dualist 3rd, she may delay this feature to immediately gain Greater Two Weapon Fighting once she does qualify for it. If she already has Greater Two Weapon Fighting, she may gain Two Weapon Defense as a bonus feat. If she already has each of these, then she does not gain any benefit from this portion of the feature.
She also gains the next feat in the Weapon Focus line for any one-handed weapon. That is, she may take Weapon Focus in any one-handed weapon, or if she already has Weapon Focus in a one-handed weapon, she may take Weapon Specialization in it. If she already has Weapon Specialization in a one-handed weapon, she may take Greater Weapon Focus in it. If she already has Greater Weapon Focus in a one-handed weapon, she may take Greater Weapon Specialization in it. If she already has Greater Weapon Specialization in a one-handed weapon, she must choose a different weapon to gain the feat in (either Weapon Focus in a new one-handed weapon, or one of the other feats in another one-handed weapon in which she already has some of these feats). In all cases, if she does not meet the requirements for the feat, she does not gain the feat until she does, at which point she immediately gains it as a bonus feat.
Also, a Dualist gains special bonuses for using weapons she has trained in heavily:
- A 3rd level dualist receives a +2 bonus to critical confirmation rolls with any one-handed weapon in which she has Weapon Specialization. This stacks with Power Critical.
- Any one-handed weapon in which a dualist of at least 4th level has Greater Weapon Focus gains a +1 to its critical threat range. For example, a dualist with Greater Weapon Focus (Rapier) has a threat range of 17-20 with a Rapier. This stacks with Improved Critical or Keen, applied before any multipliers, so the same dualist with a Keen Rapier has a threat range of 13-20.
- A one-handed weapon in which a dualist 5 has Greater Weapon Specialization advances its critical hit multiplier by 1, so x2 becomes x3, x3 becomes x4, and x4 becomes x5.
Parry Ally
A 4th level dualist has become so skilled with her parries that she can defend others as well as herself. She may parry against any melee attack directed at a target in any square adjacent to her, though she takes a -4 penalty on this roll. If she succeeds, she may Counter-Attack as usual, if her opponent is in range, and if he is not, she may expend an additional attack of opportunity to move up to 10 feet to get in range for her Counter-Attack. This movement does provoke an attack of opportunity, which may be parried and countered as well, but if she takes damage from her opponent's attack of opportunity, she stops in the square where she took the damage and does not get either of the Counter-Attacks.
Coup Lancé
A 4th level dualist learns to always press her advantage. If an adjacent foe is about to become non-adjacent for any reason other than her own movement (e.g., her opponent's move or 5 foot step, teleportation, bull rush, etc), or falls to 0 hit points or fewer, the dualist may, by using two attacks of opportunity, make a single melee attack at her highest attack bonus as an attack of opportunity. She must use Weapon Finesse with this attack roll; if she cannot Finesse the weapon that she is using, she may not use this ability. The target is treated as flat-footed for this attack. The flat-footed status comes from the dualist's skill in exploiting the opportunity, and their opponent's inability to protect themselves, and so this attack does not break a Knight's code of honor.
Cover Ground
By 5th level, a dualist not only watches for opportunities to strike adjacent opponents, but those farther away, as well. By using two attacks of opportunity, the dualist may move up to half her move speed and attack any target within that range that uses an action that provokes an attack of opportunity. This attack is considered an attack of opportunity, but is not eligible for Double Opportunity. The movement, however, does provoke attacks of opportunity, which the dualist may parry and counter as normal. If she takes damage from any attack of opportunity during this movement, however, she stops in the square where she was struck, and does not gain the ability to hit any target. Her parry roll against opponents other than the target she is moving towards takes a -6 penalty, as well.
In other words, a 5th level dualist with at least two attacks of opportunity threatens all squares that she can reach with half her move speed (including squares outside of this range so long as she could strike that square from a square within that range).
In addition, the Parry Ally ability is changed to allow the dualist to move up to half her move speed towards any target that is melee attacking any ally of hers that is also within range, and make a parry attempt (and gain the subsequent counter-attack if successful). This move plus parry action costs the same two attacks of opportunities that the move plus attack action of the usual Cover Ground ability, while the subsequent Counter-Attack and possible Double Jeopardy require another attack of opportunity each.
Disorienting Parry
After her 5th level, a dualist has mastered the art of opening up her opponent for a devastating attack. After a successful parry, her opponent is treated as flat-footed for her counter-attack, if she uses one, and for her follow-up attacks, if she uses Double Jeopardy. Because she created this opening herself by her own skill, and the flat-footed status is not a result of attacking her opponent unawares, this attack does not violate a Knight's code of honor (unless it would for some reason other than the flat-footed status inflicted by this feature).
Picture Credits
The Dualist artwork is adapted from "Duelling Armor" by Ben McSweeney. Used with permission. All credit goes to him for the image.
